CHAPTER 4

From the corner of Elijah’s eye, he saw the body of the other beast turn and shift its savage gaze to his direction, watching his ongoing struggle with his kin. The gray monster took a slow heavy step towards them, then twitchingly turned to the hole of the wall.

Black knew its lust for blood was not quelled, yet rather than share its kin’s quarry it preferred to seek its own kill, Instead. The werewolf howled loudly and leaped into the hole in search of Rob, tearing wood at its edges and creating an even larger outline to its violently made entrance. Inside the darkness beyond the wall, its wolfish head twitched as it sniffed the air in search of Black’s partner.

Good, he’s hidden, thought Elijah, feeling the teeth of the beast’s mouth which wrapped around his arm growing tighter.

Elijah's mind fixed on Rob's location, picturing the young gunslinger making his way around the beast to surprise it. No, he told himself, realizing now was not the time to worry. Besides, Black knew he trained him as well as he could, trusting him to find a way out on his own now was the highest form of respect he could show.

The thick shroud his partner had cast started to fade, dissipating and disappearing into small patches in the air until finally it was gone and the light and shadows of night returned into view.

“Shit,” he cursed, feeling the sensation that had granted him vision returning and causing the purple outlines to fade. The chant was always poor at adjusting to changes in light, fading away at the sudden illumination.

If the snarling savage could be pushed off, Elijah thought, even for just a second, then his revolver would be his again and he could easily finish it off.

He breathed slowly, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply, then mustering as much strength in his arms and legs as he could, he attempted to push the beast off. He felt himself dragged and the monster’s grip tightening, the smell of the savage's breath and fur which was like a wet corpse became increasingly harder to ignore.

With his free leg, he kicked the beast, who surprised by the strength loosened its grip and reeled back off the gunslinger.

The silver surface of his revolver gleamed in the distance and the man dived after it, reaching out for the weapon with outstretched arms. He crashed to the ground, a dull pain ringing in his ribs, but the gun was firmly gripped in his hands once more. The werewolf, already recovered after being struck, sprang towards him, claws and fangs bare.

Two thunderous cracks roared across the room and the monster crashed to the ground in front of Elijah, sinking into the floorboards which creaked and then cracked under its weight.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Elijah was on his back and his gun barrel pointed to the air where the beast had been, yet no smoking trail escaped its barrel, and his trigger finger pressed tightly.

Who the hel-

“Was that you Robert!” he shouted, picking himself off the ground and turning behind him.

“Not quiet old man,” A husky voice belonging to a woman answered.

A tall young woman in a standard gunslinger duster coat stood, smoking gun in hand, and smirked at him playfully.

“Funny you actually hit your target for once,”

A frown fell across the woman’s freckled face.

“Thank you for the assist Elizah,” he said with a wry smile

“Seems I arrived just in time,” she said, walking towards the Texan.

“Not really, another second and the bastard would have died anyway,” Elijah holstered his weapon, “still like I said, I’m glad for the assist.”

She examined the wound on Black’s arm, tilting her head slightly and squinting her large observant green eyes. She wore her black hair in two braids that fell behind her shoulders like hairy snakes. Her eyes were sharp and large which shined with an alert awareness of an eagle.

“Have you f-“

The Texan stopped mid-sentence, the feeling of urgency rising in him again. He turned his head and looked at the hole in the wall with concerned eyes.

“What is it,” Elizah asked, fret in her voice. “And where’s Rob?” she asked almost breathlessly.

“Rob!” shouted Black, gently brushing past the raven-haired woman towards the black hole.

“H-h- he got pulled in there b-“

“Relax!”

A man’s voice shouted back out from the hole, coughing and groaning as if something ached. Then slowly, Inside, a dark figure stumbled closer and gradually emerged into the moon’s glow. Rob supported himself up with the hole, the blood of one of the savages staining his coat.

Elijah sighed with relief and attempted to hide a faint smile.

He felt a gentle pat from behind and saw Elizah step past with the same smirk that she held before.

“How are you holding up old man?” she asked,” you seem more tense than usual.”

“Me,” he sighed,” I’m fine. What about you two, it feels like hours since we last spoke. No injuries I hope.”

“Not a scratch on me,” she looked cheekily at Rob.

“Good-good,” he said, looking at Rob and then back to her, returning to his firm usual expression.

“Last I spoke to you, the two of you were planning to take the church together from the rear. Care to explain what changed?” he asked.

“Oh,” she said, a guilty expression swelling on her face. “We, Rob and I, thought it best to split up and cover more ground,” she looked at the bearded researcher, giving him the usual help me the hell out here look. ”Isn’t that right Rob?”

Rob, still holding himself up on the wall, smiled in amusement and lowered his head.

“Funny, I heard it was your idea,” Elijah said, a smirk forming on his face.

“Well I may have pushed for it more than he did,” she said with a faint smile, ”C’mon Dad, if you’d wanted someone by the book, god knows you shouldn’t have chosen me.”

“True,” Black couldn’t help but smile.

“Just like the old days,” she replied.

Black sighed.

“So long as you two are safe, it doesn’t matter.” He said, his expression strangely open and inviting. C’mon now back to the assignment, can you give us a report on what you’ve seen?”

“I scaled the church and discovered one of the Werewolf was on the lookout, fortunately, I took him out before he could get sight of me. Then, once I found an entrance into the building up on the roof, I took care of another one of the bastards who was distracted. That’s when I a struggle below and, well you know.”

“Good Job,” Black said, patting her shoulder.

Elizah quickly turned and looked at Elijah, and then, straight at Rob.

“It seems I wasn’t the only one who had fun. It seems you two had more fun than I did.”

“Yeah, you can say that. C’mon, you two let's go find their wretched den so we can go get out of here and go home.”

“Elizah, did you see any sign of an entrance from above? You know, like the ones from the other sights.?”

“I did not,” she said.

“Don’t worry I know where it is,” Rob said, his eyes lighting up.