22

Even though Kayla didn't want to let her baby go, she knew there was work to be done. The sun was setting, and there wasn't much time to prepare. She got up from the bed with little effort at all. She felt as if she had never even been pregnant, like the stork had delivered a perfect little bundle and she had made no physical effort at all.

"Slow down, honey," David cautioned her, but she waved his concern away.

"I feel great, David. Really great." She smiled. "We need to get ready for them, quickly."

While Kayla carried Grace in her arms, David gathered the potions from the kitchen. The family headed upstairs to barricade themselves in the master bedroom. Kayla and David sketched out a quick plan to deal with the immanent attack and felt that they were somewhat prepared for the invasion.

As soon as the dark began to take over outside the windows, the howls began. Kayla held Grace tightly to her breast. She was so much more afraid now that she had this little person to worry about. Beginning to doubt herself, she took David's hand. They sat on the bed and waited for the battle to begin.

When the crash came from downstairs, Kayla knew the wolves had broken down the front door. Their howls got louder as they made their way deeper into the house searching for her family.

Kayla stood up and headed for the closet, where she gently nestled Grace into a pile of blankets, hoping to keep her safe. She kissed the baby's forehead and felt that electric surge of power once again. Kayla sniffed back her tears and gently closed the closet door as the pack of wolves made their way up the stairs.

"Little pigs?" that familiar voice sang from the hallway. Other raspy voices joined in with the obvious leader.

"Let us come in!" they said, scratching at the bedroom door.

"I can smell your bacon, bitch," the leader snarled.

"Well, then I will huff…," he continued while someone began kicking the bedroom door, trying to knock it down.

"And I'll puff…," he laughed in chorus with the rest of the pack. Another kick jolted the door, and the hinges began to separate from the thick wooden frame.

"And I'll blow your fucking house in!" One last kick and the door separated from the hinges and clattered to the floor in front of Kayla. Four semi-transformed wolves entered the bedroom in a flurry of teeth and fur. Each one of them was snarling, exposing their elongated teeth and transfigured snouts. They turned their attention away from Kayla and settled their sights on David, who stood his ground and showed them no sign of fear.

While the four beasts approached David, Kayla could hear the wet shifting and cracking of their bones as the transformation completed. David took a step back and away from Kayla. When the lupine quartet approached him, he pulled the bottles of potion from his pocket and threw the contents of two of them on the wolves.

The effect was immediate. As the liquid in the bottles came in contact with the four werewolves, it acted like an acid. The smell of burning hair and flesh was sickeningly thick. The first two wolves fell to their knees yelping and whining in pain as David continued to splash the remaining potion on them and the two others behind them.

The first wolf to enter the room had gotten most of the liquid directly to his face. He had covered his searing flesh with his clawed hands and was now trying to pull them away. Along with the flesh of his paws, a large chunk of his cheek also separated from his skull and dangled from his hand like a wet dishcloth. He howled in agony while the potion burned its way through the muscles of his face and ran a course to the inside of his skull. He placed his paws on either side of his head and let out one last deafening howl, falling to the ground in a quickly deteriorating heap. The second wolf had not had a better time of it, and he fell on top of his dead packmate. David continued shaking the potion bottle and found that it was now empty. The last two wolves had received a healthy dose of the potion, but it was not slowing them down as much as the first two.

The wolf on the left stepped on the dead wolves with a loud crunch of the corpses' remaining bones. Kayla felt sick as the bodies made liquid squishing sounds when the wolf's foot sunk into the rapidly decaying flesh. As this wolf reached out toward David, Kayla could see the flesh of his arm and the left side of his face falling off in clumps and sheets. She felt sure he would not be able to make the distance between them without falling apart, but to her horror, she realized she was wrong.

The last wolf fell to the ground, unable to make the journey, softly yipping in pain as his flesh landed in goopy puddles on the carpet. The only one of the four wolves left standing was still trying to close the distance to David, the skin of his leg turning a mottled red and cracking open, gushing more blood onto the carpet. When he reached the spot where David had huddled himself into the corner, he fell to his knees and lashed his claw through the air before finally collapsing, dead.

"David," Kayla yelled as she tried to find a way to reach her husband and make sure that he was unharmed without stepping in a caustic puddle of bubbling werewolf.

"I'm good," David said as he stepped out of the corner of the room. The bodies of the four liquefied wolves created a dangerous acid barricade between the couple, but Kayla could see the ragged fabric of David's shirt as it turned from a light blue to a dark maroon.

"Oh, David," she said as he looked down at the spreading stain.

"Kayla?" David fell to his knees, obviously in shock. As Kayla scrambled over the king-sized bed to help her wounded husband, there was a knock on the ruined doorframe. Kayla jumped up, positioning herself in front of the closet door. David had used the entire werewolf potion, and she was totally defenseless. She assumed a defensive stance and waited for what she hoped was the last intruder. She thought she knew who was about to come through the door and attack her, but the sight of his face momentarily weakened her guard.

"Ray," she said matter-of-factly, glaring directly into his yellow eyes and remembering the attack at the mall, which she had thought mortally wounded him.

"Bingo! What's up, sis?" he said, smiling his bright white toothy grin.

"So, it's true then? Carolyn was a whore for a werewolf? I didn't think any witch would ever slum like that. Not even that disgusting bitch." Kayla was shocked by her own defiance and complete lack of fear.

"Don't you ever talk about my mother that way, you fucking pig!" he roared, obviously surprised by her newfound bravado as well.

"I will talk about her any way I want, fleabag," she taunted.

Ray's anger flared as he completed his transformation.

"Uh, uh." He waved a fur-covered claw in the air and laughed. "I know what you are trying to do, sister. I am not gonna get mad and kill you quickly. I'm going to take my sweet-ass time with you. You're going to get a first-hand look at what your own guts look like." He punctuated this statement with a snap of his powerful jaws.

"We'll see about that." Kayla concentrated all of her magic and waved her arm at Ray, trying to send him flying, but nothing happened. She waved her arm again, but still nothing.

"What's the matter? Your magic doesn't work, huh?" he teased in a mock baby voice.

"Let me tell you a little something, pig. I am wolf and witch. I have strength and power that you have never even dreamed of. Did you think that a tiny little bookmark, not even silver, was going to kill me? Nothing can kill me. Did you think that you would be able to do one of your stupid little parlor tricks and I’d just die? You are dead wrong, bitch. Now, you are just going to be dead." He chuckled at his own joke as he moved toward Kayla. She stiffened, not knowing what to do and worrying that Ray would find her baby after he finished killing her.

Ray stopped in his tracks, and his amber eyes looked into hers. He tilted his head, looking puzzled, and took a deep whiff of the air.

"Speaking of appetizers, where is that plump little mouthful of yours?"

"You stay away from my baby, you fucking mutt," she said, coldly staring him down. With what Kayla thought was the worst timing possible, Grace began to cry softly from inside the closet.

"Aha." Ray smiled greedily, once again baring his teeth.

Without hesitation, Kayla turned and opened the closet door, snatching Grace up from the bundle of blankets. She said a silent prayer that her plan was going to work. She pulled the little yellow blanket down, exposing the baby's tiny pink hand. Kayla touched her skin as the glow from Grace's fingers began to spread over the newborn's entire body. She had time to see what looked like a sweet little grin on her daughter's face as an intense power surged through her. Kayla waved her free arm toward Ray again, concentrating with all of her might.

This time it worked. With a look of shock, Ray's body lifted from the ground and slammed into the large dresser across the bedroom. The circular mirror came crashing down on top of him, and he hit the floor with a loud thump. He didn't waste any time getting back to his feet and pouncing at Kayla. She went down to the floor, careful to protect Grace from the fall. While Ray clawed his way to her, she turned over and tried to crawl out of the bedroom, but he caught her ankle in his powerful grasp.

"You bitch," he howled in as much frustration and surprise as anger. He pulled her back across the carpet, burning the elbow of her arm that she had wrapped around Grace.

Kayla desperately grabbed at the bedframe and the carpet, struggling to wriggle free of his iron grasp, but it was no use. She scanned the piles of creams and lotions that had fallen from the top of the dresser for any kind of weapon. Her hand randomly felt for anything she could use to make him let her go. With almost no effort, Ray flipped her body over so that she was lying on her back, clutching her baby. Her free hand searched blindly for purchase, when she felt something cold and hard with the tips of her fingers. Ray climbed on top of her, and she could smell his rotten breath as his face leveled with hers.

"This is for my brother and my mother, you worthless pig," he said, raising a clawed hand in the air, ready to strike.

Kayla closed her fingers around the handle of the rattle. Richard's words echoed through her head: Use your gift. She brought the silver baby toy up with as much power as she could summon and whacked Ray on the temple. He yowled as the ball of the rattle broke off the stem, taking a small patch of skin with it. Kayla could smell burning flesh as Ray stepped back. He seemed genuinely surprised that he was hurt by the toy. Kayla took the opportunity that his moment of weakness presented, and she jammed the broken end of the rattle as deeply into his throat as she could manage.

"That is for my father, you arrogant dick."

A rush of thick, hot blood coated her hand and ran down the screaming wolf's chest. He immediately jumped to his feet and clawed at the embedded silver handle that only slightly protruded from his oozing throat. Every time his claws touched the handle, the sizzling noises became louder and he yelped in pain.

Kayla scrambled away from the cooking werewolf and wrapped her arms tightly around Grace. She sat and watched for what seemed like an eternity while Ray writhed in agony and then eventually fell to the ground. He began turning back into a human before his body had even stopped moving.

Kayla sighed with relief as she stood up, checking her baby for any injuries. Finding none, she again looked down at her dead brother.

"That was silver, bitch," she said to his corpse, feeling like a heroine from an action film.

From the other side of the room, David whimpered.

"Kayla?" Another familiar voice called out from behind her.

She turned to see Carolyn standing on top of the dislodged mirror no more than five feet from her.

"Carolyn."

"Mom is more appropriate, isn't it?"

"What do you want, you murdering bitch?" Kayla snarled at her, deciding she'd had enough fun and games for one day.

"Hostile. I want to see my beautiful granddaughter, of course," Carolyn smiled sweetly.

"You mean you want her powers, right?"

"Well, yes."

"You killed my father."

"Technically, he was already dead. I did send him where he belonged, though," she said with a snotty smirk that infuriated Kayla.

"You will never get my baby."

"Let's not fight, Kayla."

"I'm done fighting with you, Mother," Kayla said as she pulled the spirit vanquishing potion bottle from her pocket and threw it at the mirror where Carolyn stood.

The look of shock on Carolyn's face made Kayla smile from ear to ear. The spectral witch doubled over in pain, the mirror she stood on turning into a dark black pool of smoke. As Carolyn was slowly sucked back into the mirror, she screamed in pain and fear.

"What's happening?" she bellowed.

"You're finally going to burn in hell, you monster," Kayla said with no emotion as Carolyn completely disappeared and the glass turned back into an ordinary mirror. She sighed with relief and jumped over the bed to where David lay face up.

"David, are you all right?" she asked him desperately. He closed his eyes and muttered a few unintelligible words. Kayla leaned over him and listened for a heartbeat. It was so faint she could barely make it out. She felt so helpless, even after defeating these monsters, she was going to have to sit here and watch David die. She leaned down again and put her forehead to his.

"Please, David, don't leave us," she pleaded, sobbing at the thought of losing her soulmate. As she wept, she felt a charge of electricity flowing through her hand. She pulled herself up and saw that little Grace was completely bathed in a soft white light. Kayla didn't know what to make of it, but she decided to place baby Grace into David's now almost lifeless arms. She pulled away, not knowing what to expect, and a rush of excitement hit her when David embraced his infant daughter. Her tears turned into laughter as David sat up from the carpet and took her in his arms.

The three of them sat there, surrounded by three puddles of what used to be wolves, and one dead man. Kayla and David kissed each other as though it were the first time, and Grace softly cooed, the white light fading away.

They rose from the floor, no worse for the wear, and started out of the blood-soaked bedroom. David raised Grace up to his face.

"Daddy's little miracle worker," he said, kissing her pudgy cheek.

The family walked down the stairs and out into the night, heading to the nearest neighbor, half a mile away.

Kayla smiled knowing that her family was complete, and that no one could tear them apart ever again.