I acted on my instinct. I raised my hand to push the massive red wolf by an invisible force.

“No, Priestess Adri!” Priestess Kezia screamed.

My eyes grew wide when the red wolf appeared to be unaffected by my powers. It was like there was a concealed shield that protected him from my attack. I worriedly looked at Priestess Kezia, who was building a thin purple shield around us. And I already felt something cold encircle my wrist from out of nowhere after the red wolf growled. When I glanced at my right hand, there was this shiny black bangle. I felt its heaviness that seemed to drag me down on my knees. I didn’t understand it at first but I just suddenly felt so tired like my strength was sucked out of me. I could barely breathe.

My knees hit the cold ground. I groaned while the two warrior priestesses did their best to protect me and my acolytes, not to mention the other vampires that came with us.

The purple shield was slowly torn by the sharp and strong paws and teeth of the wolves that surrounded us. In my weak state, I could only watch our defeat. My two acolytes kneeled down beside me with worried faces.

“Are you okay, Priestess Adri?” Fen asked, her voice shaking.

I looked at her. It was like a huge effort for me to do. Then I heard Priestess Kezia roar her instruction to the rest.

“Priestess Malka, support the west side! But if the shield goes totally down, take Priestess Adri out of here. And I’m talking to you, Eoghan!” Her eyes glowed red.

He cleared his throat. “Will do that, of course. She’s my clan’s new mistress now,” he responded in a matter-of-fact tone.

“But what’s this? Where’s it from?” Phaedra cradled my hand with a brand new bangle. She looked anxious, looking around us. She tried to take it off but her hand got burned. She winced in pain, while Fen gasped in alarm and looked at me worriedly.

“All I know is… it’s draining my powers,” I answered haltingly.

“Priestess Adri…” she trailed off, not knowing what to say or do with my state.

“We call that the suppressor.”

“Huh?” I looked around, trying to figure out who it was that informed me of this thing. “Eoghan? Did you say something to me?”

He looked down at me. “No, Priestess Adri.” Confusion crossed his eyes as his two thick brows drew together.

“It was I who talked to you in your mind. You and I, we are now linked by the suppressor… Priestess Adri.” That same baritone voice said to me in my head.

My eyeballs moved towards the red wolf. He opened his mouth wider like he just grinned at me mockingly.

‘Shit! Did this beast just talk to me?’

“You should get used to talking with a beast from now on.” He chuckled in my mind.

‘What kind of sorcery is this?’

“Something that your kind doesn’t have, I presume,” he continued to mock me.

I gritted my teeth while I looked at his eyes.

“Get this thing off me!” I shouted at him. I didn’t care if I shocked my companions at the moment when I did that. But the two warrior priestesses were only distracted for a moment and continued to rebuild the shield by their own powers. The wolves, however, tirelessly pawed it with all their strength. I saw how sparks of white and purple colors fill the air. I could only curse in my head for their persistence.

“And then what? You’re going to kill my pack?”

“You bet I will!” I said through gritted teeth. Little by little, I felt my strength was returning. I couldn’t help but smile. And he saw it. My eyes started to glow red, and my fangs grew longer. “I will enjoy tearing each of you in pieces.”

He laughed out loud in my head. His canine teeth seemed to glow as well.

“Don’t be mistaken, Priestess Adri. The strength that’s given back to you is purely your vampire side. Your sorceress side, the special one, is gone… for as long as that suppressor remains on your wrist, which I alone can remove, by the way.”

I looked at him scared stiff.

‘What?’

My glowing red eyes went rounder as I looked at him. I couldn’t afford to lose my powers. Not now. Especially now! I wanted Kragen dead! That’s why I needed to get to Vienna. But why did these beasts choose to cross paths with me now? It was so beyond upsetting!

The huge red wolf, who I already guessed was the Alpha of the pack, slowly walked closer to me. If it weren’t for the shield, I think he would’ve sniffed my face and body, which oddly made me uncomfortable. In another way. It was something I haven’t felt before. It was inexplicable. The way his eyes roved up and down my half-covered face, it was just something more… penetrating, like he was reading my every movement, anticipating even. With excitement. It was weird.

It was almost… orgasmic. Pretty weird, right?

“There’s no one who can help you in this forest. My pack will tear down your shield in the next few minutes. Then… they will rip each and everyone who stands in my way to get you.”

I swallowed hard after hearing it. But I refused to get terrorized by his mere words!

I stood up, smashing the shield and hitting him in the nose. But the beast was quicker than I thought. I only hit the air, and he was again laughing in my head. It was like he enjoyed it.

“Settle down, Priestess Adri!” Priestess Kezia ordered me. Her hands waved to weave the ripped part of the shield.

“We can’t just wait for them to tear the shield down, Priestess Kezia! We have to get out of here now!” I urged them.

“We know that, Priestess Adri. But you have to calm down! He’s baiting you, can’t you see?” Priestess Malka advised.

I threw a deathly glare at the red Alpha wolf. “I swear you won’t get me easily!”

He laughed again inside my head. His tongue moved around his lips, which bizarrely hypnotized me. I mentally shook my head. No. How could I find this beast sexy? I must be crazy! The shitty bangle must have made me insane for feeling this way! Yes, it should be it and no other.

“I expect a lot from the Vampire King’s favorite priestess. I know you’ll not be easy.”

I ground my teeth, piercing my lips with my fangs in the process. I ran my tongue over my lower lip as he watched me. My eyes were almost half closed, looking at him suggestively. Not only the beast could run his tongue seductively like he does, could he? Wait, I forgot my lower face was covered, so he didn’t see it. But I noticed that he was stunned for a moment while staring directly into my eyes. I smirked at him.

‘So… you know who I am?’

“By reputation, yes. That’s why I want you.”

That astounded me. Okay. That’s it! I should get away from here!

“I can’t stay here any longer. This beast is not going anywhere until you’re going to get tired fixing this little safe bubble everytime!” I told my companions, especially the two warrior priestesses.

“Then how do you suggest we escape here?” asked Priestess Malka.

“Break this shield and we run like hell!” I replied.

The two warrior priestesses looked at me like I had gone mad! Well, who wouldn’t at this specific circumstance? An Alpha wolf was after me and he said he’d kill all of my people! I couldn’t let him do that. Maybe we had a chance if we’d run away and not just wait here for Zafrina and the others to discover that we were in trouble! Right? Right.

“How is that no one has a cellphone nowadays?” I thought loudly.

“Oh, I have one!” one of Eoghan’s vampires said.

“¿Pero qué coño?” I interjected “What the fuck!” in Spanish.

I caught an interested look from the Alpha wolf.

“Ah, this is very… very interesting! You speak my language, Priestess Adri,” he mocked and laughed.

I looked back at him, surprised. But I tried to not get sidetracked. I pulled the vampire’s collar.

“Call 911, 119, 112—I don’t care! Just call somebody with that shitty phone and make that somebody help us get out of here!”

“Uh… excuse me, Priestess Adri… I do have a phone but its battery is dead. I forgot to recharge it.”

“Shit!”

“Give me that damn phone!” Priestess Kezia hollered at him.

In a shaking hand, he gave the gadget to the priestess. She recharged it with her powers. Blue electric light came out of her fingers. When she turned it on, she showed me the screen.

‘Shit! Why is there no reception around here?’

I heard the Alpha wolf laugh inside my head. Again. When I turned to look at him, it was almost like he was ready to roll on the ground laughing. Literally!

“Do you think all the technology nowadays can save you when you’re in trouble?”

‘Right. You’re right. Thanks to that. My little brain just remembered that I have something that’s lethal to you, which I am supposed to use if cornered.’

He blinked, thinking that I was bluffing. I slowly took the little bottle out from the inside pocket of my cloak. I smirked at him while I showed the transparent little bottle with a blue-purple liquid inside.

“What a surprise! The Vampire King cares for me so much that he gave me a bottle of…” I slowly opened the little cap, and it gave out a little hiss. “Guess what? Wolfsbane!”

Upon hearing the word, the wolves seemed to stop in unison. Some stepped back and whined. Some growled, ready to pounce. Meanwhile, the Alpha wolf seemed to be unaffected. Then, he laughed hard in my head.

“It’s poison to us… but I assure you, you can’t kill me or anyone from my pack with that meaningless wolfsbane in your little, sexy hand, Priestess Adri!”

‘What? I don’t believe you! Your wolves are afraid of it!’ I insisted, gesturing at his pack.

“Break the shield and I’ll prove you wrong.”

“What are you talking now, Priestess Adri?” Fen whispered. She looked distrustfully at the red beast that was facing me. She knew I was talking with him in our mind link.

“Put down the shield,” I ordered the two warrior priestesses.

They in turn looked at me like I grew horns on my head. “No!” they said at the same time.

“If we do that, we’re all going to die!” Eoghan said it. His eyes glowed red, and he showed me his huge fangs.

“I say you have to obey me.”

“Then… you will lose all of them, Priestess Adri. Your boyfriend is quite right, you know? Because I already gave the order to my pack that everyone here with you will not go home in one piece!”

‘¡Vete a la chingada!’

“Me? Go to hell, you say? Priestess Adri, I won’t go there without you and your Vampire King!” His eyes went livid, and he growled.

His entire pack howled that could make us go deaf. They attacked in unison, tearing the shield down. Malka and Kezia couldn’t hold it any longer despite of their powers. It was like the entire pack was already on us. There were so many of them wolves. Maybe more than a hundred. What was our number compared to theirs? I instinctively knew that this pack was a strong one. Maybe the strongest among the other packs we encountered.

‘Oh, madre de Dios! Are we really going to die now?’

“Get ready!” I yelled. Once I saw the east side of the shield was ruined beyond repair, I whisked some wolfsbane essence on the wolves. They shrieked in pain as they got burned. The ones that got injured by the wolfsbane retreated. However, more came to replace them.

The red Alpha wolf howled into the night.

‘Shit! Is he calling for more of his pack members? Just how many does he have?’

“You might know someday when you’re with me, Priestess Adri,” he answered, looking straight at me. His eyes were sharp and hard. It was like he told me that we are already at war and there is no turning back for either of us.

‘I won’t ever come with you like a prisoner or a slave!’ I vowed.

“You will come with me as something else.”

I froze at that. What did he mean by that? I barely noticed that the warrior priestesses, Eoghan, his men and my acolytes were already fighting barehanded against the wolves.

‘I’d better die with my people.’

“Run for your lives!” I shouted at my companions, ignoring the red Alpha wolf’s howl.