The Victorious Redemption Complete Series Boxed Set, page 73
“I’m going to enjoy this,” Jasmine announced.
“Trust MacConaugh to break the rules of the game,” the Queen spat. “Using Weres as your minions? What a cheating piece of shit your father is.”
As much as she wanted to, Jasmine didn’t respond. This psychopath genuinely believed Jasmine’s father was the puppet master behind it all, that he had hired Jasmine and the Weres to take the Queen down.
“It doesn’t matter, anyway,” the Queen continued. “Today isn’t the day Tylindale wins. Oh, no. You think you have me, think again.”
Jasmine smirked. “And where are you going to run to, little girl? Just count your blessings that you’re dealing with me, and I’m nice enough to deal you a quick death.”
The Queen’s eyes darkened as her grin grew. She dropped her head backward and opened her mouth to the ceiling. Jasmine clapped her hands to her ears as an almighty shriek emitted from the Queen’s throat. The air pulsated around the sound, and glass flasks smashed into pieces. The wolves yowled nearby, but that wasn’t where Jasmine’s attention turned.
On the other side of the room, the glass tank shattered, spilling liters and liters of the green liquid into the room. The liquid covered the floor, washing away the corpses of the fallen creatures. The wolves whined as their fur grew wet and stuck to their bodies.
Something long and white appeared from the torrent.
Jasmine couldn’t understand how she hadn’t seen it in the tank before. How deep and large was the tank to have hidden the devilish creature?
It flopped into the room like a colossal serpent or some kind of orca. At first, it stayed beneath the surface of the water, then it raised its ugly head and screeched back at the Queen. Jasmine froze, unable to take in the unsightly giant. It was a replica of its smaller brothers and sisters, but it was a dozen feet long and as thick as a truck tire. Jasmine could make out every haunting detail, each of its spindly legs waving and dripping, its mandibles the size and sharpness of kitchen knives. Its body writhed and snaked as it zeroed in on Jasmine, receiving its commands from the Queen.
Before Jasmine could think of anything else, someone rushed by her. She was too late to grab the Queen as she sprinted toward a side door. The creature showed no interest in the Queen, but fixed its attention on Jasmine, swaying back and forth like a python under the spell of a charmer.
“What the hell are you?” Jasmine murmured. The creature was so large she almost expected it to talk back to her.
Someone cried out on the other side of the room, and Jasmine’s stomach dropped at the sight of more of the small creatures keeping the pack busy. They were fighting for their lives, dancing around each other to squash the worst of the infestation. For a heart-stopping moment, Jasmine saw a flash of white on Carter’s throat before Max jumped in and removed the creature before it could burrow into Carter.
Jasmine turned her attention back to the monstrosity. The creature patiently stared at her, hypnotically swaying. Jasmine took a step to the right, and the creature copied, leaning in her direction. She took a step to the left, and it followed suit.
There’s no way I’m getting past this beast without a fight, she realized.
Jasmine steeled herself. “Okay, then. Let’s do this.” Her only solace was that this creature wouldn’t struggle to burrow inside her. There was no way it could fit.
She jumped at the creature with her claws raised. In a swift flurry of movement, the parasite whipped its tail around to smack Jasmine in the chest. She flew back against the wall, and the creature appeared to grin as it moved swiftly toward her with its cavernous mouth opening.
Jasmine slashed at the beast, catching its side and slipping beneath it. She crawled around its belly, twisting to confuse the creature. It twisted and coiled, tracking her movements and crawling after her again.
Jasmine tried to run, but the thing was too fast. It whipped its tail at her feet and sent her sprawling. Her face smacked into the floor. She spat black ichor and already felt the inside of her mouth working to heal itself.
Another yowl from across the room caused Jasmine’s fury to grow. She couldn’t let it end like this. She couldn’t be taken down by this impossibility, her pack devoured and controlled by parasitic freaks.
The creature shrieked as it came down for the strike. Jasmine rolled onto her back, and all she saw was white descending on her. Its mouth aimed for her chest, and Jasmine pictured the creature burrowing through her, tearing out her insides and devouring it all. She brought her claws up, intending to skewer the beast on both sides, but her hands met only air.
A flurry of fur flew in front of her. A wolf’s body slammed into the creature and sent it off-kilter, smacking into the cupboards and knocking doors off their hinges. The wolf landed clumsily in front of Jasmine, guarding her like a loyal protector.
“Thanks,” Jasmine muttered to Old Pine.
The wolf kept his gaze on the beast, ignoring Jasmine’s praise.
Jasmine rose to her feet, anger coursing through her, feeling the need to step it up a gear and change the direction this party was heading.
The creature grew frantic, its hundreds of legs and body segments twisting and writhing with pain as it pulled itself to its feet. Old Pine coiled for the strike, ivory teeth bared and dripping silvery drool. As the creature struck, Old Pine sprang once more with an almighty growl, setting his intentions on ending the creature.
“No!” Jasmine shrieked and watched on in horror as the creature twisted at the last moment. Old Pine had been aiming for its neck, but the creature opened its maw, and Old Pine had nowhere to go but inside. He twisted his head, attempting to change his direction or at least do some damage to his attacker, but it was too late. Jasmine watched his head disappear between the creature’s mandibles, the sharp blades clamping onto his neck.
Old Pine howled, the sound muffled through the tissue and muscle of the beast. The creature chomped and convulsed, drawing the wolf’s body inward. Jasmine cried out, but it was no use. Old Pine’s body went limp. Not a moment later, there was nothing left of him.
Jasmine’s rage peaked. Anger boiled alongside pain and hurt, and she began her shift. While the creature busied itself with digestion, Jasmine swelled in size. Her muscles grew to monstrous proportions. Coarse hair sprouted along her body, and her claws shifted into scythes on her fingers. Her eyes blazed a fiery red, and her clothes tore from her body. She flexed her muscles, rearing her head back to the ceiling that was now only inches from the top of her head.
Her howl could surely be heard for blocks around. Her pack stared in wonder at her form, and even the insectoid creatures paused at her cry. In her mind’s eye, she saw Old Pine being dragged into the creature’s body, and it was this that drove her forward. She took the mammoth insect in one hand and tossed it across the room.
Cupboards shattered beneath its weight. Jasmine swam her way forward, tearing the remaining furniture from its moorings to carve a path to the creature. The parasite screeched at her and lunged for her chest, but Jasmine grabbed its throat and smacked its body into the wet floor, splashing green water all around. The edges of her vision blurred with red, and all she wanted was for the creature to suffer as much pain as it had inflicted on Jasmine. She tossed it clear across the room.
She had just enough time to glance in the direction of another yowl and saw another wolf under attack from one of the smaller creatures. She caught a trail of white as it burrowed into a hole in the wolf’s throat, its body now visible beneath the skin, writhing and twisting. The wolf folded to the floor, its eyes screwed shut in agony.
The beast reared up, battered and bruised but functional.
Jasmine raced toward it, and the creature launched itself at her. It would have been a terrifying sight for a regular-sized person, but not for the hell-hide zombie beast Jasmine had become. She grabbed its lower jaw, and its momentum caused the body to jerk. It attempted to wrap its tail around her ankles, but she strode on with power. With a squeeze, she drove her claws through its throat and out of its exoskeleton. The creature gave a banshee screech and Jasmine drove its body against the wall.
The creature continued to fight back.
Jasmine slammed it against the wall again and again. Her claws tore through its body with each slam, and the creature’s body flattened and broke a little more with every hit until it eventually stopped moving.
Jasmine stared at the creature for a long moment. Her gaze fell to the swell of its stomach. She pictured Old Pine inside, wondering if he could have possibly survived the onslaught. She thought about cutting it open, but her attention was pulled back to the remaining pack members.
They were weary. They were wet. They fought on, though they were slowing down. Jasmine growled. She smashed her way to the remaining creatures and quickly dispatched the survivors, stepping on any that moved within range and slicing those that weren’t. In a matter of minutes, the infestation was over, and the room was left in a festering silence.
After a final check that no more of the white freaks were around, Jasmine sat back on her ass. The floor was wet but warm. The husks of insects surrounded them, floating lazily on the few inches of water that hadn’t yet drained. Her anger dissipated as she shrank back to her usual size, naked and exhausted.
She looked around at her Were brethren. Some of them had shifted back to man-skin, while others sat and waited obediently in wolf-pelt. Fur had been ruffled and blood had been shed, but for the most part, they seemed okay.
A low whine came from a graying wolf hunched over behind the smashed remains of a cupboard. Jasmine strode toward it, finding the body of the wolf who had fallen prey to one of the bugs. The wolf lay still, eyes open. Jasmine’s heart ached. She couldn’t help but feel responsible for all of this mess.
“Casualties are part of battle,” Gloria stated, standing beside Jasmine. She had a few gashes on her stomach that were slowly stitching back together. “You cannot take the blame for our losses. We would all follow each other to the end.”
“Those creatures…” Jasmine began, looking at the door they had arrived through. “There are still more of them.” She looked over her shoulder, looking for their target. “We didn’t even get the Queen. We lost.”
“No,” Gloria insisted softly. “This is a victory for us. We’ve got her scared. We’ve shown her our power. You’ve made it clear you’re not going to be pushed around by a power-hungry alchemist. That’s a victory so far. Maybe it’s not the big victory, but that will come later. Now, we take stock, and we prepare for what’s ahead.” She looked around at her pack, suddenly realizing the count was off. “Where’s Old Pine?”
Jasmine’s eyes stung with tears she tried to hold back. She pointed toward the giant corpse of the bug and led Gloria to its body. She drew one long claw and sliced through the center of the creature’s stomach, ooze rising to the surface before spilling down the hard exoskeleton. They could just about make out tufts of fur from Old Pine’s body.
Gloria sniffled.
“Shall I stop?” Jasmine asked.
Gloria shook her head slowly. Her eyes were glassy. “No. We must take his body to lay to rest. We cannot leave him here.”
Jasmine nodded and completed the incision. Gloria reached inside, pulled Old Pine out, and cradled his body to her bosom. She turned to face the pack. Without a word, she waded through the water back in the direction they’d come. The pack bowed their heads as she passed. Travis shifted to human form and took the other fallen body, and the pack filed out of the room to exit the building.
Jasmine glanced around the space. The creature’s body loomed next to her like some strange Halloween decoration. When the pack was gone, she approached the door the Queen had disappeared through.
She climbed the stairs, somehow knowing her exploration was going to turn up no results but also feeling the need to be diligent in her examination. She opened the upstairs door, and the temperature rose and soothed her wet, naked body. Strolling around the reception area of the homeless shelter, she could make out the sound of idle chatter as the city’s homeless set themselves to bed.
Despite her best efforts to detect the presence of the Queen, Jasmine was unable to sense her. She was sure the Queen was gone.
“All of this carnage…for what?” Jasmine stood in front of the glass doors and stared up at the sky. Dark clouds rumbled overhead, allowing only small slivers of white light from the moon to break through. It would be a full moon soon.
Not that it brought her any great relief. She may have done great damage to the Queen’s nest, but that didn’t mean the bitch couldn’t rebuild.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Jasmine shut off the engine of her SUV. Rain beat a gentle melody on the glass as the heavens unleashed its torrent. With the wipers off, it was almost impossible to see the national park ahead of her.
Jasmine laid her head back on the car’s headrest and closed her eyes. She had hardly spoken a word since the events beneath the homeless shelter and didn’t know how she was going to handle tonight. Despite the words of reassurance from the pack when they had parted ways, Jasmine couldn’t stop the image of the bestial insect gobbling one of her own. Every time she closed her eyes, it was there, playing like an old film behind her closed eyelids. Her attempts at sleep had seen her waking with a start, drenched in sweat, her claws drawn, imagining the creature rising at the end of her bed with the intent to digest her, too.
She pinched the bridge of her nose and took a long breath. No point waiting in the car. What’s to be done must be done, she thought.
Jasmine steeled herself and stepped out into the rain.
The gravel parking lot was nearly flooded. Jasmine strode toward the trail, and up ahead, she could make out a few of her pack members in their man-skin heading toward the same place. Jasmine remained a good distance behind, not feeling like talking to anyone today. She would pay her respects, then head home and drown her sorrows.
She chuckled to herself. If only I could.
The forest grew around her. Her heavy boots kept the puddle water from soaking her feet. Mud splashed up her legs, her hair clung to her face in wet strings, and her breath rose like mist before her face. She blinked the worst of the rainfall from her eyes. Her sleeves were sodden and useless to soak up the droplets.
She dug her hands in her pocket, following the winding pedestrian trail until she came to the shrubs where she entered the virgin forest. She knew the way by heart by now, though she had to admit that she was growing tired of walking this way to commemorate the dead.
The rain eased a little, and the moon peeked through the clouds. It was almost full but not yet casting its magic downward. Jasmine was thankful for that—the last thing she needed was the overwhelming sensational magic of the moon to heighten her emotions and set her senses on fire.
She crested the highest rise, returning to the place where she had first met the pack in the clearing. Many of the pack were already there, gathered in a circle and waiting in their wolf-pelts. Jasmine took her place in the circle, looking sadly around at the others. Not for the first time, she wished she could fit in with her pack, that she could shrink into her canine form as she had once done. That felt like a millennium ago, back when things were simple, and her mother and grandmother were alive.
In the center of the clearing, the burial places had already been dug out, and the bodies of the two fallen Weres were bundled and covered in a mesh made from natural materials. Jasmine folded her hands before her and waited.
Time stretched. Water dripped down her back and made her clothes cling to her skin. More Weres arrived until the clearing was almost full, with two spots remaining on the far side.
After what felt like an hour, the final two Weres joined the pack. Delilah and Kendrick approached their places, imposing and as naked as the day they were born. They hadn’t told Jasmine where they were honeymooning, but their skin showed a healthy tanned glow.
Delilah’s gaze met Jasmine’s. She offered a soft nod. Jasmine nodded back. She was glad the fear she had felt over Delilah being disappointed was not reflected in Del’s stare.
Delilah reached for Kendrick’s hand, and together the pair stepped into the center of the circle, beside the two bodies. Delilah addressed the pack. “Brothers and sisters, it is a sad day in which we find ourselves honoring the lives of those who have fallen in defense of the pack. Harvey Jackson—whom we knew affectionately as ‘Old Pine’—and Terry Hatchett will forever lie upon the mound of our homeland, their spirits living on in the other realm to guard this sacred land.”
The wolves bowed their heads low. Those who had been in man-skin shifted to their wolfish counterparts.
“But it is not me who will bestow a blessing upon the fallen,” Delilah announced, drawing Jasmine’s attention. “It is under the guardianship of your chosen stand-in that the wolves fell, and so it must come to you, Jasmine Vironsis, to bless the dead and cast them into the next life.”
Jasmine looked around the circle, meeting the gaze of each Were in turn. She was both comforted and saddened by the lack of blame in their eyes. She had thought there was a possibility the pack might hold a grudge because, once again, Jasmine had brought pain upon the pack. Instead, they stood with her until the end, grateful for the chance to help defend their brothers and sisters. Even Delilah and Kendrick showed no sign of animosity, only love and affection as they motioned for Jasmine to join them.
Jasmine tentatively broke from the circle to join Kendrick and Delilah in the center. She was painfully aware of all the eyes on her as she took her place between Delilah and Kendrick.
Delilah placed a hand on her shoulder. “If you are to take the responsibility of the pack in our absence, you are to take responsibility for all eventualities under your leadership.” She offered a warm smile. “Do not take it to heart. This pack would follow you to the end. It is both a gift and a tremendous responsibility to bear, but we would not have it any other way.” Delilah glanced down at the two bodies. “They will rest peacefully in their graves tonight. Often it is in death we find the sweetest relief.”
