"Carlisle is dead, Cait.
Half an hour had whipped by. Cait sat in silence among the rest of the Coven. Gathered in the suddenly lifeless dining room, Cait had situated herself by Daniel; in an odd way, it felt like being near Jaz.
"There's nothing you can do to help. You'd best stay here where it's safe.
"Daniel," she whispered.
Daniel wanted to scream, all of this was just too much. But he couldn’t scream, not now. He helped how he could, eventually when everyone had gathered in the dining room he found himself next to Caitlin. She whispered to him, everyone was clamouring about but he heard her just fine.
”Ya Cait? What is it?”"Jaz… She's gone. She left." She knew it might not mean as much to him as it did to her, but it was something she had to let out.
That was definitely
not what Daniel was expecting her to say.
”What do you mean she left? She was here like, an hour ago. Where did she go?”"Her dad isn't doing well. He was injured at work; he's in South America. They don't know that there's much time left."”Oh wow, poor Jaz,” Daniel wasn’t that close to Jaz, they’d only really just started getting to know each other. But it’s not like you needed to know someone to feel bad when they suffered a loss like that. Daniel was actually relieved that Jaz had gotten out of there before things got worse, and get worse they did.
Suddenly the front door flew open, as a human led five shifted werewolves into the house. As he spoke Daniel grew more agitated, he squeezed his left hand tightly, digging his nails into his palm. This had to be who he had been texting. The reason everyone was now in danger was because of him. Daniel wanted to shout at him, to call him out as a liar, but he couldn’t do that. He would tell everyone later, but for now he couldn’t cause even more discord among the group.
Startled by the arrival of the entourage of werewolves and the man leading them, Cait made an effort to hide. She paced two steps back, and a step to the side to stand behind Daniel, but still see as the scene unfolded. Through the fear of facing off against creatures she was ill-prepared to stave off, came a twinge of validation; not running away earlier had been the right choice. She noticed Daniel's reaction to seeing the unwanted guests. He suddenly seemed rigid; it looked like the way she felt when she wanted to lash out but knew she had to hold back.
She let go of that thought before it sank too deep. Instead, she fixed her attention as best she could on the man in the doorway, and the werewolves, whose frames collectively seemed to fill most of the space in the foyer. Cait watched, agape and at awe as Victor made himself the first to confront his cousin. It was a side of her high school friend she had never seen; a stern posture and an assertiveness that made him seem a different person. More shocking was to witness him deep freeze the first werewolf in front of him.
Everyone's gotten better but you.Daniel watched as Victor approached the group, he looked like he meant business, which was very out of character for him. He then proceeded to freeze a werewolf solid. As it fell Daniel realized Caitlin was somewhat hiding behind him,
”stay near me Cait, I’ll do my best to keep you safe.” Daniel had already brought danger to his friends, but at least now he could do his best to keep people safe.
Seeing the frozen husk of a werewolf drop to the floor became the tipping point. The remaining four gathered themselves, the tension grew thick.
You're no use here. Any semblance of calmness Cait had clung to spilled out. Against warnings and cautions, she turned on her toes and sprinted across the dining room, through the adjacent living room and out into the corridor; if she couldn't help in the fight, she would keep herself out of the way.
”Cait, wait!” But it was too late, she had already run off.
At least she’ll be safe if she’s far away from all the danger, Daniel was preparing to take on the remaining enemies in the room when he noticed one of the wolves break off from the others and chase after Caitlin.
”Not on my watch you don’t,” Daniel muttered as he chased after Caitlin and the wolf.
Cait's plan unraveled as soon as she reached the hallway. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the remaining werewolves looking in her direction. She sprinted faster. A shout, a howl, and the frantic cacophony of a skirmish rang down the hall. She looked behind her; the werewolf was bounding after her, its length and height covering the stretch with trivial ease.
Outrunning the beast wasn't close to an option. Cait's feet lifted from the floor. With a hurried spur of power, she glided the remaining distance to the library. Practically throwing herself into the room, she landed on all fours. She spun around on her knees. Throwing forward an open hand, she released a Telekinetic force that pushed the door closed… but it was a second too late. The werewolf's head barreled into the gap. For a second it got caught between the door and the jamb. Cait tried to muster more strength, that the tandem of her magic and the door's weight might be enough to buy her time. But as she crawled backward to hide among the stacks, the labor of projecting her power became harder to bear.
Within a painful few seconds on Cait's end, the wolf had gotten an arm through, and flung the door open. Its tall form dominated the threshold as it stalked toward Cait, who had ceased using her magic.
I guess this is how I go.The wolf was faster than Daniel, it was a good thing Caitlin had a head start or she’d be done for. It slowed down a bit as it got to the library door, was that Cait’s doing? She didn’t seem very comfortable with her magic, but fear and adrenaline were great motivators. As Daniel got to the door he saw the wolf making its way towards Caitlin. He didn’t have time to think of something optimal, so he conjured some shurikens and threw them at the wolf's back. He knew it wouldn’t do much damage but it would at least get their attention. The scream let him know this was a female werewolf he was dealing with. She turned to face him but he wasn’t there anymore, he had teleported behind her with a newly conjured wooden baseball bat and cracked her over the head so hard the bat broke. She fell to the ground but Daniel knew she’d be up again soon.
”Cait you’ve gotta find somewhere to hide, and if you see a chance to escape you take it. I’ll handle this,” if Caitlin responded Daniel didn’t hear it, he was too busy focusing on the sounds of the werewolf getting back on her feet. He conjured a sword and turned, swinging at her. Unfortunately she was more aware of her surroundings than he thought, and she knocked the sword away, sending it sliding to somewhere on the other side of the room. She slashed at his chest, Daniel moved back but not fast enough. The cuts weren’t deep but they hurt like hell and his shirt was ruined.
Making no comment or argument, Caitlin did as Daniel bid her. She retreated further into the library, hiding among the high bookshelves. As long as Daniel could keep the wolf distracted, she'd be safe where she was; if the fight came close, the doorway would be clear.
I could get back to the others then. "...now is the time to decide what you want to do with all the advice given to you over the years and whether you're actually willing to listen to it."
A sword clattered and clanged, and slid across the floor. Cait poked out from her hiding spot to Daniel taking a set of claws to the chest. She looked on the floor, where the sword had come to a stop a few feet away from her. Tucking herself back out of sight, she reached out her hand. The sword wobbled a second before sliding into her reach. With more than a little effort, she stood and held the sword up; her arms shook under the weight at first. Gradually, she steadied easing the weight of the sword with her magic; she might not have been powerful, but she had learned some control, enough to divert some of the labor to the control of kinesis.
With Daniel presumably still fighting, Cait crept behind the cover of the bookcase.
Daniel noticed Caitlin had listened and hidden away somewhere. Good, it meant he wouldn’t have to worry about standing between her and the werewolf anymore. The wolf swiped at him once more but this time he teleported to her right, throwing more conjured shurikens her way. She mostly evaded but one got her in the shoulder. She charged him again and once more he teleported, this time though he stayed close, stabbing her with a dagger he conjured. She reacted faster than Daniel had anticipated, giving him a bad cut on his left shoulder before he teleported away once more.
It wasn’t looking great, the werewolf was getting in some good hits, and all the teleporting in such a short time was compounding the issue. And while Daniel wasn’t drunk, all the alcohol in his system was catching up with him, making him
sluggish. All of that led him to one thought,
I need to end this soon. Since this would be his last attack, he needed to go all out.
Daniel summoned a shadow clone and either side of him, all three of them with shurikens in hand. They all threw at the same time, the werewolf, with no other option, swiped them out of the air as best she could. This was his opening, while she was distracted, Daniel teleported in front of her, newly conjured sword in hand, and stabbed her in the gut. But she didn’t collapse like he expected. Instead, she grabbed him by the neck and ran him directly into a wall. She held him there, snarling at him, and Daniel knew he was going to die. This had to be karma punishing him, this whole situation was his fault, and now he would die for his sins. Daniel flailed but it was no good, at least Cait should have been able to get away by now. He just wished he could have apologized to his friends for all the pain he caused tonight.
Cait rounded the bookcase as the werewolf pinned Daniel to the wall. It's back was turned to her. As she inched closer, it paid her no notice, completely preoccupied with Daniel.
It's now or never.
I must be crazy doing this. She stepped closer; she needed the right range.
I don't like doing this. But now you have to. Three steps further Cait drew the sword back. All she knew was to thrust it.
This thing is getting heavy. Then run it through and be done with it! Two more steps and Cait was right where she needed to be, the snarling lupine beast stood six feet away, back still turned.
Do it now. "Aaah! Cait hurled the sword forward. It flew from her handed, guided by what concentration and strength of magic she had left to expend. It sailed straight and true, the added momentum from her kinetics giving it just enough force to pierce through the werewolf's chest, close to where its heart would be.
It howled in agony, dropping Daniel and turning around to face Caitlin. It lumbered forward; now with a stagger in its step.
So close. Cait dropped to her knees and chuckled a bit.
"Welp. Nice meeting you Dan; good run bro."Daniel fell to the ground, coughing as he struggled to breathe again,
”not yet, this is my responsibility. No one else is dying because of me,” Daniel stood and conjured swords for himself and his shadows. This truly would be his last gambit. Before the wolf could react he teleported himself and his shadows next to her, surrounding her, and they all stabbed through her simultaneously. She didn’t howl in pain, she just coughed up some blood, then collapsed.
Daniel fell to his knees as well, and everything he had conjured dissipated. He fell forward and lifted his head to look at Caitlin.
”Thanks for the save, he was breathing heavily, glad the fight was over,
”next time I’ll give you something more suitable to throw.” He laughed a little at that, everything was just too much and it had finally made him snap just a bit, all he could do was laugh.
"I gotchu. You bailed me out twice." Either of her own inclination or because Daniel's was contagious, Caitlin joined in the laughing; hers was accompanied by a shedding of tears. She looked at the collapsed werewolf, eyes sharpened on the blade sticking out of its chest.
"Did… did I actually do that?" she asked, choking back tears.
Daniel adjusted himself so he was sitting up, that much at least he could manage.
”You totally did,” Daniel was still breathing heavily, but it was getting better,
”I know you said you didn’t really like your magic earlier, but you seemed to do alright for yourself.” "It's different. Cait spread out, lying backside on the floor.
"Harder, ya know? When it's fighting like that. It feels different; like I'm not in control; like I'm not me when I'm doing it.".
”You get better at controlling it the more you do it. You're still you, if anything that feeling helps you stay true to yourself."Cait thought for a moment, coming to a question she hadn't realized was nagging at her.
"What did you mean by 'no one else'"?”Hm?" Daniel feigned not understanding the question, he didn't want to go into it right now.
"You said something about no one else dying because of you?"Daniel coughed, partly an aftereffect of the fight but mostly to cover his discomfort at the question.
”Aurora and I are the ones who found Carlisle, I guess I just feel responsible. Like I could have done more." There was more to it, but Daniel really didn't want to ruin his friendship with Cait after what they just went through. He got up, offering his hand to help Cait up,
”come on, we should head back to the others."
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