Chapter 335: Husks
The beta staggered to his feet. His body was warped, and his face was unrecognisable now that his skin had split open to reveal glowing cracks across his skull. His voice had turned layered with something not his own, but it now carried the chaos they had been suppressing all along. The air around the banquet hall turned static, as if it had been turned on with something more than just the molecules of the air. The glowing lights on the ceiling flickered and turned into flaming torches; the marble pillars shifted into old and dilapidated wooden pillars.
"Magic," hissed his beast, sneezing louder than ever once the veil that had been covering the entire space disappeared.
"You cannot stop us. You cannot stop our lady! Every child that we have fed The Great One feeds her flame and power. Every sacrifice that was handed to her makes us stronger. Immortal. Kill one, and another one will rise from her shadows!"
Killian snarled. His eyes narrowed as he cut down another attacker. Their ash sprayed across the mottled stone like grey and black snow. "They sold their wolves. They have no souls... what kind of immortality does this man speak of?" He spat on the floor, his snout moving jerkily as he did that. "They are all nothing but husks. Hollowed in and out."
The beta growled as he lunged at him. His movements were wrong...he was too fast and stiff. Killian barely twisted in time, but the claws of the man still ripped past the fur and grazed across his flesh instead of his ribs. Fortunately, the lycans had bodies that were as strong as tanks, or else he would have gotten a rib or two broken. However, the strength of the attack still made his bones rattle.
The pack surged again, swarming around him and his enforcers.
Claws raked at them, tearing their skin and rattling their bones. Teeth gnashed near their faces, and the air started to thicken with the stench of decay and burning magic. Killian fought them hard; each strike reduced another to dust, but he could see that the Silver Dawn Pack was not going to go down. For every time someone fell, two more pressed forward. Their hunger was endless. This fight was now starting to seem meaningless.
At the far end of the hall, the torches started to flare up even brighter. It cast shadows of the husks against the wall. For a moment, Killian thought he saw the witch. The Great One they spoke of. The woman’s silhouette was right there, tall and slender. Her face was covered in a hood like the statue’s, sitting in the middle of the banquet hall that he had seen earlier.
The beta snapped his head toward the shadow of the woman as if he were answering her presence. His lips cracked wide in a grin, making his jaw stretch beyond human limits. "She can see you," He hissed, a voice chorus of whispers. "She claims you. Your blood shall make her stronger, Alpha Sokolov. You should be glad that you are going to become a part of this revolution where things shall change."
Rage flared in Killian’s chest. He had no fucking idea what this crazy revolution was, but this witch was not going to take him down; there was no way he was going down. Not when these people have the craziest idea of making him into a sacrificial goat. Just as one of the husks lunged at him, Killian feinted to slip, and the man pivoted fast enough to claim his throat but not fast enough actually to cut through his flesh. Killian snapped his jaw closed around the throat of the husk, and he disintegrated.
More came.
Killian twisted and crushed the ribs of one of his attackers. Bone started to splinter. But the husk didn’t scream in pain. He didn’t flinch. Instead, he lashed out and clawed at Killian’s hindquarters.
This bastard! Killian heard his beast roar out loud as he twisted around and slammed into the husk.
How many are left? Killian asked his beta when another husk turned into dust.
’Honestly?’
’I am sure they are doubling up, instead of going down,’ replied Finn with a frustrated sigh.
Killian suppressed a growl as he stared at the husks that were indeed getting out of hand. If this went on, then they would only waste more time. They only needed one of them alive; as for the rest, they might as well burn in hell.
His eyes flickered, and he looked up at the chandelier that had transformed into the old wooden one, with countless candles burning in it.
The cogs in his head started to turn, and he immediately pack-linked with his beta and the rest of the enforcers. Drag the beta out and keep these husks busy for the time being.
Got it.
Three voices echoed in his head at the same time, and Killian lunged past the swarm of the husks and climbed up the wall. And just when the gravity started to pull him down, he shifted in mid-air and lunged at the chandelier. He crashed into the frame of the chandelier, sending it crashing to the floor. The candles were scattered all over the floor, sending sparks all over the swarm of husks. With their peeling skins and papery-thin flesh, it didn’t take long for the husks to catch fire.
Flames surged all over the floor.
Was this your great plan!? Ajax jumped in the air as he staggered backwards.
Shut up.
Killian landed on the floor and watched the husks burn slowly. Even then, they didn’t let out a single scream. With the flames engulfing them, they turned into clouds of grey ashes but stayed calm. At the corner of the room, Killian saw more and more shadows staggering as more husks started to come to life.
Shit.
The sound of rustling caught his attention, and Killian turned to look behind him. His eyes widened slightly when he noticed a husk hiding in the shadows—Drakon.
Double shit.