Page 6 of Her Eternal Mate

I could just as well observe that for Griswold, this was not simply a matter of fighting over territory; this was about his legacy. He was willing to die for it, and so were the vampires that he was leading. I had never considered vampires to be so cause-driven. Seeing them in such spirits, falling for their fallen leader, made me think that there was perhaps more nuance to them than met the eye.

But what could I do? In the face of these odds, faced with a horde of vampires who had now grown more reliant upon their weapons, given that they were in close quarters in the forest, I could see no route leading to our redemption save one.

Kill Griswold.

Seeing him fall would break the vampire’s spirits.

There was just the matter of Griswold being surrounded by his loyal comrades. There was no way in.

Will, we can end this madness if we kill Griswold,I called out to Will.

What do you think I’ve been trying to do for the past hour?Will replied.He’s a mutated entity, one lacking fear and all manners of inhibition. Whatever Blair injected him with is working wonders on him.

Yes, but don’t you think that there has to be a downside to all the chemicals that are running through his veins?I knew from experience, having lived with a man who had been driven to the brink of insanity and death because of the chemicals that he was poisoned with. Whatever concoction was working its magic on Griswold had to have some sort of side effects.

His stamina, he’s overexerted himself. His body is showing signs of wear and tear. He’s overdrawing strength from where there is none. If pushed just a little further, he will collapse, Will said.

Then let’s do that, shall we?

We shall do nothing of the sort. I have singled him out. It’s only fitting that I defeat him alone,Will insisted firmly.But I need you to handle the vampires if things get out of hand. They wouldn’t want to see their leader fall. When the levees break, go berserk on the vampires.

Roger that,I said, getting ready to pounce upon the vampires should they retaliate. For now, they held the circle that had been formed around Will and Griswold. The way Griswold lingered, spear in hand, eyeless, fierce, and bleeding, he looked like some form of a grotesque character straight out of a nightmare. The fact that Will had been so bravely fighting him and continued to do so was admirable, at the very least. I could feel my respect and love for him growing in my heart. He deserved to be our Alpha.

The two combatants stopped circling each other. Will initiated the attack by leaping on Griswold and clawing the spear free from his grasp. Already eyeless, Griswold scampered around, searching for the spear with his one remaining eye but finding it impossible to do so because Will kept attacking him.

Griswold roared loudly and kicked Will. Will swiftly dodged it. At the same time, when he landed, Will kicked away the spear into the werewolf’s side of the crowd. Griswold, now panting loudly, tore off his clothes and stood there shirtless. His body bore many bruises, cuts, and scars. Some were not recent, giving me a greater understanding of who Griswold was. He was a mercenary, a fighter who had made it his singular purpose in life to get into brawls and come out on the other side, bruised but victorious.

However, Will had scars to match as well. And I knew this about Will that he had never backed away from a fight even when all the odds were against him.

The vampires were growing restless from observing Griswold take a brutal beating. But they did not dare attack as long as the werewolves held their side of the circle. The vampires hissed and flailed their weapons threateningly, but that was all they could do. At least now, the wolves and the vampires were evenly matched in numbers. This was the last leg of the battle, this much was certain, and it all depended on the outcome of the match taking place in front of us.

The match where Griswold was now on his knees, his skin breaking into a sweat as his reserves of stamina gave away and forced him to go on the defensive. He threw rocks at Will half-heartedly, all of which Will dodged as he raced towards Griswold in a zigzag, increasing his speed as he drew nearer. At the last second, Will pounced off the ground and tackled Griswold, causing him to topple and fall. The larger-than-life vampire stayed there on the ground, acknowledging his defeat.

Will shifted back into his human form and stood towering over Griswold’s defeated body.

“I hope that clears things up,” Will said. “I have beaten you fair and square. This could very well have ended in murder, but I am choosing to end it here. Leave with your vampires and never return to this area again. In this case, we will not seek you out nor will we harm you. Should you and any of the vampires ever come back, you will meet with nothing but your deaths. Agreed?” Will extended his hand to Griswold, who begrudgingly took it and yanked himself off the floor.

“You drive a hard bargain,” Griswold growled. “But it is a fair one. I agree. We shall never step foot in this realm again.”

Will turned his back and started walking to where Griswold’s spear had fallen, presumably to hand it back to him. But in that instant, Griswold threw his arm forward in a fast arc and tried to attack Will on his undefended back. Will turned immediately, lifting Griswold’s spear off the ground. And so it was Griswold’s momentum that caused him to become impaled on his own spear.

For a moment, everyone stood still and silent, even Griswold. Will stood with the spear in both hands and on top of that spear, Griswold was skewered and bleeding and groping.

He tried to utter something, but only blood came out of his mouth in spurts. Griswold slid further down till he was practically wedged against Will. Will let go of the spear, allowing it and Griswold to fall to the ground.

It was at this second that I knew what I had to do. The vampires, having just seen their leader fall to his death so suddenly, lost all control and tried to rush forward and surround Will. Instead, they came face to face with the front most rank of the werewolves barring their way. I led the rank, closing around the vampires and making them back off. When they saw that they were leaderless and outnumbered, they began to retreat.

We cannot let them leave, Will,I said.This is now or never. If we don’t end them and their bloodlines tonight, they will perpetually come back with more and more numbers bent on revenge. We have to kill them before they escape.

He looked into my eyes and understood the gravity of the situation, immediately shifting back into his wolf form and chasing the vampires alongside me and the rest of the wolves. We could all see that the vampires had given up all hope from the way they were running and leaving their weapons behind. They could have made a stand, but they didn’t.

With Vince and Will by my side, I led the charge on the retreating vampires. It was their fault that we were hunting them. Will had extended them a treaty. Griswold had chosen to attack Will behind his back. Will killed Griswold only in self-defense. All of the fault lay on the vampires’ side.

And it was with this thought that I hunted them as they fled through the forest. The wolves cornered them down and began slashing away at them, killing them one by one as the night deepened and the trail of the vampires became more and more scattered.

Even in defeat, they were heading somewhere. There seemed to be some secretive location they were all holed up in. It was this place that they had been using as their base of operations after the cove and the cave had fallen. It was a most opportune move that we were chasing them; now we could find out where they had been hiding and smite them there.

As the chase progressed and the vampires picked up speed, I understood that it wasn’t in any cove or cave that they were hiding. It was in an abandoned ship floating off the bay. It was derelict wreckage, half sunk in the shallow water. The vampires began flying in the air and across the bay onto the boat.