Aftertheblood - 4. Chapter 4

"No!" Shaun said and pulled out his pistol to shoot the paladin.

"NO!" Brooked ordered, and used her magick to telekinetically push the two men back ten feet, disorienting them. The werewolf collapsed to the ground, and shrank down to human form.

"Wow." the goth girl said in pure disbelief at what she just saw.

Brooke looked at her, concentrated for a second, and said telepathically, "You don't remember any of this."

"Remember what?"

"Go home and watch TRL or something."

"I think I'll go home and watch TRL or something," the girl said. She turned and left, swayed by Brooke's mind magick (and probably forgetting to kill herself).

Brooke quickly went over to the downed, now-human werewolf. He was a skinny, apparently teenage white male with ash blonde hair. His clothes were still intact but were wet and filthy. His body frame was surprisingly small, considering how big his wolfman form was. He was still alive, but his pulse was faint.

"You're not dying on us that easy," Brooke said as she focused her healing magick on his wound. When doing this, she takes on her subject's pain as well, and the burn of the silver blade was agony. Brooke held strong though, until the wound was reduced to a mere scratch. She briefly passed out from the strain, but her efforts were successful.

"Ugh..." the now-human werewolf mumbled as he woke up. "Wha...where am I?"

"I'll give you a hint," Shaun said, having regained his bearings, "This ain't a dream. Let's just focus on that first and then we'll deal with the crazy altar boy trying to kill you."

"Don't make light of this," the paladin said, "That demon killed five people!"

"Oh shut up," Brooke weakly said as she came around, "Everything's a demon to you morons."

"If you defend that monster, his victims' blood will be on your hands," the paladin said sternly.

"Let's just get to the bottom of this first," Shaun said, then turned to the boy, "Who are you and what happened?"

"My name is--"

"None of that fool's business," Shaun said, pointing to the paladin. "Just cut to the chase."

"Um...I-I was walking home from school when these five guys jumped me from behind."

"Just five random guys?" The paladin asked, unconvinced.

"No, I know them from school. They're assholes. They've always been assholes but especially when they found out..." his voice trailed off and he started to cry. "Oh my God, they're dead aren't they? I didn't ask for any of this!"

"It's ok," Brooke said and tried to comfort him.

"No its not," the paladin said, with his pistol ready.

"It was his first time changing," Shaun said.

"And his last..." the paladin aimed his gun.

Shaun drew his own gun and shot him in his left kneecap. Shaun knew the bullet wouldn't penetrate the material in the paladin's pants, but the impact would still crack bone. The paladin howled in pain. Shaun got up and punched him in the jaw, hoping to knock him out. The paladin rolled with the punch however, and tackled Shaun to the ground. The two men tussled for a bit, getting dangerously close to the edge of the cliff.

"Oh my God," Brooke said. She wanted to help but was still drained from healing a mortal wound.

"Ishnu mokodaré," Shaun said in the spirit tongue. The earth spirit in the ledge complied and started to crumble the edge. The ground began to give from underneath them. Shaun was able to get out in time, grabbing the paladin's dagger in the process. The paladin however, couldn't run with his cracked knee and didn't have time to cast a healing spell. He fell to the icy creek below.

"Did you just kill him?!" Brooke asked.

"He'll live, it's just a twenty-foot drop. Now lets get the fuck out of here."