The Last Spirit Wolf (Elena Norwood)

-Vera-

"Noah! Noah! Snap out of it!"

My attention has completely shifted to Noah, I have even dropped my spear and am using both of my hands and all of my strength to shake him. "Come on, Noah! Fight this!"

I'm pleading with him, I can almost feel tears begin to rim my eyes. It's not out of sadness, it's out of desperation and frustration. I almost had her; *we* almost had her. Now she has flipped the tables and I have no idea how to get Noah back. I hear her laugh and turn to her.

She smiles at me. It's a sweet smile, laced with wickedness.

"Puppy," she says sweetly, as she lifts her arm and uses a single finger to point at me, "attack."

The hairs on my nape rise as all my instincts kick into overdrive. Noah turns to me,

please no. Snap out of it!" I plead again, taking several steps back and picking up

my spear from the ground, positioning it defensively in front of me.

Noah growls angrily at me. It's something I never thought I would live to see.

I take a few more steps back, understanding that pleading with him won't work. I have to find a way to kill the witch without hurting Noah, or before he kills me.

He launches at me, a hand extended towards my neck. I dodge his attack with mere inches to spare. He comes after me, again and again while that bitch just stands there and laughs.

"Oh, poor child, to think that you will be killed by your one true love. Imagine what will happen once I let him go and he sees you dead in his arms; he won't be able to live with the guilt."Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

My heart shrinks at her words. If Noah does kill me, I'm certain he will soon follow.

I'm using my spear to avoid his attacks but they keep on coming and I'm already getting tired. We have been fighting attackers for some time now, in the castle and here, I won't be able to last much longer.

When I land after dodging him again, my foot slips on spilled blood and I fall on my back. Noah cages me in, snarling furiously only inches away from my face. He's getting ready to snap my neck with his teeth when the witch speaks again, "Puppy, not like this. Turn into your human form, I want you to wake up and *know* it was your human hands that killed her."

"No!" I breathe.

My arms are pinned to my body by Noah's legs as he turns into his human form. His eyes are still glazed over, even in human form. His expression is furious as his chest heaves in anger in front of me.

"Now you can strangle her," she says in a cheery tone.

Noah promptly gets up, lifting me to stand painfully by my hair. I grunt at the pulling of my scalp and tears begin to fall to my cheeks. His free hand goes to my neck as he lets go of my hair, lifting me off my feet and squeezing. Both of my hands fly to his wrist as he continues to put pressure on my delicate neck.

"No...ah..." I manage to croak out, "I love... you. This...isn't your fault."

Unstoppable tears are streaming down my cheeks now. I hope, if anything, that he can remember my words. I hope he doesn't blame himself for this and I really, really hope he gets to kill that bitch for me.

As my eyesight gets blurry and my lungs burn due to the lack of oxygen, I can feel myself slipping away; but to my surprise, I fall to the ground.

I gasp for air desperately, clutching my neck with my hand. My lungs burn, my nose burns, and I'm extremely lightheaded. I turn to look up at Noah with teary eyes and notice his are still glazed over... but he's immobile. What the hell is happening?

I turn to look at the witch and she's equally surprised, shocked even. I turn back to Noah and he's shaking his head violently. When he comes to, his eyes are no longer glazed over; he looks at me panicked. "Vera! Goddess what did I do?!"

He crouches down in front of me and removes my hand from my neck. I don't know how bad my neck looks but he blanches; it can't be pretty judging by his expression.

"Vera I'm so sorry, I... I... this wasn't me! I don't know what I was thinking!"

I frown in the direction of the witch, unable to speak, silently letting him know it was her. He follows my gaze and understanding dawns on him.

The witch is looking rather pale now, she's taking a few steps back, as if wanting to escape any

minute.

"This isn't possible. It can't be," she keeps repeating as she retreats.

"I'm going to kill her," Noah growls as he turns into his lycan once again, chasing after the witch.

She tries once again to put him under the same spell he was in, but she fails. She has no other option than to dodge his attack and keep trying to put him under again.

I stay on the ground, coughing and recovering from Noah's attempt to kill me. After only a minute or two, I feel like I can join in the fight. The least Noah can do is let me kill that bitch myself.

I grab the spear next to me and run towards where Noah is chasing the witch. When I get close, she looks panicked.

"Alistair! Alistair! Wake up you useless dog!"

She's almost growling at Alistair whom I can see from the corner of my eye is twitching. So, Noah didn't kill him after all.

"You were supposed to kill them all, you idiot!" She keeps yelling in his direction as she dodges our attacks.

I'm surprised she has managed to dodge our continuous attacks, but I can tell she's getting more and more tired. This is the moment where we have to push her more until she slips up and makes a mistake.

To my horror, however, it seems that Alistair has gotten up and is charging towards us once again. That scum won't just die.

Both Noah and I are hurt from all the previous fighting, but so are they. If we do manage to kill both of them, it will be by the skin of our teeth.

The witch stops for a second to lock eyes with Noah and she growls,

"This is why you should never let a dog handle the business of a witch!"

She points her slender finger at Noah, my ears are ringing. No... no no no.

"Noah!" I scream, running to him.

**Mortem,*" she says, and Noah fall to the ground, paralyzed.

"Now, you idiot!" She yells.

Alistair takes a huge jump, getting to him first, and drags his claws across Noah's mid body. Satisfied with his attack, he retreats as I get close to Noah. He turns into his human form and I catch his head in my arms before it hits the ground. "No, no no no! Noah! Stay with me!"

I'm sobbing uncontrollably, cradling his head to my chest as I look at his injury. He's looking up at me, a single tear slipping from his eye.

"Vera..." he tries to speak.

"No, no... shhh... It's gonna be alright, Noah. Save your strength."

The wound didn't kill him, but the heavy bleeding surely will if I don't stop it; and yet there's nothing I can do about it right now. I try applying pressure but I can't even do that properly because it's too massive. Panic and desperation are settling in as I continue to sob and try my best to stop the bleeding; my fingers slippery from all the blood.

"I told you, you stupid whore. I told you what your fate would be. Don't worry, I didn't want to kill him just yet. I need him to witness what I'm going to do to you."

Alistair keeps talking in his human form as he moves towards me, completely naked, but I can no longer hear him.

Pure, unadulterated rage blinds me.

I hear my bones begin to crack.