Jacob and Allison watched the scene from the shadows in anger as the hunters threatened the woman with her children's lives. Allison's hands clenched into fists so tight her nails bit into her palms.
"What a bunch of scum." She hissed, her voice trembling with fury.
"Alright." Jacob's voice was low. "You stay here. I'm going to take care of them, starting with the guy pointing the gun at the children."
Allison hesitated for only a second, her eyes locking onto the sniper rifle lying next to the headless corpse. A grim resolve settled over her. "No." She said, her voice steadier now. "Leave him to me."
Jacob said. "No. I don't want you going out there. They have guns, and you're not back at your full strength yet."
"I'm not going to show myself." She said, already moving to pick up the heavy rifle. The metal was cold and familiar in her hands. "My dad taught me how to shoot all kinds of guns. It's been two years, but from this distance? I'm sure I can blow his head off."
She worked by feel, her fairy-enhanced eyes checking the chamber and the scope in the dim light. The memory of her father's patient coaching pushed back the nausea and fear.
Jacob watched her for a tense moment, then said. "Alright. I'm counting on you. Stay here after you kill him, and don't come out until I've killed all of them."
Allison nodded, bringing the rifle up to her shoulder and settling into a prone position, using a fallen log for support. She leaned forward, her eye finding the scope. The world narrowed to a circle of glass and crosshairs.
She felt Jacob getting close to her, then a soft brush of his lips against her temple. Then he started walking toward the clearing.
"Be careful." She whispered, her focus never leaving the scope.
"You too." He said.
In the clearing, the fat man was steps away from the werebear woman, an obscene smile on his face. The man who was pointing his gun at the children was watching with a smirk, his posture relaxed.
Jacob shifted. His claws extended. Black scales covered his entire body except his face and hands. He didn't let his horns appear. Then he walked out from the darkness and walked toward the werebear woman, holding a bathrobe he took from his pocket dimension.
The fat man and his thugs stared, weapons half-raised, at the teen shapeshifter with glowing golden eyes emerging from the tree line.
"Stop right there, you little shit." The fat man's voice was a gravelly threat. "Or we will shoot you."
Jacob didn't care about them. He just kept walking toward the woman.
While the hunters didn't feel anything from Jacob, the woman, on the other hand, was trembling. She felt fear when she looked at Jacob—a primal fear that made her forget all her rage.
The fat man turned to one of his goons and said. "Shoot him!"
The man shot Jacob in the chest, but the bullet hit Jacob's chest like hitting iron. Sparks flew as the bullet shattered when it penetrated Jacob's hoodie and hit his dragon scales underneath.
Jacob didn't even feel the bullet. He looked at the man and raised his hand, pointing a finger at the man. Then a small ball of lightning appeared at the tip of Jacob's finger and shot faster than a bullet toward the man, penetrating his head and making a burned hole in his forehead, dropping him dead.
Jacob's glowing eyes locked onto the fat man. His voice was a low, chilling calm. "Be patient. I will deal with you soon."
The man saw the bullet didn't even wound Jacob and how Jacob killed his man. He took an involuntary step back, his confidence shattering.
Jacob arrived next to the woman, offering her the bathrobe. "Here, cover yourself."
The woman flinched and took a step away from Jacob in fear.
Jacob threw the bathrobe at her. "Don't be scared of me. I mean you no harm."
Seeing Jacob helping the woman, the fat guy stopped trembling and smirked. But he wasn't confident of catching Jacob, he just wanted him to leave. He said. "Kid, leave or I will kill her kids!"
Allison took a deep, steadying breath, let half of it out, and held it. Her finger settled on the trigger.
'Squeeze, don't pull.' Her father's voice echoed in her mind.
The crosshairs found their mark, centering on the gunman's head.
She squeezed.
The sound of the rifle was deafening in the relative quiet forest, like a sharp, violent thunderclap that ripped through the night.
The gunman's head snapped backward. One second he was standing; the next, he was collapsing like a sack of meat, his body slumping against the iron cage before sliding to the ground, leaving a dark smear on the metal.
The sound of the shot froze everyone in the clearing. The fat man's head turned slowly, his smug smirk shattering into confusion, then raw terror, as he stared at his lifeless man slumped against the cage.
His remaining men spun around, weapons raised, searching frantically for the new threat.
Just then, Jacob attacked. The first hunter died before he could even turn his rifle around, his throat torn out by a casual swipe of a claw. The second managed to get off a wild, panicked burst of automatic fire that ricocheted harmlessly off Jacob's scaled forearm before Jacob grabbed his head and twisted. The sickening sound of snapping bone echoed in the clearing.
Chaos erupted. But it was a short-lived chaos. The men weren't hunters anymore. They were prey and Jacob was the hunter, and he was moving too fast for them to even react.
There were 8 remaining men. Jacob ripped the heads off two of them, tore three clean in half, and plucked the beating hearts from two others, leaving only the fat man alive.
Jacob walked toward him, and the man started backing away in fear while emptying his gun into Jacob's chest. But the bullets did nothing. One struck Jacob's forehead—it left only a fading red mark that vanished in less than a second.
The fat man fell to the ground, scrambling backward through the dirt in fear. "What kind of monster are you?!"
Jacob caught up to him and without a word inserted his claws into the back of the man's neck and started reading his memories. When he was done, he threw the man at the woman's feet and said. "He is all yours."
The man, despite Jacob reading his memories, didn't lose consciousness or anything. Although he was dizzy and confused from the mental violation, he was still sane.
The woman looked at Jacob, her voice steady but cold. "Can you hold this for me, please?" She tossed the bathrobe back to him. "I don't want to ruin it with this pig's blood."
Jacob caught the robe and watched as the woman walked to the man and with her claws started peeling his skin and killing him slowly while he begged for mercy and screamed like a pig.
After the woman was done, she went to the water tank the hunters were using and took a shower. She came back to Jacob, took the robe, and wore it, then went to the cage. She freed her children, pulling them into a tight hug before breaking down into heavy, wrenching sobs.
Allison walked from her hidden place and came to Jacob's side. "What did you see in that man's memories?"
Jacob said. "More horrible things."
Allison sighed. "I don't think I can sleep tonight. I wish I could spend the night with you."
Jacob said. "Me too. I don't feel like spending the night alone... after all I just did and saw. I might have looked cruel killing those guys, but now that my rage is gone, I feel sick and kind of disgusted with myself right now."
"I know how you feel." Allison whispered. "I killed a man too."
"How about we go to Lydia and spend the night with her? You can tell your parents that you're at Lydia's house and they wouldn't say anything." Jacob suggested.
"Yes, we can do that." Allison said softly. "I really don't want to spend the night alone in my room."
Jacob said. "Alright. Let me get rid of these bodies first, Then we'll go."
The woman approached with her children. "Thank you." She said, her voice thick with emotion. "I don't want to imagine what would have happened if you hadn't shown up."
"You're welcome." Jacob replied. "Take one of their cars and leave with your kids."
The woman hesitated, then asked. "Can I ask... what kind of creature are you? I've never felt fear like I felt when you appeared."
Jacob shook his head. "I can't tell you that. It wouldn't do any of us any good."
She nodded, understanding. "I see. Thank you again for your help, both of you."
Jacob nodded at her, and the woman turned around, loaded her children into a truck, and drove away, leaving the nightmare behind.
Jacob looked at Allison. "Stay here. I'm going to burn the bodies."
Allison nodded, and Jacob gathered all the bodies together. After taking a bank card and another card from the fat man, he burned the bodies, the cars, the tents, and everything else to ash, except the guns, of course. He stored those in his pocket dimension. He took off his clothes and burned them too, took a quick shower with some water from his pocket dimension, and changed into new clothes.
After that, Allison and Jacob left the forest using their superspeed and headed toward Lydia's house.
To be continued... 😊