CHAPTER TWO
Zhen Zi let out a whistle from his mouth, a sound so high pitched Natasha doubted if normal humans could hear it, she herself struggled to hear it. Almost like clockwork, werewolves began to fill the room, coming out of hiding places and secret compartments, until she was completely surrounded.
At first Natasha was surprised, but she soon found the answer, the werewolves were all probably in some sort of meditative sleep, deliberately reducing their own heart and breathing rates, and that shrill whistle, was the signal to wake them up! Natasha did a quick head count, at least a dozen and a half werewolves surrounded her, excluding Zhen Zi. This was bad, very, very bad, if it anyone apart from her. She smiled, barely able to contain her desire to kill them all.
"So, this is the fabled Wolfsbane, the assassin with the highest werewolf kill count in history, the most skilled blade of this era." A thick voice said, drawing out the words in what Natasha assumed was for dramatic effects, the speaker stepped from behind Zhen Zi, while everyone else's footsteps were quick and silent, as if walking on eggshells, his were strong and purposeful, as if he was a king attending to his subjects. He looked at Natasha, glowing eyes scanning her from top to bottom, like a goat he just might buy. "I must say, I expected more."
The speaker in question was tall, taller than Natasha by at least a head, and built like a boxer, with broad shoulders and long arms, his face was angular and sharp, with a nose that was a bit too long to be called handsome. He wore dark green, some kind of military outfit, in a way only a soldier could, he even had his hair cut in some kind of buzz cut. Zhen Zi nodded to the werewolf, but the werewolf ignored him, instead choosing to stare at Natasha, that could only mean one thing.
"You must be the one they call the General, I must say, I'm glad, I thought I might have to hunt you down all over again, after dealing with all your puppies of course. Thanks for making my job much easier." she said that last part with deliberate slowness, her voice masking the intense rage she felt at him. Her mother had whispered about him, he was one of those that had hurt her most.
Instead of rising to the bait, he simply raised one hand above his head, and snapped, a sharp sound that filled the entire room. All around the room the werewolves began to trasform, they must have been given lycanide, a drug that allowed werewolves to transform fully even without a full moon. The transformation from the drug lasted for a short while though, at most a quarter of an hour, and excessive use has a risk from making the user's insane. Besides, it was also crazily expensive, and using enough for twenty werewolves for just her spoke volumes on how highly they rated her skills.
The werewolves growled, their growls getting deeper and morphing into howls. Well, Natasha wouldn't wait for them to come for her, she flicked her fingers, and threw one of her knives at the general, but Zhen Zi stepped in the way, easily plucking it out of the air, the General didn't even flinch. Pity.
The other werewolves she threw knives at her not so lucky. Her hands were a blur, moving at insane speeds and throwing silver knives, each of them meeting its mark. Very soon, in the seconds they took to transform, half a dozen of them had been taken out.
Even with Natasha's knife skills, she was still outnumbered a dozen to one, and the dozen where already done transforming, even while standing on four legs they were huge, almost at the height of Natasha's shoulders. Natasha smiled, she had been looking for a chance to vent her rage.
As one, the werewolves pounced, attacking her from all directions. She went low, rolling to the side and slashing a werewolf across the thigh. It howled as dark blood flowed openly from the wound, filling the room with a distinctive coppery scent, his werewolf healing useless against Natasha's sword.
The other werewolves reached her, and the next few minutes were a mixture of attacks, blocks and the snarls of werewolves as they were slashed. Within minutes, half of them were dead, though she did sustain her fair share of injuries, her ribs were aching badly from when she was too slow dodging a werewolf's attack, her suit had taken the brunt of the damage, but she feared at least one of her ribs were broken.
The werewolves were getting faster now, slashing and biting, or maybe it was her that was getting slower, how long had they been fighting? Two minutes? Five? Ten? It didn't matter, even through her deep rage, Natasha knew the truth, she had to retreat. Even if she killed them all, Zhen Zi would kill her in her present state.
Natasha hated retreating, especially with the one that hurt her mother so close, but even she admitted her chances of victory were nonexistent at best. She pulled out a dark round object from one of her many pockets, a little bigger than an average tennis ball. It was her personal creation, a home-made equivalent of a flash-bang and smoke bomb hybrid, she designed it specifically to deal with a werewolf's superior senses, it should be able to stun them for a moment at least, giving her enough time to escape.
She jumped back, barely evading a werewolf's bite, but she earned another slash in the thigh from another as a reward, she groaned as pain shot up her leg, not even liquid metal could protect one completely from a werewolf. She pulled out the ball, holding the slick yet fragile material in her hand, she had one chance to do this, she could not afford to mess it up.
Natasha twirled and slashed, her movements a dance of blood and death, another werewolf fell, its throat slashed open by Natasha's sword, but deep down, Natasha knew it wasn't enough to win, even now, another werewolf had taken its place, and the remaining were the strongest of the lot.
Natasha danced back and forth, her feet barely touching the ground, completely surrounded by werewolves, and then she saw the perfect moment. All the werewolves perfectly aligned, as if she had positioned them herself, they charged at her, all of them barely a feet from her, they were so close she could even smell their fur and rank breaths, she smiled, she couldn't have asked for a better opportunity.
She opened her palm, dropping the ball, and it exploded with the sound of a thousand gunshots. With the sound came a bright flash of light, like a miniature sun in the room, thankfully, it lasted only for a second, because even with her eyes closed, Natasha worried she might go blind. it was so bright that Natasha almost felt pity for the poor werewolves and their superior vision.
After the light and explosion came the odor, smelling like a mixture of sulfur and rotten eggs, Natasha had designed it to be the most offensive odor imaginable, she wrinkled her nose even as she held her breath, maybe there was actually no need for it to smell that bad, but at the very least, it would hide her scent.
Natasha shook her head, now wasn't the time to think about that, she needed to escape, or this escapade could be her last. She hated retreating, hated it more because she was retreating with the General almost in her grasp, but deep down, she knew she couldn't win this fight.
Like a compressed spring Natasha bolted for the balcony, clearing half the distance before most people could have taken their first step. She was almost to the balcony when her still ringing ears heard the sound of a bow string being drawn.
Damn it, so close, Natasha thought as she dodged the arrow that almost impaled her, she had forgotten about Zhen Zi, and in her wounded state, he just might actually kill her.
"Why do you run Wolfsbane, Aren't you going to beat me like last time?" He taunted, releasing arrows after arrows at the speed of a machine-gun, Natasha moved, evading his shots with inhuman speed, but even that wasn't enough.
An arrow pierced Natasha's thigh, she gasped, the pain sudden and sharp as she fell to her knees, another pierced her left shoulder, and this time, Natasha couldn't stop a cry of pain from escaping. Black dots swam round her vision, and she almost passed out, she held her shoulder to stop the bleeding, she couldn't pull the arrows out without a bandage to stop the bleeding, and besides, the pain from pulling it out might make her pass out.
Heavy footsteps fell closer and closer to Natasha, and a large and callused hand fell on Natasha's head, grabbing her from ear to ear with one hand. It carried her up from her head, until her feet dangled in the air, her face an arm's length from the Beta's. At that moment, Natasha realized the only reason she was still alive was because this Beta willed it, well she would make him regret it.
"You should be proud, your skills have impressed me, not many, werewolf or otherwise, can face such odds and live." He said, his voice somehow booming without him shouting, his was a voice that demanded authority.
"I am a generous person," He continued, "And I do hate to see talents such as yours wasted, which is why I shall give you this one chance." He squeezed her head for emphasis, earning a gasp from Natasha, "Beg me to allow you join my ranks and live," He paused, bringing Natasha so close she could already smell his breath "Or die."
"I... would..... rath.... er..... die.... tha.... .join... the.... likes..... of those scum who killed my mother." Natasha barely managed to choke out, her voice gaining strength from the hate bubbling within her. She wanted to make him suffer, as her mother suffered, make him beg her for death, and cry as she denied it to him.
"Your mother ran away, and if you asked me, it was the best choice, it was bad the Alpha mated with a mere human, but to have produced a disgusting half-breed, was even worse. It's a pity your mother couldn't keep her head down, but down worry." He said, smiling down at her, "You'll be joining her soon."
He then proceeded to punch Natasha in the stomach, the blow driving all the air from Natasha's lungs. Natasha coughed, blood dripping from her mouth, with how wounded she was, she wasn't sure she would survive another one of those blows.
Natasha tried to move her hands, to punch, to kick, to do something to the ones who killed her mother, but it was to no avail, her limbs simply refused to respond. It wasn't until she saw another punch coming, and her mother's face flashed before her, that something broke within her, allowing her rage to flow, and she reacted with speed and strength she had no idea she had.
She grabbed a silver knife, her last one, and jammed it into his cheeks milliseconds before his punch reached her stomach. He screamed and grabbed his cheeks, the silver burning him, and letting go of her. She fell to the ground and rolled to a crouch, providing a lesser target for Zhen Zi, sure enough, an arrow whistled centimeters from her head.
She moved fast, knowing she had a few seconds at most, already arrows whistled past her, though she barely managed to evade them, she reached the balcony, ran to the railings and jumped, followed down by the howls of the enraged Beta. And not for the first time, the secret part of her she tried so hard to bury, wondered again, what it would be like, in times like these, to have had someone to watch her back, a partner, a friend... a love?