Filed to story: The Healer and The Wolf PDF Free
I recovered quickly and found my footing, only to have two security guards run in with guns. If I had to guess, those weren’t as benign as the ones I had tangled with at Chadwicke’s manor. Meaning, they most definitely had silver bullets.
That certainly wouldn’t do. While not everyone in my group were wolf shifters, and therefore didn’t have the silver allergy we did, a majority were. I pivoted my attention from Frederick and focused on disarming the new pair, hoping that if anyone elsehad run in from other directions, my allies would choose to do the same.
I leaped at the first one, closing my jaws around his wrist. I bit as hard as I could, appreciating the crunch of bone as I jerked his arm back and forth. If he survived, he would never have use of that hand again.
Good.
He screamed. I let go of his bleeding limb and head-butted him in his chest for all I was worth. He toppled backward and didn’t get up. Old Leo might have taken the time to stop and chomp on his throat right then and there, but I’d learned that I didn’t always have the time to make sure every single enemy I faced had a completely satisfying end. What was important was that he was out of the fight, and I could focus on the brothers.
Oh, and also all of the plants in the room.
Never in my life did I think I would have to have a showdown with some foliage, but that was exactly what was going on. Vines burst from the floor and broke through the windows, trying to grab whoever they could, while the tree and other plants were tripling or even quadrupling in size, their leaves turning into limbs.
A quick glance told me Chiga was most definitely being our MVP. His truly mammoth animal form was too big for most of the vines to pick up and fling around, and his mouth was especially suited for destroying plant matter within seconds. After all, moose had the ability to dive down in the water and rip out mouthfuls of hearty aquatic greens all in one breath. I never thought a battle could be influenced by someone beingreallygood at eating salad, but, God, was I grateful we had Chiga on our team. His teeth weren’t just meant for ripping and tearing flesh.
However, I couldn’t leave it all up to the moose. I charged at the plant that had tossed me aside, ducking this way and thatbeneath each swipe. It was strange how they moved, almost like they were a second delayed. It made it harder to predict their movements. It was probably because they didn’t have a nervous system that could send signals to their muscles, so the way they were moving was so completely foreign to what I was used to. However, I still managed to get close enough to the ornate pot. I immediately started digging in the dirt.
I nearly laughed. Here I was, in a battle for pretty much all shifters in a multi-state area, and it was suddenly very important how fast I could dig a hole.
I was so focused on the dirt that I lost track of the fight. Suddenly, I felt a white-hot slice on my thigh. Jerking around, I saw a security guard wielding a giant thorn, magic crackling in his other hand.
He didn’t smell like a warlock, which meant he was likely a witch. I’d dealt with witches before, and while they were certainly powerful foes, they were nothing like the brothers. I could work with that.
But before I could whirl to face him, two smaller, tawny figures jumped on him, one going for his extended arm, the other for his throat. He screamed, but not before both coyotes tore into him. The two shifters jumped off the man as he crumpled, and I realized it was America and one of her cousins. I gave them the shortest, most appreciative nod before getting back to digging.
It took maybe two more seconds before I found the root ball. I hadn’t even known what a root ball was until I met Ven, and I sent up a prayer for her love of info-dumping about plants. Eager to get a heavy hitter out of the way, I dug my teeth into the root ball andripped with everything I had.
I swore the plant squealed, which was something truly uncanny, but I didn’t let go. Even when one of its leaves suddenly slammed into me and lifted me off my feet again-amistake on the plant’s part, because I didn’t let go of its root ball as I flew through the air.
I knew Frederick would simply heal the plant, but from how Ven had described things, it was less him controlling the plants and more giving them a sort of magical half-life. Hopefully, he wouldn’t even notice the plant was gone until he saw it, and then he would have to waste time and energy bringing it back to life.
So, I bit and I tore, even using my paws and claws to tear away chunks of densely packed roots. Sure enough, once I got down to the heart of the root ball, the leaves finally stopped moving and fell to the floor.
Massive footsteps sounded behind me, and I whirled around, ready for another fight. Instead, I saw a giant moose smiling at me. I had no idea what he could be so happy about, but then he nodded at the mess I’d made of the plant.
Oh! Well,bon appetit.
While he hoovered it up to make sure it truly couldn’t be used again, I spun to go for Frederick again. But once more, I was thwarted as a geyser of water burst from the floor and spun up to the ceiling. For a split second, I was completely baffled, until I smelled the distinct rust of an old pipe. Millicent had used his powers to summon the water from below the marble floor. That was clever and far more resourceful than I thought he would be. It looked like the battle had gotten that much more complicated.
We needed to end it, and fast, before Millie and Freddie got any more creative. Otherwise, we might not survive.
VANESSA
“Ineed you to count down from ten for me,” I said calmly, pulling one of my vials and a bit of gauze from my fanny pack as I knelt next to a wolf sprawled on ground, blood pooling below it. “You can do it in your head.”
How else were they going to do it? It wasn’t like I could communicate with shifters when they were in their animal form. I didn’t even know if they were able to speak to each other, but I imagined they had some sort of wordless telepathy.
The counting was the only way I could think to distract him as I pulled a silver bullet out of the wound in his side. We’d been so lucky so far that no one had ever used that type of ammo against us-at least that I knew of-and I figured the only reason for that was because the brothers employed so many shifters who wouldn’t be able to use anything the bullets touched and would be weakened in its presence. Now, I wasn’t surprised they were using it. The brothers were on high alert, and most of the shifters they’d enthralled had been removed.
Which was why I had brought so many things to counteract silver poisoning. At least I’d brought things I’dguessedwould counteract it. It wasn’t like there was a manual, and when Iasked the shifters what would help, they’d said their best method for fighting off such poisoning was to remove the source of the poison.
Different shifters had different weaknesses. Wolves were the only ones susceptible to silver, but along with coyotes, bears, and moose, they were also weakened if iron got into their bloodstream. I had no idea how they dealt with anemia, or how they could eat so much read meat, but I chalked it up to magical shenanigans. Eagles were susceptible to electricity and deathly allergic to waterthyme while moose had a wolfsbane-like reaction to English yew.
In fact, it seemed the only shifters with no known weaknesses were alligators. I’d heard a lot of different theories as to why from our little merry group of rebels, but my theory was that alligators had evolved out of their weaknesses. They were, after all, ancient creatures. It was a shame we didn’t have any in our group because from what I heard, they were twice the size of a regular alligator and incredibly difficult to damage. Most of them liked to live in places much warmer than where we were, though, which made sense since they were reptiles.
“Focus on breathing and counting for me, okay?” I urged softly, despite the cacophony around us. One moment we’d all been standing around the bus, watching security try to fix our blown tire, the next an explosion had rocked the courtyard, and chaos erupted. Despite my sudden magical prowess with plants, I didn’t jump into the battle. Chris and I had retreated, both of us armed with full med-kits to run triage as best we could.
Chris had been a champ when he’d come to me and asked to learn whatever he could, and I had tried to teach him everything I could about what herbs and concoctions to use in which situation, and how to stop the flow of blood until a shifter could heal. I’d also showed him all the little tricks I’d learned about how to clean wounds so the injury could heal faster. Hewas a great student, and I wouldn’t mind if he chose to continue learning once everything was settled. It would be nice if there was more than one herbalist in our group.
In ourpack.
Once people started going down, we’d split up to cover more ground. I didn’t regret it, but I did hope Chris was all right. He didn’t have an animal form to protect him, or even mysterious plant powers that worked of their own accord.
I couldn’t risk the distraction of worrying about him, though, so I took that out of my mind and focused on removing the bullet from the side of a giant wolf. Pulling out a long pair of tweezers, I carefully inserted them into the wound and felt around for something solid. The shifter whined, but to their credit, they didn’t move a muscle. That was truly impressive. Or maybe the silver had paralyzed him. Either way, I knew the longer the bullet was in, the worse it would be, so I went a bit faster than I was comfortable with.
Thankfully, after a minute or two, I got it out. I threw the offending piece of silver as far away as I could before returning my attention to the wound. I pulled a vial of black liquid out of my pack. It looked exceptionally magical, perhaps even villainous, but it was only powdered charcoal mixed with witch hazel, distilled water, crushed ibuprofen and powdered willow bark. It was a double whammy of absorption and reducing inflammation.
Unfortunately, I would have to find out if it worked in real time.
The wolf jerked as I poured some of the liquid into the wound, and I didn’t blame him one bit, not even when one of his claws nicked my arm. Instead of freaking out, I gently laid my hands on his side and tried to envision calm and healing seeping into him.
“You’re gonna be okay, friend. I need you to picture all that icky poison draining right out of you. Pouring out like when a cup tips over. Can you visualize that in your mind for me?”
Although I was flying blind, I tried to sound as confident as I could. Maybe it was a magic thing, maybe it was just invoking the placebo effect, but I figured if I sounded like I knew what I was doing, it would help more than hinder.
“When you’re ready, I’d like you to try to sit up on your belly so all this badness can drain from your side. Do you think you can do that? I’ll be here to help.”
Another whine, but it seemed to be an affirmative. It took at least a full minute or two, but eventually the wolf groaned, then struggled onto his side. The mixture I poured into the wound began to dribble out, but I swore it had a new metallic shine to it. Maybe that was my own brain seeing what it wanted to see, but after another moment, I could feel the wound closing up even through the dense layer of his coat.