Read Online A Shade of Vampire 32: A Day of Glory by Bella Forrest - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Bella Forrest
Ads: Link
billowing with smoke.
“You think it’s working?” Victoria asked.
Mona gulped. “ Something’s working.”
We dared to move closer. I hovered near my mother and father, watching as they experienced apparent agony. Could this procedure kill them? They looked to be in enough pain to be dying. I wasn’t sure how that made me feel. As much as I wanted them out of my life, I couldn’t say that I wanted them dead. They were still my parents, parents who had treated me the only way they knew how. My mother thought that she loved me. She thought that she was doing what was best for me and her family by arranging my marriage to Yuraya and keeping me away from Victoria. I couldn’t bring myself to be so callous as to wish for their demise.
Finally, something more hopeful started to happen. My nausea began to subside, and Victoria confirmed the same for her. But more importantly, each of the Mortclaws—who had been in their giant wolf forms, Mona having caught them in the midst of an attack—before our very eyes, were starting to shrink. Slowly but surely, their oversized limbs began to retract on themselves, grow slimmer, shorter. After half an hour, every one of them was down to a normal size—or a relatively normal size for a werewolf. They were still large, but the Mortclaws were a naturally large breed; they had been large even before the black witches had gotten hold of them. This new size they were adopting was certainly explainable.
I once again looked at Victoria, and I caught her looking at me too. We were searching each other for external changes. Neither of us saw anything different.
As we resumed our attention on the Mortclaws, I realized that something else was starting to happen now. Their limbs were mutating. Tails shrinking. Paws thinning. They were assuming their humanoid forms.
Of course. It’s daytime. That meant that they were losing their ability to shift at will. They must be humanoid during the daytime, wolf at night, just like the rest of the werewolves in The Woodlands.
Mona, her son and Victoria all looked to me at once. I knew what they were thinking, because I was thinking exactly the same thing. Does this mean that I have lost my ability to switch at will, too?
I must have.
I tried to assume my wolf form now, and what had previously been as effortless as blinking, I found I was unable to do, no matter how much I willed the transformation. I was stuck as a humanoid and I would be until tonight. This revelation brought about an unexpected twinge in my chest. I felt disappointed, saddened to have lost this ability. I’d taken it for granted for most of my life and indeed, it had been useful on more occasions than I could count. It had given me a freedom that other wolves couldn’t enjoy. Still, I could hardly feel too upset about it, given the miracle that was happening to my family before my very eyes.
It was hard to really tell when a wolf was disheveled, given that they looked like wild beasts anyway. But as all of the Mortclaws were forced back into the humanoid forms, each of them looked like they had been dragged backward through the woods—their hair sticking out at odd places, their breathing unregulated, and each of them… naked.
The four of us quickly looked away, facing Blackhall Mountain.
I guessed that this marked the completion of their transformation, or rather, de-transformation. No longer the extraordinary beasts who used their powers for evil, I imagined it would take a long time for them to get used to being fallible again. And they had made enemies out of every single werewolf who roamed The Woodlands. They would have to watch out; it wouldn’t surprise me if, once others found out, they’d band together to attack the Mortclaws out of revenge.
But these were the seeds the Mortclaws had sown. Be it their fault or not that they craved werewolf flesh, it didn’t vanish the fact that they were going to have to face the consequences of their actions. They had
“You think it’s working?” Victoria asked.
Mona gulped. “ Something’s working.”
We dared to move closer. I hovered near my mother and father, watching as they experienced apparent agony. Could this procedure kill them? They looked to be in enough pain to be dying. I wasn’t sure how that made me feel. As much as I wanted them out of my life, I couldn’t say that I wanted them dead. They were still my parents, parents who had treated me the only way they knew how. My mother thought that she loved me. She thought that she was doing what was best for me and her family by arranging my marriage to Yuraya and keeping me away from Victoria. I couldn’t bring myself to be so callous as to wish for their demise.
Finally, something more hopeful started to happen. My nausea began to subside, and Victoria confirmed the same for her. But more importantly, each of the Mortclaws—who had been in their giant wolf forms, Mona having caught them in the midst of an attack—before our very eyes, were starting to shrink. Slowly but surely, their oversized limbs began to retract on themselves, grow slimmer, shorter. After half an hour, every one of them was down to a normal size—or a relatively normal size for a werewolf. They were still large, but the Mortclaws were a naturally large breed; they had been large even before the black witches had gotten hold of them. This new size they were adopting was certainly explainable.
I once again looked at Victoria, and I caught her looking at me too. We were searching each other for external changes. Neither of us saw anything different.
As we resumed our attention on the Mortclaws, I realized that something else was starting to happen now. Their limbs were mutating. Tails shrinking. Paws thinning. They were assuming their humanoid forms.
Of course. It’s daytime. That meant that they were losing their ability to shift at will. They must be humanoid during the daytime, wolf at night, just like the rest of the werewolves in The Woodlands.
Mona, her son and Victoria all looked to me at once. I knew what they were thinking, because I was thinking exactly the same thing. Does this mean that I have lost my ability to switch at will, too?
I must have.
I tried to assume my wolf form now, and what had previously been as effortless as blinking, I found I was unable to do, no matter how much I willed the transformation. I was stuck as a humanoid and I would be until tonight. This revelation brought about an unexpected twinge in my chest. I felt disappointed, saddened to have lost this ability. I’d taken it for granted for most of my life and indeed, it had been useful on more occasions than I could count. It had given me a freedom that other wolves couldn’t enjoy. Still, I could hardly feel too upset about it, given the miracle that was happening to my family before my very eyes.
It was hard to really tell when a wolf was disheveled, given that they looked like wild beasts anyway. But as all of the Mortclaws were forced back into the humanoid forms, each of them looked like they had been dragged backward through the woods—their hair sticking out at odd places, their breathing unregulated, and each of them… naked.
The four of us quickly looked away, facing Blackhall Mountain.
I guessed that this marked the completion of their transformation, or rather, de-transformation. No longer the extraordinary beasts who used their powers for evil, I imagined it would take a long time for them to get used to being fallible again. And they had made enemies out of every single werewolf who roamed The Woodlands. They would have to watch out; it wouldn’t surprise me if, once others found out, they’d band together to attack the Mortclaws out of revenge.
But these were the seeds the Mortclaws had sown. Be it their fault or not that they craved werewolf flesh, it didn’t vanish the fact that they were going to have to face the consequences of their actions. They had
Similar Books
