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The Healing Souls
Therapy
Therapy2261words
Update Time2024-11-01 09:41:12
[Rock]The demon had tentacled arms and way more than two. It was one of our biggest concerns. We couldn’t just attack and have it leave the opening in the wall alone. Not with only a few people. We wanted Spencer and Queen Ivy to stay back with Harmony and Rhett so they could work their magic. Spencer and Ivy would protect them. He still couldn’t pull his Templar sword, but he had the one he had been fighting with before and he knew how to use it. The trolls and all the werewolves would attack the demon to distract it. A few dark elves would be slipping around the demon to attack it from the other side. Viola and Tripp would wait off to the side until the demon pulled out of the opening and then would move in. Their objective was to get to whoever was trapped and assess any injuries. Then they would protect the people the demon was after. I prayed to the goddess that two of them were Carmen and Austin. I didn’t know who the other one was, but if it was Oberon, I was going to rip his head from his neck myself and no one could stop me. We all took our positions, waiting for the signal from Mike and Trent to begin the attack. My heart was pounding with anticipation. But I knew I had to stay focused on the task at hand. Carmen’s safety was the most important thing.Finally, Mike gave the signal, and we charged forward. The demon immediately turned its attention to us and attacked. Its tentacles flailed around, trying to grab us, but the wolves were too quick and the trolls were too strong. The werewolves tore into it with their claws and teeth, trying to distract it. Wylder, Forrest, and I tore at it with our hands and ripped chunks off the tentacled arms with our teeth. It actually tasted pretty good, but I could tell the werewolves disagreed. Pyla stayed a little further back. She was the first line of defense for our magic casters. It worked pretty well to distract the demon from the smaller fae, who crawled through a very narrow space on its side. We could tell when they started attacking because a few of the tentacles gave up on us and moved behind the thing. When I saw it move the tentacle from the narrow opening, I picked up a rock that had fallen from the ceiling of the cavern. Using my strength and my magic, I quickly shaped it to have a sharp point. I threw it as hard as I could at the giant tentacle that was blocking the opening and saw it go straight through. The demon shrieked and pulled that tentacle back before trying to wrap two around me and tear me in half. I started pulling chunks off with my teeth and eating them. The problem was that it was healing almost as fast as we could injure it. Something like this could feed thousands of carnivorous fae for years if they got hold of one. I shook my head. This wasn’t the time.Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tripp and Viola sneak into the opening. I turned my full attention to keeping the beast busy while Rhett and Harmony worked on killing it. It was like fighting off an adult while you’re a toddler. It was fast and strong, and we were obviously outmatched. Taking my attention off it for even a moment, I was sure it would get the upper hand and kill me. Forrest and Wylder had very serious expressions on their faces. It must have occurred to them that this thing was strong enough to be an actual threat to a full troll. They were in danger, and that made them fight even more desperately. This wasn’t a joke to any of us. It was truly life and death. Behind us, I could hear Pyla, Spencer, and Ivy fighting the demon. It was easily taking on a dozen supernatural warriors and wasn’t struggling at all. The fight reminded me of what I heard fighting an original fae was like. They healed ridiculously fast and were a lot stronger and faster than they looked. A lot had faded or gone off to live in solitude in the fae realm, but some still existed in the human realm. Like the Wild Hunt. Even a troll couldn’t stand up to them. But we had to stand up to this demon. We couldn’t let it win. I could feel my muscles straining with the effort of fighting it off. Sweat poured down my face and my heart pounded in my chest. I could see similar expressions of exhaustion on the faces of my comrades.But we had to keep fighting. It was the only way we could save Carmen and whoever else it trapped in there. The thought of this demon harming my mate, or even making her scared, made me see red. I started fighting even harder. Even if I wasn’t the one who got to kill the thing, I would make sure it suffered for whatever it did to my mate. Then I would find Oberon and dismember his sorry ass slowly and with great relish. As I was fighting, I felt a sharp pain in my side. One of the demon’s tentacles had pierced me. I hadn’t noticed the spines it could grow out from the tips. The wound burned like fire. I knew I had to keep going, though. I couldn’t let Carmen down and I couldn’t let this demon take me from her, either. Forrest roared and ripped the tentacle that had hit me off of the demon. I picked up a stone off the floor and infused it with my magic, then pushed it into the wound. Once it sealed, I went to go fight another one. Forrest grabbed my shoulder and turned me to him. I knocked his hand away and snarled at him. “Look, I know you’re a badass, Rock, but you’re still more human than we are. Maybe you should step back and help Pyla, Queen Ivy, and Spencer,” he said. “That thing and its minion took my mate. I will not stop until I have her back.” “You’re no good to her dead, Rock. Your skin isn’t tough enough for this.” I knew my friend was trying to protect me, but I spent too much of my life being the weak troll who needed protection. If the fucking werewolves could fight this thing, I could, too. Even the little elves were still fighting. They were beaten and bloody, but all of them were still fighting. “I’ll back off when they do,” I growled. “If I can’t fight for as long as dark elves and werewolves, then I’m worthless to my mate and my community.”He sighed and shook his head. “As fuсking stubborn as a troll, but only half as good-looking.” I laughed. “Good looking enough for your sister.” “Yeah, yeah. You’re a fuсking stallion. Get the fuсk out there and help them, instead of worrying me.”“You’re not my mate or my mother, Forrest. Now, let me get back to fighting this thing,” I replied. “If you’re worried about Pyla, you go fight next to her.”There was nothing he could do to stop me from doing what I wanted in this case. It wasn’t about being seen as strong or capable. It was about saving my mate and knowing that I would be one of the first people she saw. We returned to the fight, but I could see shadowy spots forming on the demon. It was shrieking a lot more now but still fought us. I saw one of the wolf warriors get run through with one of the long, sharp spines. He fell to the ground and his hands turned back into human hands. The other two warriors saw their comrade fall and growled before fully shifting into their wolf forms. They were almost as big as Blanche, Carmen’s wolf, but a lot thicker. Both wolves started suddenly fighting more savagely than they had before. Carmen once told me they saw their wolf form as a more capable fighting form and resorted to it last because it depressed their wolves to only come out for killing. That is why they brought their wolves out regularly. For the most part, they meshed well with their wolves and both parties were content to take a backseat to their other half when they were in control. Now that I saw how much faster and more powerful they were, I could understand. The wolf form of a werewolf was anything but a simple animal. If they were fighting anything other than a demon, I was certain they would destroy it. The shadowy spots on the demon started growing, and it seemed to focus on what was going on around it a lot more. One of the tentacles, with a particularly sharp spine, shot out toward Harmony and Rhett. I was struggling with the one that just tried to stab me in the chest. Spencer jumped out in front of it and parried the spine with the sword in his hand. It deflected the tentacle, but the sword broke. When it went for Harmony again, he started grappling with it. I couldn’t keep watching. I needed to focus on the ones that were trying to kill me. After a while, a cool glow filled the cavern. Someone rushed past me, into the demon’s face. It was Spencer, wielding a sword that was glowing. He started hacking at the demon and it didn’t seem to be able to heal any of the wounds he was inflicting on it. The demon started focusing on him more than on us. That didn’t mean we just sat back. Now we were to make sure Spencer was safe while he hacked at the thing. Forrest, Wylder, and I formed a wall to guard Spencer’s back. Trent and Mike were somewhere fighting with the other werewolves. They were still trying to keep the demon’s attention. I was starting to feel tired. Every time one of the spines got me, I would pick up a stone and use my magic to stopper the wound with it. Even naturally magical people had limits. I’d used a lot of magic. It was my rage and my need for my mate that was keeping me on my feet. The shadows on the demon’s body grew more intense and spread further. It seemed like every time Spencer hacked away at it, dark energy would dig into the wounds he inflicted and the surrounding area. The demon was growing weaker as Rhett and Harmony’s darkness started eating away at it through the wounds Spencer made with his Templar’s sword. Whatever it was that helped him pull it, I was grateful. This wasn’t a fight we could win on our own. Our force was far too small. As if called by that very thought, I saw Elbio and a dozen more trolls come from behind Rhett and Harmony. More warrior werewolves, Prince Rosario, and some guys from my crew trailed behind them. They called out the charge and went after the demon, attacking at different points and keeping the spined tentacles from hitting Spencer. A combination of Rhett and Harmony’s darkness and Spencer’s sword nearly killed the demon. We’d done a good job of keeping it busy. I saw Spencer prepare for the killing blow. As his arms started down, a spined tentacle lashed out at him. I was too far to stop it. Mike jumped in front of it, grabbing onto the tentacle as it bashed him into the floor, ceiling, and wall. I rushed over to the tentacle and grasped it at the same time as Trent did. This was his best friend and Beta, but he was my family. Together, we worked on ripping the tentacle off. Spencer dodged Mike’s body, but it didn’t look like it put him off of what he had to do. He whispered a prayer and the glow of the sword took on a different light. I felt some of my strength coming back as the light touched me. Spencer brought the sword down on the demon’s head, splitting it in two. With a final shriek and flail, the demon died. The tentacle that had been assaulting Mike fell to the ground with him. The demon’s body turned to ash as Trent and I rushed over to Mike’s broken body. Bones were sticking out, huge gashes, and blood everywhere. Trent shifted back into his full human form. The fur on Mike’s body receded, and he went from a broken wolf to a broken man. Now I could see he was one enormous bruise. In a few places, there were gashes where the tentacle spines had gotten him. “Mike. What the hell were you thinking?” Trent hissed. “Carmen....” “I shouldn’t have brought you. Damn it, Mike. Didn’t you even think of the pups before you did that? What about Beth? I know you love your sister, but do you really think Carmen would ever forgive herself?” the Alpha growled. “Harmony, is there anything you can do?” Rosario asked. “Borrow the healing magic. Just enough to get him out of here.” “I... I can’t. I could never get the healing stuff to work for me in all the times we practiced with borrowing. It works for Val, but not for me,” Harmony answered with a shaking voice.