Page 27 of Caligo

“Kelley was a happy surprise. Imagine our amusement when we found out Merrillan’s chief of police was an unwilling wolf! He had hidden his true identity, making him perfect for our needs. Don’t get me wrong, he’s fought his nature for so long there are flaws. He heals rather slowly. But he serves our purpose. Doesn’t have to think too much, which suits him.” My father smiled. He was actually proud of himself, of this plan.

I wasn’t sure how he really expected this conversation to go. “You disgust me. You both do.”

“You don’t agree, which is why we never told you. Your stomach is too weak for such things. They’re beneath us, Ava. With them gone we can go on to do the work we were destined for. Well, your mother and I can. You will go on living your normal, uneventful life.” He reached down and grabbed a knife off his leg sheath, flipping the blade in the air. “It’s simple biology, Ava, survival of the fittest.”

The wolves were growing anxious and I knew the time for action was drawing near. I had tried to avoid violence, but it didn’t seem like peace was going to happen. This all had to be a bad dream. These weren’t my parents. This wasn’t happening now. And where the hell was Jasper? I wiped away a lone rebellious tear. To hell if I was going to cry in front of these people, biology be damned. Adrian and I were going to have to take care of this without Jasper. The snow was warping my sense of the landscape, but I tried to take stock. Adrian’s warm body was still beside me. I subtly reached back, expecting to feel the large bush at my back. Instead, I whacked my hand into something warm and solid. But that didn’t make sense. Unless…

“You looking for me?” Jasper’s deep voice whispered in my ear.

Thank God. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, thankful to see his muscular frame mostly in one piece. But celebrations would have to wait. My parents were watching.

“When I give the signal, go low. Remember, baby, speed, not strength. I’ll phase and go high. Between the two of us we can take Kelley down. Are you prepared to demobilize one of your parents?” Jasper whispered.

“Hell, yeah.” This had gone on for long enough. When I nodded, he spoke in a louder voice for everyone to hear, edging around the small group we had gathered. “I thought I should be in human form to see if we could talk this out, you know, as family.”

My father laughed. “As if we’d ever consider a disgrace like you a part of our family. Our own daughter will have to be wiped from the family tree at this point, fraternizing with your sort.”

“Yeah, I figured once I heard what you had to say to Ava.” He continued to slink around my parents, distracting and dividing them. He was preying on their weakness -- their pride. If my parents hadn’t been surprised to find me out here, if they hadn’t been so angry I stood up to them, if a thousand decisions hadn’t lined up into place, this would have never worked.

Adrian tilted his head towards me, blinking slowly, and I realized he was giving me acknowledgement that he understood Jasper’s plan. Kelley, too, had figured out our plan and was growling angrily in the background.

“Hush,” my father commanded Kelley. “Your part in this is almost over. Stay out of the conversation until we ask for your input.“ Kelley whined and slunk further back. My father was right about one thing -- Kelley didn’t think too much. “Ava will learn her place if she knows what’s best for her. Otherwise, she will fall with you.”

Jasper had circled around their small group, until he was in front of my parents. “Oh, I’m pretty sure Ava already knows her place.” He jerked his chin down sharply. Without waiting to see if Jasper shifted, I dove towards Kelley. I heard the sounds I had come to associate with the wolves’ phasing and I knew I had made the right call. Our movement caught Kelley off guard, but his reflexes were still quick. He dodged our initial attack, panting across from us.

“This is ridiculous,” my mother sputtered. “Ava, stop this at once.” Quick as lightning she had her swords drawn.

I glanced at Jasper, then back. He understood. Three on three. We just needed to keep our cool. I left Jasper to deal with Kelley, facing off against my mother -- the woman who had brought me into this world, and had raised me. And now here we were, swords drawn.

My mother glared at me. “You probably want to rethink taking me on, little girl.”

“It’s been a while since I was a little girl, Mom.” We circled each other in the snow, and I could hear Kelley’s cries of pain behind us. But I had to focus on the fight in front of me. “You could stop this at any time. Just turn yourself in.”

She cocked her head to the side, and her hands tightened on the hilts of her blades. “Too late for that.”

She lunged forward, and I immediately went into defensive mode. Every blow she powered towards me I deflected easily. The clang of the blades rang out in the still of the night, and I focused on meeting every one of her attacks. Focusing so well, that when she slashed up instead of down, I wasn’t prepared and the tip of her blade caught my forearm. I cried out in pain, taking a step back. The bright blood dripped off of my arm into the snow beneath my feet, but thankfully it felt like a shallow cut. My mother also seemed surprised that she had actually drawn blood, but then her cruel mask was down again, as she shifted back into her fighting stance.

This was only going to end one way. I had to stop being on the defense and get aggressive. It was going to be me or her, and I needed to get her unarmed. This time, I met her as she lunged, watching how she moved. Like me, she had a tendency to leave her left side exposed. I needed to exploit that.

When she came at me again with her left arm, I blocked her, immediately slashing her wrist with my free blade. I felt nothing as she screamed and dropped her blade, blood gushing from the deep gash. I kicked her fallen sword away as she came back with her remaining weapon. “You think you can kill me, Ava? I’m your mother. I know you better than anyone.”

I laughed as our blades met again, looking into the eyes that were so like my own, and yet so different. “Think again.” I spun the blade around in my hand, pinning her as I used the hilt of my other sword to bash the back of her wrist. Her eyes flickered in pain, and she dropped her remaining weapon. “You don’t know me at all. You never have.” I kicked it away, spinning around in the snow with a wild cry I didn’t know I had inside me, looking over my shoulder as I drove my blade towards her neck.

And then I stopped. The tip of my blade pierced her pale skin, a bubble of blood pooling from the pressure.Could I do this? Could I kill my mother?

Did I even consider her my mother anymore?

My mother’s eyes flashed with something cruel, and she leaned into my blade the tiniest amount. “Do it. You want this life so bad? Take it.Earnit.”

I wanted to. I could feel blood rushing to my head, and every muscle in my arm crying for release. But I hesitated. And she felt me question my judgement, taking advantage of the moment.

My mother smirked at me. “I told you. You’re too weak for this life.” She pushed off my blade and sprinted into the woods.Shit.

I caught Adrian’s eye, who growled and took off after her. He would find her. I turned to check on Jasper, who had Kelley knocked out on the snow, his body shifting back into the human form I had grown up around. Sneaking up behind Jasper was my father, blades drawn.

I moved quicker than he could. He might have been better trained, but I had age and stamina on my side. Before he realized what was happening, I had my blade against my father’s stomach. “Don’t try it,” I snarled. Jasper’s wolf looked up, surprised. He had been too focused on taking Kelley down to notice my father creeping up behind him.

“You wouldn’t, Ava. I raised you!” he protested.

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