A Very Demigod Christmas: Chapter Eight

Werewolves Could Cancel It
The wolf walked further out of the wood scanning us with intelligent red eyes ,the beast was slightly larger than Angel and its teeth shown like daggers.

Johnny saw it and activated his claws. Six blades sprouted from his knuckles and he charged the beast.

“Johnny no!” I yelled shocking the others and alerting them of our intruder. Johnny didn’t pay attention he jumped in the air and brought his claws down across the monsters face. That attack would’ve killed most monsters but this was not a normal monster. Johnny’s claws passed through the wolf like it were made of smoke and he tumbled into the snow. The beast lunged at him but used the winds to pull Johnny back to me.

The others ran over and drew their weapons. The wolf scanned our ranks then let out a piercing howl. Soon other wolves joined the first and they started to surround us. I counted fifty in total. They made a circle around us roughly thirty yards wide.

The reindeer freaked. They took off into the air dragging the half hitched sleigh with them. Charlie pulled out his whistle and blew it a few times. The reindeer circled over head but refused to come back down.

“Well so much for escaping.” Andrew muttered.

“What are these things?” Kylie asked holding her sword in front of her. She began digging in her bag of seeds pulling out several and dropping them on the ground.

“Lycanthropes, werewolves are the more common term.” Ashlee answered.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">I suddenly remembered my dream of the woman ordering Lycaon to send his minions to hunt us down. I cursed under my breath for not having us move faster.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">“Right, Lycaon’s minions,” I said “They can only be killed by silver.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">I pulled out my throwing knives which were silver and Ashlee raised her sword which was also made of silver. Ryan replaced the arrow currently on his bow with a silver one. The others looked at their weapons which were made of Celestial bronze. Celestial bronze would’ve killed any other monsters with no problem.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">“So what do we do now?” Steven asked. “We’re way out numbered; it’s fifty werewolves against seven demigods, of which only half have useful weapons, a shape shifting cat and an elf!”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">Even though Steven was being a little pessimistic he was right. The wolves kept barking and growling to each other. I knelt down and asked Angel if she knew what they were saying.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">“They can’t remember if they were supposed to take us back to the North Pole as prisoners or kill us on site. Oh wait one remembers… yep it was killing us on site!”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">“What!” I screamed then the wolves attacked. Ryan let his arrow fly hitting one in the shoulder; I threw my knives hitting two in the necks then blasted a few more with lightning. Steven hurled his football and hit one in the face. Its fur caught fire and it ran around and rolled in the snow trying to put itself out. The rest were fifteen yards away and closing.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">   Suddenly Kylie stomped her foot and the ground shook. Twelve massive object shot out the ground in a circle cutting off our attackers. When the snow cleared I could see the defenders. At first they looked like rocks then I knocked on one and found it was hollow. These were Kylie’s “Wall” nuts. Like the ones from the Plants vs. Zombies game. They were just tall enough so that the wolves couldn’t jump over but they wouldn’t last for long I could hear wolves trying to break down out defenses.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">“Nice move Kylie.” I said patting her on the back.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">“Thanks.” She said a little out of breath. “That took… a lot of energy.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">“So what do we do now?” Steven asked. “These things won’t last forever.” Just to prove his point I heard cracking on the other side.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">“Ryan how many silver arrow do you have left?” I asked.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">“Ten in the quiver and one notched.” He said trying to find a spot to fire from. “What about those throwing knives of yours?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">“I can throw twelve, and then twelve more will appear after a minute.” I responded.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">“Hey, Ashlee has a silver sword can’t she fight them?” Johnny asked.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">“Sure Johnny let me just go out there and fight a whole pack of werewolves by myself, I’ll live.” Ashlee replied with poison and sarcasm in her words.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">“Well we’d better thing of something because we’re running out of time here!” Kylie said placing her hand on one of the wall nuts. The wolves started focusing on one section trying to break it down.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">“If I fly each of us to the sleigh will we be able to take off?” I asked Charlie.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">Charlie looked up and shook his head. “The sleighs not hitched all the way. Adding extra weight might sever the reindeer from the sleigh and I can’t use the parachutes again.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">I heard snarling from above us. A lycanthrope tried to climb over the defenses. I grabbed another knife and whipped it at the wolf. The knife stuck between the wolf’s eyes and it fell over with a wail. I grabbed two more from each of my sheaths In case any others decided to jump over.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">Andrew snatched one of the knives from my hand and started examining it. His eyes moved rapidly and I could see the gears moving in his head. Before anyone could stop him he grabbed Steven machete and placed it on a boulder.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">“Alright Andrew what’s going through your head?” I asked restraining Steven who was a little ticked that his weapon had been taken away.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">“Just watch.” He responded. He pulled out his multi tool and chose a hammer and placed my knife on top of Steven’s machete. He pointed his hand at the bladed weapons and they began to glow with heat. He then grabbed the machete by the hilt then began to pound on it with his hammer. The machete glowed brighter then the light dimmed. Andrew threw it into a small snow bank and the snow bank melted revealing Steven’s machete whose blade was now pure silver. We all gapped at Andrews handy work.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">“Alright Kylie give me your sword.” Andrew said and Kylie quickly handed over her sickle-sword. I gave him a few more of my throwing knives and Andrew repeated the process. Soon Kylie’s blade looked like a silver crescent moon. Johnny took off his gloves and handed them to Andrew. They were a little trickier than the other weapons but they too gleamed with a silver coating. He then coated his multi tool in silver using a different hammer.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">“Joe, your staff.” Andrew said. I summoned Changing Storm and placed it in his hands. He pounded on it until my staff glowed with silver light. We stood admiring our new silver weapons until a loud snap and a hollow thud got our attentions. The wolves had focused on one of the nuts and had broken the first layer and were working on the second.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">“Ok our weapons will only be able silver for an hour then revert back to Celestial bronze.” Andrew explained.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 167.25pt"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; font-size: 12pt">“Understood, ready guys?” I asked and everyone nodded. Kylie pointed at one of the Wall nuts and it disappeared back into the ground. Then we charged.