Really, there wasn't a whole lot I could do.

My nails had grown back to their sharp points, but there wasn't enough time to do more than toss one wolf aside before another tried to take it's place. Sometimes I was lucky and managed to scratch out an eye or two, otherwise it was throwing and kicking to keep the ravenous beasts at bay.

Two of Madame Terrebonne's dogs had joined the fray, and they were the ones who were really protecting her. When I tossed or kicked a wolf aside, they were there, ready to tear out it's throat. They were efficient killers, but it was only three of us against a seemingly endless wave of wolves. The pain in my back had turned to dull echoes as I was lost in the gnashing of teeth, the burning in my muscles, and the blood, blood, blood.

"Change!"

Every so often, for a moment or two, I would catch the other fight happening just a short distance away. Mutt and Shepherd's deadly dance with Wolf. A dance that would have ended long ago if Terrebonne wasn't focusing her full attention on the fight and ready to give the command whenever her familiars looked to be in a tight spot. And those times happened frequently.

"Change!"

"You're making this harder than it has to be, kid!"

Wolf tried talking to me throughout it all. Even if I wanted to answer, I couldn't waste a second of not beating back his minions. It did make me a little concerned that he was able to talk in the first place, considering the similar predicament he should be in.

"I don't want to hurt other familiars. Even pets like these. But I will if they keep getting in my way—If you keep letting their Master control them!"

I caught the jaws of a wolf before it could reach Terrebonne's legs. One of her dogs was on it before I could even push it back, bringing it to the ground and biting into its neck with practiced grace. The other one was slowly inching towards Wolf. There were enough wolf corpses to make moving around difficult, but I was able to catch my breath as, for the first time in what had to have been at least five minutes, there were no more looking to join them.

There were plenty of glinting eyes hiding in the shade at the opposite end of the clearing. At least a dozen corpses of the wild ones surrounded us. I could only wonder how Wolf had gathered so many in such a short time. How a prisoner of the Hunter's dream had turned into my deadliest foe in just a few days.

The fighting had stopped momentarily. Shepherd and Mutt stood on opposite ends of Wolf, the former a gangly human and the latter a floppy dog. Mutt was panting heavily, in-dispersed by vicious barks, while Shepherd sucked in deep breaths and seemed to be struggling just to stand.

Wolf stood staunch still between them, riddled with bite marks, cuts, and more, but otherwise not appearing haggard in the least. His eyes fell on me and me alone. As if it was just the two of us who shared this clearing.

"It's not too late, Foxy. I killed your old Master, and the one on the ground is in no position to give you orders. I do not want to kill your friend, but I will if you—."

I smelled it before it happened. Cinders burnt in my nose. Wolf had to as well, by how his words fell away from my brain at the same time he spun around to face his waiting beasts. 

"Kill him now!" Madame Terrebonne shouted, but it wasn't a command, and her familiar's smelled the same thing. They turned just as Wolf did, just before a wall of fire tore through the trees and the wolves waiting within them.

            The brief moment of silence was lost in a sea of crackling embers and desperate whines and howls. Fire scored up the towering trees as wolves bathed in flame ran out into the open, yipping and flailing in a fruitless attempt to free themselves from the intense pain.

            Wolf howled in agony as well, though the flames had yet to reach him. He fell back a few steps away from the wall of fire, clutching his head with one claw while swiping away at an invisible foe with the other. "Stop it. Stop it!" his faraway voice shouted in my head. 

            Mutt and Shepherd reacted instantly. The floppy dog leaped into the air, his teeth finding flesh in Wolf's exposed forearm. The gangly man jumped on Wolf's back, wrapping his arms around the beast's neck and squeezing. Soon, the howls were cut off and replaced with heaving gasps. A moment later, Wolf was on his knees.

            "No. Not like this."

            "Fox!" Terrebonne shouted.

            I hardly needed her to tell me. The wolves that were on fire were no longer trying to free themselves from the lethal burning. Instead, they were hurtling themselves in our direction, like balls of flame that ran on four legs.

            "I won't lose you!" Wolf roared, now right inside my head.

            I just managed to kick one of the burning wolves across the face moments before it threw itself at Madame Terrebonne, but the red hot scalding it left on the bottom of my bare foot was immediate and intense. It had barely touched the ground before a jolt of pain shot up the entirety of my leg and I was on the ground, screaming and groaning and remembering it all.

            The fire. The smoke. The aches and pains all over me. The futility of it all.

            Terrebonne's seemingly last two remaining dogs threw themselves into the two closest wolves. While they managed to drag the creatures to the ground and end their rampage, the fire ate away at their bodies. Both of them collapsed into burning heaps as they were still in the process of ripping apart their enemy. None of them got back up.

            There were still wolves on fire. Balls of flame that seared across the clearing. Madame Terrebonne's baby blues flashed to me and, for a brief moment, I tried to stand. I made it to my knees before I realized I would be too late. One of the wolves was already in the air, fur and flesh stripped away by fire, but jaws open wide and ready to receive the witch's throat.

            A flash of silver ended its assault. The creature that was more blackened bone than meat fell to the side, the hilt of a knife sticking out of it's temple.

            Kat appeared a moment later, pulling her knife out of the dead creature as she ran past it and, in one fluid motion, turned to drive it up under the jaws of another melted beast as it tried to meet her with it's teeth. The flames that fed off the wolf licked across Kat's arm, but she barely flinched. She pulled the knife down what remained of it's charred chest before pulling it out and driving it home into the chest of yet another burning beast that attempted to catch her off guard.

            Even with one eye, she still saw everything. Even with half her body burned, she moved and killed like it was nothing. She protected someone who should have been her enemy.

            I dug my hands into the ground and clenched my teeth. It felt like my foot would explode off my leg, but I pushed myself upwards. I pushed until I was standing and ready to keep the promise I made to my friend and his Master.

A gurgled sort of scream escaped my mouth when I felt claws like knives dig into the already torn flesh of my back. The weight of their owner pushed me back on the ground. I struggled for only a moment before teeth encircled my neck like a steel trap. The points less than an inch away from closing in and ending my life.

"I don't want to...hurt you..."

Wolf was watching me. He was still on his knees, using one hand to brace himself against the ground while Mutt held back the other and Shepherd continued his vice grip around the beast's neck. But he looked at me like none of this was happening. Like it was just him and I.

"All you've been doing since I've saved you is hurt me," I thought back.

Kat was still in the middle of the deadly dance with the last of the burning wolves. Madame Terrebonne had backed up against a tree, unable to go any further without losing sight of her familiars. Maple's fire was slowing eating its way through the trees that surrounded the clearing, looking to trap us in. Their Master hiding somewhere beyond, no doubt.  Mutt was whining as he tried to angle himself away from the wall of flame while Shepherd was sweating profusely, his bare skin turning red from the heat.

But Wolf was aware of none of this.

"Release me, pet," his words growled from a distance as he titled his massive head in Mutt's direction. "Or I will kill the familiar you tried so hard to bring here."

Mutt growled in protest, but his eyes captured mine from atop Wolf's misshapen arm. I wanted to believe that Wolf was lying. I wanted to tell Mutt not to risk it. But I felt the teeth pinch the skin in my neck and my heart leapt into my throat. One bite and it would be over. Everything I fought for would be over.

As the world became fuzzy and dark, I focused in on the brown eyes that still watched me. I searched for any sign that my friend was still there as only one word bubbled forth from a sea of chocking, squirming, and broken thoughts.

"Please."

"Mutt, no!" Shepherd shouted, but Mutt had already let go, and Wolf wasted no time to reach for the man still strangling the life out of him. "Master!"

"Change!" Madame Terrebonne shouted, stepping away from the tree and almost falling forward in the process, her face awash with sweat, tears, and make-up.

And Shepherd changed. As a dog, he had all four feet firmly planted on Wolf's hunched over back, and he used that as leverage to leap off and away. He got about two feet before Wolf's gnarled claw closed around his hind leg. With a vicious yank, the great black beast pulled Shepherd out of the air and threw him into the ground, hard. Hard enough to bounce the dog once off the ground, giving us all a clear view of his flailing limbs and twisted body before he went careening through the fire that now practically surrounded all of us. The familiar did not make a sound as he vanished into the flames.

Madame Terrebonne let out the most horrid noise. A shriek so shrill and broken I felt it sink deep inside me. I couldn't even move when I felt the teeth and weight of the wolf leave me. Her screaming continued until she broke down into strangled sobs and big gulps of breath. I thought she was going to pass out right then and there as she fell to her knees.

"Mutt!" she screamed through her tears.

I spun my head, my heart back up inside my throat, but Mutt was just standing there, watching the fire where Shepherd had disappeared into. He turned to meet his Master's eyes when she shouted, and his expression was unreadable. Blank. A nothingness so complete it made me sick.

Madame Terrebonne took shallower and shallower breaths as she slowly got back to her feet. Only when she was standing did her breathing return to normal and, through clenched teeth, she commanded.

"Kill him."

Wolf was already in the process of moving towards the witch, but he was gasping for air and not making much progress. When Terrebonne gave the command, he had enough time to look Mutt's way before the boy rammed into him like a bullet. The impact of Mutt's shoulder in his rib's shoved him back a good few feet, but Wolf barely paused before lashing out with his claws. Mutt leapt away on his one foot, avoiding death by inches.

"I don't want to hurt you. But I'll kill you if you make me!" Wolf swore.

"Change!" Madame Terrebonne shouted just as Mutt landed back on the ground. Now with three feet, the floppy dog raced to the other side of the clearing and jumped towards one of the few untouched trees before Wolf could even stand back up from his failed attack.

"Change!" his Master shouted again, allowing the boy to grab hold of the tree and climb. He was about half way up when he tucked in against one of the branches and pushed off of it, snapping the limb with his pure momentum as he hurtled through the air. Wolf had just managed to stand all the way up when Mutt's fist collided with the side of his mouth, sending both beast and boy back into the ground.

            Mutt howled in pain as he cradled his limp hand while Wolf was getting back up like the blow had been nothing. But, when he turned to face Madame Terrebonne, it was impossible not to see how his bottom jaw hung open wide and at an awkward angle.

            "You're making me do this," his words whispered dangerously in my ear as he turned to the boy who was still struggling to stand with a missing leg and injured hand. "The longer you let that witch live, the worse this will get."

            "Change!" Madame Terrebonne shouted, and the dog tried to run. It didn't get far before it let out a high pitched whine and fell back down, one of its paws a twisted mess. Wolf threw a kick into the little creature that sent it tumbling and spinning across the clearing before falling limp dangerously close to the edge of the fire.

            "Change," the witch said, her voice cracking as fresh tears spilled down her face, but the dog did change. It was now just a boy who did not move.

Wolf now walked unheeded in our direction, using one of his claws to lock his jaw back into place with one, quick jerk of motion.

            "You!" Madame Terrebonne shouted to Kat. The latter was in the process of pulling out her knife from the last of the smoldering wolves and started wiping it on a seemingly new pair of jeans as an afterthought. She glanced back at the witch with the same blankness Mutt had. "If your Master wants my help, she needs me alive. Protect me!"

            Kat looked between her and Wolf for a moment before giving the witch a simple nod. Without a word, she flipped the knife around in her hand as she turned to face the encroaching beast.

            "Kat," I said with a groan as I pushed myself up. It felt like I had been burned alive like the corpses of the wolves that surrounded me. "No."

            "Oh, you're still alive?" I tensed when I felt Terrebonne's icy eyes on me. "Good. If you want to stay that way, you'll keep your word."

            "She one of the friends you're trying to save?" Wolf asked me, invading my head and pushing away any notion of answering the witch. He stopped in the center of the clearing, his dark eyes on the malnourished girl as she slowly approached him with her knife. "If I can't convince you, I'll leave it up to you, then. Your friends, or the witches."

            I forced my body up and running before Wolf even finished his sentence. I had to fall over and use my hands to keep up the speed, but I was running. Even with all the burns and gouges, I could still move. I was stronger then I was at the cabin.

            I pushed my body in Wolf's direction, expecting him to be the catalyst for my decision. Instead, a smaller shape launched out from behind him. Several of them. Wolves not burned or mangled. Wolves ready to tear apart my friend who suddenly only had an eye on the all consuming beast.

            She wouldn't be able to stop all of them in time, and neither could I.

            I wish I could say that I was sorry.

            I threw myself into Kat, crying out when I felt her knife dig into my ribs in—I could only hope—reflex. We hit the ground just as the wolves ran past us and launched themselves into the only remaining target.

            "Good choice," Wolf whispered.

            Kat went limp in my hands and I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the tearing of flesh and the terrible, terrible, screaming.

            But there was none of that.

            Not a word, except for a single, frail "No..."

            I looked, half expecting some miracle to have kept the wolves away from the witch. But, no. They were latched on, all of them. One on the flesh between her neck and shoulder, another on an arm, pulling it down so the third could sink its teeth into her protruding stomach. But no screams, no blood. The wolves shook their heads and struggled, but flesh wasn't tearing away.

            And that was because what they were biting was no longer flesh.

            Not human, anyways. The pale blue that coated the parts where the wolves bit down was unlike any human skin I had ever seen. Not only that, but it was riddled with yellow, pus-like bumps and seemed to expand the parts of Terrebonne's body that it coated. As the wolves continued to try and tear into the witch, the blue and yellow skin continued to replace the peach-pink.

            "Don't look at me!" Madame Terrebonne hollered. As she did, the arm one of the wolves was biting suddenly exploded with muscle. Yellow spikes like bone shot out from within the blue skin, several impaling the wolf before it knew what was happening.

            It's companions were forced to release their hold when the witches entire body bulged outwards. The blue and yellow was now racing across her skin and Terrebonne threw a hand that was more like a spoiled slab of meat over her face.

            "Don't look!" she cried. Her voice had become much deeper. Her blonde curls fell off her head as though they were dying and were replaced with more of the yellowed spikes. "Please!"

            The two wolves had been circling the transforming woman and, either brave or stupid enough, tried to attack her again as she sobbed and begged.

            A massive blue foot burst out from the witch's shoe and propelled one of them clear into the air and out of sight. The last wolf found purchase in her meaty arm for a moment before the slab of a hand came down around its head and crushed it like a grape. The witch screamed and cried as blood streaked across blue skin and yellow bone.

            "Leave me alone!" she sobbed. "Stay away from me!"

            What remained of the witches clothes hung off the blue creature in shreds. It fruitlessly tried to keep them covering the monster's sensitive area's while a hand continued to remain plastered to its face. With a sudden, deep-throated, sob, Madame Terrebonne gave up her efforts and spun around, running as fast as her muscle ridden legs could carry her through the fire and into the woods beyond them, the trees falling in her wake clearly indicating her path.

            "Monster or witch, I will not let you escape me!"

            Wolf took a step forward, then stopped and looked down at the teenaged girl who was  shoving a knife into his stomach.

            I had to look back at the ground just to be positive that Kat wasn't still lying underneath me. I hadn't even felt her leave.

            Kat tried to pull the knife back out, but it appeared to be stuck somewhere in the twisted mess of Wolf's stomach. Before she could even realize her error, Wolf had a hand around her head and tossed her aside. She hit a burning tree before falling back into the blackened grass that surrounded it. She did not get back up.

            "You bastard," I hissed. Though my body fought me every step of the way, I stood back up. I was stronger. I wouldn't be beaten this time.

            "I'm the only one still on your side, Foxy." Wolf walked towards me as the knife seemingly pushed itself out of his stomach on its own and fell to the ground. "You just need to remember which side you're on."

            His dark eyes then flashed to something on my right. I turned and saw her. Lady Louise. Still laying where I left her. Still not moving.

            Wolf exploded into motion just before I could. He was further away, but he also wasn't hampered by bites or tears or stabs or burns. He would get to her and finish her before I could even make it a few steps.

            Thankfully, Mutt chose that time to reappear and close his arms around Wolf's neck like his former companion had done.

            Thankfully, it wasn't Lady Louise I had been aiming for.                

The black beast's howl of fury was cut off by Mutt squeezing his neck. One arm went to reach back for the boy, but I managed to grab it and snap the surprisingly lanky thing over my knee in one try. It felt like my leg had broken with it, but through the ringing I could hear Mutt calling out to me, and I knew my job wasn't over yet. Using my one good leg, I jumped and hung off the other arm Wolf tried to use, throwing my entire weight to keep from from lifting it off the ground.

"You keep...getting in my way like this...and I'll kill you." His dark eyes glared down at me as my friend attempted to choke the life out of him. "I want to help you, kid...I really do. But I didn't...waste away in that nightmare...just to die here."

"If that's how you feel," I bit down on Wolf's arm when I felt the muscle twitch. I tasted blood and the bittersweetness of the woods. "Then you shouldn't have gotten in my way!"

"Foxy, let go!" Mutt shouted.

I blinked, then shouted when Mutt's foot collided with my face, effectively knocking me off Wolf and into the ground.

Immediately, I was scrambling backwards, a hand over a nose I was sure was broken. "Mutt! What the he—?!"

A burst of light and heat knocked the words out my mouth. Wolf, suddenly swathed in flames, was howling broken screams and thrashing blindly at things that weren't there. The fire that surrounded us fell away, leaving charred and blackened trees. The only fire that remained ate away at Wolf's fur and flesh as a girl with brown skin, a shaved head, and burns on her arms and legs joined us in the clearing, a wrinkled hand extended out to the writhing beast.

"Die," the voice of the void echoed over the sounds of burning flesh and aching agony. "Just die already."

In my stupor at the sudden turn of events, I missed how close the flailing form of Wolf had gotten to me. I noticed a little too late when the heat grew to an un-ignorable level and had enough time to scramble backwards a few feet and cry out when Mutt was there, scooping me up and jumping away from the dying beast.

I still couldn't tear my eyes away from the scene before me, even as Mutt laid me back down and watched me.

It was just like last time. Maple swooping in and burning the threat to ashes while I was lying on the ground, useless and broken.

Would she leave me to die again, or would she make good on her promise?

"Foxy? Are you okay?"

Mutt's voice pulled me away from the miserable scene. Despite a few new scrapes and bruises, he looked alright considering everything we had just went through. I knew the same couldn't be said for me.

"I'll be fine." I turned my head away from his concerned face and found myself looking at the almost serene expression Lady Louise had as she continued to rest on the ground. Though, maybe she wasn't asleep. Maybe she had been dead for awhile now.

"You should go find your Master. Shepherd might still be alive, too."

I wasn't sure whose voice it was that came out of my mouth. It was too raspy and forced to be mine. It said things I would never say.

"It's okay. I already failed." I winced as a hand fell on my shoulder and looked to see the smiling face of my friend. The big nose, the messy hair that fell in his eyes, that goofy, too big smile. If he had kept the hat, it would have been just like when I had first met him in that classroom.

"I'm with you, Foxy."

It felt like his hand was squeezing my chest, not my shoulder. Squeezing until it let all feeling of pain stop. All the mistakes washed away. All the guilt and fear and doubt pulling me down suddenly fall away.

All by this boy. The very same one who dragged me into this.

There was a chaotic swirl of things I wanted to tell him. But, if there was one thing that needed to be said above all others, I knew exactly what it was.

"Th—"

"Hey!" the voice of the void roared, cutting through what was once silent.

Silent...

Wolf stood there. Body awash in fire. Flesh and fur and muscle falling away as they were consumed by flame. But still he stood there, just behind Mutt. Eyes popped out of their sockets, face more bone then flesh, but still there.

Mutt saw the look in my eyes and turned his head. The bone jaws of Wolf clamped down around his throat. Fire danced off the monster and ate away at the boy's hair as teeth pierced skin and disappeared into the sudden rush of blood. My friend's hands came up around Wolf's head, as if they were preparing to do something, but the charred and blackened beast raised its own head, mouth still firmly digging into Mutt's neck, and the latter went limp. His arms fell to his side and didn't move. None of him moved.

I do not remember when I started screaming. 

...

*Author's Note*

The end is near.