I patted the mane of my horse outside, waiting for a few hoodlums to arrive.

“Everything is cleaned up inside. Retrieve all the documents, everything magical, weapons, you know the drill. Oh, and don’t open the door with magical rooms in the common room … and try not to puke.” I said as I climbed onto my horse again. What a good boy it was. Didn´t even complain about the blood on my coat while the other humans around could barely look at me.

Well, they would do their job, while I would do mine. Checking all of my throwing daggers once more, I saluted towards them and galloped off into the distance, keeping track of the signs the whore left behind. Sadly, but also luckily, everybody gave up on my abilities to find the way. Thus, I was incredibly grateful that the whore left large white arrows on walls at every intersection.

I didn´t gallop too fast though as I needed to arrive with perfect timing. Thus, I gauged the minutes and slowed down a bit, making my beautiful horse trot slowly.

“Hey, do you have a name?” I asked the horse but naturally got no answer. “Great. I think I call you Mine.” I smiled brightly, looked up towards the sky and wasted my time while Mine trotted along the road. From time to time, I checked the arrows but otherwise, I barely had to do anything.

Only as the distance to my target was written over the arrows did I finally keep track of my surroundings again. We were in a slightly scummy part of the city, where the streets weren’t paved at all, and the houses screamed off crime.

I made one last turn to my left and rode into a street, surrounded by two-storey high houses. I could already spot Sirius in the middle of the street, talking towards Tom. I didn´t listen to them right away, but rather whistled loudly and waved towards the four werewolves on the roofs, covering behind it and only peeking their heads out.

“Howdy boyz!” I said as I rode past Sirius who was already smelling the air. It wouldn’t take long for him to figure out what I did so I had to hurry a bit. I jumped off my horse and gave Tom my hand. “Great to see you!” I said while he gave me the sapphire for everyone to see.

“So, did you finally get out of your dark room?” He asked while looking at Sirius concerned.

“Aye! Just leave the rest to me.” I answered and waited for Tom to climb onto the horse awkwardly.

“You…” He said, slowly realizing how werewolf blood smelled.

“One second please.” I said and showed him my index finger, directed towards the sky. I waved as Tom rode off into the distance, at first slowly and then as fast as he could.

“What have you done?” He asked in utter disbelief. Well, his reaction was entirely understandable considering his family was mostly dead.

“Oh? That? I thought about using doggo meat to make Lasagne. You see, that didn´t work out too well. Their whining is still ringing in my ears.” I said and chuckled happily.

“How…” How did I manage to find the location of your house while all of our spies failed to follow any one of your men?

“Well, you see … you have a military background. Understandably, you train your children all kinds of stuff, like fighting, resisting torture, strategy … but I was also in the military … at least until I ran my army into the ground. Anyways, I learned one thing. Soldiers aren’t very good against emotional trickery.”

“… Jacob.” He muttered, his hand slowly wandering towards the sword on his hip.

“Oh … I wouldn’t do that. I´m holding the rest of your pack hostage.” I claimed but nonetheless took a step back.

“You killed all of them.” He said, which hurt me quite a bit.

“What? How rude. I would never do such a thing.” I revealed and jumped backwards as I noticed an arrow in the corner of my vision. It whooshed past me and hit the ground by my side. Nevertheless, I had to congratulate the archer for the precision.

“I will kill your whole family.” Sirius said as he unsheathed his large broadsword in front of my eyes.

“I won´t let you~” I answered and drew my own sword while keeping track of the four archers on the roofs and the other eight werewolves in the houses around me. Making them out though was another question altogether, mostly because there were normal, breathing inhabitants in these buildings as well.

“Die.” He growled, dashing forwards so that the ground beneath his feet cracked. Whistling loudly, I threw the sapphire high into the air and evaded the first thrust. I could feel the wind pressure on my skin as he cut through my cape with ease. Having dodged the strike by a hair’s breadth, I hopped to my right, slashing upwards in the process.

Once again, I whistled loudly as he managed to block the blade with the lower portion of his sword and danced backwards as three more arrows came flying towards me. I turned the handle in my hands for about a ninety-degree angle and swung it wildly, just as the sapphire fell down in front of me.

“Homerun!” I exclaimed as I hit it, catapulting it over the houses on the other side of the street. I chuckled slightly and danced backwards once again as he swiped at me from my left. “You know, you don’t have to take everything so seriously.” He growled and dashed behind me as I evaded to the back once more until I was at the house facade. I ducked myself underneath his vertical slash, aiming directly for my neck and opened the door right behind me. As I expected, it wasn’t even locked, enabling me to kick the door open with my left foot.

I took a few steps backwards until I was in the hallway. On one side, there was a furious werewolf in human form, aiming for my life. And on the other, there was a wolf, snarling at me furiously.

I kicked the ground beneath my feet, evaded another slash as I jumped into the room right next to me and found myself in a kitchen, while an archer aimed at me from the outside through a window. They were leaving me no room to breathe with their teamwork.

I held the black, thin sword with both of my hands, and deflected the approaching arrow with the flat side. Only then did I realize I made a mistake. I focused too much on the horizontal aspect and completely ignored the person above me. I even heard him, but as his breath was quite low, I expected him to be asleep. But he wasn’t. He was aiming at me through a hole in the floor, just wide enough to fire at the centre of the kitchen, exactly where I stood. Between defending against a sword thrust that would rip me apart, or being hit by a possibly poisoned arrow, I obviously chose the latter. I barely managed to twist my body enough that the arrowhead bore into my shoulder, rather than my neck.

I hopped backwards a few times, giggling in pain and switching the blade to my left hand. I was cornered quite quickly by Sirius and the other werewolf, but at least, the archer wouldn’t be able to fire at me.

“You know what … maybe I should stop holding back.” I said, waiting for the right moment. With gnashing teeth, the wolve approached me, looking at me as if I was prey while Sirius was much warier, rightfully so.

I jumped into the air, kicked against the kitchen shelf behind me and catapulted myself forwards, out of the corner. Sirius couldn’t react in time as I flew through the air, turning myself around my own axis and severing the wolves spine in one fluid motion. I rolled myself off on the ground as I fell down, kicked it once more and dashed out of the room while Sirius ran behind me, clearly enraged now and strangely faster than before as well. I turned to my left in the hallway and dashed out of the house again onto the street where one archer had been aiming at me previously.

As soon as I was under the night sky again, I threw my sword in the air while still sprinting to the other side and pulled the arrow out of my shoulder. These bastards used barbs, forcing me to rip out part of my own flesh. I suppressed a scream while doing so, and pulled out a throwing dagger with my right, trembling hand. I took a swing with every bit of strength I could muster and threw the knife at the surprised archer in the middle of the street. Well, they definitely didn´t expect me to take the worst possible decision available which was to go back into the open, but I was crazy, remember?

With a satisfying thud, he collapsed onto the ground, rattling as his throat was pierced through. I twirled around, caught the handle again and swung it around, slashing at Sirius who sadly reacted in time. The blade harmlessly slipped off on his, while he tried to use his body weight to his advantage.

He simply didn´t stop. But rather kept running at full force into me, even though I balled my left hand into a fist and sank it deep into his muscular belly. His shoulder slammed into my head, making me see the stars for a second. I was thrown backwards into a wall by the force and he came crashing right into me before I even slumped onto the ground. All the air left my lungs as my organs were squished quite badly and I even felt a few bones in my left shoulder break.

Grinning wildly, he stepped away from me, while I sank down to the ground apparently without much strength left. I was wondering … when would they deliver my package?

It was instant delivery. A man stepped through the door right next to me, only revealing himself as soon as he judged it as safe. Well, I just sat there, collapsed against the wall so I didn´t pose much of an obvious danger.

“Boss, we have found the gem. Here it is.” He threw the sapphire towards Sirius, who caught it out of the air.

“Good job, Captain Bezos.” Sirius said, holding the sapphire in between his eyes and the light of the full moon. He frowned slightly and then proceeded to crush the sapphire in his hands. I raised my eyebrow slightly and wondered what this fake gem was made of. Crackers? Bread? Certainly not, but it wasn´t fit to withstand the full force of Sirius´ grip. At least it survived my home run …

“You …” He walked towards me while I was slowly struggling to get up again. Feigning a concussion, I stumbled to my side, only to feel how he pulled my mask off my face.

“Uhh …” I mumbled and tried to resist as he pushed me against the wall once again, but didn´t get far with the meagre strength I exerted.

“And Markus told us we needed to watch out for her.” He said and whistled loudly. One by one, all of the remaining eleven werewolves came out of their hiding, two in wolf form while the rest wore different weapons, mostly swords and bows though. I could see even Markus who grinned wildly as he finally would get his revenge.

“Where is the gem?”

“Uhuu …” I said, in an attempt to ridicule him. I certainly didn´t know what Markus told him, but he apparently forgot a lot about me.

“What do you think about our own poison? Do you feel dizzy? Cannot exert all your strength?” Did I feel dizzy?

…

…

No, not at all. Their poison was shit. So shit in fact that it made things way easier for me.

“Boss, we have given her enough to knock out ten humans at the same time … I don’t think she can answer us anymore.” Thank you, my knight! You saved my day, whoever you are!

“Whatever. We´ll ask her mother then.” He said, and turned away from me, letting me slide down the wall until I hit the ground once more. “Lucinda, you will suffer when I get my wishes … I will resurrect everyone and inflict so much pain upon you …”

Way faster than expected, Sirius transformed into a wolf in front of my eyes. He had white hair and would reach to my chest if I stood up, completely unlike those who transformed right next to him. They had grey, for wolves’ typical hair and were way smaller than him. They didn´t leave me much time to wonder though as they dashed away into the distance, leaving me with Markus and five other werewolves behind. What I didn´t expect though, was their speed. Well, at least the only person I had respect for left, leaving me with enough room to tidy up his subordinates and to deal with him on a lot more favourable grounds.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance as one of them walked towards me. He kicked my sword away from me and pulled me up by my hair without any concern for how I would look afterwards. Finally, he dragged the cape off me, revealing my completely black dress beneath.

“Have you ever wondered what it means to live with a god?” I asked, more to myself than anyone else.

“Huh?” He asked, surprised by the complete change in my behaviour. I kicked the wall behind me with my feet, pushing myself into him to throw him off balance. He stumbled backwards, finally letting me go. Landing on the ground, I drew my two daggers out from underneath my dress and waited.

“Who wants to go first? … I only have a minute.” I asked, already eyeing the one in front of me who was regaining his balance. Slowly, he backed away from me, covered by two with swords in their hands. They tried to encircle me while I just stood there, waiting for them to attack me. As one of the archers shot an arrow towards me, I got fed up with the situation, even though I could evade it by tilting my head slightly.

Six enemies. Markus was probably the most problematic of them, even though he kept his distance from me for now. I turned towards one of the swordsmen but was soon met with another arrow that nearly hit my neck. Glaring angrily, I decided to switch tactics and ran right up to the swordsmen to my left. Two more arrows flew in my direction. Both were parried by my dagger that flashed beautifully under the moonlight. A bit distracted by the continuous fire, I didn´t manage to slash at the man right away, especially because he had a longer reach with his weapon. Instead, I ducked underneath the vertical slash which was aiming a bit too high and slid through the mud. I was so low, that the dirt on the street splashed into my face as I skid past him, slashing at his Achilles heel in the process.

He grunted unhappily as I used the momentum to stand upright again, this time, out of the encirclement and with only one slowly healing enemy who could face me. Once more, I ran up to him, evaded a flying arrow and parried as he wanted to strike me from his left.

“Wide open.” I commented as I twirled around, dodged another arrow and stabbed into his throat. The sword, still pushing against my other dagger, lost all force, which enabled me to push it into his side as well.

There was no way he would survive that. One down, five more to go. Three archers, one swordman and Markus who still waited.

I looked around me, noticed how one of the archers was circling behind me, kicked the still standing man in front of me away into his partner and threw one of the daggers towards the archer. He tried to duck underneath it, but I was aiming for his heart anyway. The tip of the dagger bore into his shoulder, making him scream in pain. That one wouldn’t be a problem for quite some time.

Satisfied, I turned towards the swordsman who was approaching me after having successfully discarded the corpse of his ally to the side.

“You know …” I turned to the left and threw the dagger with deadly precision to the nearest archer, impaling him through the chest in the process.

“Fifty-five per cent feels really good. Kind of exciting, you know?” I commented towards him, leaving myself open by not picking up any other weapon.

Their coordination was quite good so far. Always trying to shoot me when I was distracted, backing me into a corner earlier … I had to applaud them. But they trained in the military. They were used to fighting more, weaker men, not a single strong opponent.

The swordsman in front of me swung the sword sideways, trying his best to keep myself on distance continuously. I danced backwards, waited for an opportunity and kept an eye on all three of them.

“I really like bananas.” I said as I noticed Markus rushing toward me all of a sudden, the archer shooting his arrow and the swordsman slashing at me at the same time. This time, I stepped forwards, evaded the arrow in the process, grabbed the sword hand and squeezed it. I could feel his fingers break under my grasp, as I pushed myself into the unknown swordman, taking out a throwing knife from my thigh and stabbing him into his liver. I dragged it through his flesh as I let go of his now useless hand and positioned myself behind him so that Markus was forced to go around.

Laughing happily, I let go of the nearly dead man, pulled out the throwing knife in the process and threw it at the last archer. He had no chance. It flew way too fast for him to even react, despite being a full moon. I hopped backwards a bit, away from Markus who was following me closely, but still held his distance.

“Fifty five … well, I´m thinking into turning this into a seventy, just for you.” I said and stood still. Completely unmoving, I just waited. I waited for him to make his move.

“Pff … you don’t have any more than this.” He commented, reading this situation completely wrong. I really wondered where he got that confidence from until his blade started to accelerate, faster than ever before. It had quite the speed and force behind it as it travelled towards my neck at a speed faster than Markus’ ever used before.

Was it the adrenaline? His transformation into a werewolf? Whatever it was, it didn´t help him at all. A few seconds before it reached the left side of my neck, my hand shot up, stopping the blade within a millisecond.

“Wow, fifteen seconds to go. Let´s finish this quickly, shall we?” I said, tilting my head slightly while Markus stumbled backwards as he couldn’t move the blade one bit. “You know what? Thank you! Truly, it is quite boring as there is nobody around here who even has the chance to fight me on even grounds, but you may have shown me one. Truly, if you had worked all together, maybe you would even stand a chance … but alas, you all overestimated yourself while fighting against the god of death´s daughter.” I yanked the sword out of his hands, strode forwards, grabbed his throat and kicked his legs away. In no time, he was on the ground, struggling to breathe as I squeezed his throat tightly. His windpipe was shut completely, but I didn´t stop there. Despite what I had said, I despised him for bringing misfortune to my family.

It wasn’t enough. I squeezed even more, used both of my tiny hands to wrap around his neck completely and broke his spine. I heard bones cracking, I heard him dying.

But it still wasn’t enough. I compressed his whole neck into an unrecognizable mess of flesh and skin, felt how blood seeped onto my hands and laughed happily. Finally, I clamped shut on his neck completely, pressing out everything from between my hands until only the bones remained. His head rolled off to the side, while his body still laid beside me. A fountain of blood sprayed out of his torso, painting the street in a beautiful red.

“Haa ~ that felt good~” I said happily and stood up slowly while staring at the last archer who was slowly rubbing away from me. “Time to feel even better~”