"That oath..." Lawrence said slowly after a few moments.
"What?" Betty asked him, noticing some nervousness in his voice.
"The oath the witches had all those people give after the witches transformed them," Lawrence commented, "It sounded like Alpha-Kaylee's oath for the Pack, although I've always thought that she was joking or indulging in her animee fetish..."
"Anime fetish?" Betty asked.
"Please, don't," Maddex urged, not wanting his pups to know too much about things like that until they were older.
Not that the pack's pups didn't know what their parents did in their bedrooms besides sleep. There were the occasional nightmares and other things that would scare youngster and send them running for their parents. And the pups had learned to recognize the barks and howls their parents made while mating.
"The witches didn't inspire your Alpha Female's oath," Marie-Eliza answered, "they were dead before she was born."
"Well, yes, but they're so similar," Lawrence answered.
"Well... those Lupman pups, transgendered, are your Alpha Female's are in her family tree," Marie sighed, "perhaps this animee you speak of touched on some part of the witches magic that lingered after their execution."
"Magic lingered?" Betty asked.
Marie nodded, "Much like what happened on Big Bad Island many of the things that occurred in Glendale did reverse once the witches were no longer there to drive it... but unlike Big Bad Island, the vast majority of the things the witches changed remained the same because of the curse they passed down as they died... which now, likely won't reverse with the curse finally dying because the altered lines are ingrained in reality to revert."
They all shuddered.
+++++++
"Burning is a traditional method of execution," Marie spoke as they walked, "these witches are still human. Anything that can kill man can kill them."
"But from what I've heard coming out of Glendale these witches have essentially taken over the town," Linus warned, "I'd find it hard to believe that they haven't taken some steps to protect themselves, particularly if they know you're coming."
"How do you know all this?" Katherine asked curiously.
"I'm not the standard Puritan," Linus answered with a chuckle, "I've read a lot about witchcraft,interestingly enough, mostly from Catholic sources. If they know you're coming, they will do whatever they need to, to defend themselves."
"Interesting," Marie chuckled.
"We should still try to prepare ourselves more," Linus spoke, "I'm fearful you're rushing things."
"We are running out of time," Marie said nervously, "what they're doing they're dong quickly. If we take too long we risk having only one shot at this... which would make failure a death sentence."
"Besides," Draco spoke up, "the fight will not break out until after they've been drugged, and I highly doubt they know about a dragon's resistance to magics."
"Maybe... but if they're prepared, you may have to go all out kill them without a trail, and be prepared to bury most of us," Linus warned again.
"Don't worry," Katherine said,"Marie is GOOD at dealing with these threats. She defeated a Turkish spy that wanted to sacrifice everybody in the Vatican to awaken some demon..."
"Just one virgin of every race," Marie told her.
"I doubt he was a warlock," Linus answered, "there are a lot of magics that are not tied to the magic user. Many of Merlin Ambrosius's magics are from the powders he made, not necessarily from Merlin himself... although the sources I have seem to indicate that the formula for it has been long lost."
"Still, Marie is good," Katherine answered, "and those Brides of Satan will surely fall before those who serve God."
++++++
"It almost sounds like Linus was trying to get them to go through the "grave-digging" route first," Alice commented.
Marie-Eliza nodded, "but feeling that their backs were to the wall and running against the clock, Marie Cruz was rushing things. She ultimately knew what was coming if nothing was done. And that made her desperate... which in the first encounter with the witches, went against the hunters..."
+++++++++
The march from Boston to Glendale took time. Not that Marie wanted it too, but between dirt roads and not wanting to make it look like two "women" were marching at a military pace with a dragon and a gargoyle. Draco lead the way with Vatican bringing up the rear while Linus provided whatever advice he had for them.
The one thing that helped them were the "refugees" they met that had been fleeing Glendale. They delivered updates on what the witches had been doing, including the surprising tale of a mob of men from Frostville that seemingly vanished at the witches doorstep. This disappointed Linus the most, and many of the same men likely and rejected his calls to prepare for something similar years earlier, and now for them, it was too late.
Marie stuck to her plan to let Draco disorient the witches first, since they couldn't just snap their fingers and turn him into something, and despite Linus's warnings carried on. As they reached the outskirts of Glendale, they quickly found how wrong the ignoring of the warnings had been.
"Is that them?" Katherine asked nervously as she and Vatican spotted three women standing along a road that lead into the town.
"Yes," Marie said slowly, remembering the vision of a wrecked Glendale and the three of them attacking Marie.
"They expect us," Linus pointed out, "best to pull back and rethink... Possibly even wait till they let their guard down."
"It'd be too late by then," Marie answered, "go on, Draco..."
Draco never got the chance to move.
"Welcome to the freest land on Earth," came three triplicate voices, "where everyone will be free from the oppressions of rules, laws, "Gods" who hate everyone, and all the vices they use to twist people to their will... honor, dignity, logic, reason... all are gone here and soon the world... EVERYONE WILL BE FREE!"
"Free to be your slaves you mean," Marie countered.
"No they are free," Gomorrah spoke as an individual, "free from ALL that would oppress them."
"And did they choose this path BEFORE or AFTER you used your magic on them?" Marie questioned.
"Of course they did," Golgotha answered, "unlike you, DOG, we chose our own path, unlike you, who is told to run around and you MINDLESSLY obey."
"I was referring to those that you've "freed"," Marie answered, "not yourselves."
"Does that matter?" Golgotha answered, "they are freed while you seek to enslave them again."
"I seek to enslave no one," Marie countered, "I seek to bring justice for those you have forcibly enslaved and robbed of their futures. You want to call me "dog of God", fine, but then..."
Marie drew a dart from Draco who had sought to prepare them, but then held them ready.
"... I will defend my master with great determination," Marie answered and threw the dart straight at Golgotha, privately not knowing why they hadn't tried any magic yet.
The dart flew toward Golgotha's chest, but once it got within a foot of her, it stopped and fell harmlessly to the ground. Like it had hit an invisible wall.
"And so falls the weapons of a weak, inferior being," Golgotha smiled, slightly startled by the fact that Marie was missing an eye, but she did not show it, "and now you will feel our power!"
Water then erupted from the ground at the foot of the witches and slammed into Marie and Katherine, knocking them back into Vatican and through the sheer force of the blow knocking Katherine out in the first blow while Marie was disoriented.
"Dogs are stupid," Herodias spoke from Golgotha's feet, "running around like idiots thinking man will pat them on the head... and the Felman is a traitor to her race siding with you. And you are a greatest idiot of all for rejecting me."
"Mutt was better then you," Marie growled back defiantly as she climbed back to her feet, and produced one of her throwing knives.
Herodias hissed at being described as inferior and advanced slightly, expecting Golgotha to advance with her. The witch did not, and Marie threw her blade. Hitting the black cat in its hip, Herodias dropped to the ground while Golgotha shrieked with pain, as the feeling of a metal blade sinking into Herodias's back was felt by both of them.
"You BITCH!" Golgotha screamed and threw a bolt of lightning so powerful that it sent both Marie and Vatican flying.
While Golgotha then turned to heal Herodias, Gaal and Gomorrah turned to Draco and Linus, who had managed to avoid the initial wave of "ground water" that the witches had summoned. Draco tried to stand his ground while Linus was tending to the unconscious Katherine.
"Why do you fight us leper?" Gaal asked, "we could make you free. Free of the disease you wear all those bandages for."
"You think I dress this way because I am a leper?" Draco answered. He had thought that they already knew his race.
"Why else would you?"
"To reduce the strain others feel when they see me," Draco spoke as he began to undo the bandages around his fact.
"Draco, we need to flee!" Linus spoke as he watched Vatican and Marie go flying into a forest nearby. He had gathered up Katherine and was beginning to pull her away.
Draco ignored him.
"So they might ease their prejudices against a race that once walked the EXACT same path you are currently walking!" Draco finished as removed the bandages, revealing his scales and slit pupil red eyes.
"DRAGON!" Lilith warned, "Quick, mistress! Turn him into a toad!"
Gaal and Gomorrah raised their hands only to be met by wall of flame. The flames hit the "shield" that the witches had erected to protect themselves, but slightly magical in nature, they could feel the heat through the "shield".
"He's cooking us!" Lilith hissed as the heat was even too much for the snake to stand.
"Let us go, Draco," Linus urged, "before the third one joins them!"
It was only then that Draco broke off his attack. Extending his own wings he flew toward Linus and the unconscious Katherine while Gaal and Gomorrah attempted to recover from Draco's attempt to "cook" them.
"Oh, no you don't," Golgotha growled as she stood up, Herodias fully healed, "not without some PUNISHMENT for the sin of attacking the REAL GODS OF THIS WORLD!"
An old dead tree suddenly sprung to life and grabbed Draco out of the air as he flew by it. Linus and Katherine were thrown from his grasp and they both ended up unconscious at the bottom of a hill near the forest. Draco, meanwhile struggled in the grasp of the tree.
"We may not be able to transform you, dragon," Golgotha spoke, "but that doesn't mean we can not kill you as the final punishment for the Prudes that called you here!"
Draco roared with pain as the dead branches grew into his wings, crushing the bones and tearing massive holes in the membranes that made up the span between his various wing bones. His blood quickly soaked through his robes and he could feel it flowing down his back and tail. As he began to lose consciousness from the blood loss, he heard Golgotha speak again.
"We'll be in touch, dogs, should you want another beating... for we will always be better then you."
+++++++++
"They didn't outright kill them?" Betty gasped.
"They thought that Vatican, Marie, and Katherine were dead," Marie-Eliza answered, "and figured that Linus would easily walk into a trap to turn him into a carpenter to finish their "orphanage" and figured that Draco, if he lived, would flee eventually. The witches felt they had won the war in the one brief engagement. They had knocked Katherine out and sent Marie and Vatican flying in the opening round. Linus was sidelined by trying to take care of Katherine and Draco could only buy them a little time..."
"Which they didn't have," Lawrence sighed, "It seems that they all jumped to the fight rather quickly though..."
"The witches weren't about to let Marie execute her plan," Marie-Eliza answered, "they were waiting for them with the purpose of fighting them. Marie may have wanted to debate them, but she also knew that by now, they had lost all hope of redemption."
"Would they be alright?" Cassandra sniffled.
"In time, though the defeat at the outskirts forced Marie to heavily alter her strategy and tactics...
+++++++++
Marie awoke to find herself propped up against something hard and cold. As she looked around she found it was one of Vatican's wings, but to her horror, it was not attached to the gargoyle.
"Noooo," Marie moaned weakly.
"You are awake," came Vatican's voice as he came from the shadows from behind a large but still crude campfire that had been built.
Marie looked up to see Vatican approach. His horns were still there, but there were visible cracks in them, and both of his wings were gone, cracks covered his back where they had been. Marie then looked further up to see multiple broken large tree limbs, which through the multiple blows had broken off Vatican's wings.
"Take it easy," Vatican instructed, "you are heavily burned by the bolt of lightning the scarred witch threw at you and I."
It was only then that Marie noticed the burning pain in her face, neck, chest, and abdomen. She would survive, but it would take awhile. She glanced around to see Draco seated, bare-chested with bandages wrapped around his body and holding his wings down. She also noticed that he winced each time Linus wrapped the bandage around him. Katherine was still unconscious.
"I blew it," Marie said weakly.
"Yes," Linus nodded, "thankfully the witches let us "live" for reasons I can not explain... either that or they thought they had killed us."
"The dart didn't even effect them..." Marie spoke.
"The dart never touched them," Linus answered, "they have cast some spell to protect themselves from physical harm. From what I've read, the only way to get around such a spell would be to either wield magic yourself or have a magical weapon... now too my knowledge, only Excalibur and a Spear of Destiny are such weapons..."
"And Excalibur deemed no one but Arthur Pendragon worthy of it, and the "Spear of Destiny" was lost shortly after it pierced Christ's side," Marie coughed, trying to ignore the pain, "probably vanished from his powers and through his forgiveness. Supposedly the Romans there did admit he was the son of God."
Linus nodded, "which means our only other option is a weapon forged from a something magical."
"Like what?" Vatican asked as he tended the fire.
"Usually the bones of a witch," Linus answered, "since none of us know magic, and formal weapons do not exist, we will need the bones of a witch to counter the spell the witches have protected themselves with."
Marie only gave a pained sigh, "I've seen no good witches that could help us... and for the time being, we need to heal."
"We passed a praying town on the way to Glendale," Linus answered, "they might help us. I know it may seem odd... but I'd bet the witches either control Glendale itself by now, or have at least frightened those that live there to the point where they'd turn us in. We won't get any help from the Glendale Pack."
Marie only sighed.