Katherine had no idea how she was going to take on thirteen well-trained lycanthropes, powers or no powers, but she knew she didn't have much of a choice.
Katherine took several deep breaths, preparing for the next attack. The lycanthropes began transforming right and left, and the next attack came from behind, knocking Katherine to the ground.
Oh God, no. No, it can't end like this, Katherine thought as she struggled to get the wolf off of her but more joined it, holding her down and soon Katherine had seven or eight lycanthropes' paws on her back, pushing her down.
She felt like she couldn't breathe, and her breaths were forced and panicked, tears of fear forming in her eyes.
"Get off... of... MEP" Katherine said, screaming the last word in desperate hysteria.
Suddenly Katherine felt the back of her shirt rip, forced open from the inside, and then the wolves that had been holding her down were flying off of her in all directions.
Katherine lifted her face from the dirt, catching a glimpse of silver in the sky, glinting from the beams of sunlight hitting whatever it was.
Katherine pushed herself off of the ground and she heard a flapping sound, something sending a vibration of feeling down her spine at whatever motion had made the sound, and suddenly she was on her feet, an unknown force pulling her upright. Katherine looked up and she saw silver wings extended in the sunlight, shining and glinting like a thousand stars in the night sky. My wings..
Those are my wings... Katherine's heart did a little flip of pure joy.
They were beautiful wings too unlike any of the others she had seen. They weren't black and leathery, or bat-like in any way. They sparkled and shone, and looked as though they had been sprinkled with millions of tiny diamonds. The edges looked sharp and dangerous, like the blade of a guillotine.
For the first time since finding out about the Clans, Katherine wasn't afraid. Somehow, she knew she could beat them.
The lycanthropes around Katherine, Convel included, looked at Katherine with awe, wonder and fear.
There was such a dangerous beauty about her, such a strange sense of undisturbed purity.
She was no longer the plain teenage girl that she had been before. She was a strange and exquisite creature an exotic beauty, but very dangerous with her sharp wings.
"Remember yer orders" Convel shouted at his coven, finally coming out of the almost trance-like state he'd been in.
His voice seemed to have a sobering effect on the lycanthropes, as they began moving in again.
One with mud-colored fur jumped at Katherine, giving a roar of attack. Katherine's wings lashed out of their own volition, slitting the creature's throat open, blood gushing out of the open wound and hitting her face. The wolf landed on its side hard, hitting the sandy beach with a muted thud.
It would take the wolf a long time to heal from a wound that bad.
The other wolves seemed disheartened at how easily Katherine had dispatched their comrade, but lycanthrope after lycanthrope came at her again and again. Each time, her wings struck out at them, wounding them badly.
Katherine was almost frightened by how her wings seemed to have a mind of their own. The sensation was strange and unearthly. As she fought the wolves off it seemed to her as though she was only a spectator in her own body as animal instinct took over to ensure her survival.
Convel stood by and watched as the girl he would claim as his daughter dispatched the members of his coven one by one, unable or unwilling to participate in battle against her. The last lycanthrope fell to the ground, unconscious like all the others and Katherine stood out against the quickly fading fog.
Katherine breathed heavily as the world finally came back into focus. She saw the barely breathing forms of the twelve wolves lying around her, her eyes eventually wandering over to Convel.
She felt her wings contract and grow back into the smooth skin of her back, as though they knew the danger had passed.
Katherine could feel a draft where her shirt remained ripped, but had other things on her mind like why Convel wasn't attacking.
"Aren't you going to attack?" Katherine asked in confusion.
Convel merely smiled.
"I Could never raise me hand to you, Katherinet," he said softly. "Surely, ye should know that by now."
Katherine scoffed.
"Oh, no, you could never fight your own daughter," Katherine said, sarcasm heavily lacing her voice.
"Nope, instead you just stand by while twelve of your lackeys do your dirty work for you."
"Ye will understand one day, Katherinet. When we stand side by side for the good of our kind and ye see the truth."
"You are completely deluded," Katherine said with a roll of her eyes. "Aren't you even angry that I Screwed up your little kidnapping scheme?"
"We'll be together again, Katherinet. Ye, yer mother and me will all be together again... as a family."
"You don't get it yet, do you? Katherine whispered, tears coming to her eyes. "We can never be a family as long as you pursue this stupid, psychotic, selfish plan of yours!"
"Katherinet..." Convel began softly, stepping forward.
"No!" Katherine shouted, outright crying now. "I'm not Katherinet, I'll never be Katherinet!
In rage and hurt, Katherine took the winged wolf pendant from under her shirt and lifted over her head before throwing it on the ground at Convel's feet. The hurt in his eyes almost made her say than she took it back, that she was sorry and hadn't meant it.
But she didn't, and she wouldn't.
She couldn't be what he wanted and she couldn't ask him to be what she wanted. It wouldn't be fair to either of them. They were at a stalemate. They couldn't go forward or back. They were just stuck Somewhere between father and daughter, villain and hero.
"I Will never be your daughter," she said coldly.
A look of pure hurt and pain came over Convel's face but she remained firm in her resolve.
There was no going back.
"Yer wrong," Convel choked out hoarsely, as though getting the words out of his throat was5a struggle. "Yer so very wrong... Ye'll see…"
He bent down and picked up the pendant.
The fog was starting to roll in again and the sun had taken shelter behind a cloud. Katherine suddenly felt very cold.
The lycanthropes, relieved from the discomfort of sunlight, slowly began Healing and picking themselves up. Convel motioned for them to leave Katherine and retreat, though they seemed reluctant to do so.
They obeyed Convel's silent order and disappeared into the fog.
Convel stood just within Katherine's visibility, staring at her, before reluctantly stepping into the fog leaving her alone, possibly forever.