Jericho huffed as he reached the bottom of the apartment. He considered himself pretty healthy, his hobby made sure of that, but running down ten flights of stairs was exhausting nonetheless, “Wait…” he huffed and coughed, “For me!”

He rushed towards the roar, he knew that he would have a target on his back, but he refused to sit idle as others solved his problems.

Another roar filled the night air, he wondered what others thought of the blood curdling sounds. A loud horror movie? Stray dogs fighting over a meal? Jericho never could get how people could rationalize the magical into something so mundane. As he was about to turn the corner he stopped as a person was thrown across the street, hitting a lamppost before crumbling to the ground. Upon further exception he saw that it was Diana. She rose to her feet, merely wiping herself off before glancing at Jericho.

“Couldn’t help yourself could you.” Shaking her head she chuckled. “We’ll discuss this later. But since you are here.” She motioned to Angela and Zoran who were fighting off three wendigos down the street. “Help them. I’ll deal with the alpha.” With that she bounded down the alley from where she was thrown.

Jericho huffed, and drew his blades, he saw that Zoran’s cutlasses were now ablaze and lighting the dark with a menacing glow. As for Angie… he couldn’t tell if he was seeing correctly but it looked as if her fists were on fire. The three wendigos circled them like sharks. It was only a matter of time before they strike.

“I’m going to regret this…” Jericho whispered. Running, he leaped towards the closet one with his back turned, grappling to him, he dug the blades into its neck.

The beast thrashed about, swinging wildly, its pack yelped and flinched as they were surprised by this attack. Breaking formation the split apart.

Angela didn’t waste the opportunity as she struck the wendigo with her fist, leaving a red blemish where it was hit. From there she proceeded to show off her skills as a combat mage. Striking and parrying, using only her fists. She kept the wendigo busy and away from the others of its pack while they are dealt with by her allies.

Jericho wasn’t as successful or graceful as his friend. He was thrashed about, slammed into walls and thrown about but he didn’t break his grip. He knew he couldn’t kill the thing without fire but he can annoy it till then. Digging it’s blades deeper into its neck, pushing down so hard he felt the naked blades start to cut into his hands, mixing them with the monsters own blood. Soon the blades began to hum and the handles felt warm in his hands. The wendigo howled and screamed as a fire erupted from the blades.

Quickly detaching, he jumped off the burning body and watched as the monster was burn from the inside out. Looking into his hands he saw the blades lit with the warmth of fire. He laughed as he inspected them further, he really was going to owe Marcus for this one.

Seconds after his kill, Zoran decapitated his opponent as Angela’s stopped moving. She looked at the ash pile that used to be a wendigo, “Color me impressed, where’d you get those?”

Jericho was about to answer when Zoran cut him off, “Why are you here? Where’s Diana?”

“She went after the alpha.”

“Where?” Zoran panicked looking towards the alleyway Jericho pointed to, he shoved passed him and went after Diana, followed by Angela and Jericho.

~~~~~~~

To their surprise the trio found Marcus with Diana. Both fought against the alpha wendigo.

The alpha was much larger and more animalistic than it’s pack. Standing at twelve feet, the beast had powerful forearms and small hind legs. Thick brown fur coated in blood covered the abomination and with what looked like an elongated elk skull for a head. it stared down at them with murderous intent in its glowing yellow orb like eyes.

“That’s the alpha!? What happened to it?” Jericho asked dumbfounded. “Why does it look like that.”

“That’s the effect of the curse on a nature spirit.” Angela muttered, “But, it shouldn’t be possible. Nature spirits would rather die than turn into that!”

Diana held a glowing red spear and used it to goad the monster deeper into the large alley, while Marcus worked his fastest to create another double layered circle, using different runes between them than before.

“Stand back!” Marcus yelled. “All of you!”

Even Jericho dared not to step another foot closer. He knew when Marcus was serious and this was one of those times.

Once the circle was complete, it gleamed violet once more and both Diana and Marcus stood back. Black chains erupted from the circle, wrapping around the beast and slowly dragged it towards the center. The wendigo struggled and thrashed against the pull but nothing seemed to work. Diana cheered and Marcus let out a sigh of relief.

Just as seemed the night was won, the unspeakable happened. A red lightning bolt hit the circle, leaving the magical circle to ash. The chains instantly lost their pull and faded into nothing.

Jericho stared at the sky, trying to figure out where it come from, but the monster’s roar got his attention. It swiped Diana aside with ease, a loud snap was heard as she hit the wall hard. She fell to her to the ground, but did not get back up. Zoran yelled and lunged at the beast with Angela.

From the distance he heard Marcus yell for him to run. Jericho saw him, checking on Diana and set a small stone on her, encasing her in a blue energy. He was tempted to. But his instincts told him otherwise. They told him to stay and fight till the end. Gripping the blades tighter he charged the monster. He ignored Angie being tossed out the alley. He kept going as Zoran was slammed to the ground. Nothing but the monster himself was going to stop him.

Which in fact, it did. Snatching him off the ground the wendigo held him like a doll, pinning his arms against his body.

“You…” The windigo snarled, as he started to squeeze tighter onto Jericho. “You slew my scout.” He sounded like a moving mountain. Deep, slow, and rough.

“Along with the rest of your pack you-“ He was cut off by the sound of his ribs cracking. He coughed blood, and watched as it dripped onto the wendigo’s blood stained fur. He felt his cloak fight against the grip of the wendigo, but it was too much.

“Silence worm!” He squeezed tighter and Jericho’s vision was starting to blur.

Then, the monster howled in pain and dropped Jericho to the ground. There, standing behind the cursed nature spirit stood Marcus.

“No…” Jericho muttered weakly. He couldn’t move despite his best efforts. “Run… please…”

Marcus pulled on translucent blue cloth that seemed to be attached to the monster’s back, “Get away from him!” He demanded. Yanking the cloth once more he made the beast kneel.

“Enough!” He swung around, tossing Marcus around, swinging him with his own scarf, slamming him hard into a walls around him.

“No…” He gurgled, as blood filled his lungs. He struggled to his feet, digging into the daggers into the wall beside him with ease, and used them to support his weight. “Get away from him you rotting corpse!”

The beast ignored his taunts and kept his attention on Marcus, picking up the unconscious raven haired boy.. “That actually hurt you… you… what are you.” He brought him closer to his eyes and then sniffed him. Finally he plucked the cloth from his back with the other hand and inspected it. As time passed Jericho watched in horror was the monster expression turned to delight. “I’ll be damned. This is where you’ve been hiding.” He let out a thunderous laugh, “Thank you little worm, if you hadn’t made me come here myself, I wouldn’t have found this prize.” He moved past Jericho and Zoran, heading to the alley entry way. Jericho helplessly watched as the wendigo took Marcus, and disappear into the dark of the night.