“Move! Move! Move! Get the Elder to safety!” came the brash call from the mouths of the Elders guards seconds after the shock wore off and panic swept over them all.

Someone was attacking them...and it seemed even more unbelievable but the High Elder seemed to be the main target.

The men swarmed around the High Elder in a protective ring, but Mantilo ignored them as he and his other sons as made to form a wall around the women and Ezekiel. There was an instant flurry of chaos and voices barking orders and names as Elder Bonsa and her five assistants seemed to scramble for cover, and Mantilo and all of the rest of the guardians rushed to Ezekiel’s side

Mantilo’s breath left him as he watched his son hit the earth...a long shimmering black shaft of energy protruding out of his chest like a blade with no handle. For a second, for one horrifying moment Ezekiel hit the earth...and he went still and silent as if dead and Mantilo felt something inside of him wilt and start to shatter. All of the Guardians moved towards him but Mantilo forced himself to hang back and turn his senses to who or what had attacked them

Glen and Erin were instantly snarling and crying both Healers rushing to his side, but the moment they tried to touch Ezekiel a palette of blood met their small frantic hands as Mantilo watched then gingerly poke and prod around the protruding shaft logged in his body.

Nate and Lander tried to rush over, but Mantilo just snarled heavily at them and with a jolt of his chin and a glint of his eyes he silently commanded both Lander and Nate to keep their eyes on the surroundings and protect the family from another surprise attack.

Nates glimmering eyes were burning like white moon stones as he shook his head, and then in the blink of an eye he shifted. A thick grey wolf with shite patches at his temple, ears, and left front leg, stood in his place. Heckles raised as fur stood on end, and thick fangs gleamed as the Wolf snarled and paced and glared up into the distance, ears tufted with white twitched in circles, heightened senses on red alert.

Lander Shifted, a giant lean beast with neon green eyes, glimmering with murderous rage stood beside the wolf, thick black claws curled and uncurled into the forest in preparation for battle, as the Leopards heavy head lifted and glared off in all directions, a yowling hiss carried on the wind as the Leopards agitation grew and grew. Landers Leopards thick tail danced and shimmied in frustrated rage.

Mantilo felt his own beast hissing and roaring to be let loose, to rend flesh and tear at the ones that had harmed their son, but Mantilo pulled down the mindless protective instincts and blood lust so he could think and crucially give orders.

“Erin! Glen! Its not safe here, grab Ezekiel now!” He barked snapping his eyes to the Healers. Both women barely paid him a glance, their eyes glowing as they hissed at him and continued to work in the blood. “We must move!” Mantilo snarled at them both

But Glen just shook her head and with a small shudder she said. “We cant...we cant move him or he could bleed out before the wounds manage to heal!”

With a sickening jolt Mantilo caught the smell of his sons thick potent blood choking hi sense as it colored the air, and the glimmering almost illusory black light sticking out of his body flickered like black flame turned into a hard solid crystal. It was a blade made of black Mana.

“Ezkeiel! Ezkeiel wake up! Open your eyes I need you to keep breathing!!” Glens face was pale, her green eyes beheld their son with soft subdued panic as his Mate grabbed Ezekiel’s face and she shook him lightly, lifting his eyes to the rolling whites beneath as she called his name and pulse as at the same time. “Erin! The wound is it....is it in his heart or lungs? I need to know if I need to start giving him breath until we can pull out the objects safety!”

“No....its logged to the higher right of his chest cavity! So....gods hes losing so much blood! Glen. His heart Aunt Glen....if we don’t stop the bleeding his hearts going to go into arrest from all this blood loss!” Erin was hiccupping, and tears were in her eyes, but there was steel to her body language and a focused set of movements coming from her hands.

Thick claws sprang from her fingertips as she gripped Ezekiel’s blood soaked shirt and she ripped it mightily, but carefully so as to fully expose the horrible wounds beneath.

Drin was beside her, his young icy blue eyes filled with worry as they looked to Ezekiel, but the boy was also clearly guarding his Mates back as Drin stood behind her, his eyes turned to the area around them looking for a threat.

At that moment Walter who was hovering over them, his old eyes analyzing his brothers on the earth without a hint of emotion dropped back, and he swiftly pulled off his shirt and he reached out and handed the cloth to his mother. “Can you slow down the blood flow with this?” he calmly asked her. “Maybe once we staunch the flow for a few seconds the wound will stop bleeding so badly?”

Glen nodded fast and snatched the thin white shirt out of his hand and balled it into the gushing side of Ezekiel’s wounds...and almost as if that touch to such a tender and no doubt agonizing injury sent a volt of electric rage into Ezekiel’s body, his neon blue eyes suddenly snapped open, and it only took Mantilo a single glimpse to see that nothing of his sons sanity was in his wild eyes. There was just rage, and pure animal instinct in the thin black slits in his burning gaze.

“Ezekiel!” Walter called out, his voice had just a hint of alarm as his eldest son took his Ezekiel’s visage and he snarled. “Mom! Erin, back away now! His soul is utterly out of control!”

But it was too late, and Mantilo would have been surprised if the two Healers had heeded the warning at all seeing as their ministrations were probably the only things saving Ezekiel’s life.

Six thick fangs far longer and vicious then any normal Shifters would be flashed, two at the two and four at the bottom as Ezekiel came awake screaming, hissing and snapping at any face, or hand close to him. An unholy roar of blood lust and anger coked out past his fangs, as blood danced over his chin and broiled across his teeth.

“Ezekiel stop! Calm down were trying to help you!” Mantilo rushed in and started grabbing at Ezekiel’s kicking legs, but a moment later Drin was grasping his legs, while Walter dropped down next to Erin and grabbed at Ezekiel’s arms. Glen cried out in shock as Ezekiel swiped at her face, a large gash spit open across her left eyebrow as his talons scored her face.

“Glen! Glen are you okay!?” Mantilo called to his Mate as he moved around his son, Ezekiel’s voice a choked gurgle of blood and fury as he screamed and roared into the sky in utter madness. Mantilo shook his head. “Were too exposed here! We have to move to safety!”

“Ill be okay...!” Glen hissed back, her blood dribbled over her cheek and chin, and she grunted and her voice shook as she looked at him. “But if he won’t let his body heal Ezekiel’s going to kill himself if we don’t stop him Mantilo!!”

Mantilo’s heart ached with sorrow to see his youngest so overcome, utterly ravaged by the sickness he carried, his control and sense of self swept away in a sea of mad rage...and for the first time in his life Mantilo got a chilling look at the horrors that awaited them all the day Ezekiel finally lost his mind.

But in that moment the Clan Head found hope in the fact that he didn’t think the Reaver sickness had completely taken his sons mind away, but instead Ezekiel’s mortal injuries had simply weakened him so badly that it had driven his Leopard wild. Not to mention the tremendous stress still on Ezekiel’s body following his two weeks of torture at the Base being trapped in silver shackles and now his Mate was gone...it was all enough to break any one Shifter.

Mantilo pushed aside any other thoughts and he clung tightly to this hope as he saw his cub being wrestled into the floor by Glen, Walter Drin and Erin...but at every second Ezekiel just went wilder, got stronger, his rage just swelled beyond any of their belief.

In his senselessness claws ripped at clothes and Ezekiel even shot forwards and sunk his fangs into Glens right wrist as she struggled to grab at his flailing claws and hold him in place.

Glen screamed slightly as fangs sliced her skin and muscles to ribbons and her blood rained down her wrists and fingers like dripping pain.

Glen shuddered then she snarled and clamped her finger at his jaw, preventing him from ripping her flesh. Mantilo slammed his hand around Ezekiel’s throat, locking his head into the mulch, and giving Glen a few precious seconds to twist her arm free.

Ezekiel’s claws slashed across Erin’s shoulder, ripping her shirt open and spilling blood across his claws. Drin cursed and snarled at Ezekiel in defense of his Mate, but brown eyes glimmered yellow as Erin’s beast lifted to the surface and her fangs flashed as she just held Ezekiel down harder.

“Just a little longer! Please just stay down for a few more seconds, the bloods slowing down Ezekiel!” she called out. She tried to reason into his snarling bloody face as her beloved cousin tried to lunge at her throat.

To all of their shock a choking broken words fell from Ezekiel’s lips. “Ahhh....abo...vee!!!” he hissed and thrashed. “Came..fr...om...ab..oovee...e...!!”

“What!?” Mantilo barked in confusion, not understanding as he glanced up then back down at his sons screaming beastly face.

“Mantilo hes getting stronger...but the blood...ugh! The blood is slowing down now...!” she cried then she frowned hard, paused and whispered. “Do...you...smell...fire?” Erin’s head tossed around scenting the danger and looking for the threat in the direction of the attack from before.

As scared and upset as she was their youngest Healer was managing to maintain her composure. Mantilo’s own head snapped towards the left just as he felt an instinctive jolt of awareness swept across every Shifter in the clearing. Nate and Lander roared and their beast’s heads whipped up as a loud snapping clash of breaking branches hit everyone’s ears at the same time.

Before Mantilo could really sus out what he was feeling or sensing he suddenly heard something shifting to the far left, the dim light of the sun danced over thick tree trunks obscuring their line of sight in every direction. Never before had the Clan Head felt the density of his him lands in such a negative way as he did in that moment.

Then in a blink of an eye twelve tall men in long flowing red hooded robes steeped out into the clearing, their mysterious forms appearing as if they had walked straight out of thin air, aside from the dancing flurries of bright blue embers that danced off their hands and bodies like fiery confetti.

Wait Red? But the Brotherhood wore white robes...

Mantilo thought for a split second his mind divided by an instant flare of alarm and then uncertainty.

Suddenly there was a snarling shout from across the clearing where High Elder Bonsa stood behind her men. “It’s the Apostates! Everyone prepare yourselves! We are all in grave danger!!”

“What’s going on!? Why are they attack us!?” Mantilo heard Glen scream out in fury, but no answers were given.

The blue embers flashed in the air, then blew off into the wind and without a word or a warning...they began to attack. Hands glimmering with black lights slapped together in synchronous moves, then they pulled back and as if summoned from thin air, thick black shafts molded into crackling light edged weapons.

Pure energy like swords of black light appeared in their hands, and in one fluid movement they released then with a thundering ‘snap’. Four thick shafts of shimmering energy then shot forwards at a speed and velocity that made it very clear that these projectiles were being sent at them to kill.

Mantilo ducked back beside a tree as the lethal looking blades of black energy slammed into the earth around him and into the trees, tearing apart the trunks and slamming into everything around them with such impact and force that there was no longer any doubt about just what they could do to a body.

Wait a minute! Apostate!? Not the Dark Ones this time!? Fucking fantastic! Now we’ve got more assholes in robes trying to kill us!

Without words Lander, Nate and Mantilo all took off in a bee line towards their attackers. Even as Bonsa and her men broke formation and they each rushed at the four men in red robes. Nates Wolf ran like lightening, claws tearing up soil and leaves as the beasts stalked like an arrow straight for one of the attacker throats.

Lander rushed in from the left, ducking his long leopards form in and out of the tree line, rushing in and dancing back away as the men threw one deadly black blade after another at his Leopard.

Mantilo went around, circling to the far right, and he used the tress and chaos to his advantage, his fangs and claws went into Mid-Shift as he closed in for the kill, and launched himself deep into the fray so that he was able to support Lander and Nate.

The High Elder and her men rushed the seven mysterious attackers. Mantilo rushed in with the intent to kill the intruders painted upon his face, as his features streatchd over fangs like blades and the beastly fury of anrgy yellow bled over his gaze. With the lives of his Mate and sons on the line he would show no mercy...