They bolted out of the bar and tore into the woods, casting frantic glances behind them. Five more man-sized lions were in hot pursuit, charging with deadly speed.
''Are you okay Nic? I saw one of the vampires got you,'' Harper panted.
''I'm fine. it healed,'' he replied between breaths.
Maisie lagged behind, struggling despite the adrenaline firing through her veins. She did not think she would make it. Not out of a lack of desire to live, but her body simply wouldn't keep up. She'd lost a dangerous amount of blood, and had literally just been pulled back from the brink of death.
As she ran, a root caught her left foot, she stumbled, but quickly caught herself, the strain of her effort was beginning to hit her hard. Her head swam, and her thighs quivered, every step a battle against collapsing..
The lions sped on, closing the distance. She could hear the cracking of twigs beneath their massive paws, she smelt the feral animal musk along with the scent of moist earth and wet grass. She called upon bravery. If she was fated to be prey tonight, she would not surrender herself so readily, she'd make the beast work extra hard for its meal. She spotted a slightly concealed low growing branch from a shrub and ran toward it, baiting her chaser. As expected, the lion followed her path, a few strides to the branch, she leapt… clearing it while the lion crashed through it. The impact made it stumble, but it regained full speed almost instantly. The maneuver gained Maisie half the length of the animal body maybe slightly more. The end was near, but she would run till she was either caught or her lungs and limbs collapsed.
Harper was the fastest, leading their flight. Nicholas' heavy breathing was close behind. When Harper risked a glance back, her stomach dropped— she was at least a full forty metres behind. Harper fought off the thought that she wouldn't make it, the lions were relentless, possessed by destructive purpose, one of them was a few strides from Maisie, it lunged.
Harper panicked.
Instinctively she stopped spun around and blew—gusts of wind surging from her lungs with terrifying force. The lion mid-leap was thrown back a full twenty meters, its swipe missing Maisie by inches. It slammed into a tree, impaled by a thick branch. In an instant, its body shifted into that of a cloaked reaper.
Maisie grabbed onto a fallen log to anchor herself from the blast. Harper kept blowing, fierce and unrelenting. Branches and rocks tore from the earth, hurling toward the lions.
The effort drained her energy quickly. Her lungs burned, and her gusts weakened. As the force dwindled, she saw that the others had gained distance. She pivoted again and sprinted, legs stretching for every inch of ground. The lions recovered and roared forward, enraged.
"There's a gorge up ahead," Nicholas shouted. "I'll port us across when we reach the edge!"
He turned his head fully to Harper as he spoke—and didn't see the branch.
It struck him hard across the chest, knocking him flat.
Maisie stopped and turned toward him.
''Move Maisie, keep running'' Harper cried, her voice cracking with terror.
Maisie froze for a split second, torn, then obeyed, managing a burst of acceleration.
Again, Harper turned around, knowing she was sapped of energy, regardless, she made another attempt to push back the lions with her breath, half hopeful, half desperate. But her efforts amounted to nothing more than weak gusts, barely disturbing a few tree branches, twigs and stones.
So she ran to Nicholas instead. Content to be with him in their final moments.
She wrapped her arms around him as the lions closed in.
Then, out of nowhere, she noticed something tearing through the trees, a massive grizzly bear, five times its normal size racing toward them with blinding speed. Its fur blazed bright yellow, its eyes glinting silver.
It stopped just short of them, shielding Harper and Nicholas with its bulk. The lions skidded to a halt a few meters away, circling, growling, calculating. The bear let out a thunderous roar, slashing at the air, daring them to try.
Then, as the lions began to flank, the bear burst into enchanting yellow light.
When the light faded, twenty silver-eyes Caucasian Ovcharkas stood where the bear had been —each one massive, their fur a pure, gleaming white. Four of them formed a tight guard around Harper and Nicholas. The rest wasted no time, charging the lions with savage coordination.
Not known for pack tactics, the Ovcharkas moved like seasoned warriors—circling, nipping, attacking from all sides. They overwhelmed their prey with sharp intelligence and brutal efficiency.
The four protecting Harper and Nicholas stood their ground, growling, vigilant. One turned its silver eyes on Nicholas, stunning him. Then it stepped forward and licked his face, nuzzling against him.
Nicholas, still reeling from the fall, gently stroked its back. A strange sense of familiarity flooded him—something warm and nostalgic, like recognizing an old friend.
''Hello boy,'' he murmured.
''I think this one's a girl…. I think they're all girls,'' It was Maisie voice from behind them. She was petting one of the Ovcharkas, eyes locked on the battle.
"Maisie, I told you to run," Harper said, incredulous.
Maisie scoffed, still watching the fight. "You really thought I was going to run like a little bitch and let you two die heroic deaths?"
She shrugged. "I knew you wouldn't leave me. No way I was leaving you."
"You've been standing there watching this whole time?"
Maisie nodded calmly. "I wasn't about to miss this blockbuster. Stuff like this makes me glad to be part of our world.
What they witnessed wasn't a contest—it was a lesson. For all their power, the lions stood no chance. The Ovcharkas were strong, but it was their tactics that made the difference. They distracted, harassed, and struck with precision, dismantling the lions one by one.
When it was over, the lions reverted to human form—cloaked reapers lying dead in the mud. Harper and Maisie stepped closer to inspect them. One bore a tattoo of interlocking rings on his wrist.
''Nic,'' Harper called, kneeling over one of them. ''One of them has the same tattoo I saw on the woman who took Emily.''