The feeling along Lola’s spine suddenly got much worse and without knowing exactly what she was doing, she abruptly dove to the right. As soon as she did, something came hurtling past her. She had no idea what it was, and in her haste to get out of the way, she didn’t get a chance to look at it. All she knew was that it was big. Very big. And fast. Wind tugged at her overly large cloak as it went past. She fell off the stone bench and rolled across the ground. She heard the thing, whatever it was, splash into the pond. Ripples radiated outward and disrupted the calming reflection of the moon and stars she’d been staring at for the last few minutes.

Fortunately, she wasn’t badly hurt or anything. She busted her right elbow on the stone bench on her way down but the pain was already starting to fade.

She got up from the ground and tried to locate the monster. It didn’t take her long. It was standing in the pond with the water coming midway up its four legs. A massive wolf's head glared at her through amber-colored eyes. A snarl rumbled out from its throat and its lips were pulled up to show off rows of wicked-looking fangs.

It was a werewolf.

She didn’t recognize the creature but the look in its eyes definitely suggested it wasn’t friendly. She moved around to put the stone bench between her and the werewolf. As she did, the wolf’s growling got louder and it continued to track her with its eyes.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Lola asked.

As if in answer, the wolf slowly started coming toward her. Lola wasn’t sure what to do now. She was alone. There were no guards. And in her quest to find a quiet place to think, she had unwittingly offered herself up to this monster on a silver platter. Her mind went through numerous scenarios inside her head, each one furiously trying to give her a way to escape. She thought of everything from screaming her head off to turning around and trying to run. It didn’t matter though, because she knew the inevitable conclusion to each of those scenarios.

Her death.

And she envisioned each one as more painful and grotesque than the last.

The werewolf came close to the pond’s edge, putting it less than four or five feet away from Lola. She kept her eyes on it the whole time, not even daring to breathe.

“Leave now,” Lola tried, hoping to talk some sense into the thing. “Leave now and you can stay alive. I am warning you, if you hurt me or kill me, Russel will never stop hunting you.”

She hated having to rely on a threat like that, especially since she wasn’t 100% sure it was true. There was a good chance it was, considering everything they’d been through together over the past several weeks. He’d fought a lot tougher monsters to protect her but those had all been in the heat of the moment. How would he react after the fact, when she was already dead and gone? Would he actually be so enraged he would track down this wolf like she just threatened? She thought he would but then again, despite the fact that she loved him, she couldn’t help but feel a tiny nugget of doubt sticking in the back of her mind.

The werewolf didn’t think much of her threat anyway. It burst out of the water in an explosion of spray that pelted into Lola, making her flinch. The next thing she knew, she felt a massive impact to the left side of her body and then she was rolling across the ground. She didn’t even have time to react, even with all her training.

Fast. Way too fast, she thought to herself, as she struggled to get back up and suck in breaths of air. The force of the hit had knocked the wind right out of her.

She put a hand on one knee and was bent over, still feeling like there was nothing in her lungs. Not only that, but her left arm hung down like a limp noodle. It was clearly broken but the shock of the attack made the pain a distant, far off experience.