Drake struggled against Lola, trying to yank back the ruin of his wrist and hand. She wouldn’t let go no matter how hard he struggled. She was unmoving, like a mountain. And then there were the eyes. Those horrible, silvery eyes. What were they? He’d never seen anything like that before. They weren’t the eyes of a werewolf, or at least no werewolf he’d ever known or heard of. What could she be?

“Let go!” he screamed out, sounding like an ill-mannered child throwing a tantrum. For the first time, the cool confidence he’d shown during the fight eroded. Fear started to creep in.

Lola said nothing back to him. She stared, unblinking and as resolute as stone, her mouth drawn into a thin line. He also stared in shock as every last injury he managed to inflict on his sister sealed itself and closed. In less time than it took for him to let out a breath, she was whole and undamaged. Shock, pure and simple, flooded him. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Then another scream ripped out of him as he felt claws erupt out of her fingers and bury themselves into his flesh.

He tried again to yank his arm free, tugging and pulling with everything he had. The pain was excruciating now that her claws had dug in. Still, she wouldn’t budge. Not even a fraction of a centimeter. She just stood there, staring down at him through a haze of silver light.

“What the hell are you?” he yelled.

She wasn’t a werewolf. Or at least, not completely. He glanced over at his father and saw the same shock and surprise registering on his face as well. Whatever Lola was, he had no idea either. It was as much a surprise to him. Even Russel-Fucking-Polver was shocked.

He pulled back on his arm. Still nothing. He tried to kick her. Nothing. He tried to pour himself deeper into the wolf, his face contorting and twisting into something almost like what Russel had looked like fighting the ghouls and oni. Nothing again.

And still with those silver eyes.

His heart started to thump wildly. Painfully even. It was like a hammer smacking relentlessly into his chest. His blood ran cold and a spike of that fear buried itself deep into his mind, so far he wasn’t sure he would ever be able to get rid of it again.

Out of nowhere, her hand sprang open and he was finally released from her grueling, manacle-like grip. As soon as she let go, he stumbled backward. The pain in his wrist and arm was disorienting and that, coupled with suddenly being released, was almost enough to send him straight into the dirt. He managed, just barely, to get his balance back and he stayed on his feet.

That fear was still inside him but he tried to bury it under an avalanche of anger and rage.

“Fucking bitch!” he snarled. His body continued to writhe and twist, getting bigger and bigger as he gave himself over 100% to the wolf inside him. The part of himself he liked best. The hunter. The killer. The animal. “I’ll kill you for that.”

His last words ended in a barely understood growl but as soon as the words left his throat, he bounded forward, his claws digging into the dirt floor and flinging the stuff everywhere. He was fast, and was picking up a lot of power.

Lola, however, didn’t move. She still said nothing and didn’t seem to be ‘all the way there.’ Her eyes, however, seemed very aware of everything. They tracked Drake, never losing sight of him even though he was coming at her in a zig-zagging, random pattern that was so quick, he was mostly just a blur.

Faintly, so faint in fact that it was almost imperceptible, a smile appeared on Lola’s face. All the fear and terror she’d experienced over the last seven or eight months was just…gone.

Drake wasn’t sure what was going on and at the moment, he barely cared. That animal inside him was in control now, taking over and letting nothing but raw strength and power remain. If maybe a little bit of that humanity remained, he might have wondered why she didn’t seem remotely afraid anymore.

Or that she wasn’t trying to run from him.

It was too late for him to stop anyway. He got to her maybe a second or two later and unleashed a flurry of blows that were nearly impossible to track. Even his battered wrist wasn’t a hindrance anymore. Letting the wolf take over so completely sped up the healing process.

He slashed. He punched. He kicked. He did everything he could. Any other werewolf would have had serious trouble fending them off. Even Russel might have. Maybe even his father.

Lola dodged, deflected, or evaded every single one.

Every one.

Not one of the attacks came close to touching her. The frustrating thing, and what really infuriated Drake even more, was that she didn’t even take any steps backward, sideways, or forward. She stood with her feet planted and just twisted her upper body or threw up an arm. He was sure, somewhere in the human part of his mind buried under the wolf, that even if he had managed to get a hit on her, she probably wouldn’t have been fazed by it all. She probably wouldn’t have budged, like when he had tried to yank his arm away from her.

Despite having heightened strength, healing, speed, and tons of other nifty little benefits to being a werewolf, Drake quickly started to exhaust himself. He was throwing everything at Lola. Everything. All of his power and strength, his speed, his viciousness. It was fatiguing, even for a werewolf. When he couldn't take it anymore, he jumped backward to put space between them. Lola just watched, her silver eyes following like they were locked on to him. That only unnerved him more, making that fear a thick, palpable thing hitting the back of his throat. He gulped, trying to rid himself of it as he breathed heavily.

Lola’s ghost of a smile started to grow just a little bit wider. The eerie, silver glow to her eyes brightened. Her head turned toward Drake. It was a deliberately slow move, and it accomplished its mission of looking extremely creepy very well. The cheering and shouting and taunts and everything else rolling through the crowd started to die down. The audience looked on in confusion and awe. Russel was no exception and neither was King Finley. They had no idea what was happening with Lola either.

Drake kept taking a few steps backward, his body filling with a cold dread he never experienced in his life before. In his sister’s eyes, he saw nothing shining back. No emotion. No thought. It was like something had possessed her. A shade maybe?

No. Dammit, that didn’t make sense. Shades couldn’t give those they possessed abnormal abilities. At least, not like the ones Lola exhibited.

Whatever it was, its sole focus was him and he did not like that one bit.

Then Lola started to walk toward him, actually moving for the first time since she’d gotten to her feet and her eyes turned silver. Her steps were just as slow and deliberate as her head turn had been. The overall effect was hard for Drake to watch. The fear made him lose his grip on the wolf and he had, at some point, reverted back to a mostly human body.

“Stay the fuck back!” he screamed, again to no effect.

And still, Lola said nothing. The only hint of emotion on her face was that barely-there smile.

“Don’t come near me! Get the fuck away,”

His voice was like the frail, thin screams of a child. He couldn’t bring himself to try and hide it either. It came out and there was nothing he could do but let it.

As Lola walked toward him, she started to change for the first time (other than her claws coming out). The skin of her face, neck, shoulders, and anywhere else visible, began to hump and move around as if something alive was underneath. Fur started to sprout along her jaw and cheek bones. More fur sprouted out along most of the rest of her body as well. Her brow jutted outward and a muzzle filled with fangs pushed its way out of the lower part of her face. She got taller too. Much taller. She jumped up to at least over eight feet tall. Her body swelled with muscle next and her hands elongated. There were tiny plops into the dirt as one by one, her fingernails were pushed out of her skin by long, sharp, and wicked claws.

But that was where the similarities between other werewolves ended.

Not only did Lola shift and gain the power of the wolf, but other things started to show as well. Out of both forearms slithered identical talon-claws, exactly like a ghoul’s. Not only that but her body started to emit a dark, haziness aura just like an oni.

Collective gasps of surprise went through the entire room as they gazed in wonder at Lola.

The painful hammering of Drake’s heart doubled and then tripled. Cold fear from that spike still buried in his mind cascaded through him. One thought repeated itself over and over in his head.

What did I unleash?