Lola wasn’t sure where she was or what was happening. In front of her was a massive wall with a hole bashed into it. On the other side were flickers of light. She thought she might be dreaming but something whispered inside telling her that was not true. It was so much like a dream though. There was no noise though and it was dark. A fog came rolling in from gods only knew where. The last thing she noticed about the strange place was that it was neither hot nor cold. It was…neither.

All of a sudden she wanted to get out of wherever the hell she found herself but she couldn’t find a way out. Everywhere was just more of the same. That wall and darkness. The only difference was the section that had the hole in it.

What do I have to lose, right?

It was somewhat of a plan, which made her feel a little less uneasy. So she walked toward the hole in a sort of hybrid walking and on-the-verge-of-running pace. It didn’t take her too long to get there and as soon as she did, the flickering lights and such got brighter and more frequent. She awkwardly made her way through the hole and when she did, she found herself in a massive, circular room that was almost pitch black. The only source of light came from those flickers and the longer she stared at them, the more they stopped being random flickers and started becoming whole images.

Images of claws.

Snapping teeth.

Destructive power.

It was the same sensation as before, when she’d faced off against Nora.

It’s happening again, she cried to herself, dropped to her knees in that dark place. It’s all happening again.

****

Drake watched his half-sister transform into the worst abomination he’d ever seen in his life. A hybrid of multiple supernatural creatures, Lola practically emitted raw power. The silvery light from her eyes was a stark contrast to the hazy, smoke-like darkness wafting off most of her body. That fear kept growing, stranding and marooning him to the spot his feet had landed on because they were no longer cooperating with him. No longer moving away from the monster that was Lola.

I’m going to die, he thought miserably to himself. The thought sent even more waves of fear through him. He couldn’t let that happen. He couldn't let it all end here and now when he was so close to ousting his father and claiming Harvenk’s throne for himself.

But she was terrifying.

It felt like his feet were encased in cement and then dipped in heavy metals on top of that. How was he supposed to do anything with his body reacting the way it was? There was nothing else to do but fight past that fear. Break it down if he had to. Rip it to shreds. If he stayed where he was, then she would definitely kill him. So he forced his terrified and frozen body to start responding to his commands again, despite that fear. He took three steps back from Lola, his gaze traveling up toward her head. Claws sprung out on his right hand and he used them to slash across his left forearm. The shock of pain was enough to wake up the rest of the way. As soon as he did, he forced his wolf to take control again as quickly as possible. His body swelled again and got taller. Fur sprouted all along the length of his body and his hands and feet twisted and lengthened into more canine-looking appendages. His muzzle grew out next and his human teeth plopped into the dirt as fangs replaced them. Once the transformation was over, he let out an earsplitting roar. Spittle flew out of his mouth and he suddenly felt powerful again, despite being much smaller than Lola in her true form.

Drake was thinner, his arms long but without the solid slabs of muscle Lola sported. He was thinner too, by a lot, and didn’t look like he’d be able to come close to matching his sister in terms of raw power. While her eyes glowed that eerie silver light, his glowed with the customary amber color. In fact, as everyone looked on, it became apparent that Drake was the epitome of werewolfdom while Lola was anything but.

“You wanted this, brother,” a decidedly un-Lola-like voice said even though it was definitely coming out of her mouth. It was deep and throaty, all rough growls and rumbling syllables. “Remember that.”

Drake shook off the last of his fear and went in to attack again. He poured all of himself into that attack, knowing he was going to beat her now. It was a sure thing. There was no way he could lose. She might have power, a hell of a lot of it too, but she had no idea what it meant to be a werewolf. Her ignorance would be her undoing.

After shooting directly at her, Drake let out another ear-splitting roar of challenge and hit her with his strongest blow yet. It nearly whistled through the air, it was going so fast. A sinister blossom of glee filled him. This was his time. Now, finally, she would be dead. She would die and then his plans for Harvenk, for the entire world really, could proceed. He saw it all in his head in those few seconds when his attack on Lola was about to happen. HIs father lying at his feet, cold and dead. Harvenk submitting to his rule as was proper. Expanding and conquering. Building an empire that would last centuries or even millennia!

It’s time to rise up, his mind whispered to him right before he dealt Lola his crushing blow. It is time to truly gain all that you have been waiting for.

The blow finally landed.

Lola caught it with one fist, barely moving to do so. In fact, Drake saw with complete shock, she seemed almost bored. The hand holding on to him suddenly squeezed and his wrist and part of his forearm were pulverized.

Again.

He let out a scream of pain, struggling wildly to get away from Lola again. She held fast to him and then lifted up. His feet came off the ground and he dangled there, still trying desperately to get away. It was no use though. Lola had him stuck fast, again not even moving an inch as he tried extremely hard to break free.

“I hope this is everything you wished for and is going exactly how you thought it would go,” Lola snarled. Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

Then she threw him up into the air, whirling him around at the same time so he was facing the opposite way with his back to her. A second later, she jumped, caught him in an insane bear hug, and squeezed. Almost instantly she felt a few of his ribs start to crack and break.

He screamed.

Lola, the part of her still semi-aware underneath the power of her wolf, felt a thrill of vengeful excitement.

She let him go and he stumbled away but not before dealing a devastating slash across his back. His entire body arched away from her and blood flew through the air. Deep gashes split his skin and clothing. She wasn’t done with him yet though. She kept coming at him as the faces of her dead loved ones ran through her mind. The talon-claw of a ghoul slithered out again and she stabbed it into him, yanked it out, and stabbed him again. Then she moved in front of him, using the unmatched speed of the oni. It was so quick, it looked almost like she’d teleported from one spot to the next. She slashed upward again, the ghoul talon-claw retracting once more so she could hit him with the wolf’s claws instead.

Drake felt something slam into him and it wasn’t her claws, although that did happen a split second later. This was something that affected his entire body, making it hard for him to move. He tried to stop the upward slash of her claws but his body wouldn’t react like it should have any more, even in his true form. His arms felt numb. His legs weren’t able to hold him up. As he toppled forward, his body going into some kind of paralytic state, Lola’s upward attack finally landed. The fortunate thing for him was that he couldn't really feel it. The paralysis to his body was so widespread at that point, he couldn’t really feel anything at all.

He experienced a moment of weightlessness as his body flew up into the air from the sheer power of the blow. And then he was falling back down to the ground. He saw blood spray again but felt nothing. All the aches and burning pain disappeared under that paralysis.

A massive hand caught his head right before he was going to hit the ground. It held him easily and with no effort at all. He could feel the pressure of the hand around his head and felt himself getting weaker and weaker.

“Look at me,” he heard Lola say.

Dizzily and with great effort, he managed to open his eyes. The horrific, wolfish face of his sister stared back at him. If anything, she looked even more ferocious than when she first turned.

“For my parents,” she said.

And then she squeezed his head.