I think a part of me was surprised I’d hit my target, the flesh of his throat softer then I’d anticipated, parting between my jaws as I landed and flung my head side to side. It was for Voltaire, for Sulan and Zen and Emerald and Aviias and everyone else Zeus had harmed. Even for Amir- who Attu had failed to kill but tried only hours before. There was fury in my action, the taste of blood rushing across my tongue with a salty bitterness I detested and yet at the same time it held a heated edge that seemed to drive my fangs deeper and deeper every time. Everything was a blur, a bloodied messy blur of snarls and growls and heat before I finally pulled away, bloodied fangs bared and heckles bristling as Attu dropped to the earth and blood began to pool around him. Had I done it? Had I killed him? I don’t know if it was adrenaline or shock at the fact I truly had done it but I felt almost numb as the violet of my gaze stared down at him. He wouldn’t live, not from this, he’d die from loss of blood alone let alone the torn open throat. I don’t know why I did it- but my eyes move to find his own, the faintest trace of tears seeming to well within them and I felt some part of my heart lurch at the sight. I……I hadn’t made a mistake, I couldn’t let myself believe that. I wouldn’t. No regrets. No regrets. I gritted my teeth together, jerking my head away from him then, refusing to meet his gaze any longer. He had tried to kill Amir, he would only try again if he wasn’t stopped. As long as Attu was alive Zeus could and would use him and I couldn’t allow that. I wouldn’t.

“Ut caelestia luminaria in te et circumdabunt te et angelorum.”

I uttered the words of the prayer as Heyel had taught me and Micteca had assured me had to be used. Maybe Attu had fallen under the influence of Zeus but I refused to damn his soul to hell or wherever it was souls went after wolves died. He didn’t deserve that. I don’t know how long I stood there for, it felt like hours though I’m sure it was more like minutes, waiting for him to die, waiting until he had his last breaths. If I was the reason for his death then so be it, I took responsibility for that, even if I had done it beneath a guide and the least I could do was wait with him in those final moments. That’s what guardian angels did after all, even guardian angels of death. Maybe this is what Heyel had meant in all those stories he had told. I don’t know. It all seemed far more real now. My mind seemed so full and my body felt so numb. I left when his chest stopped rising, unable to meet his eyes again. I was to much of a coward I suppose and I’d remember this for as long as I lived. I turned and loped away, back into the darkness, leaving Attu where he had fallen. Maybe I had killed him, but it was Zeus who had sentenced him. That was one down- it was time to come for the others now.




m a j o r a
in disguise, cannot be identified