A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Seeing his willingness to listen, Katya made her proposal.

"I don't know why exactly you waylaid me here, considering you want revenge so badly, but I guess it was to buy the Ashcroft sisters time to escape. Which I can respect, even if I don't know why you care about them so much."

It wasn't so much that he cared about them, as much as he was the only one able to both entice Katya into a fight and hold on long enough to give the others time to make their own moves.

After all, the sisters could only get away because he delayed this Iron Sentinel, but neither of them would have been able to do the same for him.

Since he couldn't run away and expect to remain free, there was only one chance for his survival and freedom: giving Katya a reason to let him leave unmolested.

Seeing Erik remain silent, Katya continued, "Well, regardless of your reasons, now you have to pay the price of your actions because you made me interested in you. So here's the deal.

I take that cute girl named Elora over there with me, and you go take care of your revenge.

When you're done, you can come to find me just like you said you would. Only now, I'm sure you'll come because Elora will be there waiting for you."

She turned to Seraphina, "Assuming I am right in thinking he'll come for her? What is your assessment of your time here, assuming you haven't simply been locked up?"

Before she could answer, Erik's panicked voice sounded, still panting, "Wait! You…you can't take…Elora!"

Ignoring his objections, Seraphina began to talk, "Absolutely. They didn't lock me up because this woman here seems to have some kind of weird ability to draw magic circles on the ground and make them do stuff.

They can even act as traps! That is how they protected their bedroom and also how they knocked out me and the others just before."

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Looking resentfully at Erik now, she said, "We were sitting on one of those circles without even knowing it."

Erik coughed, "D- Damn you, Seraphina!"

Katya now took a much closer look at Elora, "Truly? That is fascinating!"

More than just fascinating, Katya's expression seemed to suggest she knew something more about these circles than she wanted to admit.

After looking curiously at Elora, she laughed loudly again, "Man! I'll need to thank Enzo for calling me here. Because of him, I got myself a new apprentice and someone who can draw powerful sigils!

This will put the Shadow Sentinels at the top of the food chain back home!"

Erik and Elora took curious note of her mentioning of sigils. At the same time, the rest had no idea what Katya meant but decided to ignore it.

Meanwhile, Erik was struggling to his feet by leaning on his hammer, finally having regained some of his breath, while his wounds had begun to close, "Damn you! Do you have muscles blocking your ears, woman?! I told you, Elora is going nowhere with you!"

Katya snorted and was about to lecture him once again on the minimal amount of choice he had. Yet, Elora spoke up first, smiling so brightly that anyone who knew her personality would wonder if she got a particularly hard knock on her head.

"Just take the deal, Erik! I'll be fine! I know you'll come to get me soon enough!"

Katya applauded, "There we go. Finally, one of you is making smart decisions!"

She turned to Erik, "So, how about it, pup? The sooner you learn that the biggest fist is always right, the better."

Erik stared somberly at Katya, still leaning on his hammer, before speaking up, "I'm warning you. If a single hair on her head is harmed…"

Katya immediately waved her hand in dismissal, "Don't make empty threats, pup. But don't you fret. She'll be fine. I am a woman myself, after all. Besides, I don't want you to go off on another revenge hunt right after finishing the first."

Erik stared at her for another moment as if hesitating but then nodded, "Fine. You have a deal." He didn't dial down the overloading of his runes just yet, however. He needed to wait for Katya to actually leave.

The Iron Sentinel smiled from ear to ear. "Good! Good! You'll see, being my apprentice will be great! I'll turn you into a fighting machine!"

She winked mysteriously, "I might even tell you how I and a few others managed to get a head start on the rest of you."

By now, Katya had turned back into her human form. She grabbed in one of the many pockets of her cargo pants and tossed whatever she grabbed towards Erik, "Here's a cell phone. Only my number is in it. Call me when you're ready to accept your destiny."

Erik picked up the phone, which was old and likely tougher than a brick. He wasn't surprised by its existence, as he and Elora had learned from Seraphina that the council had discovered ways of charging electronic devices with magic.

They had also restored the mobile networks but made them only accessible with phones handed out by the council to select individuals. It wasn't perfect, however. Since radiowaves and lasers were still restricted to a range of 100km, satellites were out of the picture.

Because of that, all cell phone traffic went over towers, and the council had only restored a number of those in specific areas. This meant the coverage wasn't great and certainly didn't leave Europe.

But, having a personal phone network was still a great boon and one of the reasons for the councils' dominance over Europe.

At this point, Enzo and the other members of the Shadow Sentinels began filing out of the mansion and sending resentful gazes at Erik and Elora, having learned it was Elora who had provided the means by which they were knocked out.

Seeing that they were mostly unharmed, Katya nodded happily. She turned back to Erik, "Remember to keep that phone close to you, as it will charge off of the aetherium that naturally permeates your body when you exercise."

Suddenly, she seemed to get an idea, "Oh!" and quickly ran to the helicopter, coming back with a stack of papers, barely bound together in the form of a book, "Just so you don't come to think of our first meeting as all bad, take this!"

Knowing Erik was still on the verge of blowing himself up, she didn't get close but put the book on the ground and grinned at Erik as if she had just given him the greatest thing he would ever receive.

"These are my personal training notes! Use them to grow as you pursue your target!"

Immediately, all members of the Shadow Sentinels, including Seraphina, looked at Erik with Envy. Katya was possibly the strongest fighter in the council, at least to the best of their knowledge, and getting her training notes was like a holy grail for those aiming high.

Erik looked at the book with curiosity. Did he just get an unexpected benefit from this event? Perhaps he did.

Yet, he made sure to continue looking resentful at Katya, to which she just waved her hand dismissively, "Oh, don't look at me like that. You'll come to see it my way eventually."

She turned to the seven people behind her, "Anyway, let's move out, everyone! We'll tell the local peacekeeping forces to keep an eye out for Emily and her sister, and I'll let you all ride on my helicopter just this once. Let's give Erik there some privacy."

Erik watched as five of those people walked past while looking at him with a mixture of envy and resentment. At the same time, Seraphina had the same look but also included a complicated twinkle.

Meanwhile, Elora just looked at him with a gaze full of love and promises of a future together. A look that Erik matched. No one noticed the mischievous twinkle in her eye.

As soon as Elora was filed into the helicopter, however, his gaze changed to one of stoic acceptance as he watched the helicopter in silence, even as it lifted off and flew off into the distance.

Only when even the sound had disappeared and the Ashcroft estate's garden was quiet once more did his gaze return to normal.

He quickly released the pressure he had been building up to overload his runes and sighed in relief, as it had not been a good feeling.

His lips curled into a mischievous grin. So far, everything had gone according to plan.

He inwardly thanked Seraphina for her change of mind, as they would have been unable to devise a decent plan otherwise. At least, not on such short notice.

In an instant, a dark green radiance enveloped him. Elora's magic, still accessible to him, swiftly covered his body, replenishing his energy and mending any lingering damage from the prior battle and the abuse of his runes.

When restored and fully back on his feet, he cracked his bones and stretched his limbs. He decided to remain in wolf form for now, as he had no clothes to put on.

He walked towards the book Katya had left behind and picked it up before quickly glancing through it. It looked rough but also very interesting.

He smiled at the unexpected benefit of today's events before putting the book under his arm and doing the same with the cell phone.

When ready, he used his two wolf legs to take off, running deeper into London.