Chapter 165 - Trample

"That's what they are! Bloodthirsty monsters," a shifter sneered at us. "We should've beaten you for hobnobbing with them, too."

"You can take your opinion and stick it up your furry butt," I sneered right back.

The shifter growled low in his throat, and the tensions in the area rose another notch. Panda took out her own knife, but kept it lowered and continued to throw indecisive glances at the gathered people. Ghost lifted a hand to his phone, but before he could make good on his promise to call for help from our coven, JJ spoke.

"Enough talking! Everyone, attack!"

My heart leaped to my throat. There was no doubt in it in JJ's abilities, but my rational mind kept throwing nasty "what-ifs" in the scenario. I didn't actually see shifters fight before. The last time JJ and Andrey clashed, it was over before it could begin. This time, though, I couldn't see how JJ would end this without fighting.

He needed eye contact to hypnotise people, and I was sure that half of the reason for ganging up on him was to offset just that. JJ didn't have eyes on his back, after all. So, for a split second, I had to wonder… what if?

Then, several things happened at once—or almost at once. The shifters launched at JJ all together with inhuman—but still not even close to vampire—speed. The one with a crossbow shot it at JJ and immediately dropped it to pull out a knife and join his comrades.

In a second, a wide circle of them turned into a much tighter one, and JJ still stood between them with the crossbow bolt caught almost casually between his fingers. Outwardly, he didn't move at all, didn't even flinch besides for catching this shot. But since my well was still open, I saw the ever-shimmering veil of glamour around him brighten until it didn't shimmer—it shone like a moon in night sky.

I saw it with my eyes then, too—a familiar feeling of my gaze sliding off JJ's skin. And all at once, the shifters halted in their tracks in confusion.

"What? He disappeared!" someone shouted.

"Could he teleport?"

JJ, invisible under his glamour, smiled, showing his fangs. "And this is why you'd never be able to beat me. Even with your sharp senses, you are so blind."

"What happened?" Panda asked. She blinked owlishly and looked just as confused as the shifters. "Did he really just run away?"

"Run away? He didn't move from the spot," Ghost said. He inclined his head and, after a brief pause, added, "That's some astounding glamour. I never heard about a vampire able to turn invisible with it… But that makes sense, isn't it? No one would've seen him!" He beamed and clapped, forgetting all about his phone. "Amazing! The way you take such a basic ability and bring it to this height is something to admire, Jean-Jacques!"

I gave him a sharp elbow poke. "Damn it! You just gave him out, Ghost!"

The shifters had sharp enough hearing to hear us, even though we were a dozen meters away. All at once they stopped their puzzled looking and sniffing around and stared back at the spot they've surrounded.

JJ threw the bolt he held to the ground and sent Ghost a grateful nod. "Thank you, thank you. It's a speciality of mine. Not a widely known talent, indeed, but a most useful one. Now—"

He was interrupted by Andrey, who led by example and stabbed with his knife in JJ's general direction. If JJ didn't move, the stab would've connected with his ribcage, but JJ didn't stand still.

He moved, as swift as I've only seen vampires move. He caught Andrey's wrist and pressed until the knife fell out of his hand. Other shifters were jumping on him before it even touched the ground, bumping shoulders and almost completely obstructing view of him with their wide shoulders.

JJ weaved between and through them like they were tall grass. Three people, including Andrey, were thrown to the ground where they landed with loud thuds and grunts of pain as JJ fought bare-handed his way outside of the circle.

Though, fought wasn't a word I found the most appropriate. Fight assumes opponents that are, at least, somewhat equal. This was beating. JJ beat his way out of the encirclement and continued to beat the shifters into submission—or, at least, surrender.

It only took a minute at most. Shifters were all brawny people, faster than even Olympic athletes and probably stronger, too. But JJ was even faster, even stronger, and completely invisible to their senses. He knocked the first half to the ground before others could do much more than shift the cogs in their heads.

They tried to resist. Some began hack at the air all around them in panic (for much good it did), but without leadership, their team effort turned into a complete chaos. Still, they were determined and resilient, and when their knives failed, some transformed into their animal forms.

It wasn't a slow and painful process, like some books described. It was almost instantaneous. One moment, there was a man curled in pain on the ground, the next he was a wolf, fresh and ready for a fight. Then, he's a wolf curled in pain on the ground because JJ sent him flying with a single kick. They weren't even supernaturally big wolves. I've seen bigger dogs than some of them.

With the last thud of a body thrown to meet asphalt, and the last groan of hello to said asphalt, the beating ground turned quiet again. JJ turned his glamour off entirely and stood amid it like a Greek god of war and beauty (and I knew they were two separate gods), pinning Andrey in a wolf form to the ground with his leg. Andrey was the only one who kept growling and trying to stand up, even after getting hit twice as much as any other shifter. Pure stubbornness or hatred.

There wasn't a scratch on JJ, though some blood from split lips and smashed noses covered his fingers with the same bright colour as his eyes. He didn't kill anyone, though they went at him with deadly intent, but there was no mistaking the bloodlust in his gaze.