Betty pointed her gun at my face. “This is your last chance. Join us, or kiss my gun.”

I glared, revealing my fangs beneath my lips. “Go to hell! I whether totally die than endanger my friends! I don’t treat them like food! I treat them as human beings because that separates me from monsters like you!”

Betty shook her head, clicking her tongue. “Suit yourself. Too bad you are cute.”

I closed my eyes, ready to feel the bullet blast through my skull. I wished I could say goodbye to my dad.

“Ignis!” Salina’s voice shouted.

I opened my eye as a fireball struck Betty’s face. She screamed and fell to the ground.

Salina jumped from a bush and landed like a cat near me. The wolf-men growled at her as their fur grew over their muscular bodies. Their faces turned wolfish, although their snorts grew short. After their legs bent backward, they were ready to pounce the witch.

Salina raised her right palm at them. “Ignis!”

A fireball blasted from her palm and exploded into one werewolf. His body hit the ground, smoking.

All the werewolves charged her, but she blasted them away, shouting, “Ignis! Ignis! Ignis!”

She pushed them all away before one of them could touch them. What a totally badass witch!

While she roasted the werewolves into barbeque, I shook the ropes again. “Hey! A little help, please?”

Salina turned to me and giggled. “My bad. I got distracted. Ignis!”

She shot one fireball past me, and the ropes fell off. I jumped to my feet and rubbed my arms. It totally felt good to feel free from those tight ropes.

“We have to go back to the castle!” Salina shouted. “I can’t roast them forever!”

“Wait!” I spotted the gun and picked it up, cold and a little heavy. “This gun has silver bullets!”

Salina gazed at the gun. “Then use it!”

My hands shook while holding the gun. “But I totally don’t know how to use it!”

The werewolves rose back up in their monster furry forms. They looked totally pissed off.

Salina rolled her eyes and grabbed the gun from me. “Let me use it, dork!”

When the wolves charged, Salina fired the gun. One wolf-man fell to the ground with a bullet hole through his head.

Salina shot the rest, killing four until the gun clicked. She checked the weapon. “It’s empty.”

“No shit! You wasted them all!” I shouted.

The last four backed away behind their unconscious pack leader. Betty groaned with her eyes closed, and the werewolf corpses changed back to their human forms.

I could totally tell the werewolves wanted Salina and my blood spilled. They snarled and grumbled with scowling fangs shown. And murder glowed within their yellow eyes.

I gulped. “We better run.”

“I told you so!” Salina positioned her hands together in a triangle shape, aiming at the wolves. “Micare!”

A white ball flew from her palms and flashed in front of the wolves. The light totally stung my eyes, too. I covered them with one arm to avoid the painful glaring light.

“Come on! Let’s go!” Salina grabbed my hand and pulled me as I followed her.

My eyes cleared as I rubbed them. “You wasted all the silver bullets!”

Salina released my hand. “You didn’t tell me how many bullets were in the gun!”

“You’re a witch! Aren’t you supposed to sense different metal with your mind?”

“Witches are not psyches! There is a difference.”

I sighed while running with her at the same speed.

If daddy taught me how to use a gun, then Salina wouldn’t have wasted the damn bullets. But no! My dad said I was too young to use a gun.

Damn, I thought this was America!

I would have killed Betty if I had that chance. Now we might have to face her off at the castle.