_*]:min-w-0 !gap-3.5" style="border:0px solid">Chapter 35: LiberationThe night exploded into chaos as Operation Nightfall commenced. Maria's transport veered off from the main convoy, heading directly toward Blood Farm #17 with three other vehicles. The primary assault force, led by Gabriel and Cassian, continued toward Lord Constantine's mansion and administrative complex two miles away.

  "Alpha team in position," came Nara's voice through the radio as their vehicle pulled to a stop in the shadows two hundred yards from the blood farm's main gate. "Ready for phase one."

  Maria felt her heart pounding. After months of pnning, preparation, and painful waiting, she was finally here—within sight of the pce where she had spent eighteen years, within reach of the people she had left behind. Her pack.

  "Remember," Thomas said from beside her, "we're the distraction. Get their attention, draw them to the front gate. Beta team will breach from the east while the guards are occupied."

  Maria nodded, her focus absolute. She had studied the pns until she could recite them in her sleep. The humans in the blood farm weren't just going to be rescued—they were being transferred to Gabriel's territory under Archduke Lucius's orders. Officially, they were now Gabriel's "resources." Unofficially, they would experience freedom and dignity for the first time in their lives.

  "Three minutes until synchronized attack," came Gabriel's voice over the radio. "All teams confirm readiness."

  Confirmations came in from each group. Maria's team would attack Blood Farm #17. Gabriel and Cassian's forces would hit Lord Constantine's mansion and administrative complex. A third team would secure the smaller blood farms in the territory. All would strike simultaneously to prevent Constantine from effectively responding to any single threat.

  "Two minutes."

  Maria closed her eyes briefly, centering herself. When she opened them, she found her parents watching her with a mixture of pride and concern.

  "You've trained for this," Sarah reminded her softly. "Trust your instincts."

  "One minute."

  Maria nodded to the wereanimals around her. They began to strip off their outer clothing, preparing for transformation. Unlike Maria's rage-triggered shift months ago, these would be controlled, deliberate transformations—wolf warriors ready for battle.

  "Thirty seconds."

  "For the pack," Maria whispered, feeling her body begin to change. The process was smooth now, almost painless after months of practice. Bones shifted, muscles stretched, fur sprouted across her skin. Within moments, a reddish-brown wolf with silver streaks stood where Maria had been, amber eyes gleaming with intelligence and purpose.

  The transformation complete, she retained full awareness and control. The wolf's enhanced senses flooded her consciousness—she could smell the fear and despair emanating from the blood farm, could hear the guards' conversations at the gate, could see details in the darkness that human eyes would miss.

  "Begin."

  The wolves moved as one, a coordinated pack surging forward from their hiding pces. Their approach was silent until they reached the perimeter fence. Then, at Nara's signal, they unleashed their voices—howls that shattered the night's silence, creating an unholy chorus that would send chills through even vampire guards.

  The effect was immediate. Arms sounded. Searchlights activated, sweeping across the grounds. Guards rushed to the front gate, weapons drawn. Exactly as pnned.

  Maria led the charge, her wolf form leaping at the fence. She didn't try to climb it or break through—just made herself visible to draw fire. The guards responded predictably, opening fire at the wolves dancing just beyond their reach. The bullets wouldn't kill a wereanimal, though they could wound. The attack was calcuted to create maximum distraction with minimal risk.

  While the guards focused on the wolf pack at the main gate, Beta team executed their mission. A small explosion breached the eastern wall, the sound partially masked by the gunfire at the front. Five wereanimals in wolf form slipped through the opening, followed by Thomas and Sarah in human form, armed and moving with military precision.

  Maria sensed rather than saw their success. Her job was to maintain the guards' attention, to make them believe the main attack was coming through the front. She snarled and snapped, darting forward then back, always staying just beyond effective firing range.

  Over her radio earpiece, secure in her wolf ear, she heard Beta team's progress: "Eastern breach successful. Moving to Building C. No resistance encountered."

  Building C—the main barracks where most resources were kept at night. Her pack.

  At the main gate, the guards were growing bolder, more organized. A vampire officer had arrived, directing their fire more effectively. Maria signaled to her team to pull back slightly, drawing the guards forward, away from their defensive positions.

  "Building C secured," came the update. "Resources being evacuated to extraction point. Minimal resistance encountered."

  The pn was working. While her team created chaos at the front, Beta team was quietly evacuating the humans from the back. Transport vehicles were waiting at a secondary road, ready to move them to safety.

  "Main complex under fire," Gabriel's voice reported from the other front. "Lord Constantine's forces engaged. He is attempting to rally reinforcements from the blood farms."

  "Negative on reinforcements," Nara responded. "Blood Farm #17 security is fully engaged here."

  Maria felt a surge of satisfaction. Constantine was being attacked on multiple fronts, his forces divided and confused. The element of surprise had worked perfectly.

  "Alpha team, maintain distraction for seven more minutes," Thomas instructed. "Beta team needs more time for full evacuation."

  Maria acknowledged with a short bark, then signaled her team to increase pressure. They began testing different sections of the fence, forcing the guards to spread out their defense. More searchlights activated, more arms sounded. The chaos was complete.

  "Building B now secured," came the update. "Moving to Building A."

  Building A—administrative offices, where records were kept. Also where the overseers slept, those humans who had chosen to enforce vampire rule over their own kind. Maria felt a growl rise in her throat at the thought of them. They had been complicit in her suffering, in the suffering of her pack.

  A sudden shift in the guards' pattern caught her attention. They were pulling back from the fence, consolidating around the main gate. Something had changed.

  "Alpha team, be advised," came Sarah's voice. "We've intercepted communications. Blood farm administrator has requested emergency extraction. Possible high-value target incoming."

  Maria's ears pricked forward. The administrator—a human who managed the farm's day-to-day operations, answering directly to Lord Constantine. A cruel, efficient man who had overseen countless deaths through overfeeding and neglect.

  She signaled to Nara, indicating the change in guard formation. Nara nodded her wolf head in understanding. If the administrator was evacuating, he would come through the main gate. This was an opportunity.

  "Beta team, status?" Maria couldn't speak in wolf form, but Nara interpreted her questioning look.

  "Building A secured. Records being copied. Resources from all buildings en route to extraction point. Ninety percent evacuated."

  Good. The primary mission was nearly complete. The humans were almost safe.

  A vehicle approached the main gate from inside the compound—a bck SUV with darkened windows. The guards formed a protective cordon around it.

  Maria made a split-second decision. She signaled to her team, indicating new targets. Then, as the gates began to open, she unched herself forward in a full sprint. The other wolves followed, a coordinated attack formation that had been practiced for months.

  The guards opened fire, but their shots went wide as the wolves zigzagged unpredictably. The range closed rapidly—three hundred yards, two hundred, one hundred. The SUV's engine revved as the driver saw the approaching wolves.

  Too te. Maria hit the first guard at full speed, knocking him aside rather than going for a kill. The other wolves engaged the remaining guards, creating a chaotic melee that prevented effective defense of the vehicle. Maria leaped onto the SUV's hood, her cws scrabbling for purchase on the metal surface.

  Through the windshield, she saw the driver's terrified face—and beside him, the administrator. The man who had overseen her suffering for eighteen years. Who had coldly calcuted how much blood could be taken from each "resource" before death. Who had ordered children separated from parents for "optimal processing."

  Her jaws snapped against the gss, not breaking it but sending a clear message. The SUV swerved, trying to shake her off. Maria held firm, her cws digging into the hood.

  "All resources evacuated," came the update in her ear. "Beta team proceeding to extraction point."

  Mission accomplished. Her pack was safe. Now for a small measure of justice.

  Maria smashed her head against the driver's side window. Once, twice, three times until the gss shattered. The driver screamed as wolf jaws snapped inches from his face. The SUV veered off the road, crashing into the fence at low speed.

  The administrator was scrambling for the other door when Maria leaped through the broken window. Her teeth closed around his arm—not a killing bite, but a restraining one. He screamed, a sound Maria had heard too many times from resources in his care.

  "Please! I was just following orders!" he cried, his face pale with terror.

  Maria growled low in her throat. How many resources had begged for mercy in just the same way, only to be ignored? How many had pleaded for less pain, for more food, for basic dignity?

  "Alpha team, be advised," came Gabriel's voice, unnaturally calm. "Lord Constantine has been captured. Repeat, primary target secured. All teams proceed to extraction points."

  Maria held the administrator's gaze for one long moment, seeing the fear in his eyes. Then, deliberately, she released his arm. Justice would come, but not like this. Not through revenge but through the proper channels. Lord Constantine would face Archduke Lucius's judgment, and his administrators would answer for their crimes as well.

  She backed out of the vehicle, maintaining eye contact with the administrator. Then, with a final growl of warning, she turned and raced toward the extraction point where her team was waiting.

  "Alpha team clear," Nara reported as Maria rejoined them. "Proceeding to rendezvous point."

  The rest of the operation proceeded with remarkable efficiency. The transports den with freed resources—Maria couldn't think of them as humans, not yet; they were still her pack—moved swiftly through the night toward Gabriel's territory. Security teams maintained perimeter defense in case of counterattack, but none came. Lord Constantine's forces had been overwhelmed too quickly, too completely.

  Maria remained in wolf form during the journey, riding in a transport with some of the freed resources. They were frightened, confused, staring at the wolf in their midst with wide eyes and hushed whispers.

  An older man—thin, with hollow cheeks and the papery skin of a long-term blood farm resident—studied her with a puzzled expression.

  "You're not going to hurt us?" he asked, his voice barely audible.

  Maria shook her wolf head slowly, deliberately making the human gesture of negation.

  "You... understand me?" he pressed, incredulous.

  She nodded, then id her head on her paws, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible.

  "It's Sister Maria," whispered a woman near the back of the transport. "Look at the fur—that reddish color with the silver. It's her. Like the tales said"

  Murmurs spread through the group. Maria raised her head, making eye contact with the woman who had spoken. Rebecca, one of her most devoted followers from the Church of Eternal Light.

  "Sister Maria?" Rebecca moved closer, hardly daring to believe. "Is it really you?"

  Maria couldn't speak, couldn't expin. But she could show recognition. She moved closer to Rebecca, gently pressing her wolf head against the woman's hand, while being shocked for being recognized when they shouldn't know about her.

  "The Light sent her back to us," Rebecca whispered, tears streaming down her face. "Not as punishment but as salvation."

  Maria wanted to correct her, to expin that there was no divine punishment, that vampires weren't demons, that she herself wasn't an angel or savior but a wereanimal. But those conversations would have to wait. For now, what mattered was that her pack felt safe.

  She settled among them, allowing the braver ones to touch her fur, to reassure themselves that she wasn't a threat. Gradually, the tension in the transport eased. The humans began to talk among themselves, to ask questions, to wonder about their future.

  Maria listened, learning much about what had happened in Blood Farm #17 since her departure. Conditions had worsened under the administrator's increasingly harsh regime. Feeding quotas had increased. Rations had decreased. The Church of Eternal Light had continued, but without the hope she had once provided.

  By the time they reached Gabriel's territory, Maria felt the weight of responsibility more heavily than ever. These people—her pack—would need more than physical rescue. They would need help rebuilding their understanding of the world, just as she had needed.

  The convoy arrived at a prepared reception area on Gabriel's estate. Medical teams waited to assess the freed resources. Food, water, and clean clothing had been arranged. Temporary housing had been prepared.

  Maria slipped away to transform back to human form. When she returned, dressed in clean clothes provided by Sarah, she found Gabriel waiting for her.

  "Lord Constantine has been secured," he reported without preamble. "His territory is now legally mine under Archduke Lucius's decree. The transition is underway."

  "And the resources?" Maria asked. "The... humans?" The word felt strange on her tongue after thinking of them as her pack for so long.

  "Being processed as we speak," Gabriel replied, then winced at his poor choice of words. "That is, they're being medically assessed, fed, and assigned temporary housing. They're safe, Maria."

  "They'll need more than safety," Maria said. "They'll need help understanding what's happened. Who they are. What the world is really like."

  "Yes," Gabriel agreed. "Much like you did. And we'll provide that help. Dr. Eliana has arranged for several therapists to assist. Your parents have volunteered to help with the transition as well."

  Maria nodded, relief washing over her. The battle had been won with minimal casualties on their side. Her pack was safe. Lord Constantine's reign of cruelty was over.

  But the work was just beginning.

  "They still believe in the Church of Eternal Light," she told Gabriel. "They think I was sent back by the Light to save them. That vampires are still demons, just... that some demons can be good."

  "Religious beliefs take time to evolve," Gabriel said gently. "Remember how long it took you to adjust your understanding of the world. They'll need the same patience, the same space to question and learn."

  "I know," Maria sighed. "I just... I feel responsible for what they believe. I created so much of it."

  "Then you can help them create something new," Gabriel suggested. "Something based on truth rather than misunderstanding. Something that gives them hope without false promises."

  Maria considered this. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps her responsibility to her pack extended beyond physical rescue to spiritual and psychological healing as well.

  "I should go to them," she said finally. "They'll have questions. They'll want to see me—the human me, not just the wolf."

  Gabriel nodded. "Of course. But Maria... this was a remarkable victory. You should take a moment to acknowledge that."

  Maria paused, letting his words sink in. They had done it. They had freed her pack, captured Lord Constantine, and secured his territory—all with minimal casualties. The operation had succeeded beyond their most optimistic projections.

  A small smile touched her lips. "We did it," she acknowledged. "But it's just the beginning."

  Gabriel returned her smile. "Indeed. The beginning of something new. Something better."

  As Maria walked toward the reception area where her pack waited, she felt a curious mixture of emotions—pride in what they had accomplished, determination for the work ahead, and, most surprisingly, hope. Not the desperate hope she had once preached in the blood farms, but something more substantial. Hope based on action rather than passive acceptance. Hope that came from taking control rather than surrendering to fate.

  Her pack was free. And now, together, they would learn what freedom truly meant.