The floorboards creaked beneath Jessica's feet as she and Kevin crept through the darkened hallways of Winter Manor. Dust motes swirled in the beam of Kevin's flashlight, and the musty smell of decay filled her sensitive nostrils. Her werewolf senses were on high alert, picking up traces of sulfur and rot–telltale signs of supernatural activity. The wallpaper, once elegant with its pattern of twisting vines and winter roses, now peeled away in moldering strips, revealing the rotting plaster beneath.

  The temperature had dropped steadily as they moved deeper into the house, their breath forming wispy clouds in the stale air. Jessica's enhanced hearing picked up the subtle sounds of the old mansion settling–or perhaps something else moving within its walls. The portraits that lined the hallway seemed to watch their progress, stern-faced previous owners of the house bearing silent witness to their intrusion.

  "You can't hide forever." Seren Winter's voice echoed through the shadows, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. The witch's mocking tone made Jessica's skin crawl, raising the fine hairs on the back of her neck. Each word carried centuries of malice and bitter hatred. "I've lived in this house for centuries. This is my domain."

  The voice held an otherworldly resonance that set Jessica's teeth on edge. It was wrong hearing those ancient, cruel tones coming from young Salina's throat. The poor girl had already endured weeks of possession, trapped inside her own body. They had to end this tonight.

  Kevin gripped Jessica's arm, his fingers trembling slightly despite his attempt to appear calm. The amateur paranormal investigator had come a long way since their first encounter with a werewolf, but facing a centuries-old ghost witch in his friend's body was still well outside his comfort zone. "She's trying to get in our heads. Stay focused."

  They reached a set of heavy oak double doors with brass handles shaped like snarling lion heads. Jessica's pulse quickened as she recognized the hunter's trophy room from their previous search of the house. The door hinges groaned in protest as they pushed their way inside, the sound unnaturally loud in the pressing silence.

  The trophy room was a massive chamber that took up nearly half of the mansion's east wing. Mounted heads of various animals lined the walls–deer, elk, and exotic beasts that stared down with glass eyes that seemed to follow their movements. The taxidermy work was exquisite, capturing each creature in perfect, lifelike detail–which only made them more unsettling. Display cases filled with weapons and hunting memorabilia dotted the room, their glass surfaces reflecting the beam of Kevin's flashlight, like eyes in the darkness.

  Full-body taxidermy specimens stood frozen in lifelike poses throughout the space: a pack of wolves mid-chase, a family of mountain lions on an artificial rock outcropping, and various game birds caught in eternal flight. In the corner loomed a massive grizzly bear, reared up on its hind legs with claws extended, its mouth frozen in a silent roar. The bear must have stood nearly twelve feet tall–an absolute monster of a specimen that dominated the room.

  Jessica's enhanced senses detected the lingering chemicals used in preservation, mixed with newer traces of witchcraft. The dark energy saturating the room made her wolf-side restless, pushing against her control. Her inner beast recognized the wrongness here and wanted to fight or flee.

  "I don't like this," Kevin whispered, his flashlight beam dancing nervously across the displays. "It feels like a trap."

  The beam caught something moving in the shadows–just a trick of the light, perhaps, but Jessica could have sworn she saw one of the mounted heads turn to track their movement. The temperature dropped another few degrees, and frost began forming on the glass cases.

  Before Jessica could respond, an invisible force slammed into Kevin's chest with the impact of a speeding truck. The blast hurled him backward through the doorway as if he weighed nothing. The heavy oak doors crashed shut between them with a thunderous boom that shook dust from the rafters.

  "Kevin!" Jessica yanked on the handles, but they wouldn't budge. Through the wood, she heard him pounding and shouting her name. The brass lion heads seemed to sneer at her efforts, their metal faces twisted with malicious glee.

  "Now it's just us girls." The voice came from behind her, dripping with false sweetness.

  Jessica spun around, her heart hammering against her ribs. Salina's body stood in the center of the room barefoot, but the cruel smile twisting her features belonged to Seren Winter. The possessed girl's eyes turned black with inky tears dripping down her cheeks like oil. She wore a flowing black dress that seemed to move of its own accord, rippling like smoke in a non-existent wind.

  "Let Salina go," Jessica demanded, fighting to keep her voice steady. "It's me you want.”

  Seren laughed, the sound brittle and cold as breaking ice. "Oh, I intend to deal with you permanently this time. No more games." Her fingers traced patterns in the air, leaving trails of purple energy hanging in their wake.

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  Heat surged through Jessica's body as she let her wolf form emerge. Bones cracked and reformed, and muscles rippled and grew beneath stretching skin. Her senses sharpened even further as her wolf nature came fully to the fore. In seconds, she stood nearly taller than the witch, covered in snow-white fur, her yellow eyes fixed on her opponent.

  The change had shredded her clothes, but modesty was the least of her concerns right now. Her claws could tear through steel, her enhanced strength could shatter concrete, and her regenerative abilities made her nearly impossible to kill by normal means. But she was facing an enemy who was far from normal.

  "You can't kill me, Seren." Her voice was deeper, rougher in this form, a growl underlying each word. "You have no silver.”

  "Perhaps." Seren raised her hands, purple energy crackling between her fingers like fire. The air grew thick with the scent of ozone and grave dirt. "But I can make you wish you were dead."

  She hurled a bolt of witch-fire that Jessica barely dodged. The blast hit a display case behind her, shattering glass and scattering antique rifles across the floor. The wood where the spell had struck was blackened and smoking, eaten away as if by acid. Outside, Kevin's shouts grew more desperate as he tried to break through the magically sealed doors.

  Jessica lunged forward, trying to close the distance, but Seren gestured sharply and an invisible barrier knocked her back. The impact drove the air from her lungs and sent her skidding across the hardwood floor. The witch was keeping her at range, where her magic had the advantage over Jessica's physical capabilities.

  "Why are you doing this?" Jessica circled warily, looking for an opening. Her claws left deep scratches on the floor with each step. "What made you so totally bitter?"

  "You want my tragic backstory?" Seren's lips curled in contempt. She hurled another magical attack that Jessica deflected with a swipe of her clawed hand. The spell scattered like sparks, leaving small fires burning wherever the fragments landed. "Very well. I was once nothing–just an ugly farm girl that the pretty, popular girls loved to torment."

  She punctuated her words with more magical assaults, forcing Jessica to duck and weave between the displays. The witch's attacks were growing stronger, and more precise. "Then one night, I met a traveling witch who showed me true power. She taught me the basics of magic before moving on, but I was a quick study."

  Jessica rolled behind a stuffed black bear as another blast reduced a wooden cabinet to splinters. The bear's hide smoldered where trace amounts of the spell had splashed against it. She needed to get closer, but she couldn't risk seriously hurting Salina's body.

  "I learned to alter my appearance, to bend others to my will." Pride filled Seren's voice, centuries of satisfaction at her cleverness. "Those girls who mocked me? They became my first test subjects. The young men of the village who'd never given me a second glance? Soon they were fighting for my attention."

  "You used mind control to force people to love you?" Jessica growled in disgust. The very idea violated something fundamental in her wolf nature. Love should be freely given, not coerced.

  "I used power to take what I deserved!" Seren's eyes blazed brighter, twin points of purple in the gloom. "I built this mansion with their gold and lived like a nobility. Until the townspeople discovered what I was. They came with torches and pitchforks, like the ignorant peasants they were."

  She gestured at a small mirror hanging on the far wall. "The spirit realm was my only escape, though passing through cost me my mortal form. But I won't stay trapped in that darkness any longer. This girl's body is young and strong–perfect for my return."

  "I'm sorry for what happened to you," Jessica said, meaning it despite everything. She could understand the pain of being an outsider, of being different. "But taking revenge on innocent people won't heal old wounds. You need to let go, find peace."

  "Peace?" Seren spat the word like poison. "I choose life–eternal life. And I won't let anyone stand in my way."

  She thrust both hands toward the grizzly bear display. Purple energy enveloped the massive taxidermy specimen, and its glass eyes glowed with the same sickly light as Seren's. The preserved flesh rippled as dark magic animated the dead tissue, bringing centuries-old muscle and bone back to terrible life. With a roar that shook dust from the ceiling, the bear lurched forward on massive legs.

  Jessica barely avoided the first swipe of its claws, feeling the wind of their passage. The bear was faster than it should be, enhanced by Seren's magic. Its movements were jerky but powerful, driven by supernatural force rather than natural muscle. It charged again, forcing Jessica to leap over its head, her claws leaving deep gouges in the hardwood floor as she landed.

  "Keep her busy, my pet," Seren crooned. "Tear her apart."

  The bear's head snapped toward Jessica with unnatural speed, jaws gaping to reveal yellowed teeth still sharp after all these years. She caught its muzzle with both hands, straining against its magically enhanced strength. The creature's breath was fetid, tainted by preservatives and dark magic. This close, she could see the stitches holding its hide together straining against the unnatural movement.

  Using the bear's momentum, Jessica redirected its charge into a display case. Glass and wood exploded around them as they crashed through it. She rolled clear as the bear thrashed among the wreckage, its hide now bristling with shards of broken glass. The magical animation kept it fighting despite damage that would have crippled a living creature.

  "You can't win, Jessica," Seren taunted. "Even if you destroy my pet, I have plenty more specimens to play with. How long can you last?"

  The bear climbed to its feet, shaking off debris. Behind it, Jessica spotted other taxidermy animals beginning to twitch and stir as Seren's magic reached for them. The wolves' glass eyes were glowing, and the mountain lions' tails had twitched. She had to end this quickly.

  Jessica feinted left, then drove her shoulder into the bear's chest when it moved to intercept her. The impact sent them both crashing into the wall hard enough to crack the plaster. Before it could recover, she seized its head and twisted with all her supernatural strength. There was a snap of breaking bone and torn stitches, and the bear's head came free in her hands.

  Without pausing, Jessica hurled the head at Seren like a projectile. The witch's eyes widened in surprise, and her magical shield flickered as she deflected it. That moment of distraction was all Jessica needed.

  She crossed the room in two bounds, moving faster than human eyes could track. Her clawed hand caught Seren's throat–careful pressure, just enough to restrain without harming Salina's body. The witch tried to blast her point-blank with magic, but Jessica knocked her arm aside and slammed her against the wall.

  "No!" Seren thrashed in her grip, her eyes wild with desperation. "Let go of me, you damn fleabag!”

  "I'm sorry," Jessica whispered. "But this isn't your life to take."

  She struck precisely at the base of Salina's skull, catching the girl's unconscious body as she slumped forward. The purple light faded from her eyes, leaving them normal and closed. Around the room, the partially animated specimens collapsed back into lifeless taxidermy.

  The door finally burst open as Kevin shouldered through, wielding a fire axe he'd found somewhere. His clothes were dusty and his hair was wild, but his eyes were determined. He took in the scene–the destroyed room, the dismembered bear, Jessica cradling Salina's limp form.

  "Is she...?" he asked hesitantly.

  Jessica laid Salina gently on a clear patch of floor as her own body shifted back to human form. Her muscles ached from the fight, but she ignored the discomfort. "She's alive. Just unconscious. We need to finish the exorcism ritual before Seren recovers."

  Kevin nodded and grabbed Salina's feet to help Jessica carry her back to the room.

  The battle was won, but the war wasn't over yet. They had to send Seren Winter back to her mirror prison–and make sure she stayed there permanently.