Lupus Aureus: Chapter 2
So this new, hot, absolutely fabulous club opened up downtown. Yeah, all the hot, happening people are there. No, scratch that. All the hot, happening *weres* are there, all decked out, ready to party and look as good as possible while doing it.
And the best part - according to the patrons, anyway - if you’re not a were, you’d better bring your own leash. No, it’s not a bondage club, although it’s probably only a step-and-a-half away from it, the club has a ‘leash law’ in effect regarding normals. You bring in a norm, they’d better be muzzled.
Turnabout is fair play, I guess.
I’m not sure if I should be amused or offended by the little policy, I’d planned on trying to get Az and Mike to come along, but I don’t think either of them would take well to being put on leashes. In fact, I *know* Az wouldn’t take well to it at all. So, it’ll be just me and my kitten, Eve, tonight.
I glance in the mirror again, checking my reflection in the glass. Not bad, I muse. Not bad at all. I'm in my club-hopping best. That's all I can say. Money is no object, when one dresses to impress.
I had gotten a pair of Black Dragon scale cargos, really hard to find. The scales are as soft as silk, liquid repellent, stretchable, and tougher than steel. While they are black, the color shifts and moves with the light, iridescent and almost alive. My shirt is made of the same substance, a sleeveless muscle shirt that is extremely comfortable. I am also quite thankful that the creator of the pants had been kind enough to make a line for furries that have a tail hole. I have enough clothes with hand-made tail holes, thank you very much.
I’m starting to wonder just how much longer I’ll have to wait on my pretty kitty to come from upstairs when my sensitive ears hear her cautious step behind me. I turn around and almost gasp out loud. Instead, I give her a quick wolf-whistle of approval and my best winning grin. “Wow, all that for me?”
The outfit she’s wearing is stunning. Black velvet trimmed in lace with red Austrian crystal highlights, cut low and high in the appropriate places, with enough skin showing to leave little to the imagination, yet covering enough to be legal. The stiletto heels she’s wearing bring her up nearly to my height, no mean feat. Her tail twitches lazily behind her, and she smiles.
“Well, not all of it…”
“Are you trying to make me jealous?” I rest my chin on her shoulder and inhale her scent. “As if I weren’t already jealous enough for a whole pack?”
“Well, sometimes you just have to go all-out, even if it is just for yourself.”
“So…do we have to go?” I whine a little. I’d much rather just peel her out of the dress…
Damn full moon.
“Didn’t we already decide this? Besides, you promised.”
For a cat, Eve has very good ‘sad puppy dog eyes’. “I know. I promised.”
“Good, then, let’s go! I don’t want to be late! Do you know how hard it is to get a VIP pass to Dead of Night???”
Yeah, I know, boy, did I know. I’d only been trying to get tickets for a week, as a surprise for Eve’s birthday. I still don’t know how she managed to score the tickets, when I couldn’t, and the literal ‘cat had her tongue’ - she wouldn’t say a word. She is frustrating me to death.
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It is already dark outside when we leave our place, and the crimson stained lights announcing the club 'Dead of Night' can be seen from quite a distance. I speed down J Street trying to get to the club on time.
“Wow... Now that is cool.” There is practically no line as I pull up in my Lamborghini Mercuralago and skid to a halt, it had rained a little bit, apparently. “Eve... I thought you said this place was, 'hot and happenin'. Where's the line?”
She glared at me, “That's why it's so hard to get in. Invitation only, there are no lines. Besides that, the bouncers don't like it when someone besides them is standing around outside.”
We got out of the car, “Oh...” That was all I could say for myself. I'm approached by a valet and he takes my keys, he doesn't have a name tag on, and so I ask the obvious question. “What's your name?”
“Myrhakil.” The skunk says with a smile. I dig into my pocket and slip him a fifty.
“Be nice to her and I'll be nicer to you.” I say as the skunk grins, “Put it someplace safe, I wouldn’t want anything to happen to it.”
“Yes sir!” He takes my car ever carefully to the parking lot and Yvette and I walk up to the huge bear, playing bouncer. “Hey there... How about letting me in? It should be listed under Adam Reilwulf or Yvette Katze.”
He shoot me an unfriendly look as he glances down his list. “No trash, leave.” He grabs my shirt and gives me a little shove back.
“No, It's there. I made the reservation about three hours ago, check again.” He gives me a confused look as the tickets appear in my paw, “These are my VIP passes, and for the last time, I'm Adam Reilwulf.”
His eyes look as if they could jump out of their sockets as he finally finds the name on the list and double-checks the tickets. “Sorry, I've had people trying to sneak in all night. Please, go ahead.” He pulls the handle on the door to the club.
Oww! The doors to the club open and my sensitive ears object in pain. “At least it's good music!” The bass is already vibrating throughout my entire body and I haven't even stepped inside yet.
There is techno cranked up on one side of the room, while dance remixes of the hottest songs are playing on the other. The door closes behind us and Yvette spots some of her friends.
“Adam! I'll be back... I wanna go say hi.” She begins to trot off, but I'm only a foot behind her. “Oh!!! I love your shoes!” She squeals as she comes up to another tigress. “And you found a matching purse for it!!!” She gives the other cat a slightly upset look, “I'm jealous!” She then sits down and begins to chit-chat. I'm not hanging around for this...girl talk!
“Yvette, I'm gonna be at the bar, all right?” She waves me off, saying something about how all good shoes have no backs on them. Yuck... another shoe this, shoe that, purse talk... Braving the crowd of were-lions, were-tigers, and other assorted beasts of the jungle, oh my, that are roaming around between the table and the bar, I finally get to the counter. I can't believe they are merely twenty feet away from each other.
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“Adam! My man, so glad you could come!” Growls out a massive were-lion as I slide up to the bar and order myself a drink. I pointedly ignore the lion and nod to the bartender.
“Kirschroter Alpha, please.”
“So Evie gave you the tickets, huh?” continues Riku, undeterred by my purposeful cold shoulder.
“Yeah, Riku, she did.” Now I know why Eve wouldn’t tell me how she got the tickets! Riku’s an old classmate of mine who likes to play both sides of the fence, and never hesitates to remind me that he likes the looks of my tail. Repeatedly, and not quietly, either. He’s hit on Evie a few times but she just laughs it off. Personally, I want to rip his face off every time he opens his mouth.
“Where’s Evie?” the lion asks, glancing around the packed club. “I’d like to say hi to my favorite tigress.”
“Well, it’s her birthday and all, so…she’s over there talking to a couple of her girlfriends. I couldn’t take too much of the ‘strappy sandals vs. high heels’ debate without a drink.” I point in the wrong direction and turn for a second to glare at the feline. “I appreciate the tickets and all, but neither of us is interested, ok Riku?”
Riku looks offended. “Hey, they’re free, no strings attached, man! I gave them to Evie as an apology for the last party of yours I…uh…”
“Crashed?” I offer, annoyed. “Wrecked?” I add, narrowing my eyes. “Ruined?” I offer finally, letting the lion twist in the wind for a bit.
The bartender mercifully arrives with my drink and I breathe in the aroma and sip it hesitantly. Perfect. Sweet, citrus…yum. Maybe this can even make Riku bearable.
Doubt it.
He wanders off, no fool he, and I sip my drink for a bit before returning to the table Eve’s sitting at. Her friends are just about to leave, perfect timing on my account, and I sit next to her and drape an arm around her lovingly.
“Did you miss me?” I whisper in her ear, waving to her friends as they leave.
“Of course I did.” She answers, teasing the side of my face with her tail.
“Shall we?” I pull her to the dance floor just as the music changes tempo.
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We dance for what seems like an eternity when Eve shudders against me.
“Cold?” I ask, nuzzling her exposed neck and stealing a quick kiss.
“Ye…no…I’m not sure. I just got the creepiest feeling.”
“Probably nothing, some guy staring at your ass or something.” She giggles, and we go and sit down at the table for a moment while we catch our breath.
“I think we should go.” She’s looking around, concerned, nervous, the old expression about ‘a cat in a room full of rocking chairs’ comes to mind and I giggle a little, and my voice sounds a bit odd. Eve looks at me oddly and says again. “We should go.”
I realize as I catch my breath and my heart-rate returns to normal, that I feel a little funny.
Odd funny, not ha-ha funny. Strange, disconcerted. I pick up my drink and sniff at the contents. Smells fine, and my nose knows. Follow your nose, it always knows. Huh. Where did that come from?
Wow. I’m really not feeling so hot all of a sudden. The room spins a little, and the next thing I know Eve is positively dragging me out of the club. She’s clutching my hand so hard her claws have punctured the skin under the fur.
“Adam, let’s go, please.”
I don’t want to go, not really, my head’s still a little, ok, a lot, fuzzy and I know I didn’t drink that much and a couple of these people are friends of mine and I turn and wave to them as we head out the door, then all of a sudden I clamp my paws over my ears in pain as the fire alarm goes off, shrill, high, insistent, followed by the loud hiss of the automatic sprinklers turning on…
The world turns to hell in an instant.Lupus Aureus: Chapter 3
I’m on fire, my arm, my face, burning, feels like it’s melting, it hurts it hurts it HURTS!!! I want to scream but the pain is so intense the sound dies in my throat but Eve is screaming enough for both of us as she drags me the rest of the way out of the club. Just inside the doorway I can see the lion Riku’s skin bubbling and peeling and dissolving into a slush of flesh that is sloughing off the bone and Eve is still screaming, but I’m not sure what she’s saying because I’m watching a cloaked figure plowing through the writhing mass of dying weres and the deadly rain and I can see his lips are moving and I swear he’s saying Raserei…
Which is, mercifully, the point at which the world turns black.
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When I wake up again the world is still dark and my mouth feels like I swallowed a sheep, full of wool and tasting just as bad. I can’t seem to move my right arm, and both it and that side of my face feel cold. I’m no longer transformed, and I feel like death warmed over.
I lie still for a few moments, listening. Every sound around me is amplified a hundredfold, I can hear two sets of heartbeats, one comfortingly familiar…the other, not quite so familiar.
“Take it easy, Adam, you’ve been drugged.” says a voice to one side, the owner realizing I’m awake.
Ah, so that’s who that is. “Mike?” I croak out, only to discover my voice is as cracked and dry as the Sahara. “What….” I feel liquid at my lips and swallow it greedily. Eve is quiet, by my side, stroking my left hand comfortingly.
“Some sort of neuro-toxin. It all but paralyzed you. Yvette carried you in here a few hours ago.”
“My arm…why is it…”
“It’s a poultice. You were burned down to the bone. The wound should be just about healed but I want you to stay here until morning just to be safe.” Michael paused. “How the hell did you…”
Oh gods. Deathdust. “Silver nitrate.” It occurs to me as the horrible images from the club flash behind my eyes. Bodies melting, people screaming…rushing the doors only to fall and be crushed by the living, dying, throng, and that man, calm, walking through the rain of silver death as if it were a gentle summer shower, mouthing my name, over, and over.
He loaded the sprinkler system at the club with…
…all those…was he trying to get to me?
I shudder, convulsively, and Mike places a hand on my chest to hold me still.
“You need to sleep.” He says, and consciousness fades away again.
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I’m back home.
I’m back home, reliving one of the worst days of my entire, probably about to end, life.
I haven’t had this nightmare in ages, why now, when I can’t seem to work up the energy to wake myself, when the whole scene is moving in surreal slow-motion, stop-action. I don’t want to watch but, I don’t have a remote control handy to change the channel.
He’s standing there, about ten feet in front of me, katana poised and waiting for my move. I’m trapped, Eve trembling slightly behind me, both of us backed to the edge of a cliff that neither of us could survive a drop off of.
“Well, boy? What’s next?” He’s grinning and I can see the elongated canines flash briefly, a were trying to hide what he is, but not doing a very good job of it. Our little tussle, which had left me bloodied by a few scratches and slices, had brought the animal out in him, literally. His eyes were glowing with a familiar bloodlust, and his teeth and claws had emerged, but only just.
Evie behind me moaned a little, part pain, part fear, as she glanced over the edge of the cliff. My ears perked up as a shower of small stones clattered down the cliff face. This was not good. I had practically grown up with this girl, and I couldn’t stand the idea of her being hurt or killed because of me. She already had some cuts, bruises and, worst of all, silver trace burns that would probably scar.
I took a guard stance and brought my arms to ready. “She has nothing to do with this or us. Let her go.” She whimpered a bit behind me, and the sound…hurt. This wasn't like her at all.
“Did you hear me?! I'll fight you just as soon as she's safe and free.” I grabbed Yvette by the shirt and pulled her out from behind me, and she stumbled forwards a bit.
“Ah yes...” He smiled, “You remind me so much of my Yunie...” He grabbed her by the hair, pulled her close, sniffed her, and gave her a kiss, forcing a growl from my throat, and a keening whine from her.
“You're even weak-willed like her.” He grinned, lifted her up by the back of the neck, and kept her there. She was still whimpering, but she refused to scream out for him. “Hey Adam...” He grinned, cold, sadistic, twisted. “Fetch.” With almost no effort at all, he threw her over my head and off the cliff face.
I can't explain why I did it, or what happened next, it was all some sort of insane instinct, Save the one you love. I saw Yvette falling over the edge and I leapt after her. “Yvette!!!” I screamed, falling towards her, my body changing form to the very thing I despised at the time. Raserei himself wanted to save her. I caught her, turned over and faced my back to the ground, and looked up, my mirror laughing and yelling to me.
“Good boy.” He grinned as he stared down at me. “As soon as you die, I will collect your hide and then...well…just tell those in hell that Lukas says hello.”
His face blurs like heat-haze and vanishes, the world around him going cold and dark, and my body feels like insects are fluttering around it, weird because I can’t see anything, nothing at all, but then there’s a light we’re falling towards and I think “this is it, we’re both dead”, and the light swallows us…
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The sun on my face wakes me up, and I shift to find Eve curled up beside me on the floor where we both apparently spent the night. Unfamiliar scents greet me, and I glance around. Oh yeah, we’re at Mike’s place. The poultry…er, poultice, is off my face and my arm and the skin is slightly pink but basically unmarred.
“Good, you’re awake.”
“Ugh, what’s so good about it?” I mutter, still feeling like hell, and not wanting to wake my sleeping kittycat.
“Well, you’ve been out for about nine hours, and I was just about to get Ciela to come over to look after you.”
“Damn, you’re late for work.” I look apologetically at him. “You…”
“Don’t worry about it, Adam.” Mike smiles at me. “Just…stick around here for a bit, ok? This shit’s been all over the news and the paper…” His voice trails off and he seems to pause before handing me the newspaper and I gasp at the headline. “Look, there’s some coffee and breakfast in the kitchen, nothing fancy. Try to relax a little bit and when you’re feeling up to it, go by the station and talk to Torres or one of the people there. I called Jayna and she’s been there already, because the police had named you as a suspect.”
I nod mutely, still shocked. 93 Dead, 50 Wounded In Were Slaughter. Local Werewolf wanted for questioning.
“Are you two all right by yourself, Adam?”
“Yeah,” I croak. “We’ll hang out here for a bit then go home, change clothes, and head over there.”
“Gotcha. If you need anything, call Az or Jayna. They know what’s happened and can be right over.” He grabs his jacket and heads out the door just as Evie stretches and yawns.Lupus Aureus: Chapter 4
We leave Mike’s and make our way home in no time, thanks to one amazingly accurate Precog Cab driver arriving just about the time we step out the door. I put my wallet away and fish for door keys in the wrinkled, charred remains of my outfit from the night before. Finally finding them, I step forward and start to climb the stairs.
I know there was something wrong before I even get to the door. There is an odd…feel about the place. I don’t like it, it sets my teeth on edge and the fur on the back of my neck stands at attention. I growl, low and dangerous, as Evie comes up behind me.
“Adam?” she asks, quietly. “Something wr…”
I shush her in mid-word, putting one hand out to the door and pushing gently. It swings open with a creak and I grimace, but no-one jumps out at me from the darkened room. Yay. I stay as low to the ground as I can and sniff. Someone had been here, all right. Recently. My eyes adjust and I can see the inside of the room, and I groan, stand, and flip on the light.
Behind me, Eve gasps. “It’s…”
“Trashed.” I finish her sentence for her.
“OhmygodEuraha!” Eve bounds into the room before I can stop her. “Euraha!!!”
“Eve, stay with me!” I sprint after her as she takes the stairs three at a time. This is one of the first times I've ever regretted that my kitty-cat is as fast and agile as her namesake.
“Euraha!!! Where are you????” Eve is already at the landing at the top of the stairs when I hear her scream, followed by the thud of flesh on flesh. I don’t slow down, rushing headlong up the stairs. At the top instincts take over and I duck, don’t know why until the wooden banister to my right explodes and showers me with splinters.
“Oh SHIT!”
I launch myself straight up as hard as I can as the heavy, double-bladed silver axe reverses direction and comes back towards me slicing into the wall as it missing me by a hair’s breadth. There’s no hesitation as it arcs back around towards me and I’m already on the ground lunging towards him claws extended and teeth bared in a feral growl.
He misses - I don’t - and we both crash through the railing trailing broken wood and I twist to make sure he takes at least the brunt of the impact and crash down on him with all my weight. It doesn’t quite work out because the next thing I know I’m sailing through the air and crashing into a glass-topped table, and there’s warm blood running down my arm and leg as I stumble to my feet and face him.
He’s bleeding too from where my claws grazed him but his fur took most of the attack, gold, like mine, red eyes, also like mine, burning from under his hood. He’s away from Eve, that’s the important part. He’s dropped the axe, too, which is a point in my favor, assuming he’s not carrying anything…
Twin flashes of light streak towards me and I twist and roll, avoiding them and grimacing slightly as they destroy more of our home. Shuriken.
“Nice reflexes, you’ve improved.” Growls out the man in front of me. “But you’re still a pup.”
“And you’re still a bastard. Isn’t that right, Lukas?”
“Flattered you remembered, pup. And you’re still the one that got away, but not for much longer.”
I let loose a roar and jump at him again, my right foot sweeping high and just missing his head. I keep spinning, left sinking into his chest, followed quickly by my left elbow and then finish with an uppercut to the underside of his muzzle. I'm thankful as he’s knocked head over heels, but then I curse aloud when he lands on his paws, springs up to his feet and grins.
I hear the sound of metal sliding along wood and my instincts react.
Sword.
A quick swipe which I duck under. Katana, to be more exact.
The same katana from before, from a year ago, from my nightmares. I start to bounce around, quick and light on my feet, keeping him distracted, keeping him busy and away from my kitten and Euraha.
Smashed glass and pieces of the broken wooden railing crunch underfoot as he takes a half-hearted swipe at me and I avoid it easily. He’s gauging me, my speed. He kicks a broken chair at me and I wince as I duck, hearing more damage being done to my home. He's already destroyed quite a bit, we're going to be cleaning this place up for days, but I quickly realize now isn't the time to get distracted as the blade slices across my chest, leaving thin burning scratch, you missed me you missed me…my mind chants, an old nursery rhyme bubbling up and I shut it down, trying to focus on the task at hand.
I have to rethink my strategy. Strategy, what strategy? I had nothing of the sort; I was merely reacting and hoping to live for another few seconds, and he knows it. I see the blade come straight down and I manage to catch it, cool kung-fu TV move style, right? Only unlike them, I’m greeted by the sickening sizzle of flesh as my hands begin to burn.
I grunt, try not to tense up, and kick the base of the blade, shattering the pretty, yet deadly, toy in two, and tiny shards rain down, burning my face, burning my eyes, burning my feet as I step on them.
I can’t see, the tiny flecks of silver are burning, blinding, it hurts. I can’t do anything but fall to the floor, clutching my face, trying to hold in the scream trying to tear out of my throat. He’s laughing at me, the sound is cold... dark... evil. I don't want to hear it anymore. I give up and let loose a howl of pain, and hope Eve’s managed to get out of the house somehow. I hear the sound of metal scraping along leather, and I know the worst is yet to come….
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Upstairs, Yvette had finally come around; she'd been out for a few minutes when the clash of metal downstairs brought her fully back to consciousness. Her head throbbed, being backhanded by a 300-lb werewolf into a solid wall wasn’t exactly an experience she wanted to relive.
She tried to stand, failed, and then literally crawled into her bedroom, spotting Euraha, still alive and looking relatively unharmed, curled up into the fetal position next to her and Adam's bed, whimpering, crying, scared. As Yvette tried to comfort and calm her, she picked up the phone and dialed the number for the only person she could think of.
“Please pick up... pick up!!!” She started chanting as the crashes downstairs got louder. There was a loud thud, and then a sinister laugh. Yvette forced herself to stay calm. “Pick up... Pick up...” A howl reverberated through the house, and Eve shuddered. Adam…
“Hello?” It was her! “Hello? Who is this?”
“Get here now, Adam's in trouble! He's gonna be killed, both of us will!” She got the sentences out as fast as she could, something was coming, she could hear the rapid thudding of feet on the stairs. Beside her, Euraha whimpered and curled up on her side even further.
“Who... Yvette?” The phone went silent and Yvette turned around. She had seen the face before, once, twice, that she could remember... both times, it tried to do horrible things to her. This wasn’t Adam, it was Lukas, transformed into his golden, half wolf form. He had the phone cable in his paw, ripped from the wall, and was wagging his finger at her accusingly.
“Naughty kitty.” He smiled, baring teeth. “Who’d you call?” The fur on his arms was covered with blood up to the elbows, fresh and red and his paws had left traces on the carpet with each step.
Eve hissed, claws extending. She wasn’t going down without a fight. Not this time.
“Come on, sweetie, don’t be that way. I just wanna have some fun. That pup downstairs can’t possibly satis…” He glared as Euraha crawled into the corner away from them, whimpering. “Would you like to join me in a quick bite to eat? Maybe, venison?”
Yvette launched herself at Lukas as well as she could, he was twice her size at least, and several inches taller. She didn’t have a chance and she knew it.