Lupus Aureus: Chapter 5
Yvette launched herself at Lukas, claws extended, fangs bared, hissing low in her throat.
Lukas batted her away and she went flying, landing upright on all fours, claws ripping the carpet as she slowed herself, and got into position for another attack. Huddled in the corner now, Euraha whimpered and looked at Eve askew.
“I like my women feisty, you know that?” Lukas grinned, preparing for Eve’s second attack, dropping into a crouch. “A good fight‘s almost like foreplay, you know?”
Eve’s tail lashed the air behind her, the jackass was taunting her, and she wasn’t going to take it anymore, again, ever, no matter what. Downstairs, Adam had grown oddly silent, and she hoped silently that the albino bitch showed up, and soon. Very, very soon.
* * *
Adam raised his head slightly as he heard the door crash open, followed by a gasp. “Adam…?”
It was Ciela. He groaned, arms wrapped around his midsection, trying to hold his guts in place, even as the pool of crimson surrounding him slowly widened. “Eve. Upstairs.” He managed to groan out.
“But…” Az started to protest, he felt her light footfalls through the floor as she started towards him.
“…please…” Adam protested, weakly. Yvette, bless her heart, chose that very moment to let out a blood-curdling scream, and Az was gone from the room, needing no further prodding from the injured were.
* * *
Yvette heard two things at the same time, Lukas’ scream as she bit into his arm, tearing flesh and tendon and chipping bone, and the front door crashing in downstairs. She screamed shrilly as the huge werewolf dug his claws into her back, yanking her off his arm and tossing her into a wall hard enough to knock her almost unconscious.
“…cavalry’s here, human-fucker…” she whispered, spitting blood out of her mouth.
“What did you say, pussycat?” Lukas advanced towards the stunned feline, turning his back to the open bedroom door.
“I said,” Yvette repeated slowly, “that I’m going to enjoy seeing your flea-ridden hide turned into a throw rug.”
“Who’s gonna manage that? Not your little puppy downstairs…” Lukas’s boast was cut off in mid-stream as a flash of light tore through the room, knocking him straight into and completely through the opposing wall. Azangel’s form streaked after him, shimmering wraithlike as she somehow passed through the shattered wall without disturbing so much as a splinter.
Yvette wasn’t too sure about what the albino bitch was capable of, but Adam seemed to think she was more than able to handle herself. She certainly hoped so, because she really didn’t think she could handle being bounced off of any more walls.
“Euraha, help me get up, we have to check on Adam.”
The deer stared, fearful and glassy-eyed, at the shattered wall, and whimpered slightly. She didn’t appear to be hurt, just, well, she looked like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. Yvette sighed, moved against the wall, and hissed in pain. She was going to have some god-awful bruises come morning.
“Euraha!” Yvette snapped, and the deer turned to her slowly. “Help me get up, please, we need to check on Adam!” Finally, finally something flashed in the deer’s eyes, and she got up slowly, still timid, still watching the broken wall as if she expected Lukas to bolt through it and rip her throat out.
“Yvette, I’m sorry, I should have…”
“What, gotten killed? You did fine.” Yvette grimaced, biting back the screams she wanted to let loose as she got up slowly with Euraha’s help. First Adam, then, hospital. She swore under her breath. Her ribs felt like they were at the very least, cracked, and she considered trying to shift to her human form but decided against it, she’d likely pass out from the strain, and then what?
***
Weakling... Raserei's voice floods my mind, echoing back and forth, assaulting me from all sides. …you're nothing but a weakling.
Shut up... I don't wanna hear this crap right now...
Too bad, you’ve got no choice. You couldn't protect her then...
I thought I told you to shut the fuck up?
You can't even protect her now.
I said shut up!!!
I come back to my senses when the sound of footsteps on the stairs reaches my ears. There is a gasp and a rush of hurried, but wobbly, footfalls. Yvette. After a quick sniff, I try to smile for her. “No crying Kitten... I'm not gonna die.”
“Quiet. Be quiet...” Her finger fall to my lips. “No talking, you need to hush, save your strength.”
She lets out a soft whimper as she sees her white fur turning crimson. The floor is covered in blood, my blood. She knows I'm gonna... “Adam...” She begins crying softly as she lifts my head up and puts it on her lap as gently as she can. Euraha backs up and away from us. I can hear her timid steps, and her too-rapid heartbeat, she probably doesn't know how to react to all of this. She falls against the wall with a huff, sits down, and begins sobbing.
There is the roar of a motorcycle, coming closer, and it stops abruptly outside. Thank god. Heavy footsteps, another gasp, and “Holy shit...” Was all I hear as Mike rushes over to me. “What the hell happened?”
”Long story” I croak out. “Stomach first.” My breathing is beginning to slow, it hurts so bad to continue but I'm not going to give up. No way am I going to lose to that…to Lukas…
“Mike... now, please.” I swallow the lump in my throat as I feet the familiar warmth of healing flood my body. This is going to be a lot harder on Mike that healing a simple tattoo and I can smell the sweat beading up on his skin, hear his breathing get harsher. And he hasn’t even seen the worst part yet.
There is a crash outside... I want Mike to finish... I have to help her, help Ciela.
You, I, we, have to help her.
You've had your chance.
I can feel him trying to take over, he is fighting the necklace and it's influence.
I will stop him.
You don't deserve to be alive right now. You should be dead.
“Mike... please..” My breathing no longer hurts, but... A shudder passes over me as I ready myself for the real pain. “Get something. Tweezers, a knife, you're gonna need something.” I pause for a second. “There’re silver shards in my eyes.”
“Adam?” Mike's hand reaches for my face. I know what he was about to do.
“Are you sure you wanna do this?” It is still burning. The slivers. They are still there. “Trust me... It's not pretty.”
“Yeah. If I don’t, do this, they won’t heal, and you’ll be permanently blind.” I hear a click, I'm guessing he had a pocketknife on him. I bring my left arm up to and put it in my muzzle, only to have a chunk of broken wood handed to me. A somewhat less painful alternative and I bite down on it gingerly. This is gonna hurt like- I'm cut off mid-thought by a sharp stab of pain, and my teeth snap into the wood with a thunk.
Mike lurches back a bit. “Damn, you weren’t kidding.” He says, quietly.
The usually white sclera had turned black from the silver shard. It was embedded in the pupil, which was now silver. Even the iris of his eye had changed colors, from icy blue to snowy white. The poor shaman groaned slightly as he brought the knife down and scraped the silver out, quickly but carefully, trying not to cause any more pain to the writhing werewolf.
Adam let out an involuntary howl of pain when he felt the blade cut into his eye. Mike held the blade steady, spilling out the poisoned vitreous liquid. He shut the eye carefully an instant later, holding both hands over it and chanting quietly. Then he went to the second eye, repeated the process, repeated the pain, and Adam repeated his scream in spite of himself.
“Man...” Mike puts his hands back over my face and finishes the healing process. All I can think about the whole time is Lukas... Lukas... Lukas... I'm going to hurt him dearly for this pain he's given me, for the pain he's inflicted on Yvette. Mike sighs as he takes his hands away from me.
“Violence solves nothing... I thought you of all people would know that.”
I cautiously open my eyes and look about. “Yes. I do know that. The only problem is, I can’t let him take away my, well, my status in the pack. You can’t understand it. I won’t be some newbie Were’s chew-toy.” I feel my form changing, muscles growing, fur turning gold. I'm in control now. I'm going to stay calm.
“Don't kill him. You don't have to.” He gets up.
“Just tend to Kitten.” With that, I sprint out to join the fight.Lupus Aureus: Chapter 6
Azangel couldn't believe what she was staring at... It was Adam, but it also wasn't Adam. He was too big, too bulky. But still, it looked like a lot like Adam when he was ‘Raserei’, all golden-furred and scarlet eyed. No, this wasn't her training partner, this was someone, something else. Well, when in doubt, be direct!
“Who the hell are you?”
Lukas just snarled in reply, “Shut up, you stupid bitch.” He turned his back on Az and then began stalking toward the house. “You interrupted my meal.”
“I don't think so…” Ciela flared her wings and flicked, sending sparkling, shining shards straight at Lukas's retreating form. “Fleabag!”
Lukas turned, “Wha...” He saw the shards of light flying for his face, dodged to the side, and managed to avoid most of them, only a few scratched his coat and fewer still cut through to skin. He frowned, glancing upward at the hole in the wall that his body had made. “Hmpf.”
Azangel flapped her wings and then flew at Lukas, using her speed to tackle him in the gut and knock him to the ground. She caught a right hook to the side of her face for her trouble, Lukas batting her away like an annoying insect. She flipped backwards, landed on her feet, and then placed her hand on her cheek, which was already swollen and red with anger.
“You have no idea what you're dealing with, bitch!” He got up and started back towards the house.
“The name is Azangel, not bitch, you asshole.”
Bright, burning light grazed his cheek, the same side that Ciela was now healing on her own face. He turned on her and growled. “You just don’t know when to quit, do you, you little slut?” The burn sealed itself even as he was speaking.
“Nope.” She pulled her hand away and her face had returned to its former pristine condition.
Lukas growled again, body tense, slid to all fours, and changed. Bones cracked and reformed, clothes shredded, muscles that shouldn’t exist slid into place as he transformed fully. His muzzle lengthened and fangs extended, dangerous, razor-sharp sickles. The whole show only took seconds but to Ciela, it took forever. She’d never seen Adam change and now she didn’t want to, ever. Especially not considering how…uh…exposed he was. Not that she was looking. It wasn’t a complete transformation, but it was pretty close.
“Like what you see?”
She blinked, and blushed. Trust the bad guy to be looking when you hoped they weren’t.
“Not particularly. I like a little less fur on my men.” Wow, that sounded lame, even to me.
The werewolf snorted, then advanced a few steps. She backed up. He was probably 400 pounds or more of pure muscle. The thick fur coat made it hard to judge. And, to quote, what big teeth you have, grandma! Azangel training, as far as she knew, did not, and had never, covered fighting werewolves the size of your average minivan. Ok, maybe she was exaggerating. He wasn’t that big. Maybe your average…horse.
“Scared?” He sniffed the air as the breeze shifted. “Yeah, you are.” He sniffed again. “And you got some today, too. Smells nice, and sweet. Maybe I should have an appetizer. I’m really good with my tongue, you know.”
Oh gods, a werewolf with a sick sense of humor. She flushed in spite of herself. “There’s a nice Chinese place down the road, I’m sure they’d be happy to serve you.”
“Funny, bitch. Real funny.”
“Hey, you started it.” She backed up a few more steps as the wolf advanced. Who’s afraid of the big, bad wolf…me, that’s who. This…creature was making Adam and Yvette seem like sweet, innocent, slightly furry humans.
Somewhere in the distance, and getting closer every second, was the roar of a very familiar motorcycle, carrying Mike ever nearer. If she didn’t keep this furball occupied, Mike would probably end up hurt, or worse, furry himself, and that thought was enough to both turn her stomach and send her towards the hairy hulk in a rush.
Adam and Yvette with fur was one thing…Mike was another matter altogether.
Lukas blocked and shoved her out of the way effortlessly, laughing as he grabbed her arm and twisted it, trying to force her to her knees in front of him.
“Not much of a fighter, are you?” When she didn’t answer, he looked down to find her grinning up at him. “Hu…”
An explosion of light picked him up forcibly and carried him halfway down the block, depositing him on his back, blinking up at the sky and howling in pain, clutching at his eyes.
“Bitch…fucking bitch…”
“Not one for original insults, are you?”
“Cunt…whore…”
“Now you’re getting obscene.” She breathed a sigh of relief as Mike’s bike slid to a stop outside the semi-wrecked home and he hopped off, yanked off his helmet, and looked at her worriedly. “I’m fine. Go take care of Adam, he needs help.”
He didn’t argue, instead hurrying into the home and shutting the door behind him. Like that would stop the beastie that was already trying to shake off the effects of her blast. Couldn’t blame him for trying, she thought.
“That was fun, want to try it again?”
Lukas had regained his feet and was snarling at her, claws extended fully and practically foaming at the mouth. His grin would have given the most faithful PETA member nightmares for years. But, right now she was all that was standing between him and the injured Adam, Yvette, and her lover.
“C’mon, let’s get this over with.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
Liquid metal flowed out across her exposed arms and midsection, covering her more vulnerable spots. Even the helmet didn’t like this bastard, apparently. Behind her, there was a small crowd of just-arrived tourists, of all things, snapping pictures and pointing back and forth from her to the wolf. Just what she needed, multiple distractions.
The massive wolf in front of her growled, and literally launched itself at her, claws tearing up divots of asphalt as it traveled. It was amazingly fast, and was on her in a split-second.
Well, not actually on her; as Lukas bounced off her hastily-erected force-field and crashed to the ground with enough force to rattle her teeth. Youch. He stood, wobbly, and shook his head.
“That’s no way to fight, little girl.”
“Works for me.”
“Fine, you wanna play nasty…” Lukas moved, again, lightning-fast, and plowed into the crowd. Screams followed an instant later, as he backed a random tourist (camera crashing to the ground, ruined as the wolf smashed it underfoot) against a wall and bared his fangs for added effect.
She moved in a rush, all light and air and carried him through the tourist, the wall, and out the other side of the building, never pausing for a second. She dropped him and continued on a few extra feet, intangible, as he clawed and snapped at her.
“That’s so cute. But I thought we were fighting, little girl, not…” His comment was cut off by another blast to the gut, knocking the wind out of him and propelling him into the wall of the building they had just passed through. He bounded to his feet and advanced, only to be hit by another blast, and the wall behind him, again.
“I can keep this up all day. How about you leave Adam alone, huh?”
“This is none of your business, human.”
“Adam’s my friend, so that makes it my business.”
“That cur would need some bitch human to protect him, he’s so weak.”
“What, are you just trying to piss me off, furball?” Az asked, charging another, slightly stronger, blast.
“I don’t give a shit about you, so get out of my way.”
“Didn’t we just cover this? He’s my friend, so back off!”
“Back off…okay…fine!” The wolf grinned, showing fangs, and launched himself up to roof level before Ciela could even blink. He was heading back towards the house.
*****
“Fly-girl wants to die…” Lukas called over his shoulder, dodging another blast from the flying Azangel. She was keeping him pinned quite effectively.
“Come just a little closer and I’ll be happy to assist…” She dove and phased through him again, aggravating the wolf with her strafing runs, forcing him to a stop a few rooftops away from his target. He had run out of objects to throw at her, and was beyond pissed, judging from the drool threading from his open-jawed mouth.
“Why don’t you get that skinny ass of yours down here and FIGHT ME!” Lukas screamed, letting several of the energy blasts hit him, slashing sickle-shaped claws as she circled, keeping him occupied, and more importantly, away from his target.
“Somehow, I doubt that’s in my best interest.” She replied, letting loose a stronger blast that singed fur, and probably broke some ribs. No matter what sort of damage she inflicted, though, the bastard seemed immune, and short of completely frying him, she was running out of options on how to stop him. Burning someone alive was just not that high on her list of ‘things to try out’.
She blasted him again, concussive force slamming him flat, and Lukas howled, scrambled to all fours and tore rents into the rooftop below him, clawing at it like a bull facing a matador.
What’s he doing…? Lukas suddenly sunk his claws into the roof, tensed, and sprang, forcing her to either dodge, phase, or be smashed to the ground, and she swung to the side only to watch him plummet to the narrow alley below, and take off on a dead run towards Adam’s.
There goes my advantage…Ciela dropped to the ground in front of Adam’s ruined home and waited for the charging werewolf to arrive. She had a feeling that it wouldn’t be that long a wait.Lupus Aureus: Chapter 7
There was a click from behind and suddenly there were two werewolves on the street with her, Lukas coming up quickly in front of her, and now, Adam, whole and healed, beside her.
“Az... go inside... you're not gonna like this. It's gonna get real ugly, very fast.” I say with a low growl in my throat.
“Going to get ugly?” She points towards Lukas, “It's already there.”
“Go. Now. Unless of course you want to run the risk of getting infected when the fur really starts flying.” My own voice combined with Raserei's when we spoke to Az. Somewhat startled, Ciela lurches back a step, nods, and then moves over to work somewhat at crowd control. Lukas growls and glares at her, then back to me.
She’s next…he mouthed the words at me, and licked his claws. “Human, stay out of this and I’ll leave them…” He gestured at the audience “…out of this as well.”
Ciela looks to me, and I nod, then to Lukas. “…agreed.”
My ears pick out the sound of a few sirens in the distance; someone finally called the JSPD. But as it is now, too many people are starting to close in, too easy for Lukas to use as bait, or as targets. I don’t trust him to keep his word, and I doubt Az does either. But she is going to stay out of the fight for now.
My gaze shifts from her back to Lukas, not a good idea to take my eyes off him for too long. “Bastard. We have a score to settle with you.”
His eyes stare at me for a second. Thinking, analyzing. It's creepy as hell and he finally grins and growls out at me. “So pup... you want to try this again?” Lukas slinks down into a crouch, low to the ground, hunter stalking prey. “You're nothing but submissive trash, just like that lovely cat bitch you think you own.”
“Nobody owns Yvette, asshole. We love each other.” I know what he's trying to do to me. Trying to make me mad, lose control, reason, rational thought. But…that might be the only way for me to win this fight. He is bigger, stronger, and more savage. I know that already. Az kept him busy for quite a while, but with her seeming unwillingness to kill, or, apparently even hurt the bastard, the fight had been nothing more than a prolonged sparring match for her, and an annoyance to him. I wondered if that was her idea, or Mike’s.
“Show me your wolf, boy, and I'll go easier on you. If not, well, I’ll be spending some quality time with your little kitty-cat.” He bares a mouth full of deadly sharp daggers, his tail making lazy swipes in the air. He's playing with me. He has no intention of letting me go, letting me live, me or Yvette. He’ll probably eat Euraha just to be a bastard.
I tilt my head back and let loose a deep howl, and not an instant later Lukas joins in. Stopping a few seconds later, I hear replies of all kinds, up and down the street. My eyes rise to look at Lukas in a new, fear filled light. The voices are answering him, not me. Shit! How long has he been stalking me on J Street?
I know my fear is showing. I swallow the lump in my throat, crouch on all fours, and begin to transform more fully into my Raserei form. Suddenly the world starts pulling away, dimming out and becoming eerily silent.
What are you doing? I shout at Raserei mentally. This is unexpected. He is seizing control, complete control. It is happening so fast I can’t resist in the least. Raserei!!! He'll kill us!!!
He lets me see what is going on, though the world is dim and far away, while he berates me. He’ll kill you, but not me. I can handle this bastard.
I want to argue, but I can’t find the words and Raserei continues, scorn dripping in his voice. Hide in the shadows, pup. I'll shut you away and let you back out when I damn well feel like it.
Bones begin breaking, snapping, and crushing from sudden, too rapid muscle growth. The remaining clothing I have on grows tight and then rips away, exposing me... us... to all. That is the last thing I see as my vision fades out.
Dammit. I do the only thing left for me to do.
I howl.
Nothing.
The bastard is ignoring me.
I scream. I curse at Raserei using every obscene word I can think of. I think I even make up some new ones. How dare he do this to me. The curse isn’t my fault!
Still nothing, for all my noise, for all my sound and fury, I am getting nowhere. I quiet and swear I can hear the echo of a chuckling laugh, sounding like it belongs to Lukas rather than either myself or Raserei.
“I won’t let you get any peace, Raserei!” I scream, kicking in frustration at the darkness around me. “At least let me see what’s going on, you can manage that, can’t you?” Desperation tinges the edges of my voice. I'm panicking. Raserei had never taken control like this, never locked me away in my own subconscious before. I'm scared, and I don’t know why. Yes, I do... I'm losing control. If Raserei can take over completely, will I ever be able to control him again?
I look around in the darkness and suddenly can see…something…a spot of light, and I walk toward it slowly, hesitantly. A mirror. Why…is there a mirror…in the middle…
Again, I think I hear an echoing sound, though this time it is more of a sigh. A chill passes down my spine as I look into the mirror, but nothing is reflected in it, nothing at all, even though this one area was well lit.
Adam.
It's Raserei; again, this time…his mood has changed. It's odd, but then again, this whole week has been very much so.
Keep quiet, don’t interrupt again, and I’ll let you see.
I don’t even ponder it for a moment. I can’t, couldn’t, take this darkness any longer. “Agreed.”
The world snaps back into focus, and I can see that I'm already in motion; Raserei is in motion, anyway. I'm him and he's me, and I watch in rapt fascination as he moves.
He, I, we rush forward, catching Lukas by surprise, across the chest, clotheslining him. It doesn't faze him as he grabs our arm and flings us away like a rag doll, we roll and flip in mid-air, managing to land facing him, taking a guard stance once more. We blink, and in that span of time; Lukas manages to dash over to us. His paw reaches out, grabs us by the throat, and then slams us into the pavement below.
We feel his grip tighten slowly; he is drawing this out, grinning in sadistic pleasure. We're getting lightheaded, dizzy, our vision blurring, we can't see straight. We kick up blindly; only by luck do we connect to his groin. He releases us to grab himself, we kick up again and then swing a leg at his muzzle. He grabs our foot, twisting it up, and pushing down, all in the same motion. We feel pressure building up in our ankle and knee as he tries to tear them apart, break them with brute strength. We grab for the nearest leverage we can find, his tail, and clamp down on it hard with our teeth.
A howl of pain is music to my ears as Lukas lets go of us, I almost cheer Raserei on, save for my promise to keep quiet. A quick backhand strikes us across the muzzle, and sends us spinning away. We land on our back and within an instant, there are teeth snapping dangerously at our exposed throat. We don't possess the needed upper body strength to keep him away for long, he overpowers us and we feel those small sickles of death gently fall upon our throat.
We let out slow, ragged breaths, full of fear. Courage and adrenaline finally rescue us when our paws fall upon his muzzle and begin to pry his mouth away, a set of claws driving into the roof of his mouth, the second, into his tongue. We try to roll away and are punched across the face. We let go, only to be punched again with more force. Lukas is sitting on our lower back, his weight holding us down as we are placed in a headlock and pulled back.
He laughs as we struggle to get free, struggle to breathe. We bring our paws up to his forearm, sink claws into it, and squeeze as hard as possible while we roll onto our back. The move catches Lukas by surprise as he's pinned, but he pulls his arm up more, forcing more pressure on our throat. We release his arm and hit him in the side with our elbow. He lets go and then kicks us away, we get to my feet, hacking, coughing, and finally able to breathe again. Lukas lets out a bark of laughter as he gets up slowly, making sure we knew he isn't badly hurt.Lupus Aureus: Chapter 8
Lukas isn’t hurt, not in the least.
“Raserei, let me speak, please? I have an idea.” I can feel my other self and his anger boil around me. There is nothing for a moment and then my window to the world fades away. A low, keening whine involuntarily leaves my throat as I'm completely shut off…
You broke our deal. A low growl echoes through me and the empty darkness around me.
Nothingness stretches out around me again. Again, there was one spot of light in the gloom. Again, there's a mirror, but this time, there are several, like you’d see in a funhouse. I start towards them, slowly.
You said you had an idea? Raserei’s voice cuts through the darkness before I take more than three steps.
Yeah, but I won’t tell you unless you let me see again, give me at least some control back.
He growls, then: All right, let's go. But if you piss me off I’m locking you away for good.
Fine, Raserei, fine.
Our eyes. I can blink our eyes. I can feel the light wind flowing through our fur, all of our senses return to me. It's wonderful. Let's get this bastard.
We exhale slowly as our combined eyes carefully scan the area about us.
We have to get away from this crowd before someone gets hurt. Ciela can’t keep all of them back on her own.
Like I care.
You’re just as bad as he is!
Nah, not really. You’re just worrying about the wrong people. We’re more important than they are.
Shit, that’s cold, Raserei.
Heh. So, let’s hear this idea of yours, human-lover…
I growl at the insult. Yeah, I have an idea. Pick a building and get to the roof. We stand up straight and then stare at Lukas, “Hey dumbfuck, catch me if you can.” We shift our weight and dash off towards the building, easily leaping over the crowd, getting to the building's base with no trouble. We hop against the wall and then push off, leap from side to side, scaling the building all the way to the roof.
“Hmm...” An amused smile works its way across Lukas's face. “Don't tell me you're running already, whelp, this was just getting interesting.” He breaks into a light trot, following after us, the sparse crowd parting like the Red Sea before him. Smart people. He arrives at the base of the same building, crouches a bit, then leaps all the way to the roof in a single smooth movement. As he lands he receives a face-full of sand, gravel, and small debris, courtesy of us, and lets loose a howl of pain that sounds like it has been ripped from his throat.
We watch as he staggered back to the edge, right where we want him. We rush forward, grab his head, shift our weight, and then fling him over our shoulder and down, hard. He lands atop a dumpster, metal screaming in protest, actually warping from the sheer force of his impact.
“I always thought you were nothing but trash, Lukas!” Sure enough, that pisses him off. There's a shriek of fury, claws on a blackboard, sharp and cutting, and Raserei shares an idea with me. Oh... I like it, I like it, I li~ke it. We haul tail to the ledge and, hearing a loud 'whump' behind us, step over the side of the building. Grabbing the ledge on the way down, we twist around and crouch on it, waiting for our chance.
“ADAM! You little cur!! I'm gonna tear you limb from fucking limb!!!” Lukas, still pissed, eyes streaming tears, leaps before he looks; always a big mistake, and exactly the one we were hoping for. We kick out and catch him with both feet, claws digging into his abdomen and drawing both blood and a howl of pain. He doesn't seem seriously hurt, though, because he grabs our ankles and pulls us down with him, forcing us to lose our grip on the ledge.
With the ground rapidly approaching, we shift our weight and push away from him at the last second, adding as much force as we can muster to his impact. The cement below Lukas warps, cracks, and raises one hell of a cloud of dust under the force of his landing.
Quickly, we climb the side of the building back up to the top. This should buy enough time to come up with a plan to take that hulking wad of fur down.
We don’t need a plan, you pussy, we need to rip him apart, and that’ll be the end of that.
We don’t have to kill him.
Yes, we do, or he’ll come back again and again, until one of us is dead.
Do you want to end up in jail, Raserei? Locked away from the fresh air, the sun and the moon and everything else? Because if we kill him that’s where we’ll end up.
That’s human law, not pack law. Jails are for humans.
On J Street they have jails for more than just humans, Raserei. They have jails that can hold the gods themselves. We’d be locked away in the dark, in the quiet, in a sterile room with nothing but concrete walls and floor and…
SHUT UP!
It’s the truth, Raserei.
Silence. Then: Fine, we won’t kill him. But we will hurt him. Agreed?
Agreed.