Lupus Aureus: Chapter 9
Raserei and I had come to an agreement, although when it comes right down to it, I doubt I can trust him to uphold his end of the bargain.
Oh ye of little faith.
That's one of the problems with having someone else living inside your skull - you have no secrets, no way to keep your thoughts to yourself.
We won’t kill him, Adam. Trust me.
Don’t you know you can never trust anyone who says ‘trust me’, Raserei?
Hmpf.
That’s what I though.
Fine. Is maiming acceptable, at least?
If you have to.
There's a short howl of laughter and I turn my attention back to the situation at hand; how to defeat a crazed, dimension hopping psycho-ass killer, one who’d already kicked my ass twice. I'm seriously short on ideas, but necessity’s a mother and all that.
First things first, get back up to roof level, away from the crowd. Azangel can’t possibly keep them all out of harm’s way, after all. What happened to the JSPD? And why, oh why, are there never any OTHER J Street metahumans in this area? That metal-headed friend of Az’s, for example.
Whine whine whine…puppy…grow up!
Raserei…shut up! There’s no reason to take innocent lives!
Awww, what a big, furry boy-scout you’ve turned into. Won’t your parents be proud?
Raserei. Enough with the bullshit, we need to finish this fight.
At least we agree on something.
“Lukas!” we shout. “Come on, let’s finish this!” We sprint toward another alleyway and back up to the roof, and then decide to find something with more…maneuvering room. We break into a gallop, launching ourselves across the open alleyway below, then to the next roof, then the next, bounding across them like a lunatic, until we get to what could only be a warehouse. It's an expansive metal-covered roof easily the size of a football field. Should be good enough, I muse, and Raserei for once agrees with me.
There's a light sound, like tears falling.
Wet.
It had to start raining. Lukas growl and snarls as he reaches the roof, trying to find our scent amidst the heavy rain that's beginning to fall. The night sky is clear, but the rain is insistent and slanted, becoming wind-driven. Only J Street could manage something like that. We peer from our hiding spot, locating Lukas, turning ideas over in our head, when the sounds of creaking and groaning metal catch our ears. A plan starts to take shape, slowly, depending on the mercurial weather and Lukas’ fury.
The screech of metal being ripped from metal echoes in our ears and we become a bit desperate. He's armed again, thumping a metal pipe of decent thickness into the palm of his paw, and begins heading our way, having apparently picked a direction at random.
Another groan of metal pierces the air as he takes a step and our previous plan solidifies in our mind. The roof is weak. Lukas is too distracted by his anger to notice. Score one for rational thoughts. Crouching low, we leap up into the air, and what a ghastly sight we must be, Raserei and I as one, appearing as a silhouette of black against a nearly full, bone-white moon, glowing like a pearl against a veil of cloudy velvet.
The force of our impact, along with Lukas' already crushing weight, crumples the metal roof like tinfoil and sends us plummeting downwards. We slam each other into metal crossbeams, through cat-walks, and finally, Raserei and I make sure the bastard lands on top of a burning trash can.
Burning trash can?
Derelicts scatter like disturbed rats away from the crumpled trash can and burning debris. Back flipping off and away from Lukas, we look at out handiwork. Lukas’ fur is smoldering in places, and his back is riddled with small gashes and cuts from our descent. We watch as the bastard peels the searing metal away from his fur, trying not to laugh as we listen to his string of curses about trash cans, fire, and our parentage.
“Damn you pup; you're starting to get on my nerves.” He takes our momentary pause and put it to his advantage by hurling the scorched scrap metal at us. A few screams from behind, and I realize that something is wrong.
Raserei, there are innocents behind us!
So? What do you want me to do about it, I'm going to-
We're going to stop this! I forced control over our arms and opened the paws, catching the metal merely inches away from our muzzle, only to have the heat burn our palms. Shit! We throw it aside, then turn back to Lukas, who is in our face again.
“Hello there, pup.” A quick right to the left side of our muzzle sends us sprawling, bouncing off of the floor and then colliding with a wall. “Now you're going to die.” He jumps to close the space between us.
Always a mistake. You never jump a long distance and expose yourself to your enemy. We rock back and then kick up, feet connecting to his chin and sending him flying to the opposite wall. He makes an impression upon impact, falling out and landing on one of the poor fools who just happened to be nearby. “Now, to eat you, or not to eat you? That is the question. For it is better to have you in my stomach then to have nothing in it at all.”
“How about leave him alone?” We say as we pad up to him, a bit of a snarl in our voice. “Let go of the poor fool, your fight is with us.” Lukas merely grins.
We shouldn't have opened our mouth; we should've been watching his paws. The bastard grabs our ankle and grins, “Pup, this is over.” Claws sink in and we release a yelp of pain as Lukas rips our feet out from under us. We land on our back, the air knocked out of us. We can't resist as he then hurls us at an unharmed window.
Correction.
Previously unharmed window.
We sail through the window, broken glass following. We collide into the street, bounce, and then roll to a stop on our stomach, shards of death impaling us all over.
Warmth.
We watch as our gold fur becomes crimson red, blood leaking from a large glass shard embedded in our shoulder. We push against our left side and manage to roll over, screaming out in pain and gasping for air. Multiple shards are lodged throughout our body, a few in our throat, more possibly in our windpipe. It hurts to breathe, our clean air violated by seeping life blood.
Lukas calmly walks over to us and then sits down on our stomach. “Soft...” He says, stroking our chest delicately with the back of his paw, “Your fur is so soft pup, I usually take a fang from the ones I kill, but I think I'll take your fur. I'd love to sleep with you every night.” He then begins to pull the glass shards from our throat, “No no... don't die yet.” Getting off of us, he then crouches over us, grins, and then lowers his head. “Blood,” He licks our neck, and shudders from the thrill of fresh blood, “I've grown rather fond of you Adam, I must admit that.” Lukas locks eyes with us, “I would end your pain now, but it satisfies me so to watch you suffer.”
Yvette couldn't stand it anymore. She'd watched from a safe distance as her mate was tossed about, tortured, teased, and now about to be taken from her and this world. A roar hit the air, full of anger, full of hate, the tigress rushed Lukas, his back exposed. She jumped and then sank her teeth into his left shoulder and swung her arms around his front, violently slashing at his chest and throat.
The annoyed look returned to his eyes as Lukas was pounced upon by the weakling's cat bitch, but was shocked to quickly find teeth and claws gouging and tearing at him. He screamed aloud, and, out of reaction, grabbed Eve by the hair, quite literally peeled her off of him, and then flung her into the nearby wall, brick cracking from her impact. She fell to the ground in an unconscious heap. “She's such a feisty one.” He says to us as he looks at Yvette for a moment. “So... I get to have my feline princess after all.” A mischievous grin and a maniacal laugh, “Watch this pup... not that you really have choice to do otherwise. I will show you how to please your mate.”
We try to get up, sit up, but a rather large foot stomps down onto our shoulder, driving the shard in deeper, almost out the back, or so it feels. Our voices simultaneously ring out in pain, ending in a howl. “Lukas... don't touch her...” A pause, and then a heel smashes into our chest, several ribs shattering from the impact. Weak, wet words come from my muzzle. “I'll kill you... if you do...”
“Idle threats pup, just idle threats from you now.” He turns his attention back to Eve. Once again, the cross dimensional killer found himself in a position to claim the cat once again. He dropped to all fours and began sniffing her, the pup's scent and the cat's own seemed to irritate his nose so, as he came many times too close to violating her. A sinister grin crossed his face as he used a single claw to slice completely down the front of his her shirt, exposing her to all those about.
A keening whine leaves our throat as the bastard crouches over her. “Don't worry, I'll let you say goodbye before I kill you two.”
Great... so our cat bitch gets knocked up by a wannabe, and then we all die. Ras commented, Perfect. Saying it dripped with sarcasm wouldn't be enough. There's not a damn thing we can do to stop it either! Az was in the midst of a mental struggle as she watched the wolves battle. She’d said she would stay out of the fight, and as soon as they’d moved away from the spectators, she had taken to the sky in order to track them. She’d lost them for a few moments when they fell through the roof and into the warehouse.
She phased through and landed silently on the catwalk. The Aztec then watched Adam, Raserei, her friend, as he was tossed like a rag doll through a window out onto the street. She winced and followed, phasing through the wall, shocked as Yvette arrived and attacked Lukas. As Yvette was thrown into a building and crumpled, Ciela found herself growing more and more angry. When Lukas padded over and shredded the tigress’s clothes, she had a sudden urge to rip the wolf’s head off. Or even better…
I'm not going to stand by and just watch this happen! This was dogboy's girlfriend, dogboy's, not this bastard's. The winged-warrior closed her wings, fell towards the street, and then unfurled them merely inches from the ground, stopping lightly as to not disturb him just yet. Not that he was paying her any attention, as…focused as he was on Yvette. A light hand extended out and touched the top of Lukas's head, gaining his attention. “Bad puppy.” Az said as she closed her eyes.
Lukas had never felt pain the likes of this before. A half second or so of a few thousand volts of electricity would do that to someone. Kicked back from the shock, the Adam look-a-like flew away from the cat and smashed into the nearby wall, going unconscious from the blow, his lupine form giving way to human. Ciela dropped a garbage bag from a nearby trash can across his waist and then fought the urge to hurt him more. “Cover up, some people really don't want to see that.” She quickly made her way back over to Yvette, grabbed both parts of her ripped shirt, and lightly burned them back together. You're welcome.
We say nothing as she walks over to us, removes the embedded glass, and then goes about healing us. “You're getting a lot of practice lately, aren't you?” Someone laughed, but it fell silent. “Thank you, Az... but I'm afraid it's time to go.”Lupus Aureus: Chapter 10
Though our body's been healed, our mind is still chaotic. We stand, carefully, cautiously, still not fully trusting or comprehending the Aztec's ability for healing, though it's been practiced on us many times. We turn back to our kitten, pick her up, and cradle her to our chest. The bastard, on the other hand, we grab by the scalp and begin to drag along with us. “Az...” We stop moving for a moment and speak over our shoulder. “How long will he be out like this?”
“There's really no telling Adam... Raserei... whichever one you are. Anytime between now and when he wakes up I'd think.” She shrugs, and then gives Lukas a kick, a little too low for our comfort, for good measure. A cheerful smile comes to the surface, though her eyes and body language say something completely different. “What did you mean by 'I have to go'? Is this some kind of a joke?”
“No...” We say, “No joke, and either name will work.” We start, only to be stopped by a light hand on our shoulder. “Let go, now.” The hand flinches away, “If Yvette and I stay here on J Street, there will be more death, and it will all be our fault.”
She gives us a disapproving look. “Adam, you don't have to leave, we can dump Lukas off on Torres, and that will be that. I've actually gotten used to having you around.” Azangel tried to smile, but our mind is made up.
“I've told you once, and you know how stubborn I am. I am going home, and I will be taking kitten with me.” There was a bit of a growl in my voice, involuntary, but there nonetheless. “Az, I don't ask that you understand, I just want you to let me go.”
I snort as we pad off towards Mike. “On second thought, call Torres, get her over here to deal with him.” A purr in my ear, Yvette, even unconscious, knew that she was safe in my arms. “Thanks kit...” I whispered.
“Adam, I'm gonna lose some business with you gone, and I'll miss having all those weird conversations.” He said with a smirk, “But, I know you’ll come back.”
“Of course.” We say with a toothy smile, “We have to; we have a home here now, as well as friends.” We drop the bastard unceremoniously at Mike's feet, “Watch over him till Torres arrives, and go with her and protect her from him, do you understand?” A glare from us is an unneeded attempt to ensure our words.
“I do, and will Adam.”
The street is littered with onlookers, still trying to catch a glimpse of the chaos that had happened earlier. Some of them are meta-humans, some are weres, and a few are curious enough to walk out to us.
One in particular approaches slowly, head hung. “I...” The beast falls silent, his eyes cast down, his ears flipped back, “I should've helped you, I'm sorry.” It's a jaguar, and he smells an awful lot like someone we knew. “You were a good friend of my dear Riku, and I should've come to your aid.”
Good friend? That... that creature called us... friend?
There's a scoff inside my head, Put those feelings aside. Better yet, let me. A moment later, I feel no remorse at the thought of the fallen lion. Much better, no more sappy shit for the furry boy scout.
Raserei, shut up.
Our attention comes back to the world about us. “This used to belong to my Riku, and he said he wanted to give it to you for your birthday.” The cat removes a cord from about his neck, “This is a bit of his mane hair braided into a necklace. Please accept it, on his behalf.” He wipes a tear from his eye as he turns and runs back off into the crowd, away from sight.
Seriously... I'm gonna have to watch out for you, you're too fucking naive. You will no longer have to worry about these feelings, these emotions, unless you want to feel them. I'm going to guide you, from here on out, turn you into the creature you're supposed to be. I'll make you faster, stronger, more powerful, heighten your senses further. All you have to do, is let me loose.
I don't understand.
When we get home, take off that dammed necklace. You and I need to talk about it.
There is another noise, it sounds like a laugh, but I'm not sure. This is Raserei; I have no idea what he's thinking--... Scratch that, I know exactly what he's thinking most of the time, and it usually scares or confuses me.
So what? You'll get used to thinking like you're supposed to.
There's a bit of a whine on my part, that is, till we padded over to Euraha absentmindedly. “Oh! Yes, Euraha...” We pause for a moment, “I have a few things for you to do while we're gone: One, get the house fixed. Two, restock the fridge. Third, add an extra bedroom or two, you know good and well that being on J Street, you pick up all sorts of strays and bums.”
We then walk off to where we had arrived in this dimension, fallen from our own. Large trash bins still line the alley where we had appeared, bums were still sitting up in the alley, bugging anyone that would listen for money. With a smile, we pad back towards the end, where a slight haze and distant scents of home were.
Stepping through is another experience all together. It feels like your body is being ripped away, scattered and scrambled like an egg, and then pieced back together at the other end, the base of a cliff, that same damn cliff from a year ago. Gauging the distance, we begin to vault up the side, planting our feet and then launching off again, repeating the process till we reach the top.
The lights...
We can see the lights of home, oh, wondrous, glorious home! A year away is far too long we muse, and now, it would be time to grace them with our presence again, Adam, Raserei, and Yvette.
No one cared that a wolf was walking down the street with an unconscious tigress at three in the morning. Anyone who looked at us looked away a moment later, usually whining and attempting to stay as far away as possible.
What's wrong?
Duh, you reek of death, dumbass.
Oh... I guess it's straight home then.
What the Hell are you talking about? There's a good alternative, right there!
I bite off a growl as a fox-bitch toddles over to us, “Hey darlin', you've already got one, but how about another?” She lifts her skirt up a tad bit. “Three-way?”
I make us look away and snort, “Be gone, I want nothing to do with you.” We briskly walk off.
“But hun, I don't bite much, and I'm real obedient!” She says as we begin a trot, heading towards the one place we knew we'll be accepted.
***
Home stands before us, looking nearly the same as the day we left.
Getting past the gate, easy.
The small hike to the house, a breeze.
Getting inside without anyone noticing, a cinch.
Keeping our return a surprise, not so easy.
***
“Who the Hell are you?! How did you get in here???” A rather shocked bitch says as she passes her son's room with a strange couple in it, “Get out, now!” She pauses, draws in a deep breath, and shouts.
“LUPIS!”
“Woah, woah, Mom, it's all right, it's me!”
She screams again, and several servants crowd around her, drawn by the commotion.
My kitten finally stirs on my bed, a paw going up to the back of her head and wincing in pain. She opens her eyes and looks around, at me, at my mom.
“Things are still normal around here, huh Adam?”
I smile at her. “Looks that way, yeah.”
It's gonna be a long night.