Post by ShadaAntoinette on Oct 13, 2011 19:01:39 GMT -5
Shada had been right...Liir was making her regret every second of this mess. As soon as she returned to the store, she noticed that almost everyone had gathered outside, and Liir and Rayflo had squared off, bitching at each other. She rubbed her eyes with her palms and sighed grievously. Seriously? She hadn't had her own body for even ten minutes and she was aiming to get herself killed. Sidling up next to Sira, she jerked her head to the combatants.
"What the hell is going on now?" The were cat looked surprised to see her, since Liir was standing a few feet from her, but to her credit, she didn't freak out.
"Well, from what I've caught, Rayflo's not at all happy to see her, and her attitude is less than friendly toward him."
"I guess I should have expected this....Liir and Rayflo never did get along...."
"What do you mean?"
"Liir was a part of my body since birth, and when she first showed herself to the geezer, he was less than impressed with her. She's a succubus after all." Shada shrugged. "Even though that's usually right up Rayflo's alley..." She added quietly. "So I guess you can say that they're probably going to be at each other's throats for a while."
"How can you be so calm about this?"
"Easily. It's something they'll have to work on...It's either one will kill the other, or they'll have a nice fuck somewhere. So basically it's a win-win."
"What happens if she kills Rayflo?" Okay, the questions were getting old. But Shada took a patient breath and continued.
"Doubtful. Rayflo isn't likely to fall for Liir's dirty fighting techniques, then again if he does and she kills him, it just looks like we've lost a weak link." It was rather mean of her to say it like that, but logically, she was right. If Rayflo couldn't even withstand the Succubus, he wasn't a strong enough being to survive this new, broken world of theirs.
Liir smirked at the male before her and crossed her arms under her breasts, which made them press against the dark leather outfit she'd conjured for herself. She WAS a succubus, after all. If she couldn't entice, then she was no good at her job. Rayflo did his damnedest not to look, but even the strong-willed, stubborn asshole of a man couldn't resist, even if he did hate her. If nothing more, he was merely a man.
"Why don't we end this charade, Rayflo? We both know yelling is going to solve nothing and I don't plan on leaving my soul sister alone with you. Too long have I sat by and let her run this show, and now I'm going to put a stop to it."
"What the Hell is that supposed to mean?" She leaned forward, giving him full view of her cleavage, which again he fought to ignore.
"It means, ignorant one, I don't like you. Your aura is dirty and your scent has always been off wrong to me. I don't like you sniffing around my Soul sister for whatever dirty plan you think you're going to pull. So leave her alone, or I'll be forced to make you. And trust me." She gave him a wicked smile. "You won't live to regret it." A vein bulged in his forehead at her words, but she didn't care. He WOULD leave Shada alone. She dipped her head slightly and fixed him with phosphorescent golden eyes, reading his facial expression.
"Who the fuck are you to tell me what to do?!" He snarled back. He had that brutal look in his eyes that she secretly admired in him, but it did nothing to sway her judgment. She sneered at him.
"I am the one with which you do not fuck." She answered, watching the invisible flames of his aura spike around him, showering it further with dirty energy. She wrinkled her nose and turned away. "Now go away, you're making me sick." She waved her hand dismissively at him and walked away, leaving him sputtering curses at her back.
Shada sighed and shook her head, walking back into the store. So that's what Liir thought of Rayflo, eh? Well, she wasn't going to fight with her at the moment, so she filed away Liir's words for another time. For now she just wanted to sleep and forget that any of that happened. Instead, she found....Uh....James? Right. She found James digging around in the coolers, apparently looking for something. She paused to watch him for a moment, groaning inaudibly when the pit of her stomach punched her with a pain she only associated with blood feeding. She needed it, badly....but she just couldn't ask anyone to allow her to feed from them...she would deal with it and it would pass again. She'd done it before, right?
The biggest problem was the fact that she had no idea when she would be able to blood feed again, and meat only did so much for her. Another pain sent her scurrying behind the counter so she could double over without anyone seeing her do it. It had been unwise to come back to this plane without feeding first...and she was kicking her own ass for it mentally as she laid curled up on the floor. When the initial pain faded, she busied herself with digging around behind the counter again, picking up this and that before throwing it aside in boredom.
A few days had passed and things were settling down for the group of stranded beings that had holed up in the gas station. There were very few outbursts over the next few days, and things were starting to return to how they had been before they had all vacated the manor.
Currently, Shada was amusing herself with Liir outside...well, more to the point, she was attempting to grill the annoying one for information on what she'd said before, even though that had pretty much gotten her nowhere. But she hadn't given up yet, a feat to say the least.
"Come ON, Liir! Just fucking tell me already!"
"Yeah, I think not." The Succubus snickered, grinning. "There are some things that are better left to your imagination." Shada growled at her, and finally gave up. It was just too much right now. Too much irritation for the moment.
"Fine, have it your way. I don't even care about it anymore." And she didn't. If Liir wasn't going to tell her, she wasn't going to press her. Just wasn't what she wanted to spend her day doing. Liir audibly pouted behind her, which gave her a small chuckle of amusement. She headed back into the building then to find something else to occupy her mind.
It didn't take long for shit to hit the fan again, although that could definitely called the understatement of the year. Not long after Shada had disappeared into the gas station, had Alistor finally lost his grip on the battle of wills silently happening in his head. As soon as it snapped, Alistor was no longer in control of himself. The Demon King, true to his word, had risen within him again. As soon as he did, it was over.
The Demon King would take over this world. It was his, he claimed it all! But first, there was the troubling matter of the cretins that had survived. They would be his first victims....well, not technically the first victim was that asshole angel bastard from the last time he had awakened. But whatever, it would serve. He would take their lives and that would be the end of it. He grinned to himself as he walked gallantly into the gas station. The meat bag's father was the first to notice the change; the glower on the nos vampire's face was chilling, but he merely smirked.
"Not yet, Amoro. Not yet."
"What did you just say to me?" The man hissed. The Demon King grinned once more, which further pissed off his adversary.
The fight didn't last long, ending with Rayflo having what appeared to be Alistor pinned on his sword. By this time the others had noticed what was going on, although most understood little of it. Liir knew from first glance that the male was clearly not Alistor since she was able to see the true, hideous form of the Demon King but the others...with the obvious exceptions being Remus and James, had no idea. It was only after Formortiis spoke to them as a whole, did Shada notice, she was quite ashamed of herself not to have seen it sooner. Worse of it was, she remembered the last time Formortiis had shown his ugly face. Gritting her teeth, she watched as Rayflo and Sira made threats of the creature while she knew how to get rid of it. She had hoped that Sira, who loved Alistor, would figure it out but she hadn't. Instead, Rayflo and the were cat had decided to kill him. That was just not going to happen. They needed everyone alive.
"Move!" She snarled, pushing Rayflo back. She knew she was going to regret doing this, but it was imperative that they all stick together. She turned at looked at Sira, a disgusted look on her face. "And here I thought you would be able to get rid of this thing. Apparently you can't." She turned back to Alistor and Formortiis and sighed. "You aren't going to like this anymore than I do..." She muttered, gripping his jaw. "But it has to be this way. Come back to us." She whispered, kissing him softly. As soon as her lips touched his, Formortiis jerked away from her and started screaming.
"No! No!! It wasn't supposed to be you! It wasn't you!" She hadn't a clue what he was talking about, but the fact that her kiss had worked, sort of shocked her. When she turned away, she noticed the looks on Rayflo's and Sira's faces. The both of them looked upset, to which she merely glowered at the both of them and walked outside. Rayflo followed her.
"What the fuck was that about?" He snapped.
"Oh, don't fucking start with me, Rayflo! You know as well as I do that it had to happen in order to get Formortiis out of here." She growled back. "You were going to kill him when we need everyone we've got!" His face darkened in rage.
"So what, you love him or something?"
"Certainly not!" Liar...."I'm just as shocked as you are that it actually worked. Hell, I didn't think it would work the last time either but..."
"Wait, you've kissed him before?" She could almost smell the outrage coming off of him.
"Get off my ass, Rayflo! I did what I had to, nothing more and you can't fault me for that just because you don't like it. You don't own me." She had had enough of his crappy attitude over this. It had been necessary and nothing more. She refused to look at it any other way. There was absolutely no way she was going to allow him to chew her out for actually using her brain either. Was NOT happening. She didn't spare him a glance, she just walked away from him, irritated.
Rayflo, on the other hand, went back into the building to tend to his son. He withdrew his sword from Alistor's gut and shook the blood from the blade. The fledgling was completely out cold, which was probably a good thing since he was in such bad shape. Rayflo didn't have to like what happened here, but he was just glad Alistor was okay. He was still puzzled as to why Shada's kiss had worked, though she claimed not to be in love with the poor bastard. Didn't make sense. Also didn't change the fact that it had pissed him off either. Only one other female had known how to remove Formortiis and she'd paid the price. That just left Shada. His...well, not technically his...but HIS Shada. He dragged Alistor up from the floor of the gas station and headed for his car, setting him inside the driver's seat. He had no idea how long it would take for Alistor to wake up, but this seemed like as good a place as any to leave him so he wouldn't be in the way. The rest of them had some things to do, like look for a new place to go.
That night Remus, James and Gamma had felt the presence of Arachnir, which meant it wasn't safe to sleep on the ground. Everyone, with the exception of Alistor, slept on top of Gamma, or inside the store. Shada, and Liir slept side by side which was more to keep Shada from freaking out in her dreams, than anything else. Despite losing what was essentially a piece of her soul, she still had the Lydremdefytis that had plagued her for some time. So even though Liir had her own body now, she easily recognized the signs and had thought it would be better if she stayed with her Soul sister, though that was the last place she'd wanted to be. Just as the Succubus had thought, just before dawn, Shada began to shriek in her sleep, convulsing violently enough to wake even the dragon from sleep.
"Shada...Shada....Hey, Shada!" Liir laid a palm against her clammy forehead, leaping into the swirling, chaotic thoughts the Xurenae was having to reach out to her. Tonight's nightmare was worse than the last, and if she didn't hurry, Shada would be lost in there forever. Frowning, she reached deeper and deeper until she had at last met Shada within the nightmare's throes. "Shada...you've got to wake up before you draw attention to our location..."
"L-Liir... L-Liir....it's so awful, I don't think I'm going to make it out."
"Shh, sweet. Don't say that, you've just got to take my hand and I'll help you." Liir watched as Shada's gnarled, boney fingers reached out to her. She tried not to gag at the sight of her completely wrecked, decaying body but it was increasingly hard not to. She could almost smell the rotting state of Shada's form, it was that bad. "Just take my hand, Shada. We can get through this, okay?" The look on what was left of Shada's face told her that the Xurenae didn't believe that Liir wasn't a part of the greusome mess that her sickness had produced. That was a problem, because if Liir didn't get her consciousness out of here, they would both be trapped. "Shada, just take my hand I promise you I won't hurt you. I'm not a part of the Lydrem!" The skeletal hand retracted and the woman's face became disbelieving. Shit. Liir sighed and scrubbed a hand over her face. "All right, look. I didn't want to have to do this, but you've left me no choice. You're screaming loud enough to wake the dead and everyone is sleeping. Since you don't seem to be able to separate what's real from what's the nightmare, I'm going to have to drag your scary ass out of here." She took a step toward Shada, who cowered as if Liir was going to hit her or something. "And don't you dare think of fighting me, damn you." She grabbed Shada by the front of her...well, they were almost nothing more than rags really. But Liir grabbed her and made the mistake of taking a deep breath. The nightmare was getting so real that she could smell the rotting body she held in her arms as she raced toward her own body and up out of the nightmare. Only when she felt the tugging of her own body did she release Shada to her conscious mind, which immediately snapped her eyes open. She rose from her back like a cliche vampire from its coffin and stared wide-eyed at Liir.
"Dear Gods, I've never had one that felt so real before...." Her paws shook as she rubbed her eyes, truly terrified for the first time in a long time.
"I have to tell you...You're mind is one fucked up, hell hole." Liir cracked, smirking at her. As an after thought, she patted Shada's leg, not missing the fact that the woman jerked a little under her palm. "I didn't think I was going to make it out of there."
"I'm sorry." Shada said softly. "I really am."
"There is nothing you can do about it, so don't apologize." Liir said, brushing her off. "Just be happy that I can drag your ass out of that dank Lydrem-induced pit." Shada offered her a weak smile.
"I'm actually really happy you could, since I didn't think I would last much longer...." She looked up at the mis-colored sky. "What time is it?"
"What do I look like, Big Ben? I don't fucking know!" Liir growled, laying down again. "I'm tired and you woke me up. So do me a favor and shut the Hell up so I can go back to sleep!" Liir hissed. Shada shook her head but scooted down Gamma's side, sliding too fast to land flat on her ass. Groaning softly to herself, she rubbed her severely offended backside before standing up. She just had to remember where she'd left her opened pack of cigarettes. She couldn't think of a viable place...but she knew Rayflo had to have a pack opened around here somewhere, she just had to look for them. Eventually, her search led her to the red lambo parked between Gamma and the store. She bent down to peer in the window, spotting the red and white pack. The problem was...it was located in the driver's door and Alistor happened to be leaning against it, which made it impossible for her to get them by opening that door. That left her with only one option...and it was going to be tricky. She had to do this without disturbing Alistor, as well as pray that Alistor hadn't become human again after Formortiis' disappearance. Otherwise....well, the outcome wasn't so pretty.
She opened the passenger's door as quietly as she could, bending down to place a knee in the seat so she could reach over. As soon as her paw had touched the small, cardboard pack, Alistor had snapped awake and had grabbed a hold of her. He dragged her body into one Hell of an awkward position and held her tightly. She let out a fierce growl.
"Let go, if you want to keep those arms." She snarled at him. He looked down at her and blinked in confusion, as if he'd never seen her before. She was not amused. "I mean it." He frowned but let go of her, shifting in his seat as if he wanted to get away. She grabbed the pack and moved away from him, clearly irritated with him. She had no idea why he was acting so strangely, but from the moment she opened the door of the car, she knew he hadn't turned human again...which was good, since she was almost ravenous for blood and it was doubtful she could stop herself.
He had pressed himself against the door, staring at her as if she'd grown a second head with his eyes nearly bulging from their sockets. It was a bit unnerving to say the least. She left the car behind, going to sit against the building, lighting up a cigarette. She tilted her head back and started looking up at the sickly looking sky. It truly was a shame that things had gone the way that they had...this world had had a lot of allure, but now...now it was just a barren, uninhabitable wasteland. She had half a mind to go home, but she couldn't leave them behind...and she had no home to go to anymore. She'd given that up when she'd come back here this last time. No, she would stay here, with the people she cared about. It was imperative that she do so, even if it was only because they were her friends. Truth be told, it was a rather flimsy reason, but she'd made her choice and it was something she was going to stay with.
It was a few hours before any of the others were awake, but Shada was grateful for the bit of alone time she'd gotten. It had been awhile she'd been truly alone with her thoughts, even though a lot of them weren't things she should have even been thinking about, like Vik for the umpteeth time. For some reason, her memories always strayed back to the fair haired Lunariae, even when she hadn't meant to drag that up from the depths she had placed it. Perhaps it was the fact that his death had left her so raw....but if that were true, then wouldn't she have still thought of Pandora just as often? Her daughter's death had left her more than raw, and yet her attention almost always strayed to Vik Absinthe. Troubling.
With the bustling of everyone up and moving, she approached Rayflo about taking the car for a while.
"We aren't going to have another episode like last time, are we?"
"No." She grit her back teeth at the mere mention of it. "I'm not going to lose control and destroy the car, I swear." He seemed satisfied with that answer for the time being and handed her the keys. She headed toward the car, only to be stopped by Sira, who was heading in the same direction.
"Are you leaving, Shada?"
"I am. I thought I'd get a headstart on the search for a new place to stay."
"I'll come with you then." Sira offered. Despite thinking this was a terrible idea, she agreed and headed around to the driver's side door.
"Hey, help me move him, will ya? He'll fall out of the car if I open the door too fast." She could have done it herself, but with the angle Alistor had placed himself, it was going to be harder. It would have been faster to have Sira help her.
"What are we going to do, leave him here?"
"With Rayflo having tried to kill him? Not likely." Shada replied, easing the door open when Sira was ready to grab the man. "We'll take him with us. He'll be fine." Between the two of them, they manuvered the sleeping Nos male into the back seat. Shada got in and adjusted the front seat to accomodate her long legs and started the car, listening to the engine purr to life. With a smile, she rolled down the window and it a cigarette, waving to Remus, who had come outside before she drove off. With a preoccupied smile, he waved back and Shada shifted gears in the car, speeding off.
"I think I might have to steal this car from Rayflo...450 horses baby!" Sira laughed.
"I'm sure that would go over real well."
"What can I say? I love a car with some balls and this one certainly has plenty." She stepped on the gas pedal, enjoying the hum of the engine; the sound made her shiver. "Besides, he may or may not have a choice." She winked at her, noticing that she looked different than usual. "Hey, what's with the crazy fur? I've never seen you look like that before." That was true, but she couldn't say she actually paid attention either. She really wasn't a fan of the were cat, and the reason was lying in the back seat. Still, it was a weird change and she'd never seen it before, so it was only polite to ask, even if she was only asking to further hide the fact that she didn't care for the girl. Jealous fool that she was, of course.
"Alistor's change sparked this." Sira answered. "That and the things he said you to." Shada slanted a glance to the were cat, surprised.
"I see....But that wasn't Alistor..at least at the time." Shada said. "This is the second time that creature has come through like this...though the first time, it took it's true form. I don't know why that changed this time..." She added, her voice quiet.
"I've been meaning to ask you something.." Sira began. "How did you know how to stop that thing?" There was no accusation in Sira's voice, but Shada tensed anyway. She sighed and began to explain everything from the beginning, sparing no detail. At the end of it, she glanced at Sira again, watching her reaction. The girl seemed...well, Shada wasn't quite sure.
"Then why didn't you tell me how to do it myself?" That was a great question she'd asked, and Shada had no answer for it. She'd expected Sira to just know how to stop Formortiis and had grown angry when the girl hadn't figured it out.
"Honestly, I don't know." Shada said, flicking the burning cherry of her cigarette out the window. The two talked for a while as Shada manuvered the car around obsticles in their path; neither of them thought to check on Alistor, who had awakened to see a red headed creature driving and a fiery black cat chick beside her. He started screaming, which made both of them turn to look at him as the car jerked to a sudden stop.
"What the Hell, Alistor?!" The white dog chick yelled at him, angry. He was breathing hard, completely freaked out at the sight of the both of them. In a rush, he threw open the back door and bolted from the car.
Shada and Sira stared after him, utterly flabberghasted.
"What the Hell was that?" Shada asked.
"I don't know..." Sira replied. "Should we go after him?"
"...Yeah, there's no telling what that fool will get himself into." Shada put the car in park and turned it off, dropping the keys in her pocket. "C'mon." She got out, closing the door behind her. "Fucking perfect." She muttered, heading the direction Alistor had run off. There was a building standing a few hundred feet from her current location, and her best guess was that he went inside it. "Sira!" She called, pointing at the building. "I think he went in there!" The were cat and the Xurenae headed for the building to sniff him out.
Inside, however the male known as Alistor was having a bit of trouble keeping his heartbeat steady. The chicks in that car were monsters and they ate things like him for breakfast...that must have been why he was with them, right? It made sense to the jumbled thoughts that clouded his mind. He just knew he had to run and hide from them; he had no wish to be anyone's meal. Somewhere in the building, a door banged open, rattling on it's hinges. Damn! They'd found him already!
"Hey Alistor!" One of them called.
"Al, what the Hell are you doing?! We don't have time for your games!" The other one yelled, clearly pissed off. Were they calling for him? He wasn't sure. But he didn't want to be this Alistor guy when they found him, he knew that for sure. Wait...maybe that guy was a monster too! If he was in the building as well, didn't that mean Alistor would find him too? That alone hastened his steps.
"Al-Listor!" The second voice called out, closer this time. "Al-Listor!! Hey! Where are you?" He ducked behind a big piece of machinery and squeezed his eyes shut, holding his breath and praying that the girl wouldn't find him.
"There he is!" The first voice called. "Cut him off, we can't lose him or Rayflo will seriously flip shit!" He jumped to his feet and took off, running up a flight of metal stairs. His footsteps echoed as he did so. Running across a scaffolding, he slid to a stop when he spotted the cat girl at one end. He started to turn around but saw the dog girl standing on the other end. He was trapped!
"Alistor...we aren't going to hurt you..." The cat girl said slowly.
"Bullshit! I know you two are going to eat me!"
"Eat you?" The dog girl laughed at him. "I can barely stand being around you half the time, what the Hell makes you think I'm going to eat you?" For some reason her tone of voice struck him wrong, but he didn't have time to think about it since the cat girl had transformed into a tiny kitten and was advancing on him. He tripped over his own feet and hit the ground, scrambling back to get away from her. He was forced to stop when he hit the dog girl's weird legs. Looking up at her, the fear shattered in him. Of the two, she was the more pleasant looking of the two since the cat girl, even in this form still looked like she was going to disembowel him. It was...unnerving... The kitten didn't stop until she had leaped onto his chest. The dog girl growled something under her breath about sticking to a plan when they all heard a crashing sound, followed by a loud, deep voice.
"Throwing a party and you didn't invite me?" The voice was clearly male, but from where he was on the scaffolding, there was a big piece of machinery in his way so he couldn't see.
"James?" The dog girl looked surprised to see him, which was evident by her face as well as her voice. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing." He finally caught sight of the guy talking and locked eyes with the violet eyes of another huge dog person.
"This jackass took off, so we had to find him." Dog girl said. "Something's wrong with him." The dog guy walked closer and dragged him off the scaffolding by one of his ankles, studying him.
"His mind's blank." Dog-guy said after a moment. "Clean as a slate."
"Well, that's just fucking perfect." Dog-girl said with a growl, rubbing her eyes. "Sira....Dammit Sira, now isn't the time for that!" Cat-girl had jumped down onto his body, clutching his shirt in her claws.
"Put him down, James, or so help me..." Cat-girl yowled, her ears laid back. Chuckling, Dog-guy set him on the ground.
"Lucky for you I have more important things to do." He replied. Cat-girl hissed at him and curled up on Alistor's chest.
"Today is just getting better and better...." Dog-girl groaned, leaping down to the floor beside Alistor. She eyed him and Cat-girl. "I'm taking you two back to the gas station." She said. He'd expected her to drag them back to the car but she didn't. Instead, she caught him by his shirt and Cat-girl by the scruff of the neck and then.....nothing. The gas station was right in front of them and he had no idea how that happened. There was another guy standing nearby and she shoved Alistor toward him, dropping Cat-girl on the ground.
"He's got amnesia. You deal with them." Dog-girl said, vanishing before his eyes. He had been left alone with what seemed like a normal human like him. Breathing a sigh of relief, he smiled.
"Amnesia, huh?" The man said. Alistor merely scratched his head. "Great. C'mon." He headed for the side of the building Dog-girl had called a gas station, leaving Alistor to stand there like a fool.
Sira waited for Rayflo to finish his little thing with the amnesiac Alistor, stalking back into the gas station and kicking an empty can across the room.
Dammit! She thought to herself. Inside, the voice that plagued her, the one she wanted to tear out of her skull and stab repeated stirred.
What is it this time?! It snapped, irritated.
Ali.... It hurts... A lot.... He doesn't even recognize me... She didn't know why she answered the voice, since it usually didn't give her anything but a scolding.
It'll pass if Rayflo doesn't kill him. Her mind replied, stating fact. She growled softly to herself.
THAT'S ANOTHER THING! If they fight between each other and are intent on killing each other, I can't just stand there and watch, no matter what Rayflo says. I'm kicking both of their idiotic asses, and I don't care if I get mine kicked in the process! If she had to do so, then so be it. There was no use fighting senselessly.
You are a brave, if foolish girl, Sira Vengeance Nightfyre. Her mind replied in earnest.
You're me. That makes you foolish. She pointed out with a small, inward smirk.
Trifles, child. Her mind sniffed in return, unphased.
I AM NOT A CHILD! She was tired of hearing that same thing over and over. She wasn't a child!
But you act like one. Her mind returned with an odd tone. She sighed, conceding. This was no time to start going nuts...but for some reason she seemed to do it often enough.
You know as well as I that I'm insane, so shut it. She growled, shutting out the voice of reason within her.
Elsewhere, Heru sighed from her spot on a hill in the forest. She didn't have much to do with the others, and no-one seemed to need her.
She looked up at the sky and let out a long, mournful howl from her human mouth, before shifting into her true form, her Demon form. Her long, lizardlike tail flicked, the poisonous spikes whistling through the air. She howled again, another pained sound, then sighed, looking down at her paws.
From behind her came a rustling sound, and she turned in time to see several Dingo Demons approaching her. She growled, and a few of them yipped at each other. Two out of the bunch were in human form, while the rest were in the form of rather large, black and red dingo creatures, with spikes rising from their backs and spiked crests upon their heads. They were about three quarters of her size, but there were quite a few of the Dingo Demons.
Heru's tail flicked in anxiety. Wolf Demons and Dingo Demons didn't get along at all. There were so many Pack and Tribe wars that it was hard to keep up with them. Her Tribe was at war with the Eastern Dingo Pack, and these smelled like Easterns.
She rose to her paws, at her full height of fifteen feet, growling a warning to the other Demons. Her fangs were bared, dripping their own poison that she was immune to swallowing, but just about any other creature would die from. Excepting Sira, but the Werecat had only survived thanks to Alistor's foolishness.
The Dingos yipped at each other, looking at her tail. As Heru let out a snarl, the biggest one, whom she assumed to be the leader, leaped, landing on her back and burying his teeth into the scruff of her neck. As if on cue, the other Dingos moved in, one latching onto her front paw, but becoming dislodged after Heru beat it into the ground a few times.
There's too many of them! she though in dismay, whirling to try and shake off two that had joined their leader on her back, clawing and biting at any of her furred flesh that they could. She felt pawfulls of her hair being yanked out, and she thrashed again, feeling overwhelmed by the amount of Dingo Demons around her. There had only been seven before, but now it seemed like twenty as the Dingos kept leaping, dodging her attacks and nipping at her legs and tail. She couldn't hit one with her tail spikes; they were too fast for her.
The leader finally slipped off, but another took it's place quickly, as Heru bucked and thrashed wildly beneath them, trying to throw all the Dingos off of her back. The leader leapt up again, trying to bite at her throat, but she reared up, out of reach, growling and letting out a howl of pain as a Dingo bit her exposed abdomen.
Three hours later the Dingos were gone, and an unmoving heap of purple and white fur lay at the base of the hill, open eyes glazed over, neck and torso covered in blood from the pool that was all around her, pouring from the wound where her throat had been ripped out by one of the Dingo Demons.
Heru Ookami Tenma, She-wolf of the Northern Tribe of Wolf Demons..... was dead.
When Shada returned to the building they'd found Alistor, James was still there. She spared him a glance, heading for the door.
"What are you doing here, anyway?" She asked, not trying to sound rude.
"Can't I walk this earth before I claim it as mine?" She sighed.
"I meant here here. Like this building."
"Oh that. I came to see what was going on."
"I'm looking for a new place to go, at least I was before Alistor lost his damned mind and took off." She said, rolling her eyes. "You're welcome to join me....Wait, can you even fit in the car?"
"Don't worry about that...I'm more worried about you crashing the car."
"Won't be a problem, I barely know you." She replied, irked that she was never going to live that down. He chuckled and patted her head roughly.
"It's a joke, calm yourself." She muttered something she was almost certain he heard anyway as she walked back to the car, judging by the way he chuckled. She opened her door and climbed in diggin the keys from her pocket. "Come on, we're burning daylight." She snickered. James adjusted his size so that he could fit into the car and slammed the door.
"I do not see how humans enjoy these contraptions..." He grunted, shifting in the seat. She stuck the key in the ignition and started the car.
"You get used to it, I guess." She said, shifting the car into drive and speeding off. "Can't say for sure thought." She shrugged and pulled a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from her cleavage. She lit the cigarette and offered him one, which he accepted. They talked for a while about many things while she drove, searching the horizon for anything that could work, or any survivors out wandering. About an hour later, she spotted something from the corner of her eye and slowed to a stop.
"Do you see that person walking out there?" She asked, pointing. He peered at the form.
"It appears to be a survivor." He said.
"Yeah...what is a survivor doing way out there anyway? There's nothing around here for miles." She mused. "We should probably check it out."
"I'll go, you stay here. I want to stretch my legs anyway, there's no reason for the both of us to go." He had a point, she couldn't deny that.
"All right...just be careful okay?" Yeah, because he needed to be careful. Please. All he had to do was punch something and it was dead, end of story. But at this point it was a habit to say such things to her friends. He said nothing about what she'd said, he just opened the door and got out, taking his usual height again.
She watched him approach the figure in the distance, wondering just who the Hell could have wandered this far away from town. It was possible they'd migrated this way but for some reason she didn't think that was the case. Then suddenly a hand clamped over her mouth, as fangs broke the skin on her neck. She shrieked and jerked the door open, falling out of the car, which tore the skin at her throat. Wild-eyed, she looked into the back seat to see the ghant, horrifyingly thin form of Azazel. He was covered in her body and he was smirking at her.
"Hello again, Nightshade." He said evenly. "I told you I would be back, didn't I?" He Traced from the car to stand over her, his green eyes dark and empty. "Here I am." He raised his hands as if to gesture the same thing. She shrieked again and bolted, running toward James.
She hadn't noticed that the figure James had been advancing on had disappeared; she was just trying to get away from the creep that could not, for the life of him, just leave her alone. She made the mistake of turning back to look and see if he'd followed her because as soon as she did, she slammed into something and toppled over. Looking up she saw it was Azazel. Doom entered her green eyes, which made them flat.
"You're going to try to kill me again, aren't you?" She asked calmly, knowing his responce.
"Of course. I told you I wouldn't stop until you were dead, didn't I?" She rose to her feet slowly, half-expecting him to beat her back down. He didn't, he just stood there with a sinister smile on his face.
James, who had been confused by the figure's disappearance, turned toward the car when he heard Shada shriek, and noticed the male standing over her. The scent he picked up was a familiar one; he's smelled it before the bombs dropped...the same night Alistor was turned Human again. He grinned and started walking, knowing he was going to enjoy this. The man was encroaching on territory he had no business touching in the first place, plus the filth of his evil would make a good addition to his own plans. This was going to be good.
All at once, Azazel attacked her, using what speed he had gained from drinking her blood to toss her aside with the slap of his hand. She hit the ground and slid in the sand, blood dripping from her mouth. The fallen Angel laughed with all of the sanity of a madman as he stalked toward her.
"I'll make you feel the pain you've made me suffer since the last time we met, Nightshade. I'll make you regret what you did to me." He grabbed her up by her hair and dragged her to eye level which made her look at him. "You'll be broken, as I have been." Before he could lay another hand on her, James reached them and snatched the fist before he had a chance to hit her.
"Now why would you go and do a thing like that?" The Golithan asked, a grin stretching his mouth. "Why not take me on if you want to fight someone so badly?" Azazel looked up at him for a moment then looked down at Shada.
"Another one, bitch? Really?" He jerked his hand from James' grip, dropping his hands to wrap them around her throat, choking her. "Did you learn nothing?!" That was it, James dragged him off of her and tossed him aside.
"I said take me on." He growled, his eyes narrowing.
"I'm not here to deal with you, you son of a bitch. I'm just going to end your whore's life." Shada gasped for air, her red hair covering her face.
"I don't think so." He didn't discredit what the guy had said--Hell, he could think whatever he wanted. But there was no reason the guy should be picking on Shada. Hell-spawn or not. Azazel came at him this time, throwing punches. James just stood there, amused as the man's punches did little to nothing. "My turn." He hit him once, and the man was sent flying.
Shada watched them fighting from her place on the ground, unsure of what to do exactly. She wasn't afraid of Azazel or dying anymore, but watching this wasn't...she should have been fighting herself. The only thing that stopped her was the look on James' face. He seemed to be enjoying the fight, even though Azazel was doing his best, while James had to do little to defend himself.
As she watched, James snapped Azazel's arm like a twig. The fallen Angel screamed and dropped to his knees. The bone protruded from the skin like an iceberg in the spray of blood that erupted with it. James had nearly it clean off, and thought she had never had trouble doing such things on her own before, it was diffcult to watch someone else do it without cringing. The fallen Angel was bloody and torn, but he still fought valiantly to keep himself from failin this. He swung at the black Golithan, his fist connecting solidly with James' jaw. Azazel knew he was going to die; that fact was clear in the wolf man's eyes as he watched him. His green eyes flickered to Nightshade, his one and only. She was watching the exchange from the ground and she had the smattering of blood on her cheek. The males circled each other; Azazel's lips set in a grim line.
"You want to kill me? Go ahead. You win this time, Wolf. But next time...and there WILL be a next time, I won't let you have her. SHE IS MINE AND MINE ALONE!" In one last, albeit futile attempt, he punched James again. Before his fist could connect, James' claws closed around his arms. The flames within James' jaws licked hatefully at Azazel's face, though not quite burning his skin yet. His violet eyes flickered dangerously but he grinned with all of the sanity of a madman.
"You...are a brave and foolish creature. Let me tell you something, Azazel. She is not mine, and she never was. Shada belongs to no man. Your struggle and hatred is for nothing. You will die here because you couldn't let something go...what ultimate despair thaat must be. Allow me to relieve you of your pain by ending this life of yours!" In that moment, James hooked his claws through Azazel's ribcage and grinned horribly as he pulled on Azazel's arms. The fallen male shrieked as James lifted him this way, using his strength to his advantage.
"Kr-Kk-RRAACK-CH!" It wasn't Azazel's arms that were torn from his body, but his entire torso split open as the skin across his chest tore; his ribcage popped open and the flesh covering his back split open, leaving his guts and spinal cord exposed to the world. The black skies were visible behind Azazel's guts and his head was still connected to his body by what was left of his neck. James mused over this scene for a moment as the flames in his jaws collected. Azazel could actually still be alive, were he insane enough to outlast this punishment. With him, however, there was no telling.
The possibility of that; however, ended immediately as the blast of fire escaped James' jaws, passing through the gaping hole in Azazel's body which reduced his organs to ash as the dragonfire passed over them. James began to growl and finishd what he'd started. Slowly, Azazel's body finished tearing in half until his head burst from his the neck; the pressure too great for it to withstand. His head landing with a thud on the ground, James tossed it the halves of the fallen Angel's body to the side, bringing up his massive, clawws foot and stomped down on the dismembered head which made blood and skyll fragments blossom in a gory display under his heel.
With the deed done, he let out a primal howl that was not truly a howl, but a roar from the oldest of worlds meant for the striking terro into the minds of even the greatest of beasts. In the near silence of the howl's aftermath, which continued to echo for miles around, James stared at the blackened sky, truly happy. He took his gaze from the sky as the feeling washed over him to regard Shada for a moment. He was free of blood, but she was not. He stalked over to her and carefully took her by the forearm, leading her to the car. He stopped only to reach into his shadow.
"You're covered in blood. I suggest you clean up a bit before we head back, lest the other get worried...Not much by way of fabric but I suppose you can use this trophy." He pulled his hand free of the void and handed Shada a bloodied and torn, red Nazi party flag from World War II.
Still slightly disoriented from Azazel's assault on her, she took the flag from him. Her green eyes had turned a dusky silver from the pain but she smiled and removed her damaged clothes.
"Thank you..." She said, wrapping the flag tightly around her and tying it off tightly. She was at a loss for a moment, not sure what to do....Azazel was dead now...and she was finally free of him, for what she hoped was the last time. For some reason, his soul seemed eternal, which made living on this plane tricky. "I really owe you one, James." She said, opening in the car door to sit in the driver's seat. The headrest was sticky with blood from Azazel's bite and she was dizzy from the loss, as well as the lack of feeding. She dropped her head in her hands, waiting for the throbbing to stop. She was hurting and she couldn't understand why.
In a sudden swirl of black magic, her wolf form began to bleed from her, like a red sock in white laundry. She lifted her head in time to see her hands return to their human shape; all of the fur gone. She was a Vampiir again. Disturbed, she immediately reached up and felt her ears. The slightly pointed ears she could barely remember having had returned. Her tail was gone; she looked up at James as her eyes pulsed from black to blue. She should have been happy that her quest was over and that she had returned to her normal body but....after so many centuries in it...it just wasn't the same now. Now...Now she was just too normal, and she was going to have to take precautions again.
"For all this time, I just wanted to be my Vampiric self, and now that I am that again, I don't want it. I don't want to be like this!" Tears stung her eyes but she didn't let them fall, she was not going to cry in front of James. Instead, she laughed at herself. "It's sad, I never thought I would miss that form so much." "For all this time, I just wanted to be my Vampiric self, and now that I am that again, I don't want it. I don't want to be like this!" Tears stung her eyes but she didn't let them fall, she was not going to cry in front of James. Instead, she laughed at herself. "It's sad, I never thought I would miss that form so much." Her caramel skin showed all of her tattoos, all the work her friend had done for her would show.....but so would her scars. The scars from the beatings she had sustained from Azazel,the ones from her brother Jasper, as well as the marks from the injections she'd gotten from the asylum. All of them.
"Goddess...." She whispered, biting her lip. She looked up at him again and sighed. "I don't even know what to do anymore..."
James looked at her and found himself smiling. "Hm..." James walked around to the passenger door of the car, shrinking in size again. "You fickle creatures, wanting and not wanting and changing your mind as you get your way... Too much for me to understand."
James sat in the passenger side of the car, examining Shada carefully. He frowned a bit as he spoke. "Unfortunately, I still feel loyal. Your Wolfen attributes had nothing to do with it perhaps... either way it means I will have to continue cleaning up after you... Azazel was worth the mess though... I haven't killed with that level of animosity in years."
James looked at her again, lighting a cigarette from a pack he found in the glove compartment. "I dont think Remus ever knew of your form before your Wolfen Attributes.. it should be a bit of a shock for him to see you without a tail. Hahahaha." She couldn't help but giggle at that, reaching for a cigarette herself, to steady her nerves.
Back at the gas station, while Shada and James had had to deal with Azazel, Rayflo was thinking about what he was going to have to tell Alistor. They kept walking, not too far from the gas station. After a while, Rayflo stopped.
"So... what's your name?" Alistor stared at him blankly, a bit confused.
"My name?"
"Yes. You do know what your name is, don't you?"
"Of course I do! My name is....... my name is....." He looked at the ground pathetically. "What is my name?"
"Alistor Beck. You're my son."
"And am I.... am I like the rest of you?..... Am I monster?" The word Alistor chose made Rayflo angry, but he didn't show it. Instead, he kept civil and answered honsetly.
"Yes."
"Monsters..... have powers right? Do I have powers?" Again, that word. Rayflo bit his tongue to keep himself from lashing out.
"Well.... if you can call them powers. You and I are vampires. I'm really nothing special, but you're able to use blood magic. Although, lately your body has been having trouble handling it. So don't get curious."
"A vampire.... and, and what about that girl? The really cute one."
"Hm? Oh, you mean Sira. She's a werecat, and can turn into different cat's. You probably saw her in a cat form when she and Shada were trying to get you back. She and yourself are actually-"
"Cat?", Alistor asked. "No, not her. The other one." Rayflo was caught off guard.
"....Um... that would be Shada. She's a Xurenae. She can do a kind of teleport called 'Trace'. That's how she got you from wherever you were back to us. Don't worry, after a few times the whole nausea feeling goes away." They talked for a little while longer, Rayflo making sure to get Alistor up to speed. But all Alistor seemed to want to know what was Shada.
"Look, Alistor. Can you let me just finish a sentence?"
"Sorry.... Can I just ask one more question? How did I lose my memory?" Rayflo was silent. Should he tell Alistor the truth? That Alistor was possessed by Formortiis, the Demon King, and that the mental and physical struggle between the two entities brought Alistor's mind to the brink of destruction, but was lucky enough to only lose his memory?
"....You hit your head. We got into an arguement, it turned into a fight, and I kinda smacked your head into a wall. We put you in the car so that you could come to by yourself, and that way we all didn't have to worry you too much."
"So, I hit my head?.... Do we fight alot?"
"Sometimes....Okay, yeah. We fight alot. But hey. That's what a father and son are supposed to do, right?" Rayflo and Alistor talked longer, and after a while, Alistor was finally caught up to speed with the basics. He kept asking questions, so Raylo didn't get to explain alot of things. Especially one thing in particular.
"Come on, let's get back. Sira's probably worried about you."
"Why would she be worried about me?" He sighed and shook his head.
" Let's just go....." They walked back, and Rayflo was dreading what was bound to happen next. When Sira heard approaching footsteps, she walked back out, seeing Rayflo and Alistor. She smiled, tilting her head. She was in her normal hybrid form now, less scary than her earlier Ferall form. She moved over to the two Vampyrs with the same smile.
"Hey, did you two work things out? Ali, remember everything yet, or still hazy?" she asked, tail flicking to one side lightly. She looked to Rayflo questioningly, wanting to know what Alistor knew again.
"Well, he doesn't remember anything. I brought him up to speed on what's been going on.", Rayflo said. "Except, um..."
Alistor had already walked inside, looking around at the food. He grumbling, but it couldn't be made out too well. Rayflo's best guess is he kept saying "hungry".
"He doesn't remember you two are together." Rayflo whispered to her. "I want you to try and help him remember. But subtly. Don't come on too strong. For now, we have to be gentle with certain things around him. We don't know how long it'll take for his memory to come back. Days...months... hopefully only either of those. For right, try to get his memory at a jog." Alistor was digging around on one of the shelves toward the back of the gas station.
"This looks good...", Alistor said, grabbing a bag of potato chips. "Wait.... I'm a vampire... Hey! I can eat these, right?" Rayflo nodded, and turned back to Sira while Alistor began munching.
"Just go slow with him. Ask him questions. Things that might get him going, y'know? Oh, and whenever Shada comes back, try not to get agitated or anything. Y'see.... he... He's kinda... infatuated with her, I guess would be the best term for it."
Alistor was now walking around some more, and had now made it to the freezer. He opened a door, and grabbed out a can of soda. He forgot to wait a few minutes before opening it, and it sprayed him in the face.
".......Why not?", he said. He then drank it, and finished it in a matter of seconds. Rayflo could only watch, unsurprised.
"Well.... it's good to see his appetite hasn't changed at all. Sira nodded to Rayflo, and chuckled at the appetite comment, then moving over to Alistor. "So... Um... I'm sorry if I scared you earlier. The red and black thing? That rarely happens.. I was upset at something. I usually don't look that weird." she sighed and shook her head slightly.
Yea, Sira, that was smart. Remind him you looked like a fiery beast bitch? Her mind snickered.
I didn't suggest it! Her consciousness exclaimed.
I know. I'm just... Stupid as hell... Her mind returned softly. It really wasn't helping, at all. He appraised her, looking at her from over his soda can.
"It's okay....", Alistor said. "The both of you just.... kinda caught me off gaurd, is all. And then that....thing in that factory..... Now it turns out I'm a monster.... Just gonna take some getting used to."
He reached for a bottle, and tried opening it. The cap was rozen on tight, so he tried gripping it harder, and began trying to turn it just as hard. Literally not knowing his own strength yet, he ended up breaking the top of the bottle, and the glass cut his hand. He dropped the bottle, letting it break on the floor. The only reason he droped the bottle was because he was expecting pain, but was surprised when none came. He looked at his hand, and it healed instantly.
"So.... do I.... Do I drink blood?", he asked her, not looking away from his hand, turning it over and back again repeatedly, as if expecting to find something new.
Sira nodded slightly. "You do, so far it's mostly been from me... You see, as Rayflo, your father, must have told you, the Apocalypse has basically happened. We're looking for other survivors, but so far as I know, none have been found. Except our friend Heru...She's a Wolf Demon. Wonder where she is.. tooo.... Anyway... Um.. So, as far as I know, Remus and I are the only sources of blood nearby. And I would not recommend you trying to feed from yourself. Rayflo was pissed last time you did that....." she trailed off, looking at the ground. "Sorry I scared you... I didn't mean to..."
"Right, Remus. That guy told me about him." he said, obviously meaning Rayflo. "He said he's... really big and might look intimidating? Well, right now, everything seems intimidating. Even you, as friendly as you are right now..... Er, I didn't mean you're scary or anything, I just meant you could easily get a guy to stop bugging you... Not that you're mean or anything.... I'm just gonna stop now." He walked into another aisle and grabbed a Twinkie box, and pulled one out. He unwrapped it and began eating it immediately. He looked around a little, and noticed one of the magazines that had been thrown on the floor earlier. He picked it up with one hand, and turned his head to look it at.
"...... I never actualy knew women could bend like that...." He threw it back on the floor, and picked another Twinkie out of the box. "Well, I guess you don't have to worry about me drinking your blood. Doesn't sound too good to me. Not YOUR blood, just in general...."
Sira flinched. "Um.... Ali? You're going to regret not feeding... It weakens you, can cause madness.... You need to feed in order to survive." she hadn't flinched at his comment, just the fact she didn't want to see him in pain.
Her silver tail flicked, then curled around her human legs, a soft, sad mewl escaping her.
"No offense, but madness..... right now, I think I'd rather be mad than not know who I am." He said. "It's weird though. I feel..... I don't know what the word is. I feel.... kind of weightless. Like I don't have to worry about anything except who I am. I'm not worried about it because I'll find out eventualy, I'm sure. And I don't have to worry about my past, just what's happening right now. I just can't think of the word for it."
Outside, Rayflo jumped up on the roof, and laid flat on it, staring up at the sky.
"Dammit..... why can't things be easy for a change?.... Oh right. Cause then they'd be easy."
He checked his watch to see if it was time to get moving yet. He then realized it hadn't worked since the blast he got caught in, and he was now only wearing it out of habit. He took it off, and threw it, listening to it smack against the dirt.
His mind was in overdrive. Mainly over how Alistor phrased things earlier. One word in particular- "Monster". Rayflo shouldn't have been surprised, after all. Someone doesn't know who he is or where he is is suddenly aurrounded by creatures that he couldn't find anther word to describe them as. It made Rayflo think... Think of the last time he ever said the word monster in that context. His mind drifted off to a distance, yet not forgotten memory of the night he was Turned...
It was raining. He was looking up at the sky, lying on the ground. The rain didn't bother him as much as the warm taste of copper in his mouth did. He coughed slightly, and a drop of red fell in his eye. It made everything look... interesting. The red from one eye now mixed with the normal colors seen from the other. The view of the sky and the moon now was.... interesting to say the least.
A man in white robes walked over and stood above him, although he could only make out a silhouette from the moonlight. He held what looked like some sort of book in one hand, and was holding beads hanging around his neck in the other.
"Father.....", he gasped. "Is..... Is it truly my time?... Is it my time to go to His side?"
The man was silent, and after a few seconds spoke solemnly.
"Yes, my child."
"I.... I'm scared.", Rayflo spoke quietly. "Maybe this is all a mistake..... Maybe it isn't my time. I don't want to die, Father...... Is there any way..."
"There is, child.", the man spoke, and he knelt down beside Rayflo, placing the book on the ground. The pages soaked up rain water quickly, and ink began running into the ground. "But you have to swear you will regret nothing from this point on. Can you do that, child?"
"Yes....Just save me.... I don't want to die, Father..... Don't let me die.... I'm not ready to meet Him.... Not yet..... Don't let that abomnation.... that monster be the end of me...."
The next thing Rayflo knew, before blacking out, was pain. A stinging pain like two huge needles going into his neck. He began shaking, and nearly swallowed his own tongue. Then his eyes closed, and the pain began to fade away.
On the roof, he sat up and looked around. No sign of the car. Even if it was time to begin moving again, they'd have to wait until Shada came back with the car. Gamma was strong, but he wouldn't be able to carry everyone at once. He could hear Alistor talking to Sira below.
The word you're looking for is 'Free'." Rayflo said. He had jumped down from the roof and walked in, taking a Twinkie from the box Alistor had, and looked at it before unwrapping it. "I always hated these things...."
"So... what's going on? When's that girl.... what was her name... Shada! When does Shada get back?" Rayflo looked at Sira, and then wiped a few crumbs off his face.
"Um.... soon, I think. Just don't worry about her, okay? She can take care of herself. You just focus on getting your memory back."
"Right.... So how often do I have to drink blood?"
"Well, first off, say 'Feed'. 'Drink blood' sounds gross. Second, it depends. On what breed of vampire you are, how strong willed you are. Alot of things factor in to when you should feed. Considering it's you, and you really don't know how to control yourself, basically.... We'll call it at every other day."
"Okay..... Do I really have to?"
"Yes. Otherwise.... well, it isn't pretty. Believe me."
"Right, she was telling me. I guess if I have to, I have to."
At that moment, Liir decided to find out what everyone else was doing...in her own roundabout way. Yawning, she jumped down from her place on the roof of the building.
"What the hell is going on now?" The were cat looked surprised to see her, since Liir was standing a few feet from her, but to her credit, she didn't freak out.
"Well, from what I've caught, Rayflo's not at all happy to see her, and her attitude is less than friendly toward him."
"I guess I should have expected this....Liir and Rayflo never did get along...."
"What do you mean?"
"Liir was a part of my body since birth, and when she first showed herself to the geezer, he was less than impressed with her. She's a succubus after all." Shada shrugged. "Even though that's usually right up Rayflo's alley..." She added quietly. "So I guess you can say that they're probably going to be at each other's throats for a while."
"How can you be so calm about this?"
"Easily. It's something they'll have to work on...It's either one will kill the other, or they'll have a nice fuck somewhere. So basically it's a win-win."
"What happens if she kills Rayflo?" Okay, the questions were getting old. But Shada took a patient breath and continued.
"Doubtful. Rayflo isn't likely to fall for Liir's dirty fighting techniques, then again if he does and she kills him, it just looks like we've lost a weak link." It was rather mean of her to say it like that, but logically, she was right. If Rayflo couldn't even withstand the Succubus, he wasn't a strong enough being to survive this new, broken world of theirs.
Liir smirked at the male before her and crossed her arms under her breasts, which made them press against the dark leather outfit she'd conjured for herself. She WAS a succubus, after all. If she couldn't entice, then she was no good at her job. Rayflo did his damnedest not to look, but even the strong-willed, stubborn asshole of a man couldn't resist, even if he did hate her. If nothing more, he was merely a man.
"Why don't we end this charade, Rayflo? We both know yelling is going to solve nothing and I don't plan on leaving my soul sister alone with you. Too long have I sat by and let her run this show, and now I'm going to put a stop to it."
"What the Hell is that supposed to mean?" She leaned forward, giving him full view of her cleavage, which again he fought to ignore.
"It means, ignorant one, I don't like you. Your aura is dirty and your scent has always been off wrong to me. I don't like you sniffing around my Soul sister for whatever dirty plan you think you're going to pull. So leave her alone, or I'll be forced to make you. And trust me." She gave him a wicked smile. "You won't live to regret it." A vein bulged in his forehead at her words, but she didn't care. He WOULD leave Shada alone. She dipped her head slightly and fixed him with phosphorescent golden eyes, reading his facial expression.
"Who the fuck are you to tell me what to do?!" He snarled back. He had that brutal look in his eyes that she secretly admired in him, but it did nothing to sway her judgment. She sneered at him.
"I am the one with which you do not fuck." She answered, watching the invisible flames of his aura spike around him, showering it further with dirty energy. She wrinkled her nose and turned away. "Now go away, you're making me sick." She waved her hand dismissively at him and walked away, leaving him sputtering curses at her back.
Shada sighed and shook her head, walking back into the store. So that's what Liir thought of Rayflo, eh? Well, she wasn't going to fight with her at the moment, so she filed away Liir's words for another time. For now she just wanted to sleep and forget that any of that happened. Instead, she found....Uh....James? Right. She found James digging around in the coolers, apparently looking for something. She paused to watch him for a moment, groaning inaudibly when the pit of her stomach punched her with a pain she only associated with blood feeding. She needed it, badly....but she just couldn't ask anyone to allow her to feed from them...she would deal with it and it would pass again. She'd done it before, right?
The biggest problem was the fact that she had no idea when she would be able to blood feed again, and meat only did so much for her. Another pain sent her scurrying behind the counter so she could double over without anyone seeing her do it. It had been unwise to come back to this plane without feeding first...and she was kicking her own ass for it mentally as she laid curled up on the floor. When the initial pain faded, she busied herself with digging around behind the counter again, picking up this and that before throwing it aside in boredom.
A few days had passed and things were settling down for the group of stranded beings that had holed up in the gas station. There were very few outbursts over the next few days, and things were starting to return to how they had been before they had all vacated the manor.
Currently, Shada was amusing herself with Liir outside...well, more to the point, she was attempting to grill the annoying one for information on what she'd said before, even though that had pretty much gotten her nowhere. But she hadn't given up yet, a feat to say the least.
"Come ON, Liir! Just fucking tell me already!"
"Yeah, I think not." The Succubus snickered, grinning. "There are some things that are better left to your imagination." Shada growled at her, and finally gave up. It was just too much right now. Too much irritation for the moment.
"Fine, have it your way. I don't even care about it anymore." And she didn't. If Liir wasn't going to tell her, she wasn't going to press her. Just wasn't what she wanted to spend her day doing. Liir audibly pouted behind her, which gave her a small chuckle of amusement. She headed back into the building then to find something else to occupy her mind.
It didn't take long for shit to hit the fan again, although that could definitely called the understatement of the year. Not long after Shada had disappeared into the gas station, had Alistor finally lost his grip on the battle of wills silently happening in his head. As soon as it snapped, Alistor was no longer in control of himself. The Demon King, true to his word, had risen within him again. As soon as he did, it was over.
The Demon King would take over this world. It was his, he claimed it all! But first, there was the troubling matter of the cretins that had survived. They would be his first victims....well, not technically the first victim was that asshole angel bastard from the last time he had awakened. But whatever, it would serve. He would take their lives and that would be the end of it. He grinned to himself as he walked gallantly into the gas station. The meat bag's father was the first to notice the change; the glower on the nos vampire's face was chilling, but he merely smirked.
"Not yet, Amoro. Not yet."
"What did you just say to me?" The man hissed. The Demon King grinned once more, which further pissed off his adversary.
The fight didn't last long, ending with Rayflo having what appeared to be Alistor pinned on his sword. By this time the others had noticed what was going on, although most understood little of it. Liir knew from first glance that the male was clearly not Alistor since she was able to see the true, hideous form of the Demon King but the others...with the obvious exceptions being Remus and James, had no idea. It was only after Formortiis spoke to them as a whole, did Shada notice, she was quite ashamed of herself not to have seen it sooner. Worse of it was, she remembered the last time Formortiis had shown his ugly face. Gritting her teeth, she watched as Rayflo and Sira made threats of the creature while she knew how to get rid of it. She had hoped that Sira, who loved Alistor, would figure it out but she hadn't. Instead, Rayflo and the were cat had decided to kill him. That was just not going to happen. They needed everyone alive.
"Move!" She snarled, pushing Rayflo back. She knew she was going to regret doing this, but it was imperative that they all stick together. She turned at looked at Sira, a disgusted look on her face. "And here I thought you would be able to get rid of this thing. Apparently you can't." She turned back to Alistor and Formortiis and sighed. "You aren't going to like this anymore than I do..." She muttered, gripping his jaw. "But it has to be this way. Come back to us." She whispered, kissing him softly. As soon as her lips touched his, Formortiis jerked away from her and started screaming.
"No! No!! It wasn't supposed to be you! It wasn't you!" She hadn't a clue what he was talking about, but the fact that her kiss had worked, sort of shocked her. When she turned away, she noticed the looks on Rayflo's and Sira's faces. The both of them looked upset, to which she merely glowered at the both of them and walked outside. Rayflo followed her.
"What the fuck was that about?" He snapped.
"Oh, don't fucking start with me, Rayflo! You know as well as I do that it had to happen in order to get Formortiis out of here." She growled back. "You were going to kill him when we need everyone we've got!" His face darkened in rage.
"So what, you love him or something?"
"Certainly not!" Liar...."I'm just as shocked as you are that it actually worked. Hell, I didn't think it would work the last time either but..."
"Wait, you've kissed him before?" She could almost smell the outrage coming off of him.
"Get off my ass, Rayflo! I did what I had to, nothing more and you can't fault me for that just because you don't like it. You don't own me." She had had enough of his crappy attitude over this. It had been necessary and nothing more. She refused to look at it any other way. There was absolutely no way she was going to allow him to chew her out for actually using her brain either. Was NOT happening. She didn't spare him a glance, she just walked away from him, irritated.
Rayflo, on the other hand, went back into the building to tend to his son. He withdrew his sword from Alistor's gut and shook the blood from the blade. The fledgling was completely out cold, which was probably a good thing since he was in such bad shape. Rayflo didn't have to like what happened here, but he was just glad Alistor was okay. He was still puzzled as to why Shada's kiss had worked, though she claimed not to be in love with the poor bastard. Didn't make sense. Also didn't change the fact that it had pissed him off either. Only one other female had known how to remove Formortiis and she'd paid the price. That just left Shada. His...well, not technically his...but HIS Shada. He dragged Alistor up from the floor of the gas station and headed for his car, setting him inside the driver's seat. He had no idea how long it would take for Alistor to wake up, but this seemed like as good a place as any to leave him so he wouldn't be in the way. The rest of them had some things to do, like look for a new place to go.
That night Remus, James and Gamma had felt the presence of Arachnir, which meant it wasn't safe to sleep on the ground. Everyone, with the exception of Alistor, slept on top of Gamma, or inside the store. Shada, and Liir slept side by side which was more to keep Shada from freaking out in her dreams, than anything else. Despite losing what was essentially a piece of her soul, she still had the Lydremdefytis that had plagued her for some time. So even though Liir had her own body now, she easily recognized the signs and had thought it would be better if she stayed with her Soul sister, though that was the last place she'd wanted to be. Just as the Succubus had thought, just before dawn, Shada began to shriek in her sleep, convulsing violently enough to wake even the dragon from sleep.
"Shada...Shada....Hey, Shada!" Liir laid a palm against her clammy forehead, leaping into the swirling, chaotic thoughts the Xurenae was having to reach out to her. Tonight's nightmare was worse than the last, and if she didn't hurry, Shada would be lost in there forever. Frowning, she reached deeper and deeper until she had at last met Shada within the nightmare's throes. "Shada...you've got to wake up before you draw attention to our location..."
"L-Liir... L-Liir....it's so awful, I don't think I'm going to make it out."
"Shh, sweet. Don't say that, you've just got to take my hand and I'll help you." Liir watched as Shada's gnarled, boney fingers reached out to her. She tried not to gag at the sight of her completely wrecked, decaying body but it was increasingly hard not to. She could almost smell the rotting state of Shada's form, it was that bad. "Just take my hand, Shada. We can get through this, okay?" The look on what was left of Shada's face told her that the Xurenae didn't believe that Liir wasn't a part of the greusome mess that her sickness had produced. That was a problem, because if Liir didn't get her consciousness out of here, they would both be trapped. "Shada, just take my hand I promise you I won't hurt you. I'm not a part of the Lydrem!" The skeletal hand retracted and the woman's face became disbelieving. Shit. Liir sighed and scrubbed a hand over her face. "All right, look. I didn't want to have to do this, but you've left me no choice. You're screaming loud enough to wake the dead and everyone is sleeping. Since you don't seem to be able to separate what's real from what's the nightmare, I'm going to have to drag your scary ass out of here." She took a step toward Shada, who cowered as if Liir was going to hit her or something. "And don't you dare think of fighting me, damn you." She grabbed Shada by the front of her...well, they were almost nothing more than rags really. But Liir grabbed her and made the mistake of taking a deep breath. The nightmare was getting so real that she could smell the rotting body she held in her arms as she raced toward her own body and up out of the nightmare. Only when she felt the tugging of her own body did she release Shada to her conscious mind, which immediately snapped her eyes open. She rose from her back like a cliche vampire from its coffin and stared wide-eyed at Liir.
"Dear Gods, I've never had one that felt so real before...." Her paws shook as she rubbed her eyes, truly terrified for the first time in a long time.
"I have to tell you...You're mind is one fucked up, hell hole." Liir cracked, smirking at her. As an after thought, she patted Shada's leg, not missing the fact that the woman jerked a little under her palm. "I didn't think I was going to make it out of there."
"I'm sorry." Shada said softly. "I really am."
"There is nothing you can do about it, so don't apologize." Liir said, brushing her off. "Just be happy that I can drag your ass out of that dank Lydrem-induced pit." Shada offered her a weak smile.
"I'm actually really happy you could, since I didn't think I would last much longer...." She looked up at the mis-colored sky. "What time is it?"
"What do I look like, Big Ben? I don't fucking know!" Liir growled, laying down again. "I'm tired and you woke me up. So do me a favor and shut the Hell up so I can go back to sleep!" Liir hissed. Shada shook her head but scooted down Gamma's side, sliding too fast to land flat on her ass. Groaning softly to herself, she rubbed her severely offended backside before standing up. She just had to remember where she'd left her opened pack of cigarettes. She couldn't think of a viable place...but she knew Rayflo had to have a pack opened around here somewhere, she just had to look for them. Eventually, her search led her to the red lambo parked between Gamma and the store. She bent down to peer in the window, spotting the red and white pack. The problem was...it was located in the driver's door and Alistor happened to be leaning against it, which made it impossible for her to get them by opening that door. That left her with only one option...and it was going to be tricky. She had to do this without disturbing Alistor, as well as pray that Alistor hadn't become human again after Formortiis' disappearance. Otherwise....well, the outcome wasn't so pretty.
She opened the passenger's door as quietly as she could, bending down to place a knee in the seat so she could reach over. As soon as her paw had touched the small, cardboard pack, Alistor had snapped awake and had grabbed a hold of her. He dragged her body into one Hell of an awkward position and held her tightly. She let out a fierce growl.
"Let go, if you want to keep those arms." She snarled at him. He looked down at her and blinked in confusion, as if he'd never seen her before. She was not amused. "I mean it." He frowned but let go of her, shifting in his seat as if he wanted to get away. She grabbed the pack and moved away from him, clearly irritated with him. She had no idea why he was acting so strangely, but from the moment she opened the door of the car, she knew he hadn't turned human again...which was good, since she was almost ravenous for blood and it was doubtful she could stop herself.
He had pressed himself against the door, staring at her as if she'd grown a second head with his eyes nearly bulging from their sockets. It was a bit unnerving to say the least. She left the car behind, going to sit against the building, lighting up a cigarette. She tilted her head back and started looking up at the sickly looking sky. It truly was a shame that things had gone the way that they had...this world had had a lot of allure, but now...now it was just a barren, uninhabitable wasteland. She had half a mind to go home, but she couldn't leave them behind...and she had no home to go to anymore. She'd given that up when she'd come back here this last time. No, she would stay here, with the people she cared about. It was imperative that she do so, even if it was only because they were her friends. Truth be told, it was a rather flimsy reason, but she'd made her choice and it was something she was going to stay with.
It was a few hours before any of the others were awake, but Shada was grateful for the bit of alone time she'd gotten. It had been awhile she'd been truly alone with her thoughts, even though a lot of them weren't things she should have even been thinking about, like Vik for the umpteeth time. For some reason, her memories always strayed back to the fair haired Lunariae, even when she hadn't meant to drag that up from the depths she had placed it. Perhaps it was the fact that his death had left her so raw....but if that were true, then wouldn't she have still thought of Pandora just as often? Her daughter's death had left her more than raw, and yet her attention almost always strayed to Vik Absinthe. Troubling.
With the bustling of everyone up and moving, she approached Rayflo about taking the car for a while.
"We aren't going to have another episode like last time, are we?"
"No." She grit her back teeth at the mere mention of it. "I'm not going to lose control and destroy the car, I swear." He seemed satisfied with that answer for the time being and handed her the keys. She headed toward the car, only to be stopped by Sira, who was heading in the same direction.
"Are you leaving, Shada?"
"I am. I thought I'd get a headstart on the search for a new place to stay."
"I'll come with you then." Sira offered. Despite thinking this was a terrible idea, she agreed and headed around to the driver's side door.
"Hey, help me move him, will ya? He'll fall out of the car if I open the door too fast." She could have done it herself, but with the angle Alistor had placed himself, it was going to be harder. It would have been faster to have Sira help her.
"What are we going to do, leave him here?"
"With Rayflo having tried to kill him? Not likely." Shada replied, easing the door open when Sira was ready to grab the man. "We'll take him with us. He'll be fine." Between the two of them, they manuvered the sleeping Nos male into the back seat. Shada got in and adjusted the front seat to accomodate her long legs and started the car, listening to the engine purr to life. With a smile, she rolled down the window and it a cigarette, waving to Remus, who had come outside before she drove off. With a preoccupied smile, he waved back and Shada shifted gears in the car, speeding off.
"I think I might have to steal this car from Rayflo...450 horses baby!" Sira laughed.
"I'm sure that would go over real well."
"What can I say? I love a car with some balls and this one certainly has plenty." She stepped on the gas pedal, enjoying the hum of the engine; the sound made her shiver. "Besides, he may or may not have a choice." She winked at her, noticing that she looked different than usual. "Hey, what's with the crazy fur? I've never seen you look like that before." That was true, but she couldn't say she actually paid attention either. She really wasn't a fan of the were cat, and the reason was lying in the back seat. Still, it was a weird change and she'd never seen it before, so it was only polite to ask, even if she was only asking to further hide the fact that she didn't care for the girl. Jealous fool that she was, of course.
"Alistor's change sparked this." Sira answered. "That and the things he said you to." Shada slanted a glance to the were cat, surprised.
"I see....But that wasn't Alistor..at least at the time." Shada said. "This is the second time that creature has come through like this...though the first time, it took it's true form. I don't know why that changed this time..." She added, her voice quiet.
"I've been meaning to ask you something.." Sira began. "How did you know how to stop that thing?" There was no accusation in Sira's voice, but Shada tensed anyway. She sighed and began to explain everything from the beginning, sparing no detail. At the end of it, she glanced at Sira again, watching her reaction. The girl seemed...well, Shada wasn't quite sure.
"Then why didn't you tell me how to do it myself?" That was a great question she'd asked, and Shada had no answer for it. She'd expected Sira to just know how to stop Formortiis and had grown angry when the girl hadn't figured it out.
"Honestly, I don't know." Shada said, flicking the burning cherry of her cigarette out the window. The two talked for a while as Shada manuvered the car around obsticles in their path; neither of them thought to check on Alistor, who had awakened to see a red headed creature driving and a fiery black cat chick beside her. He started screaming, which made both of them turn to look at him as the car jerked to a sudden stop.
"What the Hell, Alistor?!" The white dog chick yelled at him, angry. He was breathing hard, completely freaked out at the sight of the both of them. In a rush, he threw open the back door and bolted from the car.
Shada and Sira stared after him, utterly flabberghasted.
"What the Hell was that?" Shada asked.
"I don't know..." Sira replied. "Should we go after him?"
"...Yeah, there's no telling what that fool will get himself into." Shada put the car in park and turned it off, dropping the keys in her pocket. "C'mon." She got out, closing the door behind her. "Fucking perfect." She muttered, heading the direction Alistor had run off. There was a building standing a few hundred feet from her current location, and her best guess was that he went inside it. "Sira!" She called, pointing at the building. "I think he went in there!" The were cat and the Xurenae headed for the building to sniff him out.
Inside, however the male known as Alistor was having a bit of trouble keeping his heartbeat steady. The chicks in that car were monsters and they ate things like him for breakfast...that must have been why he was with them, right? It made sense to the jumbled thoughts that clouded his mind. He just knew he had to run and hide from them; he had no wish to be anyone's meal. Somewhere in the building, a door banged open, rattling on it's hinges. Damn! They'd found him already!
"Hey Alistor!" One of them called.
"Al, what the Hell are you doing?! We don't have time for your games!" The other one yelled, clearly pissed off. Were they calling for him? He wasn't sure. But he didn't want to be this Alistor guy when they found him, he knew that for sure. Wait...maybe that guy was a monster too! If he was in the building as well, didn't that mean Alistor would find him too? That alone hastened his steps.
"Al-Listor!" The second voice called out, closer this time. "Al-Listor!! Hey! Where are you?" He ducked behind a big piece of machinery and squeezed his eyes shut, holding his breath and praying that the girl wouldn't find him.
"There he is!" The first voice called. "Cut him off, we can't lose him or Rayflo will seriously flip shit!" He jumped to his feet and took off, running up a flight of metal stairs. His footsteps echoed as he did so. Running across a scaffolding, he slid to a stop when he spotted the cat girl at one end. He started to turn around but saw the dog girl standing on the other end. He was trapped!
"Alistor...we aren't going to hurt you..." The cat girl said slowly.
"Bullshit! I know you two are going to eat me!"
"Eat you?" The dog girl laughed at him. "I can barely stand being around you half the time, what the Hell makes you think I'm going to eat you?" For some reason her tone of voice struck him wrong, but he didn't have time to think about it since the cat girl had transformed into a tiny kitten and was advancing on him. He tripped over his own feet and hit the ground, scrambling back to get away from her. He was forced to stop when he hit the dog girl's weird legs. Looking up at her, the fear shattered in him. Of the two, she was the more pleasant looking of the two since the cat girl, even in this form still looked like she was going to disembowel him. It was...unnerving... The kitten didn't stop until she had leaped onto his chest. The dog girl growled something under her breath about sticking to a plan when they all heard a crashing sound, followed by a loud, deep voice.
"Throwing a party and you didn't invite me?" The voice was clearly male, but from where he was on the scaffolding, there was a big piece of machinery in his way so he couldn't see.
"James?" The dog girl looked surprised to see him, which was evident by her face as well as her voice. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing." He finally caught sight of the guy talking and locked eyes with the violet eyes of another huge dog person.
"This jackass took off, so we had to find him." Dog girl said. "Something's wrong with him." The dog guy walked closer and dragged him off the scaffolding by one of his ankles, studying him.
"His mind's blank." Dog-guy said after a moment. "Clean as a slate."
"Well, that's just fucking perfect." Dog-girl said with a growl, rubbing her eyes. "Sira....Dammit Sira, now isn't the time for that!" Cat-girl had jumped down onto his body, clutching his shirt in her claws.
"Put him down, James, or so help me..." Cat-girl yowled, her ears laid back. Chuckling, Dog-guy set him on the ground.
"Lucky for you I have more important things to do." He replied. Cat-girl hissed at him and curled up on Alistor's chest.
"Today is just getting better and better...." Dog-girl groaned, leaping down to the floor beside Alistor. She eyed him and Cat-girl. "I'm taking you two back to the gas station." She said. He'd expected her to drag them back to the car but she didn't. Instead, she caught him by his shirt and Cat-girl by the scruff of the neck and then.....nothing. The gas station was right in front of them and he had no idea how that happened. There was another guy standing nearby and she shoved Alistor toward him, dropping Cat-girl on the ground.
"He's got amnesia. You deal with them." Dog-girl said, vanishing before his eyes. He had been left alone with what seemed like a normal human like him. Breathing a sigh of relief, he smiled.
"Amnesia, huh?" The man said. Alistor merely scratched his head. "Great. C'mon." He headed for the side of the building Dog-girl had called a gas station, leaving Alistor to stand there like a fool.
Sira waited for Rayflo to finish his little thing with the amnesiac Alistor, stalking back into the gas station and kicking an empty can across the room.
Dammit! She thought to herself. Inside, the voice that plagued her, the one she wanted to tear out of her skull and stab repeated stirred.
What is it this time?! It snapped, irritated.
Ali.... It hurts... A lot.... He doesn't even recognize me... She didn't know why she answered the voice, since it usually didn't give her anything but a scolding.
It'll pass if Rayflo doesn't kill him. Her mind replied, stating fact. She growled softly to herself.
THAT'S ANOTHER THING! If they fight between each other and are intent on killing each other, I can't just stand there and watch, no matter what Rayflo says. I'm kicking both of their idiotic asses, and I don't care if I get mine kicked in the process! If she had to do so, then so be it. There was no use fighting senselessly.
You are a brave, if foolish girl, Sira Vengeance Nightfyre. Her mind replied in earnest.
You're me. That makes you foolish. She pointed out with a small, inward smirk.
Trifles, child. Her mind sniffed in return, unphased.
I AM NOT A CHILD! She was tired of hearing that same thing over and over. She wasn't a child!
But you act like one. Her mind returned with an odd tone. She sighed, conceding. This was no time to start going nuts...but for some reason she seemed to do it often enough.
You know as well as I that I'm insane, so shut it. She growled, shutting out the voice of reason within her.
Elsewhere, Heru sighed from her spot on a hill in the forest. She didn't have much to do with the others, and no-one seemed to need her.
She looked up at the sky and let out a long, mournful howl from her human mouth, before shifting into her true form, her Demon form. Her long, lizardlike tail flicked, the poisonous spikes whistling through the air. She howled again, another pained sound, then sighed, looking down at her paws.
From behind her came a rustling sound, and she turned in time to see several Dingo Demons approaching her. She growled, and a few of them yipped at each other. Two out of the bunch were in human form, while the rest were in the form of rather large, black and red dingo creatures, with spikes rising from their backs and spiked crests upon their heads. They were about three quarters of her size, but there were quite a few of the Dingo Demons.
Heru's tail flicked in anxiety. Wolf Demons and Dingo Demons didn't get along at all. There were so many Pack and Tribe wars that it was hard to keep up with them. Her Tribe was at war with the Eastern Dingo Pack, and these smelled like Easterns.
She rose to her paws, at her full height of fifteen feet, growling a warning to the other Demons. Her fangs were bared, dripping their own poison that she was immune to swallowing, but just about any other creature would die from. Excepting Sira, but the Werecat had only survived thanks to Alistor's foolishness.
The Dingos yipped at each other, looking at her tail. As Heru let out a snarl, the biggest one, whom she assumed to be the leader, leaped, landing on her back and burying his teeth into the scruff of her neck. As if on cue, the other Dingos moved in, one latching onto her front paw, but becoming dislodged after Heru beat it into the ground a few times.
There's too many of them! she though in dismay, whirling to try and shake off two that had joined their leader on her back, clawing and biting at any of her furred flesh that they could. She felt pawfulls of her hair being yanked out, and she thrashed again, feeling overwhelmed by the amount of Dingo Demons around her. There had only been seven before, but now it seemed like twenty as the Dingos kept leaping, dodging her attacks and nipping at her legs and tail. She couldn't hit one with her tail spikes; they were too fast for her.
The leader finally slipped off, but another took it's place quickly, as Heru bucked and thrashed wildly beneath them, trying to throw all the Dingos off of her back. The leader leapt up again, trying to bite at her throat, but she reared up, out of reach, growling and letting out a howl of pain as a Dingo bit her exposed abdomen.
Three hours later the Dingos were gone, and an unmoving heap of purple and white fur lay at the base of the hill, open eyes glazed over, neck and torso covered in blood from the pool that was all around her, pouring from the wound where her throat had been ripped out by one of the Dingo Demons.
Heru Ookami Tenma, She-wolf of the Northern Tribe of Wolf Demons..... was dead.
When Shada returned to the building they'd found Alistor, James was still there. She spared him a glance, heading for the door.
"What are you doing here, anyway?" She asked, not trying to sound rude.
"Can't I walk this earth before I claim it as mine?" She sighed.
"I meant here here. Like this building."
"Oh that. I came to see what was going on."
"I'm looking for a new place to go, at least I was before Alistor lost his damned mind and took off." She said, rolling her eyes. "You're welcome to join me....Wait, can you even fit in the car?"
"Don't worry about that...I'm more worried about you crashing the car."
"Won't be a problem, I barely know you." She replied, irked that she was never going to live that down. He chuckled and patted her head roughly.
"It's a joke, calm yourself." She muttered something she was almost certain he heard anyway as she walked back to the car, judging by the way he chuckled. She opened her door and climbed in diggin the keys from her pocket. "Come on, we're burning daylight." She snickered. James adjusted his size so that he could fit into the car and slammed the door.
"I do not see how humans enjoy these contraptions..." He grunted, shifting in the seat. She stuck the key in the ignition and started the car.
"You get used to it, I guess." She said, shifting the car into drive and speeding off. "Can't say for sure thought." She shrugged and pulled a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from her cleavage. She lit the cigarette and offered him one, which he accepted. They talked for a while about many things while she drove, searching the horizon for anything that could work, or any survivors out wandering. About an hour later, she spotted something from the corner of her eye and slowed to a stop.
"Do you see that person walking out there?" She asked, pointing. He peered at the form.
"It appears to be a survivor." He said.
"Yeah...what is a survivor doing way out there anyway? There's nothing around here for miles." She mused. "We should probably check it out."
"I'll go, you stay here. I want to stretch my legs anyway, there's no reason for the both of us to go." He had a point, she couldn't deny that.
"All right...just be careful okay?" Yeah, because he needed to be careful. Please. All he had to do was punch something and it was dead, end of story. But at this point it was a habit to say such things to her friends. He said nothing about what she'd said, he just opened the door and got out, taking his usual height again.
She watched him approach the figure in the distance, wondering just who the Hell could have wandered this far away from town. It was possible they'd migrated this way but for some reason she didn't think that was the case. Then suddenly a hand clamped over her mouth, as fangs broke the skin on her neck. She shrieked and jerked the door open, falling out of the car, which tore the skin at her throat. Wild-eyed, she looked into the back seat to see the ghant, horrifyingly thin form of Azazel. He was covered in her body and he was smirking at her.
"Hello again, Nightshade." He said evenly. "I told you I would be back, didn't I?" He Traced from the car to stand over her, his green eyes dark and empty. "Here I am." He raised his hands as if to gesture the same thing. She shrieked again and bolted, running toward James.
She hadn't noticed that the figure James had been advancing on had disappeared; she was just trying to get away from the creep that could not, for the life of him, just leave her alone. She made the mistake of turning back to look and see if he'd followed her because as soon as she did, she slammed into something and toppled over. Looking up she saw it was Azazel. Doom entered her green eyes, which made them flat.
"You're going to try to kill me again, aren't you?" She asked calmly, knowing his responce.
"Of course. I told you I wouldn't stop until you were dead, didn't I?" She rose to her feet slowly, half-expecting him to beat her back down. He didn't, he just stood there with a sinister smile on his face.
James, who had been confused by the figure's disappearance, turned toward the car when he heard Shada shriek, and noticed the male standing over her. The scent he picked up was a familiar one; he's smelled it before the bombs dropped...the same night Alistor was turned Human again. He grinned and started walking, knowing he was going to enjoy this. The man was encroaching on territory he had no business touching in the first place, plus the filth of his evil would make a good addition to his own plans. This was going to be good.
All at once, Azazel attacked her, using what speed he had gained from drinking her blood to toss her aside with the slap of his hand. She hit the ground and slid in the sand, blood dripping from her mouth. The fallen Angel laughed with all of the sanity of a madman as he stalked toward her.
"I'll make you feel the pain you've made me suffer since the last time we met, Nightshade. I'll make you regret what you did to me." He grabbed her up by her hair and dragged her to eye level which made her look at him. "You'll be broken, as I have been." Before he could lay another hand on her, James reached them and snatched the fist before he had a chance to hit her.
"Now why would you go and do a thing like that?" The Golithan asked, a grin stretching his mouth. "Why not take me on if you want to fight someone so badly?" Azazel looked up at him for a moment then looked down at Shada.
"Another one, bitch? Really?" He jerked his hand from James' grip, dropping his hands to wrap them around her throat, choking her. "Did you learn nothing?!" That was it, James dragged him off of her and tossed him aside.
"I said take me on." He growled, his eyes narrowing.
"I'm not here to deal with you, you son of a bitch. I'm just going to end your whore's life." Shada gasped for air, her red hair covering her face.
"I don't think so." He didn't discredit what the guy had said--Hell, he could think whatever he wanted. But there was no reason the guy should be picking on Shada. Hell-spawn or not. Azazel came at him this time, throwing punches. James just stood there, amused as the man's punches did little to nothing. "My turn." He hit him once, and the man was sent flying.
Shada watched them fighting from her place on the ground, unsure of what to do exactly. She wasn't afraid of Azazel or dying anymore, but watching this wasn't...she should have been fighting herself. The only thing that stopped her was the look on James' face. He seemed to be enjoying the fight, even though Azazel was doing his best, while James had to do little to defend himself.
As she watched, James snapped Azazel's arm like a twig. The fallen Angel screamed and dropped to his knees. The bone protruded from the skin like an iceberg in the spray of blood that erupted with it. James had nearly it clean off, and thought she had never had trouble doing such things on her own before, it was diffcult to watch someone else do it without cringing. The fallen Angel was bloody and torn, but he still fought valiantly to keep himself from failin this. He swung at the black Golithan, his fist connecting solidly with James' jaw. Azazel knew he was going to die; that fact was clear in the wolf man's eyes as he watched him. His green eyes flickered to Nightshade, his one and only. She was watching the exchange from the ground and she had the smattering of blood on her cheek. The males circled each other; Azazel's lips set in a grim line.
"You want to kill me? Go ahead. You win this time, Wolf. But next time...and there WILL be a next time, I won't let you have her. SHE IS MINE AND MINE ALONE!" In one last, albeit futile attempt, he punched James again. Before his fist could connect, James' claws closed around his arms. The flames within James' jaws licked hatefully at Azazel's face, though not quite burning his skin yet. His violet eyes flickered dangerously but he grinned with all of the sanity of a madman.
"You...are a brave and foolish creature. Let me tell you something, Azazel. She is not mine, and she never was. Shada belongs to no man. Your struggle and hatred is for nothing. You will die here because you couldn't let something go...what ultimate despair thaat must be. Allow me to relieve you of your pain by ending this life of yours!" In that moment, James hooked his claws through Azazel's ribcage and grinned horribly as he pulled on Azazel's arms. The fallen male shrieked as James lifted him this way, using his strength to his advantage.
"Kr-Kk-RRAACK-CH!" It wasn't Azazel's arms that were torn from his body, but his entire torso split open as the skin across his chest tore; his ribcage popped open and the flesh covering his back split open, leaving his guts and spinal cord exposed to the world. The black skies were visible behind Azazel's guts and his head was still connected to his body by what was left of his neck. James mused over this scene for a moment as the flames in his jaws collected. Azazel could actually still be alive, were he insane enough to outlast this punishment. With him, however, there was no telling.
The possibility of that; however, ended immediately as the blast of fire escaped James' jaws, passing through the gaping hole in Azazel's body which reduced his organs to ash as the dragonfire passed over them. James began to growl and finishd what he'd started. Slowly, Azazel's body finished tearing in half until his head burst from his the neck; the pressure too great for it to withstand. His head landing with a thud on the ground, James tossed it the halves of the fallen Angel's body to the side, bringing up his massive, clawws foot and stomped down on the dismembered head which made blood and skyll fragments blossom in a gory display under his heel.
With the deed done, he let out a primal howl that was not truly a howl, but a roar from the oldest of worlds meant for the striking terro into the minds of even the greatest of beasts. In the near silence of the howl's aftermath, which continued to echo for miles around, James stared at the blackened sky, truly happy. He took his gaze from the sky as the feeling washed over him to regard Shada for a moment. He was free of blood, but she was not. He stalked over to her and carefully took her by the forearm, leading her to the car. He stopped only to reach into his shadow.
"You're covered in blood. I suggest you clean up a bit before we head back, lest the other get worried...Not much by way of fabric but I suppose you can use this trophy." He pulled his hand free of the void and handed Shada a bloodied and torn, red Nazi party flag from World War II.
Still slightly disoriented from Azazel's assault on her, she took the flag from him. Her green eyes had turned a dusky silver from the pain but she smiled and removed her damaged clothes.
"Thank you..." She said, wrapping the flag tightly around her and tying it off tightly. She was at a loss for a moment, not sure what to do....Azazel was dead now...and she was finally free of him, for what she hoped was the last time. For some reason, his soul seemed eternal, which made living on this plane tricky. "I really owe you one, James." She said, opening in the car door to sit in the driver's seat. The headrest was sticky with blood from Azazel's bite and she was dizzy from the loss, as well as the lack of feeding. She dropped her head in her hands, waiting for the throbbing to stop. She was hurting and she couldn't understand why.
In a sudden swirl of black magic, her wolf form began to bleed from her, like a red sock in white laundry. She lifted her head in time to see her hands return to their human shape; all of the fur gone. She was a Vampiir again. Disturbed, she immediately reached up and felt her ears. The slightly pointed ears she could barely remember having had returned. Her tail was gone; she looked up at James as her eyes pulsed from black to blue. She should have been happy that her quest was over and that she had returned to her normal body but....after so many centuries in it...it just wasn't the same now. Now...Now she was just too normal, and she was going to have to take precautions again.
"For all this time, I just wanted to be my Vampiric self, and now that I am that again, I don't want it. I don't want to be like this!" Tears stung her eyes but she didn't let them fall, she was not going to cry in front of James. Instead, she laughed at herself. "It's sad, I never thought I would miss that form so much." "For all this time, I just wanted to be my Vampiric self, and now that I am that again, I don't want it. I don't want to be like this!" Tears stung her eyes but she didn't let them fall, she was not going to cry in front of James. Instead, she laughed at herself. "It's sad, I never thought I would miss that form so much." Her caramel skin showed all of her tattoos, all the work her friend had done for her would show.....but so would her scars. The scars from the beatings she had sustained from Azazel,the ones from her brother Jasper, as well as the marks from the injections she'd gotten from the asylum. All of them.
"Goddess...." She whispered, biting her lip. She looked up at him again and sighed. "I don't even know what to do anymore..."
James looked at her and found himself smiling. "Hm..." James walked around to the passenger door of the car, shrinking in size again. "You fickle creatures, wanting and not wanting and changing your mind as you get your way... Too much for me to understand."
James sat in the passenger side of the car, examining Shada carefully. He frowned a bit as he spoke. "Unfortunately, I still feel loyal. Your Wolfen attributes had nothing to do with it perhaps... either way it means I will have to continue cleaning up after you... Azazel was worth the mess though... I haven't killed with that level of animosity in years."
James looked at her again, lighting a cigarette from a pack he found in the glove compartment. "I dont think Remus ever knew of your form before your Wolfen Attributes.. it should be a bit of a shock for him to see you without a tail. Hahahaha." She couldn't help but giggle at that, reaching for a cigarette herself, to steady her nerves.
Back at the gas station, while Shada and James had had to deal with Azazel, Rayflo was thinking about what he was going to have to tell Alistor. They kept walking, not too far from the gas station. After a while, Rayflo stopped.
"So... what's your name?" Alistor stared at him blankly, a bit confused.
"My name?"
"Yes. You do know what your name is, don't you?"
"Of course I do! My name is....... my name is....." He looked at the ground pathetically. "What is my name?"
"Alistor Beck. You're my son."
"And am I.... am I like the rest of you?..... Am I monster?" The word Alistor chose made Rayflo angry, but he didn't show it. Instead, he kept civil and answered honsetly.
"Yes."
"Monsters..... have powers right? Do I have powers?" Again, that word. Rayflo bit his tongue to keep himself from lashing out.
"Well.... if you can call them powers. You and I are vampires. I'm really nothing special, but you're able to use blood magic. Although, lately your body has been having trouble handling it. So don't get curious."
"A vampire.... and, and what about that girl? The really cute one."
"Hm? Oh, you mean Sira. She's a werecat, and can turn into different cat's. You probably saw her in a cat form when she and Shada were trying to get you back. She and yourself are actually-"
"Cat?", Alistor asked. "No, not her. The other one." Rayflo was caught off guard.
"....Um... that would be Shada. She's a Xurenae. She can do a kind of teleport called 'Trace'. That's how she got you from wherever you were back to us. Don't worry, after a few times the whole nausea feeling goes away." They talked for a little while longer, Rayflo making sure to get Alistor up to speed. But all Alistor seemed to want to know what was Shada.
"Look, Alistor. Can you let me just finish a sentence?"
"Sorry.... Can I just ask one more question? How did I lose my memory?" Rayflo was silent. Should he tell Alistor the truth? That Alistor was possessed by Formortiis, the Demon King, and that the mental and physical struggle between the two entities brought Alistor's mind to the brink of destruction, but was lucky enough to only lose his memory?
"....You hit your head. We got into an arguement, it turned into a fight, and I kinda smacked your head into a wall. We put you in the car so that you could come to by yourself, and that way we all didn't have to worry you too much."
"So, I hit my head?.... Do we fight alot?"
"Sometimes....Okay, yeah. We fight alot. But hey. That's what a father and son are supposed to do, right?" Rayflo and Alistor talked longer, and after a while, Alistor was finally caught up to speed with the basics. He kept asking questions, so Raylo didn't get to explain alot of things. Especially one thing in particular.
"Come on, let's get back. Sira's probably worried about you."
"Why would she be worried about me?" He sighed and shook his head.
" Let's just go....." They walked back, and Rayflo was dreading what was bound to happen next. When Sira heard approaching footsteps, she walked back out, seeing Rayflo and Alistor. She smiled, tilting her head. She was in her normal hybrid form now, less scary than her earlier Ferall form. She moved over to the two Vampyrs with the same smile.
"Hey, did you two work things out? Ali, remember everything yet, or still hazy?" she asked, tail flicking to one side lightly. She looked to Rayflo questioningly, wanting to know what Alistor knew again.
"Well, he doesn't remember anything. I brought him up to speed on what's been going on.", Rayflo said. "Except, um..."
Alistor had already walked inside, looking around at the food. He grumbling, but it couldn't be made out too well. Rayflo's best guess is he kept saying "hungry".
"He doesn't remember you two are together." Rayflo whispered to her. "I want you to try and help him remember. But subtly. Don't come on too strong. For now, we have to be gentle with certain things around him. We don't know how long it'll take for his memory to come back. Days...months... hopefully only either of those. For right, try to get his memory at a jog." Alistor was digging around on one of the shelves toward the back of the gas station.
"This looks good...", Alistor said, grabbing a bag of potato chips. "Wait.... I'm a vampire... Hey! I can eat these, right?" Rayflo nodded, and turned back to Sira while Alistor began munching.
"Just go slow with him. Ask him questions. Things that might get him going, y'know? Oh, and whenever Shada comes back, try not to get agitated or anything. Y'see.... he... He's kinda... infatuated with her, I guess would be the best term for it."
Alistor was now walking around some more, and had now made it to the freezer. He opened a door, and grabbed out a can of soda. He forgot to wait a few minutes before opening it, and it sprayed him in the face.
".......Why not?", he said. He then drank it, and finished it in a matter of seconds. Rayflo could only watch, unsurprised.
"Well.... it's good to see his appetite hasn't changed at all. Sira nodded to Rayflo, and chuckled at the appetite comment, then moving over to Alistor. "So... Um... I'm sorry if I scared you earlier. The red and black thing? That rarely happens.. I was upset at something. I usually don't look that weird." she sighed and shook her head slightly.
Yea, Sira, that was smart. Remind him you looked like a fiery beast bitch? Her mind snickered.
I didn't suggest it! Her consciousness exclaimed.
I know. I'm just... Stupid as hell... Her mind returned softly. It really wasn't helping, at all. He appraised her, looking at her from over his soda can.
"It's okay....", Alistor said. "The both of you just.... kinda caught me off gaurd, is all. And then that....thing in that factory..... Now it turns out I'm a monster.... Just gonna take some getting used to."
He reached for a bottle, and tried opening it. The cap was rozen on tight, so he tried gripping it harder, and began trying to turn it just as hard. Literally not knowing his own strength yet, he ended up breaking the top of the bottle, and the glass cut his hand. He dropped the bottle, letting it break on the floor. The only reason he droped the bottle was because he was expecting pain, but was surprised when none came. He looked at his hand, and it healed instantly.
"So.... do I.... Do I drink blood?", he asked her, not looking away from his hand, turning it over and back again repeatedly, as if expecting to find something new.
Sira nodded slightly. "You do, so far it's mostly been from me... You see, as Rayflo, your father, must have told you, the Apocalypse has basically happened. We're looking for other survivors, but so far as I know, none have been found. Except our friend Heru...She's a Wolf Demon. Wonder where she is.. tooo.... Anyway... Um.. So, as far as I know, Remus and I are the only sources of blood nearby. And I would not recommend you trying to feed from yourself. Rayflo was pissed last time you did that....." she trailed off, looking at the ground. "Sorry I scared you... I didn't mean to..."
"Right, Remus. That guy told me about him." he said, obviously meaning Rayflo. "He said he's... really big and might look intimidating? Well, right now, everything seems intimidating. Even you, as friendly as you are right now..... Er, I didn't mean you're scary or anything, I just meant you could easily get a guy to stop bugging you... Not that you're mean or anything.... I'm just gonna stop now." He walked into another aisle and grabbed a Twinkie box, and pulled one out. He unwrapped it and began eating it immediately. He looked around a little, and noticed one of the magazines that had been thrown on the floor earlier. He picked it up with one hand, and turned his head to look it at.
"...... I never actualy knew women could bend like that...." He threw it back on the floor, and picked another Twinkie out of the box. "Well, I guess you don't have to worry about me drinking your blood. Doesn't sound too good to me. Not YOUR blood, just in general...."
Sira flinched. "Um.... Ali? You're going to regret not feeding... It weakens you, can cause madness.... You need to feed in order to survive." she hadn't flinched at his comment, just the fact she didn't want to see him in pain.
Her silver tail flicked, then curled around her human legs, a soft, sad mewl escaping her.
"No offense, but madness..... right now, I think I'd rather be mad than not know who I am." He said. "It's weird though. I feel..... I don't know what the word is. I feel.... kind of weightless. Like I don't have to worry about anything except who I am. I'm not worried about it because I'll find out eventualy, I'm sure. And I don't have to worry about my past, just what's happening right now. I just can't think of the word for it."
Outside, Rayflo jumped up on the roof, and laid flat on it, staring up at the sky.
"Dammit..... why can't things be easy for a change?.... Oh right. Cause then they'd be easy."
He checked his watch to see if it was time to get moving yet. He then realized it hadn't worked since the blast he got caught in, and he was now only wearing it out of habit. He took it off, and threw it, listening to it smack against the dirt.
His mind was in overdrive. Mainly over how Alistor phrased things earlier. One word in particular- "Monster". Rayflo shouldn't have been surprised, after all. Someone doesn't know who he is or where he is is suddenly aurrounded by creatures that he couldn't find anther word to describe them as. It made Rayflo think... Think of the last time he ever said the word monster in that context. His mind drifted off to a distance, yet not forgotten memory of the night he was Turned...
It was raining. He was looking up at the sky, lying on the ground. The rain didn't bother him as much as the warm taste of copper in his mouth did. He coughed slightly, and a drop of red fell in his eye. It made everything look... interesting. The red from one eye now mixed with the normal colors seen from the other. The view of the sky and the moon now was.... interesting to say the least.
A man in white robes walked over and stood above him, although he could only make out a silhouette from the moonlight. He held what looked like some sort of book in one hand, and was holding beads hanging around his neck in the other.
"Father.....", he gasped. "Is..... Is it truly my time?... Is it my time to go to His side?"
The man was silent, and after a few seconds spoke solemnly.
"Yes, my child."
"I.... I'm scared.", Rayflo spoke quietly. "Maybe this is all a mistake..... Maybe it isn't my time. I don't want to die, Father...... Is there any way..."
"There is, child.", the man spoke, and he knelt down beside Rayflo, placing the book on the ground. The pages soaked up rain water quickly, and ink began running into the ground. "But you have to swear you will regret nothing from this point on. Can you do that, child?"
"Yes....Just save me.... I don't want to die, Father..... Don't let me die.... I'm not ready to meet Him.... Not yet..... Don't let that abomnation.... that monster be the end of me...."
The next thing Rayflo knew, before blacking out, was pain. A stinging pain like two huge needles going into his neck. He began shaking, and nearly swallowed his own tongue. Then his eyes closed, and the pain began to fade away.
On the roof, he sat up and looked around. No sign of the car. Even if it was time to begin moving again, they'd have to wait until Shada came back with the car. Gamma was strong, but he wouldn't be able to carry everyone at once. He could hear Alistor talking to Sira below.
The word you're looking for is 'Free'." Rayflo said. He had jumped down from the roof and walked in, taking a Twinkie from the box Alistor had, and looked at it before unwrapping it. "I always hated these things...."
"So... what's going on? When's that girl.... what was her name... Shada! When does Shada get back?" Rayflo looked at Sira, and then wiped a few crumbs off his face.
"Um.... soon, I think. Just don't worry about her, okay? She can take care of herself. You just focus on getting your memory back."
"Right.... So how often do I have to drink blood?"
"Well, first off, say 'Feed'. 'Drink blood' sounds gross. Second, it depends. On what breed of vampire you are, how strong willed you are. Alot of things factor in to when you should feed. Considering it's you, and you really don't know how to control yourself, basically.... We'll call it at every other day."
"Okay..... Do I really have to?"
"Yes. Otherwise.... well, it isn't pretty. Believe me."
"Right, she was telling me. I guess if I have to, I have to."
At that moment, Liir decided to find out what everyone else was doing...in her own roundabout way. Yawning, she jumped down from her place on the roof of the building.
