VERSE THIRTEEN: ICH TU DIR WEH

"Ye're sure this is the place, lad?" Avinglad asked uncertainly after slamming the driver's side door. They'd pulled up outside what appeared to be some kind of storage facility that was far less isolated than the wolf would have preferred.

It was hardly a hub of activity; in fact, no one else was even in sight. Nevertheless, the building was clearly still in use and the presence of a few other vehicles parked along the street indicated that the hunters weren't exactly alone. Avinglad glanced around warily, the fur of his hackles on end, but he failed to detect anyone who might have been privy to their activities.

"I'm sure," Kaw said while making his way around from the passenger side. Avinglad was still rather uncomfortable around the otter and kept his distance. Kawauso seemed too distracted by his phone to notice. "Yeah, this is the address," he affirmed. Avinglad turned to examine the facility again and this time found vindication in feeling that they were being watched.

A young fellow - a rat, it looked like - was making his way over to the duo. He couldn't have been older than twenty, but the stern expression he bore made him seem more mature. He was well-groomed and professionally dressed in a vest and button-up shirt. Avinglad tried to recall if he'd seen the young lad before...

"Théo?" Kawauso hailed as the youth approached, and the rodent nodded. The Frenchman said something in French, naturally, to which the Canadian replied. Avinglad waited patiently while the two conversed in brief. After a moment Kaw turned to Avinglad and gave his head a jerk in acknowledgement of the newcomer.

"He's got a unit in there for us that we can use...no questions asked. We just have to make sure none of this gets back to the tavern, is all." The otter explained.

"Should be easy enough," Avinglad grunted.

"Let's just hurry with this, yeah?" Kawauso asked, his tone indicating that Avi wasn't alone in feeling on edge. "I mean...we're not breaking the law. Not exactly. But if we attract police attention before we're ready things could just get...messy. France is on a terror alert after what happened at the cathedral..."

"Don't need to tell me twice," the wolf responded. He wasn't certain he shared the otter's sentiments with regard to the legality of their actions, however. True, they weren't breaking any laws as they pertained to bounty hunting. But then, Kawauso was the only one of them who was a bounty hunter...and likely the only one set on turning the fox in for any sort of bounty.

Best to leave discussing the specifics until everything else is squared away, thought Avinglad. It would at least be easier to sort things out when he could be sure Kaw wouldn't cause a scene...and when they didn't have one of Vulpecula's...'associates' hanging over their collective shoulders. Avi gave the young fellow a sidelong glance before he turned to round on the rear of his van. The rat and otter followed after him.

"Let's just hope our lady friend has survived the journey intact," Avinglad commented as he gripped the door handles. He steeled himself for the worst while Kaw held his breath and 'Théo' looked on impassively. None of them were quite ready for what awaited them when Avi pulled the double doors open.

Kaira blinked rapidly when afternoon light flooded into the cramped space in the back of the van. She was panting; catching her breath. Her limbs trembled and her ears and tail flicked restlessly, but the motion was borne of a nervous excitement. Her erstwhile companions were joined by the rat Kaira had noted manning the bar the previous evening. All three of them gaped in shock when they saw her and her handiwork. Kaira smirked before she turned to better appreciate it in the light.

Damon recoiled from her still. The fox was leaning against the opposite side of the van from Kaira, whimpering between shallow, frightful pants as evinced by the fluttering of the hood that still covered his head.

"Please," his voice cracked, "I don't know..." His overcoat had been removed and folded neatly, of course. It would only have gotten in the way otherwise. Kaira had set it to aside along with his sword. What remained of Damon's shirt clung to his torso in ragged, bloodstained tatters. That was just as well, since without the paler fabric it mightn't have been possible to take full stock of the fox's injuries against his dark fur. And Kaira certainly wanted to be able to take stock of them...

As it stood, she could make out a number of punctures and gouges across Damon's chest, midriff and biceps. Some of them were quiet deep. All of them were still bleeding. Red ichor welled up in a particularly prominent set of gashes that ran across the fox's body from clavicle to abdomen. Kaira's fingers still tingled from the sensation of raking her claws across his ribs.

Not enough.

No doubt there were plenty of bruises to accompany the cuts and abrasions. From the sound of his laboured breathing, Kaira surmised that at least one of Damon's ribs was cracked or broken. She'd felt it give when she had punched him, at least.

Not enough...but one has to start somewhere.

From the look on the faces of her companions, Kaira's partners did not appear to share in her sentiment.

"Christ, lass," the lupine brute breathed, "what'd ye do to him?" He tore his eyes from Damon's pitiful, cringing form to look to Kaira, and he scowled. Like she cared.

With a roll of her eyes and a shrug of her shoulders the feline saw to straightening herself out and patting down her clothes. She must have looked haggard. Kaira noted with a frown that there was blood in her now-unkempt hair, though to be fair there was blood in a lot of places. Fox blood. Her fingers were sticky with it.

"He is...damaged," Kaira admitted, breaking an awkward silence. She detangled a bloody mat in her hair before turning back to her allies with a thin smile that they did not return. The wolf's eyes were cold and judgmental; the otter's, shocked and repulsed. The rat's were aloof on the surface but betrayed a nervous flicker. "Damaged," Kaira clarified, "but alive. Ve made no arrangements as to his condition upon capture, did ve?"

The wolf - Avinglad, was his name - scrunched up his face in a distasteful scowl before exchanging glances with the otter. Kawauso.

"...No," Avinglad admitted. While plainly displeased, he said nothing else as he leaned into the enclosed space to take Damon by the elbow. Their captive yelped and shied from the large wolf's touch, which made Kaira smile.

"Please," he began, but Avinglad was bigger and stronger by far, and he easily coerced the fox into exiting the vehicle. He then passed Damon off to the Kawauso.

"Get him inside, otter. Before anyone sees us," he said. Kaw nodded as he accepted his charge, putting one ginger arm around Damon.

"Holy shit, man...are you alright?" he wondered with an uneasy glance at Kaira before departing. When he left with Damon the rodent accompanied them both. Avinglad tarried, eying Kaira for a few moments longer before he gathered up some of his things as well as Damon's belongings.

"You disapprove of meine methods," Kaira observed. She'd finally caught her breath and smoothed her hair and outfit out. Her heart was still racing, however, and the nervous energy hadn't left her limbs.

"Aye," Avinglad replied. "Are they a means, lass, or an end?" In spite of the cold, calculating way in which he observed her, he stepped back to allow Kaira to climb out of the vehicle. She did so, collecting her things so that the wolf could close and lock up his van. Before she departed to join the two other men escorting her prize indoors, Kaira turned to respond:

"Both."

Fortunately, there were no customers or employees present inside the storage facility to observe their arrival. Théo had reassured Richard of as much, but nevertheless the otter breathed a sigh of relief when he saw they were indeed alone. They waited just inside for a few moments in order for the others to join them.

Théo spoke sparingly, and when he did he spoke in French. Richard was thankful for that, as well: he had to talk to someone in order to allay his nerves, and this way Damon couldn't understand them. Both of them did their best to ignore the captive fox.

Richard didn't know what to say to Damon, so he said nothing at all and did his best to avoid looking at the ghastly wounds Kaira had inflicted on Damon in...what? A ten-minute drive? What sort of people had he fallen in with? He wasn't sure whether to be more afraid of his bounty or his newfound allies, such as they were. Either way, his right paw hovered instinctively under his jacket, over the grip of the pistol holstered under his left arm. Ready to draw.

"Where are we going?" Damon croaked nervously. He reeked of blood and piss. Mostly blood. Richard's ears wilted and he tried to ignore Damon as best he could. The smell made him feel nauseated, but it was the soft, scared words the fox spoke that made Richard's gut twist into knots.

Suddenly the front doors opened and Avi and Kaira stepped inside to rejoin them at the front desk. Thank god...

They regrouped in silence and Théo led the way into the depths of the facility. It was a labyrinth of rolling shutter doors and fluorescent lights...and more than a few security cameras. Those, Avinglad seemingly regarded with suspicion.

"Lot of surveillance in here," he grumbled, loud enough for everyone to hear. He had taken up the rear of the procession and from there his gruff voice cut through the quiet like a knife.

"Funny, coming from a Brit. Well, a subject of the Crown, anyway," Richard teased. Anything to get his mind off of the bound and hurting captive he was guiding. He kept his eyes on the path ahead, off of Damon. There was no ignoring the feeling of Kaira's eyes on their backs, though.

"Aren't you?" the big Scotsman asked, and Richard wondered if Avinglad was developing a sense of humour. Not that it made the otter any fonder of Avi, all things considered.

"I dunno; does the Commonwealth count?" Richard asked. Avinglad grunted, and Richard liked to imagine that perhaps he even smiled a little.

"Well, funny or not, ah dinnae ken any of us fancy our pictures being taken here," came the response from the rear. Richard shrugged.

"Théo's told us not to worry about it, that nothing's being recorded..."

"Und do you believe that?" Kaira interjected. Her voice cutting into the dialogue made the fur on the back of Richard's neck stand on end. He paused for a moment to look carefully at Théo, who continued to lead the way and seemed content to ignore them.

"No," the otter decided. "I think they'll hang onto whatever they can as leverage, in case they need it. But I also think that so long as we hold up our end of the deal they won't have any reason to use any recordings against us."

"You're not stupid," Avinglad remarked, "but ye're far too trusting, lad."

"It's just good business sense," Richard replied. "I trust their own self-interest."

"P-please," Damon spoke up this time, jumping into the midst of their conversation. "Someone...just tell me what the bloody hell is going on. Please...?" Richard's ears wilted as he felt another pang of sympathy for their captive.

"Just keep moving," he suggested. Richard wasn't about to let his guard down, however. Not with Damon. He kept a firm grip with one hand on the zip tie binding Damon's wrists while his other paw continued to worry the grip of his pistol.

Damon seemed to take the advice to heart and remained quiet until the group reached their destination. Théo turned to face them once they arrived at the end of a corridor. To their left was a shutter door; the other walls around them were blank.

Without a word, their rodent guide stooped to open a padlock on the door. After removing the lock he tossed it and the key to Richard, who pocketed it in silence. Théo stood, lifting the shutter door to throw it open with a rattle. A chill washed over Richard as he surveyed the Spartan room within.

It was approximately the size of a two-car garage. The centre of the chamber was marked by a grimy, grated drain that stood out like a blemish in an otherwise tidy space. Despite the size of the chamber, Richard suspected the drain might not have been placed there for any automotive purposes; the only way out of the room was back from where they'd come and there was no navigating a car through the narrow halls of the facility. He tried not to dwell on it. Ignoring the dank hole in the floor and the faint smell of sewer emanating from it, Richard noted the simple cot in one corner of the room and small folding table and chairs in the other. Apart from that the space was empty.

Théo stood on the grate and gave a tug to a string dangling overhead which switched on a light hanging from the centre of the ceiling. The young rat then gave the motley mix of captors and captive another look-over before he strode out of the unit.

"Quoi que vous fassiez, faites-le en silence, s'il vous plait," he asked of Richard in passing before he turned to close the shutter behind him.

Avinglad's ears flickered in annoyance as the door slammed with a clatter.

"Strange lad," he mused in regards to Théo. His long lupine nose twitched. This room smelled of dampness and desperation. "What'd he say?" Avi wondered after a moment, giving Kaw a sidelong glance.

"Just, ah, just that we keep it down while we're in here, is all." The otter shrugged a little and nudged Damon closer to the centre of the room. "What should we do with him?"

Avinglad sighed and crossed the room to retrieve one of the chairs from the corner. Kawauso seemed to take his meaning and helped Damon into the chair, with a little coaxing, once it was set in the middle of the room. Avi then rummaged through the bag he'd brought along for a pair of handcuffs. He handed them to the otter once he'd found them, and Kawauso wordlessly cuffed one of Damon's wrists to the chair. He left the fox's paws bound behind his back, forcing him to sit uncomfortably.

Damon's head tossed around beneath the hood while he tried to make sense of his surroundings.

"Please," he began again, "if it's the reward you want, you just need to turn me in to the police, yeah?" Kaw shot Avinglad and Kaira an uncertain glance, his tiny ears disappearing into his mane of wavy hair.

"We won't be keeping him here long anyhow, right?"

"Of course not." Both of them looked to Kaira, who had broken the silence. Damon turned his head in her direction, too. "...We should kill him," the feline stated matter-of-factly, as though it were obvious. Damon yelped.

"What- I don't even know any of you people! Who the hell are you?!"

"Hold on now," Kawauso held his webbed paws up ingratiatingly. "We've gotta talk about this, eh? Killing him isn't going to do us any good; we'd just have a mess on our hands to deal with. And the fox makes a point: there's a perfectly good reward for turning him in. We can split it three ways. Easy."

Kaira narrowed her eyes at the otter and set her jaw stubbornly. Avinglad stepped in before she could respond:

"Much as I'd like to see him dead...ah'm not even sure we can kill him. Not yet."

"What are you talking about?" Kaira rolled her eyes and strode over to where Damon was seated. Kawauso looked for a moment like he might have stood between her and their captive, but he shrank sheepishly from her approach, watching her sullenly as his hands balled into fists.

"He bleeds, ja?" Kaira purred, running delicate fingertips over the sticky gashes on Damon's chest that glistened under the lamplight. The fox whimpered in pain, fearful from the feline's proximity. "Just like anyone else...like Konstantin did," Kaira continued to muse. Her hand continued to wander, gingerly lifting Damon's masked chin. Suddenly, Kaira wound up and threw her weight into a punch with her other paw. The crack as her fist found its mark made Avinglad clench his jaw.

"Unf! Please...please," the fox groaned while he recoiled from the blow, hanging his head and panting. A strand of blood drooled through the fabric of the bag over his head.

"See?" Kaira turned to face Avinglad and Kawauso with a satisfied smile. Avinglad met her gaze with narrowed eyes, curling his lips in distaste. He couldn't deny taking some small satisfaction from Damon's discomfort...nevertheless he found Kaira's elation at the fox's suffering a touch unsettling. He wasn't alone, at least: from the corner of one eye he noted the otter wincing.

"C'mon now," Kaw reasoned, "haven't you had enough?"

Kaira frowned. In a flash, she lifted the bag from Damon's head to reveal his face. The captured vulpine yelped in alarm and squinted from his sudden exposure to the light. Kaira grabbed roughly at that long, silver hair and angled Damon's head toward Kawauso.

"See here, otter. Look at this face," she demanded. One of Damon's eyes was puffy and swollen; evidently Kaira had given him a few socks to the face during her time in the van with him. "Is this the face of somebody who has killed one you loved?" Kaira insisted.

"...Yes," the otter admitted, reluctantly. He averted his eyes from Damon's plaintive gaze. Kaira jerked the fox's head roughly to face him toward Avinglad next.

"You, wolf. Look at this. It is the face of one who has killed someone you love, ja?"

"Aye," Avinglad replied without hesitation. Then he met Damon's eyes, however, and Avinglad's ears flickered as he felt a pang of...pity?

"I...I don't know...any of you," Damon sputtered now that he could see them all. "You've got the wrong bloke. Please..."

Kaira snarled. She whirled on Damon, lashing out with one slender hand and clawing the side of his face. Damon yelped and turned as far from the strike as he could, displaying the deep gashes it had left for all to see.

"I know this is the face of the one who killed meine love!" the German cat hissed. "Four years ago! Four years!_Und what have the police, or anyone, done? Nothing! How is that right?!" She looked to Kawauso, who returned her gaze meekly and sidelong. "How is that fair!?" Kaira demanded, facing Avinglad next. "Do you not want vengeance? _I do! I deserve it! Ve all deserve it!"

All Avinglad could do was meet her eyes with his own level stare. There was truth to her words that he found hard to deny.

"With all due respect, miss," Kaw ventured, swallowing nervously when Kaira's baleful eyes turned back to lock with his, "we don't know for a fact whether Damon was-"

"Stow it, lad," Avinglad found his voice. "Ah've already told ye ah was there when Damon slaughtered my kin. I don't know Ms. Kaira's story, but ah don't doubt he was responsible for her suffering, as well. I already know the pain he's caused you, lad. Don't deny it."

"I don't know what you're- UNGH!" Damon had ventured to speak before Kaira landed another heavy blow, this time to his abdomen. He coughed and whimpered brokenly, sucking in ragged breaths.

"However," Avinglad asserted, recapturing Kaira's attention, "certain...events...have led me tae believe that our captive here is nae ordinary fox. I'd appreciate it if ye did not continue to antagonize him like that, lass."

Was that all it was? Avinglad didn't want them to risk the emergence of Damon's 'other half', of course, but more than that there was something about Kaira's treatment of the fugitive that was making him uncomfortable. But he deserves it...doesn't he?

"What will he do?" Kaira sneered, "he is our captive - he's not going anywhere. Und ve have seen none of this...'strange behaviour' you two made mention of before."

"All the more reason not to encourage any...outbursts," Kawauso suggested hopefully. "Trust me."

"Ah hate to agree with the lad, but he's right," Avinglad sighed and screwed up his face in a frown. Kaira rolled her eyes.

"Fine," she relented, "no more hitting. For now. So what is the plan, then?"

"Well, like I've said," Kawauso perked up a little, "we've got ourselves the perfect opportunity to turn him in right now. 200k is a lot of money...Pounds, mind you, not Euros." This time Avinglad rolled his eyes.

"That won't do any good, lad. Money won't set anything right, and that would just put Damon back in the hands of the Law - from which he's escaped, already."

Kaira gripped the gun hanging from its sling around her shoulder and nudged the barrel against the side of Damon's head.

"So ve kill him, then, ja?" she ventured. Defeated, Damon simply hung his head in silence.

"Not quite," Avinglad contested. "Or, ah don't think we can; not now. I think we need to perform an exorcism, first." His supposition was met with a silence that lingered for a few moments.

"A what now?" Kawauso asked incredulously.

"Hah!" Kaira gaped at them both momentarily, open-mouthed. Then she laughed again, disbelievingly. "Exorzismus? What sort of scheisse is this?"

"Bollocks," Damon concurred, softly, though he didn't look up. "This is mental..."

Avinglad didn't much care for not being taken seriously. His muzzle wrinkled in a growl and he gestured toward Damon with a thick finger.

"Look: this is Damon Vulpes. True enough. But this is nae the same...entity that the otter an' I have fought before. That presence is within him, somewhere, though. Ah'm sure of it."

Damon looked up at Avinglad, golden eyes full of confusion. It was genuine enough that it shook the wolf's resolve, and the accusatory finger he had leveled at Damon wavered.

"What...what are you talking about?!" Damon cried. "I've never even _met_you before...!"

He truly doesn't remember, Avinglad realized, his heart sinking.

"This is...bullshit," Kaira decided after meditating on her English vocabulary. She stepped toward Avinglad. "You think he's, what, possessed, is the word?"

"Aye," Avinglad affirmed with renewed certainty.

"Look, Avi," Kawauso jumped in, and Avinglad bristled at the 'Avi' monicker. "I know we don't really see eye to eye, but even so... This is starting to sound kind of...insane."

"Oh?" Avinglad huffed. "And d'ye have a better explanation for any of this, whelp?"

"No," Kawauso frowned. He walked over to Damon, who tried to shrink away from his touch. In spite of this the otter lifted the fox's chin to show his face to Avinglad again. Avi's ears folded back slightly. Those damned eyes... "But look at this," Kaw insisted. "Does this look like a monster to you?"

Avinglad sighed, unable to hide his exasperation.

"Not right now, ye half-queer daftie-"

"Well that didn't take fuckin' long to come back now, did it?" the otter interjected. "Self-righteous Bible-toting Goddamned sonofabitch..."

"Ah meant before, d'ye ken?!" Avinglad snarled back angrily, unable to keep from baring his teeth. "When ye fought him in that warehouse a' when ah fought him in Notre Dame!"

"Th-this is insane!" Damon shouted. "I've never seen any of you before! You've got the wrong guy!"

"Shut up!" Kawauso ordered, his anger evidently roused.

"Alright, alright," Kaira stepped in now with an agitated sigh while massaging her temple and brow. "Ve exorcise him, then what - ve kill him?"

"Aye," Avinglad agreed reluctantly, "that's the gist of it, lass." Damon whimpered at that and slumped lower in his seat.

"Wait," Kawauso knit his brow uncertainly and adjusted his glasses. "But we don't have to kill him if that's the case, right? I mean, if you 'fix' him..."

Avinglad didn't relish the notion of ending Damon's life, either, especially if he could first be cured. He wasn't about to shrink from his duty, though, however unsavoury, and the otter's reticence was irritating him.

"Och, what's yer fuckin' deal with that, anyway?" the wolf wondered. "Ye're afraid o' killin' 'im, is that it, yeh banty bastard?"

"What's wrong with not wanting to kill someone?!" The Canadian's voice rose to a shout, "what the fuck is your damage anyhow? Whatever happened to 'thou shalt not kill', ya fuckin' hypocrite?!"

Avinglad could feel his hackles rise and his ears all but vanished in his sandy blonde hair. Between that and the pounding of his own pulse everything sounded muffled. He couldn't help but shout back at the otter with thickened brogue.

"Ah don't want tae kill 'im, lad, ah just ain't afraid o' it! Bein' under th'influence of a daemon dinnae absolve 'is fuckin' sins! The lad forfeit 'is right tae live when 'e gave in t'the evil presence t'overtook 'im! What I'm talkin' about is divine retribution, d'ye ken?! Justice! Punishing th'wicked!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Damon had joined in the shouting again, too. "I've never seen any of you before! Why won't you listen to me?!" He was all but sobbing. Kawauso didn't help matters when he drew one of his fancy pistols and shoved it into Damon's face.

"SHUT UP! That ploy ain't workin'!" Weapon still pressed to their captive, the otter turned his venom back on Avinglad. "Maybe I don't like blood!_Is that a crime?! Maybe I don't enjoy watching someone have the ever-lovin' motherfuckin' _shit beat out of 'em! Is that so Goddamn strange?!"

Avinglad drew his own, larger firearm, but his he pressed to the otter's chest; their shouting match had drawn them closer, with Damon caught in the middle.

"It is a wee bit hard tae unnerstand why ye're so anxious tae protect someone who's wronged ye so!" He accused. "But while ye're at it, lad, go ahead an' take th'Laird's name in vain one more fuckin' time! Ah dare yeh, ya fuckin' bugger!"

"Halt den Schnabel!" Kaira jumped back in with an irate cry, "ve are getting nowhere mit all this arguing! If we're going to kill the fox let's get on with whatever ve need to do, ja?!"

"WHY WON'T YOU FUCKIN' LISTEN TO ME?!" Damon howled.

"Shut it!" Kawauso snarled and pistol-whipped the fox in a fit of rage, sending a couple of teeth scattering across the concrete floor like dice. Damon sobbed in pain and hung his head while he spat out another tooth. Kaw rounded on Avi and Kaira, glaring daggers at both.

"There!" The otter declared, "you want me to fuckin' hurt 'im?! There you go! Fuck! Since we can't fuckin' kill 'im, let's just beat the fuck out of the limey little shit! Why the fuck not?!"

Temper flared to a blazing pyre, Kaw lowered his gun and disengaged the safety in one smooth motion. In the heat of the moment all hesitation had left the mustelid, and without pause he put a round through Damon's thigh point-blank.

Avinglad flinched, instinctively covering one of his ears with a big paw. Kaira had recoiled too, momentarily. Everyone reeled briefly in the ringing din that proceeded the deafening gunshot in that confined space. The silence that followed was oppressive.

It didn't last.

When the numbing shock subsided, Damon let out a shriek of agony and thrashed in his chair. Between the slippery spurts of blood he was jetting into his seat and the violence of his bucking, fox and chair both tumbled sideways onto the floor. There Damon continued to bleed at an alarming rate.

"He...he's bleeding out," Kawauso mumbled in shock, so softly Avinglad could barely hear it over his ringing ears. "Why...why is he bleeding like that?"

Another pitched cry rent the air as Kaira recovered from her own stunned silence. She rushed to the thrashing fox's side and grabbed him by what remained of his shirt collar, throttling him desperately.

"Nein!" She keened, "what have you done, otter!? This was meine kill! Meine!_You can't die, Damon! Stirb nicht! _Stirb nicht vor mir!" She continued to yowl and frantically shake Damon before finding sense enough to try and stop the fox's bleeding. The cat produced a knife and slashed the zip-tie, freeing Damon's hands so he could clamp down on the wound while she prepared a tourniquet.

"D-doesn't make sense," Kawauso mumbled, staring on numbly. "The blood...oh God, the blood...why won't he stop bleeding?! He's not supposed to be doing that!"

"Yeh, well, he is, lad," Avinglad's paws were trembling as he holstered his gun, thank God, and took a half-step toward Kawauso before delivering a savage blow to the otter's stomach. The force of the wolf's punch lifted Kaw momentarily off his feet and then doubled him over, winded.

"Hnnh! Nnh...I...I was...how...?"

Still quivering with unspent rage, Avinglad hauled Kawauso up roughly by the scruff of his neck with one paw. Its counterpart clocked the mustelid across his jaw, sending him to the floor in a heap. His glasses clattered against the pavement somewhere nearby. Kaw propped himself up on one weak arm and cradled his face with one paw, but he made no attempt to rise while he wheezed and snorted.

"Save yer breath, ye stupid bloody git!" Avinglad warned. The thought of not being able to mete out justice on Damon was enough to drive him mad; he wasn't sure what he would do if the otter tried otherwise. "Ye'll need it. Lord knows what'll happen to ye if the fox dinnae survive this ordeal."

But it seemed they were about to find out.

"Der Fuchs ist tot..." Kaira croaked.

Avi and Kaw turned their collective gaze to the feline. Avinglad could feel his face twisting in a contorted mixture of confusion, shock, horror and rage. Kaira was sitting over Damon, the both of them surrounded by what seemed an ocean of blood. A field dressing was tied around Damon's femur and soaked right through. The room stunk of iron.

"...What?" Avinglad asked to break the terrible silence, and though he knew full well what had been said, Kawauso whimpered it anyway:

"He's dead..."