Bloodied Hearts (WIP)
A flash of pain was all the warning that the man had before he was knocked to the ground. A savage snarl followed by drooling on the back of his neck were all signs of the beast currently attempting to savage him. Blood and saliva flew to either side as he moved, and the beast upon his back slashed through shirt and skin, revealing bones which snapped like twigs beneath the immense strength that it commanded. He turned at first, rolling under the grasp of the creature seeking to pin him, but though he had no match for the savagery of the beast, he had strength enough. His red eyes widened, before he shrieked, the last thing he saw before the blurry edges of his eyes closed shut in preparation, being golden eyes, lit from within with the flames of hell, and a long muzzle, with curved teeth coated red with blood. His blood. A crunch was the last thing he felt, as that thickset muzzle set on his face and tore his head from his shoulders. It was that that had killed him, the exposed organs and broken bones would have healed if the attack hadn't continued.
Red eyes peered down at the corpse, tears of blood began to cascade down over almost chalky cheeks. Blood had pooled below the body, soaked into the earth and higlighted the prints that showed the remains of a one-sided battle, and the head of the vampire sat as though bewildered on the remains of his own chest. Enormous paw-prints were sunk into the ground, a depth of at least 2 inches showing just how large such a creature had been. He ran his hands through untidy blonde hair, grateful for the night-time and the lack of humans walking across the area. One of the Masters from the local Basium was exploring the area, the vampire making the 400 year old feel young. He murmured into the night, tears still cascading down the white cheeks, unable to believe what had happened. "But - we were the same age. How could-what could have slaughtered him like this?" For the first time since he was a century old, he flashed fang, his normally smooth voice hoarse with tears.
"I'll have to fetch the Vinco here, and the leader of the local Asasa. It's a 'wolf kill." The vampire sighed softly, his face downcast as he rested a hand upon the shoulder of Tuomas. "I'm so sorry,I know he was your animus materia, your soul mate. The Vinco will want to talk to you. You can't be left alone, you know the rules." His words were accented slightly, since like most vampires, he was from a different country, swapped by his old Vinco for a female. "Seiko..." He whispered the name into the air, closing his eyes to replace the images of his dead boyfriend with one of him from the day before. Seiko always dressed in a suit, his dark hair always combed neatly into place. Not once did he forget to hide his fangs, nor his eyes. He looked like a young Hollywood agent, not looking at all like his 410 year life span. Both he and Eraquoi loved it when he smiled, it was such a rare sight after all. That final thought made him open his eyes and wince. Eraquoi. The third in their relationship, a werewolf. But he wasn't just any werewolf, he was the heir to the Asasa in the area.
Tuomas wondered whether Eraquoi knew what had happened, but shrugged, knowing he would do soon. He noticed small things as he avoided looking at the body, a body he was unable to think of as his animus materia, his soul mate. Fur had been caught in the thorns of bushes nearby, fur that was both blonde and black. Claws had split open tree trunks, sap had spilled down, spilling their own tears at the destruction that had ocurred only hours previously. He soon frowned, wiping away the blood-tears and noticing the claw-marks again. Most of the Asara shifted into their lupus form, that of a wolf merely larger than their otherkin. Most lupus kept their human intelligence, though the local Asara was one of the few packs that had members who could shift to lupus homine, or a man-wolf shape. More lethal, this form had been known to cause insanity, blood-lust and an insatiable need to kill.
Eraquoi was one such lupus homine. He scarcely used it, prefer the more placid, pack-minded lupus, who ran alongside their Asara, side by side. There were only half a dozen in the pack able to transform into such a deadly shape, and only half of those had black and blonde fur. Tuomas frowned, his fist tightening on a scrape of bloodied fur as he rose up in one single deadly move - a snake readying itself to strike. His jeans were bloodied along the bottom, trainers ruined and his cheek was smeared with blood from his tears. He bit back a shriek, sinking his fangs into his lower lip to avoid alerting those who would be approaching with haste. His Vinco was this first one there, and one vampire who actually looked old. He was nearly a millennia, as far as any in the Basium could tell. Almost a thousand years old, and yet he looked as though he were only fifty, still a handsome man but power radiated from him. He placed one hand on the shoulder of the standing, grieving Tuomas, speaking in his native tongue. "EGO sum sic rumex Toumas. Suus nex mos non vado inultus." (I am so sorry Tuomas. His death will not go unavenged.)
Tuomas accepted the touch of his Vinco, lowering his head in respect as fresh tears broke barriers and fresh pink tears made their way down his dirty cheeks. "Gratias ago vos Vinco , EGO don't teneo quis efficio. Is eram meus vita , meus pectus pectoris. meus animus" (Thank you Master, I don't know what to do. He was my life, my heart...my soul.) He spoke in the native Latin that all in the Basium had to learn, the language long since dead in these times. He lifted his head as a smell reached his nostrils, and the Vinco in front of him bared fangs that while delicate, curved just like any predators. He was standing protectively in front of the cowed, grief-stricken vampire, as the lupus arrived.
The Dominor of the Asara was an intimidating man. He was tall, slightly over six and a half foot, and built like a rugby played, broad of both chest and shoulders. His hair was white at the temples, and speckled grey with black throughout the rest of the almost military style. He had eyes that were brown when indoors, but amber when he was outside in natural light, and at the moment they gleamed with something different. "What is the meaning of this? Who are you to call the Asara from their hunt?" Amber and gold eyes glittered at varying heights around him - his pack in full lupus form and bound there til the sun crested the horizon. He wasn't alone in being human, Eraquoi was at his side, and Tuomas was hard pressed not to run to him. With only the most dominant in the pack were able to go from man to lupus and back again in the same night. Eraquoi was built like his father, though on slimmer lines with black hair that was streaked through naturally with blonde. All of those who were lupus carried their natural looks over into their wild form, with dark haired people creating large dark furred lupus, lighter haired people were light furred lupus and so on.
All the lupus that could be seen, could be smelt, had blood speckling their coats. Teeth gleamed with the ingredient key to life, and the multitude of scents made Tuomas step forward, away from the protection of his Vinco. He flashed fang, speaking for his Vinco, who he knew wouldn't be able to understand the words being said. Turning, his cheeks still stained with blood tears, and translated the commandind statement. " quis est voluntas illae? Quisnam es vos voco Asara ex suum hunt?" The Vinco sneered, and waved his hands as he spoke, too fast for the Dominor to keep up. As he nodded encouragingly, Tuomas began to speak.
"Dominor, as both of us know, lupus and vampire are at peace here. Tonight, on his way to the feeding bank, my Seiko, my soul mate was attacked and killed by one of your own. We found clues that led us to believe it is one of your lupus homine. We know that you do not want to war with us, it will alert the humans to our presence, and then both of our species will be finally wiped from the earth." As he spoke the words, his eyes flickered to Eraquoi, darkening in red at the grief shown within those expressive golden eyes. He couldn't comfort his remaining partner, since their relationship was taboo, since Eraquoi was expected to mate with a meek lupus to provide pups for the future.
"You are accusing one of us? How dare you you stupid bloodsucker. What proof do you have that it was one of us? It could be a passing lupus homine." The Vinco looked enquiringly at Tuomas, waiting for him to translate the words easily. "Vos es accusing unus nostrum? Quam praesumo vos vos bardus bloodsucker. Quis testimonium operor vos have ut is eram unus nostrum? Is could exsisto a obduco lupus homine." The Asara snarl softly when the Vinco laughs, the sound chilling enough to send a shudder up the spine of even Tuomas, protected as he was by the ancient vampire. The lupus massed behind their Dominor, their slightly larger frames showing clearly as they clustered, fur intermingling. One by one, half a dozen shapes unfolded from the pack, the lupus homine who were watched in silence by vampires, hidden among tree-trunks. Each knew the other was there, but only the kneeling, petting lupus homine moved, in that very form.
Their faces were pushed forward, a lupine muzzle spread with fur which coated their entire bodies. Chests sprouted fur that was a little thinner than on the back, and perked ears flickered and danced with every movement. Red fire burned in the depths of the expressive eyes, humanity clearly warring with the inner wilderness that dictated every single move that was made. A tail, longer and less bushy than the tail that allowed the lupus to show their emotions, hung down their legs, more humanoid than wolf, but coated in fur, their feet ending in thick clawed toes. Their arms hung down, their claws almost as sharp as a felines.
"We can show you proof, Dominor, but only if you leave your Asara here, too many near my Seiko's body would be too risky. They might not be able to hold back their hunger." Both the Dominor, and Eraquoi stepped forward, the Asara residing onto their bellies, growling in dismay as their leader and leader heir stepped into the darkness. Tuomas ended up walking beside Eraquoi, leaving the Vinco and Dominor to walk ahead as the leaders they were. "Seiko...how could someone do that to him?" Eraquoi was shell-shocked, his voice roughened as his skin bubbled along the hands. He was so close to changing, that Tuomas took his hand, and lifted it up to his mouth. He pressed his lips to the skin, before stroking his thumb across the skin. "Calm, otherwise you will be a suspect, you know what those in power are like." He was distracted from his own grief by the devastated lupus, after all, he had had an hour to at least force down the pain from seeing the sole provider of love and comfort in the last 400 years, slaughtered and left like a mouse after playtime with a cat.
"Oh Tuomas, I am so very very sorry. I-I don't know what we are going to do without him. He was our nostrum sedo unus, the one to keep us calm so we never rushed into anything." The only one who'd be able to hear the whispered words was the Vinco, and he would only understand a handful of the words uttered with pain, with hopelessness contained in their depths. Who could recover from discovering their first love butchered? But at that same time, Tuomas and Eraquoi weren't alone, they had each other, it was poor Seiko who had been left, his soul wandering until his killer was found. Eraquoi nosed into Tuomas, brushing his nose back and forth over his throat, ignoring the fact that no pulse thumped there.