Snow Bunny Ch.27
#27 of Snow Bunny
A/N: Hey Guys, sorry I disappeared on you for a while. I was gone for two weeks celebrating my birthday. Good news is that I can post this chapter. Also I finished another chapter. Its going to take me forever now to write another. So here's Ch.27 and I'll post ch.28 around the first of september. So enough of me babbling on with the show.
Chapter Twenty Seven
Out of all the years he had lived Adrex had never felt such blind rage. All he could see was the blood and gore from the young wolf on the white snow. All he could think about was that it was somehow his fault. All he could think of was how he had failed his party as leader. He had failed Gira in being strong enough to protect them.
And there was this cat demon. He knew it wasn't the same one that had run through their den but it had killed one of his underlings. The creature had killed one of his friends. The cat killed one of his kind.
He must die.
A keen made it from that once seductive mouth, now split and leaking blood. The creature wasn't even putting up a fight. He barely stood up to meet Adrex's attack. And now he was slumped against the roots of a tree, blood flowing freely from him, green yellow cat eyes glaring defiantly at him. He hissed out something Adrex didn't understand and it only made him kick the face that taunted him.
He walked over to that broken body, glowering down at it. Somehow, if he killed this cat, all his problems would disappear. Gira would believe in his ability to protect her and their pups. Kadell wouldn't treat him distantly but like a brother. Raklyn would stop threatening his happiness. His best friends wouldn't be on opposite sides of their hidden civil war.
"Adrex..."
The whisper that dripped fear from his best friend made the wolf stop in his tracks. He could feel his hackles rising, his back itching with something unknown. He felt very unsafe, as if he were facing the hooded face of death.
This feeling was something he had never felt so powerfully before. He had felt a whisper of it when he was out hunting with Jorin, Katsu, and Sire that one time. That was the shadow feeling but this... this was no shadow. This was the full blown thing.
Adrex turned and faced the grim reaper, the persona of fear.
Standing a few yards away from his pack was a black creature. Its hind legs were the legs of an animal, something that reminded him of a cat the way its heels were arched up, the way it rested its weight on the balls of its feet. But they weren't feet. They were paws. Large paws with longish toes and very sharp and hooked claws peeped clearly through folds of fur. The heels arched up to end in a point before the thighs curved up in the opposite direction. But the creature was straightened so the curve in the thighs weren't as obvious but it made it very, very tall.
The upper body was short compared to its hind legs. It must have been wearing some form of black cloth or nothing at all because all Adrex could see was black. Pure onyx glared down at him.
The creature's arms were long, hands huge. What must have been three inch claws extended from each thin finger, making it look like the digits were points. The body was completely disproportionate, long legs, long arms, short upper body, large head. Points that curved up slightly signified ears but Adrex couldn't get sharp detail. There were no eyes that he could see, no mouth, no nose. All black. A tail that curled slightly on the ground didn't flick, just laid.
Adrex blinked a few times, trying to figure out if what he saw was a trick of his eyes or a burnt tree. No creature could be that still for that long. And with no eyes? Every creature needed eyes, right? But then again, Adrex had never met a creature like this before.
The cat demon behind Adrex choked on blood and caused the entire group to jump.
"Adiah!" The cat choked. "Adiah mrakensahl frajk!"
There was a flash of black and the creature was no longer there. A painful hitch and choke of breath drew Adrex's attention and he took a step back to see to the creature reappear. The wolf nearest to it was holding onto its forearm, claws and tips of fingers showing through his back. The creature raised the male up with one hand embedded in his stomach easily and lashed its arm to the side, sending the wolf flying through the air and crashing into a tree, his spine snapping on impact.
The faceless black face turned towards Adrex. Its head cocked to the side, as if it were listening intently.
A wolf roared, blinded by rage, and charged. He didn't make it two steps before the creature flashed, reappearing midair and landing directly behind him. It slammed its elbow back, solidly connecting with the soft spot where skull turned to neck. The wolf collapsed, skidding to a stop.
Adrex got a side look at it. It was a female, if breasts were any hint to that. There was a face, just covered in the same black fur as its body. The nose was the nose of an animal, the bridge flat.
And for the first time Adrex connected the creature to something he had believed was only myth to keep young pups from venturing too far into the forest alone. He now faced a shadow made flesh, the Huntress.
He was going to die.
Katsu was fidgeting and couldn't stop. It was as if sitting for too long would cause something in him to explode. He knew that he must be pissing off Raklyn. His leader hadn't been in the best of moods since Moku escaped his clutches thanks to the helping hands of his beloved grandson. Katsu was as agitated as Raklyn was furious.
But his leader didn't say anything.
He just stared at the floor before him, fingers folded together and mouth resting on them to balance his head. They had heard that strange call a while ago. Even Raklyn, not as young and sharp as he once was, had snapped to the defensive at the noise, eyes wide and alert. After the calls were over, he had settled down on his thrown like chair and took to staring at the stone floor.
Katsu couldn't take it. He was too curious, too anxious. "Master? What was that noise? The one before?"
Grey eyes closed slowly before opening, pinpoints of silver evident in their depths. "That was a cat demon's call for help. From what I could tell, it's a male, jaguar, and severely damaged. You can tell by the pitch and level of screech the roar had."
Katsu's eyes widened to take up half of his face. "You mean... Adrex found the jaguar and hurt it and it called for more?"
"Most likely."
"And we're just sitting here?! They could need help! They need backup themselves!"
"We don't know how many cat demons are out in our territory." Raklyn responded with unnatural calmness. "There is more than one, that's for sure."
"Why do you think that?"
"Because it wasn't a jaguar that ran through our den."
"How do you know that?!" Katsu snapped before biting his tongue. "My lord. With all due respect, how do you know?"
"Because golden eyes are very rare, despite popular belief."
Katsu held back all impatience and asked softly. "Will you please explain?"
"How good are you with your history?"
"Uhhh..."
Raklyn rolled his eyes. "Right. When the world was new there were two sister dragons, Yin and Yang."
"Good and evil!"
"Very observant as always. Because the two sisters were so different they often fought with each other. But because their powers were much too chaotic when clashing they used eight other Dragons to do it for them. These Dragons Lords each had an element that they controlled: sun, moon, earth, fire, wind, water, lightening, and ice. But there was nothing to interact with the physical world, the human world, so Yin and Yang each created their own pet. Yin created the White Tiger, Kara, the original Tigress. Yang created Caernyth, the Black Wolf. But Yang became lonely and greedy and wanted to convince the humans and demons to support her."
"Lykaios?"
"Yes. She transformed Caernyth into a part human and thus Lykaios was born."
"What has this to do with golden eyes?"
"I'm getting to that. After the fall of the Dragon Lords, the job of protecting their burial site was left to the descendents of Kara and Caernyth."
"Now," Raklyn started on a new note. "The Tigress Clan and the Fang Tribe aren't pure cat and wolf demons. We are descendants of Lykaios, the man. The descendants of Caernyth are wolves, pure in their blood and power. They reside in the Dragon Lord burial ground. Decades after their assignment, the descendants of Kara abandoned the burial ground to the Caernythians. They bred with humans, giving form to the cat demons that are most commonly known. But there is a small group of pure bloods that still remain in the Tigress Clan. They made the difference in the war two hundred years ago. But then again, if a small group of Caernythians hadn't come to our aide we wouldn't have survived."
There was a pause and Katsu ventured out in his questioning. "Sir? What does that have to do with golden eyes?"
"Golden eyes are like the silver eyes of our tribe. It's a rare genetic trait. It shows the direct connection to the original Tigress, Kara. Just like the change to silver in the Fang of our tribe shows the connection of the Man and the Wolf, the golden eyes show the lineage of the White Tiger. Yin and Yang. They are what connect us to our power."
"But..." Katsu's eyes were wide. "Wasn-... but..."
"The last Tigress -no one knows her real name because all the cats referred to her as the Tigress because of her great power -was killed by the one whom we don't speak of by name. That same wolf killed her one child, effectively destroying the cats' connection to the White Tiger."
"Then how could a cat with gold eyes come here? It must be a mistake."
"Now that is the question. Was it a mistake? Or was it really a descendant? Did the Tigress have another child? She had killed her older brother for control of the cat clan before he had a chance to reproduce but is that true? Or did her son never actually die? These are all very complicated and aggravating questions."
Katsu stood slowly, eyes on his leader. "You know, don't you? You know who killed the Tigress."
Raklyn met Katsu's eyes for a long while before smirking. "What makes you think that? And even if I did, I couldn't tell you. There was an oath of secrecy. Our hero must be protected."
Liolyn sprinted through the forest, heading in the direction he had heard Daemon's call. He could smell blood, lots of blood. It was disturbing him but it was overwhelming Daemon's. That was always a good thing.
He skidded to a halt, eyes scanning the bodies of wolf demons that littered the ground. There was no such thing as white snow, just crunchy crimson and soft scarlet tissue. But he could see a familiar face, sitting against a trunk of a tree. Green yellow eyes looked at him, half glazed over.
Liolyn surged forward. "DAEMO-"
"Liolyn... I'm sorry..."
Those words stopped the full blood in his tracks. Gold eyes widened as he saw the sorrow in his friend's face and he immediately knew he made a mistake in coming. "It's okay, my friend." Liolyn answered softly. "I don't blame you." He didn't have to turn around to know that a black shadow stood behind him. "Hello, Huntress."
Eyes on the black face slowly opened, revealing milky white depths. No pupil showed, just a light grey circle. The faintest whisper of blue ringed the grey to show once bright irises. The blind creature, but the most powerful, looked at the direct descendant before her but not seeing him. She could hear his breathing, his pounding heart that gave away his fear and anxiety. She could smell his sharp scent, taste him if she breathed in air through her mouth.
"Hello, Leo."
Something was wrong.
Something was terribly wrong.
Gira paced, eyes looking over the half frozen lake. She could feel it deep within her heart, in her bones. Her senses were unnaturally sharp, her patience gone.
She wanted to break down and cry. She wanted to thrown something. She wanted to slam her fist into the wall and punch it until every bone in it shattered. She wanted to scream, she wanted to roar. She wanted to rage. She wanted to faint. She wanted to vomit. She wanted to run.
There was something terribly wrong.
Moku gazed at Derek, watching as the other one sat in a slight crouched position. His eyes were bright silver and his claws flexed and hands tense.
"Derek."
The hand he put on the other's forearm made the full blood flinch back and jump with alarm. "Yeah?"
Blue eyes shone with worry and concern. There was fear hidden within those depths and was clouding over the clear cerulean rabidly. "It's not... It's not Rak-... him, is it?" The hand on Derek's arms was trembling.
"No. It's not him. Don't worry about it."
Moku visibly relaxed, eyes drifting shut with a sigh. But the hand was still shaking.
Derek paused, swallowing before placing his hand over Moku's. "May I lay with you?"
The request was so soft and unexpected that Moku's eyes snapped open in shock. He was about to say something about dying of surprise that Derek actually asked instead of commanded it but the look in the full blood's eyes made him bite his tongue. "Okay."
Derek slid under the furs next to Moku easily, gently tugging at the injured boy to get him to scoot closer and against his chest. Moku snuggled in out of instinct, sighing against the warmth that enveloped him. Derek let his cheek rest on the top of Moku's head, eyes glued on the cave's entrance. His fingers automatically went into the boy's thick locks, stroking them. Moku let out a happy sigh and it made Derek smile softly and kiss the boy's forehead.
Blue eyes slide open slowly, falling on Derek's lips before traveling to silver eyes. The boy wetted his lips before biting the lower one. The full blood smiled softly, tilting the other's head back with his index finger under his chin. Their lips brushed, both of them parting before Moku leaned up to seal the distance.
Derek's hands tangled in white strands, not gripping to command but holding for reassurance that the boy wouldn't float away.
Thin fingers fisted in the full blood's leather shirt, tugging slightly to get the other closer and things became dramatically more passionate. Derek opened his mouth, letting Moku dominate him. He moaned, fisting those locks to keep his hands under control.
Moku nipped the full blood's bottom lip with a whimper, tugging down and leading him to his neck. Derek obeyed, sucking and licking tendons, sliding down to be able to mouth the boy's collar bone. Moku fisted his hands in Derek's hair and let out whispery sighs and soft gasps.
Derek let himself forget about his weird feeling, pushing back his hackles rising. There was nothing wrong. It was just him and Moku, and that's all that matters.
"I love you." He breathed, kissing down Moku's chest.
He wrapped his arms around Moku's waist, pulling him tightly despite the injuries.
"Moku," long lick, "I love you so much."
The only response was Moku sliding his hands through his hair and gripping it harder.