Brothers Part II
By Will E. Fox
Yeah yeah I know it's not a proper furry story and it's not yiffy. It's got animals and werewolves and dead ppl. What more do you want? You know what I want mates? I want feedback. Funkoo very much.
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Rain poured throughout the night. Some residents emerged to shamble aimlessly across the blasted ground surrounding the house while others sped into the distance towards to the borders of the forest hoping to make a meal of curious game that ventured across the threshold.
Bucher saw without seeing the dead wagon on its way miles into the murk. Blood pulsing in veins was like a bright torch to him and he gauged that the wagon's driver was especially terrified since Bucher could see his life force at this distance. Some of the more intelligent house denizens always saw to it that the dead bodies reached the house without being plundered by some of the more opportunistic un-dead. Bucher had a sneaking suspicion that the six wolf-like escorts didn't put the driver at ease. They trotted alongside the wagon keeping a distance between themselves and the horses pulling the wagon through the mud.
He lounged with his back against a clock tower, a fine crystal glass filled with crimson life-blood held delicately in hand. He smiled as a gargoyle almost lost its footing on a slippery balcony ledge. So graceful in the air on the ground it might as well have been a newborn fawn walking for the first time he thought.
The wagon was nearing the side of the house but Bucher who couldn't be bothered by the unloading of corpses was once more lost in his own thoughts until he saw something interesting; Wufy was ambling towards the wagon, his huge cloak flapping behind him belying the sheer physical force that he was. The "wagon-guards" removed themselves from his path. Bucher was intrigued. The driver shrunk away as Wufy approached and Bucher could see the human's life pulsing brighter with the added terror of a huge beast bearing down on him. Then Wufy did a peculiar thing; he seemed to be speaking to the driver who nodded intermittently. Wufy, seemingly satisfied, handed something to the driver who smiled nervously and accepted the package with another series of nods. Wufy ambled off again as the driver seemed all too happy to be off again.
Bucher frowned to himself draining the last of the glass' contents peering intently at the wagon as it made it's way back to the border. Wufy had entered into the corpse storage where it would be rationed out among the dead by some un-dead humans whose souls just didn't seem to want to leave their long since decaying bodies. Bucher smiled to himself, it seemed that the only useful human was a dead one.
Jarel looked up from the ledger he had been writing in. His face showing a pale imitation of surprise as the huge beast slouched to enter the dank room. It simply stepped over the five steps into corpse storage.
Jarel and the other distributors ceased all work immediately getting to their feet a show of respect to the lord of the house. Jarel who was the senior Distributor bowed to Wufy and smiled.
"My lord' he started 'to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"
Wufy shrouded in his cloak, stood seemingly uncertain for a moment, before answering "I understand there is an irregularity here, I merely wish to examine the new shipment Distributor."
Jarel noted that one or two Distributors seemed anxious. He frowned but turned his attention back to the lord.
"Of course my lord, let me show you through." He turned and walked into a back room, Wufy following him.
They entered a long dark room that stretched out into the back making it appear like a hallway. The temperature was subzero to keep the corpses fresh as they could be. Jarel heard the lord taking a deep breath. "My lord?" he stated enquiringly.
"Thank you Distributor, your help is no longer needed."
When the Distributor had left Wufy collected himself. He looked around the room, racks were built along the walls and a series of cutting tables stood down the centre length of the room.
He closed his eyes pulling power from within himself he contracted then expanded his pupils making subtle changes, his irises turned red. He opened his eyes and blinked, looking for a faint sign of life. If one of Bucher's victims had fallen into the death sleep then there was a chance of finding life. He scanned one wall seeing only the dark blue that characterised the dead. He scanned the other and still saw only the blue. He sighed to himself wondering how many corpses in this shipment were Bucher's doing. Two? Three? More?
He turned to leave then stopped. His keen ears prickled at a tiny whisper of noise. Once again he turned facing the corpses, there, for an instant flashed a tiny speckle of orange by the far wall. In a few long quick strides he closed the distance to the back wall then crouched staring into the rack over the corpse of an old woman, grey as granite. Wufy peered at her seeking signs of life, there were none. Behind her lay a small child Wufy couldn't gauge how old she was but her tiny chest rose and fell so slightly that it seemed to almost be vibrating.
Wufy stared in wonder at the live human. The girl child was so tiny. That a vessel of that size could house a soul was a wonder to him. He could clearly see the slight orange that emanated from her chest. Saliva dripped from his maw to splatter against the stone floor.
He was crouched transfixed at the sight of Life. The colour flickered for a moment then started fading. Wufy spat a curse accompanied by a huge outlet of air from his lungs. He scrambled and savagely ripped the old woman from her resting place throwing her to one side where she hit a table. Wufy then reached quickly through to the dying child folding a huge claw gently around her tiny waist, lifting her out then placing her on the granite floor.
He placed one claw around her torso the other around her head. Once more he closed his eyes reaching deep within himself he called upon his might, feeling the power boiling from deep within his being. He calmed it and changed it from the Blood Red to the Just White and then slowly he let it trickle into the body, cleansing the impurities within it.
He felt the vampire poison and worked on neutralizing it but no avail it was his brother's essence and couldn't just be dissolved
Despairingly he turned back to the red and fought to control it, with a savage mental push of will he forced it to calmness then started channelling the red into the little body too. It flowed through the child warming her body moving through her stomach then the legs and finally the feet. He pulled the power back to the torso concentrating on the heart. He focused the red into the heart then momentarily opened the barriers containing the red which pulsed violently into the tiny heart making it jump. He fought the red letting strong pulses through before pulling back again.
The girl child coughed suddenly and her eyes opened staring straight at Wufy, they were red. He pulled from her. The red, having nowhere to go, filled his entire being shocking him senseless. He released a deafening roar and flung himself backwards against a table toppling it, spilling the corpse on it to the floor. His hood had come off. He lay, muzzle to the floor, as the red subsided. Giving voice to deep whimpers his eyes connected to the girl's own blood red ones.
Jarel hurried into the room. Taking in the scene by the far wall, the old woman, the table and its contents sprawled to one side then the lord on the floor across from the girl child. She was alive.
Jarel made a quick decision; he closed the door behind him and bolted it from the inside. He moved to the house lord's side he pulled the hood back into place.
He communicated his concern "Lord, the dead are to stay dead... there are... laws."