Seeds of Autumn

by HB Lyne

  Chapter Twenty-One

  26th November

  That night, Stalker-of-Night's-Shadow dreamt of Odin's Warriors. She saw fire and glorious battles, she saw herself wielding her dha and she saw celebrations of new life. She awoke feeling sweaty and restless.

  The rest of the pack were still sleeping as she crept from the attic, again there was no sign of Flames. Weaver was tossing and turning, images of fire flashed through her nightmare. Stalker wondered where the elusive ritualist slept as he was so seldom with the pack. Eyes, she knew, would be with his family and she envied him a little.

  She made her way down to the basement and went a few rounds with the punch bag to work off her excess energy and satiate the feelings of frustration building within her. By the time she was done, the rest of the pack had assembled and were eating breakfast. Stalker fetched her phone and checked her messages while she ate a breakfast of bacon and eggs. Rhys had sent her a text message the day before asking how she was. With a satisfied grin she replied.

  Good thanks. You? Would really love to see you again soon. Let me know when you're free xx

  Shadow told her he would be out all day making preparations for her initiation into Odin's Warriors, so Fortune asked her to do some rituals training with Flames-First-Guardian. Flames ambled into the kitchen mid-morning and Stalker followed him to the basement.

  The excitement of the previous night felt like it had happened to someone else and she longed for night to come around again, when she would really feel alive and completely in tune with the shifter within.

  Her increasing familiarity with runes was a big help in her training session with Flames. He gave her some notes to copy and got her to cast a circle, carving runes for the elements at each of the four directional points of the circle, all of which she could now do. He was very pleased with her and decided to teach her the rite that enabled shifters to will their clothes and weapons to change with them.

  'It is a fundamental rite, one all of us must learn early as a platform for others,' he said in his solemn tone. She remembered what it had involved from when he had performed the rite on her and that familiarity helped her to grasp what was involved.

  The rest of the day was quiet and Stalker decided to take a little down time. Flames said it should be okay for her to take a walk over to her flat to pick up her post and check on things. She went to her room first and checked her phone. There was a new message from Rhys and her heart skipped a beat as she read it.

  Yeah I'm good, thanks. Miss you loads. Really busy with work though, hopefully see you next week. That OK? R xx

  She let out a slightly disappointed sigh, then tapped a quick reply.

  Yeah. Shame it can't be sooner, but I'm sure I'll survive ;)

  Stalker tucked her phone away and set off for her flat.

  As she walked, her phone buzzed in her pocket and she drew it out eagerly.

  Me too. It's hard ATM. I'm sorry :(

  Stalker read the message a few times and tried to decide how to reply.

  Don't worry about it, she wrote, I understand, I'm swamped myself.

  What she really wanted to say was that she needed him, she wanted to ask if he was still interested in her at all. But she had never been that girl; the needy one, she was always guarded in her emotions. She had had relationships before, but they hadn't lasted because of her inability to open up. But she was also straightforward, she didn't do games and she didn't like to waste her time.

  But Rhys, I do need to know if I'm wasting my time here. I like you, a lot, and I just need to know if you feel the same, because this feels like a brush off.

  She hesitated before sending the message, but with a resolved breath, she sent it. Stalker was a block from her flat when his reply arrived.

  We really need to meet up and talk in person. Let's not do this by text xxxxxx

  She frowned, unsure what to make of his words. She knew there was no point continuing the discussion and she put her phone away.

  She arrived home and found her flat in much the same state that she had left it in the previous week when she came to collect some of her things. There was a pile of post waiting for her and the food in her fridge had gone off, so she spent time cleaning that up, taking out her rubbish and doing laundry. When her precious home was clean and tidy she left with a reluctant heart. She missed her space and wondered about moving back soon. But the truth was this wasn't her home any more, her home was the Blue Moon Betting Shop, with her pack. She knew that she just felt a little homesick because she had been to her flat, she hadn't missed it at all until she was there.

  When she arrived back at her new home the rest of the pack was buzzing around, the shop was still open and fairly busy so Stone and Lily had an additional human helper in there. Fortune seemed on edge having this other person in the shop, so close to the pack. The poor young man seemed on edge too and Stalker thought about the vibe she got from shifters who were older and more powerful than her. It must be ten times worse for humans to be around that energy, and she felt sorry for him.

  Fortune assembled the rest of the pack in the kitchen and quickly dished out tasks for the evening, it came as a nice surprise that Fortune planned to take her and Eyes out together patrolling the territory on the other side of the veil, in Hepethia.

  The three of them left the building by the back door and crossed over. Fortune and Eyes shifted into their wolf forms, so Stalker joined them in the form of a dark grey wolf. The three of them set off at a steady run towards the southern border. Stalker ran up front, scouting ahead using her heightened senses, the others followed a short distance behind. She negotiated the twisting streets, learning how to not fall for their tricks and dead ends and actually get to where she intended to be. As she approached the border she slowed down to sniff carefully around the mystical boundary that she could sense. There was nothing, no sign of a neighbouring pack, just as Shadow had told her. It was as if the Blue Moon had drawn an arbitrary line and chose to claim no further.

  Fortune and Eyes caught up with her and she nodded her head in the direction of the border. Fortune let out a low bark and she picked up vivid images in his mind. She saw China Town and got a sense of the unknown from him, a big mystery for all the packs of Caerton, not just the Blue Moon. China Town stood unclaimed by any shifters that they knew of, their kind could pass through unhindered and there were no traditional territory markings. It worried Fortune, she felt it rolling off him. China Town stood between St. Mark's and the unclaimed city centre with its wild and unpredictable urban demons.

  Stalker felt a pang of worry, her flat was on this boundary.

  Fortune sent her warm vibes of reassurance and she looked at him carefully, he gave her a friendly nudge and they set off along the border, towards the river. All was quiet as they moved through the strange streets, Eyes took up the rear and Stalker continued to lead the way. Stalker never felt safe in Hepethia; there was a constant feeling of being watched, and the sure knowledge that at any time the demons and fae might decide to strike out against their controllers.

  Fortune ran ahead of her suddenly and led them a block or so deeper into their territory. The street looked like any other on this side of the veil; not so different from in the human world, but the buildings felt taller, darker and like they were alive, shifting and groaning slightly. There was the feeling of too many people squeezed into the residences and there were fae. The fae and demons weren't on the street, but she could feel their presence behind closed doors, for now.

  They walked on, towards the river a few blocks away and their western border. Across the river was St. Catherine's, a particularly rough neighbourhood of Caerton. As they approached the river, several vehicle demons roared past them from the bridge and into St. Mark's. They would have been normal cars and trucks, but for the snarling teeth on their grills and their eyes for headlights. Stalker snarled as they passed and she felt Fortune's heckles rise.

  Eyes growled too and was eager to pursue them but For
tune kept them focussed and led them to Red Bridge. The river here was very wide and there was a small island in the middle, which Red Bridge crossed like an overpass, with vast red pillars holding the huge structure up over the island. It looked much like the bridge in the human world, the Blue Moon seemed to have recreated it in Hepethia and she wondered why.

  Stalker could hear the riot before they reached the riverbank. As they came to a halt looking out across the river she was shocked by what she saw. It looked as though the opposite bank were a seething mass of life, industrial demons worked tirelessly, vehicles raced along the roads, there were sirens blaring out across the river and on the bank ugly, twisted little goblins were trashing the place. They tipped cars into the river, tore down walls and chanted indistinct jeers as they caused chaos.

  Demons gone wild. Stalker understood that no pack claimed St. Catherine's and this is what happened when shifters failed in their duty. The Watch held Old Town to the south of St. Catherine's and she was vaguely aware of a pack to the north on the coast but knew nothing about them. The area had long had a gang problem and she guessed that was the nature of the goblin creatures she could see and hear.

  China Town doesn't look like this, Stalker thought, pushing the thought into Fortune's mind.

  No, it doesn't, he replied.

  Several more demons crossed the bridge and passed them, curving south and rampaging into China Town. Fortune calmly moved towards the bridge, which was a huge structure of metal and concrete, the road section of it was four lanes wide. Fortune shifted into his Agrius form and stood right in the middle of the road just before the bridge. Stalker and Eyes took up position just behind him.

  She could feel power exuding from her Alpha, anger bubbled under the surface and a strong instinct to restore order at their border. Eyes shifted into the Agrius and Stalker followed suit. She felt the rage within her, the adrenaline pumped and the power that made her what she was threatened to spill over, but she took deep breaths to keep it under control as they stood and waited.

  She saw the biggest demon yet coming. It was tearing across the bridge towards them, a jumble of car parts and darkness with sparks flowing off its back like metal being dragged along the ground. It rolled and tumbled over itself, with no grace but a lot of energy and force. Stalker readied herself and felt Eyes do likewise. Fortune calmly grasped his hammer just under the head and slid it from its strap, smoothly taking hold of the hilt. A moment later the chaos demon was closing on them.

  As the demon thundered off the bridge Fortune lifted his hammer in one fluid movement and swung the weapon upwards, smashing it into the demon and sending it reeling off on a tangent. Fortune swiftly sheathed his hammer and he jumped up onto the demon's back. His huge claws erupted from his hands and with a terrifying howl he dug them into the mass of the demon. Eyes bounded over and tackled the thing, slashing with his claws and ripping with his teeth. Stalker watched for a second, trying to decide what to do with herself. The demon was huge, the size of a large goods lorry, and it had barely slowed down with the impact of two large shifters. She marvelled at the strength and speed of her packmates and took a second to admire them.

  Stalker looked around, quickly taking in the surroundings. She had to pen it in fast and the only hope of doing so was to drive it into a small car park half a block away that was surrounded by tall buildings. She looked up and saw power cables running across the street above her, without hesitation she bounded to the nearest building and climbed the face of it, clinging to window ledges and guttering until she could reach the cables anchored high on the corner. She grabbed hold of the two cables and yanked them from their tether hooks. Sparks flew out and she pointed the torn ends away from herself as she let herself drop, fearlessly, back onto the street two storeys below. She chased after the chaos demon and her packmates. She drew level with them and thrust the sparking cables into the demon's side. It yowled in shock and changed course, just as she had hoped. She was able to steer it into the walled car park, where it finally ground to a halt and proceeded to shake off the fleas that were Fortune and Fights-Eyes-Open.

  The three shifters regrouped and faced this demon, blocking its way out onto the street. As one they leaped at it and each attacked it, pulling at the solid bits they could get hold of and yanking them out, throwing them aside. The demon roared in pain and twisted around, trying to shake them off, but they were too quick for it and kept too close for it to lash out at them with the cables that whipped out from its dark depths.

  Stalker dug her way through a lower section and found a hollow behind an old tire, she threw the tire aside and reached into the dark innards of the creature. It felt cold and a sickly sensation crept up her arm as she groped for something, anything she could get hold of. Their only hope of destroying this thing was to literally turn it inside out. Her feral talons grasped something, a wisp of something tangible and she clutched desperately but her Agrius hand was too big and clumsy to get hold of it. Knowing what it might cost her, she shifted into her human form, still holding onto the side of the demon, one arm deep inside it. Her dexterous fingers located the flimsy thread inside it and she quickly caught it and held it tight in her hand, then pulled. Her arm emerged from the black hole in the side of the demon, caked in thick, dark ichor and in her hand was a string of fleshy sinew and she felt bile rise in her throat. But she clung to it and yanked hard, pulling the stringy substance out through the hole.

  The demon lurched and screamed, twisting towards Stalker, trying to reach her with its limbless form, cables whipping around and catching her across her back. But she held fast and kept pulling until she felt tension in the sinew, she tugged again but it was held fast. With a grin, Stalker braced herself against the demon's side, wrapped the sinew around her arm as if coiling up a rope or hose then shifted back into her Agrius form. She felt her strength and power fill her body again and with a mighty roar she leaped down from the creature, still holding its innards in her feral, clawed hand.

  There was some resistance as she jumped but it gave under her strength. The demon dropped to the floor, howling in agony. Her packmates were at her side, both pulling on the cord with her and together they heaved the demon's heart and lungs out through the hole in its side. The demon shook uncontrollably and made terrified curdling noises for a moment. Then it was still and silent, aside from the clanging sounds of bits of it falling off, no longer held together by its life force.

  Fortune and Eyes howled and roared in victory. Stalker stood breathless and shocked, staring at the wreckage. Hastily she dropped the flesh from around her arm and backed away. Eyes thumped her on the back and tried to drag her into the celebration, with a deep breath she let go of the shock and allowed the pounding in her veins to take over, freeing her enough to join in with the victory howls that would also warn demons across the nearby river not to cross into their territory again.

  She felt alive in that moment, raw power pounding through her body and her head swam with the cacophony of emotions surrounding the kill; pride, exhilaration, power and that same strange sense of guilt that she had felt with the rain elemental. Just enough rational thought remained to allow the trickle of hope that she would learn to live with that guilt.