by Mina Carter
He reached down to brush a stray lock of hair from her face. His fingers felt too big, too clumsy somehow for such a delicate task as he tucked it gently behind her ear. His whole body ached, keyed into every movement of the soft, feminine body curled trustingly into his.
His earlier frustration had leeched away, replaced for now by a need to protect. A feeling that was new to him, at least a feeling this intense and specific.
He was used to the whole protection thing. Warriors patrolled the streets in small groups keeping them clear of Rogue vampires. Rogue's always posed a threat, to anyone, regardless of race. Blood was blood to the blood-crazed, regardless of who donated it, and it was never willingly when a Rogue was involved.
But that was an impersonal sort of protection, just like a police officer patrolling the streets. What he felt for Tessa and the baby went far deeper. He needed to be around her, around them, see with his own eyes that they were ok. Protect them with his own hands, his own body, when necessary. Not hand that responsibility over to anyone else.
He frowned, considered that feeling. Was it love? He didn't really believe in love. He thought he was in love before, with Vixen. For years he had waited for her to notice him.
Trouble was, she only ever had eyes for Kalen. She never noticed him. Actually he never garnered the same amount of female attention as some of the other guys.
Warriors like Mikal, or that new guy Zarett, one of last year’s rookies. Both of them looked that good they could double as models if they wanted; in fact Zarett was known as
'pretty boy' after an agent tried to recruit him right in the middle of a Rogue take-down. The guy had lived, just. He needed a couple of bags of O positive shoved into his veins and a mind-wipe but he was still breathing; which was more than could be said for the Rogue and Zee's reputation.
Feral, by contrast, didn't wear the fancy threads, couldn't have told you the difference between one designer and the next and his hair, usually a source of vanity for the Kyn, was kept skin short with the aid of a razor. If ever there was a Kyn ugly duckling, he was definitely it!
He leaned his head back against the bark and closed his eyes with a sigh. Love was too big an emotion to think about at the moment, what with mad Pixie's chasing them and being right in the middle of Fae bandit country. It was the sort of internal debate that needed copious amounts of alcohol and possibly a pizza or two.
The warmth of the fire played across his face, his big body starting to relax, sliding into sleep.
Shit! What was he doing? He came too with a start, his instincts screaming at him as he fought his way back out of sleep. A deep, drugging sleep that was nowhere near natural.
Adrenalin burned the fog from his brain as he blinked, his hand smoothing down Tessa's back as she murmured and turned to him. The movement was so natural, so trusting, it tugged at the big man's heart strings.
They weren't alone.
Feral registered the new presence instantly, looking up to meet the eyes of a small figure standing the other side of the fire. It hadn't been there a moment ago, nor was he picking up a heartbeat. Which played to the illusion of a small girl the creature was projecting. The glamour was near perfect. But for that one telltale fact Feral might have believed there was a human child standing looking at him. Then the wind changed slightly, and the stench of rotting flesh drifted over the fire towards him. His stomach turned over.
He met the creature's look, his expression dangerous and forbidding. His dark eyes plainly saying ‘You want to dance? Come on, let’s dance then sweetheart, you just name the tune’ . He had no idea what particular flavour of Fae nastiness this was, but there were nastier things that went bump in the night than a Fae.
Feral was one of them.
He curled back his lips, flashed his fangs in a silent warning. Fully extended now in anticipation of a good fight, they were impressive, filling his mouth so much that speech would be a tad difficult at present. Which wasn't really a problem since he intended to rip the creature's throat out if it made a move towards them, not engage it in conversation!
With a soft growl of disappointment the creature turned and disappeared into the darkness, it was clear these travellers weren't going to be the easy pickings they'd at first appeared. Feral shook his head. Never judge a book by its cover, he thought as he leaned down to wake Tessa. “Come on sweetheart, we need to get moving again.”
It was too early. Way too early. Tessa grumbled under her breath as she trudged along after Feral, missing her nice warm duvet and her comfortable mattress. A feeling which wasn’t helped at all by Feral, who looked as bright and breezy as though he’d had a full night’s sleep and just hopped out the shower.
It just wasn’t fair! How the hell could he look so good when she knew he’d been awake the entire night leaning against that tree trunk? She ran a hand through her tousled hair, making a face. She looked and felt like she slept in her clothes, which she had, and she had the nagging feeling something unpleasant had crawled up under her jeans leg, leaving an itchy trail over her skin. All feelings that were contributing to her grumpy mood. Not to mention the fact she had less than her eight hours and hadn’t inhaled at least three cups of coffee yet, which she needed to feel at least halfway human. Or Pixie.
“So how long before we get there?” she asked, hoisting the still sleeping Spud higher in her arms, grateful she thought to grab one of the twins sling carriers on her way out of her sister’s trashed apartment. Without it, he’d be getting awfully heavy right about now and it meant he could sleep on undisturbed as they carried on walking. A stab of envy hit her, one she immediately felt guilty about. It wasn’t his fault. Whatever had happened that led to him being left on Feral’s doorstep, no one could blame a baby for it.
He made a contented little sound and nuzzled closer into Tessa, his tiny hand splaying over her collar bone. She smiled, her heart melting in that instant, snuggling him closer.
There was just something about baby cuddles that made you forget everything that was bothering you. Maybe just for a second or two, but sometimes that was all you needed.
Now what had that little smile been all about? Feral wondered silently as he folded out the parchment map, checking their location. Like everything else that surrounded Tessa and her frankly odd aunt it hadn’t exactly been what he’d been expecting. The old fashioned parchment and script handwriting hadn’t been a surprise but the little smiley faces and flowers along the border had been. Guess young girls weren’t much different, no matter what century they were born in.
“I think we’re either here, or here,” he said, tapping the map.
Tessa looked over his arm, a frown creasing the centre of her brow. “Here or here?
You mean you don’t know?” she asked, her voice incredulous. “Well, isn’t that just like a man?”
Feral caught the teasing look in her eyes but he bit anyway, the edge of unease he’d been feeling for the last hour or so eating away at him.
“Well, it’s not like we can stop and ask a local, is it?” He threw back, eyebrow arching. “Stop anything around here and it’d be more interested in stripping your flesh to the bones than giving you directions!”
Tessa gave him ‘the look’, but he was right. All they had was the hand drawn map and it wasn’t the most accurate of documents. It had no scale, no compass, or even easily discernible features. Which wasn’t a problem since there were no landmarks in this damn place, just endless plains of ratty scrub lands and dank little woods. She snorted to herself.
Hell, stick a couple ‘here be dragons’ and a red X on this thing and it could double as a kids pirate treasure map!
She carried on studying it, trying to make out where they were along the marked trail, then shrugged. “I can’t make head or tail of it either…”
“Sssh!” He held his hand up in warning, silencing her instantly. Had a guy done that to her normally, his ears would be ringing from the tongue lashing she gave him for being arrogant. But not Feral, esp
ecially not when he was doing the whole living statue thing again, his eyes unfocused as he concentrated on their surroundings. She tried as well, listening out for anything out of the ordinary, scanning their surroundings for things likely to leap out and attack them at any moment.
But nothing, she couldn’t see or hear anything odd. For all she knew he could have smelled something dangerous. She wouldn’t have had a clue on that angle, her sense of smell had packed in a few minutes after they’d come through the door in defence against the funky smell which seemed to surround everything here.
Thump, thump, thump…
The sound of heavy footsteps formed out of the silence, heading towards them, accompanied by a thrashing sound. Like a kid thrashing at weeds with a stick. A large stick.
Tessa’s eyes widened as the ground behind their feet quaked. “God, how big is that?”
“I have no clue but ten to one it ain’t gonna be friendly. Here have these, get behind those rocks,” He handed her the bags he’d been carrying and nodded towards an outcrop just off the path. Large enough to use as cover in case of flying debris, they might even be large enough to conceal her if this went bad. And it was quite likely to go bad. His Kyn instincts were screaming at him, the skin between his shoulder blades crawling, all his senses telling him this wasn’t going to be pretty.
As Tessa scurried to the safety of the rocks Feral stood in the middle of the path, blocking it. He only had his blades on him but that would have to do. Whatever was coming down that path was going to have to get through him before it got to Tessa and the baby.
His jaw clenched, eyes dark with determination, and there was no way he was making that easy!
Feral rolled his neck, easing the big muscles in his shoulders. Moving slowly, with a deliberation that was unique to the big Warrior, he reached into the small of his back. His fingers slid into the leather wrapped grips of his blades, pulling them free with a practised movement.
He settled them more comfortably over his knuckles, eyes on the turn in the path, the light glinting off the lethally sharp blades across the backs of his hands. KDFH the lads at the compound called them. Knuckle Dusters from Hell.
He defended himself and others many times with these. His speed, accuracy and sheer energy made him the equal of Kalen and his twin blades and he could even land a point or two on Marak every now and then.
Thump, thump, thump...
Feral's eyes narrowed as the footsteps got closer. No matter how good and how fast he was, the fact remained that whatever that was, it sounded big. And the blades on his knuckles were looking smaller by the minute. He'd always taken the piss out of Mikal and the others for carrying modern weaponry but right about now he wished like hell he was packing heat!
He rolled his neck again, adrenalin raced through his veins as the footsteps and that odd thrashing noise drew closer and closer, until it was just around the corner.
Then it was there. The huge bulk of ... something filling the turn in the path.
Something straight out of a nightmare.
“Holy... crap,” Feral breathed as he looked up, then looked up some more. It wasn't a creature. It was a damn mountain range!
A mountain range covered in gnarled, wart dotted skin. Skin ingrained with dirt and slime and stretched over a roughly man shaped frame. One that was hunched over like an old man. But it wasn't the strength of an old man that was flailing the massive club it held in its hand about nonchalantly.
“Great, just fucking great,” An Ogre. First it was bloody Pixies and now a damn Ogre!
Feral sighed and re-adjusted his blades again. This was going to really hurt...
“Come on then handsome, let’s dance.”
Tessa headed over to the rocks, ducking behind them as her heart pounded so loudly she thought it was going to burst out her chest. Spud, picking up on her fear, started to fret.
"Shush, shush... its fine. It's all going to be fine," she whispered as she rocked his tiny form in reassurance. She moved slightly, trying to peer over the rocks to see what was happening.
Feral just stood there, studying the blades on his hands so calmly she wanted to scream. He didn't look at all bothered. That had to be a good sign, right? Her eyes flowed down the lines of his large body, noting the tension there. He rolled his neck again, eyes riveted on the turn in the path. She knew as soon as the creature appeared, even though she couldn't see it herself from here. If Feral had been alert before, his attention was complete now, his body virtually humming with awareness.
She stifled a scream when the creature came into view. An Ogre! She'd seen sketches of them in books. The sort of books carefully concealed in the houses of Pixies that lived outside Barrows, or that masqueraded as children's storybooks, just in case a human should catch sight of them.
It wouldn't do if they ever found out that certain childhood tales were real. Sure some, like the Watchers and some Slayer groups knew the truth, but that was limited and carefully controlled. On average a single human was intelligent when confronted with the truth. It was humanity en-masse that was the problem. In a group they were fearful, intent on destroying anything they didn't understand.
Which wouldn't be a bad thing at the moment she decided, wincing as the creature spotted Feral and roared. It charged with a speed it shouldn't have had, not being that large and misshapen. Like someone had taken a play-dough man and mushed it about a bit, distorting the joints and limbs into a hideous parody of the human form.
But its face was perhaps the worst. Unlike Ogre's portrayed in films this creature wasn't the dumb, ambling, and ‘fairly easily beaten if you had a modicum of intelligence’
creature they were generally made out to be. No, its deep set eyes gleamed with a malevolence and intelligence that was marked, even from this distance.
Noticing the eyes though meant you had to tear your attention away from the teeth crammed into its mouth. Razor sharp and packed in like sardines, they glinted in the half-light as it roared. Tessa caught her breath as it bore down on Feral, imagining the damage those teeth would do if it got hold of him.
The Ogre swung the massive club at Feral, going for a full body blow. There wasn't anything else you could call it, given the size of the thing it wasn't a weapon designed for pinpoint accuracy. Or any sort of accuracy.
Feral ducked, sliding under the incoming blow and to the side with a feline grace. His fists flashed as he moved, blades glittered in the half light as he landed a solid blow on the Ogre. It bellowed again, swiping a heavily taloned hand at the Vampire that danced around it.
The fight was fast and furious and despite how quick Feral was, it was quickly apparent to Tessa that the few blows the creature was managing to land were taking their toll.
But each time Feral was knocked to the ground, he bounced back up again, shaking his head and bringing his fists back into the fight.
Tessa winced with each blow. Closing her eyes was no better, she could still hear the sickening thud as flesh pounded into flesh. The heavy thumps as Feral hit the ground each time. She bit her lip, forced herself to watch as the Kyn Warrior tried everything to bring down the Ogre. He moved like lightening, a fearsome sight... she could see him on the streets, kicking ass and taking names. But here and now, he was out of his depth and struggling.
Tears filled her eyes as he got swiped to the ground again, grunting in pain. Each time it was taking him longer and longer to get up. He couldn't keep this up. Frustration and hopelessness filled Tessa. He couldn't beat the Ogre, and when it was done with him, it would come after her and the baby.
She should run, get out of here now and hope like hell she could outrun it, even though she knew that was unlikely. Despite the misshapen form Ogres were fast over ground, and could change direction on a dime. And her firefly trick? That wasn't going to work on a creature formed from the Witching.
She should run, but she couldn't move. She couldn't leave him here like this, leave him here to die alone in the Night Plains. She knew what Ogr
es were, they were well known as flesh eaters and she couldn't bear to think of the man she loved desecrated that way.
Whoa, loved? Where had that come from? She barely even knew him! She couldn't be in love with him... could she? She winced as he hit the floor again. She had to do something...
he was getting killed out there.
Fear for him running through her veins Tessa released the straps holding Spud's sling.
Quickly she placed him in a small hollow in the rock, a place he was almost hidden from view and protected from the flying debris being kicked up from the Ogre's club. His thin wail plucked at her heart strings but she hardened herself to it. If she didn't do something now, that Ogre would kill Feral and guess what would be next on its menu?
She crept out from behind the rocks, leaned down to pick up the sturdiest stick she could see lying on the ground. Her heart pounded. She had no clue what she was doing. If Feral, a seasoned fighter, couldn't get the drop on this thing then what hope did she have? The worst thing she ever fought was the month end reports at work!
But regardless of that, she couldn't leave him to face this on his own. Perhaps she could distract it or something? Allow Feral to get the advantage and finish it off.
Determination glittered in her eyes as she edged forward, looking for a gap in the fight she could get into without getting in Feral's way. Or in the path of those blades he was wielding so viciously.
There! Spotting the perfect gap Tessa shot forwards, jamming the stick in her hand upwards into the soft flesh under the Ogre’s throat as it was busy fending off Feral’s attack. It roared in pain, black ichor splattering over Tessa’s hand and arm as it twisted violently, swiping out at her. She watched the vicious talons sweep towards her in slow motion, fascinated by the blood caked claws as they headed for her unprotected stomach. Fear froze the blood in her veins and her feet in place as she watched her own death sweep towards her.
Feral came out of nowhere, hitting her mid-stomach in a classic rugby tackle that had them both sprawling on the ground. The Ogre’s claws sailed harmlessly overhead. They both scrambled to their feet, Feral shoved Tessa behind his body as they readied themselves for the next attack.