Do you wish to purchase Toughen?
I selected yes for Shell and Connection on the Turtle sphere. I moved to wolf and grabbed Connection and Dexterity. I had already gotten Connection on the serpent sphere so I purchased speed using my last point and rounding me out. It was now game time.
Chapter 30
The first thing I did was activate the Shell skill. The creatures holding me with their teeth yelped as my ability activated. I looked down to see a few fall back and pawing at their jaws. That was also when I saw the hardened plates spread over my body.
The next thing I did was lash out with my limbs and knock those holding me down away. Clear of them I sprang up to my feet. My head whipped from side to side taking in the wall of muscle and claw surrounding me. I couldn’t see Miranda or Rodriguez through them.
Opened all three gates halfway filled me with energy and caused the new mark on my chest burn. Power unlike anything else I felt before flooded me. My eyes went wide and I hissed through clenched teeth until the sudden rush of it passed. Then I bounced from foot to foot as a grin spread across my face.
“I know this is not your fault, and I feel bad about this, but it’s time to dole out some hurtin,” I said in an excited rush.
My legs propelled me forward faster than I could see. I hit the first beast with my forearms and it flew back like a bowling ball and the creatures behind it were pins. Strike!
I spun on my right foot bending and dropping my right hand to the ground while my left foot came up and hit a tall hairy one in the shoulder. It flew away from me and opened a hole for the next one. The beasts moved as one then coming at me. Their mistake.
I clenched my hands and spun like a top with my arms extended. Dull thuds echoed out every second or two as my fists connected with hides or heads. Something whipped out hitting my shins and pitching me forward. I fell but caught myself before face planting.
Several beasts took advantage and jumped on my back and legs. Powerful blows rained down on my back and sides. Each hit hard enough to send out deafening booms. My body healed almost as fast as the mitigated damage was done, but that didn’t stop me from grunting in pain with every hit.
I let out a roar as I jumped up throwing my arms out wide. One of the beast managed to cling to my back but the others were knocked free. To knock the last one off I spun swinging one arm out to keep attackers at bay and reaching behind me with my right arm. It avoided my overhead attempts to grab it. When I shifted my arm to reach behind from underneath I caught a tail in my grasp. I heaved down tearing the creature free. It was small and looked a lot like a rat. I wondered briefly if wererats were a thing. I dismissed the notion and swung the rat creature around smashing several others with it’s squat body. I tossed it’s limp form away and looked around. The ground was littered with unconscious forms and the only things standing were Rodriguez, me, and a guy at the far end of the room in a lab coat.
I rushed to the operating table to check on my wolf as the effects of Shell faded. She lay unmoving with her eyes half open. Fear blossomed in me as I thought she may have died, then my senses picked up the rhythmic thumping of her heart. Faint as it was it was still there. I let out a sigh of relief before getting to work.
I removed the needle from Miranda’s arm in the hope that the lack of chemicals being pumped in would allow her healing to kick in. Considering how long it took for Rodriguez to recover from the drugs I highly doubted it would work. Then I set about removing the restraints from her arm.
While I had never been in a psych ward I had seen plenty of movies and these binding looked like those from films only a lot beefier. The clasp came undone and the restraint fell away. The split in her flesh running the length of her arm opened wider and blood gushed from the wound.
“Hold her arm together,” Rodriguez said as she limped closer. “You need to do everything you can to help her healing ability before she bleeds out.”
Without responding I did as Rodriguez suggested. The fear I had felt returned as Miranda’s warm blood ran over my hands. Tears welled up in my eyes at the thought of losing my wolf. I closed the wolf gate completely hoping that would help Miranda, but there was no noticeable change in her condition.
“Leave and go save Tabitha,” my wolf spoke into my mind.
“Not on your fucking life,” I growled.
“Can’t you do some mystical Tuatha shit to save her?” Rodriguez asked?
I looked over my shoulder and almost came nose to nose with my turtle as she peered over me at Miranda. “I don’t know,” I whispered.
Instead of pulling back like I expected Rodriguez stayed there. Her eyes moved up and down as if she were measuring me. “You really do care, don’t you?” She asked.
“You don’t have to ask,” I said. “You can feel what I feel. I don’t know how it works, but Miranda and Tabitha figured it out pretty quick.”
“There is nothing to figure out. I can feel it. I just wanted to hear it,” she said.
“I care for her,” I said. “Very much and I don’t want anything to happen to my wolf, my Miranda.” I felt a warm tear run down my cheek as I spoke. “Same goes for Tabitha and you, Rodriguez.”
“Isabel,” Rodriguez said.
“Huh?” I said confusion evident in my tone.
“It’s my first name. My family calls me Izzy… um, you can call me Izzy.”
I smiled at my turtle. “Thank you for trusting me, Izzy.”
“I do trust you, Terry. More than that, I have faith in you.” She reached up and lightly kissed my forehead. “So prove that my faith is not misplaced and do something only an Tuatha can do. Save our girl.”
I smiled at Izzy as I still felt the fading warm of her lips on my forehead. “Anything for you, Izzy.” And I meant it, but not just for her. I would do anything for all of my Tua.
I turned my mind back to the problem at hand. I needed a solution and one that only I could provide. Which lead me to thoughts of how I had healed and what contributed to my own recovery. The answer was simple and always the same. It was my Tua. Everything I was as a Tuatha came from my Tua. I wondered if…
“I swear it's like a light bulb just lit up over your head,” Izzy said. “What do you have, Terry?” Her voice was equal parts eager and excited. Her smile matched her tone.
“I am going to try something,” I said cautiously. “I don't know if it's going to work, but you will probably feel something.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know” I shrugged.
“Okay, well I already said I trust you. So go for it, Terry.”
I smiled back at Izzy. It felt weird to think of her as anything other than Rodriguez. She had gifted me with the honor of not only calling her by her first name, but also the shorter version only her family used, so I would too.
“Right. Here it goes,” I said with a nod.
I closed my eyes and allowed my awareness to shift to the three marks on my chest. One of them, the turtle mark, I had not even seen yet. That was a concern for another time.
What really interested me was power and how it moved. When I needed to borrow from my Tua I pictured a gate opening enough to let the desired amount pass from them to me. Tabitha’s gate was still half open and some of her power was still flowing into me. Thanks to the Connection skill from the serpent sphere she only felt a quarter of her energy leaving.
What if Tabitha was in the same shape as Miranda? Was I hurting her by pulling from her? I shut the serpent gate just to be sure and wished I could feel my Tua’s emotions as strongly as they seemed to feel mine.
I opened the wolf gate, but instead of picturing it opening in toward me like normal, I pictured it opening out and my energy flowing away from me. Immediately I felt the strain of having my energy drained. I swayed and my knees buckled.
Strong hands grabbed my sides and kept me standing. “I’ll get you into a sitting position,” Izzy said in my ear.
“No, I need to be able to see her,” I replied in a voice not capable of
more than a whisper.
“Okay, you’re the boss, boss.”
With Izzy supporting me it was time to see how well I was doing. My left eye cracked open a sliver. My hands were still pressing the meat of Miranda’s forearm together but blood still ran from the wound. While the amount had lessened I had to wonder just how much my wolf could lose before there was no return.
I closed my eye and jumped into the dark place in my head. A call was sent to Miranda and a second later my wolf appeared in front of me. Her shoulders were slumped and her back was arched. Her normally tan skin was pale and had a sick pallor. She smiled at me but the gesture didn’t reach her red rimmed eyes.
“Are you…” I started to talk but Miranda pitched forward. I rushed to my wolf and caught her then eased her to the ground. “Hang on, Miranda.” I didn’t think she heard me.
A fresh wave of tears made their exodus from my eyes as I held my wolf and contemplated my next move. I was feeding her energy which may have helped but it wasn’t enough. So what would I do if I needed more? Get more, but would it work?
I opened the turtle gate halfway. The energy I gained from Izzy filled me up and refreshed me, but did not exit into Miranda with my energy. While it would replenish me and keep me going as a shitty battery for Miranda I was still just a shitty battery. I opened the serpent gate one quarter and more energy filled me, but still the energy didn’t mix.
There was only one thing left to do. I left both turtle and serpent gates open, but fought it off essentially rejecting the energy. This just caused it to feed back into its respective gates.
The hands on my sides tightened enough to cause my ribs to creak from the pressure. A low hiss left Izzy’s mouth. I put a stop to that and accepted the energy. It was beginning to look like I was… out… of…
“Your fucking stupid,” I said to myself.
I left the wolf gate as it was as well as the other two. The answer had to be a question of energy manipulation. I pressed on the energy I received from Izzy, not rejecting it like before, but redirecting it. I felt the flow circle back and leave through the wolf gate.
Miranda jerked, both her in the dark place and her body on the table. A tendril of golden energy flowed from my chest, where the wolf mark was, to Miranda’s chest above her heart in the mind space.
A quick look at my wolf’s body showed some promise. The blood that ran free before was now a slow oozing.
Back in the dark place I channeled the serpent energy into Miranda. The tendril thickened with the light growing brighter. Miranda gasped. Then I added all that I had to the mix. The tendril burst getting as wide as my chest and so bright I had to close my eyes. Miranda screamed as the thick beam shot into her. I screamed as the energy drained from me and through me.
After just a second the energy beam fizzled out. With my energy mostly expended I could no longer focus and direct the other Tua energies. In the dark space I dropped to my knees and opened my eyes. My wolf stood straight looking as healthy as I had ever seen her. A faint golden light emanating from her body.
“You are something, Terry,” Miranda said.
I smiled and fell over. Darkness took me and this time it wasn’t to another place where my Tua waited.
Chapter 31
I came to in the arms of my turtle. She had transformed and it was the first time I bore witness to her wereturtle Tua form. She was amazing. Like my serpent and wolf Izzy’s face was almost the same as in her human form. Her eyes were reptilian and her greenish brown skin stretched up to points on her cheeks. Her body was slim like an athlete and she had form fitting plates covering her front. From my position in her arms I couldn’t see her back.
“Hey, gorgeous,” I said.
“None of that talk,” Izzy said. “I know I’m part of your little goof troop now, but I don’t know how to feel about it.”
“I understand. However you feel, just know that I am grateful to have you and thankful for what you did.”
She looked down at me. “What do you mean by what I did?”
“I mean you went against your own turtle nature to help me save my Tua. You’re brave and strong in ways I wish I could be.”
Izzy chuckled. “Don’t sell yourself short. I wouldn’t have agreed if I didn’t think you were worthwhile.”
“Ah, you love me,” After saying that I realized I was feeling a little loopy. “Did you give me something?”
“Some pain killers so you wouldn’t be too hurt when you woke,” Miranda said as she slowed to walk next to Izzy.
“Hey, Miranda. You look great,” I said. My wolf was in wolf-Tua form and I found her to be just as beautiful like this as her human form.
“Thanks, sweety. Wish I could say the same,” Miranda said.
“Soon hopefully,” I replied. “Hey, Miranda. Did you know that Izzy loves me?” I asked.
“I never said that,” Izzy hissed.
“Yeah, but you do. It’s okay, Izzy. You don’t have to say it cause I know. And I love you too,” I said.
Izzy stopped walking and looked down at me. I watched as a tumult of emotions wared across her face. She let out another long sigh and shook her head before moving again.
“Can you feel, Tabitha?” Miranda asked.
“Tabitha!” The reminder that my serpent was in trouble sobered me up. “I looked around getting a sense of where she was and seeing where we were. “Put me down,” I said in a hard voice.
“I don’t know if…” Izzy started to say.
“Put. Me. Down,” I interrupted.
Izzy carefully set me down and steadied me as I got my bearings. I took a careful step and while I felt weak I was strong enough to walk. “I’m okay. Thanks for helping me, Izzy.” I felt warmth in my face as I continued. “Sorry about snapping at you.”
Izzy nodded and flashed me a small smile. Then she raised an eyebrow and stared at me. It was a little uncomfortable until I realized what she was waiting for. Damn drugs.
“Yeah, right,” I said. “Tabitha is this way,” I pointed down the hall in the direction we were already going.
“Let’s go find our girl,” Miranda said.
“Before we get swamped by a shit ton of weirdos,” Izzy said.
I started down the hall moving at a measured pace. A few steps in and I started breathing heavy. Fire burned through my legs with each step. As we got closer to my serpent I not only felt her in front of us but below us.
“Do you guys know how big this place is?” I asked.
“All I’ve been able to determine so far is that it’s huge,” Miranda said. “Why do you ask?”
I took a couple deep breaths in a useless attempt to slow my breathing and heart rate before answering. “Cause Tabitha is… below us.”
“I’m not surprised,” Izzy said. “I bet whoever built this place had a small dick and needed some way to compensate. Would explain the evil mastermind vibe I get from all of this shit.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, I guess it would. We need to keep our eyes open for a way down. Unless we already passed it?” I asked with hope thick in my voice.
“I wish,” Miranda said. “We have passed a few rooms but they were living quarters.”
“Any food in them,” I asked.
“Yes, and if the layout holds true we should be coming up to another one right after this turn,” Izzy said.
Just as my turtle thought, there was a door set into the wall to the left. Miranda tried the knob and the door opened right up. She dashed into the space before I was close enough to look in. I reached the door just as she walked into the first chamber from a side passage.
“All clear. Looks to be occupied but the occupant is elsewhere,” she said.
“Good, let's get some food in us and get back to finding a way down,” Izzy said. “I’m so tired of this fucking pit.”
“Same here,” I said. “What’s on the menu?” I asked as I walked in to the parsley furnished living room. It took a serious effort to remain jovial while I didn’t know where
exactly my serpent was or what state she was in. I made the effort for the sake of Miranda and Izzy. I needed their spirits high to get the best performance out of them.
“What the fuck am I thinking?” I mentally berated myself. For a moment my women were tools for me to use to achieve the goal of freeing the third. I was not the kind of guy that could use other so callously, or at least I hadn’t been.
“Questioning it alone is enough to prove you are not that kind of guy,” Miranda thought to me.
“Yeah, but I was thinking…”
“I know what you were thinking,” Miranda said as she strolled over to me holding a bag of chips. “It’s okay to plan for a victory and decide how best to position us to make it happen. Hell, I expect you to do so, and you’re right. Keeping our spirits high only helps the cause.”
“If you were that guy, I wouldn’t look like this,” Izzy said as she gestured down her altered transformed state.
I couldn’t be sure if it was just me or had something to do with being a Tuatha, but I found both women to be sexy as hell in their transformed states. I wondered briefly what sex would be like while they were transformed.
“I never agreed to that!” Izzy shouted in my head.
“I for one think we need to find out once this is over,” Miranda thought at me.
“Sorry, Izzy,” I said out loud. “I didn’t expect that from you, but you can’t blame me for finding you attractive and being curious, right?” I asked.
“I guess I can’t. But just be aware that I never signed up for harem sex slave,” she said as she pointed at me.
“And I never made that assumption,” I said.
“Where exactly do I sign up for the harem sex slave?” Miranda asked with a mischievous grin on her face.
“I think you already did,” I replied.
“Oh good, I would hate to miss out,” she purred.
“Are those for me?” I pointed at the bags of chips in Miranda’s hand glad to change the subject.
“Yes,” Miranda replied as she sliced open a bag with a talon. “Here you go, love. There isn’t a lot of options, but the calories are really all you need now. Getting fat is not a thing for us. Although, proteins and fats are a good.”
Shiftless: Tuatha Series Book 1 Page 19