Chapter 2
Ezekiel didn't know what exactly called him off the beaten path that night....but on instinct he had followed the soft breeze of the night. Now he stood and watched the mortal below him from the tree branches high above the intruders oblivious head.
So close that he could smell nothing but thick coppery blood.
It drenched the air, it bleed across Ezekiel's senses, tickling the beast inside of him. It growled dangerously coming awake in moments as if jolted from its rest.
So strange. It was a curious scent, blood....and something else, laced along with it. It overpowered the smell of pine that had always been a part of his Clans forests.
The smell of a mortal was alien to him in and of it self.
Ezekiel had never actually met one in person before. Of course he had been told all kinds of things, much of which he had quickly tossed right back out of his brain before it could take root.
Many Shifter's not only wanted to stay away from mortals, but a lot of them feared their sapiens partners. His people seemed to mistrust their weapons, and their influence, but many Shifter just disliked their massive numbers.
Unlike any of the seven Shifter Clans around the world, it was well know that mortals rarely suffered from things like infertility. In fact Ezekiel had even heard it told that the mortals had so many children that many of them were discarded by their parents or sold into slavery or wiped out of the womb completely.
But this blood, it almost smarted as Ezekiel inhaled it. It was strong.....it was new.
He took another inhale. A deep rumble bubbled up into the darkness. The beast within him was disturbed by the smell and yet compelled to pull it in.
It was like pepper was being drug deep into his nose, but beneath the strange pinch, there was something, warm? Something...intriguing. Ezekiel knew that he needed to run this stranger off for good.
That he needed to chase the Mortal off Clan Lands and go back to patrolling the woods the same as he had every night, but instead Ezekiel found himself stuck in the trees, clocking the unwitting mortal with his senses.
In the back of his mind, he heard the anxious growls of his companion, his Shifter.
The beast inside, the big cat was more than disturbed by the mortals presence and sharp scent.
The claws of its consciousness dug at Ezekiel mind, his soul. Begging, asking and insistent to be released. It wanted to investigate, to hunt, to get closer, and Ezekiel wanted it too.
He soothed the companion inside of his chest, calming its energy, but still, the air filled with the warm pop of the Shift. Small aspect of his inner beast blead through, merging with his mortal form, mixing them.
Ezekiel soft blue eyes, and black pupils, contracted sharply, slitting into the eyes of a beast....a cat.
And Ezekiel knew that his irises would be shinning now, an iridescent bright blue light would now be lent to his gaze by the Shifter inside, that turned his soft blue gaze into twin globes of light.
The blue in them was far to pail to be called sky blue. To him it was more like the hot flash of lightning in a storm. While his nails began to lengthen. Growing by inches. Which was an unpleasant tug, following the energy he released until his nails were sharp claws, more than capable of ripping a man limb from limb.
His teeth also grew and, much like his nails, this was accompanied by an unpleasant tugging sensation as his mortal canines, extended into fangs worthy of any hunter.
With the Shifter sense pouring into him, energizing him, sharpening his reflexes, eye sight, smell and taste all at once; Ezekiel once more took a deep inhale of the air. With a soft inhuman growl he started testing it for information. Smell could tell him so many things.
Smell could reveal how his prey was feeling. If they were sick. Where they had been. Even what items they were possibly carrying on them.
So Ezekiel opened his mouth and pulled in the air; parting his lisp slightly so that the scents could saturate his tongue and throat. And instantly wished that he hadn't!
Ezekiel gagged hard as the smell of sour puss and sickly pungent rot coated the back of his throat.
Infection....a terrible infection....
Ezekiel thought to himself as he took another breath.This mortal....is very sick. How did he manage to get here in that state?
Ezekiel shook his head.
He'll be dead soon...
Ezekiel realized as he looked down on the muttering mortal.Not only could Ezekiel smell the blood, but his feral eyes saw the way the intruders bloody clothing stuck to the strangers' shivering body.
He could smell blood coating the air like a mountain of pepper and copper.
The tastes of it on his palate was so warm, that it burned Ezekiel's nose.
But.....oddly he didn't turn and leave. He couldn't...he couldn't turn away.
He.....wanted to speak to the mortal all of a sudden. He wanted to investigate.....he wanted to smell more of this strange, yet somehow good smell.
He wanted to meet this being that he knew nothing about. He....wanted to help it.
But mortals aren't supposed to be here....
Ezekiel had to remind himself. Then he looked down at the intruder again. The mortal was screaming something, his voice so dry and broken that it made Ezekiel cringe.Still... it's sick. If I leave now.....?There was so much blood. And now Ezekiel was torn. Did one run an injured and dying mortal away? Or did he help it?
Unexpectedly the choice was made for him as the mortal suddenly broke off from his mad rants and slumped over in a huddle against the pine tree.
Liquid coughs, and sounds that Ezekiel had never known before began to come out of the intruder below him. Sounds that.....hurt him to hear. Like sobs.....like soft screams. Like agony.
And before he knew it Ezekiel was going down.
But remaining cautious, Ezekiel hissed down at the intruder to get his attention first.
Possibly startled by the sound, the Mortal screamed and jerked up his head and Ezekiel couldn't help chuckling darkly as the stranger jumped nearly out of his skin.
Ezekiel could sense the mortal fighting to find the voice that taunted him in the darkness. But knowing that he was hidden from view, Ezekiel looked over the mortal form above. He couldn't see much from his angle. Just the top of the mortals head. Its hair was a light golden and brown and soaking wet.
Simple pants and a shirt also soaking wet. And bright, giant blood stains...all over. But more important than all of that Ezekiel couldn't see anything on the intruder that he could use as a weapon.
No sheathes. No bulges in his pockets. But Ezekiel knew that that didn't exactly mean that the intruder didn't have any hidden blades on him.
I've got to take this slow....just in case...
He told himself, then he moved in.Ezekiel stalked along the branches over the mortals oblivious head; toeing the wood beneath his feet. His movements were graceful, smooth, and confident. Because of the beast inside, Ezekiel never feared falling. He trusted the beast, his inner cat to lead him safely; to navigate the darkness for its mortal counterpart.
Quickly Ezekiel leap from the tree without any hesitation.Like fluid he fell to the forest floor ten feet below, until he felt the shock of spongey needles underneath his feet. Ezekiel then let gravity pull him down into a crouch, as he came to a stop, and then he listened for the mortal's response.
Ezekiel had landed only few feet away from him, but the mortal didn't seem to notice him yet. Ezekiel had herd that mortals couldn't see well in dim light. Nor did it seem like they could smell the way his people did.Any Shifter would have smelled him by now....but this stranger remained slumped over by the tree. Making that horrible noise.....smelling so....different from anything Ezekiel had ever known.
Suddenly the mortal spoke. "Please.....please just stop...." The intruder sobbed into the shoulder of the pine tree holding him up. His face was still a mystery to Ezekiel as the mortal had it turned into the dark shadows of the night, and his dirty, wet hair was obscuring his face. But his voice was shaky, breathless....and scared.
Ezekiel straitened to his feet, silently watching the intruder for any signs of agitation as he took one cautious step and then another step forward and as he moved Ezekiel tried to speak to the strange person.
"Hello?" Ezekiel said softly to the mortal and was rewarded with a terrified shout as the mortal jerked his head up.
Ezekiel paused for a moment as the mortal seemed to finally notice him there in the darkness.
Still Ezekiel couldn't really see his face....but their eyes did meet. Mint green. And Shadows. That's what he saw. Eyes so green that they should have been glowing. Eyes so lost that they took one look at Ezekiel and darkened with....deep distress.
They looked at each other for only a few seconds before the mortal made a soft broken sound and scrambled back into the tree even more.
He was holding his side....Ezekiel could see. He could also see the blood rushing Instantly Ezekiel got hit with another sharp jab of his scent. Puss, dirt and blood...a lot of strange blood. "Hey what happened to you?" he asked as he took another step closer. "Whats wrong?"
"No!" the intruder abruptly moaned. "I won't!!!"
"You won't?" Ezekiel asked him. Confused by this mortals erratic behavior. "You won't what? Hey can you hear me?"
"I won't go...." The intruder simply whispered. "I wont."
Ezekiel shook his head.
Did all mortals behave this way?
Ezekiel asked himself as he moved closer.Or is he acting this way because of the pain he's in?But somewhere along the way Ezekiel had made a terrible mistake....
He had dropped his guard and entered the mortal's personal space.
Purely on instinct Ezekiel shifted his weight to the side just as the blow hit.
The intruders shin cracked into his right thigh with more force and power then Ezekiel would have thought was possible. Ezekiel stumbled back, as he blocked the groin shot. But he didn't get the chance to be happy about it, before he looked up and saw a blade coming down.
Chapter 3 - DeathWith a snarl, more beast then man, Ezekiel charged into the mortal.He clamped his hands around the mortal's smaller right wrist that was holding the blade, and slammed him back into the tree.The mortal screamed in agony, and Ezekiel smelled more blood rush into the air, but the mortal wasn't done in by Ezekiels attack.A fist, small, and hard cracked into the side of his head. Once, then twice.Ezekiel tottered to the side as blood blossomed inside his cheek and his hold on the mortal slipped. And then the mortal started rush him.Ezekiel quickly retreated. With his hands out to his sid
Chapter 4"What do I do now?" Ezekiel asked himself.In the deathly silent moments that passed after the mortal fell unconscious, this was the only question, out of the other hundred buzzing around in his head; which Ezekiel most desperately wanted to find an answer to.Still leaned over the mortal on the ground, Ezekiel felt harsh twinges of pain lance down his arm and across his collar. Reminding him that he had just in fact survived a deadly blow. Ezekiel took a moment to reassure himself that the stranger wasn't going to jump up and stab him again.Calling on the beast inside him, he felt warm energy flowing out of his core and into his eyes. With a slight sting, Ezekiel then felt his eyes slit, taking on the shape of a cats gaze.With glowing blue eyes, he swept his hands across the stranger's hips and ankles, searching for more blades. With the beast inside lending him its sight, the darkness melted away and for the most part Ezekiel could se
Chapter 5 - DecisionsAnd then there was a tiny thump. And then a few seconds later....a second thump. A weak heartbeat.Releasing a breath, Ezekiel pulled back. The cold dread ripping deep into his soul dissipated.He's alive...just barely...but seriously what do I do with him, now?Coming to a decision that the mortal wasn't capable of moving, much less attacking in his current sorry state Ezekiel decided to move off a ways and inspect the wounds that he had sustained earlier.And to think.With a painful hiss Ezekiel lowered himself into the pine needles beside the mortal and inspected his shoulder.Ezekiel quickly lifted up his shirt, biting back another painful hiss as he watched the blood flowing down his right peck from a giant, bloody gash two spaces to the left of his heart. The wound in his shoulder was clean and at least a few inches deep.As Ezekiel inspected it with his slit eyes in the darkness a small chill race
Chapter 6 - Big BrothersEzekiel could sense the eyes within the darkness as he neared the path that would take him out of the pine forest and into the perimeter of his home.Glaring, calculating and questioning, they burned into him, but more than him Ezekiel felt these eyes focused on his arms.Looking at the stranger that he bore like a broken, bloody, sack nestled against his chest.Ezekiel let the power of his beast take over and felt the power bleed into his eyes. He felt his pupils shrink sharply, until, darkness became more like light. Shadows gave way to him and there, not ten feet from him, Ezekiel could make out the shadows of three, very large, very animalistic outlines.Ezekiel blinked slowly, then looked down at the stranger in his hands. "So...." He began talking to the new arrivals. But he didn't use words to speak. No. He growled, hissed and roared out his sentences. Speaking the language of the Shifter inside of him. "So I guess I
Chapter Seven - Power PlayEzekiel wasn't sure what to expect after his harsh words....but he should have known that there would be serious backlash."I think someone's forgotten who the hell he's talking to! Do you really think you've got what it takes to go up against any of us!" sneered Ezekiel's green eyed brother, Lander.With a brisk step he brushed past Walter and approached Ezekiel with eyes full of open aggression.Lander was Ezekiel's second eldest brother.He much like Walter had wide shoulders, but his hips were more narrow and defined by muscle and sinew. Defined but slimmer he was built for the Shift, the streamlined body made for hunt and k
Chapter Eight - Die Now, Die Later"Fine, if this is to be the path you've chosen, then I do not see any of us persuading you to turn back...at least not with resorting to violence...." Walter suddenly rumbled. His burning yellow eyes piercing the misty darkness. The large shadowed figure of his largest sibling stoic and unyielding in the pale light of the moon."I will help escort the intruder to the house with you Ezekiel. But when we get there Im not leaving mom alone with this stranger. Got it?" As the Eldest his words held a lot of power over the other brothers.With no other recourse all Ezekiel could do was nod. Then Ezekiel looked at his other brothers and quirked an eye brow at them."He's gonna kill you fo
Chapter 9- Follow Through"Mom...You have to promise not to scream...." Ezekiel whispered walking his mother up from the spiral staircase and down the long hallway of the third floor of their three story home. The dim light that glowed from the few candles lit in the early hours of the previous evening lent a welcome shadows that helped to hide Ezekiels anxiety from her.After managing to not only sneak the mortal into their home without the world ending, Ezekiel had quickly realized that both of his parents had retired to their bed room for the night.SafeWas what Ezekiel had thought to himself as they smuggled the mortal further into their home.Each of his brothers struggled slightly to juggle the mortal's limp weight and avoid the furniture in the front hall. But...
Chapter 10 - This is BadRealizing that it was almost three am Ezekiel allowed her the necessary time to emerge from her sleep before he spoke."Ezekiel?" His mother gorged, raising her head, curls tumbling over her shoulder she pulled herself up on to her seat and stretched leisurely. Bright green eyes glowed in the dim lights. Slit like a big cat they contacted sharply as her eyes opened, and as she opened her small mouth to yawn, tiny fangs flashed in the candle light. Reminding Ezekiel that for all Shifters, sleep allowed the beast much closer to the surface then was possibly safe."Ezekiel? What time is it? Is something wrong?' his mother hissed softly, drawing her arms up into the air to crack her back, closing her eyes and rubbing them she slouched on the bed. Whe