Chapter 3 - Death
With 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 sides, and his knees bent he stepped back as the mortal ran at him.
The intruder slashed the blade back and forth. He knew what he was doing with the blade Ezekiel soon realized as he looked for an opening and failed to find one for the first few second.
Close and centered to the body. The mortal held himself in a tight ball of rage and perscision. And Ezekiel didn't want to risk tackling him and getting cut. But there was something. The blood. The more that the mortal moved, the more that the blood on his side ad pants began to deepen. Fresh blood soaking his body and still he kept going.
Ezekiel found himself getting increasingly upset as they continued to move around each other.
The mortal was going to make himself bleed to death.Abruptly between a strait thrust of his blade,that had Ezekiel jumping back too keep from getting disemboweled, the mortal stumbled over his own feet.
Ezekiel saw the hiccup and shot back in.
He slugged the mortal in the jaw and even though Ezekiel pulled the blow, the intruder promptly crumpled onto the pine needles in front of Ezekiel and didn't move again.
Slightly guilt stricken. Ezekiel stared down at the mortal.
Shit.....did I kill him so easily!? He asked himself as he dropped his fists and stood up strait.
Panting Ezekiel didn't waste one moment, he crouched down next to the mortal and tried to feel his pulse and that's when the mortal hit him with the blade. With a broken scream the mortal sat up startling Ezekiel with the sudden move.
Flashing in the moon, the mortal turned and slammed the blade deep into his chest. So close and so deep by his heart that Ezekiel swore that he felt the cold metal brush against it. And then, before Ezekiel could recover his wits ,the blade was ripped back out and the mortal cocked back to drive it into him once more....
***
Ezekiel roared.
No!
The beast inside of him roared out in rage.
Energy flooded his body, pushing the pain back for a moment, allowing Ezekiel to snap his body back. He dropped out of the blades way, back onto his hands, and then he raised his leg and slammed it down into the mortal's stomach and ribs. And this time he didn't hold anything back.
The mortal screamed in true agony.
A sound that made Ezekiel hate himself a little bit coming out of his bruised mouth, as the mortal dropped the blade into the soil. Then the mortal rolled over onto his stomach and tried to crawl away, coughing and hacking for air.
"Jesus Christ, just stop it already!!" Ezekiel found himself snarling as he scrambled across the earth and struggled with the mortal once more. "Calm down." The Shifter in him growled as the mortal elbowed him in the cheek.
Finally fed up, Ezekiel grabbed the mans wet clothes and flipped the man over and turned him onto his back. Then he had to straddle the intruder to keep him still and to negate any kicks he tried to deliver. But the mortal kept right on fighting him.
The mortal screamed some more, his green eyes wide, but unseeing. His panic and pain and blood all like a blanket around them. It was suffocating. The mortal kept kicking and punching. Fighting for his life. Tears running down his cheeks.
"Dammit! Stop! Clam down." Ezekiel's hand closed around the man's throat like iron.
The mortal went still beneath him for a second. Then the intruder clawed at his hand, gasping for air, then choking on a wordless sob as he found that he couldn't pull Ezekiel's fingers away.
It was horrible sound. His fear was impossible to ignore. His struggles so weak now compared to his earlier more aggressive movements that Ezekiel wanted to lessen the strength of his hold. "Just clam down. I dont want to hurt you.... " he said softly looking away from the intruder and over to his shoulder.
Sharp pain shot out of his chest and shoulder feeling like fire from the knife wound , but even though the wound enraged Ezekiel and caused him considerable agony, something kept Ezekiel from actually breaking the intruder's throat right then in retaliation.
Something about his eyes. His smell.
Ezekiel didn't want to give the mortal the chance to attack him again, but the mortal made another wet gurgle, and somehow Ezekiel found himself releasing the mortal abruptly.
Then Ezekiel put a hand to his chin and held his face steady so he could get his first clear look. The darkness still kept him from really putting a face to this strange man ,but his eyes stood out in that mask of dirt, made of blood and pain.
Mint green eyes opened and closed as the mortal hacked, his voice was light but hoarse. And for the moment the mortal was docile beneath him. Ezekiel tried to let him catch his breath before he began interrogating him, but the mortal had other plans.
"Who are you? Why are you here!? Why'd you attack me!?" Ezekiel soon hissed at the mortal staring him in the eyes.
Ezkeiel could see that his skin, beneath the dirt, was pale and his body was shaking. Ezekiel felt it, against his legs. He felt the warmth too. Blood, flowing out of the mortal's side, coating his inner right pants leg. Soaking in a big crimson circle that worried Ezekiel.
The smell of it pinched his nose still. So strange to him. He'd never smelled such a smell before. The mortal didn't respond to him, but Ezekiel could feel his strength flowing away as the mortal kept blinking and watching him.
"Who are you?" he asked the mortal again softer, his throat clogged with the scent of the man. The mortal's eyes moved along Ezekiel's face, then his jaw and then back to his eyes. His eyes lids fluttered closed then opened again slowly.
Is he going to pass out? He doesn't seem lucid.
The mortal gazed up at him for a few long moments not speaking, or moving and Ezekiel let him. Then suddenly Ezekiel had his wet bloody hands on his face. Staining his cheeks. Ezekiel would have jerked back, but the strange man's hands were gentle as they slide past his cheeks and ears and up into his scalp and stopped there. Ezekiel swallowed as he had the strangest urge to lean back into the touch. A quiver traced his belly and spine.
Then the man was pulling on the back of Ezekiel's head. Forcing him down.
Until they were nearly nose to nose. The mortal looked him right in the eyes and said simply "Finally come to claim me...take me away? Its strange that you're beautiful." He whispered, his voice wrecked with exhaustion, but strong and enchanting. "I thought Death was supposed to be ugly, but your breathtaking..."
Cloudy green eyes drooped and then the mortal leaned in even more. His eyes closing and shockingly Ezekiel felt something soft and warm brush against his lips. A thrum of excitement and shock took Ezekiel's breath and senses away as the man kissed him soft, then hard.
Desperate and weak, a sob clashed between them as the man suddenly ran his tongue past Ezekiel frozen lips. As if the stanger wanted the being he called death to steal his breath entierly.
Confusion took hold, but noting was confusing about the deep wave of satisfaction that crashed over Ezekiel's inner beast when the strangers taste registered on his tongue. His senses scattered as his inner beast mewled in delight, and a moan bubble past his lips as he felt the creature inside of him pull the stranger closer, clambering against his body, pushing Ezekiel to deepen the kiss.
What the hell!
Ezekiel jerked back in surprise once his senses returned and the mortal's hands fell off of him. They landed in the earth next to the mortal, who had in fact passed out.
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
Chapter 11 - Team WorkAll three of Ezekiels brothers shared anxious unsure looks.Then all of then leveled their eyes at him. As if to say "WE TOLD YOU SO!"But before Ezekiel could even think of the words his mother opened her eyes.Without a word she put a small hand to the mortal's chest. Then putting a hand to her own wrist she began silently counting the mortals pulse. Tight lipped and not sparing any of them one glance she bit off two words. "Explain this!"Ezekiel, and all of his brothers were grown men, although Ezekiel had only just turned twenty three, he was definitely not a child.He didn't fe