Chapter 39
Two hours later Ezekiel and his brothers had to admit, even to each other that the trail had gone dead cold.
Ezekiel knew that his father and his brother had in fact lost track of the mysterious attacker a half an hour into the chase, but had continued to chase shadows and sounds just a little longer before they had admitted defeat. All through the chase there had been little time for chit chat, so once Mantilo lead his sons back to the bloody rotted fields, Ezekiel tried to get some information from him.
Once more they glossed over the area of dead moose, this time at the behest of their father none of the Guardians dared to touch any of the carcasses that had anything black smeared on them. The siblings continued looking for any clues as to what it was they were fighting, this time all of them remaining together, but
Chapter 40Mantilo caught sight of the house in the distance sometime later.After jogging in the night beside his sons, chasing shadows and in hailing the putrid scent of dead moose flesh for hours he was glad to be within steps of his bed. His legs and arms burned from the multitude of bite he had sustained, now that he had visited the mosses graveyard three times in the last few hours and in the back of his head he still felt the rage burning. A rage that had come over him and refused to die, when he realized that his sons were under attack, that two of them were hurt.He controlled it, but the drying blood on Nate's face, and the obvious way that his youngest son was favoring his uninjured shoulder ate at Mantilo.He should have sensed the unique threat sooner. Put the piece
Chapter 41 Mantilo returned from the horse ranch feeling decidedly heavy with possibilities and a fledgling plan of action for the coming morning. This time when he neared the house, his Mate was nowhere to be seen, until he had climbed the winding steps of their home, up past the second floor where the scent of the intruder lingers slightly on the air. A new scent and so its presence seemed like a blaring sigh to the beast inside that he needed to go and investigate, but Mantilo ignored it, he was far too tired to do anything more but climb to the third floor. The leopard embossed wooden doors that stood like wooden gates before him, the beautifully carved twin leopards in the wood laying down and mirrored in a back to back pose always managed to make him feel a pinch of pride. Not only because it was Mantilo's great grandfather who had carved the beautiful door, but because it was Mantilo himself that had restored it after a fire nearly took its magnificence from the world. The
Chapter 42And so his fourth night of sleeplessness and now empty sheets passed him by.Figuring that he wasn't doing anything worthwhile in the bed alone anyway Mantilo forced himself to his feet and made his way out of the bed room and into the dim hallways, colored by warm candle light.He followed in his wife's wake only until they both reached the stair case. He watched her brown curls and slight frame disappear up the steps toward the room where the mortal would be resting. He could scent his son Lander up there as well. Mantilo quickly guessed that his son was keeping watch. He had probably been put there by Glen herself to keep tabs on the mortals continued well-being. Knowing that no harm would come to his wife as long as Lander was with her, Mantilo turned from the steps and walked a few feet to his left until he came t
Chapter 43Ezekiel purposely turned from the door, ignored the stairs that lead not only to his , but also to the Mortals bed room. He choose instead to walk to his far right and then he walked under the stair case and headed to the kitchen. To his dual dismay and surprise he ran into his mother.Her back was too him as she worked. A few pots beside her bubbled and steamed and his mother's hands worked and buzzed around the vegetables before her. She was chopping and slicing and humming as she worked, and as he watched her she turned and shacked all the vegetable she had cut off the board and into the steaming pot beside her.Trying not to startle her Ezekiel thought to step back out of the room and go straight to his bed, but his mother turned around before he could move. Her bright green eyes sparkled as she smiled and called "
Brandon turned his face up into the warm water as his hands scratched at his scalp. It pooled in the crevices of his eyes and dripped past his ears and down his cheeks like tears. Fresh blood leaked from his sewn up side, the wound inflamed and filled with stitches resembled the maw of an angry deformed demon. The blood swirling down into the drain at his feet made him nauseous to look at so he didn't.So....Glen says the village is on lock down? And until it's taken off red alert I'm stuck here?Brandon mused to himself. Glen had appraised him of this information only a few minutes ago, but he was still struggling to come to grips with the fact that he was now a reluctant guest in the Shifters territory...until the threat had been neutralized.But...what wa
Brandon waited for Ezekiel to speak, but for the longest time the Shifter only examined his wound, so when he did finally speak again Brandon was pulled out of the darkness he had begun to slide into."I don't understand this..." Ezekiel sighed to himself.Brandon exhaled feeling frustrated and sleepy all at once. "What's there to understand? It's a few cuts....""Not that...." Ezekiel chuckled dropping his hands from his side. He steeped behind Brandon out of his periphery view. Brandon forced himself to stand and just as he opened his mouth to ask Ezekiel what he was doing he felt Ezekiel hands on the back of his head. His cool fingers caressed the base of his skull where Brandon knew a three pronged scar disappeared up into his hair line.
Alone I blanketed the Darkness, and Alone I held it at bay-UnknownBrandon sat still for a long time after he left. His body, his mind felt colder without another soul in the room to interact with.And he let himself fall into a sitting unconscious for an untold amount of time.The fatigue carried away everything even the feeling of Ezekiels earlier presence. He felt hollow and by god he loved it. The silence gave him peace and it helped him gather back his crumbling will.He soon managed to stop shaking long enough to realize something.IT.It was finally coming back.It was growing inside.
Once the dream descended, Brandon would always open his eyes to a beautiful sight.The sun rising was far out and beyond him. Starburst yellow and oranges blending with a fog wafting down from the heavens to coat the mountains. These sights were breath taking to him. The sun seemed so close that he often wished that he could reach out and touch it. But no matter how he strained he was unable to move from his spot fixed above the man. Then Brandon would begin to hear them talking. Two males voices beneath him, raised in anger. One voice was familiar to him, because it was his own voice echoing out into the void and sheer rock all around.The man that looked like him stood beneath him. His twin was looking down into the fog and blackness. His hands were clenched at his sides as he screamed at the man standing behind him.