#chatyz
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Clocks and Cyrophoenix (Adam +Alfie- POTW)
Characters: Alfonzo Ramirez (Phoenix- Annie), Adam Walker (Hunter-Tapir)
Summary: The search for Nell continues in a frost dimension where Adam meets a grouchy charmander.
Content Warnings: head trauma
One minute Alfie was walking back to his apartment from a quick stop at the mailboxes, and the next he found himself at the edge of a cliff. His heart lurched into his throat as he reeled back in the nick of time, barely evading what was most certainly a fall to his death. Loose rocks beneath his feet tumbled over the precipice.
Wild eyes frantically took in his new surroundings; colossal pillars stretched beyond the void overhead. The air hummed menacingly along with the echoes of animalistic grunts — the source of which were out of sight. Frost covering the ground turned to sludge underneath his feet as condensation formed from his breath.
This wasn’t the elevator.
“Son of a bitch,” Alfie breathed, stumbling backwards as he shook the slush from his shoes. His day was going so well up until now. He turned slowly, trying to get his bearings on the unfamiliar environment. If there had been an outlet, it was long gone, leaving only a winding ravine behind him. He was left with no choice but to follow it in hopes of getting out of whatever hellscape he’d been thrust into.
He knew he should have taken the stairs today.
A figure dropped down from the edge of the ravine in a rush of white, beige, and glistening metal spikes. The assailant was dressed in the pale camo of arctic warfare gear, the darker colors of bandoliers and a goggled helmet were the only parts of their silhouette distinct from the surrounding snow. Black blood already drenched the tips of the two surgically sharp ice picks the attacker wielded in each hand. A shadow fell over Alfie as those brutal points descended towards his skull.
Yet the figure’s deadly blitz was broken by a sudden hesitation. The arctic soldier veered away from Alfie, sliding down onto the ravine bottom in an awkward stumbling gait as they tried to work off the momentum of the aborted assassination.
Two gloved hands reached up to lift opaque black goggles up from squinting brown eyes.
“Alfie?”
If Alfie thought his situation couldn’t get any worse, he was wrong. He hadn’t been travelling through the ravine for more than five — ten? fifteen? — minutes before being ambushed. He was completely unaware of anything lurking above until it was too late.
As the figure dropped into his field of vision, Alfie staggered backwards. With a piercing yelp, his back hit the ground and he scrambled to regain his footing. Not that it would have helped him any, but he was prepared to bolt away until the hulking silhouette gave pause and spoke his name.
He sat there, dumbfounded, as his eyes focused on the form of… a man? No — not just any man, but an irritatingly familiar one at that.
“Adam?!” Alfie questioned, incredulously.
What kind of fever dream was this? First, the elevator-turned-hell-dimension, and now Nell’s boyfriend was here? In all fairness, it could have been far worse. Still, he was floored.
“Uh, not to sound rude or anything,” Alfie said, pushing himself to his feet as the melting ice ferociously nipped at his skin. “But what the fuck?”
“The fuck today is that your ass is in Ice Hell,” Adam said, pointing one bloody ice pick up towards the sky.
At first the sky appeared to be filled with moons, hundreds upon hundreds of pale lunar shapes, some of which loomed so large over the horizon that collision seemed possible. However more scrutiny revealed them to planet-sized icebergs floating in a frigid voice. Titanic ice bridges stretched across the emptiness between some of the colossus ice shapes in the sky, forming a glittering lattice which refracted light in dizzying refractions, casting everything in an eternal glittering twilight.
“Thought you might be another demon or one of the heat-drinker corpses when I picked up your vibes,” the Hunter explained. “But hey man! You're alive and not a chest burster alien! Sweet!”
“Ice Hell,” scoffed Alfie. That was just his luck, wasn’t it?
As he wiped his damp hands against his jeans, Alfie’s gaze followed Adam’s gesture to the sky above. He had been so preoccupied earlier by how he was going to get back home that he didn’t even notice the moons gleaming above. It was beautiful — or as beautiful as a hell dimension could be; not that Alfie had any experience with them.
His eyes fell back on Adam as he let out a disgruntled sigh. The palms of his hands ached as a result of the ice melting beneath his touch, but at least he still had his life. All things considered, it could have been much worse. Like being impaled with one of the Hunter’s menacing ice picks.
“Yeah, for now,” Alfie huffed. “Appreciate the whole… not killing me thing.” The same could have been said even in White Crest. Why Nell thought dating a Hunter was a good idea was beyond him, but at least she’d managed to keep the Ramirez family secret under wraps for this long. Still, Alfie didn’t trust Adam as far as he could throw him — which meant he didn’t trust him at all.
“You don’t happen to know how to get the hell out of here, do you?”
“Neat trick,” Adam observed with feigned casualness as he watched the snow melt at Alfie’s touch. “How’re you doin that? It’d definitely save on hand warmers.”
“No problem man,” the arctic soldier replied with a grin, meeting Alfie’s barbed sarcasm with the blunt force of supposed earnestness. Adam had learned that passive aggressiveness was best met by taking everything they said literally. It was one of those private little games the footballer liked to play under the guise of thuggish dull-wittedness.
“Sure thing dude.” Adam took a few steps back and pointed up...and up….and up behind Alfie.
Both men stood in the shadow of a mountainous glacier. From the center of the behemoth mass of ice rose Voorhees Clocktower, towering above the demon wastes as if it were the last visible landmark of White Crest remaining after the Earth succumbed to polar night. Whether the frozen clocktower were some kind of copy or somehow an extension of their world into this dimension Adam couldn’t really say.
“The exit of this nut-freezer locker is at the top of the clocktower,” Adam supplied.
Leave it to Adam to notice the ice turn to slush at Alfie’s touch. He knew he needed to be careful about what he said to the other man, but finding the balance between an acceptable excuse and being suspicious was a difficult thing to manage. For a moment, Alfie considered lying that he was a spellcaster. He knew enough about them to potentially fake it, but he also had a feeling that Adam knew just as much — if not more — about spellcasters than he did.
“Trust me, it’s not that great,” Alfie answered dismissively. Regulating his body temperature was a helluva lot more difficult when his skin screamed out in pain from the damage the snow inflicted. On the other hand, if he didn’t regain some kind of control over it, he’d have much bigger problems than rousing Adam’s suspicions.
Alfie’s jaw dropped when Adam drew his attention to the clock tower. No way in hell — no pun intended — was he going to make it up there on his own. Especially not if he had more than being mistaken for a demon to be worried about. He remembered the mention of “heat-drinker corpses” and swallowed hard. So much for being alive.
“I’m gonna take a wild guess and say there’s not a bridge or anything up there, huh?” Alfie quipped. Wishful thinking. “Say, Adam… You’re not busy by any chance, are ya? I could use a tour guide if—” His words were abruptly cut by a blood-curdling screech. Eyes wide, Alfie froze.
“What the hell was that?” sputtered Alfie; the words jumbling together and coming out almost incomprehensible.
“One those No-face-yetis,” surmised Adam, without much sign of surprise.
The ravine walls merely came up to the hips of the figure that stepped down into the gulch, tall enough to easily discern at a distance. It seemed both skeleton and insectoid, a vague humanoid shape whose exposed bones seemed as much chitinous exoskeleton as they were ossein. As the Hunter had said, the ‘Yeti’ had no facial features of any kind, only a long toothless slit down the entire center length of its body that parted and closed in long rasping breaths. Its arms hung down nearly to its feet, all its cadaverously slender limbs tipped with long claws that seemed merely an extension of its chitinous bones. Dark hair clung to the patches not covered in exoskeleton, forming a black mane that rippled in the arctic wind.
“I named that one Jasper-Rasper,” Adam informed Alfie, as if this were the most important point as he frantically motioned for Leah’s nerd brother to run like hell.
“No-face-yetis,” Alfie repeated; testing out the words to see if that would help them make more sense. It didn’t. Seeing the beast in the flesh was just as surreal. But he had to admit, Adam’s description was upsettingly accurate.
Alfie was already worse for wear. There were blisters forming on his hands where he pushed himself off of the ice; his elbows, too, were inflamed from the contact during his fall. But he had no intentions of dying — especially not here.
“You gave it a pet name?” he asked incredulously, shooting the other man a look of disbelief. “I’m not sure if that helps,” Alfie quipped. Either way, he wasn’t about to stand around long enough to find out. The moment Adam gestured in the opposite direction of ‘Jasper-Rasper’, Alfie pivoted sharply. The soles of his shoes disagreed with the texture of the ground as he ran back down the ravine.
Just when he thought he was safely out of reach, the earth trembled beneath him. Bleary eyes did their level best to concentrate on the path ahead. The way was blocked. Not by one, but two menacing creatures, far smaller in stature than the burly yeti. Alfie’s heart leaped into his throat and he skidded to a halt. Curious heads rose from the center of precariously slumped shoulders. For a moment, they didn’t seem to notice him standing frozen in his tracks. A cloud of smoke formed as Alfie’s breath mixed with the frigid air. Suddenly, the figures bolted towards him.
Without thinking, Alfie allowed adrenaline to take control of him. His arms raised, palms facing the pair of demons charging down the ravine. Flames sprouted from his fingertips and spread to his wrists. Alfie braced himself, daring them to come any closer. He couldn’t rely on Adam to save him. He wouldn’t. He was going to get the hell out of here and pull his own weight doing so.
Apparently Alfie was a grouchy charmander, but death was approaching too quickly for Adam to question it.
“Uh oh, Mantis Dogs, watch out for the grabby claws, they’ll pull you under and rip you apart with the other legs.”
The ‘Mantis Dogs’ in question were demonic hexapods with a pair of raised forelimbs. Their bodies were covered in shaggy fur whose extremely pale shade of blue blended in well with the glacial ice of the ravine. Although their six legs were vaguely canine, the bone spurs on the back of their limbs were long and hooked for snagging prey in a deadly grapple. Drool dripped from eager panting mouths surrounded by a ring of faceted sapphire eyes. Spined raptorial legs like those of a mantid extended from the lesser demon’s hairy shoulders, lunging out at Adam as the closest of the insectile canines came within grabbing range.
Conscious of the giant faceless approaching them from the rear, Adam dropped to his knees as the demon’s mantid claw thrashed at the thin air where his shoulders had been moments before. The Hunter swung one of his ice picks and lodged it in the demon’s side, carved a long furrow that seeped noxious white blood as the creature’s momentum sent it careening past him.
Alfie hated it here. He hated the cold. He hated the snow. He hated the various hell-beasts there were wandering around that wanted to kill him. Not to mention that there were evidently monsters running around that fed off heat and would surely suck him dry.
As Adam effortlessly tussled with one of the Mantis Dogs, Alfie concentrated on the other. Clearly, the flames weren’t keeping either of the creatures away. He flinched as the second Mantis Dog lurched forward with bared teeth. Reflexively, Alfie flicked his wrists and two orbs of fire hurdled towards the beast just as it launched itself into the air for its attack.
Alfie stumbled backwards with labored breaths, narrowly dodging the marred body whirring past. The world around him was a blur and his heart pounded in his chest. Putting out that much energy was draining enough in a normal environment. But here? With his hands and elbows already blistered by the ice water, he was already weaker than usual.
The screams of the hexapod intermingled with the ringing of his ears. Slowly, Alfie’s eyes focused on the scene unfurling before him; a thrashing heap of flame and fur as the creature screeched in agony. “I shouldn’t have done that,” he admitted. His eyes fell back on Adam before he glanced over his shoulder to the faceless yeti behind them.
“What now?” he asked shrilly.
“Into the caves Charmander,” Adam shouted as he buried an ice-pick hilt deep in one of the Mantis Dog’s forelimbs and twisted the weapon. There was a sickening crack as the mantid claw snapped, dangling from a few tendons as the insectile canine howled in agony.
But pain shuddered up through Adam’s leg as he drove the other pick deep into one of the Mantis-Dog’s pupil-less blue eyes and kicked the creature off him. He looked down to see one of the demon’s hooted leg spurs had gotten him on the thigh. It was just a graze, but with how sharp demonic claws were that’d been more than enough to slice a laceration down his leg and rip open his arctic gear to the cold.
Shit shit shit, not good.
But a huge shadow fell over the ravine and Adam didn’t have time to think about that. A rush of displaced air let the Hunter know what was coming without having to look up.
“Alfie heads up!” Adam ignored the agony in shooting up his leg as he sprinted towards Leah’s dumbass brother. With no time to explain, the footballer slammed into Alfie with a full bodied tackle, slamming him against the ravine’s ice wall.
Jasper the Rasper’s taloned hand slammed down where both men had been seconds before. The impact of the giant’s blow carved a deep fissure into the ravine’s floor. More jagged ruptures spiderwebbed outward from the broken crater and shuddering cracks wracked the ice walls. For a moment all Adam could see was Jasper’s silhouette looming against the sky of drifting icebergs. Even while kneeling down in the aftermath of pile-driving a hole in the ice, this No-Face Yeti was easily the size of a Harris Island mansion, a rolling hill of insectile chitin and black fur. Jasper’s body-length mouth yawned open sideways, each gasping breath turning the ravine into a wind tunnel.
“C’mon,” shouted Adam over the thunderous rasping. “We gotta head into the caves,” he claimed, pointing to gaps in the ice at the clocktower glacier’s base.
Before Alfie could even wrap his head around being called “Charmander”, a searing pain wracked his entire body. Adam was on top of him faster than he could force his legs to run. The ice burned cold against his skin as Alfie, wheezing, struggled to his feet. If he had to guess, one or more of his ribs were broken and he’d need several weeks to properly heal from the water damage. But it was better than the alternative. Dying wasn’t on his itinerary — granted, neither was being sucked into another dimension made to kill him.
This was the second near-death experience he’d had in the past few weeks; third in the last couple of months. But at least his life still made a little bit of sense then. At least back then he still had his friends. It was bullshit. All of it. "This is bullshit," Alfie thought aloud. Eddie. Nell. Dying in general. Dying in Ice Hell with no one but Adam there to know about it.
Rage boiled inside of him as Alfie staggered forward. For a moment, no amount of broken bones seemed to matter. Flames licked at his skin — patches missing where the ice bit into him. Fuck this dimension. Fuck this yeti-looking son of a bitch. He was losing control.
In one final blow, Alfie hurled a massive ball of fire towards the giant’s feet, immediately regretting it when he nearly collapsed onto Adam. Panting, he braced the Hunter’s shoulder, never minding his scorched clothes or Adam’s own mangled clothing. “C’mon,” he tried to encourage as his feet feebly carried him forward. His head was swimming. He was weaker now than moments before. “I’m not dying here. Clocktower, right?” He could make it. He had to.
Jasper the Rasper’s thunderous gasps echoed after Adam as he led the way towards the caves. The Mantis Dogs had regrouped and gave chase across the shattered obstacle course of the ravine. Pain shot up Adam’s leg as he vaulted over toppled ice shelves and fissures. He tried to make sure Alfie followed after him, though it was hard to concentrate on anything as the No-Face Yeti wrenched itself free of the ice and began moving with a strange rolling after the tiny thing that'd burned it.
Adam ducked into a vertical crevice in the ice, beckoning Alfie in as he slashed at the pursuing Mantis Dogs with his picks.
“I’m going to die in here, aren’t I?” Alfie asked once he was (somewhat) safely tucked away in the ice behind Adam. He was trembling from head to toe; his battered side screamed its pain while his ice-kissed skin told its own blistering tale. If the monsters of this dimension didn’t kill him, it wouldn’t take much for the Hunter to piece together what he was and finish the job himself. By now, the other man had seen enough of Alfie’s powers to have some inclination, and his skin burning from the slush of ice wasn’t doing him any favors. He briefly wondered if it would be better this way. At least then he wouldn’t have to worry about the curse awaiting him in the real world. “Don’t… don’t answer that,” he feebly amended.
When his eyes fell on Adam’s leg, Alfie’s stomach sank. He could fix that. At the very least, saving Adam might bring Nell back. “You’re looking for her, aren’t you?” Alfie asked, not bothering to elaborate. “I’m… I don’t think I can be of much use in here anymore, but I can try. Just… tell me what I need to do. What can I do?”
“Nah your sister would kill me if I let you die here, like...its super rare that fire chickens get to live with their kind or something like that,” Adam assured as he backed further into the cave system, keeping an eye on the wounded Mantis Dogs prowling around just outside the cavern’s entrance.
Alfie’s correct surmise drew a sidelong look from Adam followed by a nod. “Yeah, I’m trying to track the thing that took her,” the Hunter confirmed. “It’s a longshot but ….” He took off his googled helmet and ran a hand through sweaty brown hair. “Fuck its all I’ve got.”
Adam took a moment to consider Alfie’s offer, looked up towards where the cavern systems led up to the frozen clocktower and out to where demonic canines and a titanic yeti were raising hell. “First we need to get you out up to the Portal in the clocktower.”
Adam reached beneath his environment suit and undershirt, to pulled out a key on a length of cord. Comprised of scarlet coral, the key filled the cavern with a red bioluminescence that gleamed off the slick ice walls. “Our clues to whats going on a giant velvet worm that can go through dimensions, these keys, and the portals. I’m gonna keep looking for Nell but it won’t mean much if we don’t figure out how to seal the rifts.”
Adam placed the coral key back around his neck and tucked it underneath his clothing. “Honestly? Thats where folks back home could use the most help.”
Fire chickens. Oh, so Adam already knew. Alfie wasn’t sure whether he was more relieved or concerned, but ultimately decided that he was grateful. At least he didn’t have to keep worrying about slipping up in front of the Hunter. Leave it to Leah to inadvertently save the day.
As Alfie trailed close behind Adam, a frown formed on his face. After the uncomfortable conversation with Luce about Nell’s disappearance, Alfie thought it was best to back off entirely, but it didn’t stop him from worrying. Nell had been his best friend for years, after all. They may have had their own separate lives now, but he would never stop caring for her. “What exactly happened, anyway?” he ventured to ask. “I mean… What took her? Why?”
His eyes followed Adam’s gaze, falling on the clocktower that seemed all too far away at this point. If the other man had kept him alive this long, then Alfie just had to trust he knew what he was doing. Even still, he couldn’t stop thinking about Nell. What horrors was she facing where she was? Was she even still alive? It wasn’t fair that Adam would save him first.
Alfie scoffed at the idea of him being able to help close any godforsaken rifts. Until now, everyone had made it clear enough that things were under control. But weeks had passed since then and Nell still wasn’t home. It seemed hopeless. At least, that’s how Alfie saw it. “Yeah, I’ll— I’ll talk to Leah about it, then.” It was becoming a recurring theme these days.
“But what about those things?” Alfie practically shrieked, gesturing to the hellscape presently waiting for them. “How the fuck am I— are we supposed to get through that?”
“We were on our goodbye-it's-armageddon date when this portal opened up and evil alien gribblies everywhere,” Adam explained before lunging forward to swing an ice pick down at the clawed forelimb of a Mantis Dog that’d gotten to close inside the cave entrance. “We fought them and got the civilians to safety but a giant Hell Worm grabbed Nell when she was trying to close the portal.”
Adam nodded to one of the safety lines stacked to the wall that he’d set up earlier to spelunk his way up through the tunnel system. “I’ve set up lines that we can us to pull ourselves up to the clocktower. We’ll have to make it past Grabby Gabby, but it’s probably the fastest way home.”
Alfie’s brow raised at the mention of an armageddon date — a goodbye one at that. It was almost as if they were expecting to get themselves killed. But what did he know? If given the chance, Alfie would probably take the opportunity to spend time with someone he loved in the midst of the world crumbling, too. “A giant Hell Worm,” he tittered, running his palm down the length of his face. Knowing the nitty-gritty details of Nell’s disappearance didn’t make him feel any better. If anything, he felt worse.
“That sounds… dangerous,” Alfie remarked once Adam took the opportunity to explain his emergency route to safety. He felt drained enough as it was and heaving himself up the side of a cliff made out of frozen water didn’t sound ideal. What other choice did he have at this point? “After you, I guess.”
Adam produced a flashlight and affixed it to his helmet. He offered a carabiner to Alfie so that he might latch himself onto the safety line before beginning to climb hand over hand up the slick incline. He led the way up ice shelves and hacked his way through the perpetual forests of icicles that formed strange silent forests in the tunnels. The expeditioners’ reflections were cast in dim distortions through the caves, and Adam occasionally raised a hand for a halt and flicked off the light as much larger shapes momentarily drifted across the ice, or even directly through it in some cases.
“So, have you and Leah always been together? Did you like, rule Rome or something back in the day,” Adam asked as he washed a massive many-limbed shape swim through the ice below them as if where a whale drifting in the ocean.
Hooking himself onto the line behind Adam, Alfie cautiously trailed behind him. As much as he tried to mirror Adam’s every move, he couldn’t help but envision a tragic death for the both of them when his eyes wandered for too long. His knees buckled underneath him, threatening to make his fears become a reality before Adam spoke up.
“Not always, no,” Alfie mindlessly replied. His eyes shot back up to Adam on the line ahead of him once he realized he’d said too much. As far as Alfie was aware, Leah wasn’t privy to this sort of information herself. “I mean… we’ve been around each other for as long as I can remember, but unless one of our parents has something to hide, I think it’s safe to say we’re not fully related.” Alfie wasn’t sure if this was making things better or worse for his case.
“Like you said before, it’s pretty rare for… people like us to stick together.” Despite the fact that Adam knew, Alfie still couldn’t bring himself to say the word ‘phoenix’ in front of him. “Definitely didn’t rule ancient Rome together, though. I don’t think either of us have been around that long.” As grateful as Alfie was for the distracting conversation, he wasn’t particularly keen on discussing the nitty-gritty details of his heritage. Partially because most of what he did know was from stolen property, but also because it only begged more questions about why he was fated to die sooner than the rest of his family.
“I am much disappoint,” pronounced Adam with false solemnity, “I was all ready to here the secret history of Emperor Phoeligula….Chickligula?...Spartunix?”
The spelunkers no longer how to crouch as they passed into a cave that abruptly expanded into a vaulted ceiling of stalactites that glittered like crystal chandeliers in the lamplight. The cavern’s sweeping floor was riven by jagged fissures tens of feet in width with the spider-webbing cracks of impact that expanded outward from the far side. It was as if something massive had exploded into this part of the glacier but time and relentless arctic conditions had frozen it over. At the far end of the cavern was an ornate door set in worked stone, a mirrored entrance to Voorhees Clocktower
“Well here we are….gotta see if Grabby Gaby is up.”
For a moment, Alfie stared at Adam incredulously before murmuring a soft, “Uhhh…” But as he heaved himself onto more solid ground, he chose to drop the subject altogether. “Trust me, if I remember anything like that, I’ll hit you up,” he stated instead.
With a quick look around, Alfie shirked away. He’d been so eager to get out of this hellscape the moment he arrived, yet even with the exit in sight, something felt off. The first time Adam mentioned ‘Grabby Gabby’, Alfie falsely assumed that it was yet another affectionate nickname for one of the beasts he’d already been introduced to. Now he was much less certain. “Let me guess,” he said, taking a few uncertain steps forward. “Gabby isn’t as social as Jasper? But still has a tendency to not let any houseguests leave?”
“Pretty much” Adam looked at the fissures for a time before turning back to Alfie. “Do you have any fireballs left in you?”
Great, Alfie thought. That was reassuring. “Maybe one or two,” he reluctantly replied. His palms turned upwards as he gave Adam a shrug. Better to save his energy for when it counted most. “Just tell me when.”
Adam motioned for Alfie to follow after re-bandaging his leg with some cloth from his bag, trying to staunch the wound enough to make the run.
Adam wove a precarious path among the ice fissures as black tentacles exploded upward. Each of the sinuous limbs were covered by electric blue fern-like structures instead that splayed out into delicate coils. The tentacles snaking after Adam, their bioluminescent fern hairs incandescently beautiful in the darkness. Soon they seemed to be running through a rubbery forest of black trees with glowing frond branches.
“If you have any fire left that’d be great,” shouted Adam as he sliced open tentacles with scything swings of his picks.
As soon as Adam kicked it into gear, hulking into the face of danger, Alfie followed suit. But nothing had prepared him for the mass of tendrils awaiting them. Had it not been for Adam’s exhortation, he would have frozen amongst the beast’s tentacles and met his fate. “Yeah, yep… workin’ on it!” he called back. Mustering whatever energy he had left in him, Alfie willed his hands to spark.
Alfie narrowly dodged a glittering pillar of black that whirred past him, just before releasing a fiery orb, striking further down the monster’s tentacle. There wasn’t much time for him to recoup. With the clock-tower well within his sights, he had to push himself. He might not be able to save Nell, but he could at least live another day to see her, and help get Adam to safety in the process.
Another ball of fire shot from the palm of his hand as he weaved through it, jumping over the beast’s appendages as needed. “What’s the situation over there?” Alfie croaked, trying his level best to keep his voice free of desperation.
“Go go go! She’s a c’moning oh shit!
Adam carved a path of blue blood through the forest of tentacles, ducking away from the impacts of Alfie’s fireballs before charging though the withered stumps to those closer to the door. But the cavern kept filled with more and more undulating coils and glowing cilia ferns as Grabby Gabby’s true horrific body began to emerge from the depths of the fissures.
“Don't look back, just go!”
Adam desperately beckoned Alfie through the door as tendrils slithered greedily after. He slammed it shut just as the cavern filled with a sound like the wind screaming as it was cut into pieces.
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Lion and Wolf
timing: At the start of the full moon
parties: @letsbenditlikebennett, @laylacooke, @walker-journal
summary: Adam meets Layla on the eve of full moon and has to decide if its stabbing time, Celeste saves the day.
Adam was in Took’s General Store purchasing the essentials for “Big Moon” days. Previous trips to The Armory and Excalibur had taken care of most munitions and blade requirements. However there was always miscellaneous stuff. Materials for molotov cocktails, chloroform, poisons, and other essentials were all readily available within Took’s cheery confines.
Plus soap, gonna need ...lots...of soap.
To Adam’s surprise there was a small hesitation inside of him, a passing flicker of hope that none of the wolves he’d encounter were Winn or Lucas inside, or Lucas’ brother whom he’d never met. It was an unusual train of thought for Adam and he shoved it away. All threats needed to be eliminated no matter who they were. This kind of thinking wasn’t what he needed during this critical part of the lunar cycle. Focus.
However the athlete’s mental coaching actually made him lose track of where he was, leading him to almost run over someone in the aisle.
“Hey look where you’re…”
It was about this time that Adam’s eyes took in that the human roadblock also happened to be a bombshell. Brown eyes traced curves before finally arriving to her face with an appreciative smile.
“Sorry about that,” he said in a markedly more diplomatic tone. “My bad.”
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Layla had only been in Took’s a few times. When she had managed to find some money here or there and could afford a small snack or something to drink. But being able to freely go in and just look was something she was able to do now. And since finding a home with Ari, Ulf, and Celeste, her mission was to explore the town and familiarize herself with everything without as much worry as she once previously held. Of course, tonight’s only issue was the full moon, which was rather big, and she knew she’d have to head back home soon.
Perusing the aisles, Layla wasn’t looking for anything in particular, however, she also hadn’t been paying attention to where she was going, so when she ran into someone she quickly started apologizing, “I’m sorry, I got caught up in looking, and I didn’t...see you.” The guy staring back at her had caught her attention with his smile.
It had been a long time since anyone had looked at her like that, and while she was flattered, she was also reminded about the serious relationship she had been in for a few years now, “It’s cool. I should have been paying attention to where I was going.”
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“No problem,” Adam said with a lavisciously distracted grin.
Yet with the young woman’s (was she legal...oh god, hopefully?) presence came a feeling of cold that prickled long his skin in ripples of goosebumps and washed down his spin like he’d stepped under a waterfall. Something about this chick’d set off his Hunter senses. She was likely an inhuman, but of what kind he had no idea.
“Adam Walker,” he said, reaching a thewy arm across the card to offer his hand, trying not to let the heeby jeebies change his expression. “You from around here?”
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Was this guy flirting with her? He had to have been. That smile that seemed to be permanently etched on his face was alerting her to the fact. She had seen it so many times in high school and when she would go out with Frankie and their friends, but the biggest difference now was that Frankie wasn’t here.
“It’s nice to meet you Adam Walker.” She stuck out her own hand to meet his and shook it gently. “Layla Cooke. And no. I’m actually from the South, but I decided to give White Crest a shot. What about you?”
----------------
“Going to college here,” Adam replied, keeping his expression neutral as the touch of her hand brought a rush of inhuman wrongness into his nervous system. The conditioned response of adrenaline entered his veins, years of training and violence filling Adam’s brain with visions of throwing Layla against the mental counters and slamming her skull against the tile floor over and over..
Focus. This is a public place. He knew nothing about her.
“Part of Delta Iota Epsilon,” Adam continued, and shoved a thumb towards the sleeveless t-shirt with the acronym of DIE he was wearing. “Parties all night on Friday and Saturday,” Layla received another appraising look that was devoid of shyness or shame. “You should come check it out...you’d be a great fit,” he assured with a slow nod.
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“Yeah, I’m hoping I can go there one day, when I’m able to get my life in order.” She slowly pulled her hand back and let it drop to her side. She couldn’t tell anything different about Adam, just that he seemed to be a huge flirt. It was weird talking to a college guy, considering they were probably about the same age. But after the bite, life just didn’t seem real anymore.
Seeing him motion to his shirt, she smiled, but something about the letters he was pointing to began to make her uneasy. His smile never seemed to falter though, “You know, I wasn’t as big into the party scene as one might think. My parents weren’t too keen on the idea of their only child going out and getting drunk on the weekend.” No, instead they had her training how to hunt and kill werewolves and other creatures of the night. “But I guess one party sometimes couldn’t hurt.”
Looking past Adam, Layla had noticed it was starting to get dark outside, and that meant that the moon would be coming up sooner than she would have liked, “Well, this has been fun, but I think it’s about time I head home, you know, with it getting dark and all.” Layla started to feel faint and sweat slowly began to build on her brow.
----------------
Adam’s sinewy shoulders shrugged. “Sounds like a drag...but guess its better than them now caring?” The footballer seemed a little uncertain on that last point. “But hey definately welcome anytime.”
She excuses herself and Adam had far more preparations to complete before the moon was high. “Yeah no prob see you arou….um, Lyra” (it was an L name right?) “you ok?”
----------------
“Uh, yeah, I guess.” She was starting to get worried for multiple reasons. “I’ll look you up.”
Layla began moving forward, but stumbled slightly. And there it was. The feeling she dreaded with a passion of a million fiery suns, “Layla. It’s Layla.” Forcing back the lump in her throat, she looked to him with an uneasy smile, “Yeah. Totally. Just need some water.” She began looking around for a cooler with drinks in them. She had to get away from him. Had to get out of the store. Get home.
----------------
Adam frowned in concern as L-chick stumbled. Her weak smile only deepened his downturned expression. Adam went down one of the aisles to the coolers in the back. He placed a water bottle by ?Laura? And went up to the cash register to pay.
“Any better,” he inquired upon returning.
----------------
Layla felt like she was going to leave a lung on the floor of the store. Seeing the water, she grabbed the bottle and opened it, chugging it down. She had never changed in front of anyone before. She had always managed to find privacy, but tonight might have been the night, and Adam was the last person she wanted to know or see what she was.
Finishing the water in one long drink, she let the empty bottle fall to the floor, “Thank you. A little, but I really...I’ll see you around, yeah?” Heading for the door, she forced the door open allowing the cool night air to hit her in the face causing some relief to her pale, clammy skin.
---------------
After a courteous goodbye Adam gave Layla a minute or so headsteart. He was strapped for time but his instincts were picking up weird vibes here. All kids of weird shit went down around the Full Moon, furry and otherwise. If this chick were a supernatural and acting weird, then that's something he needed to follow up on for security’s sake, at least until he was sure it wasn’t going to be a public incident or Pet Shop of Horrors in some back alley.
Adam’s eyesight wasn’t human, thus he could give Layla a very wide berth while trailing her, keeping it casual and hoping to blend in with the crowd.
---------------
With each passing moment, Layla could feel her human side getting weaker and the beast growing stronger. She just wanted to shed her skin and feel better. To have this continual growing ache to disappear, so the animal inside her could be free, but at the same time, she wanted it under control. So far, with every shift, she hadn’t been able to remember what had happened the night before, and it scared her. Hurting someone or something was the last thing she wanted to do, but everytime it happened, Layla seemed to wake up covered in some kind of blood.
Clutching at her side, she could already feel things starting to happen, and the pain had been worse from her little scuff with Francesca and Orion a few days prior. Unable to control it, Layla let out a yowl of pain. With people staring at her, she began running back towards the place that had been discussed with Celeste as a good place to be locked up for this very occasion.
---------------
Adam darted into the back allies, mentally visualizing the direction Layla was probably heading. Unimpeded by the crowd, the Hunter place the purchased gear in his backpack and broke into a full sprint, vauling over obstacles, and scale fences in a few alacitious motions. Adam let his mutant physiology take control, hurtling forward over, around, and through the gaps in obstacles as he tried to gain on Layla.
He swung over a chainlink fence and out into the street again. He advanced after Layla with cold purpose, feet pounding on the broken sidewalk. “Heya Layla…,” he piped up, warm amiable tone not matching the hard agates of his eyes. “You ok?...Do you need me to call emergency services?”
---------------
Her mind was focused on getting to safety. She just wanted to be left alone, aside from someone to keep watch to make sure she stayed locked up. Layla definitely didn’t want to die, but if she had gotten out, she knew it was a real possibility and one she could support, despite her every effort to convince her parents not to hunt or kill wolves, but to subdue them by safer means.
However, her ears had picked up on something as she was scrambling to get home. The sound of feet hitting the ground at a rapid pace, and it wasn’t long until she knew exactly whose feet it was chasing after her. “Adam?” Her eyes were filled with shock, but also worry, “I don’t know how you got here. Or why.” By now she had a pretty good idea why, “But it’s not safe okay? That’s all I’m saying. So you need to leave.” She hated being blunt, but she couldn’t handle the possibility of attacking him or lashing out unintentionally.
---------------
Adam advanced in firmly purposeful steps, his expression steadily losing its warmth until it had cooled into an iron neutrality. Eyes that once regarded her with playful lewdness were now sizing her up with a calculation that held a surgical edge, something to be assessed and possibly disposed of rather than a woman to court.
“Why is it not safe Layla,” he asked with level calm.
---------------
Layla’s strength was diminishing. She was going to have to change sooner rather than later, and along with her strength, her patience was growing thin. It was the animal inside that made her want to lash out and rip his head off, but she resisted the urge, knowing deep down inside, she couldn’t live with herself if she ever did hurt someone, “Because, Adam, I’m not feeling too good, and I wouldn’t want you to get sick…” She looked over to him, the softness of her own expression gone and easily turning into something harder.
---------------
Adam looked around at the courtyard we were in. Cracked cement and empty storefronts long closed where dotted around them. Small plants and mosses eaked out starved existences in the small fissures spidering through cement and tarmac. The dusk cast waning crepular light over the patch of urban decay that Layla and Adam found themselves. The street’s activity was muted in the distance.
“Thanks, that's very considerate of you,” Adam said, still advancing. He lifted a necklace from under his thin shirt. A six-pointed star caught the wan light, pure silver contrasting with the young man’s skin, still ruddy red from the sprint over here.
“You should really let me help walk you home though,” Adam said, winding the sliver symbol through his fingers as he drew closer. “This town can be pretty dangerous at night.”
---------------
Layla hadn’t yet been in contact with silver, since the night she received the bite that changed her. Seeing the glint in the rising moon, the girl’s demeanor completely changed and a low guttural growl escaped her lips, “What do you want with me?” Her body ached and the animal raged inside of her begging to escape, but the moon still hung too low in the night sky. Her breathing was rapid, and she could feel the sickness in her growing, “Are you gonna kill me? Is that why you won’t just leave me alone?” Tears formed in her eyes. Was tonight the night Layla was going to die at the hands of a hunter not much older than she?
She continued to move forward. Her only goal at this point was trying to make it back to Celeste, unless a fight were to ensue, which there was a very good chance she wouldn’t survive.
---------------
Perhaps seeing that subterfuge held no further purpose, Adam reached his free hand behind his back and under his shirt and withdrew one of the two blades he kept there. A cruelly serrated and silvered tactical knife danced easily in the Hunter’s fingers as he readied it.
“Depends,” Adam said coldly, keeping a steady pace but not yet rushing forward. “Where’re you going this Full Moon? If you're going to be out and about then yeah,” the athlete affirmed with a shrug of his shoulders. “You’d be too much of a danger to let live.”
---------------
Layla’s entire body was starting to ache, but she knew she was getting closer to where she needed to be. However, it didn’t deter Adam from continuing to follow along or threaten her. Finally at her wits end and her breathing growing shallow, she stopped and confronted him, “I’m trying to get to the place I was told to go so I can lock myself up, you nosey piece of human garbage.” Sweat was pouring down her pale face, and it was taking everything within her not to just give up and let the monster take control of her body.
---------------
Adam stopped when Layla did, posture slightly slanted as he kept his weight ready on his back foot. The insult didn’t seem to phase him however her claim provoked a moment of contemplation, brawny arms folded in front of him. However the way the silver tactical knife was nevertheless held in the outermost arm in readiness hinted at the deception within this face of casualness. The muscles within the Hunters arms and shoulders were still taut and knotted in this state of stillness, as if he genuinely expected Layla to drop this obvious charade and lunge at him any second.
“Really now.” Dubiety dripped from the worlds as tawny eyebrows raised in an expression that asked Layla if she ...really...wanted to play this way. There came another shrug. “Cool, let’s go and make sure you’re chained up nice and safe.”
---------------
Layla knew hunters. She knew the tricks they played. She was taught how to play games by her parents. And if she had really wanted to snack on his flesh, she would have done it already, but the idea of meat grossed her out, and that idea still lingered behind all the rage and thirst bottled up inside her, “Geeze, yes. Really. Quit acting like a smug, fuckboi hunter and just help me get to the place I’m going. Unless you’re really just looking for a fight, because, yes, you’d probably win. I’m a baby wolf that doesn’t know shit, except animal instinct, which you’re going to experience, if you don’t quit slowing me down. Embrace this moment, you ass. Cherish it, because I’m sure it’s not often you get a willing participant to play your little cat and mouse game that actually just wants to go lock herself up.” She growled at him, before resuming the walk at a quicker pace. She was dispelling more energy, but if it got her away from him and in chains faster then so be it.
---------------
Adam let out an exhalation that evinced that confusion was stronger then frustration. “Yup, it definitely is different,” he admitted while keeping pace. “This isn’t cat and mouse so much as if you're lying, I size you down to fit in those dumpsters,” Adam replied with tactless frankness, nodding towards some waste receptacles they passed.
“Kay, so should I hold you up, carry you..” Adam asked in a more amenable tone, not about to throw an angry she-wolf over his shoulder without permission.
---------------
Layla rolled her eyes at his comment about the dumpsters, “Let me make it easier on you, Adam. You don’t have to size me to fit into anything. I know I fit in dumpsters for a fact. No shame here, because it’s where I used to get my food. So if you want to murder me, then go ahead.” She had almost regretted saying that. Almost.
The teenager closed her eyes in defeat, before reopening them and training them on the hunter in front of her, “If you think you can get me there faster, then be my guest.” She held out her arms waiting for him to pick her up.
---------------
There Hunter shook his head at his quarry and companions second slip into submitting before the knife. “Not that I don’t appreciate an easy kill to move the night along and all,” he began. “But you give up too easy Layla. It doesn’t matter if you’re small or young. Hit the right tendon it doesn’t matter. Fuckin dead is dead.”
On that cheery note, the Hunter put away the silver chain and sheathed his blade. He took the girl into his arms and hefted her weight without visible effort. This done, the athlete took off in a brisk run that steadily accelerated as the mutant fell into a stride that’d have had most fully-human soldiers panting before long.
“So, where is this place?”
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He was right. She did give up too easily. Somehow she had made it this long on her own, but why? Why had she still been spared? Layla couldn’t figure it out. The one thing she did know was that she was angry at the world. Her parents. The wolf who had bit her. The people who had turned her away when she was at her lowest…
The only semblance of hope that had started to return was the day Ariana had offered her a hot meal and a bed to sleep in.
Feeling him lift her up, without resisting, she tried to hold herself up so as to not put all of her weight on him, but it didn’t seem to be much of an issue, “It’s deep in the woods, just past the drive-in theater. Adam, why are you helping me? Why not just kill me when you had the chance?”
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“Because it's not the killing that’s important,” Adam huffed as he continued in a boot camp pace up various hills, across cul de sacs, vaulting over property fences using his free hand, and ignoring the residents cry of outrage as he just took the next fence at a run without responding to their questions.
“It’s about removing threats to mankind,” he continued between breaths while running off the paved streets onto the more rugged roads that signaled one was drawing nearer to the drive-in-theatre and woods. “If you stay out during the full moon then you’ll lose control and be a threat to everyone.”
Dusk deepend and shadowed lengthened, even with the Hunter’s superhuman stamina nightfall proved an implacable pursuer.
“But if you're inside and chained up then you’re not a threat and I don’t have to kill you,” the Hunter finished with the brutally linear logic that the Code demanded. “Me helping you means less people die.”
---------------
Layla latched onto Adam. He was so much stronger than he looked, and she was impressed. And as she watched the town fly by as he ran, she listened to him explain the answer to her question. The fact that he didn’t outright want to kill her, she could respect, and it reminded her of the many arguments she had with her mother and father about that very issue; killing. However, where they differed was that she didn’t want to kill at all. She had just wanted to subdue the beast, despite knowing that there were wolves and other creatures that would kill regardless. And it’s part of the reason she was in the situation she was currently in.
“Well, I can respect that, and I greatly appreciate you giving me a chance. Not all of us want to be killing machines. Some of us just want to be normal human teenagers that go to college and spend time with their girlfriends and paint our nails.” She sighed. “And not have to be locked up every time there’s a full moon.”
She rested her forehead into his shoulder in defeat getting a whiff of his body spray, “Huh, you actually smell really good.” Looking up, she noticed the small structure just up ahead. “There. Celeste should be waiting.”
---------------
“You’re welcome,” grunted Adam as he leapt over the makeshift barricade at the far end of the drive-in theatre. Cicadas whined as the Hunter bounded through the open field towards the woods. Tall grasses and thorns tore at his fatigues, staining the light beige with slashes of green and yell as his breakneck pace barreled through dandelions and knots of knee-height weeds. The air was filled with the smell of fields yielding to the seedy pungence of the woods.
“Heh well I can’t really pretend to know what normal is like,” admitted the mutant who as a child needed to be carefully taught how to interact with non-Hunters so he didn’t accidently break his classmates. “Glad your’re more ...Ya-Ya sisterhood stuff then... murder though,” he huffed as they cleared the treeline, branches snapped with like firecrakers under his pounding feet. “And I guess that’s just life ...when you got’ crazy moon virus,” he said with characteristic tactlessness on the matter of being locked up. “It isn’t fair...but that shits the breaks.
“Heh, you mention your girlfriend ...then tease me with the smelling good and getting up close in my grill like that,” Adam noted with a hoarse laugh as they entered the home stretch up towards the woodland house, blinking as sweat stung at his eyes. “You're cruel,” he joked. While the relative intimacy of her so up close against him might’ve been more..distracting...under different circumstances, Adam was actually more concerned about Layla shifting in his arms and taking a big ‘ol bite out of his neck.
“Kay here we are, not much time”
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Layla continued to stay latched on, but she could feel her body starting to make miniscule changes. Things got a little brighter in the night. Smells were more apparent and distinct. And she started to feel sick again. She had done a good job of suppressing it as Adam raced her towards the safety of a makeshift cage, but it was getting harder now. And she could start to hear the blood pumping through his veins, which left her mouth watering. But, of course, she kept her sudden needs on the DL.
“Crazy moon virus. Best name for it yet.” She felt her arms go around him a little tighter in both a manner of trying to hold on, but for deeper innate reasons. She was praying they would make it there soon, and despite him being kind of an ass, she didn’t want to hurt him. There was something about him that she valued, especially considering he was willing to risk his life to get her to where she desperately needed to be.
“What can I say? I must just be a heartbreaker.” She laughed weakly as they inched closer, and when they had finally made it, she slid off his back, nearly collapsing to the ground. Her eyes searched for Celeste as she tried to make her way to her feet, “Celeste! Please tell me you’re here...Please be here…”
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As it got darker, Celeste found her nerves were dancing under her skin. Layla should have been here by now. She’d headed over to their spot early to ensure the chains were set up and ready to go for Layla. After many tests to make sure they’d be safe, she’d waited patiently, her fingers idly drumming over the tranquilizer gun on her hip. Except as the sky got darker, her patience soon wore thin. She was practically pacing a hole into the ground beneath her feet.
When she heard people approaching, she briefly felt relieved until she heard another voice with Layla’s. Her brow furrowed, she wasn’t keen on anyone else knowing about this spot. “Layla,” she called out, running toward Layla and the man carrying her. She looked over him carefully, waiting for him to set her down. “You’re late,” she said simply before asking, “And who is this?” With Ariana not too far off, Celeste felt on edge having someone else here.
---------------
If Layla consented, Adam set her down. He leaned back and placed both sinewy arms behind his head. The run here carrying another person had been taxing even by Hunter standards, and the footballer’s shoulders rose and fell in a steady rhythm as he tried to get some breath back.
“Adam,” he said with a flushed grin despite his brown eyes scanning the area, looking for if this lock-up was legit or if his sweaty gullible ass was about to be ambushed at this murder-cabin. “It’s ok, I’m used to hot gingers climbing me like a tree.”
He looked to the sky and then cautiously between both women. “So...where’s this safety room?”
---------------
“I know. I got held up.” She shot Adam a look. But as the moon was nearly high in the sky, the young wolf started to feel a more severe shift, and without being able to control it, cried out in pain. It was starting, and if Layla didn’t get chained up soon, then bad things were bound to happen.
Stumbling towards Celeste, Layla’s eyes held agony, “Do it. Whatever you’ve gotta do, do it.” She had done this many times alone, but there was no one around her that she feared she would consume. Of course, that wasn’t to say she hadn’t eaten people before, she just couldn’t remember it, and that always scared her.
Looking between Celeste and Adam, she had hoped they would both be safe and leave when need be. She had also wondered about Ariana, and if she was being locked up as well, but she didn’t want to say anything with fear of Adam trying something.
---------------
The idea of bringing a stranger into the space she’d set up was not something Celeste was keen on doing. Gently grabbing on Layla’s arm, she looked at Adam with narrow eyes. “I’m Celeste. If you haven’t noticed, I don’t really have time to give you a tour.” There wasn’t much time for a debate either, so she led Layla over to the abandoned underground room she’d found. It’d taken a little work to get the chains adequately reinforced and Ulfric didn’t love the idea, but it was what Layla wanted. If this Adam followed then he followed. Once Layla was restrained, she could pay more attention to him and determine if he was a threat.
Layla’s pain was apparent as her bones were shifting. She rushed down the stairs of the abandoned building and kept Layla close to her, placing the cuffs of the chains around her wrists as quickly as she possibly could before looking back to see if he had followed.
---------------
Adam would like to say that he was the kind of person that could’ve just accepted that this Celeste chick, though she felt human to his Hunter senses, was some nice wonderful person who definitely wouldn’t just let the almost shifted out to run free and gnaw off citizen’s gnads. Celeste’s concern looked genuine.
But Adam’s life hasn't been the kind that really left much room for faith in anyone. Faith was too dangerous.
Thus, he followed the two women with a feigned expression of mere idle curiosity.
---------------
Following Celeste as she grabbed onto Layla’s arm, the young wolf could already feel the crack and tearing of bone and muscle begin. But it wasn’t long before she was on the ground being chained up. It was the first time the girl had ever had chains around her body, and it scared her. But her mind couldn’t process words to speak from the pain that was taking over her form.
Curling up into a fetal position, she wailed out in pain as the horrific transformation continued to take place. It seemed like an eternity, before all was said and done, but when she had fully shifted, she lay on the floor panting, regaining her strength, before she managed to climb onto her two hind legs. She was smaller than most of the wolves, but she stood at least another foot taller than she previously had. Her fur was a warm, reddish-orange, and her eyes glowed brightly.
Sniffing the air, she looked around until she had laid eyes on Celeste and Adam. Food. Lunging came naturally, but she was quickly jerked back and hit the floor moaning slightly, before crawling forward trying to reach out swatting at both the hunters, but restrained from the large, heavy chains.
---------------
Celeste watched closely as Layla transformed, making sure the chains held. When she lunged and got jerked back immediately, she allowed herself to relax a little and look back over to the man who’d brought Layla here. “Adam,” she said slowly, “I suppose a thank you is in order. I appreciate you getting her back here safely.”
She scanned him carefully, he was young and looked strong. It seemed likely they had a shared background, but he’d brought her here instead of killing her. “So, I can assure I have things under control here. I went through rigorous testing with the chains and have a little help handy if I need it.” She patted the tranquilizer gun on her hip, “Do you normally pick up shifting werewolves on the full moon?”
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“No problem Ma’am,” Adam said in a distant distracted voice as he looked on the russet monstrosity that Layla had become. The air of inhumanity Layla brought to his Hunter sense came off the Werewolf in choking waves now that she’d shed her human shape. The silver knife tucked secured in the back of his pants under the sweat-soaked shirt seemed to dig painfully into his spine. There was a moment of regret where Adam’s heart faltered in the conviction that was the right choice.
Look at that thing. Why save Layla when it just meant that an innocent would likely pay the price for Adam’s weakness on a future full moon?
Adam pressed the thought from his mind, knowing first hand where that line of reasoning often led.
“Thank you for making sure the creature’s secure,” the Hunter said with an unconscious lapse into depersonalization. “Not usually how I roll,” he admitted, brown eyes drawn again to the luminous gaze of the straining lycanthrope. “But this seems a regular thing for you...Celeste, right?”
---------------
The young, wild animal paced back and forth knowing she was limited in her range on the chains, but she was hungry. Saliva dripped from her long fangs as she continued to snarl and growl at the two humans in her presence. And when innate hunger became too overpowering again, she took a harder lunge, only to be yanked back once again; her efforts proving fruitless.
Any indication of Layla was gone. She was just an animal looking to fill her stomach with anything, and they had been her targets. She was young and dumb, still new in her ways as a werewolf. She had many lessons to learn, but right now she was running simply on endorphins and the animal instinct that had come with the curse.
---------------
She wasn’t sure why it was so hard for her to believe that maybe another hunter had a more reasonable code than her parents had, but Celeste would be grateful for it. She’d have to find a new spot for the next month though. She didn’t want anyone outside of them knowing where they were. Too much of a risk. “I see,” she said, calmly and slowly, blinking a few times before she finally added, “I think I can figure out the rest, thank you.”
With a more serious face, she assured, “It is, yes. I’ll make sure she’s on time next time. She cut it entirely too close for my liking.” She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Just another layer to this whole fucked up puzzle of keeping both the kids and others safe. She figured she’d refrain from mentioning the bit about being what her parents would call a deserter. Most didn’t take kindly to that.
---------------
Although this particular encounter had ended happily, Adam’s night had really only begun. By this point those wolves that were still out had already changed, and Adam’s duty shifted from containment to elimination. “Thank you ma’am appreciate it,” the Hunter said, wishing he still had enough faith left to take Celeste’s assurance at face value.
Making a polite excuse to leave, Adam began the long trek back to town to retrieve his supplies and take up the night’s patrol
Adam was in Took’s General Store purchasing the essentials for “Big Moon” days. Previous trips to The Armory and Excalibur had taken care of most munitions and blade requirements. However there was always miscellaneous stuff. Materials for molotov cocktails, chloroform, poisons, and other essentials were all readily available within Took’s cheery confines.
Plus soap, gonna need ...lots...of soap.
To Adam’s surprise there was a small hesitation inside of him, a passing flicker of hope that none of the wolves he’d encounter were Winn or Lucas inside, or Lucas’ brother whom he’d never met. It was an unusual train of thought for Adam and he shoved it away. All threats needed to be eliminated no matter who they were. This kind of thinking wasn’t what he needed during this critical part of the lunar cycle. Focus.
However the athlete’s mental coaching actually made him lose track of where he was, leading him to almost run over someone in the aisle.
“Hey look where you’re…”
It was about this time that Adam’s eyes took in that the human roadblock also happened to be a bombshell. Brown eyes traced curves before finally arriving to her face with an appreciative smile.
“Sorry about that,” he said in a markedly more diplomatic tone. “My bad.”
----------------
Layla had only been in Took’s a few times. When she had managed to find some money here or there and could afford a small snack or something to drink. But being able to freely go in and just look was something she was able to do now. And since finding a home with Ari, Ulf, and Celeste, her mission was to explore the town and familiarize herself with everything without as much worry as she once previously held. Of course, tonight’s only issue was the full moon, which was rather big, and she knew she’d have to head back home soon.
Perusing the aisles, Layla wasn’t looking for anything in particular, however, she also hadn’t been paying attention to where she was going, so when she ran into someone she quickly started apologizing, “I’m sorry, I got caught up in looking, and I didn’t...see you.” The guy staring back at her had caught her attention with his smile.
It had been a long time since anyone had looked at her like that, and while she was flattered, she was also reminded about the serious relationship she had been in for a few years now, “It’s cool. I should have been paying attention to where I was going.”
----------------
“No problem,” Adam said with a lavisciously distracted grin.
Yet with the young woman’s (was she legal...oh god, hopefully?) presence came a feeling of cold that prickled long his skin in ripples of goosebumps and washed down his spin like he’d stepped under a waterfall. Something about this chick’d set off his Hunter senses. She was likely an inhuman, but of what kind he had no idea.
“Adam Walker,” he said, reaching a thewy arm across the card to offer his hand, trying not to let the heeby jeebies change his expression. “You from around here?”
----------------
Was this guy flirting with her? He had to have been. That smile that seemed to be permanently etched on his face was alerting her to the fact. She had seen it so many times in high school and when she would go out with Frankie and their friends, but the biggest difference now was that Frankie wasn’t here.
“It’s nice to meet you Adam Walker.” She stuck out her own hand to meet his and shook it gently. “Layla Cooke. And no. I’m actually from the South, but I decided to give White Crest a shot. What about you?”
----------------
“Going to college here,” Adam replied, keeping his expression neutral as the touch of her hand brought a rush of inhuman wrongness into his nervous system. The conditioned response of adrenaline entered his veins, years of training and violence filling Adam’s brain with visions of throwing Layla against the mental counters and slamming her skull against the tile floor over and over..
Focus. This is a public place. He knew nothing about her.
“Part of Delta Iota Epsilon,” Adam continued, and shoved a thumb towards the sleeveless t-shirt with the acronym of DIE he was wearing. “Parties all night on Friday and Saturday,” Layla received another appraising look that was devoid of shyness or shame. “You should come check it out...you’d be a great fit,” he assured with a slow nod.
----------------
“Yeah, I’m hoping I can go there one day, when I’m able to get my life in order.” She slowly pulled her hand back and let it drop to her side. She couldn’t tell anything different about Adam, just that he seemed to be a huge flirt. It was weird talking to a college guy, considering they were probably about the same age. But after the bite, life just didn’t seem real anymore.
Seeing him motion to his shirt, she smiled, but something about the letters he was pointing to began to make her uneasy. His smile never seemed to falter though, “You know, I wasn’t as big into the party scene as one might think. My parents weren’t too keen on the idea of their only child going out and getting drunk on the weekend.” No, instead they had her training how to hunt and kill werewolves and other creatures of the night. “But I guess one party sometimes couldn’t hurt.”
Looking past Adam, Layla had noticed it was starting to get dark outside, and that meant that the moon would be coming up sooner than she would have liked, “Well, this has been fun, but I think it’s about time I head home, you know, with it getting dark and all.” Layla started to feel faint and sweat slowly began to build on her brow.
----------------
Adam’s sinewy shoulders shrugged. “Sounds like a drag...but guess its better than them now caring?” The footballer seemed a little uncertain on that last point. “But hey definately welcome anytime.”
She excuses herself and Adam had far more preparations to complete before the moon was high. “Yeah no prob see you arou….um, Lyra” (it was an L name right?) “you ok?”
----------------
“Uh, yeah, I guess.” She was starting to get worried for multiple reasons. “I’ll look you up.”
Layla began moving forward, but stumbled slightly. And there it was. The feeling she dreaded with a passion of a million fiery suns, “Layla. It’s Layla.” Forcing back the lump in her throat, she looked to him with an uneasy smile, “Yeah. Totally. Just need some water.” She began looking around for a cooler with drinks in them. She had to get away from him. Had to get out of the store. Get home.
----------------
Adam frowned in concern as L-chick stumbled. Her weak smile only deepened his downturned expression. Adam went down one of the aisles to the coolers in the back. He placed a water bottle by ?Laura? And went up to the cash register to pay.
“Any better,” he inquired upon returning.
----------------
Layla felt like she was going to leave a lung on the floor of the store. Seeing the water, she grabbed the bottle and opened it, chugging it down. She had never changed in front of anyone before. She had always managed to find privacy, but tonight might have been the night, and Adam was the last person she wanted to know or see what she was.
Finishing the water in one long drink, she let the empty bottle fall to the floor, “Thank you. A little, but I really...I’ll see you around, yeah?” Heading for the door, she forced the door open allowing the cool night air to hit her in the face causing some relief to her pale, clammy skin.
---------------
After a courteous goodbye Adam gave Layla a minute or so headsteart. He was strapped for time but his instincts were picking up weird vibes here. All kids of weird shit went down around the Full Moon, furry and otherwise. If this chick were a supernatural and acting weird, then that's something he needed to follow up on for security’s sake, at least until he was sure it wasn’t going to be a public incident or Pet Shop of Horrors in some back alley.
Adam’s eyesight wasn’t human, thus he could give Layla a very wide berth while trailing her, keeping it casual and hoping to blend in with the crowd.
---------------
With each passing moment, Layla could feel her human side getting weaker and the beast growing stronger. She just wanted to shed her skin and feel better. To have this continual growing ache to disappear, so the animal inside her could be free, but at the same time, she wanted it under control. So far, with every shift, she hadn’t been able to remember what had happened the night before, and it scared her. Hurting someone or something was the last thing she wanted to do, but everytime it happened, Layla seemed to wake up covered in some kind of blood.
Clutching at her side, she could already feel things starting to happen, and the pain had been worse from her little scuff with Francesca and Orion a few days prior. Unable to control it, Layla let out a yowl of pain. With people staring at her, she began running back towards the place that had been discussed with Celeste as a good place to be locked up for this very occasion.
---------------
Adam darted into the back allies, mentally visualizing the direction Layla was probably heading. Unimpeded by the crowd, the Hunter place the purchased gear in his backpack and broke into a full sprint, vauling over obstacles, and scale fences in a few alacitious motions. Adam let his mutant physiology take control, hurtling forward over, around, and through the gaps in obstacles as he tried to gain on Layla.
He swung over a chainlink fence and out into the street again. He advanced after Layla with cold purpose, feet pounding on the broken sidewalk. “Heya Layla…,” he piped up, warm amiable tone not matching the hard agates of his eyes. “You ok?...Do you need me to call emergency services?”
---------------
Her mind was focused on getting to safety. She just wanted to be left alone, aside from someone to keep watch to make sure she stayed locked up. Layla definitely didn’t want to die, but if she had gotten out, she knew it was a real possibility and one she could support, despite her every effort to convince her parents not to hunt or kill wolves, but to subdue them by safer means.
However, her ears had picked up on something as she was scrambling to get home. The sound of feet hitting the ground at a rapid pace, and it wasn’t long until she knew exactly whose feet it was chasing after her. “Adam?” Her eyes were filled with shock, but also worry, “I don’t know how you got here. Or why.” By now she had a pretty good idea why, “But it’s not safe okay? That’s all I’m saying. So you need to leave.” She hated being blunt, but she couldn’t handle the possibility of attacking him or lashing out unintentionally.
---------------
Adam advanced in firmly purposeful steps, his expression steadily losing its warmth until it had cooled into an iron neutrality. Eyes that once regarded her with playful lewdness were now sizing her up with a calculation that held a surgical edge, something to be assessed and possibly disposed of rather than a woman to court.
“Why is it not safe Layla,” he asked with level calm.
---------------
Layla’s strength was diminishing. She was going to have to change sooner rather than later, and along with her strength, her patience was growing thin. It was the animal inside that made her want to lash out and rip his head off, but she resisted the urge, knowing deep down inside, she couldn’t live with herself if she ever did hurt someone, “Because, Adam, I’m not feeling too good, and I wouldn’t want you to get sick…” She looked over to him, the softness of her own expression gone and easily turning into something harder.
---------------
Adam looked around at the courtyard we were in. Cracked cement and empty storefronts long closed where dotted around them. Small plants and mosses eaked out starved existences in the small fissures spidering through cement and tarmac. The dusk cast waning crepular light over the patch of urban decay that Layla and Adam found themselves. The street’s activity was muted in the distance.
“Thanks, that's very considerate of you,” Adam said, still advancing. He lifted a necklace from under his thin shirt. A six-pointed star caught the wan light, pure silver contrasting with the young man’s skin, still ruddy red from the sprint over here.
“You should really let me help walk you home though,” Adam said, winding the sliver symbol through his fingers as he drew closer. “This town can be pretty dangerous at night.”
---------------
Layla hadn’t yet been in contact with silver, since the night she received the bite that changed her. Seeing the glint in the rising moon, the girl’s demeanor completely changed and a low guttural growl escaped her lips, “What do you want with me?” Her body ached and the animal raged inside of her begging to escape, but the moon still hung too low in the night sky. Her breathing was rapid, and she could feel the sickness in her growing, “Are you gonna kill me? Is that why you won’t just leave me alone?” Tears formed in her eyes. Was tonight the night Layla was going to die at the hands of a hunter not much older than she?
She continued to move forward. Her only goal at this point was trying to make it back to Celeste, unless a fight were to ensue, which there was a very good chance she wouldn’t survive.
---------------
Perhaps seeing that subterfuge held no further purpose, Adam reached his free hand behind his back and under his shirt and withdrew one of the two blades he kept there. A cruelly serrated and silvered tactical knife danced easily in the Hunter’s fingers as he readied it.
“Depends,” Adam said coldly, keeping a steady pace but not yet rushing forward. “Where’re you going this Full Moon? If you're going to be out and about then yeah,” the athlete affirmed with a shrug of his shoulders. “You’d be too much of a danger to let live.”
---------------
Layla’s entire body was starting to ache, but she knew she was getting closer to where she needed to be. However, it didn’t deter Adam from continuing to follow along or threaten her. Finally at her wits end and her breathing growing shallow, she stopped and confronted him, “I’m trying to get to the place I was told to go so I can lock myself up, you nosey piece of human garbage.” Sweat was pouring down her pale face, and it was taking everything within her not to just give up and let the monster take control of her body.
---------------
Adam stopped when Layla did, posture slightly slanted as he kept his weight ready on his back foot. The insult didn’t seem to phase him however her claim provoked a moment of contemplation, brawny arms folded in front of him. However the way the silver tactical knife was nevertheless held in the outermost arm in readiness hinted at the deception within this face of casualness. The muscles within the Hunters arms and shoulders were still taut and knotted in this state of stillness, as if he genuinely expected Layla to drop this obvious charade and lunge at him any second.
“Really now.” Dubiety dripped from the worlds as tawny eyebrows raised in an expression that asked Layla if she ...really...wanted to play this way. There came another shrug. “Cool, let’s go and make sure you’re chained up nice and safe.”
---------------
Layla knew hunters. She knew the tricks they played. She was taught how to play games by her parents. And if she had really wanted to snack on his flesh, she would have done it already, but the idea of meat grossed her out, and that idea still lingered behind all the rage and thirst bottled up inside her, “Geeze, yes. Really. Quit acting like a smug, fuckboi hunter and just help me get to the place I’m going. Unless you’re really just looking for a fight, because, yes, you’d probably win. I’m a baby wolf that doesn’t know shit, except animal instinct, which you’re going to experience, if you don’t quit slowing me down. Embrace this moment, you ass. Cherish it, because I’m sure it’s not often you get a willing participant to play your little cat and mouse game that actually just wants to go lock herself up.” She growled at him, before resuming the walk at a quicker pace. She was dispelling more energy, but if it got her away from him and in chains faster then so be it.
---------------
Adam let out an exhalation that evinced that confusion was stronger then frustration. “Yup, it definitely is different,” he admitted while keeping pace. “This isn’t cat and mouse so much as if you're lying, I size you down to fit in those dumpsters,” Adam replied with tactless frankness, nodding towards some waste receptacles they passed.
“Kay, so should I hold you up, carry you..” Adam asked in a more amenable tone, not about to throw an angry she-wolf over his shoulder without permission.
---------------
Layla rolled her eyes at his comment about the dumpsters, “Let me make it easier on you, Adam. You don’t have to size me to fit into anything. I know I fit in dumpsters for a fact. No shame here, because it’s where I used to get my food. So if you want to murder me, then go ahead.” She had almost regretted saying that. Almost.
The teenager closed her eyes in defeat, before reopening them and training them on the hunter in front of her, “If you think you can get me there faster, then be my guest.” She held out her arms waiting for him to pick her up.
---------------
There Hunter shook his head at his quarry and companions second slip into submitting before the knife. “Not that I don’t appreciate an easy kill to move the night along and all,” he began. “But you give up too easy Layla. It doesn’t matter if you’re small or young. Hit the right tendon it doesn’t matter. Fuckin dead is dead.”
On that cheery note, the Hunter put away the silver chain and sheathed his blade. He took the girl into his arms and hefted her weight without visible effort. This done, the athlete took off in a brisk run that steadily accelerated as the mutant fell into a stride that’d have had most fully-human soldiers panting before long.
“So, where is this place?”
---------------
He was right. She did give up too easily. Somehow she had made it this long on her own, but why? Why had she still been spared? Layla couldn’t figure it out. The one thing she did know was that she was angry at the world. Her parents. The wolf who had bit her. The people who had turned her away when she was at her lowest…
The only semblance of hope that had started to return was the day Ariana had offered her a hot meal and a bed to sleep in.
Feeling him lift her up, without resisting, she tried to hold herself up so as to not put all of her weight on him, but it didn’t seem to be much of an issue, “It’s deep in the woods, just past the drive-in theater. Adam, why are you helping me? Why not just kill me when you had the chance?”
---------------
“Because it's not the killing that’s important,” Adam huffed as he continued in a boot camp pace up various hills, across cul de sacs, vaulting over property fences using his free hand, and ignoring the residents cry of outrage as he just took the next fence at a run without responding to their questions.
“It’s about removing threats to mankind,” he continued between breaths while running off the paved streets onto the more rugged roads that signaled one was drawing nearer to the drive-in-theatre and woods. “If you stay out during the full moon then you’ll lose control and be a threat to everyone.”
Dusk deepend and shadowed lengthened, even with the Hunter’s superhuman stamina nightfall proved an implacable pursuer.
“But if you're inside and chained up then you’re not a threat and I don’t have to kill you,” the Hunter finished with the brutally linear logic that the Code demanded. “Me helping you means less people die.”
---------------
Layla latched onto Adam. He was so much stronger than he looked, and she was impressed. And as she watched the town fly by as he ran, she listened to him explain the answer to her question. The fact that he didn’t outright want to kill her, she could respect, and it reminded her of the many arguments she had with her mother and father about that very issue; killing. However, where they differed was that she didn’t want to kill at all. She had just wanted to subdue the beast, despite knowing that there were wolves and other creatures that would kill regardless. And it’s part of the reason she was in the situation she was currently in.
“Well, I can respect that, and I greatly appreciate you giving me a chance. Not all of us want to be killing machines. Some of us just want to be normal human teenagers that go to college and spend time with their girlfriends and paint our nails.” She sighed. “And not have to be locked up every time there’s a full moon.”
She rested her forehead into his shoulder in defeat getting a whiff of his body spray, “Huh, you actually smell really good.” Looking up, she noticed the small structure just up ahead. “There. Celeste should be waiting.”
---------------
“You’re welcome,” grunted Adam as he leapt over the makeshift barricade at the far end of the drive-in theatre. Cicadas whined as the Hunter bounded through the open field towards the woods. Tall grasses and thorns tore at his fatigues, staining the light beige with slashes of green and yell as his breakneck pace barreled through dandelions and knots of knee-height weeds. The air was filled with the smell of fields yielding to the seedy pungence of the woods.
“Heh well I can’t really pretend to know what normal is like,” admitted the mutant who as a child needed to be carefully taught how to interact with non-Hunters so he didn’t accidently break his classmates. “Glad your’re more ...Ya-Ya sisterhood stuff then... murder though,” he huffed as they cleared the treeline, branches snapped with like firecrakers under his pounding feet. “And I guess that’s just life ...when you got’ crazy moon virus,” he said with characteristic tactlessness on the matter of being locked up. “It isn’t fair...but that shits the breaks.
“Heh, you mention your girlfriend ...then tease me with the smelling good and getting up close in my grill like that,” Adam noted with a hoarse laugh as they entered the home stretch up towards the woodland house, blinking as sweat stung at his eyes. “You're cruel,” he joked. While the relative intimacy of her so up close against him might’ve been more..distracting...under different circumstances, Adam was actually more concerned about Layla shifting in his arms and taking a big ‘ol bite out of his neck.
“Kay here we are, not much time”
---------------
Layla continued to stay latched on, but she could feel her body starting to make miniscule changes. Things got a little brighter in the night. Smells were more apparent and distinct. And she started to feel sick again. She had done a good job of suppressing it as Adam raced her towards the safety of a makeshift cage, but it was getting harder now. And she could start to hear the blood pumping through his veins, which left her mouth watering. But, of course, she kept her sudden needs on the DL.
“Crazy moon virus. Best name for it yet.” She felt her arms go around him a little tighter in both a manner of trying to hold on, but for deeper innate reasons. She was praying they would make it there soon, and despite him being kind of an ass, she didn’t want to hurt him. There was something about him that she valued, especially considering he was willing to risk his life to get her to where she desperately needed to be.
“What can I say? I must just be a heartbreaker.” She laughed weakly as they inched closer, and when they had finally made it, she slid off his back, nearly collapsing to the ground. Her eyes searched for Celeste as she tried to make her way to her feet, “Celeste! Please tell me you’re here...Please be here…”
---------------
As it got darker, Celeste found her nerves were dancing under her skin. Layla should have been here by now. She’d headed over to their spot early to ensure the chains were set up and ready to go for Layla. After many tests to make sure they’d be safe, she’d waited patiently, her fingers idly drumming over the tranquilizer gun on her hip. Except as the sky got darker, her patience soon wore thin. She was practically pacing a hole into the ground beneath her feet.
When she heard people approaching, she briefly felt relieved until she heard another voice with Layla’s. Her brow furrowed, she wasn’t keen on anyone else knowing about this spot. “Layla,” she called out, running toward Layla and the man carrying her. She looked over him carefully, waiting for him to set her down. “You’re late,” she said simply before asking, “And who is this?” With Ariana not too far off, Celeste felt on edge having someone else here.
---------------
If Layla consented, Adam set her down. He leaned back and placed both sinewy arms behind his head. The run here carrying another person had been taxing even by Hunter standards, and the footballer’s shoulders rose and fell in a steady rhythm as he tried to get some breath back.
“Adam,” he said with a flushed grin despite his brown eyes scanning the area, looking for if this lock-up was legit or if his sweaty gullible ass was about to be ambushed at this murder-cabin. “It’s ok, I’m used to hot gingers climbing me like a tree.”
He looked to the sky and then cautiously between both women. “So...where’s this safety room?”
---------------
“I know. I got held up.” She shot Adam a look. But as the moon was nearly high in the sky, the young wolf started to feel a more severe shift, and without being able to control it, cried out in pain. It was starting, and if Layla didn’t get chained up soon, then bad things were bound to happen.
Stumbling towards Celeste, Layla’s eyes held agony, “Do it. Whatever you’ve gotta do, do it.” She had done this many times alone, but there was no one around her that she feared she would consume. Of course, that wasn’t to say she hadn’t eaten people before, she just couldn’t remember it, and that always scared her.
Looking between Celeste and Adam, she had hoped they would both be safe and leave when need be. She had also wondered about Ariana, and if she was being locked up as well, but she didn’t want to say anything with fear of Adam trying something.
---------------
The idea of bringing a stranger into the space she’d set up was not something Celeste was keen on doing. Gently grabbing on Layla’s arm, she looked at Adam with narrow eyes. “I’m Celeste. If you haven’t noticed, I don’t really have time to give you a tour.” There wasn’t much time for a debate either, so she led Layla over to the abandoned underground room she’d found. It’d taken a little work to get the chains adequately reinforced and Ulfric didn’t love the idea, but it was what Layla wanted. If this Adam followed then he followed. Once Layla was restrained, she could pay more attention to him and determine if he was a threat.
Layla’s pain was apparent as her bones were shifting. She rushed down the stairs of the abandoned building and kept Layla close to her, placing the cuffs of the chains around her wrists as quickly as she possibly could before looking back to see if he had followed.
---------------
Adam would like to say that he was the kind of person that could’ve just accepted that this Celeste chick, though she felt human to his Hunter senses, was some nice wonderful person who definitely wouldn’t just let the almost shifted out to run free and gnaw off citizen’s gnads. Celeste’s concern looked genuine.
But Adam’s life hasn't been the kind that really left much room for faith in anyone. Faith was too dangerous.
Thus, he followed the two women with a feigned expression of mere idle curiosity.
---------------
Following Celeste as she grabbed onto Layla’s arm, the young wolf could already feel the crack and tearing of bone and muscle begin. But it wasn’t long before she was on the ground being chained up. It was the first time the girl had ever had chains around her body, and it scared her. But her mind couldn’t process words to speak from the pain that was taking over her form.
Curling up into a fetal position, she wailed out in pain as the horrific transformation continued to take place. It seemed like an eternity, before all was said and done, but when she had fully shifted, she lay on the floor panting, regaining her strength, before she managed to climb onto her two hind legs. She was smaller than most of the wolves, but she stood at least another foot taller than she previously had. Her fur was a warm, reddish-orange, and her eyes glowed brightly.
Sniffing the air, she looked around until she had laid eyes on Celeste and Adam. Food. Lunging came naturally, but she was quickly jerked back and hit the floor moaning slightly, before crawling forward trying to reach out swatting at both the hunters, but restrained from the large, heavy chains.
---------------
Celeste watched closely as Layla transformed, making sure the chains held. When she lunged and got jerked back immediately, she allowed herself to relax a little and look back over to the man who’d brought Layla here. “Adam,” she said slowly, “I suppose a thank you is in order. I appreciate you getting her back here safely.”
She scanned him carefully, he was young and looked strong. It seemed likely they had a shared background, but he’d brought her here instead of killing her. “So, I can assure I have things under control here. I went through rigorous testing with the chains and have a little help handy if I need it.” She patted the tranquilizer gun on her hip, “Do you normally pick up shifting werewolves on the full moon?”
---------------
“No problem Ma’am,” Adam said in a distant distracted voice as he looked on the russet monstrosity that Layla had become. The air of inhumanity Layla brought to his Hunter sense came off the Werewolf in choking waves now that she’d shed her human shape. The silver knife tucked secured in the back of his pants under the sweat-soaked shirt seemed to dig painfully into his spine. There was a moment of regret where Adam’s heart faltered in the conviction that was the right choice.
Look at that thing. Why save Layla when it just meant that an innocent would likely pay the price for Adam’s weakness on a future full moon?
Adam pressed the thought from his mind, knowing first hand where that line of reasoning often led.
“Thank you for making sure the creature’s secure,” the Hunter said with an unconscious lapse into depersonalization. “Not usually how I roll,” he admitted, brown eyes drawn again to the luminous gaze of the straining lycanthrope. “But this seems a regular thing for you...Celeste, right?”
---------------
The young, wild animal paced back and forth knowing she was limited in her range on the chains, but she was hungry. Saliva dripped from her long fangs as she continued to snarl and growl at the two humans in her presence. And when innate hunger became too overpowering again, she took a harder lunge, only to be yanked back once again; her efforts proving fruitless.
Any indication of Layla was gone. She was just an animal looking to fill her stomach with anything, and they had been her targets. She was young and dumb, still new in her ways as a werewolf. She had many lessons to learn, but right now she was running simply on endorphins and the animal instinct that had come with the curse.
---------------
She wasn’t sure why it was so hard for her to believe that maybe another hunter had a more reasonable code than her parents had, but Celeste would be grateful for it. She’d have to find a new spot for the next month though. She didn’t want anyone outside of them knowing where they were. Too much of a risk. “I see,” she said, calmly and slowly, blinking a few times before she finally added, “I think I can figure out the rest, thank you.”
With a more serious face, she assured, “It is, yes. I’ll make sure she’s on time next time. She cut it entirely too close for my liking.” She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Just another layer to this whole fucked up puzzle of keeping both the kids and others safe. She figured she’d refrain from mentioning the bit about being what her parents would call a deserter. Most didn’t take kindly to that.
---------------
Although this particular encounter had ended happily, Adam’s night had really only begun. By this point those wolves that were still out had already changed, and Adam’s duty shifted from containment to elimination. “Thank you ma’am appreciate it,” the Hunter said, wishing he still had enough faith left to take Celeste’s assurance at face value.
Making a polite excuse to leave, Adam began the long trek back to town to retrieve his supplies and take up the night’s patrol
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