Chapter 1
Tree branches slapped against Fox's arms and legs as she pushed through the foliage, desperation fueling her escape. Ice seemed to sluice through her veins at the howls that echoed through the air. The full moon hung heavy in the night sky, her breathing coming out course and harsh. She clutched her side, wincing with every hopeless step, heart pounding a tattoo against her chest. A shiver went up her spine as she stopped, staring at the open field in front her. The sounds of hungry panting and the crunch of underbrush became closer, yet her legs didn't move, fatigue and despair filling her up inside. She had lost someone this year and now she was running from ******** pack members, just because she didn't want to be submissive and spread her legs for some alpha dog who was in heat. She grit her teeth and willed her legs to move, one foot moving, then the other, until she was slowly moving. A shadow moved and she tensed, fearing the worse. Like an apparition, a young woman walked from behind a low hanging tree. She seemed harmless enough. Her hair was coarsely cut just below her ears, a dense orange, like a brand new penny, haloing her heart shaped face, a nose that turned up at the end a little, a full mouth that was made for smiling (which it was doing, very well, she might add) and green eyes that shone with such a mischievous gleam that she started to rethink her first impression of this stranger. The girl had an athletic like body, one that was honed for battle, but also full figured and matured. Nondescript clothes hung loosely on her, yet her presence exuded power and strength. Her body stiffened with apprehension as the other girl walked towards her, her hands curling into fists, ready to fight if she had to. But she found she didn’t even have to as she watched in horror and aversion as the girl tripped on what seemed like air and hit the ground face first with a terrible thump. Fox’s jaw dropped, flabbergasted. Was this girl for real?
The girl got up, sitting on her haunches, rubbing her face as she blushed.
“Damn, that sucked,” the girl muttered to herself, brushing the dirt from her face and chest. She rolled her eyes and stood up, patting her butt. Fox blinked, her current predicament forgotten.
“Oh my god,…didn’t that hurt,” Fox asked, incredulously.
“Hurt my pride more than anything really,” the girl smiled crookedly, wringing her hands.
“Are you sure about…,” Fox’s question was cut off by a long howl, the sound of panting just behind her. She whipped around and paled. Standing a couple yards away were Terry and his punk friends, all of them slobbering over themselves, drool dribbling over their slightly furred chins. Terry pulled away from the group, licking his lips as he looked Fox over.
“Gray leader said to bring you back, said that you needed to be put in your place,” he sneered, grabbing his package and wagging his eyebrows at his ‘homies’, “I bet I could do that for you.”
Fox paled as she stared at the five snarling half changed werelings, knowing she could take on at least three at a time. Terry smirked, his voice cracking.
“Now, lets…get this over wi..”
“Hey, so, I was walking through the woods, because…, well, I’m not going into that, but anyhoo, there was this girl and I was going to say hi and be all cool like and you know what I did,” the girl behind Fox shook her head in disbelief, waving a hand in the air for emphasis, “I fell on my face, on my face!! Oh man, I was so embarrassed, and before I could explain myself to this wicked cool chick, some jackass and his homo friends come over and call me names and threaten my life!! By the way, I don’t appreciate being called a b***h.”
She whispered the last part to Fox conspiratorially, arching a brow as her mouth twisted in distaste. Terry’s face contorted with anger and embarrassment.
“You b***h, who the hell do you think you are,” his voice came out deeper and more guttural, fur blooming across his face and body, “******** just get rid of this b***h and do what we were sent to do.”
When Terry finished, he fell to his knees with a growl. His friends did the same behind him, falling down to the ground, hands fidgeting and clenching the ground. Terry began to morph first. His mouth opened to let out a horrible animalistic noise. His jaw dropped literally. It snapped out of place, the mandible hanging by it’s hinges. The teeth began to spread apart and grow in size. The fingers contorted out of shape, like they were growing extra joints. Their nails growing thicker and longer. Every joint in his body seemed to pop out of place. His hair grew longer growing on the back of his neck, traveling down his back and disappearing under his shirt.
Fox looked away, not interested when their clothes were ripped to shreds by their own claws. They tore at the fabrics like it was suffocating them.
Terry finished his change first, growing in size, standing at least 6’5. He shook his shaggy head and smiled wolfishly, throwing his head back and letting out a long howl, the rest of his gang joining in shortly after they had changed. Terry turned his glowing eyes on the girl, irritation making his lip curl into a snarl at the sight of her covering her mouth as she yawned and continued to talk to a tired Fox who had decided to sit on the ground.
“LOOK AT ME,” he roared, rushing at Fox and the girl, his claws outstretched and teeth glistening. The girl paused and held up a finger, silently asking for a minute from Fox. Terry swung his arm out, his nails an inch from the girl’s face. Fox went to yell a warning but it came out as a shocked squeak, her eyes widening as the girl who was next to her seemed to blur. The girl turned to the side, easily dodging his attack while grabbing his wrist and twisting it in a painful hold. Terry cried out, sounding more like a whimpering dog, then by a strong alpha. His friends hesitated before coming at her from the left and right, just as she pivoted on her feet and caught a wereling in his neck, then placing her other hand on Terry’s shoulder and cart wheeling her legs, her booted heel cracking onto the top of another’s head. She kept a secure hand on Terry’s wrist, keeping him in enough agonizing pain to keep him immobilized, but not enough to knock him out. The two weres that she had kicked were either gasping for breath or knocked out cold. The remaining two leaped back, realizing that they should proceed with extreme caution. They decided to attack as one ferocious fur ball, teeth snapping and claws curled to shred. The girl lifted up Terry’s wrist making him stand up, then slid forward, unwinding his arm from its bent pretzel shape and lifting him by his forearm straight into the air above her head like he weighed nothing. Just as the two charging werelings realized what they were about to run into, it was to late. The girl brought Terry down with an almost seismic bang, smashing down onto the other two. Terry groaned but tried to get up, his drooping eyes glaring daggers at the girl and his voice grating with rage.
“You stupid bit…”
“Shut up,” her voice cut across his garbled speech like a whip, gone was the joking tone, replaced with something more…powerful, the hairs on the back of Fox’s neck rising, “you call me that again, and you will not be able to speak again, let alone form conscious thought, do I make myself clear?”
Terry mumbled something, and the girl grabbed the front of his shirt, jerking his head up. Fox couldn’t see what Terry saw, but the way he paled and his eyes fill with overwhelming fearawe, she found the she didn’t want to.
“Do I Make Myself Clear,” she asked again, enunciating every word in a way that Fox herself almost answered.
“Yes, yes…please..,” Terry sobbed before she let go of his shirt, letting him drop to the ground. When the girl turned, instead of a serious and terrifying look, a smile curled on her lips and she clapped her hands together.
“Well, that was fun,” she cooed, walking back to Fox.
“Uh, How?- How did you do that?” she asked, staring at her with a surprised expression. Even though those boys were amateurs, a normal human being shouldn’t have been able to reflect all their attacks like that.
“Wouldn’t it be better to ask what my name is first?” the girl asked hands on her hips and cocking an eyebrow. Fox shook her head, not understanding what the difference was but she gave up soon and waved her hand to dismiss the thought.
“O-K, fine. What’s your name?” she asked. The girl shifted and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not telling a complete stranger my name. Are you nuts?” Fox gave a loud audible sigh, throwing her hands in the air and turned around.
“You know what?! Forget it! I can’t believe-”
“I’m joking, I’m joking! Take a joke, will you?” she said, trying to calm Fox down by walking over to her and stopping her from walking away. The girl gave a sigh and scrunched up her face as if in pain, twirling her hands in small circles.
“The thing is…I can’t…,” she held up her hands in surrender, silencing Fox before she could complain, “its not that I won’t.., I just can’t, I don’t have one anymore….I guess you can call me whatever.”
Fox’s face became thoughtful, tapping a finger against her chin.
“Umm…Stacie?”
“No.”
“Well, you can’t be choosy…”
“Next.”
“Fine…, how about Catherine?”
“No.”
“Jennifer?”
“No.”
“Bobo?”
“…No.”
“But you thought about it, didn’t you?…Fine, um…How about lightning quick girl who talks a lot about stuff that has already happened?”
“Too long and what the heck?!”
“I was just putting it out there, sheesh! Well, if you don’t like any of my ideas, you can..”
“Hoot!!”
An owl fluttered down in the tree behind Fox, startling her pretty bad.
“Oh frick, that thing just scared the crap out a…..hmmm,” Fox got her thoughtful look on her face again as she stared at the bird, then the girl, “seems the you two have that in common. ….owl….Owl…, simple enough don’t ya say?”
Well, I don’t know,” the girl frowned, staring at Fox, a bit confused, “I don’t know, That as a name? Owl?”
The owl descended out of the tree and landed on the girl’s shoulder, hooting again and nuzzling against her neck. Her face flushed with embarrassment and resignation.
“Well, nice to meet you, my name is Owl,” she giggled, the owl nuzzling her again and clicking its beak as she said its name, “what’s yours?”
“Well I can’t say much about having an animal as a name. The name’s Fox,” she said, rubbing the back of her neck. The girl, now dubbed Owl gave her a curious look.
“Really? Can I ask how you got that name?” she asked, nudging her shoulder to show that she had an explanation for her’s. Fox looked around, making sure the coast was clear so that there was time for idle chit-chat.
“Um, well. I got the name from my mother,” she said, not really going into the detail. Owl had to poke Fox to get anymore information. “You don’t need to know anymore than that,” she said, looking at Owl. The other girl seemed to be disappointed that she wasn’t divulging anymore. But eventually she just shrugged and held out her hand towards the owl, letting it jump onto her hand from her shoulder before she flung her arm out, sending the owl into the air. The night creature soared up and then disappeared back into the forest. For a moment, as Owl stood there watching her namesake fly away, it became an almost majestic picture. But then she turned and opened her mouth.
“You look like crap,” she commented dryly, arching a copper brow. Fox gave her a look that told he to shut up.
“If you were running all through Jeffersonville with a pack of mutts behind you, you’d look like crap too,” she commented. “Also. Just a question, and I don’t mean to change the subject of our interesting conversation,” she started. Owl shrugged. “But how come you’re not… You know. Freaking out? I mean, you just saw three wankers turn into monsters. And you haven’t even said anything about it. Most people by now would have…. Be asking questions and stuff.” The other just seemed to fold her arms behind her head and kick at the dirt on the ground.
“Well, when you live as long as I have, you start caring about what’s normal and what’s not.” Fox arched an eyebrow but said nothing of it. She was just glad she didn’t have to explain anything.
“Well, that’s a good enough answer for me. And you are right. I do feel like crap. And hungry. Running to much gives me the munchies.” Fox looked over at Owl who was looking somewhere else trying to seem inconspicuous. “And since you saved my life, I guess as a ‘thank you’ I could invite you over for some food. Do you want to-”
“Alright! I’m starved! Which way to your house?” she asked, suddenly feeling talkative. She grabbed the other’s arm and began to walk alongside Fox with a grin on her face. The other seemed to flinch at the other’s closeness.
“Do you have to hold onto me while we walk?” she asked, trying to lead them back the way she came through, but all the while of being dragged by Owl. The shorter girl just seemed to nod her head fervently.
“Well yeah. Unless you want me to trip over again,” she said, glancing at Fox, “so, how far is your place?”
Fox looked around and squinted her eyes as is measuring the distance with her mind.
“Bout two miles, give or take a couple yards,” she sighed with resignation, forcing her tired legs forward. She was rudely awakened from her stupor as her arm was tugged back. She turned and looked back, finding Owl chewing her lip in thought.
“What now,” Fox asked, irritability, giving Owl ‘the’ look.
“Well, I could give you a lift and we can get to your house faster,” even though she was stating a fact, her tone was questioning. Fox looked around again, though this time incredulously,
“How?”
Owl let go of Fox’s arm and took a few steps back. She rolled her shoulders, then smiled. Very light brown, glossy wings bloomed from her back, elongating until they were outstretched into about a 16 foot wingspan. She rolled on the balls of her feet as she gave her wings an experimental flap; ergo, away from Fox. But the strong sweep of her wings caused a gust to hit the defeated gang that were crawling away and few yards back. They let out little howls and whimpers, scurrying away with their tails between their legs like frightened little pups. Owl turned back towards Fox and held out her hand.
“Come with me if you want to live,” she said in an authentic Austrian accent before switching back with a wink, “or at least take you home.” Fox didn’t comment but she didn’t move forward either. She was tired, hungry, and exhausted but there was something else bothering her.
“Uh… I kinda… Haveafearofheights,” she mumbled out fast, rubbing her arm. Owl stuck a finger in her ear and gave her a look of ’wtf’? Fox took a step back. “I don’t like… Flying.” The other seemed to raise a brow but then slowly smirked.
“Oh well. Guess we could always take the subway,” she offered innocently. Fox seemed to feel better as her eyes lit up.
“Really?” she asked hopefully. Owl rubbed her chin before turning on her heels and tackling Fox.
“No. Not really.” When she hugged the girl close, she gave her wings a quick flap to get them off the ground fast, before Fox had a chance to escape.
“NONONONONONONOOOOOO!!” Fox screamed, latching onto Owl’s arm for dear life. “GET ME BACK DOWN ON SOLID GROUND, NOW!!”
“But why?” Owl asked, ignoring the ringing in her ears from all the yelling. She looked at the ground, watching the lights of cars and buildings go by. She took in a deep breath and exhaled loudly, glad to be back in the air once more. “This is sooo invigorating!” Fox clutched to Owl for dear life, shaking her head from side to side. Her eyes were shut tight and she refused to open them until the landed. Owl sighed. “You know, we can’t land if you don’t point to which house is yours?” She had flown over the rest of Jeffersonville and was now flying low over Radtown. Fox hated it but she did have a point.
“It’s the house with the green ro-”
“For real?! Cause half these houses have green roof tiles!”
“Smoke coming out of the chimney!! Oh for god sakes-!!!”
“We’re here, and we’ve been on the ground for a good couple seconds,” Owl said, letting go of Fox and stepping towards the house, her impressive wings folding, then shrinking till they were demi size. Fox fell to her knees, running her hands over the clipped grass and rubbing her cheek on it. Owl ignored her and walked to the front door and opened it. Fox shot up like a rocket and took up after Owl.
“No wait, don’t go inside,” she yelled in warning, but was to late as a tan blur shot out at Owl with a flash of teeth and claws. Owl blinked blankly, a flash of black seeming to form and then leap from nothing off her shoulder, crashing into the tan blur. The two bodies collided and fell to the floor of the entryway, growls, thumps, curses and strangely enough, giggles emitted from the fighting pair.
“Are you okay?” Fox asked from next to Owl as she leaned heavily against the doorway.
“I could ask the same about you,” she replied, easily lifting a protesting Fox into her arms and carrying her into the living room where she dumped her on the couch.
“Your not going to die, but you might want to wash and wrap your wounds against infection,” she ignored the seething look thrown at her by Fox and the scuffle on the floor, instead surveying the inside of the house.
“We do have an in house doctor….of sorts,” Fox said before turning on her unhurt side and sighing with relief, “his name is Lucias.”
“Lucias huh,” Owl pondered out loud before yelling, “Hey LUCIAS!!!”
She sat calmly on the arm of the couch, and grabbing a magazine from the coffee table in front of the couch. Instead of reading it, she hurled it hard and hit the black blur with a thunk. Fox peered around Owl and watched as a black haired girl pulled herself off of the tan blur, who she knew as her twin sister, Yo. Yo stood up and smiled wolfishly at the dark haired girl, wiping at the blood that oozed from the corner of her mouth.
“You fight dirty,” she said, stating the obvious, “I like that.”
The unnamed girl smiled back just as sinisterly, pushing her tangled hair out of her face.
“Thanks,” she shrugged and hurried back to Owl, the smile slowly dwindling as she looked at Owl. Fox could tell by the girl’s face that Owl must be in scary mode.
“Hey…I was just playing aroun…,” the girl swallowed hard, receiving a look from Owl that quickly silenced her. As Fox stared at this girl, she began to notice certain attributes about her. Like when she looked away from Owl and looked at her, that her eyes were a shimmering gold and when she spoke, her teeth were much sharper then most people’s. Also, she was a bit more ganglier then Owl, almost coltish. Her skin was paler, especially against the dark clothing she wore. Fox blinked her eyes, and saw little black somethings flicker around her head, twitching and alive.
“Who are you and where did you come from,” Fox asked, startling almost everyone in the room. Before the girl could explain herself, another blur of dark grey shot out of the dark hallway, heading straight for the couch. Owl had a brief thought about whether she should stop the blur, but Fox was smiling when the blur picked her up and swung her around in it’s arms.
“FOX! Fox, Fox, Fox, I missed you so much! Are you okay?” when he finally stopped spinning, Owl could see that it was a guy. He was wearing long sleeves and dark pants that contrasted against his very pale skin. His ears were elongated to an unnatural length and his black hair was shined to perfection. Owl briefly thought that there was no way this man was mortal, and as if on cue she saw a tail curl and uncurl near the back of his knees. It wasn’t furry at all but slim and scaly looking and pointed into a spade in the end.
“I’m okay, Damien. Really. But you’re crushing me,” she muttered, loosing the feeling in her arms. This man, Damien, seemed to respond and let her down gently, giving an apologetic look.
“Vampire, please, try not to crush the hostessss,” came a snake-like husky voice from the stairs that led into the basement. Damien led Fox back to the couch and Owl felt a bit of jealousy towards the guy, but her anger was curbed by curiosity when she heard the voice emanating from the stairs. She heard a rough dragging noise against the carpet that layered the floor. She watched as a hooded figure crawled up the stairs, hands grabbing onto the railing to help himself up.
‘This house if full of weirdies,’ Owl thought but she was actually enjoying herself. Especially when she saw that the voice belonged to the cloak figure. The dragging sound was made by snake scales. Scales that seemed to be attached to a large tail, that seemed to be attached to the man that had just arrived. Owl felt her mouth go dry and her heart beat faster as her eyes narrowed and she took a gander at the face within the deep green jacket he wore.
“Damn you’re gorgeous,” Owl said out loud, sidling up next to the quiet Naga, winding her arm through his own. Yo heard her and leaped up from the floor, turning her attentions to Owl.
“You saw his face,” she cried out just as the dark haired girl jealously wrapped her arms around Owl’s waist, burring her face into her side.
“Ha...I mean Owl,” she whined, tugging at her. Fox across the room pushed Damien to the side and waved at Lucias.
“Hey, a bit hurt here and you,” she called, pointing at the dark haired girl, whom she had just realized had some kind of ears on her head, though they looked like cat ears, though a bit longer then normal, “you still haven’t answered my question!!”
The dark haired girl lifted her head from Owl’s side and stared at Fox, frowning as she thought.
“I don’t have one,” she shrugged simply, still tugging on Owl as she tried to remove her from the Naga who was moving for Fox, not caring that he had them in tow. Fox sighed and left it alone. She didn’t want to deal with the headache of figuring it out. She winced when she felt Lucias tug on her arm experimentally.
“Ow! Watch it,” she snipped, as the naga looked her over for anything serious. He mumbled a ‘Everything’s fine’ before reaching into his coat pocket for peroxide. Owl was still attached to the guy at the waist, watching his movements closely. She noticed that only one of his hands were visible. Fox looked at Owl’s line of sight but didn’t say anything. Surely Owl was smart enough to figure out that-
“Hey, what’s with your sleeves? One’s missing and the other one is too long. How can you work like that?” Fox sighed, figuring out that the people that she always invited over had some kind of mental problem. Damien was clinging to the back of her shirt, watching with interest as the naga cleaned her wounds. He bit the tip of his finger as the blood was washed away by the disgusting smell of alcohol. Lucias gave the girl a glance but found the question too simplistic to be answered. Yo piped in, laying back on the couch’s armrest, popping her back in several places.
“The guy’s missing a hand. He keeps it covered up.” The unknown girl that clung to Owl’s waist turned to look at Yo, unable to believe that she just said it so plainly like it was nothing. Lucias gave Fox a band-aid and capped the peroxide bottle, stuffing it back into his pocket. Owl was interested even more and wanted to look at his handless arm. Her fingers touched the fabric of his sleeve but the naga turned to face Damien
“No more excessive hugging. Her wounds will heal in no time but her muscles are worn out. She needs rest, not crushing force.”
Frustrated and definitely put out on being ignored, Owl pushed the dark haired girl from her, grabbed Lucias’ shoulders, crawled up and over them and hooked her legs around his right arm, pulling the sleeve back to reveal a scarred nub. The room became utterly silent and still as everyone stared at Lucias and Owl, waiting for the other shoe to drop and heaven and hell to meet.
“Wow,” Owl said breathlessly, her eyes taking on an innocent sheen as her mouth opened slightly in curiosity, “its so soft…”
She rubbed her cheek against the nubbed skin, her lips curling into a soft smile, making her look almost angelic and sweet. But then the moment was broken, but this time not by her, but Yo.
“Damn, didn’t see that coming,” she called out, nudging a disgruntled dark haired girl and pointing at the door to her room. The girl nodded and they ran off. Owl slid down off of Lucias, but kept her arm around his, fingers unconsciously stroking his knobby stump.
“Riiigggghhhttt….,” Fox’s eyebrows rose in the confusion as she stared at her stoic doctor/friend, who was looking (she could only guess since he had his hood up) down at Owl in what Fox could assume was confusion and the newest acquaintance in her life, who seemed to be weird and infatuated with Lucias which of course fit in nicely with this crazy ’family‘. Damien smiled down at her as he tried to massage her tired muscles.
“They make a cute couple,” he said brightly just as Fox groaned and covered her face with her unhurt arm, cursing her bad karma.
“Don’t. Speak,” she hissed at Damien who only seemed to grin at her frustration. “This is Owl,” she introduced, the green hood looking up at her then back down at the person glued to his arm.
“Another adventurer?” he guessed. Fox shrugged, shaking her head.
“Honestly, I have no idea. Gray had sent more flunkies after me tonight. She showed up out of nowhere and saved my tail. I figured I-”
“You would invite her over in a way to show your gratitude,” he finished. Owl was still toying with Lucias’ arm, trying to tickle the end of his wrist with strands of her hair. Fox nodded, agreeing to it guiltily. “Is she staying the night?” he asked, and Owl’s eyes lit up even more at the thought. She looked over at Fox with big, pleading eyes. The injured girl sighed, and turned away from the look. What had she done?
“I guess, if she wants to-”
“She’s never leaving,” Lucias said curtly and turned to slither away, Owl still stuck on his arm. She had taken to sitting on his scaly lower half while fiddling with his sleeve. Fox stared after Lucias before realizing that he was entirely right.
TBC
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