Chapter 4
"What do I do now?" Ezekiel asked himself.
In the deathly silent moments that passed after the mortal fell unconscious, this was the only question, out of the other hundred buzzing around in his head; which Ezekiel most desperately wanted to find an answer to.
Still leaned over the mortal on the ground, Ezekiel felt harsh twinges of pain lance down his arm and across his collar. Reminding him that he had just in fact survived a deadly blow. Ezekiel took a moment to reassure himself that the stranger wasn't going to jump up and stab him again.
Calling on the beast inside him, he felt warm energy flowing out of his core and into his eyes. With a slight sting, Ezekiel then felt his eyes slit, taking on the shape of a cats gaze.
With glowing blue eyes, he swept his hands across the stranger's hips and ankles, searching for more blades. With the beast inside lending him its sight, the darkness melted away and for the most part Ezekiel could see as though the sun was sitting overhead. But even with his sight improved he quickly came up empty.
He didn't discover any other hidden blades, but he did find a pair of gloves stuffed into the mortals back pocket. As dark as the night sky and made from a supple leather, Ezekiel took a moment inspect the gloves, but like the rest of the mortal, they were empty. Ezekiel slipped the gloves into his back pocket and sighed.
Who are you?
Ezekiel said to himself shaking his head. Even though his search had been brief, Ezekiel hadn't been able to find one scrap of information on the intruder that would have pointed to the man's identity.
Yet his search had given Ezekiel somethings to think about.
Like the fact that every inch of the mortals stomach and legs were covered in his odd smelling blood. His clothes were also sickly warm to Ezekiel's touch, and Ezekiel could feel more of the warm fluid staining his own pants as he continued to look over the mortal; which told him that the mortal had been bleeding for a long time. Heavily.
As Ezekiel searched the mortal over for signs of injuries. He soon realized that the blood was coming out of his side. Without hesitation Ezekiel shimmed back on his knees and slowly peeled the mortals blood soaked shirt up so that he could see the wound.
A milky, pussy, glob of flesh and stench was all he could make out though. The hole in the man's side was a fevered red shade of irritation and it stunk of sour rot.
With a gag Ezekiel closed his eyes and let the mans shirt fall back over the disturbing sight.
That's not a cut.....a piece of his fucking body is just gone.
Ezekiel thought.Something must have eviscerated him......How the hell is he still alive....!?Ezekiel gagged on the smell once more as he opened his eyes and tilted his head trying to listen for a sign that the mortal was actually still alive. His breathing was nearly nonexistent....but his heart. Ezekiel strained his ears for some sign of life.
"HOHOHO!!" With a robust hoot of victory an owl tore across the canopy overhead. Breaking the silence abruptly.
Ezekiel shook off the needles that fell from the trees. And with his concentration haven been destroyed, Ezekiel tried again.
Putting a hand to the mortal's mud stained throat, as he leaned down to his chest, Ezekiel slowly let the beast inside fill him up and alter his hearing. He tuned its senses into the silence. Cutting out the shifting winds and pines above, as well as the harsh, excited chirp of the crickets below. And still....he didn't hear anything.
Normally the beast inside would have picked up the mortals heart beat from across the clearing, but his breathing and his heart beat had vanished.
Long second's passed and still, there was nothing. Ezekiel found himself with his ear pressed right over the stranger's heart.
Come on.....
Confused as to why it mattered to him at all that the mortal didn't die, Ezekiel just listened harder. As though that would make the mortal take a breath.
Come on...!
Ezekiel found himself urging the stranger to breath even as he held his own breath to escape the smell of the rot on the mortals clothes, but even with his ear on the mortals chest, there was nothing there.
No shallow breaths....no heartbeat. The mortal was gone.
Ezkeiel felt something cold brush his heart....as if he had just been thrust into the underworld. And he didnt know why.
Chapter 5 - DecisionsAnd then there was a tiny thump. And then a few seconds later....a second thump. A weak heartbeat.Releasing a breath, Ezekiel pulled back. The cold dread ripping deep into his soul dissipated.He's alive...just barely...but seriously what do I do with him, now?Coming to a decision that the mortal wasn't capable of moving, much less attacking in his current sorry state Ezekiel decided to move off a ways and inspect the wounds that he had sustained earlier.And to think.With a painful hiss Ezekiel lowered himself into the pine needles beside the mortal and inspected his shoulder.Ezekiel quickly lifted up his shirt, biting back another painful hiss as he watched the blood flowing down his right peck from a giant, bloody gash two spaces to the left of his heart. The wound in his shoulder was clean and at least a few inches deep.As Ezekiel inspected it with his slit eyes in the darkness a small chill race
Chapter 6 - Big BrothersEzekiel could sense the eyes within the darkness as he neared the path that would take him out of the pine forest and into the perimeter of his home.Glaring, calculating and questioning, they burned into him, but more than him Ezekiel felt these eyes focused on his arms.Looking at the stranger that he bore like a broken, bloody, sack nestled against his chest.Ezekiel let the power of his beast take over and felt the power bleed into his eyes. He felt his pupils shrink sharply, until, darkness became more like light. Shadows gave way to him and there, not ten feet from him, Ezekiel could make out the shadows of three, very large, very animalistic outlines.Ezekiel blinked slowly, then looked down at the stranger in his hands. "So...." He began talking to the new arrivals. But he didn't use words to speak. No. He growled, hissed and roared out his sentences. Speaking the language of the Shifter inside of him. "So I guess I
Chapter Seven - Power PlayEzekiel wasn't sure what to expect after his harsh words....but he should have known that there would be serious backlash."I think someone's forgotten who the hell he's talking to! Do you really think you've got what it takes to go up against any of us!" sneered Ezekiel's green eyed brother, Lander.With a brisk step he brushed past Walter and approached Ezekiel with eyes full of open aggression.Lander was Ezekiel's second eldest brother.He much like Walter had wide shoulders, but his hips were more narrow and defined by muscle and sinew. Defined but slimmer he was built for the Shift, the streamlined body made for hunt and k
Chapter Eight - Die Now, Die Later"Fine, if this is to be the path you've chosen, then I do not see any of us persuading you to turn back...at least not with resorting to violence...." Walter suddenly rumbled. His burning yellow eyes piercing the misty darkness. The large shadowed figure of his largest sibling stoic and unyielding in the pale light of the moon."I will help escort the intruder to the house with you Ezekiel. But when we get there Im not leaving mom alone with this stranger. Got it?" As the Eldest his words held a lot of power over the other brothers.With no other recourse all Ezekiel could do was nod. Then Ezekiel looked at his other brothers and quirked an eye brow at them."He's gonna kill you fo
Chapter 9- Follow Through"Mom...You have to promise not to scream...." Ezekiel whispered walking his mother up from the spiral staircase and down the long hallway of the third floor of their three story home. The dim light that glowed from the few candles lit in the early hours of the previous evening lent a welcome shadows that helped to hide Ezekiels anxiety from her.After managing to not only sneak the mortal into their home without the world ending, Ezekiel had quickly realized that both of his parents had retired to their bed room for the night.SafeWas what Ezekiel had thought to himself as they smuggled the mortal further into their home.Each of his brothers struggled slightly to juggle the mortal's limp weight and avoid the furniture in the front hall. But...
Chapter 10 - This is BadRealizing that it was almost three am Ezekiel allowed her the necessary time to emerge from her sleep before he spoke."Ezekiel?" His mother gorged, raising her head, curls tumbling over her shoulder she pulled herself up on to her seat and stretched leisurely. Bright green eyes glowed in the dim lights. Slit like a big cat they contacted sharply as her eyes opened, and as she opened her small mouth to yawn, tiny fangs flashed in the candle light. Reminding Ezekiel that for all Shifters, sleep allowed the beast much closer to the surface then was possibly safe."Ezekiel? What time is it? Is something wrong?' his mother hissed softly, drawing her arms up into the air to crack her back, closing her eyes and rubbing them she slouched on the bed. Whe
Chapter 11 - Team WorkAll three of Ezekiels brothers shared anxious unsure looks.Then all of then leveled their eyes at him. As if to say "WE TOLD YOU SO!"But before Ezekiel could even think of the words his mother opened her eyes.Without a word she put a small hand to the mortal's chest. Then putting a hand to her own wrist she began silently counting the mortals pulse. Tight lipped and not sparing any of them one glance she bit off two words. "Explain this!"Ezekiel, and all of his brothers were grown men, although Ezekiel had only just turned twenty three, he was definitely not a child.He didn't fe
Chapter 12 - HellSomeone was touching him.Brandon felt it all over his skin, no he sensed it. Eyes. Hands. Something wet and slimy spread on his flesh.His breathing was so slow that he couldn't hear anything but the thrumming pain spreading out of his stomach into every inch of his body.His skin was too tight, it was melting. It was popping. His eyes itched. Nothing felt solid. The earth rolled.The thoughts that tried to take hold slipped and ran away from him like spoiled eggs.And the cold......he felt the cold like thrones beneath his clothes. Grating on every nerve like nails. Ripping. It stabbed