35. Kieran
1017 Words
Anger and fear. That was all Kieran could feel. Anger at the ones that had kept him from what was his. Anger at the ones that filled him with fear. Protect them!
His claws tore through the forest floor as he ran. Scents flooded his mind along with the awareness of two others. Two like him. Fear coursed through them, and he slowed in his mad dash as they caught up with him.
One was almost completely black with eyes like sapphires and a long white, boneless tail at the base of his skull. The other was a tawny beige with black spots and light blue eyes. Both whimpered and growled as they went to their bellies. Their eyes gazed up at Kieran, one submissively, one with a hint of defiance.
Kieran?
The voice that whispered through Kieran’s mind sounded familiar. Am I Kieran? He growled and hissed at the lighter-colored one as he bit down hard on the scruff of his neck. This one was supposed to protect someone, but they were not with them.
The black one pounced on Kieran’s back and bit down hard on his shoulder. Kieran hissed and bucked his body as the other one hissed as well. The tawny one tried to get out of Kieran’s grip as the black one clung to his back with fang and claw.
Shadows whispered to Kieran, and he embraced them, shrouding the area in pure darkness. He slipped from the two like him and could feel as they hissed and slashed their claws in the darkness. They tried to escape the darkness and Kieran moved with them, keeping them trapped.
He dashed in to swipe and bite at them. Always from a different direction. Their growls of anger slowly turned to whimpers of fear as he grabbed them with the shadows and stepped out of the shadows to pin them both down.
Kieran growled down at them and bared his fangs until they submitted to him and nuzzled under his chin submissively. He licked each one on the face and nipped their scruffs before he lifted his face to the air and scented.
The wind brought many scents to him, including the one he knew and feared. He snarled and headed in the direction of that scent. The other two followed him.
Others were in the forest but kept their distance and smelled familiar. Mine…
The scent led them to a place surrounded by light and Kieran hissed as his hackles raised and he paced through the trees. No shadows to hide in. Pain. Fear.
“Kieran.”
Kieran turned to the familiar deep voice and hissed at the large man who slowly approached him. Hands held palm out toward Kieran. The black one like him hissed at the large man and Kieran growled at the black one until he lowered himself to the ground submissively.
The man chuckled as Kieran licked one of his hands. Home. Family. The man gently rubbed a hand along the top of Kieran’s head.
“You want to kill the one that hurt you and your family, don’t you?” the man asked with a sad smile.
Kieran rubbed his cheek against the man as the man stood up and looked at the others who had come with him. He began to bark orders at them and soon the entire group moved like a many-headed beast into the forest.
“When the lights go down, do what you do best,” the man said to Kieran before he melded into the forest with the others.
The other two like Kieran followed him into the shadows along the edges of the painful light. Sound filled the night in a cacophony of roars and explosions as the tall towers that produced the light exploded in sparks. Kieran moved through the shadows with the other two as they made their way to the building in the center of the valley.
The black one like Kieran called magic to himself and Kieran growled at the sudden chill all around them. But the black one used that cold to freeze the metal parts of the wooden door they had found. Once frozen, the three slammed themselves against the door and it broke open.
They entered the building and moved through the shadows. The scent of rats was everywhere and the three attacked every rat they came across. They also encountered fanged ones, like they had been.
The fanged ones wore black and had weapons that fired hot metal at the three and they had to run back behind a corner. The tawny one whimpered and Kieran licked at the hole in his leg from the weapon.
Kieran shrouded the hall in darkness and hissed as he stalked back around the corner to the fanged ones. Their blood tasted strange on his tongue as his fangs and claws tore into the first one. He growled as the fanged one underneath him struggled against him and felt the other two like him tear into the other fanged ones.
None of them screamed or even showed fear as the three tore into them. When all but one had gone down, Kieran pinned down the last and let his claws rake through their strange clothes and flesh. He watched as the fanged one began to shake and tremble underneath him.
The fanged one cried out once as fur began to flow over his body, contorted in on itself as it changed underneath Kieran. When the change was over, the three looked down into the brown eyes of a fourth with sandy golden fur and black spots. It whimpered as Kieran grabbed its scruff and bit down hard. He forced his will on the fourth. Forced his desire to find the one that scared him on the fourth.
The fourth whimpered underneath him. He didn’t know where the one who scared Kieran was. Only where his master was.
Kieran hissed at that. Mine! This one was his now. No one else’s.
The sound of footsteps could be heard down the hall and the four stalked toward the sound.
- Writer
