Dhampirs of Sgiach

34. Kage

“I love you.”

Kage’s chest ached where Kieran had shoved him and he was slightly dazed from the jolt through his spine from how he landed on his butt in the snow. His eyes were wide as he looked at where Kieran had been.

“Kieran?” he said in a tiny voice. He felt numb as he crawled to the cliff edge and looked down. Kieran was lost in the forest below. Kage felt cold and he couldn’t seem to get a breath as he began to shake. He couldn’t remember screaming. Didn’t realize that the arms that had wrapped around him were friendly as he lashed out and tried to get back to the cliff.

“Get down there and find Kieran!”

Someone had thrown Kage over their shoulder and he pounded at the rough material of their clothes as he screamed and begged them to put him down. To let him go to Kieran. When he was handed to the fake him, he almost got away but the other was stronger than him and merely grunted as he carried him somewhere.

“He took those crystals. He’ll come back stronger than he was,” the fake him said gently as he took Kage into the cave. The girl was there as well and she had gotten a fire started.

Hikaru and Mika. Those were the names Kieran had said were theirs, Kage thought to himself. When Hikaru set him down, Kage tried to get away again, only to be blocked by Artem and forcibly sat on his butt next to the fire.

“Why did you guys destroy the last crystal?”

Kage blinked as he realized Mika was speaking to Artem.

“Grizzly Auron ordered Rand to not let Kieran go through with the transition,” Artem answered. He had sat next to Kage and held his wrist in his hand. Gently pulling down to keep Kage in place.

“Why?” Hikaru asked as he mirrored Artem on the other side of Kage.

“He wouldn’t say. Rand had gone pale though when he was speaking with him. I imagine he’s going to get punished for failure. It’s what Ezekiel would do if a dhampir of his Kiss failed him.”

“My dad would do the same to anyone in our Kiss as well,” Hikaru said. He frowned then. “He’ll most likely punish me for leaving without asking permission first.”

“Then why did you leave?”

Kage numbly looked over to Ezekiel when he entered the cave. Mikhail was behind him with Rand. When the dhampir moved he saw that the large werebear had Kieran cradled in his arms. That spicey honey scent that was Kieran's filled the cave, mingled with the scent of his blood. Kage keened and tried to go to him, but the two dhampirs next to him kept him in place.

Mikhail laid Kieran down next to the fire gently before he began to check over him. “His body has already begun to heal.” He pressed his hand to Kieran’s forehead. “And his temp is still elevated.”

“No heartbeat?” Rand asked as he rested on his haunches and watched the field medic go over Kieran.

“No. He’s fully in transition now.”

Rand growled and slammed his fist into the cave wall. Kage winced at the sound of cracking stone. Artem and Hikaru both let his wrists go and he crawled over to Kieran. His arm was limp as Kage picked it up and held his hand to his chest. He’ll come back to me. Mikhail said so. Papa will be mad and punish him, but he’ll be back. Please come back…

Kage didn’t know he was crying until he saw the first tear land on Kieran’s arm.

People moved around him, and he barely noticed as he watched Kieran. Occasionally, someone would try to get him to eat or drink but he ignored them. Kieran’s skin was warmer than it normally was. Warmer than even Echo’s. When Mikhail touched his hands where they held Kieran’s arm, he hissed at the werebear and bared his extended fangs.

Mikhail smiled at him gently. “Let me move your hands so you’ll know the moment his heart starts to beat again.”

Kage nodded and Mikhail moved his fingers of one hand so they were over the inside of Kieran’s wrist and his other hand so it rested on Kieran’s chest over his heart. After a while, the only ones still in the cave with Kage were Hikaru, Mika, and Artem. The werebears all left them to wait for Grizzly Auron outside the cave.

Time seemed frozen to Kage as he watched over Kieran. Then he felt it. The sudden beat of Kieran’s heart. Then nothing. Then another. The time between the beats seemed to take forever to shorten to a more normal rate.

Kieran’s eyes opened suddenly, and he gasped in a deep breath, his back arching up off the ground. Then he screamed as his body began to convulse and his skin seemed to shimmer and ripple moments before blood-red fur began to flow.

“Kieran!” Kage cried out as he attempted to hold Kieran down. Hands grabbed at Kage, pulling him away from Kieran. “No! He’s in pain!”

Hikaru and Artem both moved to hold Kieran’s shifting form down. Kieran’s screams turned into hissing growls. His body looked strange as his muscles and bones contorted with the shift. Growing lean and long. His fangs extended and thickened as his face became more cat-like.

With a hiss that rode the air with pure magic and terror, Kieran stood on shaking legs in the form of a blood-red cheetah that was twice the size of a natural cheetah. Instead of spots, he had black splotches and five long black stripes down his back. He stretched his long body like a cat as he watched the three dhampirs surround Kage. His amber eyes glowed softly like they were lit from within by a candle.

He growled and hissed as he hit the ground with his front paws at Kage and the others. Kieran’s hackles were raised, and he stalked towards them.

“Kieran!”

Power filled Auron’s voice as he slowly stalked toward Kieran with Rand and a couple of other werebears with him. Kieran paused in his own advance and hissed at his father as he moved closer to the dhampirs while the large werebear advanced on him.

Kage tried to get past Artem and the other two dhampirs, but Hikaru pushed him back. Everything happened fast after that and Kage was knocked to the ground as Kieran pounced on the dhampirs, faster than Auron and the other werebears could react.

Everyone was yelling and the scent of blood filled the air.

Someone grabbed Kage and pulled him up as Hikaru and Artem attempted to push Kieran back. Their clothes were torn and bloody already and when Kieran hissed at them, they shivered and froze. A moment later, they began to convulse and scream as Auron grabbed Kieran by the scruff and began to drag him out of the cave.

Kieran’s body seemed to dissolve into shadowy smoke as he embraced the shadows and got free of his father.

“Kieran has his shadow abilities,” Auron warned everyone over his CGH. “Rand, get any dhampirs not scratched out of here.”

Rand moved to Kage and Mika as the other werebears dragged Hikaru and Artem from the cave even as they began to shift and fur began to flow across their bodies. Kage was numb as he looked at where Kieran had been, his heart pounding in his chest. When Rand threw him over his shoulder, Kage screamed and banged his fists against his back.

Outside the cave, a hiss rang out through the night and Kage watched as Artem and Hikaru finished shifting. Trembling, they looked out into the night before dashing off before anyone could stop them.

“What’s going on?” Kage asked.

“I don’t know,” Rand answered as Auron got everyone mobilized to follow after Artem and Hikaru.

“Why did they run off? Where is Kieran?” Kage felt the tears on his cheeks, and he continued to hit Rand’s back. “Put me down!”

Rand set him down but when Kage tried to go after the werebears and dhampirs as they left to follow the cheetahs, he grabbed Kage’s arm and wouldn’t let go. “Grizzly Auron wants you away from Kieran,” Rand said. “Kieran is Lurah now, if he scratches you, you’ll become like him.”

Kage froze at that and looked back at Rand. “Like Artem and the fake me?”

“Yes.” Rand’s face softened as he looked at Kage.

“But why did Hikaru and that other guy run off?” Mika asked as she came up to them.

“Because Kieran commanded them too. Didn’t you feel the power in his voice?” Both dhampirs nodded and Rand continued. “He has an Alpha voice like Dad, Adam, and I.”