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Chapter Twenty Four
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2022-05-09 16:44:42
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Midnight Strays Chapter Twenty Five
------------ -------------------Several hours later . . .------------ -------------------Jane was practicing manipulating her Talent, swinging around the Den and perfecting fine manipulation skills with her hair when the hunting party returned. They were dirty, some of them seemed to have been cut and were bleeding, and all of them seemed pissed as hell.And the most pissed off of them was quite obviously Red. Jane found it harder than she imagined not to run over and hold the beautiful warrior in her arms, but good sense told her this wasn't the time. So she approached with caution.But while Jane was a whisper, Tarloh arrived with a bellow. "What the hell happened?" he asked.Red was almost growling. "Apparently, we got too close. We followed Jane's lead and were roaming the woods East of town. We saw power lines leading off, but no one knew of any business out in that area. We decided to investigate, and apparently, we tripped an alarm. We wound up in a fight, but they didn't se
Last Updated : 2022-05-11Midnight Strays Chapter Twenty Six
---------------- ----------------------- In another part of the Den . . . ---------------- ----------------------- "Hey big guy," Anya said, wandering over to Chris as the big redneck was sitting down for a midnight snack of beef jerky and Dr. Pepper. "Hello Miss Anya ma'am," the lycanthrope replied, standing up as she approached the plastic picnic bench he was using. Anya knew that if it was physically possible, Chris probably would have wandered around and pulled her chair out for her. "Mind if I join you?" "Not at all," he said. "Did you want me tuh get ya somethin' from storage?" "That's all right," she replied, holding up a banana and a bottle of water. "I'm not up for anything much heavier than this right now," she added. "Nervous?" "Not really. A little I guess. Tarloh's pretty worked up." Anya peeled her banana very slowly. "He won't say what he thinks it is that we're up against, and that's making it worse." "The boss knows what he's doin'," Chris replied. He was wat
Last Updated : 2022-05-16Midnight Strays Chapter Twenty Seven
---------------- ---------------- Down in the tunnels . . . ---------------- ---------------- Jane was sitting next to the opening that led down into Red's lair. She had been there for over half an hour and was beginning to shiver, wishing she had brought her coat to the meeting rather than leaving it on the bed. 'How long should I wait?' she thought to herself. She was really worried about Red, but the others had warned her . . . She heard something coming up the stairs, and then Red walked out. The beautiful lycanthrope looked surprised. "Hey," Red whispered hoarsely, obviously still a bit upset. "What are you doing up here?" she added, suddenly looking concerned. "Are you cold? Why . . ." She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Jane's smaller frame. "You should've come down." "They . . . they said to give you some space . . . not to go to . . . bed . . . with you when you're angry." Red kissed the side of Jane's head. "I don't just want you around to sleep with. And
Last Updated : 2022-05-27Midnight Strays Chapter Twenty Eight
Jane stood in the alley, her eyes closed to the night-time world. Strands of her magically empowered hair were "sniffing" the air, for all intents and purposes, trying to sense her invisible foe. She felt something brush against a single hair, making her senses dance like a spider at the center of its web. Her eight braids reached out, grabbing debris and garbage cans to use as weapons when . . ."Stop!" came a sharp voice a little further down the alley. Jane's friend, mentor and lover emerged from the darkness. Red looked the younger woman over. "What did you forget to do?"Jane's pretty face was masked by confusion, and then reality seemed to dawn on her. "I went for weapons with everything. I didn't keep anything for defense.""Precisely," Red said, trying to sound soothing. She normally wasn't quite so polite when a trainee made a mistake, but Jane's fragile mental state earned her a few breaks. "Anya, how was her defense up to that point?"A small section of apparently empty spa
Last Updated : 2022-05-30Midnight Strays Chapter Twenty Nine
------------- -------------------- Back in Red's room . . . ------------- -------------------- Jane was curled up in a fetal position next to the bed when Red stormed in. She saw that Red was angry, and instinctively assumed it because of her. Red saw her lover cringe. "Stop that!" she started, then caught herself. "I . . . Jane, I need you to get up off the floor. We . . . need to talk." Jane didn't want to stand. She wanted Red to kneel down and comfort her. But Red wasn't going to budge, so Jane slowly crawled up onto the bed and sat down. "Jane, practice is over. Whatever Tarloh found out about, apparently it's the big time. That means you're going to have to suck it up. You know I want to help you, but we need you to be a grown up now. When whatever it is that is goin' on is done, I'll help you fight your demons. But right now, we need you to help us fight ours," Red finished. Jane tried to steel her shoulders. She had destroyed that demon and though it had deserved it, sh
Last Updated : 2022-06-02Midnight Strays Chapter Thirty
------------ ----------------------- Twenty minutes later . . . ------------ ----------------------- In all their history, the Strays had never been so chaotic. People were running all over the Den looking for Jane, while Arthur tried putting Red and the other victims of the swarm back together again. There were four more dead and a dozen wounded. Between the Swarm's attack and that of the Hellspawn, the ranks of the Strays had been decimated. There war leader was down, Jane was missing, and there were a lot of people feeling helpless. Arthur was sweating like a racehorse after its second Kentucky Derby. He had stabilized the other wounded, but Red had been hit hard. He had worked insect corpses out of her body and closed up all the wounds, but she had lost a great deal of blood and he didn't have the energy to accelerate her replenishing. He wasn't going to ask for an energy boost from anyone, because no one had anything to . . . "Arthur," Natasha started. She was sitting acro
Last Updated : 2022-06-05Midnight Strays Chapter Thirty one
----------- ------------------ Outside of town . . . ----------- ------------------ Jane's eyes opened, though it didn't matter much. There was pure darkness wherever she was that seemed to seep into her eyes. There was something sick . . . putrid . . . vile maybe, floating through the air. She didn't need to see it. She could feel it, and it made her soul cringe. She started to stand, but was smashed to the floor by some . . . thing. Her chest ached and she was sure her nose was beginning to bleed. {{I'VE BEEN SO LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS MOMENT,}} came a voice from the abyss. No, not from outside . . . it was coming from inside her head. {{A STAR ALONE IN THE NIGHT SKY . . . UNAWARE OF YOUR BRILLIANCE. UNAWARE OF THE DEVASTATION YOU COULD BRING.}} "I don't know what . . ." she started as she got to her knees, then felt a blow against her cheek, sending her spinning back to the chilly floor. She began to cry. She was going to die, and no one was coming to rescue her. Her nose was
Last Updated : 2022-06-17Midnight Strays Chapter Thirty Two
------------- ------------------------ In the Shoggoth's layer . . . ------------- ------------------------ Jane was curled up in a ball somewhere in the darkness. She had run out of tears, breath and prayers many minutes earlier. She no longer believed that Red was going to tear through the surrounding blackness on a magnificent steed adorned with shining armor and rescue Jane. There was no light . . . only the Dark One. The Dark One was almost intoxicated. The girl was on the edge and beginning to fall slowly into the abyss. It had been whispering into her mind . . . telling her stories of agony and ecstasy intertwined. It teased her with false hopes, then slammed her with fear. It promised her relief, then delivered a mental image of Red's corpse rotting on the subway platform. It knew that Jane could no longer tell the truth from the lies, and in fact no longer cared. A problem with immortality is the belief that one is untouchable . . . that one is more powerful and wiser
Last Updated : 2022-06-19
Latest chapter
Midnight Strays Chapter Fifty Nine ( ENDING)
--------------- -------------Six months later . . .--------------- -------------Jane leaned the broom up against one of the front windows of the Kwik-R Stop where she worked. It was a warm summer night, so she was able to clean up the parking lot without a jacket. She paused and ran her finger over her name pin, which was now done up in faux gold rather than the regular white plastic."Assistant manager," she muttered happily. The promotion only meant an extra dollar an hour, but it was still special for her. She had done a good job, and she had been rewarded. Of course, it also meant extra responsibility, but she didn't mind. It was good honest work. She still worked nights, but never alone. Her company insisted on having at least two people on graveyards. Her coworker for the evening was a pimply-faced college student named Earl, trying to save some extra money over the summer. He was a nice kid. He had tried hitting on Jane for a while befor
Midnight Strays Chapter Fifty Eight
------- --------------------A few hours later . . .------- --------------------The celebration was somewhat muted considering the circumstances. They had just narrowly averted an apocalypse of biblical proportions. Raptors and Strays mingled in the new Den engaged in numerous conversations. Most of them were genuinely pleased that there would be many more tomorrows for all of them. But not everyone was feeling relieved. Anya hadn't spoken to anyone since the battle. Neither had Red. She had collapsed shortly after Chaos had been banished. Fighting an Elder God, even in your head, was apparently an exhausting process.Jane and Robbie had been hovering over Red until she came too. Arthur had been called in to check on her, and several other allies followed along. Red had defied a god . . . they all wanted to know how."You okay?" Jane whispered when Red stared up at her, one eye beautiful green and the other eerie and red."No,"
Midnight Strays Chapter Fifty Seven
---------- -----------------------A few hours later . . .---------- -----------------------The crowd walked or glided in silence. Walking to the gates of Armageddon seemed to have a sobering effect. Lothar was staring deep into the Heaven's Eye. He'd wanted to be part of an adventure. He was beginning to wish he had nothing to do with it.Croc and Anya walked next to each other. Chris hadn't spoken to either of them since the accusation earlier, and it was eating Anya up. But she didn't know how to approach him, so she decided to wait until after this was all over.Red walked hand in hand with Jane. Red was almost ashamed to admit to herself that she felt relieved. She was just along for the ride on this one, and she had meant what she said. They would win or lose in a matter of moments. No more waiting and then, one way or the other, she would get some rest.Jane wanted to kiss the warrior goddess she had become so dependent
Midnight Strays Chapter Fifty Six
------------ -------------- Outside . . .------------ --------------Jane had no taste for battle. It piled up on her tongue and dripped from her mouth as bile. Yet she found herself suspended from two large trees, looking down at a pack of rat-like beings called . . . she thought Anya had called them caval. Their participation in this was also strange, as they were a race of scavengers. Something powerful had driven them to fight. Sometimes, Jane heard wings and cries from above as the Raptors fought for control of the heavens.She saw one of the rear caval vanish into nothingness. Croc had grabbed another victim and drawn it into his dimensional rift. The group turned and one of them was leveled by a float club. 'There's Anya,' Jane thought. She grimaced. It was her turn. Magical braids wielding heavy branches descended from on high, bludgeoning the unsuspecting creatures into a fine state of unconsciousness. 'They'll never get to Red,' she to
Midnight Strays Chapter Fifty Five
--------- ---------------A week later . . .--------- ---------------Robbie and Natasha were both cranky as hell by the time the Strays arrived at the slaughterhouse. They had gotten a message on Natasha's cell phone on where to go, but then her battery went dead so they couldn't call back. They had returned the car, taken cabs out to the nearest gas station and then hiked back in. Lothar got help carrying the heavy magical jewel all the way. His magical battle had taken a lot out of him. That, and not having ever been to this new Den before, prevented him from teleporting."They're back!" came a cry from a window as the weary travelers approached. Talia and Tarloh came sauntering out and embraced their friends, happy to see them all still alive. Robbie explained that the Raptors would be joining them that evening when darkness allowed them easier passage through the skies."This is big," Natasha said, "and they wanted to be here for it
Midnight Strays Chapter Fifty Four
--------- ---------------------Inside the building . . .--------- ---------------------"You didn't have to be quite so mean," Talia chortled."Yes I did!" Tarloh shouted, then got himself back under control. With a sigh, "If I didn't nip her path to martyrdom in the bud, she would've finally convinced herself that she really was useless and probably left the Strays to go on some damn fool . . . she would've tried to go and save the world by herself. I don't know if she or the Strays would've survived that. Especially not right now.""You really think she would've left?" Anya asked."The only thing that would've stopped her was Jane," Talia said, gripping Tarloh's hand. She knew he had been right. "I should've seen it coming. She's been on the verge of breaking down since she got back and found out what Robbie had done. Between dealing with him, dealing with Jane's problems and still trying to do her regular duties of keep ever
Midnight Strays Chapter Fifty Three
--------- -----------------------Twelve hours later . . .--------- -----------------------Red had only had a hangover once before in her life. She remembered suddenly why she didn't drink. But last time, she was pretty sure that the only symptoms had been nausea and a headache. This time, her entire body ached as if . . ."Wait," she mumbled. "I WAS in a fight." Bits and pieces of her night on the town were coming back to her."Red?" came a voice at the end of the bed. Jane had been reading and had fallen asleep again in a chair next to the bed. The younger girl quickly moved to Red's side."What did you do? What happened? What . . .""Red?" This time it was Talia at the mouth of the cave. "Good God girl, what the hell did you do last night?""I . . . went patrolling," Red said."By yourself?!" Talia said. "Dammit, that's just the kind of dumb-ass stunt your brother would pull!""I had
Midnight Strays Chapter Fifty Two
------------ ------------------Back in Springfield . . .------------ ------------------Red was sitting back in the cave that she and Jane were going to share. She couldn't believe that the Strays actually owned the land they now stood on. Anya's career was on the verge of exploding (in a good way) again. A supermodel apparently rising from the dead had gotten some peoples' attention. Talia was also talking about going back to work as a crisis counselor to help make some money, and Jane was currently interviewing for a cashier's job at the closest gas station to where the slaughterhouse was located.She was looking around, trying to figure out how to make the cave more habitable and wondering if Jane might be more comfortable in the main building. But there was plenty of room for a bed and she knew she could build up the front and . . ."What am I doing?" she muttered. She was playing house . . . she was becoming the woman who stayed at
Midnight Strays Chapter Fifty One
". . . shit!" Robbie shouted. He, the Strays and the Raptors were fighting for their lives in the jungles of South America trying to capture a magical jewel called the Heaven's Eye from a maniacal shaman. The adversary conjured up a set of massive earth golems to aid his followers in the defense of the jewel, and all hell had broken loose. Robbie found himself lying on his back, scrambling to get out of the way of the descending foot of a golem before it crushed him like an insect.'If I let that thing step on me, Red will have my hide,' he thought absently. Then he felt hands on his shoulders and was pulled out of the way just before the foot came down."I'm not explaining to your sister that I let you get killed," Natasha said as she helped Robbie to his feet. She looked pissed. The Strays and Raptors were generally too fast for the golems but the golems were too tough to be readily destroyed. Most of the shaman's followers had been incapacitated or had run off,
