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Chapter 38 - Threat In Darkness
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2024-10-29 19:42:56The moon sat like a bloated dot in the balmy night sky as the party of seven finally crested the steep hills located to the far west.
This part of the Clan Lands was at least eight miles into the western fields, where only a few log cabins sat and the open sky hung like a diamond studded blanket over the world.
The tall grasses snapped and flipped in the slight breeze and the pine trees that boarded their entire village tinged the air in crisp scent of pine and sap.
Ezekiel glanced up into the sky, calculating the moons position with his internal instincts.
One AM?
He thought to himself as he walked beside his mostly silent and calm older brother Walter and just in front of Erin and Drin who made muchRelated chapters
Tales of a Shifter (P1) - Meeting Chapter 39 - Out Of Time
Chapter 39Two hours later Ezekiel and his brothers had to admit, even to each other that the trail had gone dead cold.Ezekiel knew that his father and his brother had in fact lost track of the mysterious attacker a half an hour into the chase, but had continued to chase shadows and sounds just a little longer before they had admitted defeat. All through the chase there had been little time for chit chat, so once Mantilo lead his sons back to the bloody rotted fields, Ezekiel tried to get some information from him.Once more they glossed over the area of dead moose, this time at the behest of their father none of the Guardians dared to touch any of the carcasses that had anything black smeared on them. The siblings continued looking for any clues as to what it was they were fighting, this time all of them remaining together, but
Tales of a Shifter (P1) - Meeting Chapter 40 - Horse Killer
Chapter 40Mantilo caught sight of the house in the distance sometime later.After jogging in the night beside his sons, chasing shadows and in hailing the putrid scent of dead moose flesh for hours he was glad to be within steps of his bed. His legs and arms burned from the multitude of bite he had sustained, now that he had visited the mosses graveyard three times in the last few hours and in the back of his head he still felt the rage burning. A rage that had come over him and refused to die, when he realized that his sons were under attack, that two of them were hurt.He controlled it, but the drying blood on Nate's face, and the obvious way that his youngest son was favoring his uninjured shoulder ate at Mantilo.He should have sensed the unique threat sooner. Put the piece
Tales of a Shifter (P1) - Meeting Chapter 41 - Final Outcome
Chapter 41 Mantilo returned from the horse ranch feeling decidedly heavy with possibilities and a fledgling plan of action for the coming morning. This time when he neared the house, his Mate was nowhere to be seen, until he had climbed the winding steps of their home, up past the second floor where the scent of the intruder lingers slightly on the air. A new scent and so its presence seemed like a blaring sigh to the beast inside that he needed to go and investigate, but Mantilo ignored it, he was far too tired to do anything more but climb to the third floor. The leopard embossed wooden doors that stood like wooden gates before him, the beautifully carved twin leopards in the wood laying down and mirrored in a back to back pose always managed to make him feel a pinch of pride. Not only because it was Mantilo's great grandfather who had carved the beautiful door, but because it was Mantilo himself that had restored it after a fire nearly took its magnificence from the world. The
Tales of a Shifter (P1) - Meeting Chapter 42 - Report
Chapter 42And so his fourth night of sleeplessness and now empty sheets passed him by.Figuring that he wasn't doing anything worthwhile in the bed alone anyway Mantilo forced himself to his feet and made his way out of the bed room and into the dim hallways, colored by warm candle light.He followed in his wife's wake only until they both reached the stair case. He watched her brown curls and slight frame disappear up the steps toward the room where the mortal would be resting. He could scent his son Lander up there as well. Mantilo quickly guessed that his son was keeping watch. He had probably been put there by Glen herself to keep tabs on the mortals continued well-being. Knowing that no harm would come to his wife as long as Lander was with her, Mantilo turned from the steps and walked a few feet to his left until he came t
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Chapter 43Ezekiel purposely turned from the door, ignored the stairs that lead not only to his , but also to the Mortals bed room. He choose instead to walk to his far right and then he walked under the stair case and headed to the kitchen. To his dual dismay and surprise he ran into his mother.Her back was too him as she worked. A few pots beside her bubbled and steamed and his mother's hands worked and buzzed around the vegetables before her. She was chopping and slicing and humming as she worked, and as he watched her she turned and shacked all the vegetable she had cut off the board and into the steaming pot beside her.Trying not to startle her Ezekiel thought to step back out of the room and go straight to his bed, but his mother turned around before he could move. Her bright green eyes sparkled as she smiled and called "
Tales of a Shifter (P1) - Meeting Chapter 44 - Open Up
Brandon turned his face up into the warm water as his hands scratched at his scalp. It pooled in the crevices of his eyes and dripped past his ears and down his cheeks like tears. Fresh blood leaked from his sewn up side, the wound inflamed and filled with stitches resembled the maw of an angry deformed demon. The blood swirling down into the drain at his feet made him nauseous to look at so he didn't.So....Glen says the village is on lock down? And until it's taken off red alert I'm stuck here?Brandon mused to himself. Glen had appraised him of this information only a few minutes ago, but he was still struggling to come to grips with the fact that he was now a reluctant guest in the Shifters territory...until the threat had been neutralized.But...what wa
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Brandon waited for Ezekiel to speak, but for the longest time the Shifter only examined his wound, so when he did finally speak again Brandon was pulled out of the darkness he had begun to slide into."I don't understand this..." Ezekiel sighed to himself.Brandon exhaled feeling frustrated and sleepy all at once. "What's there to understand? It's a few cuts....""Not that...." Ezekiel chuckled dropping his hands from his side. He steeped behind Brandon out of his periphery view. Brandon forced himself to stand and just as he opened his mouth to ask Ezekiel what he was doing he felt Ezekiel hands on the back of his head. His cool fingers caressed the base of his skull where Brandon knew a three pronged scar disappeared up into his hair line.
Tales of a Shifter (P1) - Meeting Chapter 46 - His Flame
Alone I blanketed the Darkness, and Alone I held it at bay-UnknownBrandon sat still for a long time after he left. His body, his mind felt colder without another soul in the room to interact with.And he let himself fall into a sitting unconscious for an untold amount of time.The fatigue carried away everything even the feeling of Ezekiels earlier presence. He felt hollow and by god he loved it. The silence gave him peace and it helped him gather back his crumbling will.He soon managed to stop shaking long enough to realize something.IT.It was finally coming back.It was growing inside.
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Ezekiel suddenly heard Brandon breathing behind him, tight sharp gasps.....like he couldn't quite catch his breath.Taking a moment to step back out of the circle that his brothers had formed around their father and Nate, Ezekiel turned to Brandon and was struck by the emotions swirling across his face and in his eyes.He had expected to see irritation because of Mantilo's refusal to listen to him. (Something Ezekiel was privately relieved about.) But what Ezekiel saw there on Brandon's enchanting face wasn't anything as simple as irritation or even pouting.What Ezekiel saw was an intense mixture of pain and shock. His cool green gaze was slightly widened and his gloved finger tips were clawing into the narrow arms of his chair like he was holding onto the seat in a turbulent sea that only he could see.Only he could feel. And it was tearing him apart.Moved by his obvious discomfort Ezekiel went to the side of his chair, leaned on it and playfully waved his hand in front of Brandon'
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On the other side, Brandon shared their silence not because he have insight into the Ghouls motives, but because their motives were all that he understood.The Ghouls had come for him, plain and simple.But aside from their appearances, and their hunting style and the potential threat that they poses to other living things he knew very little about the beasts that had been chasing him. He had learned more from Mantilo and Nate in that moment then, what felt like a life time of running, had ever taught him.How can those things be Rats....? How can they be Shifters?Brandon asked himselfThey are taller and longer than most men and they....they don't speak...they can't speak...They are nothing but monsters.The idea confounded him. But honestly what didn't confound him?Brandon didn't understand himself. . He didn't know why he could nearly taste energy on his tongue. He didn't understand the world that he traveled aimlessly through. A world that held Shifters, and Clans and Dragons an
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Suddenly three new Shifters appeared in the door way of the day room.It didn't take long for Mantilo to notice, and with a smile, a warm smile that surprised Brandon he waived over the newcomers from the doorway.Brandon instantly recognized two out of the three that appeared and made their way to the rest of the group. One was Glen and the other Erin...accompanied by a third male, with blue eyes and black short hair. The male was almost three inches shorter then Erin, but as the two of them made their way into the room, he held her hand and on their wrists and hands Brandon spotted matching bands or tattoos around their wrists as well as the identical bands on their ring fingers.He guessed that like Mantilo and Glen Erin and the new arrival were a couple, but Brandon wasn't left to wonder who he was for long, because without any warning Erin's big hazel eyes locked on him and she rushed over to his chair, pulling the unknown man with her."Brandon, Oh no your face!?" Erin exclaimed
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In the aftermath of the attack, nearly five minutes passed where Ezekiel and his brothers simply took the time to regroup and compare all of their injuries.And Ezekiel spent most of those scant moments vigorously scrubbing at the foul blood and torn flesh smeared all over his face, caught in between his teeth and clogged up beneath his nails.Using the shredded cloth from one of the tables that had been destroyed he cleaned away the blood as best he could.The Guardian also used that time to put the....rage back in its place. To wrap it up tight and lock it away. He had to. Ezekiel didn't dare let it burn out or dissipate, because for a Shifter like him....a Reaver.....there was no end in sight. The rage was bottomless once unleashed.Luckily Ezekiel had more than enough to focus his attention on, besides the burning need to smash and growl. To Ezekiels immediate and all-consuming relief everyone had managed to survive the attack mostly unscathed.Brandon still sported a few cuts fro
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For another two days after the Guardians returned Brandon was determined to stay in his room. Electing to skip out on patrols with Ezekiel and stay in seclusion...until the third afternoon came and passed him by.Needing to stretch his legs and knowing that the Mansion tended to be empty in the evenings Brandon finally came down to the parlor, turned about in the open area, taking a few moments to decide which direction he would go in. Weather a trip back up the steps to his room would be his choice....or if he would take a seat on the steps and just watch the sunlight glancing inside from the windows around the door?But his choice of activity was decided for him in the next few moments. Brandon nearly jumped out his skin when a slim arm wrapped around his and yanked him down the hall."Glen!" Brandon blurted in surprise as he stumbled. Along behind her small, but surprisingly strong and sure skip."Come on, hurry!" Glen cried. Brandon felt an urgency in her insistent pulling....but
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The jagged ill-fitting puzzle pieces of his mind came together by the next morning...so that no one would know Brandons struggles in the nights before.Emerging from his room, Brandon descended the steps the next night and just as he hit the bottom floor, the front door was thrown open and six tired looking Guardians shuffled into the front room. Leading their weary trek into the front parlor where most of the Shifters simply plopped down onto the carpet was Mantilo. All of them shoe-less and with eyes glowing and....claws out on their fingertips that looked sharp enough to gut a man. Instantly Brandon was gripped with....joy to see all of Ezekiels family returned safely after hours of hunting, but shocked and disgusted with the reaction Brandon shook his head and dropped the smile he felt on his face.Brandon tried to turn back, but he had barely shifted his feet on the steps backwards before a familiar and feminine voice was calling out to him."Brandon...sweet heart...?" It could b
