Jinx had his paws full and hoped whatever Hades had to say, he would get back to him. Or had found a way to get himself out of trouble if that's what it had been about. But Jinx had his own problems to deal with right now. The Orangelo was face-to-face with something not borne of nature and therefore not ruled by fate.
"Why are there creepy fucking life-sized dolls?" Jinx swore at said fate. He still hadn't found a single living feline but he had found a preparation room. "How am I supposed to deal with those? I'll tell you how, I'm just gonna back away and close the door."
Which he moved to do only to back up into more of the spooky tom facsimiles. Jinx was pushed forward in the room.
The three other automatom dolls noticed him now. They started to say "Welcome" over and over again. As they came into the light, Jinx noticed they each had one realistic eye and one empty socket. Their movements were clunky as one gestured to
Lexi’s monster could think for itself and it knew how to survive. That knowledge was simple,really-kill it before it killed you. Lexi couldn't really argue that point.He was in danger and the monster could navigate them back to being safe. Achieving any amount of control in this circumstance was nearlyimpossible. Mostly Lexi didn't bother. By the time the monsterinside of himwas provoked,whoever was responsible probably deserved to be torn in two. He didn't really like killing,but he didn't have the skill set most demons did to control his monster form either. In all his 600 years,the only thing he'd managed to actually master was his ability to see auras and that was only in the last few years. Thanks to something Hades had told him, Lexi discovered a way to tell the aura of someone special in his beserker mode and send a message to the instinctive part of his monster brain to protect them. Even Hades didn'
Hades rolled out of Lexi's grip and stood up. Maybe he wasn't in love with the demon but his heart twisted as he stared down at the mess the Senders had made of him. He watched as Jinx pet the unconscious demon,nudging him and sending out the tell-tale purrs of a tom soothing his partner. Hades had never seen his friend's aura so frazzled and bright. Jinx's eyes glowed in a new bronze fire. The Orangelo stood and raised his paw. His cards heeled immediately,flying to his hand from where they lay in the wreckage. They were suddenly being held out to the Black-fur. Hades's jaw dropped as Jinx demanded, "Lend me your power, pal. Hex them." If it wasn't for the fact he could read the deathly serious hum of Jinx's aura, Hades would have refused. The Orangelo tarot was a family heirloom and it would never be the same after being hit with Hades's hexing power. Truth be told, most Orangelo felines wouldn't try to work with anOrangelo spell-casting d
Guru looked back and forth from a stricken Hades to a very angry and shivery no-fur sitting on the ground. Not sure how or who to help, he took off his coat and tossed it on the mostly naked no-fur. He cleared his throat. "I don't understand. This was the only no-fur they were auctioning off. And as special as they kept saying this one was, not to mention the astronomical price, I assumed it was the one they stole from you. It was no wonder you wanted him back. But having never laid eyes on your Doll,I couldn't have known." Hades was barely keeping it together and when the Orangelo made his way down the hill the tom collapsed in his arms. Guru stood there,feeling helpless as Hades cried against Jinx's chest. "It's not him. He's not here, Jinxsy. He's somewhere else and it's too late to save him. And he's my purrs-on, Jinxsy, always has been, and I've let him down again. Doll was the no-fur from the alley that my sire hadpicked up the day we
Doll relived the night over and over in his head. He couldn't do much else while wrapped in the heavy bandages. For a while,he pretended someone had wrapped him up and put him in a safe warm room to heal. He knew better. He'd been told very clearly after his little stuntthathe'd been left to die. Little stunt didn't quite describe what had happened in the barn. Doll was just going to resolve himself to the truth of his new reality when he felt a power surge through his body. He became crazed with the need to get away and get back to Hades. And in the minutes the power surge had lasted, grass had stabbed through boots, moss had grown and tried to suffocate one of the toms. The available plants in the barn became weapons to help the no-fur escape, covered in a strange bubbly darkness Doll had never seen. But it was gone too soon, and while some of the rough toms ran away in fear, others stayed to put him in his place. The rest was a blur of pain and b
Hades watched Doll as the no-fur's heart brokein the most wondrous of ways, opening to the possibility of a love he could never have imagined. But the tom knew the healing required tonight was of a less than traditional romantic vein. "But none of that changes the fact that you need to be reminded what belonging to me means." Hades moved quickly,scooping Doll up. "And we need to clean you up. Because I can't stand to see you this much of a mess if it's not of my making. Don't worry, pretty baby, I know just what you need." Hades kept his resolve as Doll's arms fell trembling and tight around his body. He walked past Guru and Spitfire,who were still in an embrace.Hades barely slowed his pace as he spoke to Guru."If they don't come down soon, can you check on Jinx and Lexi for me?" Guru nodded and Hades heard him whisper something about Doll being alive to Spitfire. His destination was a pond they had found when they snuck
Doll took full advantage of the small window of opportunity Hades gave him to breatheevery time he was pulled to the surface. The no-fur didn't attempt to protest. Not that there was time. Hades was showing just how insatiable he could be as the no-fur's body was twisted and jostled in whatever way set him up to give the tom the most satisfaction. Caught in a moment of weakness, Doll had to tell the truth, if only to himself. What had happened to him tonight was fighting Hades for control of his mind and heart even now. The no-fur didn't want to die but he longed for everything to just fade to black for a while. It wasn't even rest or sleep he was seeking,but freedom from his recentmemory. And yet, Hades was drawing him further away from the pain. He was the only one that could. The no-fur reached out in an attempt to connect to the insane power swirling around them. It was a risk. It wasalsothe very definition of misbehaving. He
Jinx was doing his best not to freak out,mostly so Lexi wouldn't freak out. He wasn't an expert at demon physiology-that would be much more Hades's territory- but the Orangelo knew enough to be able to tell Lexi was becoming ill. He used the scarf that sometimes served as a secondary wrap for his cursed Tarot deckto blot the sweat from Lexi's face. It wasn't easy but he coaxed the demon to keep his feline glamour going so any demonic assassins might be fooled.Not that Jinx even knew that would work, but Lexi didn’t argue with his logic, so maybe it was sound. Knowing that wouldn't be enough, the card caster did what he could to reinforce the illusion. Drawing on what he knew Lexi's feline form looked like, Jinx was keeping the power of his Moon card steady,despite Lexi’s graveinjuries,to make it enough to fool anyonenot looking too hard. "It's okay, under-worlder. I got you. And as soon as Hades gets
"We need to stick together." Hades leaned heavily against the wall as he spoke to Guru outside of the adjoining rooms in the no-tell motel he'd driven them three hours south to find. He still had a few safe houses no one had burned and whatever enemies were on their tails, he was hoping they wouldn’tguess he was hiding everyone just twenty minutes from the city he called home. Hades was banking on that because they needed time. Jinx was out of commission until the six-hour hex wore off. They'd set him up in an armchair and once the glaring had stopped the Orangelo had dozed off. Lexi was laid out on the bed shivering.Hades'sheart twisted. He was at a loss. Taking the demon to the underworld was insanity. It was a very likely possibility assassins would be waiting the moment they crossed and there was no room for further injury. Lexi wouldn't die,exactly. Like all demons,he was immortal. No, death wasn't what assassination meant t
Epilogue - Part 2Shadwell Sebastien Woolsey, also known as Hades, stomped in out of the rain, shaking it off his fur before he went any further into the house than the entry hall.He could hear the commotion in the main room. It was the kind of overwhelming noise only two bunnies, one large Northern Forest tom, a cosmic entity, and ten kits could make. It was the sound of a happy home, one that Hades had never dared to dream he could have. After his own rough upbringing with a sire who was embarrassed to be a Black-fur and an anonymous no-fur father, Hades had long since put aside any thoughts of being a sire himself.But his mates had changed all of that and helped him to realize he wasn't afraid of being a sire. He was just afraid of being his sire. Hades didn't feel shame about his fur color nor that of any of his many, many kits. He didn't think he was capable of feeling this much love. Though, he was grateful to Ink who had given both of the omega bunnies anti-pregnancy Marks. T
Epilogue - Part 1Guru hadn't been back to the Mousetrap since its renovations or since his kits with Spitfire were born. With all the little ones around and a very grumpy ginger-furred bunny to deal with, he'd barely left the mansion where himself, Spitfire, Doll, and Hades now resided.There was definitely a touch of Chaos everywhere he looked. A few booths sat at a slightly less than 45 degree angle and had straps like a carnival ride. No doubt when the bar was open those were full first from the novelty of it. Then there was the tricked-out pie case. Guru salivated a little, having heard from his mate Hades all about the supposedly world-famous pies.Jinx didn't have time to make them anymore so he'd begun to teach his brother Ink. Today appeared to be one of those sessions as Jinx was snatching a knife away from his paler brother and grousing about the proper way to cut certain fruits.The big Blonde tom put a paw around the other bunny in his life, his sweet Doll. Who looked esp
Everything was quiet for the first time in what felt like a lifetime.Spitfire sat down where he was, in the middle of the rubble left from fighting so many automa-toms and Agent's Hares. This part of Atlas City was wrecked. He wondered what it looked like outside of the battle barrier they had erected. Was Guru's mansion still okay? Did they still have a home?A ripple of auric energy told him Cosmo was on his way, having secured the collapsing bridge. Good, that was good. He needed to bond with his avatar mate to recover his god aura properly. But for now, since the battle was done, Spitfire was going back inside to see Doll and the kits. He needed to check on them. Something about this silence didn't feel... natural.Cosmo's voice in his mind assured Spitfire that it was not. Time had been frozen by a god and until it restarted, only the deities would be able to function.Spitfire wondered how long it would be before he knew how to do that. It was a pretty cool trick.He stood, stre
The ten of swords was not a magick to use lightly. Jinx had never actually cast that card before. He had been warned, repeatedly, that there were cards in the deck he was given that took as much as they gave. The pinnacle of the swords suit was one of those cards.Clutching his bleeding paw against his chest, Jinx drew one long breath after another. Everything smelled awful, the air was so thick with blood that he could taste it. He was certain that there was screaming all around him, but he couldn't hear it over the roar in his ears.He'd finally managed to end this stupid battle. He was the undisputed God of Chaos now. Jinx could feel it in his bones, right down in his soul. The power was flowing out of Agent's body as quickly as the blood that was pooling under both their paws."The kits..." Jinx's enemy was croaking out a few last words. "Are they safe?"Jinx's eyes followed Agent's weak attempt to reach out. There was a wavering shield, made up of th
Liar.The word kept echoing in Agent's head and in the air around him. The Demon was lying to him. They were made of lies and deceit, after all. There was no way King had pined for him for all those years. Tricksy had made a huge mistake when he'd tried to create the Innehavre bond. He'd killed a young no-fur, but it wasn't just any no-fur. He'd killed the oldest of his and King's litter. Stripped his soul bare and left the tom who loved him to take the blame.King had to know what happened to their kit. Both of them kept an eye on the three no-furs who were theirs. They couldn't help it. They were parents, after all. They worried.But throwing himself into the reincarnation cycle was the only way to make sure that the Innehavre bonds continued. Tricksy needed to sacrifice time and his own connection to King to the ancient powers that gave him his powers as the God of Chaos. Those beings, older than any god who now walked the earth, had changed who he was. Made him the God of Chaos an
*****Author Note - be warned, this chapter has the loss of a newborn in it ********If Priest so much as suggested movement, Doll growled at him and threaten his life. Ink seemed to be less in a hurry to take the small bundle from his arms.The no-fur cooed and cuddled the tiny, tiny form. "Hush, my kit. It will be alright. Your Daddy is right here and I'm not going to let anyone hurt you."In his head, Doll knew the smallest of his kits was gone. In his heart, he couldn't part with the sweet grey and white striped tom kit. He heard him release one small, strangled cry before Ink started swearing and Priest turned to try to revive the poor little dear before handing him to Ink and not turning around presumably so Doll didn't see his tears.Ink had said words... Sorry and hold him... Doll didn't really hear them all over the roaring in his head as he was handed the still kit.He kissed the babe's forehead, his tears unchecked. "I'm sorry, little one. I didn't get to let you grow. I tho
Lexi was enraged. At his clever attackers and at himself. He had headed straight back to the bar when he caught a glimpse of tufted ears and the skin of a no-fur neck.Deciding rather than join the fight against the automa-toms, he would capture and defeat the one controlling them, the Demon began to stalk Agent. As he'd gotten closer, the image of Agent began to fade away.A bolt of what had to be Chaos magick slammed into him, sending Lexi flipping end over end. When he'd started to push himself off the ground, Lexi was in his least powerful form, that of a green tom.Having no idea what auric power his tom form had as it wasn't a glamour any more, Lexi could barely summon any energy to mold and was no match for a trio of Tawny-furs that had thrown some kind of aura-draining net over him.Now he struggled to escape the net while the Tawnys had just fucked off.Muttering to himself, Lexi considered what the trap had meant. "Does Agent think I'm so easily beaten? No, he's like super s
Hades found himself alone with Doll again and he wasn't sure what to do. He was holding his hand, muttering encouragement, but that felt like nothing.Spitfire had experience with this stuff and Guru was able to ease Doll's nerves with his singing. Ink and Priest, though they were practically strangers, were doing more for Doll than he could manage. Maybe he should join Jinx and Spitfire outside. He was good at fighting. But that meant leaving Doll and Hades wasn't sure he was ready."Look at them, pretty baby," Hades whispered, nodding his head towards the line of bins where their kits were bundled up and mewling, an occasional wail comingfrom one of them. "It's hard to believe that this is really happening.""I can't wait to hold each one in my arms." Doll let his head fall back on the soft blanket. "Or see all of you cuddle them. Although I will be glad to rest, I still feel there's a somebody or two in there. But they seem quiet for now." His no-fur's
Arriving after three of the kits had been born, Spitfire took a moment to check on them before he grabbed Doll's hand and leaned close to talk to him."Look at how good you're doing, sweetheart. Three of our kits are already in the world." Spitfire stroked Doll's sweaty hair. "I know, this is awful. It feels like it will never end, but you are nearly done."The new Black Devil turned to look at Ink, who was acting as the birthing doctor. "How many more are there? He is nearly done, right?""There's at least one more. But without an ultrasound, I can't say for sure." Ink replied, already coaxing out a fourth kit."Little one so big." Doll sounded exhausted. He leaned his head against Spitfire. "But he looks just like Guru, my beloved. Only completely White-fur and with my copper eyes. He's gonna be trouble. This one is kicking a lot but much smaller.""They're all going to be trouble, I think." Spitfire nuzzled the side of Doll's face. The thundering sounds of battle from outside were