by E. Blix
He was currently finding it very hard to achieve that state because of Christoph. Normally he could tune out his surroundings and just feel the flow of the movements, one into the other. There were moments during these times when Ashi felt that if he chose to strike just right then he might split open the space-time continuum and see past the universe into Nirvana itself.
Christoph was cutting right through that.
With one comment.
“It lacks ‘oomph’ without your skirt.”
“It’s not a skirt!” Ashi bellowed, completely breaking form and turning toward Christoph.
The shopping trip had not included pants he could work out in, so he was back to wearing his old, ragged sweats. The “skirt” Christoph was referring to was Ashi’s pair of Hakama pants, which were very wide-legged pants first worn by samurai, and they did indeed look like a pleated, ankle-length skirt. He didn’t wear them very often since the styles of martial arts he taught didn’t call for them. Usually he wore them when sparring, or when someone could convince him to show off a little Kendo, which meant Ashi going after the least-progressed student with a wooden sword.
“You should get a skirt like that and wear it for Ken. I’m sure he’d love the slits at the top.”
“IT’S NOT A—oh, fuck you.”
Ashi stormed out of the apartment, heading for the stairwell. He’d ask Analie to get Christoph to shut up. The ape seemed to listen to her, sort of.
Analie squealed and bounded to the door as Freddy’s text informed her of his arrival.
Ashi stepped into the first floor hallway in time to see Analie burst out of her apartment and make a beeline for the front door. He jogged to catch up with her.
Analie threw open the front door and yanked Freddy, who was holding a large box, inside with a shout of, “I’ve been waiting since forever—I’m so glad you’re here—I have sandwiches and lemonade—I’m so glad you’re here!”
Freddy grinned and set the box down, hugging Analie tightly. “Missed you, too. I brought the Amberguard artifacts.”
“I wanna see! C’mon, let’s go to my room.”
Analie picked up the box and grinned at Freddy, whose smile was quickly fading. He was staring at something over her shoulder, his expression suggesting he was watching Death himself approach.
No, something worse than Death.
Ashi stared at Freddy, then pointed at him and said, “You. What are you doing here?”
The shift was almost instantaneous. Analie caught a glimpse of hair sprouting, of his muzzle pushing outward, his clothes splitting, and then suddenly—kitty.
“Holy crap!” Ashi screamed.
“Aourgh!” Freddy yelped, several hundred pounds of tiger scrambling backwards on four paws, leaving gouges in the polished hardwood as his claws scored it in his haste to get away from Ashi.
Ashi backpedaled faster than his center of gravity could keep up with and fell on his ass. Still screaming, he butt-scooted backwards down the hallway. Analie dropped the box (a little voice in the back of her mind shrieked that the contents were probably fragile) and grabbed a double-handful of Freddy’s scruff, hauling him along with her. She bolted out of the foyer, into the apartment, to her bedroom door. She spun around and faced Mouse and Sebastian, holding her arms out to bar them from hacking Freddy to tiny, stripy pieces.
“He’s having a stress reaction and is completely harmless!”
She shouted louder than was necessary, trembling. Probably because she was trying to convince two shadows with swords not to kill her best friend.
Ashi sat in the hallway at the foot of the stairs, shaking uncontrollably.
Sebastian panicked, dropping the sword and backpedalling with remarkable speed until he was fetched up against the far wall. As a fairly newly turned vampire, he wasn’t as fast as John or Mouse, but it was impressive nonetheless.
Mouse, on the other hand, had the razor-sharp sword edges of her own and Sebastian’s dropped weapons aimed at Freddy’s throat before the last word made it out of Analie’s mouth. Her eyes were blazing a feral red, fangs fully extended as she moved to protect her home.
The only thing that stopped her from decapitating the large cat right off was Analie screaming at her and throwing herself in front of it.
John poked his head out of his apartment, staring down the hall at the quivering Ashi by the stairwell.
“What the hell was that?”
Ashi opened his mouth to respond, but the only thing that came out was a thin keening sound. He shut his mouth and covered his face with his hands, still shaking.
“It’s Freddy! Mouse! It’s Freddy! He’s a shifter! Don’t kill him!” Analie screamed, still holding her hands up. This was the most terrifying experience of her life to date. Probably for Freddy, too. His muzzle was pressed against the small of her back and he was shaking harder than she was.
Mouse was battling the instinctive urge, against Analie’s reassurances, to fillet anything that came through the door. Normally, she would’ve acted regardless and dealt with the consequences and dead bodies later. The fact that he was a freaking Siberian tiger didn’t help matters any. He looked like a huge threat, in more than one sense of the word.
Sebastian managed to collect himself to a degree, though he didn’t pull away from the wall. “Mouse, it’s okay. I think. Step back.”
Mouse made an almost unheard growl-type sound in her throat, whispery soft, and slowly stepped back, withdrawing the swords in a sudden smooth movement. She held them at the ready, red irises remaining focused on Freddy, not looking away for an instant while Sebastian very slowly, very cautiously pulled away from the wall.
John cocked his head, listening to Analie’s screams. He curled his lip, unsure exactly what the girl and her friend were up to, and not entirely sure he cared. Since the screaming stopped, and there were no sounds of battle or the whir of swords cutting the air, he was sure Mouse was dealing with whatever the threat was and didn’t need him.
He turned a speculative look on Ashi, a feral grin curving his lips as he stalked forward on light feet, hunger and sadistic joy lighting his eyes. He’d been feeling a mite peckish anyway.
Analie reached a hand back, embarrassed at how badly she trembled, and patted Freddy’s massive head. Her skull could have easily fit in his jaws.
“Look. J-just look. He still th-thinks a-and he’s ha-ar-armless, s-seriously. See? It’s just Freddy.”
Analie took a step back and put her arm over Freddy’s shoulders, slowly kneeling down until their heads were level. Freddy was still shaking and his tail had fluffed out to twice its normal size. He shoved his head under Analie’s chin and she hugged him, her fingers lost in the thick fur around his jaw.
“L-look. It’s Freddy. He’s just a shifter. He got stressed out and he shifted. He doesn’t want to be a tiger right now.”
Analie looked pleadingly at Mouse. “He’s not going to do anything, I swear. You could pet him, honestly. He’s like a really big kitty.”
Ashi looked up, saw John advancing, and scrambled up the stairs, practically on all fours. This was not a good day.
John watched him go, debating whether or not to pursue. It amused him to be such a terror, but he didn’t really feel like playing cat-and-mouse.
Then a thought struck him. A rather wicked one.
He gave a sidelong look at Mouse’s apartment. She’d be distracted for a while.
That fiendish grin only widened as he slowly paced toward the stairs, growing anticipation bringing a crimson glow to his eyes.
Mouse did not look amused. Analie couldn’t see it, but she was still snarling, fangs openly bared in visible threat. The hellish light in her eyes dimmed but didn’t fade entirely.
Sebastian warily put a hand on her shoulder, and she abruptly let the swords drop
, pulling away from his touch and setting the weapons down deliberately on the coffee table. The look she was giving Freddy was murderous. He was supremely lucky she had stopped to listen to Analie, for while she wielded deadly self-control and skill, when it came to protection of their building, she was easily overcome with mindless, deadly rage. It was partly habit, partly instinct. It was why she made such an effective guard dog, and now Analie had a much clearer idea of why Mouse’s apartment was situated where it was, and with so much weaponry readily at hand.
Analie would have been in total awe of how bad-ass Mouse was if she hadn’t been so close to gibbering terror.
“I’m sorry! I’m really, really sorry,” she said, her voice shaking. “Remember when I told you Ashi broke Freddy’s arm and leg?”
Freddy garumphed in distress. Analie clapped a hand over his mouth, as if it would help muffle the bone-rattling noise.
“He saw Ashi in the hallway. I dunno why he’s downstairs, but it scared the living shit out of Freddy. He shifts when he’s stressed. Seriously, he doesn’t want to cause any trouble. He just got super scared.”
Ashi bounded up the stairs and tripped on his overlarge sweats. He felt suspiciously like a chick in a bad horror film. He wasn’t quite sure how he could draw that comparison, not having seen many movies.
Maybe if he could get to the room he shared with Christoph, John would leave him alone.
“Why run? You know I’ll catch you in the end.”
John didn’t hurry or swoop down on Ashi when he fell over himself trying to escape. He took his time, deliberately pacing up the stairs, burning eyes locked on Ashi’s retreating figure.
“I heard you said you liked it. Why run from it, then? You know it won’t hurt.”
He ran his tongue over one incisor, the single fang gleaming in the little light in the stairwell. Somehow this was more menacing than if he’d fallen on him like some wild, ravening beast.
“I promise not to take too much…”
Mouse was tense and unmoving by the table. Close to the weapons.
“Um, sorry, but I’ve got… things… to do. Yeah. I’ll see you later,” Sebastian said, edging around Analie and Freddy as he hurried toward the door.
Mouse gave him a look, and the younger vampire cringed. He thought being a monster would make him brave, but the sight of Freddy had scared the (un)life out of him. Harmless or not, he wanted out of here.
After a moment, Mouse’s frown deepened, and she turned thoughtful. Grabbing the nearest pad and pen, she scrawled something down, holding it out to Sebastian, who read it aloud.
“Ashi didn’t get hurt, did he?’”
Analie shook her head. “No. Freddy backed away. He’s afraid of Ashi. I don’t blame him.”
Freddy pulled back and hid his head behind Analie, the massive muscles under his fur rippling.
“And he’s really afraid of you right now. Can I take him to my room and I’ll explain everything right after?” she asked Mouse.
Ashi ran down the hallway to the apartment. He threw open the door, made a beeline for the bedroom, grabbed the doorknob, yanked and—nearly dislocated his shoulder when the door didn’t open.
He pounded the door with his fist. “Christoph!”
“What?” came Christoph’s muffled voice.
“Open the door!”
“No.”
Ashi pounded the door again, frantic.
“Christoph, stop wanking and let me in!”
“Hey, I’m not wanking. I just don’t want to let you in when you’re angry. You’ll throw off my chi.”
“You don’t have any fucking chi! Let me in!”
“Hey, Ashi?”
“What?”
“Go fuck yourself.”
Ashi took a step back and kicked the door. It shuddered mightily, but it didn’t give, and hurt his foot a little.
“Holy shit! Don’t break the door!”
Ashi cast about for something in the living room he could use as a weapon. Finding nothing, he pounded on the door again.
“Let me in!”
“No!”
John took his time walking down the hall, relishing the fear in Ashi’s voice. It was rare these days for him to be allowed to take advantage of the fear of his prey, so he wanted to savor and make the most of it. No doubt one of the bleeding hearts in the building would try to make him stop at some point, but until Royce said so, he would gladly continue terrorizing the pair of Weres. It helped that they were enemies, though he would’ve done the same to a human if he was given the option.
Something about fear made the blood taste sweeter to him.
As he reached the apartment, he nudged the door open, the low creaking sound of the hinge announcing his arrival as dramatically as that of any horror movie monster. Just the way he wanted it.
Mouse gave a short nod, the hellish light finally dying out of her eyes as she mastered her temper and reined in her instincts.
“Thank you,” Analie gushed, then grabbed Freddy by the scruff and hauled him into her room, slamming the door behind them.
Freddy turned to face her, looking as worried as a seven hundred pound tiger can.
“I’ll get you some clothes and get the box,” Analie assured him.
“Aaouraaarrrrourgh,” said Freddy.
“Yeah, I have no idea what you just said, but you’ll be safe in here.”
Analie left her room, sprinted to the hallway, grabbed the remnants of Freddy’s clothes and his box, and hurried back to her room. Freddy was hiding in her den-bed, as evidenced by his tail and hindquarters sticking out into the room.
She squeezed in beside him and scratched along his cheek.
“We are like the luckiest damn people in the world right now,” she told him.
Freddy nodded.
“Christoph!” Ashi shouted, still pounding on the door.
“What?”
“For God’s sake, let me in!”
At the sound of the door creaking open, Ashi spun around, his back thudding against the wall. His expression was one of abject terror as he watched the door swing wide, revealing John in all his horrifying glory.
“Seriously, I’m not letting you in while you’re mad,” Christoph said from inside the bedroom.
Ashi pushed away from the door and staggered backward across the living room, not willing to turn his back on John. His breath was coming in harsh gasps and it felt like his heart was making a break for it through his ribcage. He’d never felt fear like this before. He did not want to get bitten again.
“No place left to hide,” John said, moving inside. His appearance did not really lend itself to intimidation.
He was shorter than average, with sandy brown hair and a boyish face that made him look like an underdeveloped twenty-something. His brown eyes did not often reflect particularly deep, meaningful thoughts, and no matter how he dressed, he always seemed like a kid trying too hard to fit into grownup clothes. The only thing he had going for him were the fangs and the fiendish glow to his eyes, and that Ashi knew just how fast and strong he could be if he chose to exert himself.
He stopped a few feet in, glancing to the bedroom Ashi shared with Christoph. A sly smile curved his lips, too overdone to be properly fiendish. “Even your packmate won’t help you. Whatever shall you do?”
Mouse was pacing. She felt jittery, like there was still something wrong. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
Every time Sebastian edged closer to the door, she stopped him cold with nothing more than a look. He heartily wished she would either sit still or let him leave. He wanted to hide in his room.
“Stay the hell away from me,” Ashi snarled, pointing warningly at John.
His hand was shaking.
“I
am so fucking serious. Stay away.”
He kept backing up until his back hit the doorframe of the entrance to the kitchen. He looked over his shoulder, casting about for something to use against the vampire. Maybe he could find a broom with a wooden handle. Useful as a makeshift bo staff, though how much damage that would do was up in the air.
Or he could snap it in two and use the pieces as monkey boxing sticks.
Or snap it in two and have a stake.
He looked back at John, his heart beating even faster.
The vampire tilted his head, turning his attention back to Ashi. His tongue crept out to run along his upper lip and that fiendish smile widened, taking a single step closer to see if he could make him bolt.
“Don’t worry, little man. I’m not here for you. Not this time.”
John laughed softly, heading to the room where Christoph had holed up. Ashi stood frozen in the doorway of the kitchen. His mind hadn’t caught up with this turn of events yet. His heart was still tapping out a stuttering triple-beat. His limbs felt like they were carved out of wood. Desperate relief was only starting to register.
The vampire knocked lightly on the bedroom door, as he imagined Mouse or Analie might. Not the frantic rapping Ashi had done a few minutes ago.
Christoph was reading an outdoors magazine. Ashi had quieted down. Probably running from Jessica or Ken, he thought. Christoph shook his head and got off the bed, padding over to the door.
