A Dangerous Search

When he stepped into the clearing, Jasper saw the looks upon the faces of his prey. Could that be terror? It seemed like sheer terror to him. He had seen those looks before, on much smaller prey of course, but they were similar none the less. He was slightly curious as to why they weren’t running for their lives yet. Perhaps they had no idea that the lack of food in his belly has started to take it’s toll. Perhaps they had no idea that he was not at one hundred percent, he was slower, weaker, and they stood a tiny chance at escaping. Or at least they’d had the chance a few moments ago, before he made the clearing.

So now that he was in the clearing with them, it was an easy catch. All Jasper had to do was strike. He could easily take the man down. A few swipes would spill the mans guts out into the forest floor. And while he did that, Quintessa could get to the female. She was a little stronger than Jasper, she had eaten more recently. When it came to feeding the males or the females, the females ate first. It was his order and they all followed. The women would divide up the food amongst the group, and if there wasn’t enough to offer nourishment to the men and the women, the women took the men’s portions as well.

So it was settled, he would take down the male and Quintessa would catch the female that was sure to flea seeing her mate getting attacked. There was a pang of guilt, after all, these were humans, and the Lycan’s were humans, they were killing their own kind. But the survival instinct was taking over. And it was most definitely survival of the fittest. Or in this case, the predatorily dominant.

As Jasper advanced upon his prey, flesh peeled back to reveal a mouth full of sharp white teeth. Left arm was brought up over his head with his claw bared. He kept his right arm down and slightly back. With good reason. He wanted the focus of his prey to be on his left hand, not his right. Haunched legs carried him forth one step at a time. There was no need to rush, his prey was stationary.

When Jasper was close enough, he swung downward with his left hand. Which should have caused his prey to bend backwards in an attempt to avoid the slice. That usually left the gut open for the right hand to slice across and spill the contents of the body onto the ground. So the right hand did come out and slice across where a stomach should be.



Jasper Izzoli carried out 1 launched of one Target :

10

Cadmon was watching the wolf, and just like the wolf thought, he didn’t look to the right hand, it wasn’t poised to strike. He was watching the jaws and the left claw of the beast. “Ailylaeli, I want you to run now.” He nudged her to try and make her run. He arched his back as the thing approached. His gut was protruding forth just as the wolf had hoped. Though Cad had not known that the wolf wanted that to happen. If he had known, he would have reacted differently.

And then he felt it. There was a slice at his stomach. He could feel the skin tearing away and separating. His hand immediately went to his stomach. “RUN! Get the Healer, get the Goddess, just RUN!” Shouting the word run at her twice. Cad started to double over from the pain. The cut had hit right on the mark and had tore his stomach open from side to side and clear through the skin to expose the muscle below. That was when he saw it. There was a large stick upon the ground. Almost a tree branch. It was big enough to use as a weapon, yet small enough for Cad to grip with one hand, good thing too, because one hand was all he had. He grabbed up the stick and swung it at the head of the werewolf.


Cadmon Lennan Dewayne carried out 1 launched of one Target :

5

While Ail was running to get help, Cad was trying to hold himself together, and loosing blood quickly. But the werewolf hadn’t managed to get another swipe at him yet. The stick was a pretty good defense weapon. But he knew that there were more of them, and they were closing in. He could see eyes out in the trees in spots.

Speaking of spots, he was definitely seeing them now. His head was swimming from the blood loss. He hoped and prayed that Ail could make it to the Inn in time. He was applying as much pressure as he could while still swiping at the werewolf to keep him away.

Room four o' one, got it.

All Ailylaeli heard was room number four o' one. And she was ready to run again. "Thank you." Shouted over her shoulder as she bound for the stairs. She had been inside before, so she remembered at least that much.

Up the steps she ran, her bare feet hitting hard. She hit the second floor and smiled at the memory of the wedding she had attended here. It had been a lovely affair. But it was up the next flight of stairs without stopping.

She could count floors in this state, right?

She had never seen the third floor of the Inn before. Only the lobby where you came in at, and the second floor. She and Cad had not stayed after the reception. They had gone back to the Tel'Ranaemyn Inn to sleep.

So if this was the third floor, the next would be the fourth, right? Which was the floor she needed, yes? She hit the stairs running, and when she made the landing, she almost kept going, almost. It was three steps.

Sometimes, inertia got the best of you.

Backing down those three steps that she had accidentally taken up the next flight of stairs, she started to look at room numbers. It didn't take long to find room four o' one. After all, it was at the end of the hall, right?

She ran over to the door and doubled up her fist. She was probably going to wake the whole floor, if not the whole Inn, but with the side of her fist, she pounded on the door fast and loud. She wasn't privy to the code.

Someone, please be home.

Ha'ruil and Tasha had been taking a shower when the banging started on their door. He did a little jump as he turned his head to the sound.

"Dear I am going to check to see who is knocking on our door to the point where it might come off the hinges."

He smiled and gave her a kiss before taking a few steps out of the shower and grabbed a towel. He dried his hair before wrapping it around his midsection and walked out to the living room. Levi was there looking at the door then at him.

"I guess its important huh Levi?"

He smiled at the big cat before walking over to the door, unlocking it and opening up the door to see a fist coming at his face. He of course dodged it moving a little to the left before looking at the woman, He had met her before but now she looked out of breath and without shoes.

"Um....May.....I.....Help....You???"

That is all he could say as he watched this woman.

What was that law of nature again?

The law of Inertia states that an object at rest tends to remain at rest until acted upon by an outside force. And the balance of that is the rest of the law. An object in motion tends to remain in motion until acted upon by an outside force.

Well, Ailylaeli's fist was an object in motion. And the outside force had been the door. Until it was answered though. The object in motion remained in motion then. Causing her to stumble forward. After all, it was the law of Inertia.

Now, what's that other law?

Inertia went hand in hand with the law of Gravity, What goes up, must come down. And so she was headed down. Headed face first towards the floor. And she would continue to fall forward until she met with any outside force.

Once that outside force made contact with her, what ever it happened to be, a sound would emanate from her as the air rushed from her lungs. "Umph ... Oww." After all, she would hit rather hard when she came to a stop.

Wasn't this a lovely first impression.

Once she hit upon whatever she happened to hit upon, be it the man who answered, the large black cat, or the floor itself, she would feel her golden circlet fall from her head. And she would be at a definite loss for breath.

Her head would turn to her right as she looked up to see who answered the door. Seeing a male elf in a towel, she would move away, scrambling towards the first hard thing she could rest against, be it the door or the wall.

Now what was she doing here again.

It took a moment for her to realize that a, she had forgotten her circlet over on the floor, and b, she was here to get the healer. So she inched forward to try and get her circlet from where it rested on the floor, by the big kitty.

Once she was able to snatch it, she gripped it in both hands. A woman had told her a story about elves that came to Rhy'Din to steal back elves and take them back to where they came from and put them in prisons for life.

Oh how she hoped the story was a lie.

Her throat was dry and she was still trying to catch her breath as she began to speak. "Healer ... Cad ... Too late ... Maybe ... Don't know ... Monster ... Followed ... Me maybe." Did he catch any of that with her dry voice?

As she clutched her circlet in her hands, it began to glow softly. It had never done that before. It was given to her by someone at the circus where she had been before she came to Rhy'Din. She had never knew it could glow.

So why was it glowing around this man?

What was going on here?

Ailylaeli was unknowingly slipping into a state of shock. She had been surprised by the door opening, and then hitting the floor, and then an elf in a towel, and now her glowing circlet. And he wanted her to calm down and try longer sentences? Was he out of his gourd?

When he moved closer, her circlet glowed brighter. So bright in fact, that she moved it behind her back. And as she did, she pushed back against the wall more, almost climbing up it backwards. Did he have to get closer? She was terrified, and that was causing her shock.

But she had to calm down.

He wanted her to try an speak clearer so he would know what she was talking about, right? So she would try. She took a few deep breaths, those hurt, and then she tried to speak. "We were attacked, in the woods. He may already be dead." Don't cry, don't cry.

She knew there was more he might need to know, but time was her enemy, so she tried to make it fast. "Beasts, they attacked. Cad's hurt, bad. One might have followed me. I need the healer, she needs to save him. It might be too late already." Did he get that?

She was hoping for a miracle.

When Ha'Ruil opened the bathroom door, he would find Tasha already out of the shower and drying off. "Oh, thank you for the clothes baby. I greatly appreciate it." He sure did have his little ways of making her life run more smoothly and a lot faster. So she was dressed in a quick moment. She didn't even fuss about the bra not matching the top. There wasn't time for all that.

She threw on the bra and luckily, it fastened in the front. He was smart. Then she pulled over the sweat shirt and pulled on the sweat pants. Luckily, they didn't match either, because matching your sweat pants with your sweat shirt was so Old Fart Earthling. Sweat shirt was pink, sweat pants were black, and the bra was blue. Didn't matter though, this was an emergency. As she had heard.

She had already heard some of what was said when she had turned the water off and stepped out. So she knew that someone was hurt. Ha'Ruil had said it was Cad. Which meant that the one banging their door down moments ago was that little elf he had been at the wedding with, or at least she figured that was who it was. She had been a little out of the loop as of late. She was dressed and ready.

She went headed out of the bathroom and into their little kitchenette as she addressed ... It was the little elf girl. "Um, Ail, right? I need to know what kind of monster attacked Cad. How was he injured? How far is he from here? Um, and how did you get here?" She needed to know these things. She was filling a small cooler with ice from a bag. Once she had that full, she added water and closed it.

Cooler in hand she headed into the sitting room and grabbed up her medical bag. If was an old bag from Earth, doctors used to use them when making house calls. Eighteenth or nineteenth century she believed. It was black and leather and had a whole lot of room. It was a little bigger than the cooler. She tossed a ladle into her bag as well. She set both bags by the door and paused to think.

By then Ha'Ruil was probably out of the bedroom from getting dressed. If not, he could hear her through the door, right? "Honey, where's Levi? We need to get moving, there's not time to waste." She was trying to make sure she remembered everything as they rushed out the door. But before they could go, she had to get the answers from Ail. She gave her a bottle of water.