When I reach Pazuzu and lay my kill at his feet, I pause to take in the form he's settled into. Wolf, but enormous and built more of shadows than flesh, with the same glowing green eyes he gave Tycho's guardian. I've caught this shape's scent along the edge of our land, patrolling the border and marking out our territory just like I've done, but I hadn't seen it before tonight. With a toothy grin, I claw open the belly of our dinner and then daintily lick the blood off my claws as the tender, juicy organs spill out onto the ground. Well, along with the far less enticing intestines, but waste not, want not.
While he speaks, I nose around and pull out a lobe of the deer's liver for him before reaching in and grabbing a mouthful of it for myself as well. Best bit of the carcass, that. Well, the heart's pretty high up there too, especially if you're in the mood for something a little chewier. Liver, though, that almost melts in your mouth, rich and dark and delicious.
I nod, swallowing down the bite and pausing to savor it for a moment before I meet his glowing green gaze and reply. “Bleeding into the edges of my dreams, shadows that vanish when I turn to look more closely. I thought it was just being back here at first, maybe being a little overprotective of the ones I love when I've seen the world devour people with much more power to defend themselves. But it's been building. For months.”
So has the restless frustration, the claws tracing along my spine. I snarl at the dead deer and tear another chunk of meat off its bones and swallow it down. “I've put out feelers, sought answers in other worlds, in dreams and spirit walks, and all I've found is shadows that vanish when I look too closely. I don't know how to protect them when I don't know what's coming. I can handle just about anything this world could throw at me and make it out alive. You too. The others...at least physically, they are far more fragile.”
My children, so damn strong in some ways, are almost entirely defenseless against the magic inherent in this world and a good share of its residents. They've lived through hell a few times over, but the only reason they've survived is that I got to them soon enough to put them back together and destroy what hurt them. Or stand beside them in the midst of their agony, devoured by it just as they were, and walk through it together. Their children have yet to face even echoes of that kind of darkness, even flickering shadows at the edge of awareness. And three more innocent lives are about to join their numbers.
“I've been their only protector for a long time now. Their only defense against whatever the hell's hiding in those shadows. Against whatever is stirring and setting us both on edge.” I don't think the others have noticed, or at least not enough that it shows yet. They're excited about the girls, eager to welcome three new souls into what is beginning to feel like the line of fire. “I'd almost forgotten what it feels like to have someone else I trust with their lives. I'm really fucking glad you're here.”
While he speaks, I nose around and pull out a lobe of the deer's liver for him before reaching in and grabbing a mouthful of it for myself as well. Best bit of the carcass, that. Well, the heart's pretty high up there too, especially if you're in the mood for something a little chewier. Liver, though, that almost melts in your mouth, rich and dark and delicious.
I nod, swallowing down the bite and pausing to savor it for a moment before I meet his glowing green gaze and reply. “Bleeding into the edges of my dreams, shadows that vanish when I turn to look more closely. I thought it was just being back here at first, maybe being a little overprotective of the ones I love when I've seen the world devour people with much more power to defend themselves. But it's been building. For months.”
So has the restless frustration, the claws tracing along my spine. I snarl at the dead deer and tear another chunk of meat off its bones and swallow it down. “I've put out feelers, sought answers in other worlds, in dreams and spirit walks, and all I've found is shadows that vanish when I look too closely. I don't know how to protect them when I don't know what's coming. I can handle just about anything this world could throw at me and make it out alive. You too. The others...at least physically, they are far more fragile.”
My children, so damn strong in some ways, are almost entirely defenseless against the magic inherent in this world and a good share of its residents. They've lived through hell a few times over, but the only reason they've survived is that I got to them soon enough to put them back together and destroy what hurt them. Or stand beside them in the midst of their agony, devoured by it just as they were, and walk through it together. Their children have yet to face even echoes of that kind of darkness, even flickering shadows at the edge of awareness. And three more innocent lives are about to join their numbers.
“I've been their only protector for a long time now. Their only defense against whatever the hell's hiding in those shadows. Against whatever is stirring and setting us both on edge.” I don't think the others have noticed, or at least not enough that it shows yet. They're excited about the girls, eager to welcome three new souls into what is beginning to feel like the line of fire. “I'd almost forgotten what it feels like to have someone else I trust with their lives. I'm really fucking glad you're here.”