Teeth Around the Jugular...

"...& I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder. One of the four beasts saying, Come & see. & I saw...

& behold, a white horse...."

With my teeth wrapped around the boy's throat, a few things crossed my mind. The first, of course, was the simplest solution. End him. I didn't need to invade Justin's mind to know that's what he was thinking. "If the boy's hands can be forced--end him. He's a threat to all of us."

I could feel his pulse fluttering like a frantic bird against my tongue. So tempting to the beast inside me. Just clench a little tighter. & his blood would be so sweet. Salty & bitter sweet.

This blackness in the boy's eyes unnerved me. Dark chasms of death. I could see my own Death in those eyes. It was not a good death. It is not yet my time. I've much to do...

End it.

But I also saw a frightened child, trapped within the darkness. Caged within those eyes.

Could I save him? Should I even try?

So many lives are at stake--not only my own.

But what of eyes that smile? What of friendship? What of trust? Or faith?

Tony--my friend--trusts me. Believes in me. When so few do.

What is that worth?

So many questions...flickering like a candle flame. Dancing behind soft eyes...

& it all comes down to one thing right now, at this moment....

Bite down? Or release...?

All eyes are on me....


"...& I heard a voice...in the midst of the four beasts. & I looked, & behold. A pale horse.

& the name, it said on him--was Death. & Hell followed with him..."

A Force of the Hand

So, once again, I was alone in my own mind. I just sat there in the dirt, trembling, trying to regain my composure. My companions simply stared at me, unsure what to do with themselves.

Tony was crumpled at my feet, tears streaming down his cheeks. Bits of dirt clung to his face & hands where his skin was sticky with blood & tears. He wept, like a small child, awakened from a nightmare.

I crawled over to him; I meant simply to comfort him. To calm him.

Fingers outstretched, I reached for him.

Abruptly, his tears stopped. His mannerisms shifted.

He became...still. Cold. The weeping child was lost, & I no longer recognized this person beside me.

In a blur of motion, he was atop me, a jagged stone clenched in his fist. Tony brought the rock down swiftly, connecting with my temple. He hit me with such force that my vision swam.

I kicked him off of me, & instinctively shifted forms. I traded human skin for black fur & sharp teeth.

In my canine form, I had my teeth around his jugular before he could come at me again.

His eyes were black as night, not like anything I'd seen before.

This was not Tony. Fuck, what the hell am I dealing with here?

The boy squirmed beneath me, & I clenched down, just a little. Just enough to puncture his skin...little droplets of salty sweet blood on my tongue.

The others closed in; I growled to keep them at bay. Justin & Gabriel backed off, just a little bit.

Tony's eyes faded back to their natural shade. "Torrent?" his voice came out a strained gurgle. "What are you doing?...."

I didn't loosen my grip, just released another threatening growl...warning the others to keep their distance.

I'd handle this.

Someone is fucking toying with us...three guesses as to who it is. The first two don't count...

"Make Me Not See Anymore..."

"Make me not see anymore." That's what Tony said to me, as he held his ragged, bloody hands out to me. "Make me not see anymore."

I took his hands in mine; his blood was warm & sticky. "It's gonna be alright..." That's what I told him, though I'm not sure if I believed it then, or even now. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. Not if I can help it."

All eyes were on me.

I opened the link between us. I wasn't sure I wanted to, but I did it anyways.

"It's okay. This might hurt a little. Show me. Let me see."

The boy lacks control, & the images flooded my perceptions in a deluge of pain & death.

Monsters falling at the hands of humans. Some I knew. Some I did not.

I watched as Justin's wings were carved from his body, with a jagged shard of glass. No, it was a mirror. A shard of a broken mirror, speckled with flecks of blood; meaty reflections dancing across it's surface. I heard familiar screams...guttural, hopeless shrieks of agony.

Justin's wings were tossed aside in the dust...discarded. Shredded leather. Tattered & torn.

I tried to focus on the bloody hands responsible, the ones that grasped the shard of the mirror so tightly that his own blood mingled with that of his victim.

I foisted my will upon the vision--forcing it's direction. Forcing it upwards, towards the assailant's face.

Tony. Splattered in blood & gore. Smiling. Laughing. But the laughter--it wasn't his voice.

The vision shifted...wisked me to a place of desolation & rubble. Fallen, crumbled buildings. Dust & ash. & Tony stood in the midst of it all. My fallen brethren at his feet. & a jagged, bloody, reflective shard in each hand.

He raised them up & rushed at me, plunging them into my chest, & I heard my own voice screaming...the blood gurgling up in my throat.

Stars above--I could taste it.

I abruptly yanked myself back, away from Tony's mind & back into my own.

I pulled so hard, I fell unceremoniously on my ass in the dirt.

Justin grabbed my hand, to haul me to my feet. "No--don't touch me!" I screamed. "Don't touch me!"

I was free of Tony's mind--but still in the grasp of a vision. A vision of blackness.

Bloody bandages waved before my eyes. Dancing in the wind. Accompanied by a gravelly whisper...

"He was mine before you ever found him. Your hope is futile Dream Weaver. But I assure you, it tastes good...."

This was followed by a bellowing laughter. I forced my will out toward the force grasping at me...pulled it in tight, let it well up, & then released. A flash of brightness. White. & I felt the grasp loosen & give.

Until I was alone in my own head once again.