Last Lord of the Shai-Kulan

[ShadowFighter15]

People like to invent monsters and monstrosities. Then they seem less monstrous themselves. When they get blind-drunk, cheat, steal, beat their wives, starve an old woman, when they kill a trapped fox with an axe or riddle the last existing unicorn with arrows, they like to think that the Bane entering cottages at daybreak is more monstrous than they are. They feel better then. They find it easier to live.

Andrzej Sapkowski said that in one of the first short stories of The Witcher Saga, Poland's most popular fantasy novel series. He was right. Humanity has had a history at lashing out against what's different or unknown; other cultures, other races, other religions. Often inventing some danger so that they can sleep easy at night, despite the atrocities they commit. What happened in such past events, would seem insignificant next to what would happen if we were found.

The lycanthrope myths have been around for centuries; tales of men becoming beasts as they roam the countryside, seeking the flesh of mortals. But you know what they say about myths; there's usually a grain of truth to them.

Our kind has been hiding alongside humanity for millennia, you've probably passed a lot of us as you walk down the street. Not hard to do; we make up about ten percent of the planet's population. As for why we hide, it's simple; we know how you'll react when we come out of the shadows. Sure, a lot of humanity will accept us, but others won't be so understanding. Through god-knows how many social changes and reactions (not to mention some hard-line religions seeing us as daemons or some such thing), revealing ourselves could cause World War 3.

So we hide and wait, wait for when mankind will be ready to accept our existence. Our long lifespan make us a patient race; we can wait for thousands of years if need be. Until then, we live as humans; we get jobs, we pay taxes, we mingle amongst you and until you're ready for us, we deal with our own politics and problems.

Perhaps I should introduce myself; my name is Erik Black, son of Jacob Black, former Clanlord of the Shai-Kulan panther clan. I'm only twenty years old, still an infant by lycan standards. I have long black hair that reaches to around mid-back, a handsome, determined face (or so I've been told at least) and stand at around 5'8". I've got the sort of build you normally see on an Olympic gymnast or professional martial artist; not bulky muscles, but the more coiled, spring-like muscles you'd find on a cat (not that surprising, considering my beast form). The only real distinguishing marks I have are heterochromia; my left eye is green and my right is blue and somewhat prominent canine teeth, looking a bit like small fangs (which is as rare among lycans as it is among humans, I'm thinking it's just a genetic quirk; Dad had them).

Despite living in Chicago for six years, I still have my Australian accent (some Aussies end up with a sort of hybrid accent after a few years). At the moment, I'm an assistant-master at a kenjutsu school (teaches a style based on Shiranui-ryū if you want to be specific), which is probably where this story starts; after a training session one night as I was walking to my car.

There's a lycan law that exists that was the catalyst for the following events; should a human learn of the existence of lycans, they are to either be killed or taken in by a lycan and taught about our society. The theory behind the second option is that if they know why we hide, they won't blow our cover. The Shai-Kulan has always taken the second option, and it was that choice I made that day that changed my life.


(OOC: Closed to me and caela.)

 

[caela]

Name: RyAnne Johnson (friends call me Ry)

Age: 19

Physical Description: I stand at an elfin 5'2, have shoulder length, jet curls and jade green eyes. My skin is smooth and soft and has a natural translucence that many woman would pay hundreds for in a spa or salon. Despite my lack of height I manage to give the illusion of stature with both my shoes and my presence and I dresses to make the most of my legs, tight rear, and small but firm breasts.

Personality Description: I'm a fairly laid back type and not nearly as "high-maintenance" as my penchant for shopping (and trendy clothes) makes me seem initially. Despite the clothes I can typically be ready for a night out with friends in under ten minutes. I'm also quick to laugh and love a good in joke but not when it's at someone else's expense; a joke is one thing, cruelty is another. My intelligence and swiftness at picking up new ideas are the first things my teachers notice, quickly followed by the fact that I'm easily distracted. Still being young it doesn't bother me that I don't have any real direction yet and I tend to blithely flit from one project to another with an energy and innocence that I'm well aware won't last forever...so I wants to enjoy them while I can.

Opening:It had been a lousy day. I was pretty certain I'd failed my Chem exam (o.k. I was always certain I'd failed an exam and never had yet but the sense of it still clung and wouldn't dissipate until I actually saw my final grade), had nearly been run down by some moron driving too fast and who was too busy yakking on his phone to pay attention to the road, and now I'd been stood up for a date I'd actually been looking forward to.

"This day can't get any worse," I muttered to myself as I kicked a rock down the sidewalk before stopping at a crosswalk and waiting for it to turn.

Now I'm no idiot, it's not my habit to wander about the streets of Chicago, by myself, at night but I didn't have many choices at this point since I'd been stood up. If Brent didn't have an excellent excuse for bailing on me - without so much as a quick phone call! - I was going to make him wish he'd never been born! At least I was familiar with the area, if only vaguely. A girlfriend of mine practiced at the martial arts studio across the road and I'd parked there because it's parking lot was always well lit.

"RyAnne," I grumbled to myself once more, talking out loud just for the sound of a voice to break the silence around me. "Unless someone died you need to rip Brent a new one. Who the hell does he think he is...god's gift? Granted, he's hot, but no guy is hot enough to be worth putting up with him treating you as if you're disposable."

Lost in grumbling to myself, I didn't hear the footsteps coming up behind me and couldn't stop the utterly undignified (and totally girly) squawk that parted my lips as someone suddenly wrapped an arm around my throat and pressed a knife into my side.

I'd been wrong...this day could get worse.

 

[ShadowFighter15]

Erik walked out of the training hall; he'd been the last one to leave since he had to sort out the training fees (something Takeda-sensei would have done himself if he wasn't at home emptying his stomach contents into the kitchen sink). He would've looked out-of-place to anyone who didn't know about the school.

Like the students, he wore a deep blue kimono and a black hakama, but he also wore a pair of straw sandals and tabi (white ankle-high socks with a division between the first two toes), as well as a a dark grey, sleeveless haori (coat) that reached to his ankles. His sword, a 400-odd year old katana his father had obtained rested on his hip; pushed through the belt with the edge up as all katana are supposed to be worn. The hilt was wrapped with black silk, the pommel and guard were both made of a faux-silver metal while the sheath was also pitch-black.

As he walked out the front door of the hall, he heard a girl cry out from across the road. He Shifted his eyes for a second, turning them yellow with a slit pupil, to see better in the dark and saw someone holding the woman who cried out. he also saw the glint of a knife.

This guy's either stupid or ignorant, he thought to himself as he Shifted his eyes back to their normal state. What few thugs and gangs are in this area know that the older students here don't like seeing people be threatened. They wouldn't risk doing it anywhere in sight of the hall, let alone right across the street from it.

Erik prided himself on being an honourable person, he also had a chivalrous streak that didn't always see eye-to-eye with his common sense. Erik crossed the street towards them; one hand around the collar of his sword's sheath, thumb braced against the guard.

"Let her go," he said calmly, but with an undercurrent of forcefulness. "Now."

 

[caela]

"Let her go," he said calmly, but with an undercurrent of forcefulness. "Now."

The voice startled both myself and the guy that had grabbed me, coming out of the darkness as it did. We both went still and simply stared. What was going through the mind of the ape who'd grabbed me I couldn't tell but all I could do was stare. Sarah had mentioned that a few of the guys from the studio were above average in the looks department but she hadn't mentioned that there was one that had this guys force of personality. For a second I think the mugger almost obeyed the order he'd been given.

That second passed quickly however and the guys arm tightened on my throat, the blade pressing deeper against my ribs as he growled, "Who's gonna make me? Just stay back there boy and you can have her when I'm through!"

Not exactly words that instilled confidence that I was going to get out of this situation unscathed. If I hadn't been worrying about that damned knife I'd have jammed my elbow into his ribs to knock the wind out of him but there was no way I wanted that grip tightening further; it was too well placed over my kidneys and I like those just where they are.

While I was trying to think of some way to squirm out of the ape's grasp he started pulling backward, forcing me back toward an alley nearby without taking his eyes off the stranger that had ordered him to let me go.

 

[ShadowFighter15]

"I said; let her go!" he said, more forcefully than before and placing his right hand on the hilt of his sword. He hoped he wouldn't have to use it, but this idiot didn't need to know that.

"I think it only fair to warn you; if you harm or kill her, you'll just put your own life at risk. I won't let you leave here and the alley behind you leads to a dead end. If you attack me while trying to escape, I'll be forced to defend myself. Even if you take your attention off me long enough to do whatever you plan to with her, that's all I'll need to close the distance. You're in a lose-lose situation, mate; get what you want from her and go to jail - or possibly even die by my sword - or, you don't get what you want from her and leave here safely. The question is, which are you more willing to lose; your gain from her, or your life?"

 

[caela]

The question is, which are you more willing to lose; your gain from her, or your life?

Who the hell was this guy? Like it wasn't bad enough I had some asshole holding a knife to my ribs, now I had an idiot with a hero complex egging the first guy on! I could feel the tension in the guy holding me increasing as the other guy threatened him with cops and even death and I had to fight down a whimper as the knife pressed harder against my side.

When the knife actually bit into my flesh and I felt a warm, wet, trickle of blood sliding down my side I actually gasped and shot a glare at the guy who'd come from the studio, mostly because I couldn't glare at the guy behind me.

"You just stay where you are hero-boy," the jerk growled and pressed the blade a little deeper making me whimper. "I can drive this into her lung before you could reach me, then you'd have to decide if catching me or saving her was more important."

While he was talking the mugger shifted his angle slightly, no longer moving toward the alley but backing us toward the next corner. It was a busier street with a stready stream of traffic so if he was heading that way I knew he was planning his escape; most likely he thought the new guy was some sort of psycho or had just decided that mugging and/or raping me had become much more work than he'd planned for. Either way I wasn't going to fight him since his letting me go was what I wanted.

"Now, I'm going to back to that there street and then take off. If you're a good boy and stay where you are I won't her and you can patch up the little cut she already has when I'm gone. Take one step near me before I let her go however, and she'll be trying to breath through a punctured lung."

 

[ShadowFighter15]

On one of the rooftops near the stand-off was a pair of figures, one held a crossbow to his shoulder, aimed at Erik, while the other watched the young swordsman's actions from a distance with a bemused expression.

"Think you can hit him with one shot?" the second figure asked.

"Not a problem," the crossbowman replied. "but I've got a second crossbow loaded and ready to go in case I miss."

"Then why don't you fire that first shot at the criminal down there. Even if she is just a human, I don't like seeing young women hurt."

"Lethal shot?"

"Why not, he's only a human, one less barbaric member of the species in the world won't matter; more fools like him crop up just about every day. Be ready to fire the second shot quickly, the young lord won't be sticking around after seeing someone get skewered by a silver crossbow bolt."

"Right." The crossbowman lined up up the sights, placing them over the mugger's forehead and fired.

Erik was willing to let the guy go if he kept his word. Even if the mugger gave the girl a serious injury, he'd let him go, but would have a word with the police. He knew there was a CCTV camera that had seen most of it and Erik had memorised the attacker's face. The girl would probably be pissed at him for putting her in so much danger, but it was better that she get out of this with a minor cut than a missing organ. He didn't have many options in such situations; while he could've been more tactful and less taunting, he still would've had to talk the guy down. There was no way Erik could've crossed the distance to help her before she would be stabbed.

Before he could reply to the mugger, he heard the twang of a rope snapping taut and suddenly there was a ten inch piece of silver stuck through the mugger's forehead. He quickly drew his sword and turned to where the shot had come from. He heard the second bolt being fired, and with more luck than skill, managed to deflect it slightly with his sword, all that did, was change where the bolt hit him. The bolt of silver lodged itself through his left shoulder, with more than half the bolt making it out the other side of his body.

He immediately fell to his knees. Erik suffered from a moderate form of argentophobia; a fear of silver. While he could keep it in check enough to handle silver weapons (provided he wore gloves), when he had a piece of the metal touching his bare skin, let alone shoved through his shoulder, full panic set in and it was all he could do not to reflexively Shift into his beast form. His hair fell around his face, obscuring it from view.

He didn't scream out, his vocal cords paralysed with fear and panic. The silver was burning his shoulder, faint wisps of boiled blood and the smell of burned meat wafted up from the wound. A corner of Erik's mind recognised that the bolt would've had a layer of bane-flake around the outside; a silver alloy that broke down when exposed to enough moisture. When inside a lycan's body, it would only take a minute for the moisture in his blood to break the bane-flake layer down, sending microscopic flakes of silver into the victim's bloodstream where they would wreak havoc on his circulatory system, wreaking capillaries, arteries and potentially every organ in the body. While painful, as long as the bolt was removed within 90 seconds of impact, the flakes in the bloodstream would be eventually neutralised, longer than that and the risk of fatal levels of silver grew exponentially.

There was no way he could remove it himself either; the metal would simply burn his hand and he'd never be able to get a proper grip on it. This was a moot point, however, as crossbow bolts were designed so that they couldn't be removed by pulling them back out the way they went in, meaning that this bolt had to be pulled out through the exit wound, and there was no way he could reach around that far.

 

[caela]

I didn't hear anything. I did see the hero-boy twitch slightly, just the slightest cocking of his head, as if he heard something though. I didn't have time to dwell on it however, as suddenly, the mugger's grip tightened, his blade slashed down my side - leaving a shallow wound but nothing serious - and suddenly he fell away. I probably shouldn't have turned to look but it was so sudden that I couldn't stop myself...what I saw shuold have made me scream but it was so unexpected that all I could do was stare.

The man had an arrow of some sort sticking out of his face!

Spinning back toward hero-boy I was shocked to see that he had the same sort of arrow sticking out of his shoulder! With no clue what was happening I rushed toward him, my mind ticking away at a mile a minute as I shoved the young man down slightly and sank to my knees to examine the wound.

Maybe I should have paid more attention to his face but my eyes were only for the arrow sticking out of his shoulder.

Now, mind you, I don't know a damned thing about arrows but just looking at the head of this one made it clear it wasn't going to be pulled out the way it had come. Not without causing a world more damage anyway. My first instinct was to leave it in and rush him to a hospital, but even in the dim light of the streetlamps I could see he was already having a severe allergic reaction to something on the arrow.

Hesitating for only a second I glanced at his face for the first time since kneeling beside him and gave a small grimace, "This is going to hurt."

It seemed the understatement of the year but I couldn't think of anything else to say before I grabbed the shaft of the arrow and gave it a sudden, sharp, yank to pull it free. Small as I am I putt the full weight of my body behind it and ended up tumbling to my side on the pavement but the thing did come free. Dropping it to the ground I grabbed my jacket and wadded it up on either side of his shoulder, pressing down tightly to try and suppress any further bleeding while praying, silently, that I hadn't done more harm that good by pulling the arrow out.

"Have you got a cell phone? We need to call an ambulance and get you to a hospital. Gods alone knows what sort of damage that thing did and you're clearly allergic to something it's made of."

 

[ShadowFighter15]

Erik cried out as the bolt was pulled free. He sat still for a minute, breathing heavily as the shock passed.
"Thank you. You saved my life. If I can repay you, please," at this pause, he lifted is head and looked the girl in the eye.

His eyes had Shifted into those of his beast form; bright yellow with the slit pupil of felines His teeth had changed form as well; his normally prominent eye teeth were now much longer and their equivalents on his lower jaw had grown long and sharp as well while the rest of his teeth had become razor-sharp.

"let me know." he finished, oblivious to the fact that his face had Shifted reflexively.

 

[caela]

"let me know."

O.k. I couldn't help it...I stared. It was the eyes that I noticed first. At first glance I couldn't quite make out what it was about them that was bothering me. I had, after all, been more concerned with pulling an arrow out of the guy than with his eyes. Now that I had time to stare I realized that they were just wrong. No one had eyes that looked that much like a cats. It literally looked like there must be a cat out there somewhere without it's eyes because they were in this guys head.

When I noticed the teeth I shuddered slightly. Had they been like that all along? I supposed it was possible. I had been rather distracted with the guy holding a knife to my side.

Almost as I thought it I suddenly felt the searing pain from where the muggers knife had cut me and I hissed sharply. Why is it that wounds never really seem to hurt until you notice, or think of, them? Pressing my hand against my side I growled softly when it came away sticky and wet with blood. It wasn't a bad wound but it likely needed stitches.

"You want to repay me? Give me a cell phone so I can get us both some medical attention and, while we're waiting, tell me what the deal is with the eyes and teeth? Are they real or some sort of prop for a play or something?"

 

[ShadowFighter15]

"What? My eyes and..." Erik trailed off when he realised that the night seemed a bit brighter than it should have, and that his colour vision had deteriorated. He turned pale as he quickly felt his teeth with his hand, finding them all to be sharp.
"Oh shit. You weren't supposed to see this; I'm sorry."

He quickly Shifted his face back to normal, there was a faint creaking as his teeth reformed themselves and his jaw (which had undergone minor changes to accommodate the pseudo-panther teeth) returned to normal. His eyes Shifted back to normal as he stood.

"Listen; I'll explain on the way, but we can't go to a hospital. It may not be official training, but my father taught me how to treat wounds like yours. I have supplies at my place and a first-aid kit in my car that should slow the bleeding enough to get you there. With any luck, it won't need stitches. I'd also like to get out of here quickly; whoever fired at us before won't be using any more crossbow bolts, but they're not the only way to kill a lycanthrope."




"Don't you want me to finish him off?" the crossbowman asked his partner.

"No, we weren't authorised to fire more than two baneflake bolts at the most. I thought the girl would be slower to react, but she must be tougher than she looks."

"I've still got normal bolts, though."

"You'd have to make a kill-shot. Just piercing a lung doesn't kill our kind, I thought you'd know that. There's no way you'd be able to kill him; he's keeping tabs on everything around him; the only reason you hit that criminal so easily was because he was more focussed on the cub than on this rooftop. We'll leave him for tonight, though it seems that he may have to take that young woman into his care. That's something that may interest the Grand Master."

 

[caela]

"On the way...lycanthrope? Do you seriously think I'm crazy enough to get into a car and go to the home of some crazy that just claimed to be a werewolf?"

The look on my face had to be as incredulous as the questions I'd asked. Did this guy really think he was a werewolf of some sort? O.k., granted, the face thing was a little weird, but I was trying really hard not to think about that and the bleeding cut in my side was making it pretty easy to dismiss. He could say what he wanted but I was pretty sure I was going to need stitches and I wanted them done by a doctor who could make the stitching neat and tidy...and the scarring minimal.

I did not want some werewolf wannabe going at me with a needle and thread!

"I think I'll settle for a hospital," I muttered and shook my head slightly. The wound in my side might not be life threatening but I'd managed to loose enough blood to be slightly dizzy. If this guy wasn't going to call an ambulance for himself I was going to hit the nearest payphone and get one myself.

Pushing up to my feet I stumbled slightly and had to catch my balance by reaching out and grabbing the guy's shoulder. Good god how could he talk about taking me back to his place...I didn't even know his name!

 

[ShadowFighter15]

(OOC: Changed the entire post, sorry if this messes up a reply you were working on, but the way that post went didn't sit well with me. If you've already done a reply for the old post, let me know; I made sure to back it up just in case.)

Erik winced as the girl leant on his injured shoulder. He realised that he couldn't risk staying for much longer and that she wasn't going to be convinced in time. Lycans who think they'll expose themselves usually carry single-use injectors of sedative; if a human sees their beast form and runs, the lycan uses the injector to put the human to sleep, where they can be informed of what they need to know in a place where they can't escape and blow their cover. Because his father had made some enemies and a few of them were wanting Erik dead to finish the deed; he often carried one or two injectors with him whenever he was out. He reached into his kimono, as though reaching for his phone, and pulled out one of the injectors, quickly placing it against her neck and activating it. It was a fast acting sedative and knocked her out in an instant. He hated doing this and if she could see his face, it would be obvious that he never wanted to do this.

She didn't wake up until midday the next day. She was in a large bedroom, the floor covered in thick, cream-coloured carpet. An old dresser sat against one wall, next to the door and a full length mirror stood on the opposite side of the dresser from the door. A chair near the large, four-poster bed she lay in held all of her clothing from last night (which the exception of her shoes), they'd all been washed and were folded neatly on the chair. While she had been unconscious, she'd been changed into a set of simple pyjamas. Erik was on his way to the room to change the dressing on her wound.

 

[caela]

OOC: No worries on the changes, I think this moves things along better.

I barely had time to register his moving before I felt a sudden sting in my neck. Glancing at his face I couldn't read his expression, everything was already getting blurry. I felt myself reaching to grab at him as my body started to fall and had just enough time to mutter, "Asshole," under my breath before the world went completely black.

When I woke I was in a room I didn't recognize and in clothes that weren't mine. My first instinct was to panic but a few deep breaths pushed that impulse down and gave me time to examine my surroundings. The room clearly belonged to a guy but it was well put together and while my clothes had been changed I was clean and my wound had been cared for. I could also see my own clothes folded neatly on a nearby chair and they looked as if they'd been cleaned as well.

Obviously no harm was meant to me. At least not yet. The fact that I'd, clearly, been drugged to get me here did still fill me with a sense of trepidation.

Still trying to figure out just where I was, I had sit up in the bed, when the door opened and in walked the hero boy. I still didn't know his name and looking at him, carrying fresh dressings for my wound, it suddenly occurred to me that I had no idea just how long his little drug had knocked me out for. Staring at him a wave of anger ran through me and I glared at him sharply.

"Care to explain why you bothered trying to help me last night just to kidnap me yourself?"

 

[ShadowFighter15]

OOC: Changed the post; I should really think more about a post before making it

"I'm sorry. If you hadn't seen my face - or if it had been a few weeks earlier or later - I'd have called an ambulance for you and made myself scarce; let you think my eyes and teeth were your eyes playing tricks on you. But if I had let you leave last night; we would both have an appointment with the headsman's axe, and I'm not being metaphorical."

He walked over and placed the dressings on a bedside table. He was wearing a white sleeveless shirt and a pair of loose black pants.

"I'll explain it all soon, for now I'd like to change your dressings. Get it out of the way."

 

[caela]

OOC: Sorry it's been a few days, been busy with work and family/holiday stuff. Hope you had a good Christmas.

Headsman's axe? How the hell could he be being anything but metaphorical with that? Did he really expect me to believe some guy would have come out of the dark with an axe to take my head just because I'd seen him? It made me wonder what other delusions this guy had but my first concern was the fact that I was stuck, gods knew where and my only way out seemed to be through him.

I decided to treat him like a potentially rabid animal and not make any sudden movements.

"I'll explain it all soon, for now I'd like to change your dressings. Get it out of the way."

At that offer I couldn't stop my right eyebrow from shooting up skeptically, "I think you've changed enough considering the fact that you haven't even bothered to give me a name to call you hero-boy. Or are you going to tell me it was your sister that stripped me and changed my clothes?"

O.k. I can't help it, when I'm nervous or scared I get defensive...sue me.

 

[ShadowFighter15]

OOC: Don't worry about being slow; real-life always takes precedence over this. And aside from a story about one of my uncles that I could've gone without hearing; I had a great Christmas. Hope yours went well.

"My name's Erik Black, and would you rather I left you downstairs in the infirmary in your blood-stained clothes, Ms Johnson? I found your driver's license. Look, so you don't think I'm crazy; I'll prove to you that I'm a lycanthrope."

Erik pulled off his shirt as he began to Shift. Black, silken fur sprouted in a wave across his body, starting somewhere on his back until everything below the neck was covered. His body started to grow as his bones became denser and his muscles bulked up slightly, though still retaining the slim build of his human form. His feet lengthened until the ankle became a second knee and he pulled the back of his pants out slightly to let his tail grow (more a matter of comfort as it's rather unpleasant to have one's tail stuck down one's pants). His fingernails sunk into his fingers with the flesh flowing over them; the became his beast form's claws. Finally; the fur covered his face, which started to grow until it looked exactly like the head of a black panther (albeit with much longer hair growing from it's scalp). His eyes were the last thing to change and he now stood before her in his beast form; a bipedal, eight-foot-tall humanoid panther.

"Do you believe me now?" he said. His voice had become slightly deeper; most of the work now being done by his larynx, his lips and tongue no longer suited to speech.

 

[caela]

OOC:My holidays were great thank you! It was my daughter's first Christmas (she's 3 month's old) so I had a blast opening all her presents for her! hehehe

"My name's Erik Black, and would you rather I left you downstairs in the infirmary in your blood-stained clothes, Ms Johnson? I found your driver's license. Look, so you don't think I'm crazy; I'll prove to you that I'm a lycanthrope."

I admit that at first I was more stuck on the part about "finding" my driver's license than the lycanthrope part. After all being a lycanthrope was clearly a delusion but he'd obviously gone through my purse to get my wallet and from there to my license. I didn't have anything embarrassing in my purse but I also didn't like the idea of a total stranger rummaging around in it.

Before I could upbraid him for the impertinence of the whole situation he started changing. I blinked and rubbed my eyes, sure I must be seeing things, but the changes didn't stop. All I could do was sit there dumbfounded. It was like watching a movie except it was happening right in front of me!

"Do you believe me now?"

My mind wanted, desperately, to scream NO, but the evidence was standing there staring me in the face. Still not sure what to say I just sat there gaping at him for a long time. At my side my fingers twitched slightly with the sudden urge to reach out and poke at him, make certain he was really there and not just some sort of fever dream or hallucination. I was fairly certain however that what I was seeing was real and that my life had just been changed forever.

"I guess I don't have much choice but to believe you now. Do I? After all changing in front of me is pretty compelling evidence. You really meant it about a headsman's axe didn't you?" I asked, unable to keep my quiet disbelief out of my voice.

This whole situation was getting weirder by the minute!

 

[ShadowFighter15]

OOC: That would've been fun.

"I guess I don't have much choice but to believe you now. Do I? After all changing in front of me is pretty compelling evidence. You really meant it about a headsman's axe didn't you?"

Erik Shifted back before replying, working his jaw a bit as it returned to human form (a full Shift always made his jaw feel stiff for some reason).

"Afraid so; I'd be executed for letting a human go off on her own after seeing evidence of our existence and you'd probably be killed too, with it made to look like an accident. If this had happened a few months earlier or later then I could've let you leave last night after getting you to a hospital, but you know those three people who've been killed over on Cabrini Green? It's the work of a pair of accidentally turned wolves who are "celebrating" their new power. The Lower Council's trying to track them down, but they're pretty smart, might take a while."

He grabbed a nearby chair and brought it over beside the bed, sitting down as he continued to speak.

"The Lower Council's the group in charge of all lycans in the state. There's a Lower Council in charge of every area in the world. Well, theoretically at least; Council coverage in Africa and China's a bit sketchy. Now, I may be on the Lower Council here, but I'm... not exactly in good standing with most of the other members. Most don't become a member of the council until their second or third century; I'm only twenty, so a lot of them don't think I can do the job. There are... other reasons but I'd rather not go into them right now. What that means is that you're going to be in my care for longer than other people in your position. Normally; it'd be about six months, but the other council members will want to drag that out in the hopes that you screw up and give them an excuse to execute me. Most likely; it'll be a year - year and a half at the most. Well; two at the most but if things get that bad... well, hopefully it won't come to that."

"I'll go over more the details soon; for now I'd like to get those dressings changed on your wound. You didn't need stitches, by the way, which is good; I don't have any thread."

 

[caela]

"I'll go over more the details soon; for now I'd like to get those dressings changed on your wound. You didn't need stitches, by the way, which is good; I don't have any thread."

Good god but this was all unreal! I had just watched this guy change into some sort of beast and back again, listened to him tell me I could have my head chopped off, and that I would be in his care...possibly for up to two years! Now he wanted to change my bandages as if nothing strange had happened.

All I could do was gape at him stupidly.

Maybe this was all just an average day for him but it was far from normal for me. Slowly shaking my head I just lifted the edge of the shirt I was wearing and peeled away the old dressings. I had to admit that the wound had been dressed well but that didn't stop me from hissing slightly in pain as the dressing came away. Eyeing the clean line of the knife cut on my flesh I reached down to finger it as well and nodded slightly. It didn't need stitches but a couple would have minimized scaring.

Though the idea of an amateur like this guy stitching me up wasn't exactly reassuring.

"Thank you for taking care of me," I finally said when I was done with my own self-exam. "Now why don't you give me more details while you work. Like what exactly it means that I'm going to be in your care?"

 

[ShadowFighter15]

Erik set to work on her dressings. While she might consider him an amateur, the medical training his father had taught him made him a least on par with most doctors as far as injuries went.

"Well, I know you won't like it, but you'll have to live here for that time so that I can keep an eye on you and make sure you don't reveal us to anyone. You may not think anyone would believe you, but the Council doesn't want to take any risks at the moment. Combine that with mobile phone cameras and such and we need to be very careful.

To be honest, I was hoping that I wouldn't need to take someone in like this for a while; sometime after my 200th birthday would be preferable, when I don't need to worry about arrogant council members breathing down my neck. They seem to think that just because you didn't live through the Industrial Revolution that you don't know how to manage the local lycan population."

He sighed as he realised how off-track he was getting.
"Sorry, some of the council members just get on my nerves. Anyway, you will be free to go around the city whenever you want; I'm not keeping you here. But if you go out and aren't in my company; there'll be a surveillance team keeping an eye on you. I know that seems extreme, but we can't take the risk. You will have to live here though; 24/7 surveillance is too much of a drain on resources. Organising the team was why I read your driver's license; needed to know who they were supposed to be keeping an eye on."

 

[caela]

Only the fact that he was changing my dressings kept me still while he talked. With every word that came out of his mouth my anger grew and when he finally had a fresh gauze pad taped over my wound I dropped my shirt and slapped him as hard I could manage; the sound of it cracking through the room like a whip.

"Sonofabitch! I won't be happy about it? Is that all you thought? You can go right now and tell your little Council that it can kiss my ass. I have no desire to spend time in a padded room so I won't be telling anyone your little secret but I'll be damned if I'm going to just uproot my whole life and let you sick a bunch of babysitters on me anytime I want to go out either."

Not waiting for him to move away I just rolled to the other side of the bed and stormed around it to grab my clothing. The jeans were yanked on quickly and without a thought I pulled off the borrowed shirt I was wearing to replace it with my own shirt. It never even occurred to me, in my anger, to turn around and I ended up flashing Erik, though I didn't care. Yanking on my boots I was dressed in less than 30 seconds and glaring so hard it was a look that should have dropped him dead where he sat.

"Tell me how the hell I get out of this place and tell me now," I demanded impatiently.

 

[ShadowFighter15]

OOC: I'm thinking of having a time-skip come up once Ry agrees to abide by lycan law because I don't see Erik being the sort to rush into anything (probably a side-effect of having such a long lifespan) unless he has to.

The slap had stung, but he'd had far worse. And he'd been expecting her to hit him in some way.

He quickly turned his head away as she accidentally showed her bare chest to him. While he had been the one to change her clothes in the first place, he had done so with clinical detachment and hadn't paid any attention to her body outside of what was necessary to get her into the pyjamas.

"I can't. I'm sorry, but my hands are tied. Even my allies on the Council won't listen to me if you storm out of here like that and there won't be anything more I can do to protect you. Even if you don't tell anyone, they might have you committed anyway to make sure no-one believes you. If you don't follow our laws then you'll be making your life far worse and ending mine."

 

[caela]

OOC: Sounds alright to me. It makes sense really. Even if Erik were the sort to rush, Ry won't be in any sort of amorous mood for awhile anyway. She's going to be very unhappy with her situation for awhile lol.

"Believe me when I say that right now I wouldn't mind ending your life too terribly!" she growled under her breath with an undercurrent of true menace in her voice. "You and your Council have no fucking right to hold me prisoner here and don't try and convince me that this pretty room is anything short of a gilded cage. Not when you just told me I'll likely be committed or killed if I leave before they fucking say I can."

Giving him a look that should have been able to kill she shoved him to the side as she moved past him to the widest part of the room. Clearly on the verge of starting to break things she grasped her hands behind her back, despite the pain this caused in her side, and began to pace. The idea of be trapped here and followed around like some sort of criminal rankled more than words could say but what choice did she have?

She really didn't want to be tossed into a loony bin or have her head chopped off. Jesus who the fuck did this damned Council think they were?! She'd like to kill them all, and Erik twice for bringing her here!

 

[ShadowFighter15]

"If you have a better idea of how to handle this situation, by all means, the Council would love to hear it; they've been trying to find an easier way for centuries so if you have something they'd be very grateful. We're talking about the safety of our entire species; ten percent of the earth's population. We can't take any one person's word, no matter who they are, that they can bypass the laws.

I don't like the law any more than you do, but if I don't comply I'll be executed and I'd rather not have that as the last bullet-point of my clan's history.

And you're not confined to the room; you can go anywhere on the estate freely. And the surveillance teams are experts; the only way you'll know they're there is because I told you."

He stayed next to the bed as he spoke; from the way she was acting, he didn't want her to find the silver knife (closer to a short-sword in size, really) his father had kept under the bed for emergencies (the room had originally been his parents', but they weren't in a position to need it anymore).