Chapter X
Morbid Massacres and Stuffed Koalas
"Now, what should we pack for Kivuli?" Iorik asked his fiance
"What do you think?" Iorik began pulling things from the closet, all in Kivuli's size, and putting them in a small suitcase.
"He will need some pants, a coat, a few shirts, underwear..."
"As well remember both me and him can generate our own heat." Arrow said.
"Of course, sweetie. But remember we are going to Tibet and I don't want to take chances. Even Lillian wore furs there."
"Okay, that's fine." Arrow smiled. Iorik looked at him.
"There's a suitcase in the closet next to the wall of shoes that you can use, love." Arrow grabbed it and started to pack. Iorik smiled as he zipped up Kivuli's suitcase. He snuck up behind Arrow and grabbed his ass. Arrow jumped and yelped before playfully slapping him. Kivuli wandered into their bedroom.
"Daddys? I feel funny."
"Funny haha or funny strange?" Iorik asked.
"Strange." he said, the blankie around him like a cape.
"Can you be more descriptive?"
"Not really." He sniffled. Iorik picked him up.
"Well, what happened?"
"I woke up and I just felt not normal." He said. Iorik looked at Arrow, unsure how to explain.
"You feel funny because Daddy Iorik just really became Daddy Iorik." Arrow said.
"Ohhhhh." Kivuli hugged Iorik. "Yay, Daddys my Daddy!" Iorik hugged him back.
"I want to see something. Kivuli, do you see the ashtray on my nightstand over there?"
"Yes." He said, a little confused.
"See if you can hit it with a bolt of lightning." Kivuli tried to a few times before doing it.
"I don't like that."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't like using that." He said softly. Iorik nuzzled him gently.
"I just wanted to see if you could do it. You don't have to again."
"Okay Daddy." Kivuli said leaning against him.
"Have any electronics tried to talk to you yet?"
"The tv did. It woke me up." He said. Iorik chuckled.
"The toaster was the first for me."
"Coffee maker..." Arrow said. Iorik looked at him.
"When was that, love?"
"When I came back... your penthouse coffee maker is creepy." Arrow said.
"Yep. The toilet would scream at me in German." Iorik chuckled. Kivuli just watched them. Iorik looked at the child in his arms.
"Just don't talk to them in public. And never talk to strange machines, okay?"
"Yes daddy."
"Now, is there anything special you want to take to Italy?" Iorik asked. Kivuli ran to his room and came back with a blanket and a plush toy.
"My blankie and Ed." he smiled.
"Do you want to carry them or pack them?"
"Carry." He said, setting them neatly on the bed and going to go get a backpack. He came back. "Daddy, can you help me?" He asked holding his crayons, coloring book, and pillow.
"What do you need, sweetie?" Iorik asked with a smile.
"I want this in my backpack" he said putting it all down.
"Alright." Iorik replied, carefully arranging everything (except Ed) in the bag and zipping it up. "There you go!" Kivuli took Ed and hugged Iorik. "Thank you Daddy."
"My pleasure, little dragon," Iorik smiled, hugging Kivuli back.
"Well, you two have fun. I have to go to work before we leave. " Arrow said. Iorik gave his betrothed a hug and a kiss. "What time should I pick you up, love?"
"About 11." Arrow hugged Kivuli. "Be good for daddy."
"I will." He hugged Arrow. Iorik walked his fiance out to the front balcony.
"I'll see you later, my love." he said, embracing Arrow and kissing him.
"I'll see you after work." He flew off to the theatre. Iorik watched Arrow go, then went back into the house. Kivuli was sitting on the bed.
"What do you want to do now, little dragon?" Iorik asked with a smile.
"Food!" the boy shouted happily. Iorik chuckled.
"What do you want me to make for you?"
"Pancakes." He said excitedly. Iorik smiled.
"Anything in them? Fruit, sugar, honey?"
"Chocolates and strawberries."
"Alright," Iorik said as they walked toward the kitchen. "Any burnt ones? And what do you want on top?"
"One burnt one not." He said following Iorik. "Syrup on top."
"You only want two?" Iorik asked as he pulled some milk and eggs from the fridge.
"No, four." He smiled sitting on a stool.
"Make twelve. Axel and I are hungry too." Lillian walked in, her robe wrinkled and covered in grass. Her hair was mussed and her skin had a slight sheen. Iorik smirked at her.
"Auntie Lil." Kivuli smiled running to hug her. Lillian picked him up and tossed him into the air, catching him with a smile.
"Hey, Kivuli?". Iorik said. "Why don't you go get the strawberries from the garden? I'm sure Lil will show you where they are."
"Okay." He ran outside. Axel walked in as he left.
"I hear you two worked up an appetite out there." Iorik said to Axel with a smirk.
"Yeah, we did. It was great." She grinned.
"Anything you want with your pancakes?"
"Chocolate and bananas please." Iorik smiled.
"Lil's favourite." he said.
"Thats fun to know." Axel smiled.
Lillian showed Kivuli to a large garden full of exotic and domestic fruits and vegetables, berries, teas, herbs, etc.
"This is our edibles garden, sweetie." Lillian said to Kivuli, who smiled.
"Where's the strawberries?" the boy asked. Lillian pointed to a green bush covered in ruby red strawberries. She grabbed some bananas from a tree while he went and picked a bunch of the small red orbs. Lillian led Kivuli back into the house. Iorik was mixing up two bowls of batter.
"Care to chop those for me, Lil?" He said, not looking up. Lillian nodded and began slicing the strawberries into eighths and the bananas into 1/2 inch slices. Kivuli sat in his chair. Iorik plopped the strawberries into one bowl and bananas into the other. He pulled a chocolate bar from the cupboard and broke it into chunks. "You want the rest of this bar, Kivuli? It's from Belgium." He asked.
"Yes please, Daddy." Kivuli smiled. Iorik handed him the rest of the chocolate and put a skillet on the stovetop. After a moment he began pouring the batter in. Kivuli munched on the chocolate. There was a blast of fire and a crisp pancake landed on the plate in front of Kivuli. He happily ate it. A few minutes later, Iorik placed three more chocolate strawberry pancakes in front of Kivuli, each a perfect golden brown with a Wyvern branded into the centre. He served a plate of four banana chocolate pancakes to Axel, and another four to Lillian, and placed a pitcher of heated syrup on the counter.
"Enjoy!" he said with a wide smile. Kivuli and Axel happily dug in. Iorik smiled and sipped at his acrid purple tea, while Lillian ate only one pancake. Iorik looked at her. She made a hand gesture and he nodded solemnly. Axel noticed and watched her lover. Lillian gave her a nervous smile. Axel decided she would ask later.
"I'll have some tea," Lillian said, and Iorik nodded, brewing it in an odd looking machine. The liquid was crimson and bubbled slightly. Kivuli finished his food.
"You want to go out and play for a bit before we have to leave, little dragon?" Iorik asked with a smile and a wink to Lillian.
"Yeah." He said running outside. Lillian sighed and sipped her tea as Iorik followed Kivuli. Axel looked at her.
"Is everything okay?"
"Remember how I said I couldn't carry a child?"
"Yeah." She said.
"Did I tell you why?"
"Transformations was all you said." Axel replied. Lillian sighed heavily.
"Iorik and I share the halfblood curse. We each have a primal form that we shift into around the full moon. Mine is elemental, and therefore controllable. It is not always at the same time every month, however. His, on the other hand, is on the night of the full moon every time. His form is beastial, and... Frankly, terrifying." She shivered. "The wolfsbane tea helps immensely, but he still needs to...feed." She closed her eyes and shuddered violently, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I saw his transformation once. It was horribly sickening." She whispered in a hollow tone. Axel got up and hugged her.
"Shhh, it's ok it'll be okay." she kissed the top of Lilian's head.
"It hurts him so much." She sobbed. "I tried to tell him it wasn't his fault, that the beast killed them, not him, but he wouldn't listen!" She sobbed uncontrollably. Axel just hugged her.
"What happened?" Iorik said, having just come back in for something. Axel just looked at him telling him with her eyes that she was talking about the transformations. Iorik's face fell.
"Oh. That." He said quietly. "How much did she tell you?" he asked in a dead tone. Axel looked back down at Lillian. The redhead wiped away her tears.
"I was talking about the Salem Slaughter." Iorik winced at that name, his eyes showing great pain. Axel opened her arm like 'come here you need some love too.' Iorik shook his head.
"I am a monster for that. I can still hear the screams." He said softly. Axel looked at him and just started to hum something her mom would hum to calm her down. "Don't bother." He said, a little roughly. "I haven't slept since. Every time I try, it happens again. I can hear the screams, the bones snapping, feel the hot blood on my muzzle..." he curled into a ball, shivering as the scene flashed before his eyes. "I'm a monster. A horrible, sadistic monster." He began to rock, repeating himself. Axel spoke in Arrow's voice and hugged Iorik.
"Shhh it's okay. I promise it'll be okay. Tonight you'll come get me from work and then you, me , and our son will get on a plane and fly to Italy. Please don't be sad." Iorik hugged Axel tightly, still shivering.
"I don't want him to get hurt, Axe. Tell me he won't follow me. Please." He began to cry in earnest.
"Sorry, sweetheart. I took over her vocal chords for a minute. I promise when you transform Kivuli and I will not follow you and we will entertain ourselves until you get back."
"Thank you." Axel kissed Iorik's forehead.
"You're welcome. Now, you go have fun and I will see you when you come to get me tonight." Iorik nodded and walked back outside. Axel shook off the weird and went back to hugging Lillian.
"Was that really him or just you?" Lillian asked quietly.
"Him. I turned on the twin telepathy and told him." She smiled.
"That must have felt odd."
"It is." She sat down
"Are you alright, love?"
"A bit taxing." She said, taking a drink of tea.
"Don't drink that!" Lillian slapped the teacup from Axel's hand. It hit the tile and shattered, the liquid exploding into bright red flames.
"Thank you." Axel said, looking for her glass of sweet tea.
"Here, love. This is yours." She slid the sweet tea to Axel and went to get herself another teacup. Axel took a drink.
"I really hate when he does that. Scrambles my brain."
"I can imagine." Lillian said, pouring herself more tea as the flames on the floor died out. Axel watched Lillian.
"You're so beautiful." Lillian blushed.
"So are you, my love." she replied. Axel kissed her. Lillian placed a gentle hand on her lover's shoulder. "This is not a rejection, love. I just can't do it again so close to my transformation." she smiled weakly. "I promise we will have fun in Greece. But until I shift, I can't. I'm sorry."
"Thats fine sweetheart." Axel smiled. Lillian smiled back.
"I'm glad you understand, love."
"Anything for you." Axel smiled. There was a loud crack, the sound of a tree falling, and a loud clang outside.
"Daddy!" Kivuli screamed in a panic. Axel ran outside. Lillian followed and gasped. There, under a huge fallen pine, was Iorik. The tree had, strangely, not crushed him. But he wasn't moving, and his eyes were closed. Lillian made a quick decision.
"Light me, Axe. Light me on fire and keep it burning no matter what!" Axel lit herself and then aimed a blast of it at Lillian. Lillian closed her eyes, feeling the fire ignite her. She began to thrash as her hair seemed to blaze and her skin blackened. There was an explosion and pieces of flesh flew off. There Lillian floated, a foot off the ground, her long hair made of red fire, her body looking like lava under glass. She raised her arms and two whirling blades of fire flew at the tree, quickly reducing it to kindling. The branches had stripped away parts of Iorik chest, revealing a metal ribcage. The flesh grew back as they watched, and Iorik's eyes popped open with a gasp. Kivuli was standing crying. Iorik coughed and sat up, clutching his chest.
"Damn that hurt." Kivuli ran over.
"I'm sorry Daddy." He cried. Iorik held him close.
"It's not your fault, Kivuli. You didn't knock the tree down. And I'll be fine. Believe me, I've had worse." Kivuli just hugged him and cried. "Shhh, little dragon. It's alright. My bones can't break, everyone's alright. Shhhhh." he said soothingly, stroking Kivuli's hair. The boy was soon a sniffling mess. Iorik rocked him, singing a Russian lullaby in deep contrabass. Kivuli curled up to his daddy. Iorik continued to rock his son, now singing a Thimiscaran lullaby. Kivuli slowly fell asleep. Iorik kissed his son on the forehead. "Sleep well, my fearsome dragon." He stood, still cradling Kivuli, and looked at Axel. "Are you alright?" Axel was standing, still on fire.
"Yeah I'm fine." She dispelled the flames.
"Did... Did my bones show?" Iorik asked. She just nodded. He shuddered and went into the house. Axel looked at Lillian. Kivuli curled up against Iorik's chest. Lillian spoke, flames billowing from her lips.
"Another set of horrors. He was subjected to the Weapon X Process. Yet another reason he doesn't sleep." Axel nodded before sitting and staring at her flaming fiancee.
"So, this is my transformation." Lillian said, gesturing to herself.
"Very beautiful." If fire could blush, it did.
"Thank you. Most find it horrifying." Axel lit herself on fire and looked almost like Kivuli.
"How can I not when I do this when I'm rage pissed?"
"I want to show you something." Lillian said suddenly.
"Okay." Axel said, confused. Fire began to swirl around Lillian, clothing her naked form. It formed into an extravagant and flowing wedding dress, complete with a fiery flower crown and veil. Fire from her hands formed a bouquet of red orchids and strange orange flowers.
"It's a design I've been working on."
"Its beautiful. " Axel smiled. Lillian giggled. "Aren't you going to kiss your bride?"
"Of course." As their lips met, Lillian's skin returned slowly, leaving her naked before Axel. She gasped in joy. She kissed Axel fiercely, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks. Axel held her fiance. "I love you so much."
"You gave me the kiss of true love while I was in my cursed form. You have lifted my curse." Lillian said through her tears of joy.
"That's great."
"Now, about that fun..."