Cougar
Wednesday morning, I am already starting to feel nervous. Especially, when Yun gets a call saying the clothes he had ordered would be ready tomorrow. This time Yun and I both take Bet for a walk. When we have gotten past the house and are going through the fir-trees I ask "Yun ?, Neo ?."
He says "Neo, for now."
"Neo, what happened to your plugs ?. A thousand years ago you had them and now you do not."
"Marcus ripped them out before he bit me. To make sure his blood and venom would change me."
Tripping over a root, I find myself laying in a pile of leaves. Dalca was sicker than I thought. Ripping those out must have been incredibly painful. He crouches down in front of me and holds out a hand. Taking it I let him pull me up, surprised when Bet barks like mad. Something growls a few feet away from us. Looking up I see a cougar or some sort of big feline staring at us.
"Smith, take Bet. I'll handle this."
Bet cowers while I stare at the huge, tan-furred cat frozen. From Neo to Yun in an instant. Yun moves, pressing against me so I have to move backwards. Half-stumbling, I can hear the vampire switching between deep growls and hisses.
When I fall backwards, I watch as it leaps at him and he grabs the cougar's front-right leg. The vampire does not even flinch when the cat sinks its claws into his shoulder. Blood wells up from the deep scratches and he does nothing. Except then he throws the cat away and circles around it, hissing, fangs flashing. The feline gets up and throws itself at him again, Yun pulls and pins it down.
Yun is across its shoulders, his fangs laying against the fur of its neck. It yowls while thrashing wildly, ends its own life as the translucent fangs sink in. A crack from the cat's neck and I was unpleasantly reminded of my dream about Neo turning into Yun. Bet whimpers reminding me of her presence and I look over at her. She is shaking, I start to pet her, she gradually stops sometime. He pulls his fangs out inevitably dripping blood from already blood-red lips and down the pale chin.
Find myself crawling away as Yun looks up, his eyes shining green until his fangs retract. The vampire mutters, licking his lips and wiping the blood away "Have to do something with this fur later, be a waste otherwise. Hmmm, cougar for supper ?." he laughs. Is he being serious ?.
Yun raises an eyebrow at me, he really means it. My reply as I am feeling incredible confusion "What would we have with it ?."
"I'll think of something eventually."
We end up somehow near a river an hour or two away from the house. I can not help being amazed, I have never seen a real river before. Just staring as it swirls past without beginning or end, always moving. Rather like Yun is now, like I used to be and never will be.
Looking up to see him standing in the middle of the river staring up at something. Insight hits me suddenly, in time I will come to an end just as the current will shift. And yet, Yun will continue just like the river and I will never see him again. For some reason, I did not like that thought. That after this he will be alone again and I will never know what happened to him or Bet. How odd that it would worry me more than my death. Logic intrudes with come on now it is not really that odd. Shut up logic, I did not ask for you now.
Bet jumps into the river, sending up a wave that crashes down over my head. Despite the insight, I still glare at the dog, but now it is only briefly. As Yun laughs I lunge and we crash into the water, he rolls over. I end up blinking cold water from my eyes as my clothes get soaked. Feeling a flare of heat as he looks down at me, straddling me. Odd how all the times we fought before and we hardly, if ever, ended up in this position. A surprisingly comfortable position... only because of his warmth in the cold water.
Yun is still laughing at me, wet hair in his face "You actually... oh, wow you actually learned something. Come on, Smith. Hit me, lets see it."
I did not like the look in his eyes. Still 'going with it', I punch him and immediately wish I had not. Tears in my eyes as pain flares up my arm from my fist connecting with hard muscles.
Gasping, I ask "Why ?, why it never hurt before ?."
The vampire blinks down at me slowly, enthralling again. I look away from the stupidly, pretty eyes. As he replies, he's Neo again "Apparently, you need to rebuild your pain-tolerance and strength. Not that you actually built them in the first place. Settles it too."
"Settles what ?. What are you talking about ?."
"Training you. In the real-world you need more than just three techniques, Smith. Every morning seven O' clock, breakfast at nine. Your new routine unless it get interrupted."
I push Neo off me and into the water, he pouts at me. "Yeah, make everybody cold. Brilliant plan by the way. Now, where is it ?."
"Where is what ?."
He stares at me "The, the... inevitable. You always threw that in every two words."
Smiling at his attempt to imitate me "It was inevitable. Now, if only we could find that mysterious in-table."
A grin from the other man, "In-table ?. Didn't it get thrown out with the out-table ?."
"Well, I suppose we could throw that out too."
Laughing I get up, feeling surprisingly warm now. Walking up the bank, I jump as he shocks me with static. Bet barks and starts running around again.
An hour later I stare dumb-founded but try to focus as he brings the cougar's body to the house, then skins and cleans it. Though I should have known he would keep his word, it still surprises me to see him cooking the meat for supper. It actually did not taste bad if a bit too rich and I, unsurprisingly, end up disgorging it. At least the other two enjoy it without incident.
The rest of the days after seven O' clock in the morning seem to fly by in a blur of nervousness until it is Friday evening.
