The newest chapter of Undead Avengers. This one didn't take so long to get written in my opinion. I tried to not keep writing on this one because if I had then the story would be over. There's probably only a couple more chapters only.
Disclaimer: I do not own Young Avengers. Sorry.
Chapter 13; Work and Pleasure
The Market of Myths was bursting with activity. Without noticing our trio of two immortals and shape-shifter, creatures of all different morphologies, sizes, and colors passed by. Vendors had set up makeshift shops out of magical means and small tents with portable shelves displaying their artifacts.
Kate huffed impatiently despite our brief time standing in front of the entrance. "It seems the herbs and poultices vendor has moved his tent," she said as a frown graced her perfectly crafted lips.
"How can you tell—," Teddy said, trailing off briefly as he watched more beings pass by. "The gender of anything here?"
"You would…um…easily recognize the gender of this seller." Kate said, leading us further from the portal.
"You'll see some strange things in here, if you haven't noticed yet already." I muttered to Teddy next to me.
Coming towards us lumbered an ogre, massive in height and girth. The ogre stood eleven feet tall easily, dwarfing most of the creatures in the market by comparison. The stench that emanated from the grotesque sub-human rolled off him in waves, ruining my sensitive sense of smell.
I was sure Kate and Teddy were taking the smell hard to their lungs too. The ogre's face looked like a man's, but squashed and a large portion of his teeth were missing. What the beast lacked in teeth it made up for in the sharp points that ended each tooth.
The dark gold eyes, a crusty and disgusting yellow, locked onto me. I stared forward at him while he lumbered forward at a milling pace. Kate and Teddy were on either side of me. We walked forward powerfully and I even discharged a small mass of magical energy that swept outward. The magic dispelled on the ogre's stomach as I could see the air around the abdomen shimmer as it divided to flow around its form.
The ogre's eyes registered the disturbance and its one eyebrow pulled down in a scowl. Assertions of authority and power were essential in the magical realm, because usually anything less powerful than something stronger was taken over, mostly in the form of prey. Vampires weren't exactly creatures of the dark to prey on. Finally as we passed the ogre it growled a warning loudly, but anything else on the street had cleared a distance away because of my power revealing. Kate stood taller and Teddy too changed his stance.
Then the ogre swung a massive hand and swatted Teddy backwards down the road, sending him tumbling. With the other hand, and immense speed, the beast grabbed Kate in a massive hand.
"Bad time to not have your bow and arrows, huh, Kate?" I called to her as she was whipped around in the air.
"Not funny!" She yelled back as her long raven mane lashed through the air.
"Teleport!" I advised. Kate disappeared from the ogre's massive hand in a cloud of purple smoke.
I launched myself at the ogre, forgetting any attempt at magical means because of their natural magic dispelling skin. I swung my leg and kicked the ogre, but he displayed no discomfort. Teddy charged from recovering, his body green and considerably larger. The two titans slammed together. A flying leg from the ogre caught me off guard and sent me flying through a display of potions and into the wall of a building behind the stand.
Teddy was lifted by the scruff of his neck and slammed into the ground repeatedly. Kate leapt from the top of a vendor's stand with lightning quick agility and slammed her feet into the ogre's face, driving him backwards with a roar. By now vendor and consumer alike cleared a large area so our display of power could continue. Kate pushed off, flying backwards in a back flip and landed in a crouch. Teddy extended a fist and slammed it into the jaw of the ogre.
I recovered from the impact of the wall quickly and was running again, this time levitating the broken pieces of the stand I had flown through. I thrust my arm forward in a windmill motion. The shards of glass and wood and whatever else I could pick up in my magic zipped through the air, pelting the ogre's body. It wasn't exactly supposed to harm our opponent, but rather distract him.
Teddy's fist collided with the ogre's robust stomach, inducing another roar. This one from pain. "Teddy, do you think you could lift it?" I asked him as he continued to pound on the nuisance.
Teddy thrust his hands under the attacker's back and lifted him, his muscle taut with effort. If we couldn't get the ogre down without killing him, then our power struggle wouldn't be worth it. "Toss him up if you can," I directed, preparing my magic.
Teddy, using his super strength, launched the larger half-person in the air. I used my telekinesis-magic to send the ogre hurtling through the air and eventually out of sight. Around the marketplace business started to continue normally, shopkeepers reopening their stalls and buyers browsing like nothing had happened. The actual reason was because it was all too typical to be considered abnormal.
"So what was that?" Teddy asked curiously as we continued walking briskly, Kate's head turning to find her herb seller.
"That was what you call a dominance display. It's like what happens with dogs or wolves. If you stare one down, you better make sure you have them back down. In the Market of Myths it happens all too frequently. Well, the ogre and I locked eye contact and held it until we passed one another, which is when he decided to get physical. I tried using a power burst of magic to discourage him or make him back down, but it obviously didn't work. In here you need to make sure the only time you ever directly look into the eyes of another other-worldly being it should be a vendor."
"Billy hasn't even been here in a while," Kate teased from beside me. "Some of the shit that goes down here is pretty huge. We put on only a small show."
I rolled my eyes at Kate as we walked down the trodden earth path; small dust curls picking up with each light step.
"Are there other vampires in the Market of Myths right now do you think? It's daylight." Teddy wondered.
"Maybe," Kate said, still scanning the shops on either side of the road. "I doubt they would bother us. Vampires really aren't like that unless you get into their established territory uninvited." Teddy nodded in understanding and looked around in interest. Not every being could be connected with the magical world.
"Teddy, do you think that the shape-shifter headquarters is still in the same building? Don't you find it strange that we were clued into the werewolf attacks, but we haven't seen a shape-shifter since? Are the shape-shifters for or against the wolves?"
"There's my vendor!" Kate announced musically, pointing out a creature I had only seen in children's movies.
A hundred feet ahead of us on the right Kate pointed out a tall man standing behind a rack of poultices. He stood very tall, maybe nine feet high, but I noticed as we approached why. The body of a bay horse stood behind the racks, while the body of a man rose out of the area where a horse's neck would begin. A centaur; I wanted to throw my head back and laugh. The man crossed his arms over his chest, looking down on us.
The centaur looked hardened, his face displaying no emotion as we reached his little area. Kate was smiling widely.
"Forbus," she greeted eagerly, extending an arm to shake hands.
"Hello, Kate," he returned, taking her hand gently, though it wasn't breakable, and shook it. "You are here for…"
"Wolfs-bane and nightshade," she supplied easily.
Forbus looked at her curiously. "You are a hunter of werewolves?"
"No, actually, we have an infestation of rogues wandering our territory. They killed a few shape-shifters in the area. While it wasn't our problem at first, they've made it such. I simply require the plants in order to create a crude—"
"I understand," the centaur said, clearly not desiring a full story. Leave it to my best friend to upset a mythical creature. Forbus's quadruped body shuffled back and forth, with grace I noted as he was very careful, while his arms reached around his stall—no pun intended—and hastily bagged Kate's ingredients. Kate pulled a small coin purse from her pocket and handed it over. Forbus checked the contents quickly and nodded.
"I never knew centaurs existed!" Teddy exclaimed in awe. Kate giggled and I suppressed a laugh.
"There's plenty of species that humans would think never existed, but live next door to them. You and Billy and I are all proof of that."
"Yeah, that's true," Teddy said. Then he cocked his head slightly. "Does anyone else hear that?"
Kate turned to me, raising an eyebrow. "I hear nothing."
I tilted my head and let the vibrations enter my ear. There was music. A beautiful tune played, light and airy, making the world calm and tranquil. "I hear it too—Teddy where are you going?" I hissed as my boyfriend began to walk away.
"Let's see what this is all about," Kate suggested with a shrug. It was a little walk until we were near a dock, but there were more industrial looking buildings and corner shops. I was shocked the scenery had changed in such a little distance. In my peripheral view Kate looked like she was calculating something. Perhaps she recognized this area.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"It's another part of the Market of Myths, but this area is shadier."
Indeed it was, with all the creepy looking creatures on street corners in little huddles mumbling in foreign tongues. I noticed a burning bright red air mass with yellow eyes and two fangs. A type of ghoul I assumed. On one corner there was a building with marquee signs all over it. In front of the door stood three women, all unnaturally beautiful. They noticed our approach and started to sashay towards us, mouths open.
They were singing. They were sirens. The noise reached an unnatural pitch that I found annoying. Kate glanced to Teddy and I. "Are they saying something?"
Women couldn't hear them apparently. "They're…singing? They're sirens."
"Sea wenches," Kate breathed angrily.
The women approached Teddy less-than-modestly, shoving their developed and ample breasts in his face. They had even begun to rub against them. They were beautiful, with a pale pallor and gently pointed ears that sloped upwards. Their manes were unnatural colors, such as a bright magenta, a light turquoise, and deep lavender. Their choice of clothing left nothing to the imagination about their body types. The sirens brushed their skin all over Teddy, who looked confused and glanced to us for help.
"It's not working," I stated matter-of-factly. They switched their tune to something slower, lower and more seductive. Teddy still looked uncomfortable and my own rage was growing.
The magenta haired woman traced her index finger around Teddy's visage.
"Okay, bitch, hands off the boyfriend," I growled angrily. The woman snarled at me, displaying even rows of white jagged teeth. Her cohorts smiled seductively at Teddy, like their smiles would shield their friend's own display of anger.
The turquoise sea wench had the nerve to place a hand on Teddy's chest and slowly drag it downward until it reached his belt line. I was getting uncomfortable with the unnatural strip club showgirls touching my shape-shifter.
I snorted out a breeze of air, before stepping forward lightly and grabbed the wavy-locks of one bimbo. "I said don't touch my boyfriend you damned whores." I picked her up with vampire ease and threw her so hard she landed in front of the strip joint. Her lackeys screamed in horror and rushed to help their fallen sister.
"I think I'm ready to go home now. What about you Teddy?" I snapped, turning to Teddy and meeting his baby blue eyes. I myself couldn't keep my eyes off his body, which showed nicely under his shirt. Every line of abdomen and every inch of defined pectoral muscle stood out. Teddy smiled and Kate scoffed, also noticing where my line of eyesight was placed.
"Forget the portal," I said quickly, chanting a mantra. I raised my right hand and swirled it around once. A swirling bright blue ribbon swirled around us and once we were enveloped, we disappeared in a flash of light. Teleporting to the portal would be too long. I was an impatient immortal.
Teddy, Kate, and I arrived in Kate's penthouse where she and Eli lived. "I feel like I haven't visited here in a while Kate," I lamented, running a hand along their black leather couch.
"Billy, you were only just here, like, two weeks ago honey," Kate reminded as she crossed from the living room into the kitchen. Teddy was standing beside the couches right arm, glancing around the modern house that looked so well designed. It was Kate's house after all. She had made the room with cherry hardwood floors, cherry furniture, black leather couches and loveseat, and dim lighting. Numerous picture frames were displayed all along the walls.
There were pictures of Kate and myself, Kate and Eli, Kate and family, and other memorable moment in the young vampire's life. Kate was stunning in each and every one.
I took Teddy's distraction to my advantage leaping a good ten feet in one bound to tackle him back over the arm of the couch, and pinned him down on the soft cushions. I kissed him once before settling to lie on him, chest to chest while he wrapped his arms around me.
"Should we be doing this at Kate's house?" he asked with a pointed look that told me to not be naughty.
"Somehow," I murmured as I kissed him again, "I don't think she'd care."
To prove my point Kate appeared in a flash of purple smoke, dropped something on the floor and flashed away again. I picked up the discarded object and scanned it's front. My cheeks pulsed.
"What is it?" Teddy asked curiously as I chucked it through the archway leading to the kitchen.
"Ha…ha, Kate," I said slowly. "It was lubricant." Teddy's cheeks flushed too. Then he let out a roaring laughter. His whole body vibrated and it felt like a massage. I smiled while looking into his eyes, seeing them shine with a gentle happiness.
"So, Kate, is Eli totally pissed at Teddy?" I asked while sliding off my man-pillow. Teddy tagged along behind me as I reached the doorway of the kitchen, leaning against the wall. Teddy took his place standing behind me; arm casually draped around my lithe form.
"He wasn't ecstatic that he was put in his place for once," Kate muttered. Her body danced around the kitchen, placing knives and potion bottles and ingredients on her counter. "He realized later, shockingly, that if the same thing had happened to me and someone was trying to boss him around, he'd have done the same. He's adjusting to you being…with a man as well. You know how vampires are." Kate ended with a light laugh that somehow didn't amuse Teddy or I, the humor distant.
Kate busied herself with throwing ingredients around in her hands, using a mortar and pestle to grind up others, and deposited them into a pot on the stove. "You're like a Charmed one," I noted amused.
"Except they didn't have real demons on set to vanquish. We do," she said as she dropped a mushroom into the pot that was brewing with the deadly lycan poison.
I let Kate work and turned to face Teddy, remembering what I had wanted to discuss with him earlier that afternoon. "As I was asking an hour ago…" I started, keeping my eyes in a firm lock with his, "What happened with the shape-shifters? Did they just pack up and leave town? Was their intention to make the vampires do their dirty work? I know that it does involve us now that they've fought us, but were the rogues really going to attack us first do you think?"
Teddy shrugged while grimacing. "I don't know what happened to the shape-shifters. We'd have to check out the building to find out." He frowned. "It's all my fault any way. I dragged you into this by involving myself in your life. I should have never listened to the organization." I placed a hand on Teddy's cheek.
"You can't blame yourself, Teddy. You know they would have just sent another shape-shifter and played it off the same way," I said softly.
"Plus," I reasoned, "You're helping us now. I think that makes up for anything you've done. We just need to get the facts somehow." I sighed and removed my hand from Teddy's face to place it on my own forehead.
"Oh fu—," I growl, but with inhuman speed Kate said "language", ",—it." Teddy gave me an inquisitive look.
"If we go after the wolves and eliminate them, and the shape-shifters stay the hell away, then I guess I couldn't care less about them. Any pass me again and I sure as hell will rip them apart."
"Sounds like a good plan," Kate conceded.
Teddy blinked once. "Are you sure, Billy? They caused this after all."
"They were only the catalysts to this rogue war. They're not worth it."
Kate finished her concoction only a minute or so later, barking out a noise of happiness. "Success!" she cried, voice still beautiful even though it was very different from her usual tone. Her eyes glinted with mischief.
Later that evening Kate and I were hurtling along the smallish hills in New York, headed towards the more mountainous and foliage covered northwest. We had decided to drop Teddy off at my house while we trekked out to hunt some game.
Deer were always plentiful. Sometimes if we passed a farm where horses or cows were out on pasture the large livestock would canter away in haste. We wouldn't have ever hurt a livestock of a human. I don't think would've hurt a horse ever. Cows tasted delicious cooked. Their blood I couldn't say.
Kate and I brushed past thorns and branches that obstructed our path with ease. Instead of spelling a location on the deer Kate and I trained our vampiric senses to locate our prey.
Once we found our target herd we honed in on individuals. Breaking from the foliage, Kate and I sprinted forward through the clearing towards the terrified animals. The herd broke up instantly the moment we made noise, which was little as possible.
I was thirsty now as I scented my own deer's blood that pulsed throughout its body. I could sense each throb that pulsated from its veins and arteries.
"Oh I can't bother with this. I'm really sorry," I muttered, apologizing to my meal. I flicked my hands forward in the Piper Halliwell fashion, sending forward my soundless freezing spell. It wasn't as fun to magically halt prey, but I was tired and drained from previous days of work.
The deer was mid-air, leaping over a tree felled by a lightning storm, when it froze with half its body over the tree and the lower half just leaving the ground. I snatched the deer's right hind leg and my spelled undid itself, a cry tearing from the animal's muzzle. I swung the deer into the ground and its neck snapped instantly. Death was kind to the animal.
My fangs withdrew from their cavities in my canines, extending to their full length. I bit past the deer's fur (I hated fur balls) and pierced its hiding epidermis, reaching the vein-covered network that lie underneath. Succulent blood filtered its way up from the veins into my mouth, my mouth watering uncontrollably. I savored it as the warm fluid trickled down my throat.
I was sated after I left the deer completely dry. I watched some of my pallor return in the setting sunlight. I flexed my body, stretching, feeling much better. I felt my magic tingling. I had rejuvenated my strength completely. If not completely recharged, at least ninety-nine percent. I stood up from my kill and held my left hand over the doe's body. I splayed my fingers and released a jet of blue fire that removed her body from the world. In the light breeze her soul fluttered away.
Kate and I rejoined at the bushes we had taken first cover in. "Enjoy your meal?" I asked as I approached.
"Very much so," she returned grinning. "I actually bothered to play with mine. He attempted to leap across the river but I intercepted him just as he was halfway over."
"You didn't drown him did you?" My voice held pity for the animal if she did.
"Of course not, Billy. I'm not that kind of cruel vampire. I made sure to give him a clean break."
"I was too hungry. I spelled the doe to freeze and then snapped her neck. The blood was too close. Too delicious."
"Yes," she said thoughtfully, "It was very refreshing."
I noticed movement from something large off in the distance. I grabbed Kate's wrist and teleported us up into a large tree. We jumped from branch to branch to get higher up into the safety of the trees, hiding ourselves behind the green of the foliage.
A lone werewolf bounded from the forest on the other side of the clearing. In the sunset the fur glistened bronze, with streaks of black making tiger-like lines on the coat. It crossed the clearing in powerful strides on all fours. It sniffed loudly as it ran, scenting something out. Kate and I, I realized with a start. I hoped we were hidden well enough.
"Do you think that's the only one?" I asked.
"Maybe…I hope so. Does it look like a rogue?"
I sniffed the air quietly, taking in a deep inhale to indentify the wolf. Definitely a rogue, who smelled nothing like the clan Cassie and Kang lived with. "He's a rogue." I noted a second before it stopped bounding at the bushes where Kate and I had stood not only but a minute ago.
It looked around eagerly, long head swaying back and forth. The grunting was loud as it tried to find us through scent. I turned to Kate and arched my brows in signal. She agreed. Together we took off in a flurry of purple and blue smoke, headed downwards toward our enemy.
What will happen? Is the werewolf alone or could this be a trap for our undead heroes? Find out next chapter! Pleaser review! Note, I would just like to thank all the reviewers who are kind and keep me writing. Review more and you might get more chapters faster. Until next time, -Ced.