Airlia de Lioncourt: Cheers chuck. Here's the violence.
Tamashii: Because that's where it is. But you've inspired Emma to start a fic in England… ;)
Falcon: :) Thanks. We're a few chapters ahead of you as well…
Adamindgirl: Thanks, is this deeper?
C a R t E r
Grimm Fairytales.
Frustration was too small a word to describe Carter's mood fifteen minutes later. Erika and Mr. Hunm were not making out on the entrance steps, nor were they getting hot and heavy in one of the cosy little niches near the cafeteria, although other people were. Nor was she on the basement steps being groped. That's it? I've got one more idea where they might be. And if they're not there I'm going home. Cater muttered to herself silently whilst storming toward the secluded science building. The sounds of a muffled scream filled the crisp November air, which of course sent Carter into an all out sprint.
That voice was familiar, and Carter knew with a sudden horror that her friend was in real danger. She flew around the corner of Miss Grace's Chemistry class to be confronted with the sight of Erika pinned painfully against the wall by the Mr Hunk she had been swooning over only moments ago. Carter noticed something else too.
This guy was glowing.
Okay that was such a twisted cliché, but it was true. It wasn't a subtle glow like Carter sometimes thought she saw in the people around her. Instead it seemed to flicker a subtle red before turning into a solar flare, which seemed to wrap around him like a blanket. She ignored the glow although it almost blinded her and advanced on the not so attractive Mr Hunk.
"Hey!" Carter snapped, dragging the guys' attention out of his attempted asphyxiation of her best friend.
Dimitri eyed the new vermin suspiciously, it had to be some kind of trick of the light. The target, 'his target' had collapsed at his feet and was now whimpering. /Pathetic/. "What the hell are you?" He drawled, "some Xena warrior princess wannabe?"
It/she rolled her eyes. "Puh-lease. Xena was so five minutes ago!"
Dimitri eyed it/her with distaste, everything about her jarred his senses. She looked acted and dressed to all intents like a stupid vermin but..."Switch your aura off. It's rude and unprofessional."
Carter felt her jaw slacked. "WHAT?"
So she was a lost little witch. Though how she remained lost with all that aura...He grinned self satisfied. He thought silence after what was a cryptic remark-to her at least-would piss her off.
He wasn't wrong.
She tried to rein her anger, she really tried. But there was something about this...this asshole that unsettled her beyond words. "You're one sick bastard." Carter ground out through gritted teeth. "Now get the hell away from her!"
Dimitri lowered his gaze to the now crawling vermin. With one fluid kick he had knocked it to the floor and heard the ribs breaking. She gave out a satisfactory half scream. He started to look back at the witch, smug to his core. He let out a startled cry as a dead weight struck him to the floor. /I should have seen that coming/...
Carter launched herself at the Would-Be-Murderer as soon as she saw him kick Erika. Jesus Christ, Erika may have had an askew view of friendship but that didn't mean that Carter didn't feel her friends' pain. She watched satisfied as the bastard hit the floor. But to her annoyance he was back on his feet within a number of seconds.
Dimitri didn't waste time thinking anymore. He twisted from under her and leapt to his feet. In one hand a knife was a comforting weight. He grabbed Erika by the hair and pulled her against the blade. The grin settled back.
"The act of a coward," barked Carter. Her gaze never leaving his face. How to get the knife and him away from Erika without Erika getting hurt?
She started to sizzle as blood trickled oh so slowly down her friends throat. I have to stay calm. I can't just rush him. I have to stay calm. The thought was rushed and manic. The opposite of what she needed.
Simultaneously, as the girl gave up and glaring and started to dive for him he prepared to plunge the knife into his Initiation Kill.
He yelped, like a kicked puppy as the knife melted and smouldered in his hand.
Carter didn't know how or why the Would-Be-Murderer screamed and yelped but she was thankful for it. Without any hesitation she grabbed Erika, yanking her away from her surprised assailants grip and depositing her away from the impending area where Carter totally intended to pound this bastards ass into the ground.
By now Erika's attacker had regained his composure and fell into a karate-fighting stance. So he wasn't just some unskilled Would-Be-Rapist/Murderer. He actually knew how to fight, for a bizarre moment Carter felt a thrill of anticipation swell through her. It had been so long since anyone had been able to offer her a real challenge.
He pounced knowing now that she wasn't to be underestimated, that little stunt with the knife was a fucking revelation though, Dimitri had no idea how she'd done it. And right now he really didn't care. If he returned to the enclave without completing his Initiation kill they would kill him, being unable to kill a single puny human was an utter failure. It was just unacceptable.
The little lost witch of course sidestepped his lunge as he had intended and so was unprepared for the swinging back kick he drove into her stomach.
Carter grunted in pain, he was good. Yes, he was competition. And if Carter had her way tonight he would also be in a lot of pain. After catching her with a sly back kick she had pirouetted away from a crippling combination of punches, kicks and throws. She smiled as the Would-Be-Murderer began to pant. My turn, she told him silently.
Her right hook was avoided, but had only been a distraction anyway so she could land a nice firm elbow strike in his neck. Her father had pointed out every weak spot on the human torso so that Carter knew exactly where and how hard to hit. The insane Mr Hunk growled but Carter was too busy overwhelming him with flurry after flurry of Roundhouses palm strikes, dodges, deflections, counters and punches.
She almost felt sorry for the poor bastard.
Almost.
He was surprised, not alarmed at all by the little witch's ability to fight. Most spellcasters were weak, whiny wimps who relied too much upon their magic. Dimitri blocked a swift uppercut to his neck. But how in the hell could even a pumped up witch hit as hard as she.
The girl blocked a clumsy high kick and countered with one of her own, now he was alarmed. This entire situation was becoming too unnerving. This lost little witch was getting the better of him. Him, a ruthlessly trained Night World assassin. Ten long hard years spent training with some of the coldest cruellest reptiles in the history of Night World society and he was about to be bested by a lost little 'witch' who knew nothing of her true heritage!
Along with the last of these thoughts Dimitri felt his skin start to shift, he hadn't wanted to change into wolf form, but this pathetic vermin raised witch hadn't left him much choice.
Dimitri growled showing fang. He noticed with grim satisfaction that the witch had the good sense to be shocked, then her shock morphed into fear. Dimitri the wolf watched the girl shake her head, pushing away all shock and fear. She smelled like apples and jasmine with a spicy undertone, she would undoubtedly taste good.
He gathered his legs under him, getting ready to launch two hundred and seventy five pounds of pure werewolf on her. He heard the shallow breathing of his now unconscious target and the steady strong heartbeat of the witch in front of him and pushed off with his legs.
Carter wasn't really sure she was actually seeing this, it was like she had just jumped from nice, normal reality to a scene out of the Grimm fairytales. Werewolves? Carter thought, staring at the wolf calmly. She had felt a brief flash of shock and then an unbelievable desire to run from fear, but now she had banished back those emotions she was able to stare back at the furry mass growling at her with something like clinical calm.
She would not run out on Erika, there was just no way in hell. The wolf gave a last feral bark before Carter realised what was happening and it pounced for her.
It was like supernovas exploding in your mind, it hurt just as much as a gastritis explosion too. Now she what people meant when they said they were seeing stars. Uh corny! Carter barked at herself. Then she remembered, and she felt the whoosh of air against her face as the wolfs head snapped down to rip her throat out.
Carter wasn't at all sure what happened next, the pain and flash of pure white light that suddenly clouded her vision prevented any actual comprehension of the next five seconds. When her vision returned Carter saw the wolf struggling to stand almost ten feet away from her. What the hell happened?
Dimitri could feel something like ironic laughter bubbling up inside him, he had expected an easy kill tonight, an easy fight. What he had got was anything but easy. The bitch had blasted him with witch fire, not simple weak witch fire but bloody white witch light. The kind that said the bearer had some major power.
Damn! He had failed, and now he was going to have to return to the enclave injured and a failure. Damn! Gathering his muscles beneath him, Dimitri looked back at the lost witch who was looking at him befuddled and then bounded off in soul shaking fury in the direction of the wooded area at the back of the school.
It was gone. And as it disappeared into the woods Carter felt a sudden relief wash through her. Robotically she stumbled to her feet and got up to check out Erika, she was still breathing but she was unconscious.
Carter spent an aching ten minutes looking for Erikas' purse, it took a further five minutes to pull out her cell phone and call an ambulance, the purse had been thrown off into the foliage between the school and the woods and then Carter's bloody fingers had seized up as she was trying to dial.
Twenty minutes later the blare of sirens filled her ears and she felt herself sigh as the paramedics rushed to aid her friend. She answered the questions the police asked her as well as she could without mentioning any talk of a werewolf. But even as she answered with a cold monotone voice all she could remember was one of the wolfs earlier questions.
What the hell are you?