Rating: R
Pairings: Well....wait and see, hm? ^^
Archive: If you want. Just e-mail me and ask. Actually, I'd be amazed if anyone wanted to archive my stuff. ^^
Chapter: 2/?
A/N: Here's chapter two, Princess. I know you've been waiting for this chapter for awhile. Chaos in life and skool and all. Enjoy. ^^
Chapter Two - Wolf
The sunlight strained in, coloured by the lead sealed patches in the window. Kaile stirred slightly before she sat up on the bed suddenly. This room was strangely unfamiliar; where was she? All she seemed to recall of last night was fleeing from something after the gallery showing and here she was.
"Jesus..." she sat up and rested her feet on the floor; it was warm but her body seemed so cold.
She shivered as she stood up rubbing her arms. With a wince, she hopped suddenly to the side, leaning against the wall. Looking down, she saw her tightly bandaged foot; a frown wrinkling her brow. She brushed it aside and started out from the room, using the wall as a brace. She paused as she saw the pews lined up in rows, the main room silent and peaceful.
"This is what I need. I think that the wine may have gone to my head." she murmured as she plunked herself down in the seat.
She stared up at the crucifix displayed prominently in the center of the back wall. She eyed it with distaste before she shifted slightly, feeling uncomfortable. The crown of thorns gleamed in the light, the fake drops of blood, ready to continue on their descent. An involuntary shiver passed through her as she looked away and rested her foot on the bench, wrapping her arms around herself. Even now, the faint acrid stench filled her nose as she recalled last night, the screams reverberating in her mind. Shaking her head, she cleared her mind; that had to be a bad dream. It had to be; but what about Javier and the fireballs. How could a normal person fire off something like that from their bare hands?
"It's all just a bloody dream Kai." she muttered to herself. "What you dreamed up last night was a physical impossibility. No one can do that. No one."
But even as she tried to dismiss it, she felt a horrible pit in her stomach.
"Kaile? Are you in here?"
She looked back to see Javier come in, her tall figure clothed in a priest's robe. "Javier?" she started to rise.
"No, no, it's all right. Just sit there." Javier hurried over. "How are you feeling?"
"Like crap." she said simply. "How much wine did I drink last night; every single bottle that was there?"
"Every single bottle?" Javier looked puzzled. "You barely had half a glass."
"Half a glass?" Kaile felt her face pale considerably.
"You're probably wondering about last night...aren't you?" Javier's voice was small.
"What about last night? Those weird flying creatures? Of which one nearly killed me? Yeah...those things are kinda sticking out in my mind."
Javier sighed heavily and ran a hand through her hair. "Well...uh...what do you want to know first?"
"What the hell those things were." Kaile blinked as she readjusted herself. "And why could they fly? And how the hell could you, of all people, start hurling fireballs at them!?"
"All right, all right. You don't need to get so worked up about it."
"If it had been you, don't you think you'd be a little disturbed right now?"
"Touché." Javier said. "How about I start with the flying creatures?"
"That's a good idea. What are they? They didn't look..."
"Human? That's because they aren't." Javier's face took on a serious air. "They're called Daemons, the worst kind of demon you can ever run into. There are only nine in existence and they always run in that pack. Daemons, as far as I know, have the inherent ability to fly. Most magical creatures and users do."
"And why did they come after us like that?" Kaile frowned. "Do we have something they want?"
"I don't know, Kaile." Javier shrugged slightly. "All I know is that they are after something from one of us. What that is, I can't tell you."
Kaile remained silent for a few minutes before she dragged up the next thing. "And the fireballs? What about that?"
"Well...uh...you see....there's a perfectly logical explanation for that." Javier's face had gone red.
"And that would be?"
"Ah...that I am, well, what you call a witch."
"A witch?" Kaile looked at her with an arched eyebrow before she repeated the word. "A witch?"
"Don't believe me?" Javier coughed slightly. "What would I have to do to get you to believe me? Fix your foot?"
"Huh?"
Kaile watched as Javier picked up her foot and pressed her hands around her ankle gently. She felt a strange warm diffusing sensation before her foot was released.
"Go on. It's fine now."
She flexed her toes experimentally before she bent the entire foot. It didn't' hurt at all. It was completely healed.
"Well? Does that convince you?"
"No." she shot back, feeling hurt.
"What will it take, Kaile?" Javier's voice was soft, repentant.
"Conjure up a ghost, more than likely." she muttered, feeling hurt.
"Well, that I can't do here in the church. Too many ghosts have a beef with it. How about a faery? Or a pixie?
"Whatever." she said in a nonchalant voice.
She crossed her arms and glared at the floor. How could Javier not tell her something thing crucial like this? They had been friends for ten years, since they were eighteen; why hadn't she told her anything about this? It was insulting and it...
"Javier, I don't see anything." she said as she waved away the small fly she felt buzzing around her head. "You said-"
"A fly indeed!" the melodic contralto voice sounded miffed and offended. "I don't go around calling you a brutish ape, now do I?"
Kaile looked around to see a small person glaring at her with their arms crossed, the tiny wings beating up a storm. She bit her lip as she looked back at Javier, who had an innocent yet amused expression on her face.
"You're a faery." she breathed.
"Puck, to be more precise." the face suddenly crinkled into a smile and looked over at Javier. "She's not too quick on the uptake is she?"
"Give her time, Puck. She's had a run in with the Daemons."
"My condolences and congratulations." Puck said with a bow before he flitted to the space between them. "No one has survived an attack from them. You have the devil's luck I daresay, Kaile."
"All right, Puck, no more of your little mind reading games." Javier admonished. "It's not ethical."
"Bah!" he waved a delicate hand before flashing an impish smile. "You have no sense of humour."
"But...but Puck's a fictional character from a play! He can't be real!" Kaile finally exploded as she stared at the elfin figure. "And he's talking all wrong!"
Puck looked at Javier. "She's your friend? She doesn't have much of that open mind you humans are so big on, does she?"
"She had a rough night, Puck. Plus she doesn't know anything about Otherworld you know." Javier smiled as she held out her hand. "The least you could do is be nice and humour her."
"Fine." he crossed his arms and gave a sour face.
Kaile watched this entire exchange unsure of what to say next. When Puck zipped over and alighted on her leg, she looked down at him dumbly, having no clue of what to say next.
"I prithee, fair maiden, to allow me to fill in the chinks of thine knowledge. Thus may thee know and have not the urge to question that which is strange and perforce unknown."
Kaile and Puck both shot Javier looks as she burst out laughing and smacking her leg. When she finally died down, she looked back at Puck, she thought over her words carefully.
"So, Javier really is a witch?"
"Witch is a bad human definition. We prefer enchantress, though that still not the proper definition." Puck said as he crossed his legs. "She's one of the best. She's even talked to-"
"All right, Puck." Javier said. "I think you've answered enough questions and been enough of a little pain."
"I think I like Kaile better." he said huffily before he flitted up and seated himself on her shoulder.
Kaile couldn't stop the smile from spreading on her face as she looked down at his elfin figure. "So ah...Javier, maybe you had better tell me about this Otherworld."
"I was getting around to that. If a certain faery hadn't gotten uppity on me!" she retorted before she cleared her throat. "I'll keep this short. Otherworld is all the things you read in mythology. Enough said. Details, all of them, would make this into a four hour lecture, which I don't wanna go through now."
"That it would. You should have no problem then; your tongue is looser than a woman at the docks!" Puck said before breaking out into tinkling peals of laughter.
"Puck..."Javier said with a low growl of amused irritation.
Kaile looked down at the faery on her shoulder. "I think I'm gonna like you."
"Thank thee, milady."
"All right, you can drop it with 'ye olde english'." she smiled before she looked back at Javier. "What now? We can't stay in the church forever."
"No, we can't. It's eight something in the morning now. We can leave by nine and get anything you need from your house."
"But we have no car."
"Don't we? Magic has its practical uses. I don't normally use it for that purpose...but taking a car is easier than waiting for the bus."
"You know what?" Kaile said as she rose to her feet. "I think you had better talk on the way there."
The door creaked open with a light touch, light flooding the dark entrance corridor. Kaile walked in hesitantly followed by Javier. There was something wrong here; it reeked of death and decay. Her feet landed softly on the floorboards, as she looked around eyes darting from shadow to shadow. She felt her lips pull back into a growl, teeth pressed together hard...and she could feel enamel pressing against her gum line...odd. Why would-
"Kaile." Javier's voice was barely heard.
She nodded her head as she turned around slowly, not too sure what to do. She felt teeth against her gum line. When did she suddenly grow longer canines? Javier's hand moved slightly as she whispered something and a sphere of light floated off and started ahead of them. Javier nodded now for them to continue.
Kaile continued as she felt her hair rise on the back of her neck as they continued on. Reaching the split in the main hallway, she started off down towards her studio. Javier tugged on her sleeve and tilted her head towards the kitchen and living room area.
Nodding, Kaile started down her hallway slowly. It was the darkest one with all the doors closed and no lights on at all. Rather odd, it was usually filled with light from the front hallway. Come to think of it, there was no light in the front hallway. This day was going from -
"Kaile!"
She froze at Puck's insistent whisper. "What is it Puck?"
"There's something down here. Something dark." his voice was barely heard.
"I have to go down here, Puck." she continued walking on. "You can go with Javier if you want."
Puck didn't say anything for a few minutes before he took off back down the hallway. Kaile huffed and continued on, looking into each room and finding nothing. She paused as she reached the door to her studio that lay open a slit, hand resting against the smooth wood surface. Steeling herself, she opened the door and walked in carefully, her nerves screaming at her that something was inside.
Sadness descended over her as she looked around and saw the damage that her studio lay in. The easel lay smashed on the floor, the paints smeared across the flooring in misshapen footsteps. She bent down and looked at one more carefully; it looked like the feet were massive and clumsy; the tracks were wide and tipped with long gouges. Her fingers trailed it as she shuddered; to think that they nearly did her in yesterday night. She let her finger move up to the torn canvas that lay a few centimetres from their tips. Lifting it up, she pulled it up, and reconstructed it as best she could. She still found it hard to believe that she had painted something like this or even made such a contrast with the colours. With a sigh, she rose and surveyed the damage around the room more carefully.
Then she spied it, what was in the room. Off the corner, sitting on its haunches was a massive white wolf, its blue eyes staring at her with a startling intensity. She froze before she paused and turned to look at it more carefully. She could have sworn she saw eyes like that before, not in her dreams or in her imagination or even on the torn canvas.
After a few minutes, the wolf rose and padded its way over to her, silent as ever. Kaile swallowed as it approached, sniffing her carefully, as if trying to verify her scent. When it finally stopped and seated itself down in front of her, she looked to see its tail smacking against the floor with what seemed to be impatience. 'First Puck and now a wolf that walks right up to me; this day gets better and better. What does it want? A doggie treat?' Kaile felt her face pale as the expression in the wolf's eyes turned from impatient to withering. 'If this damn creature can read my thoughts, I just might scream.'
'I hope you don't have a high pitched voice.'
Her eyes widened as she stared down at the wolf, incoherent words stuttering from her mouth. Then the rest of her brain kicked in, that scream echoing out through the destroyed room. The wolf gave a whimper of pain and it lowered its head.
"Kaile!"
She turned around seeing Javier come bursting into the room, Puck flitting by her shoulder.
"Are you all right?" Javier asked as she came over and looked at her.
"I'm fine...I'm fine." she said in an unsure voice.
"It stinks in here." Puck said in a distasteful voice as he hovered around Kaile and the spot in front of her. "It's is gone now."
Kaile looked down to see nothing before her, only Puck flitting back and forth with a frown on his face. She felt half relieved and half dismayed that the wolf was gone. Dismayed...she shook her head. This was starting to from plain weird to something only that happened in movies.
"Puck, you said every single damn room in the house stinks. You're gonna have to be more specific than that!" Javier asked with sigh. "Stinks like what, Puck?"
He curled his lip delicately in clear distaste. "Like a vampire."
