I do not own anything but my characters!
Quotes and meanings below.
"Speaking aloud"
'Speaking telepathically'
Subconscious thoughts, deep in the mind and cannot be heard by others at all.
My fanfiction & Wattpad: VivicaNight
My deviantart: Horrorgir1
Chapter 9: Learning
My rough shivering gives me a rude awakening once night falls. The cellar seems to have become much colder, proving to me that night has fallen.
Climbing off the shelf I land on my feet, stepping over the boxes scattered around.
Grabbing Valkyrie, my attention focuses on the cellar door.
I climb up the ladder and push the door open, climbing out.
The sound of heavy rain reaches my ears, the occasional rumble of thunder and flashes of lightning capturing my senses.
Closing the trap door, I approach the door of the shack, placing my scythe down before using both of my hands to push the bolt open so I can leave.
I growl in effort and get the bolt to push to the opposite side, the deadbolt open now.
Giving the door a smirk, I grab Valkyrie again and step out into the rain.
I recall my thoughts from this morning, quickly shaking them off.
That side of me begins to wonder where Axel is, my senses not picking him up anywhere nearby.
"Good." I attempt to lie to myself, but also thankful I won't have to fight with him again and waste my time.
Beginning to think about where I should go, I come to the conclusion that I don't have to run anymore now that I understand how to kill the Reapers.
My thoughts shift to the flyer in my pocket, Maybe I should call that number and find out information on who is behind the number.
Taking flight into the sky, I begin looking out for anyone who is lost, realizing my hunger for human flesh is becoming a problem.
I should probably get some real food...
Beginning to think about it, I worry about someone spotting me and calling the number on the flyer everyone seems so familiar with around here.
Watching the trees pass below me, the lightning exposes me every now and then.
I'm not worried about being struck, even with my scythe. It turns out the scythe is made of some kind of mineral that doesn't attract electricity.
Feeling eyes on me, I begin to worry. Quickly I dive down to a field, landing in the middle of it so I can get a good look at what spotted me.
Seeing a shape fly out of the trees, the smell of fresh blood reaches me as it flies toward me. The wings tell me who it is, big black feathery wings.
Backing up, Amon lands across from me, rustling his feathers to get some of the rain off them.
"Why are you here? Why do you guys keep following me!" I snap at him.
Amon laughs in amusement, "Well, I actually live here, that is why I am here. I thought you were leaving, Iris."
My eyes widen when he says my name, "I never told you my name...how do you know my name?"
"I can read human writing, as well as speak different languages. I know a lot more than you think." He informs me.
"Oh...yea, right." I respond, remembering the flyers.
"You look hungry, I can get you something to eat, if you follow me of course instead of putting up that strong wall of yours." He jokes, motioning toward the woods he flew from, the source of the blood.
The scent makes my mouth water, thinking about what he must have taken down.
He smirks at me, sensing my hunger increasing.
"No...I can't take food from you." I hesitate, backing away more.
"That isn't a problem, if it bothers you so much I can take down another deer for you." He insists.
"...I've never had deer before. You don't have to kill another...I'm sure it is pretty difficult..."
Amon laughs at me, "I've been doing it for as long as I can remember. Trust me for once and come with me, Iris." He encourages me, taking off into the sky.
I watch him, looking around before taking off after him.
He stops in the air, I stop near him.
He points into the trees, suddenly the familiar, friendly and comforting voice of Amon's booms into my head, making me cover my ears.
'See those deer down there?' He says into my mind.
"Ow!" I wince, the deer barely hear me through the rain and thunder, becoming on edge.
"Oh..sorry, I forgot you aren't familiar with telepathy." He says quietly, "That is something I could teach you as well."
"I thought telepathy was the ability to move things with your mind..." I question him.
"It is, but the telepathy we're talking about is not that kind of telepathy." He informs, grabbing my attention back on the deer on the ground eating.
"This is how easy it is for me to take down a deer, the less exciting way." He grins, reaching for one of his flapping wings, wincing and growling in pain as he pulls one of his large feathers out of it.
I wince while watching, "A feather? What will that do-"
My words cut off as he throws the feather like a dagger at one of the deer, the feather making a quiet whistling sound through the air and seeming to have become solid somehow, stabbing straight through the deer's heart, making it collapse and die immediately.
The rest of the deer take off running, Amon flies down to the deer.
I sit there, awestruck at what just happened.
Amon motions for me to come down, I fly down and land beside him.
"What happened...?" I quaver.
He grins and pulls the stiff feather out of the deer, handing the feather to me.
Taking hold of the feather, my mouth falls open.
The feather is hard, and very sharp like a dagger.
Suddenly the feather softens and becomes fluffy. Moving my fingers to feel it, it is suddenly fluffy and soft.
"Move your hand away from it." He advises.
I obey and the feather sharpens again, I feel it again, "What the..."
He takes the feather from me before somehow reconnecting it to his wing where he plucked it from.
He spreads his wings wide, showing me how they are soft at the moment, the feathers instantly flatten and give off a sharp sheen to them, faintly glistening in the moonlight.
"Hit my wings with your scythe." He grins.
Hesitantly I obey, lifting my scythe up and swinging it at one of his wings.
The moment the scythe hits his feathers, a loud clang bursts from the collision, my eyes widen and my mouth falls open.
All of his feathers are like sharp, strong daggers, the softness and hardness fully controlled by him somehow.
"How are you doing that..?" I trail off, lowering my weapon.
He grins, "I was born with it, my mother was able to do it with hers." He shows off, softening his feathers before folding his wings. (His wings are very similar to the angels' wings in the film Legion.)
"So, you can just pull out feathers and throw them like knives?"
"Yes, but it is very painful to do. Each of my feathers are full of sensitive nerves, unlike other feathered beings. I can feel every touch and small gust of wind that touches them." He explains.
"Woah...how are you able to control your feathers when they aren't connected to your wing?"
"I'm not sure, but all I know is I can't control it for long and it must be reconnected as soon as possible otherwise the nerves will die. Another will grow back to replace it." He informs me, messing with his wings as if trying to make them look nice.
I watch him mess with them, his wings easily grabbing and locking my attention on them somehow. I redirect my attention to the deer, kneeling down and sliding my claws into it's skin, trying my best to skin it.
Amon watches me struggle, laughing quietly at me, "Need help?"
"N-no, I can get it..." I stammer, putting all my strength into trying to rip the skin off it.
Amon takes a hold of the skin near where my hand is, he steps onto the deer's neck, then do I notice his unique feet, four claws in the front and one in the back.
My eyes widen while he effortlessly rips the skin off the whole side of the deer's body.
He throws the skin to the side, knowing I'm impressed by his strength, "See how easy that was?"
I roll my eyes, "Definitely."
He grins in amusement, I begin to rip into the deer's side, going straight for the heart, the ribs denying me access.
"Ughhh!" I cry out in anger, not strong enough to pull the ribs out.
"Clearly, you need to work out." He jokes, walking around the deer to the opposite side of me, placing his foot back on the deer's neck, his feet holding onto the deer like an eagle. He reaches in and grabs one of the ribs, using barely any effort to snap it and throw it aside. He does this with each rib, his foot keeping the deer down.
I move in once he finishes, pushing my hands into its chest, ripping the heart out. I look over it, seeing the hole in it from his feather. I bite into it deep, my teeth sharp and able to rip into the tough organ easily.
Amon smiles in satisfaction, stepping off the deer to observe me while I eat.
The rain begins to annoy me, making all the blood on the heart run off of it and down my arms, the only blood on the organ is inside it, and there isn't much.
Quickly I devour the heart, moving to the deer's muscle, using my claws to rip chunks of it off and into my mouth, the meat tasting amazing, but not as good as human does though.
Amon suddenly flies off, his sudden movement grabs my attention and I watch him fly away and land nearby, probably to finish eating from his deer.
I begin licking the deer's exposed flesh, loving the taste of its blood, but obviously I've tasted better.
Fluttering my wings, a lot of rain flies out of my feathers and off the skin on my wings, quickly I eat as much of the deer as possible.
My senses pick up movement near Amon, quickly figuring out that Axel landed next to him.
I begin to get confused, he should be able to smell me here too, I think? But why isn't he trying to kill me?
Silence flows between both of them, I then remember telepathy, which must be their main form of communication.
While watching, Axel suddenly takes off into the sky, not even looking in my direction.
What is going on...
Picking up my scythe, I go to walk over to Amon, but he gets here first.
"Uh, why didn't Axel try to kill me?"
"He's still trying to kill you?" He asks.
"Yes...and I guarantee he would have tried it just now as well."
"The rain must have hid your scent from him, rain makes it very difficult for us to hunt by scent alone. Rain distorts the scent and hides it to some degree." He explains, walking over to my deer, cutting it open more with his claws possibly so animals like coyotes can find it easier.
"That's good to know..." I trail off, watching him.
"Did one of those shadow things find you yet?" He wonders, looking over at me.
"Yes...I was able to kill it. That's why I'm sticking around...I guess."
"Congrats, now do you want to tell me more about yourself now that you aren't constantly running from me?" He chuckles, laughter in his voice.
"There isn't much to know..."
"Alright, where did you come from?" He starts, crossing his arms before leaning against a tree.
"Illinois. From an orphanage called Saint Michael's." I say, watching him.
He nods, listening, "Age?"
"21."
"Were you and your passed girlfriend both from the orphanage? Or did you meet on the way down south."
I tense up a bit, not wanting to talk about her, "...Yes we were at the orphanage together our whole lives pretty much...whenever I would get adopted I would get sent back because something was 'wrong' with me." I admit to him, messing with my scythe's staff to keep me talking.
He nods, "I won't talk about her if you don't feel comfortable with it yet."
"Thank you..." I say to him.
"Here, I have a question for you. Why does your brother always act like there is a stick up his ass?" I blurt out.
He begins laughing at my words, "You should be glad he wasn't here to hear you say that. Anyway, he has trust issues. Pretty much anything other than me or another member of our species is either food to him or isn't worth his time or attention."
"If that's true, why is he still sticking around me trying to kill me?" I question him.
Amon shrugs, "You are asking the wrong person. He hasn't said a word to me about you since the day we met you."
"Well, it's not like he will talk to me, he is a mute. Except for growls and other crap like that. Are you sure he can speak English?"
Amon grins in amusement, "Yes, our species has our own native tongue, but mainly use English to communicate, as our father did. It will likely take a while for him to talk to you, most likely he views you as not being worth his time speaking with."
"Not worth his time? Why not? Also how many are there in your species? I keep hearing you say species as in plural."
"It's just the way he is, he doesn't speak to anything he isn't familiar with or is outside of our species." Amon tells me before thinking for a few moments, "To answer your other question, the exact number is not known to me right now. Our species has been trying to repopulate so the exact number varies, I haven't really been keeping up with it either. Many of our females are either currently in heat or pregnant."
I begin laughing at his words, "Heat? Like a dog or something?"
He seems to recall that humans don't go into heat, so hearing that is unusual to me, "Yes, they do. Especially since we are going extinct, it is a good natural way of increasing the chances of pregnancy."
I laugh more, "That is so weird!"
Amon grins at my reaction, finding it amusing, "Things get interesting for us when the females get like that though."
"I bet! Do you participate in trying to rebuild the population like the others do?"
"No. Neither does Axel. No matter how much the female begs, we won't." He tells me.
I become confused, "Why not?"
"Personally, the females tend to jump from male to male each season, I want to be involved with raising the child and actually mate for life. Unlike the others. I suppose that comes from my mother's side, but our father was also loyal to only her."
"Oh, does that go for Axel as well?"
"I haven't personally talked to him about it much, but I know he used to mess around in the beginning, so I'm not entirely sure if he still does."
"Mess around...? Nevermind I don't want to know.." I trail off, shaking my head.
Amon laughs.
"Hey, if your father was the first Galileus, aren't the others related to you in some way then?" I wonder.
"No, none of us are besides being the same species. Our father was able to bite into a human, within 24 hours that human would have made a full transformation and become one of us. Neither Axel or I can do that, our father was the only one who was able to do it."
"Oh? Where is your father now?"
His attitude changes, "Believed to be deceased."
"Oh...I'm sorry..." I apoligize, stepping away from the subject.
"Do you know what you are?" He asks, watching me curiously.
"I have no idea..." I respond to him, "My parents died long before I figured out how I was different from everyone else..."
"Oh. I'm sure we will figure it out eventually." He says, approaching me.
My eyes widen while he steps close to me, he gently places one of his hands on top of my head, I resist the urge to slice his arm in half.
He closes his eyes, I feel some kind of energy enter my body, coming from him.
He opens his eyes and steps away from me, moving his hand away as well, "Well, you aren't an angel, or demon of any kind."
"Awesome." I respond, looking up at him.
He begins to observe my wings, seeming to be easily drawn to them and the unique purple color the feathers possess. His eyes travel up and down them, obviously never having seen wings like mine before, half feather and half leather/skin.
Watching his unique green eyes, the colors remind me of a reptile's eyes, definitely not anything like a human's eye color, or Axel's.
"Where did you get that eye color from?" I ask him.
He looks at me instead of my wings, smiling, "These are my natural eye color. Unlike Axel, I don't eat humans, I eat animals only. Unlike eating humans, if I eat an animal's eyes, they will always end up changing to look exactly like my natural eyes."
"Are you guys only able to regenerate your eyes?" I wonder.
He grins at me, giving me my answer, "That...is very interesting." I giggle.
"If you do decide to stick around us, I guarantee you will learn a lot." He informs me.
"As long as your brother doesn't kill me first..."
He watches me, "Are you sure he is trying to kill you? Maybe he is just drawn to you somehow."
"Well, if violence and pain is him not trying to kill me, then I believe you."
He laughs.
"Maybe it's my blood." I hypothesize, recalling the event last night, basically all he did was hold me down, cause me a bit of pain and drink from me.
Amon watches me, "That may be it. What makes you think that?"
Slowly I move my hair, showing Amon the bruise from his bite.
He widens his eyes, "He bit you there? And let you live?" He almost gasps, gently touching the bruise.
"Well, while he was in the middle of fighting me one of those reapers showed up and must have scared him off or something." I explain.
"Scared him off?" He questions me in disbelief.
"Yea, the air got cold around us and he just flew off. He could sense the danger."
Amon nods, "He fled from the cold temperatures."
Confusion spreads across my face, "Why the cold?"
"Our species can die if the air around us gets too cold. But of course we would get sick first. But once we get sick there is little to no way we can come back from it." He says.
"Oh." I respond, surprised.
We continue talking for a while, mainly about my background until the rain slows down. I decided to go back with him to his old mansion instead of going back to the shack alone.
I think I'm actually beginning to really enjoy his company...