Sorry! I didn't mean to neglect this story for so long, but I have so much school crap to do; it's insane. All my friends are angry with me at some level for forgetting to return their calls. I guess, "I'll talk to you later" has a time limit. Anyway, thanks for the comments, keep 'em coming!
Declaimer: I don't own the Animorphs at all…sniffle
Demonic Aura
Jake POV
"Alright, dude, you win!," I finally submitted. "They all came back as humans." Making dumb bets has become Marco and my way of coping with the mind-numbing, ear-straining, nail-biting anxiety that crept up whenever our group split up. It was hard for me especially, because I know that if anything serious were to happen to anyone, it would directly be my fault. Imagine carrying that type of pressure on your shoulders everytime you went off on a weekend visit to grandma's house! The burden is also tough on the brain. Lately, I've been suffering from these major headaches, skull-splitting. Rachel gets angry that I don't try and relax more, and Cassie is all worried for my health, but what can you do? Until the world is saved, we all must grin and bear it...so to speak.
Anyway, the bet was Marco's idea. Since us Animorphs tend to enter the woods in different forms more than often (i.e. Andalite, hawk, human, etc.), the bet was that Tobias, Rachel, and Ax will all return in human form. Now, Marco was also willing to bet that someone would have lost limbs or something gory like that--which i couldn't say wasn't possible, even likely (hello, Migraine)--but I ignored it. Of course, as Cassie, Marco and I sat on the forest floor, we were sweating bullets and chewing skin. Yeah, it was that bad. Sending three, albiet three of our strongest, fighters into the field was a risky move, especially if they were overlooking a dangerous WMD that could punch through solid steel.
SNAP! a twig breaks behind the tall ferns. Cassie yelps a bit before she covers her own mouth. The tension had my hair on edge, all senses alert for any danger. There are soft, thudding footsteps coming our way when Marco snorts sarcastically.
"Alright, this is a rip off from that cheap ninja movie I saw last week. Kong Pow Fist in the Forest Empire or some crap." I noted his shaky breathing for a moment, then Cassie's nervous laugh. For just a minute, i wanted to put my arms around her shoulders or something, but I shook it off. It was business time. Wow, I thought, I should be worrying more about girls than any type of business. Animorph-ing has stripped me of the basics! I looked up so quickly my neck snapped when I saw a human Tobias enter our little clearing. One glimpse of his expressionless face told me he was fine, but the fact that he was avoiding my relieved eyes only brought back some more stress.
That stress only seemed to build as Ax came around, totally human, also, make his way into our midst. He gave me a quick glance and nod to confirm in some furtive way that everything went fine; no long explanations, not even a single "Prince Jake" as a greeting. What's going on? Then, finally, the tension broke when my cousin pushed her way through the foliage. FINALLY! I spared a quiet prayer to whoever was listening that I wouldn't have to explain her "sudden disappearance" to my aunt. That's when I realized the little procession of new-comers wasn't done. There was a fourth person! As soon as Rachel turned around and reached into the greenery, a small, pale hand glided gracefully forward and slid into her fingers. I could hear Cassie gasp, the tiny puff of breath barely noticeable to me, standing right next to her. However, it must've been as obviously as a black snake in a field of snow to whoever was trailing along. The little hand froze for a second, disappeared for another, and reappeared the next on my throat.
"Speak your name!" a soft voice hissed in my ear. It was so low, it was more of a vibration that my slow brain translated into words. I couldn't get a feel for the little pale person's voice, and he/she was behind me, so I wouldn't see their face either. And maybe it was just my imagination, but I think I felt a knife at my neck. So there is this stranger, who possibly knows our true identities, hissing at me, and holding sharp objects to my vital veins and/or arteries. So yes, I morphed. Snow White from hell was gone by the time I was a grown, 400 pound, orange and black mass of fangs and claws. All the fear I felt melted off into the animal instinct for self-defense.
I crouched low, belly to the ground, maw pulled back over my pointy teeth. I was ready to fight. My nose picked up the strange scentof whatever threatened me, or, at least, singled out a foreing scent among familiars, an intruder. Amazingly, the trail was faint as anything, much too faint to follow. It was moving fast, that much I knew, way too fast to be human. That lack of "humanity" was completely evident when I found myself looking at the word upside down. The tiger couldn't, in any way, understand what was happening in this fight against an unprecedented enemy and was so panicked at the predator's presence. Whatever I was fighting against the tiger saw as an immediately overwhelming adversary, something that cannot be defeated, as it couldn't be seen, heard, and barely smelled. I MIGHT AS WELL HAVE BEEN FIGHTING A GHOST!
"Addie, NO! PUT HIM DOWN NOW!" Rachel snapped. The thing that was holding me up by my hind legs quickly dropped me, but when I hit the ground, my first move after I gained my bearings was to head for the creature's throat. That, however, left me slammed against a large (rather solid) tree and my large head was held in a vice-like grip, and I was glaring into the eyes of a demon. I didn't see that it was a girl, and the tiger didn't notice Rachel and Ax rushing forward to save me. No, all it saw was that demon, and I felt myself suffocate in the black death that was, what I knew, as the Annihilator. I was frozen, the tiger instinct to defend itself had fallen silent...the glare was even stronger than the physical pain I felt, my spine scraping against rough bark.
"There are more demons spewed forth from the mouth of Hell...close enough to touch." Her lips came extremely close to my feline ears, whispering voicelessly. I felt fear grip my heart when she finally put my down. She sat on the forest floor, just in the shadows, watching me catch my breath. I could tell she was listening to my heartbeat, as it pounded violently in my chest. Something told me that the comment was neither a threat, nor a promise. It was a blatant truth, something that can be seen in her now lively eyes and the innocent way she smiled. She wasn't anything more than a young girl, just Cassie or Rachel, that has been dragged into this pile of crap way to live...a sacrifice to the greater workings o the universe.
Whoa! When did I become a philosopher? I blinked in surprise when the girl came forward and pet my head, as if I wear a lost allycat and not a huge, Siberian tiger. But then, with her type of power, I might as well be a kitten in a cardboard box. She knelled down and dug her face in my fur, breathing evenly. She was so gentle, it surprised me that I ever thought of her as a demon, with her beautiful face and tiny body. Her black hair fell past her heels and pooled on the ground, when the impulse hit me to finger through it. It semmed so shiny and deep, like liquid night. Before I knew it, I was human me again, in my embarrassingly tight morphing outfit, holding a sleeping WMD. Rachel had come to me and was sighing in relief when she saw me lifting the small body on my back to carry her into Cassie's barn. She was ammazingly light, almost frighteningly so, which explained why she seemed to glide when she walked.
I noticed Ax's sudden look of horror, and Tobias's shout. Rachel rushed to pull the girl from my back, and the loss of te sligt weight made me nervous, as if someone snatched my nonexistent baby sister from my arms. When I turned, however, all I saw was the blood dripping sinisterly down her legs and Marco's glare. His glare...I have come to see more in war. A murderous, cruel, cold look that followed the track of blood as if he hated it more than anything imaginable. A glare that made his dark brown eyes, usually filled with humor, totally black. Marco, my best bud...a demon close enough to touch...