"So.. Am I still not a monster?"
Nick could only stare at her at first, not knowing if the reason she looked this way because of the effect her own story had on her or if she was making herself seem so intentionally. She had a good question though, could he still claim she wasn't a monster with her admittance of her past? The answer to that was a resounding yes. Because beyond the glow of her eyes and the lengthened fangs, he could see the guilt and self hatred she harbored deep inside. Like he'd thought before, she hated herself for the thing she became and called herself a monster. She was so sure that she had no soul.. But he was seeing the evidence of the contrary right in front of him.
"When this is over, Judy. I know it may be hard for you, but I want you to take me to where these incidents happened. It will be late, but those mammals deserve a send off. But I still don't see you as a monster."
That clearly hadn't been the answer she wanted and his own question of whether she was making herself look the way she did was answered. The glow of her eyes faded and the fangs shortened as her ears fell completely to her back. She didn't like that he wasn't going to end her life, he already knew that, but now that was more than clear as he sat and observed her. The more he looked, the more slouched she became until finally her arms rested around her knees that she brought up to hold against her chest. He'd let her down by refusing to end her life.. But knowing all he did now, he couldn't just raise his blade to her anymore outside of training. Her story had been meant to bring back his resolve to kill her and he knew it. If anything, it only made him sympathize with her even more.
"I killed once and wished damnation on a vampire," he added, finally looking away and into the flames of their little campfire. "It was the only time, but I still killed and wanted the soul damned for all eternity. I was enraged and now, while I feel guilt in the sense I knew better, there is still no guilt in the sense of sympathy. There was another time when I and my comrades were stranded out in the field. We had no food for weeks and I could feel something inside me, something primal waking and wanting to come out. My own comrades were starting to look like a food source again like in the ancient days."
Thankfully their emergency rations had arrived before he did anything that he'd regret and he spent days praying for forgiveness because of it. But still the thought and instinct had been there. When it came to survival, there was little that a mammal wouldn't resort to. The body knew it was starving and starting taking matters into its own paws. What she had done wasn't right by any means, he wasn't glorifying it. But by her own admission she had been starving herself of the only thing she could ingest for years by that point. It made sense that in a craze like that, she'd lose herself to the starvation.
"Survival is the most base of instincts. So in essence, if you're a monster then so am I. I didn't actually attack and eat my comrades, but I wanted to at one point."
That was something he'd never told anyone else before now, but felt he should share. He could tell when he looked back on that time, that he hadn't been the only predator of the group with those kinds of thoughts. Once he was clear minded, he looked back and saw the eyes of his comrades looking at the prey mammals and even at him. He saw them stop seeing him as one of them and start thinking of him like food. He also saw the guilt that heavily weighed on them after they were all clear headed again, guilt like his own. Guilt he now saw in her as if the weight of the world was on her shoulders.
"If you were a monster, Judy there would be no guilt. You'd be no better than, Rogan."
He saw her head jerk up from his peripheral and turned his head to meet her gaze. He wasn't surprised anymore to see the sparkle of tears there in her eyes and wetting the fur of her cheeks. But seeing it still hurt his heart and he held out his arms to her. He almost expected her to refuse, but she only hesitated for a moment before crawling onto his lap. He immediately enfolded his arms around her and felt his heart shatter when she began to tremble with the force of her sobbing. The weight of guilt had finally crushed her and broken her heart. He knew without asking that she'd never shared this before, never had anyone to share it with. Now that she had, the reality came crashing down on her all at once and finally the dam burst. The guilt and pain she had been facing alone until now was now shared with another so she could finally afford to break apart. And he'd be there to help her gather up the pieces again to put her back together.
Knowing that didn't keep his arms from tightening in a protective hold. Nor did it keep his heart from shattering, repairing, only to shatter again as the sobs turned into screams of anguish. She claimed to have no soul, but she couldn't be more wrong. She had the purest heart and soul he'd ever seen in even a normal mammal. He didn't move from that spot until the campfire had long gone out and he could see the first signs of the crack of dawn. Only then did he adjust his arms around her to stand, wincing at the pins and needles in his legs and moved toward their shelter from the sun.
At some point her screams had quieted, but now she burrowed against him still sniffling and hiccupping as the tears continued to flow into the fur of his chest. She was languid against him either from exhaustion of the morning coming or from her emotional state, he wasn't sure. But he knew one thing, he wasn't her hunter anymore. He was her protector.
Sleep had come easily as he held his bunny against him, however his dreams were not. When he fell into the arms of slumber, it was nightmares that greeted him. In it he heard her screams anew, these not of anguish but terror and rage and upon opening his eyes, he knew why. He was bound again, brush and timber scattered around him, a gag keeping him from speaking. Already he felt weakened, pains in his body, especially his neck as he lifted his head in wobbly movements. Nick had no doubt that if it weren't for the fact that he was made to stand by the rope binding him to the spike, he'd have fallen on his face. More than the pain in his neck was the pain in his heart though.
He didn't know why that pain was there until blurry green eyes focused and he saw beyond the crowd, Judy covered by a black mass. He knew what its was that held her unlike the first time he saw it in his nightmares. Rogan! Rogan had her and was killing her! Strength he shouldn't have had, flooded him as he struggled against the bindings holding him, rage and adrenaline igniting his blood even as the timber was lit. Still he struggled, trying to get free not for himself, but for her. She was terrified, she was enraged! He could see the rapid twitching of her nose from here and saw her tiny claws struggling to make purchase in the wet ground to get away. But while she feared for her life, like him he could see her desperation to get to him..
No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't move just like before when he was encased in ice. Worse than ice, his sentencing had begun and smoke filled the air as the flames greedily ignited the rest of the timber and brush on their way to him. He paid the ever growing flames no mind as he continued to struggle against his bonds. Until finally, even knowing it was futile, his eyes moved back to the crowd, pleading with them to free him, to listen. Those he met the eyes of only looked back with disgust while the smoke began to burn his eyes and fill his lungs, those not disgusted looked away with sobs in their throats.
Please! You don't know what you're doing!
If they couldn't hear, he had to try to communicate through his eyes. But the expressions of the spectators didn't change and the screams of Judy only got louder while his mind began to fog. It was harder to breathe now and he felt his strength starting to fade again despite the adrenaline. No.. No..! He couldn't let himself die like this! She needed him! And they.. They needed to pay for what they'd done!
Not now! Please, great Creator! Not like this!
But despite his pleas, the flames grew ever closer, the thick smoke infiltrated his eyes and lungs, choking him and as his strength sapped.
"You see? If you still have sympathy for him, look at how he struggles to get to that demon! We have to save his soul."
He wished he had the strength to glare at the buffalo in charge of the Order he once blindly followed. But it was struggle to keep his head up, much less continue fighting to get free. His hearing was beginning to fade, his sight fogging as his weakened body slumped as well as it could against its bindings. His pleas were falling unheard to the mammals he once called comrades and the deity he held close to his heart. The deity who let Judy be tortured and turned, the deity who let him bear witness to her struggles as he was put to death.. The deity who..
The scream that rent the air pierced his ears and chilled his blood despite the fire that grew more wild and hot around him, but try as he might, he couldn't look up. He knew who it belonged to though and it tortured him more than the fire now lapping at his legs and singing his fur ever could.
Too often he'd heard that scream..
Too often he'd been too weak to protect her..
Too often she'd been the one to save him.. And now he was too weak aga-
No! Not again!
In that moment something snapped in him, something wild and primal as heat that had nothing to do with the fire ignited within. When he snapped his head up this time, his teeth were bared for all to see, an animalistic snarl gaping his maw. Enraged eyes, still green now had vertical slits for pupils as his struggles renewed. Unlike before the ropes couldn't hope to hold him. Whether that was from them weakening due to the fire or from his own power, he didn't know and didn't care, he broke free and there was hell to pay!
But the crowd wasn't his enemy, his sights were on the black mass. That thing had dared to terrify her, abuse her and torture her for years! Now it was trying to kill her! Just the thought kept the snarls growing strength and volume as he charged toward the being on all fours much less seeing it in real time. However, what enraged him further was that no matter how fast he pushed his legs, no matter how much his lungs burned from the smoke and the exert of his strength, Judy and her killer were getting further out of his reach! It was as if he was running backward even as he pushed himself forward. Seeing her desperately reach out for him increased his efforts further until with an enraged and sorrowful howl he watched the light of her eyes fade and fog.
He jerked awake, still as enraged as he had been in the nightmare. That hadn't been a nightmare, he was sure of it already. But with the fur all over his body standing up and the feeling of pure evil made that even more clear! He was no more the civilized fox than he had been in that dreamscape and snarled as he leapt to all fours and turned on the black mass covering his mate that still struggled against it. Rogan seemed shocked enough to stop his assault on her and start to turn toward him, but he didn't get a chance. Nick was on him in an instant, claws and teeth tearing into the creature and wounding him enough to get his full focus on him. Judy took that chance to get away from the beast, severely weakened from blood loss and much slower than normal. The blow that she tried to give the demon that had her living in terror all of this time, didn't land with the same force as before.
Her paw managed to break through fur and skin, but got stuck in the rib cage of the beast. As a result she became little more than a rag doll being dragged with them as Nick and Rogan fought, the struggles of both taking them outside and into the night. Only then did she manage to free herself of Rogan and searched for anything she could use as a weapon. Nick wasn't in his right mind to use his sword and Judy knew if she tried, it would probably only harm her before she could use it. Still, she had to do something! Nick was holding his own against Rogan for now, but that monster would gain the upper paw before long and kill him at this rate!
As if to prove her words, Rogan managed to give himself form. This one a bear and reached back to throw the feral tod off of him. Nick however seemed to have completely lost himself to the primal side he had told her about the night before. He turned in midair and landed on all fours before darting to stand between her and Rogan, teeth showing as he stayed close to the ground, tail twitching wildly and hackles up. In this state of mind, Judy should have also been a target to him, but he shielded her and with a leap he was going after the ancient vampire again. Rogan was ready for him this time though and batted him away with a massive black paw, thankfully the fox had turned in midair just in time and in just the right way to not be struck by the sharp claws. This time, he didn't have a chance to right himself before Rogan was on him and smacked him into the ground, holding him there.
"How interesting.. It seems you have the gene.. No wonder they wanted you~"
Judy didn't stop to wonder about what it was that meant, the yelp that filled the air as Rogan tried to crush the fox enraged her. That was her fox that this bastard was trying to kill! Putting all of her unnatural speed and strength into her steps, she ran and leaped at the monster as Nick clawed at the paw holding him down, biting at any bit he could reach. Unfortunately, Rogan saw and heard her coming and she met a similar fate to Nick's. Rather than bat her away however, he just punched her into the ground and held her there same as he did the fox. This served to enrage the said fox even further who increased his struggles, but now they were both right where Rogan wanted them.
"You two have made my long existence very interesting~" he purred at them. "Always staying out of my reach~ You seemed to err and think that an old church would keep me away though. Tsk, tsk.. Foolish assumption. I expected better of you."
That voice like darkness incarnate and pure evil washed over them and had both of them shuddering. Despite what they thought though, Rogan didn't seem too intent on killing them. At least, not yet. He wasn't trying to crush them, but hold them still as he observed them, especially Nick who still struggled to get free, to attack.
"Especially you, little Judy. I must commend you on your find though. I thought him an ordinary fox until tonight. Look at him, isn't he remarkable?"
Judy couldn't speak from the pressure on her, much less breathe. She could afford not to do either of those things, she was already dead. Nick though.. He was mortal and he still needed to breathe to survive! Knowing this was what had he snapping her head to the side to look over at him and sure enough, saw his struggles starting to weaken with his lack of oxygen. However, what had her eyes widening wasn't that he was growing weaker. There was a glow about him, soft at first that could be mistaken as moonbeams on his fur, but growing brighter the longer she watched until it expanded out. When it reached her it felt warm and protective a lot like his embrace from the night before had, however it seemed to worry Rogan.
The pressure on them vanished as he moved his paws away and backed away from them. Even as he backed away however, that sinister smile was still there even while Nick himself leapt back up and pinned him with his stare. He wasn't feral anymore, but he wasn't quite himself yet either as the light around him continued to grow until it enfolded the entirety of the ruins like a dome. Somehow, bright as it was, Judy could still see Nick himself as he moved over to her and held out a paw to help her up.
"Nick..?" she asked as she accepted the paw and stood. The feeling that went up her arm wasn't painful, but was much like an electrical current that went through her. In that moment she felt what he felt and saw what he saw.
Before her eyes, thousands of red foxes had appeared as if from nowhere. All of them had their eyes fixed on Rogan, vertical pupils hard, all of them had this same glow about them. It was then that she knew that somehow it wasn't Nick standing with her, holding her paw, but all of these foxes. Ancestors. Was this what Rogan had meant about a certain gene?
Nick's paw gently squeezed hers as the light seemed to come together to become a point right there before them. Only to then shoot straight at the monster they had run from all of this time. The only sign that the creature had ever been there was a pile of ashes where he had been standing. However.. As all things do, the good came to an end..
AC: Everything is coming to close everyone. That whole gene thing will make sense, I promise. It'll be revealed in the coming chapters. Until then, let me know if you enjoyed this chapter. ^^ I wrote all of this in one go and I don't have a beta reader. So I apologize for any mistakes.
Is everyone excited about the coming ending? I am! Its been a Wilde - ha - ride and its coming to an end soon. I love this story and I love all of my readers so I'm a bit sad its coming to an end even while I'm excited for it. But remember once its finished, its getting a full revision too with more detail and more than just Nick's POV.
By my estimation I'd say there's about four to five more chapters left. Maybe less. We'll see how much I can fit into each chapter. Be looking for them! ^^d See you all next chapter!