A/N: I'm back, baby! And with another chapter in this story! I did say that I was working on the next chapter. And here it is. finally! Our small band of heroes gets to go up against that Beowolf. Can they win? Find out!
Also, as always, enjoy the chapter!
RWBY is owned by Viz Media and was created by the late Monty Oum
By Blood and Teeth
Chapter 8
The next morning..
"Ah, Ruby. Here ya go. Thought you might like this." The tall and exceedingly vexing human said as he offered up what looked like a bow. Just none any that Ruby had ever seen before among the packs.
It was a richly polished and smoothed out piece of wood fastened mostly likely from one of the nearby ash trees, but it had also been combined with some kind of bone into a thick W shape with the center of the bow wrapped in stripes of rich, dark leather. In short, it was beautiful.
She took the bow from him and gave it a thorough once over just to take it all in. The bone, possibly from a rib or other flat, curving bone, was fastened at the end of the limbs with a hole bore through it so the bowstring could be affixed snuggly. A Bowstring that was composed of many thickly braided strands of rope. It looked to be a strong bow with a heavy draw weight. Far more than her old one, at any rate.
She gave it an experimental tug and found that unlike her old longbow, this new recurved bow, as Jaune called it, could handle up to maybe half of her strength whereas her old bow could withstand at most a fifth before it broke. That was... astonishing. She blinked back some kind of emotion at the gift before asking thickly, "Why did you go to the trouble of making this for me?"
"As, an apology," Jaune started with a small, painfilled smile, his eyes downcast. "I was, overly harsh, yesterday, with my questioning of you, and of Bert, and I wanted to make up for it. Also," he lifted his gaze to stare into her silver eyes with his own rich blue ones. "you did save my life back there. Twice. And I wanted to repay you. This, was simply the only way I knew how."
Then he sniffed and brushed at his nose with the back of his hand as he turned to stare off into the distance as he said, "I'm better at making blades and other tools using a forge so that might not be the best bow in the world. Still, though," he turned to gaze back at her as he smiled softly, "if you don't mind waiting, I could make you a far finer one once we get back to my forge. Promise."
"Okay," Ruby found herself answering with as she slung the bow over her shoulder. "I'll hold you to that, Jaune."
He smiled at that, at her, and nodded an agreement while whispering, "Ruby."
/ /
"Well, I suppose I should start tracking this beast again, huh?" Ruby then asked in an almost flippant manner as she stared at him, her silver eyes glowing lightly with some unknown emotion.
Jaune couldn't help the smile that brought and chuckled as he said, "Indeed. No point doing all this running around if we're not going to get something out of it. Eh?"
"Oh, I'm sure I could think up something as an award for all your hard work." Ruby found herself saying in a husky manner as she stepped in towards him, still staring up at him. Jaune blinked at that, not expecting something so... leading from the girl, and watched as she stepped in even closer and began to rise up on her tiptoes, still staring up at him.
"So, what's the plan for finding this thing?" A voice suddenly asked, causing whatever mood to disappear between the two as Jaune stepped back to find Weiss standing there in question while Ruby shook her head to clear... whatever the hell that had been from her mind. Weiss either didn't notice what she had done, or didn't care as she stood there waiting with her arms crossed and her foot tapping impatiently. "I trust that there is a plan to track this whatever-it-is down, yes?" She asked Ruby, an eyebrow raised imperially.
"Right," Ruby said then in an absent manner as she held a hand to her head and walked over to a nearby boulder to called out, "Uncle Qrow! Aunt Raven! You there?"
"Who is she talking to?" Jaune murmured to Weiss then in confusion. The Bloodkin could only shrug in answer, arms still crossed from annoyance as they stood side by side and watched as a small, black bird flew over to land on the rock before Ruby.
With a brief, harsh-sounding caw the bird cleared its throat before it then spoke in a raspy, but surprisingly articulate, masculine voice, "We trailed the brute to Sumter Pass. Due to its sheer size Raven suggested that we keep our distance from it. I fear that after consuming the White Water Tribe it has gotten even bigger. Perhaps... You should think about calling the Hunt off, Ruby. At least, until we can gather together a proper pack. There are only three of you now."
Ruby frowned lightly at the before correcting her uncle with, "Four. And, no. I can't do that. If we fall back now who knows how long it'll take to find this monster again, or what it'll do in the meantime. We have to kill it. Now!" After a brief pause, she asked hesitantly, "Any suggestions on that end, Uncle Qrow?
Jaune and Weiss stared, unblinking, at the bird and its eloquent speech before after a moment the human lifted a hand and pointed at the bird to state, dumbly, "The bird is talking."
"...Yes, it is." Weiss replied somewhat absently.
"Why is the bird talking?" Jaune asked after another pause while they listened to Ruby and, apparently, Qrow, discuss an ambush.
Weiss shook herself out of the spell she was under to say with a flip of her hair, "Birdfolk probably." At Jaune's look her way she explained, "A... lesser form of the Beastkin. They can change into a more humanoid just like the wolves around you and... I suppose talk with in bird form. Though, I have no idea why she called him her uncle."
Jaune blinked as he looked at her before asking, "And, how do you know all that?"
She proceeded to look at her nails as if disinterested even as she fought to hide the smile at his sudden, full attention and said, "It was part of my training. All members of the Blood Guard were given detailed anatomy lessons and updated reports on all the Beasts we might face should we go patrol or expedition. I was simply better at retaining it all compared to most. I quite clever like that."
"Huh," was Jaune said in reply to that before going on absently, "I wonder if Ruby and... Bert could..." At that Jaune then turned look behind him at Bert as the big wolf sat there on his haunches, panting, a wolfish smile on his face. At his look the wolf closed his mouth with a click before licking his lips and said after a moment's difficulty, in a deep melody that stirred something within Weiss as she strove to hide how surprising that was as well, "Yes, though it is far harder for us to talk in this form, we can do the same."
"Why is that?" Jaune asked him.
"Shape of the throat, voice box, I suppose?" The wolf returned. "Easier for them to fully shift it into means of speaking fluently compared to the rest of our kind." Then he shifted his focus and Weiss and said, "And, the proper designation is Wolven, Vampyr. Wolven, Therian for out united people, and Gard for the specific species of our winged brethren."
"But, of course, you would come up with a name for yourselves after all these centuries," Weiss dismissed with a flick of her hand as she turned around, hiding her blush at the rebuke. Then, after a quick look to Ruby and the crow as she continued to discuss their plan together, she turned and started down the trail, stopping only to dart her tongue out to lick Jaune across his neck while his guard was down, going up that big, throbbing vein there, before continuing on with a smile as he blurted out a soft, "Gaahh?!"
/ /
Jaune was shaken from his confusion as the sudden wet addition to his neck and clamped a hand to it as he looked at Weiss, perplexed and concerned that she had somehow bitten him without him knowing about it. He looked at his hand expecting to see blood there but there was nothing. He frowned at that. Why did that disappoint him, and why was his heart suddenly beating faster.
He looked back at Weiss, confused. Had she just... licked him?
She grinned over her shoulder at him before saying as she then tossed her hair once more and started away, "That's just a taste of what you can look forwards to, as payment for my new blade, Human."
Jaune's frown deepened at that and he wiped away the drool on his fingers absently as he thought about it. The action had been unexpected and even flirtatious in a way. The sensation of her raspy tongue on his skin quite literally electrifying. Sultry even. But that remark, was this all just business with her? Jaune found that... distasteful. He had been in a few, short-lived relationships, especially while training as one of the guard, but he had never been interested in the kinds of flings many of his friends had been into, and especially not the kind of business-like dealing he had heard some of the more professional courtesans talk about.
It had all felt so... hollow.
While he was thinking that, and grimacing while he was doing it, Ruby wandered over to him as her uncle took off to find the best place to set up their ambush, frowned at what she saw there before taking the edge of her cloak to wipe away the saliva let on his neck while wondering if she should replace it with her own. As far as she was concerned, she had first claim to this man and no one was - Wait? Why was she suddenly annoyed about this? He was just a Human. A rather tall and kind of han - No! Nope! Not going any further down that path. Nope, nope, nope!
"Gawk!"
A distant, if nearby, squawk of alarm brought the two of the back to reality. they turned and glanced at each other before shouting out, "Weiss!" And stormed off in the direction of the cry as fast as they could.
/ /
Five minutes earlier...
Weiss was feeling pretty smug about everything after laying down her claim on the distractingly pleasant smelling Human. She idly wondered when she'd get used to that scent and found that she didn't really want to to. Still, though, now he knew what she was offering and he'd be more pliant to her demands. Though... if he required a bit more... incentive, or... was a bit more assertive about what he wanted from her... she could see, maybe, offering up something more... physical.
Why did that send a shiver down her spine in anticipation? And why didn't that scare her? Remind her of her master?
She frowned at that, looking back up the hill where Jaune was. Such an odd individual, that man. One moment he's terrified of her and Ruby both, the next he almost to be holding himself back from taking them together. She wasn't sure which she preferred, but she was suddenly hungry again, just thinking about those strong arms wrapping around her, dragging her down to-
Caw!
"What?" Weiss was knocked from her thoughts of Jaune by the harsh-sounding, deep croak of a bird and looked to see a large raven staring down at her from the branch it was resting on. Then, before she could figure out why the bird's intense, glowing red eyes unnerved her so, it spoke in a deep, feminine voice, "Vampyr."
Flinching at the way it said that, Weiss tried to recover by clearing her throat and taking the same superior stance she used on Ruby, Jaune and Bert as she demanded, "Yes, and what of it, corvid?"
"So, you're the one who hurt my Ruby, then." The raven answered before flapping its wings to take flight. Before Weiss could come up with something to say to that statement the werebird shifted into a truly horrific sight as it rapidly grew to over seven feet in height while taking on the characteristics of a human, retaining its talons and beak and wings as it swooped to slam Weiss onto the ground, cracking the rock beneath her skull where it was slammed down.
Weiss blinked and looked up as her vision swam from that only to see that terrifying beaked mouth gaping open to rip out her throat with a rasping hiss. She opened her mouth wide as she attempted to say something but the only sound that came out was a high pitched, "Gawk!" as she attempted to fend off the massive, homicidal anthropomorphic birdwoman by holding off her maw with one hand and pushing against one of her feathery, bulbous breasts in an attempt to survive.
It was while that was going on that Jaune and the rest showed up, with him shouting, "Weiss! Hold on!" At the sound of his voice Weiss looked up from where she was lying down, struggling against the overwhelming strength of her opponent, to see the big, blond idiot charging towards her, and suddenly she just knew that everything felt like it was going to be okay.
The wereraven took note of this. Pausing in her efforts to either crush or devour the paltry little vampyr she watched as her once glowing red eyes abruptly changed to the palest of blues as she looked over at someone. Angling her head she then looked to see the same male that had ruby's scent on him yesterday desperately charging towards her with a sword in hand. Ruby and Bert were also with him. Really? She thought. Really? What is this shit, genetic?
/ /
"Oh... Hey, Jaune." Weiss said softly as she mellowed on seeing him. Meanwhile, Ruby stormed right up to the towering creature as she barked, "Auntie Rae! Don't kill her! We need her for the ambush to go off without a hitch!"
The raven blinked her, at that, before leaned in to her, causing an audible and painful sounding pop beneath her as she then asked, "But what about," She glanced at Jaune as he stood there with Bert, holding back to see how Ruby would handle things, "her, and him?"
"What? What about that?" Ruby asked her as she pumped her fists while saying, "Watever. Now let her go! Please, Auntie Rae!"
Once again, the wereraven female blinked at that before sighing as she muttered to herself, "Why am I surprised. Of course, your mother wouldn't explain anything about that to you." She sighed again as she stepped back as she relaxed her grip on the vampyr as she said, annoyed, "Fine. But just make certain she does her part, or I'll finish what I started here." Then without another word she transformed back into a bird and flew away in a flap of feathers.
They stared after her for a moment more before Jaune made his way over to the still stunned-looking, silver-white haired girl as she laid there. After a moment of checking her over to be sure she wasn't anymore injured than she already was while she lay there with a dopey look on her face Jaune made to pick her up while Ruby looked on with renewed annoyance.
/ /
It wasn't long after that that Weiss recovered from what was a severe concussion. Internally, she marveled at how with only a few drops of his blood the human carrying her was still affecting her so powerfully. Externally, she rapidly flushed profusely with embarrassment and promptly told him to put her down, saying she could walk on her own now.
When Jaune tried to inquire as to her condition, the Wolven girl, Ruby, stamped up to them and demanded that they get their heads in the game while crossing her arms with a pout before turning around without hearing their answers and taking off with a blur of speed, Bert right behind her. Not willing to be put down in such a way from the younger night creature Weiss promptly sped off after her with Jaune struggling to catch up.
And now, here they were hours later resting one last time before they moved in for the kill with Jaune physically quivering from exhaustion. At least he wasn't panting like horse anymore. Somehow, whether by sheer force of will or some kind of divine providence, he had kept up with the dizzying pace ruby had set. Not even Bert in wolf form had caught up to her until she slowed down, and that was only when she exhausted herself.
Of course, once again showing the difference between them all, the two werewolv - Wolven - had fully recovered and Weiss was mostly back to normal. It was only the foolish human, with his sweating and aching body from sleeping for two night on the hard, cold rock of the mountains, who hadn't recovered.
It was as he sat there recovering that he looked over at Weiss with her much torn and dirtied dress - And didn't that just make a part him upset, a gorgeous woman like her with her porcelain features and beautiful pale blue eyes and white, silvery hair, she should be wearing the finest clothing money could buy, not dressed in rags like that. He puffed a breathe in and out for a moment before shaking such thoughts from his head before asking, "So, question. Haaahh, Why can't you drink from animals?"
For a moment it seemed like the vampire was going to ignore him as she stared off into the distance before with a slight shudder she turned and answered with, "Because it doesn't affect us. Trust me on this, our more... learned scholars have tried multiple times over the centuries to come up with an alternative. Some kind of... blood substitute. but it never works.
"Animal blood. It's... it's like drinking water, I suppose. In a sense. It sustains you to a degree but offers no true sustenance. Doesn't fill you. Doesn't... curb the Hunger," At that she clutched at her throat as if to protect herself or to stymie blood loss. After a moment of blinking back some unknown, dark emotion, she then said, "As for the beasts... Their blood is anathema to our kind."
"So... like a poison?" Jaune asked after a moment as he processed that.
"Yes, and no." She answered, not noticing as Ruby and Bert returned with the werebirds overhead, a brace of rabbits in their hands or teeth. "It is... a taboo. Beast Blood, like a dead man's blood, is a toxin that will eventually kill a Bloodkin or Kindred. But before then, like a more mundane drug it feels them with a sense of Power, of euphoria, and that is dangerous."
She stopped then, her eyes hard, but full of fearful memories, the echoing of malicious laughter, gruesome jeers, and the sounds of flesh being hit filling her mind.
Jaune frowned at that as he processed the information, including the fact that that old myth just got debunked, before asking, "Why?"
"Pah, you ask a lot of questions, for a human, Jaune," Weiss returned in a somewhat acerbic, somewhat amused tone before giving him a smirk as she asked, "Any particular reason why?"
"How can I learn how to better kill you, if I don't ask the right questions," he deadpanned back. Then, ignoring how all of the monsters around him were taken aback by that, he stood, saying, before turning to walk away, "You forget, all of you, that I hate what you are. Just like the rest of my people. And I always will."
/ /
It was Ruby who ventured out to find him after she, Bert and Weiss failed spectacularly at cooking a few of the rabbits. Bert decided to eat the charred remains while letting the two rival women decided amongst themselves on who would go looking for their meal ticket. Ruby had grown to like his cooking already while Weiss needed cooked food as much as a Human did. blood could only get her so far, after all.
She found him in a pool of moon light, sitting on a half rotten log, staring down at the hands that he alternatively clenched and released. She stopped and stared at the sight before her. The light of the half moon turning his blond hair silver and casting him into that of a harden warrior of old. It was both beautiful, and frightening as she remembered what he had said earlier.
Would he one day be her enemy, hunting her down with the very skills she had imparted to him? The thought of that filled her mouth bile as her stomach churned at the thought. Then abruptly she shook her head resolutely and stepped out into the clearing. No. She would make certain that future never came into fruition.
"Jaune," she asked cautiously, "what are you doing here?"
"Was wonderin' at that myself, Ruby," he answered gruffly as he clenched his fists tightly again before releasing them with a sigh as he looked up at the moon and said absently, "I hate your kind, Ruby. Yours and Weiss's both. I always have, ever since a group of Wolven and Bloodkin burned my village down to the ground and slaughtered my people, including my folks, all while fighting each other. We were... pests to you then, and nothing has changed ever since then."
Ruby stepped closer to him as he sighed and hanged his head wearily, walking softly up to him as if he were some shy little cub that was too scared to come when she called. She said nothing, letting him vent.
"But, as much as I hate you, I can't be like Cardin and the other Redoubts. Just men after money, not caring if what they are doing is helping, or harming the people around them," he groaned out. "And, I can't be one of the Guard anymore because half of them are either incompetent or so corrupted they might as well be mercenaries themselves. and the other half won't go out of their way to help someone unless it involves a crime or Law being broken."
Ruby came to a stop next to him as he turned to look up at her and said with a sad smile, "So what can I do, but be a blacksmith? At least then I'm doing something productive for my community, for me. But it's not the same as helping someone... like I did with you."
Ruby sat down next to him as he turned and looked away from her and back at his hands again. She looked at them, too. They were big hands, callused and rough to the touch. She could imagine them being able to break bone as easily he could forge steel, and she had seen him do that first hand as he gutted that elk. That should've scared her, but she also knew that those hands were filled with a gentleness, too, unlike anything she had seen among her people, among the Therians as a whole.
Jaune didn't think her weird for wanting to remain in her human guise. And he listened to her when she talked, even followed her instructions without question once he understood why. sure, there was still that awkwardness involving who was actually Dominant between the two of them and she didn't know why she got a thrill at the way his touch seemed to electrify her skin or why she... enjoyed his scent even now with how sweaty, and stinky, he was, but she did. She had bought that elk to him as a peace offering, and an apology, but it might as well have been as... something more. She just didn't know for what. but she knew that she liked Jaune, and she wanted him around, to stay around, with her.
So, she asked, heart in throat, "Do you hate me, Jaune?"
He turned and looked at her, his blue eyes staring deeply into her silver orbs for an indefinite moment, before he said, "No. no, I don't hate you, Ruby. I don't know why. Everything in me says I should, says I should spat in your face and drove you out or killed you when you asked for my help... but something stopped me, and I don't know why, but I'm glad it did."
He then smiled down at her as he said, "I'm in this till the end, Rubes. you have my word on that." Ruby flushed at that, that smile and the nickname, only to let out an muffled "Eep!" as Jaune then ran his fingers through her hair with an expert skill. She jerked back away from him at that, flushing profusely, and clasped her hands to her head as she stammered out, "J-Jaune, wha-what was th-that f-for?"
"Huh, no feathers? just as I thought." He instead said absently as he looked down at his hands before smiling at her again.
Ruby blinked at that before snorting as she slugged him in the arm and said, "You great, big Dummy! My dad isn't a bird!"
Jaune then erupted into a belly laugh at her affronted look even as he rubbed at his arm where she had slugged him. It hurt.
/ /
Back at their camp Weiss busied herself by doing things. Brushing leaves, feeding the fire, checking their water, Jaune's supplies - Damn, but his knapsack was heavy even to her. - Anything to keep her mind occupied. It didn't work.
Was it her fault that the human had left so abruptly? Had she insulted him somehow? And why did she care?
Because... she did care. And because she did, a thought came to her. One that would mostly likely cause Jaune to hate her, if he didn't already. A plan was forming in her mind. One she knew ruby would agree to. Though she and the Wolven girl didn't see eye to eye about everything just yet, she knew she would agree about this one thing.
As she was thinking about how to bring up the plan with Ruby, the girl and Jaune returned, looking to be in a much better mood than when he had left.
She stood up from where she had been sitting at, brusquely brushing at her skirt tails and her tangled braids as she briskly walked over to them to apologize. Only for Jaune to beat her to it. With a soft smile sent her way he bowed his head as he said, "Weiss, sorry about before. My anger, it wasn't directed at you. You, have done me no wrong."
Weiss flushed at that and lowered her gaze as she brushed at her skirt once more in embarrassment before saying with a slight cough, "Ahem, well, that's not quite true, but at the time I wasn't in the right state of mind, so I apologize for what I put you through. ...It was not my intent."
"Apology accepted," Jaune returned gruffly, clearing his throat while scratching at his cheek. "Now, I hear there's a brace of Coneys that need cooking?"
Weiss glanced at Ruby and found herself smiling alongside her as she flushed with embarrassment at the memory of what they had made before saying jubilantly, "Yes!"
/ /
The next day...
It was the next day. The last day. Jaune could see in the distance the beast they were following, and even from here he could tell that it was simply massive. It was no wonder Ruby had asked for steel. No bone or stone arrowhead was going to do much against something like that.
He looked down at the sword on his belt and wondered if even it wound be enough. Then he looked over to where Weiss was standing and frowned, thinking of the only weapons she had were those claws and her preternatural speed. Finally, after a moment, he stated/asked, "So, blood give you a power boost?"
"I... Yes, I do. But, that would require more than a few droplets mixed into my dinner." She returned after a moment as she pondered the creature beyond them. It looked like one of the Fang, but somehow larger. Darker. She blinked at that, concerned, before turning to him to ask, "Why? What did you have in mind, Jaune?"
In answer, he drew his knife and cut a line across his index finger before holding it out to her as the blood welled up. At her hesitation he smiled and said, "Well, go on. No use in letting it go to waste."
Weiss stared his bleeding finger for a long, long time before she slowly got up and walked over to him. There she stared at the blood for a moment before licking her lips as her eyes glowed red with the Hunger. She glanced up at him as if asking for permission. At his smile she then slowly, tenderly grasped his much larger hand between her and slowly brought it up to her lips. thinking Weiss would merely lap the blood from his finger Jaune was floored when she instead took the hold appendage and sucked it into her mouth, all while looking at him.
He shuddered as she sucked at him, feeling the sensation of her tongue lolling around, touching him, caressing him, and could only imagine her doing that somewhere else with that mouth of hers. As her saliva made him hypersensitive to her touch, made him want to offer up more, as his blood seemed to burn from within and his heart rate soared he struggled to remain in control of his senses only to stare into those eyes of hers as they changed from ruby red to palest blue again and felt himself fall.
Finally, with an audible pop, she released him finger and with a smack of her lips said, "Your blood really is quite delicious, Jaune. I wonder, perhaps we might need to alter the parameters of our deal, hm? Say, you make my sword to the specifications I demand, and, I'll share my affections with you every night until it's done."
Jaune shuddered again, feeling both cool and warm at the same time, as he stare at her lips while she licked them, and groaned as his manhood pulsed painfully tight in his pants before finally with a grunt of effort he responded to her quiet look of inquiry, "N-no deal. M-money only. A man cannot live off affection alone."
"Mm, pity." She said with a slight pout that begged him to forget himself and ravish her before she turned her head and tapped a finger to her lip as she thought out loud, "Money I have, but I won't be able to use it until I complete my Trial and return home with my honor restored. You shall have to wait on your fee until then, and what a fee it shall be." She said the last as she turned and stared back at him a different hunger evident in her gaze. Jaune found himself swallowing at that and opening his mouth to say something most definitely brash and stupid, only yo be saved by Ruby at the last instance.
"Raven and Qrow are in position. Are," She announced as she came up to them, only to pause at what she saw and sniffed the air before slightly curdling her features. Then she shook her head before asking pointedly, "Are you two ready."
"Ahem. Ahem. Aye, R-Ruby. That I am," Jaune returned after coughing a bit as he shifted himself into a more comfortable position while both women looked on in mild amusement and concern before looking back at Weiss and said as he drew a long, curved blade from his knapsack, "Here. I don't warrant trading blows with that thing with only your nails, Weiss."
She took the blade, still amused, and looked it over, finding it to be some kind of saber, light and perfectly balanced, before asking, "Just what all do you have in there, anyway?"
"Oh, uh, just a few tools of the trade. a travel anvil, some hammers, tongs. things of that nature." Jaune answered then asked. "Why?"
"That must be over a hundred pounds! And you've been carrying it all this time?" Weiss exclaimed in wonder.
Jaune smiled at that as he looked away while scratching at his cheek in embarrassment and mumbled, "Y-yeah, well, what kind of blacksmith would I be if I didn't travel with the essentials."
"Heh, you really are something, Jaune," Ruby piped up then as she caught the look Weiss sent her way. And as Jaune turned to address her Weiss stepped in close behind him and struck with the pommel of her new blade, knocking him out instantly. Before he could crumple to the ground Ruby had already caught and laid him down gently, whispering to him, "I'm so sorry, Jaune, but I couldn't bear it if you got hurt. this is my hunt, my Kill. I promise to make it up to you afterwards. I swear."
"Rest now. This will all be over when you wake," Weiss said then as she laid a hand over his, feeling the power in his blood soaring through her, knowing she could win this now thanks to him.
Then the two rival stood and walked shoulder to shoulder to face the beast beyond.
/ /
"You sure you can handle this?" Ruby asked as they stood there in the small ravine, listening for the sounds of growls and huffing roars in the foliage beyond.
"I've faced more than my fair share of Black Fangs before. This one will be no exception," Weiss return haughtily, swinging her sword to get a better feel of it. It really was remarkable light in comparison to the heavier silver blades she was used to.
"What is a Black Fang, anyway?" Ruby finally asked as she watched Bert climb up on an overhanging ledge.
Weis blinked at that, paling slightly as she realized that the two of them had never actually collaborated on what that was, before saying, "It's the name we give for any bea- any therian - that has fed on the blood of the Kine. They are large, matted-furred and sicky brutes, near mindless in their pursuit of the blood they crave and mad to boot. Why?"
"Oh, that sounds like what we call the Blood-starved. Those poor, piteous fools who have fed on the blood of the cold Ones for so long that that is all they can think of." Ruby returned with a slight sudden at the memory of her own hunts against the madden dogs and the like. No longer Wolven or any other species of the therian they were instead called by the terms humans gave their pets.
"Oh, good. So we are on the same page then," Weiss said with a sigh, worried for nothing.
"Oh, no. This is far more than one of those creatures." Ruby returned as she drew her new bow and notched one of Jaune's steelhead arrows as she heard the sound of movement beyond.
"What do you me-" Weiss started only for their prey to come barreling through the shrub brush before them, howling with hate as the two werebirds pecked at its blazing red eyes. Weiss shrieked with horror as she took it in, a great black, wolf-like best just as Ruby had described . One with blazing red eyes and spikes of naked bone jutting out at odd angles from all over its fleshy, furlike hide.
The beast then chose to ignore the birds for her, charging right at her! It was then that Ruby shot an arrow at it, then another and another right as Bert launched himself down at the beast from above and the Wolven girl's aunt and uncle took on their hybrid forms before rushing in to strike at its flanks. Weiss's mouth went dry as she saw that for all their strength and speed the therian's claws and beaks could do nothing to that hide. Only Ruby's arrows pierced it, and only her blade could kill her she thought as she looked down at what seemed like such a fragile piece of metal. Then she shook off her fear and charged in at the beast's side, diving under a sweep clawed hand to slash at it herself.
Her only thought that of a human male with blond hair and blue eyes resting peacefully in the glade far from here.
/ /
Jaune came awake to a splitting headache.
He winced as he sat up and clutched at his head as he did so. Feeling something wet, he removed the hand to find fresh blood there. Taking a rag from his knapsack, politely placed next to him, and some water from a water skin he patted at the back of his head to find only a small wound, like something had barely broken the skin.
At that he sighed before frowning as his anger came to the forefront. He knew who was behind this. He just didn't know why. Clearly it was out of a need to kidnap him or anything as ridiculous as that, otherwise he would've woken up to being in bindings of some kind. Oddly enough, he'd have been fine with that after what he had pulled with Ruby while with the Redoubts.
So, that beggared the question, why? Why had they done this? Knocked him out and left him here? Surely, it wasn't... His heart sank as did his anger as he realized why. He was too weak in their minds. Even though he had followed along without complaint, for two days, over mountains and through forests, he was simply too weak in their eyes for this.
He slumped, dropping back against the boulder they had lain him against and sighed. "Idiot. Fool. What did you think you were accomplishing by going with them? What did you think was going to happen?" He quietly berated himself while banging his tender head against the stone. The wind and the rocks and grass held no answer for him. But at a towering roar in the distance his slight frown deepened and before he knew it he was already off stalking towards the battle beyond as he drew his sword.
There was his answer.
/ /
Weiss hissed and grunted as she ducked and dodged under the black beast's arms before finally rolling out of the way as Raven, Qrow and Bert charged back into try and hold the demon in place. As she came back up on her feet Weiss turned to where the fallen form of Ruby lay and shouted, "Ruby! Come on! We need you back in the fight!"
"Weiss!" A voice she recalled as Bert then shouted in alarm. She turned in time to brace against the swipe sent her way. The weighty blow knocked her through the air to slam onto the ground, bouncing, before then finally crashing against the rocks of the cliff face where Bert had originally climb up for the ambush. She exhaled heavily at the impact before going into a coughing fit where she spat up a wad of foul-smelling blood.
She then forced her way back to her unsteady feet and took two steps forwards before collapsing to her hands and knees and vomited forth more of that foul concoction of blood and bile. Afterwards she collapsed onto her back while panting.
As she laid there she turned her head, wincing from the pain that caused, to look at what was left of their side. It really wasn't looking good. The fight, that is.
At first, she thought that they might have had a chance. Though it was true that the others could do nothing more than bash the creature about with their fists or block its own blows as it slashed at them, between her and Ruby they had dealt some damage to the wolf-like demon. She gritted her teeth at that, cursing internally.
Ruby's arrows had done the most damage to the beast, many of them imbedding into the creature's hide upwards of three to five inches with one even burrowing all the way through its neck, but none of them had seemed to stop it. As for Weiss herself, her saber was dulled and chipped from all the attacks she had made against the beast. Its hide was truly unnaturally thick, with her having to use all of her strength just to cut into its flesh with every slash.
But they had done it. They had injured the beast, even slowed it down as she had hamstringed its right leg.
But that short-lived victory was ended when the beast forced its way to the Wolven archer and impaled her on its claws before she could dodge it. It had then flung her seemingly lifeless corpses away to start on Weiss next.
If it wasn't for the sudden coughing fit from Ruby as she woke up Weiss would've thought she was dead for real. Unfortunately, the injury had still proven too much as she had promptly passed back out as her body focused on healing the three gigantic puncture wounds in her abdomen. Weiss just hoped that they could hold out till then. But it didn't look good as just then one of the werebirds suddenly crashed in the cliffside so hard that rocks rained down around them as they collapsed onto the ground and did not move again.
Weiss forced herself to roll back up on her feet and looked back at Ruby as the Wolven finally began to stir. "Ruby, quickly! You got to move! You're the only one who can do anything! I don't know how to use a bow!" She called out to her.
The girl stirred at that, grunting herself as she forced herself to sit up. Weiss smiled at that, muttering, "Good girl." Only to blink in alarm as Ruby's silvery orbs widen and she called out while pointing behind Weiss, "Weiss! Behind you!"
Weiss looked back just in to to see the demon towering over her, its arm raised to crush her. Her eyes widened at that as she stood there transfixed in terror as the claw began to descend.
"YAAAHH!" Weiss looked up past the arm crashing down towards her and felt her eyes widen even more so as the distant figure of one Jaune Arc leaped down from the ridge far, far above. That image was just enough to force Weiss out of her unnatural fear and she leaped back away from the arm as it crashed, imbedding deep into the ground right in front of her, where she had just been standing.
Before anyone could then do anything else the human blacksmith then slammed into the demon from behind, piercing all the way through its body with his sword, the tip sprouting from the beast's chest. The demon wolf howled in agony and rage as it began to thrash around at that with Jaune hanging on for dear life before finally being thrown aside. He came up to his feet after making a tight roll to bleed off the damage.
On his feet Jaune took two steps towards the rest of his comrade only to freeze as he saw that demon was still alive somehow. His suicidal attack had crippled its right arm, preventing it from lifting it as he had somehow broken what may have been its collar bone and scapula. He took in a shuddering breath as it looking his way, it's eyes filled with hatred for life itself before with a burst of black miasma it howled with rage and charge at him. Every one of them was struck by the sudden unnatural fear that miasma exuded with only Jaune seemingly having the strength to shake it off.
With a sudden shiver and a gritting of his teeth the human drew his trusty knife while beating at his chest with his other hand and hollering to the charging monster, "Alight, come on then!"
Seeing that, Ruby's eyes seemed to flash with silvery light, dispelling the fear freezing her in place and she shot up, running toward her friend even as her still healing guts painted the ground with her blood. Almost fully shifting into her hybrid form she notched her last arrow, drew back the bowstring mightily, hearing a loud crack in the shaft as she did so, and shot off the arrow at the former Wolven. The arrow struck it through the skull, shattering the skull plate and half blinding the creature.
It howled in agony once more and clutched at its wounded face as veering to the right in front of Jaune. Held out his knife with both hands and slammed the short, three-inch blade into it's side as it ran past. He wasn't nearly strong enough to do more than hold on as its own considerable momentum all but disemboweled it. The fiend gave a keening cry at that and shuddered, flailing about as even more of that black, miasma-like smoke poured from the mortal wound. A glancing blow sent Jaune crashing to the ground as the beast attempted to limp away.
He bounced back to his feet and made to run after the creature only to suddenly find himself back on the ground sprawled face first into the ground as the previous injury of his cracked sternum made itself known alongside a whole host of others. His last thoughts as he drifted into darkness was that of Ruby and Weiss.
/ /
On seeing Jaune lying there like that Ruby's remaining humanity vanished under an intense rage and she sifted fully, dashing after the beast before leaping up into the air to slam down on its skull with what was left of her bow, shattering it in the process. The beast let out a surprisingly wolf-like yelp at that before casting its cyclopean glare her way.
It then made to swipe at her with its one good arm only for her to catch, then trap the arm against her torso. Her foe howled with pain and rage as she then began to pulled back on the limb, against the way it was suppose to bend naturally. It tried to shake her off only to have Weiss attack it then.
She plunged what was left of her blade into it spine with a war cry that sounded like a raptor on high before jerking the broken blade back out as it shifted in place, trying to stomp her to death. With a surprising turn of speed herself the Bloodkin scaled the bloody, bleeding spike strewn back to stab at its skull with the broken, snapped off hilt repeatedly.
Even then, the supernatural beast would not fall, flailing against the two of them, almost shaking them off, before Raven and Bert launched themselves at it one last time, their bruised and bloody form barely standing up as it was. Bert took a beating, being jabbed in the face by an errant spike and bashed about by its crippled but still functioning arm until it finally slammed him into the dirt, knocking him out, and out of the fight. But Raven held on, somehow forcing her talons into its flesh as she brute forced it into submission.
The beast howled with rage at that only to squawk in pain as Ruby proceeded to finally rip its arm off and Weiss plunged her improvised dagger deep into its cranium. It shuddered and shook at that as its one eye flickered and dimmed before going out entirely. And with that the unnatural creature could no longer hold its form and explained in a gout of dust and smoke, dropping poor Weiss to the ground in an exhausted heap. Ruby and Raven soon followed after her.
Though her body hurt to move Ruby still forced herself up one last time in search of Jaune. Finding him, she began to weep in joy as she heard that distinctive heartbeat and saw his chest rise and fall rhythmically with sleep. She collapsed onto her knees in front of him as she forced the change so that she press her very human, very sweaty brow against his as she whispered, "Jaune, we did it. We won."
A/N: And we are going to leave it there. The first epic battle with a Grimm is concluded! As you can see, they're a hell of a lot tougher than in canon, being true demons in this. More on that later of course. But, suffice to say that probably next chapter everyone will be learning what to call them
Also, a couple of deep cuts for those you interested. If you're wondering what Raven looks like just look up an image of the DnD monster called a Dire Corby add in some wings and an impressive rack and you have Raven. Yes, female werebeasts in this story have boobs in their hybrid forms. Why wouldn't they? I've never understood that in werewolf media. They're supposed to be wolf-like not bipedal wolves. They should still have some human features like long hair, make up and freaking boobs!
Listen maybe its because I'm writing this part at 1AM but give the werewolves boobs. What's it going hurt?
Second deep cut, this line What? Is this shit genetic is taken straight DBZA (Dragon Ball Z Abridged). Been on a kick lately of watching the series with commentary and I loved that joke. Now if only we could get the boys back together to do the same commentary for HUA (Hellsing Ultimate Abridged)
Anyway, Good night all and I hope you enjoyed it! Take care!
Essiter out! Love ya!
P.S. Was really trying to get two chapters out by January's end, and I did it! Woo!