Blade simply lifted his hand to her mouth to place a kiss on his knuckles, letting him feel through their bond that she was equally thankful to have him in her life. She'd never expected to Mate, to find someone to share her life with, to find someone who could accept everything about her.
She'd been hurt my males a few times in the past and it had hardened her against them. Until she'd met him. She'd trusted a few times and had been betrayed very badly. But she gave Dirk her full trust, something she could only hope she wouldn't regret.
She stayed there for a while, simply holding his hand in the darkness. But she finally placed another kiss on his knuckles and stood up, releasing his hand, "I'm going to take a walk around the house. Make sure no one's sneaking in from the back," she told him softly, "Be back soon," she added as she stepped off of the porch and disappeared into the darkness.
spaceDirk nodded and watched her walk away. He picked up the rifle and inspected it. It was pre-nuke, hard to come by. For the Holts to have as many as they did, they must have been doing well for themselves out there. It was good that they afforded no expense in defending their homestead. Dirk set the rifle down. He began to watch the other side of the house, watching for Blade's return.
Red Gypsy
Yeah, me too. The a*****e what hit him tried to talk us out of getting his insurance information. ******** that noise.
As Blade moved around the house in the darkness, she kept her steps silent and her senses alert. It was a good thing she did, though. She found one of the bandits trying to sneak into the house through a window. She let Dirk know about it through their bond and knocked the idiot out with a tap to the head from her dagger then tossed him over her shoulder to take him back to the porch.
She simply dumped him there and nudged him with a toe, frowning at him, "Talk about stupid... But maybe we can find out why they're so interested in getting the Holts..." she commented softly and crossed her arms as she leaned back against the railing.
thus always to tyrants
Talk about stupid... Reminds me of the time we had an accident with an 18-wheeler. Nearly sucked us under him and he tried to blame us for the accident when he was the one moving into our lane. Turned out he didn't have any insurance on his truck so he paid out the a** for the whole thing!
spaceDirk chuckled. He stepped in the house for a moment, searching for a rope or something to bind the bandit. He returned carrying an extension cord. In a few minutes, the bandit was tied up to one of the porches banisters. Dirk shook the man awake, who immediately started screaming curses at them.
space"Shut up, you damned fool. What do you people want with the Holts?" Instead of answering Dirk, the bandit looked up and down Blade, greedily licking his lips.
space"I bet your c**t tastes good, doesn't it? Answer me, you ******** b***h!" Dirk punched him. He grabbed his face, turning it towards his.
space"She doesn't want to talk to you, idiot. She'd much rather tear your head off. Isn't that right, dear?"
Blade gave a feral grin and licked her lips, eyeing the bandit like one would a piece of prime steak, "Mmmm... Bandit makes for good eating, Lover... A little tough but with a nice gamey flavor... They scream real nice too when the claws gut them..." she said with a soft purr, "May need salt, though... Idiots tend to go down easier with salt..." she added, unable to resist it.
Only Dirk would know that she would rather eat vulture than the bandit, but the show turned out nicely when the idiot in question actually went pale and stammered out something about her being the 'shadow-beast' they'd tried to get rid of earlier. 'Ah, fear to my enemies... What a wonderful thing... But you should probably point out that no one here is a cannibal before he suggests it... It would add to the threat of my cat eating him if he doesn't tell us everything...' she thought to Dirk, amusement in her mental tone as well as an image of her cat giving a disgusted look over the thought of eating the idiot.
thus always to tyrants
Especially when I add in that we had Ram in the back seat of the car...
spaceThe color drained from the bandits face and he started thrashing, violently trying to free himself.
space"Calm down idiot. We're not going to eat you. That was what was known as a joke. Now I'm going to take my hand off your mouth, and you are going to calmly explain why you are here." Slowly, Dirk released him. The bandit was still breathing heavily, eyeing them with a nasty, hateful look. Finally, he spoke.
space"I came back to torch my buddies bodies, so you ******** can't butcher and eat them again!"
Blade glared at the idiot, "He doesn't have a sense of humor, apparently... Or a set of eyes..." she added, using a thumb to point to the pile of ash beside the barn where the bodies had already been burned earlier, "Nothing left but scorched bones for the scavengers to pick over," she added deliberately, wondering why he'd said 'again', though.
She highly doubted that the Holt's were cannibals. They showed none of the signs that accompanied it; insanity, bad health, weaker bones, malformed children, and the like. Plus, there was always a certain scent to them that she'd be able to recognize, something similar to the rotting scent of the zombies but slightly different in still-living people.
"He's also an idiot. I'll leave you to him while I get more coffee," she told Dirk and trailed a hand over his shoulders as she passed him to head inside.
thus always to tyrants
Sorry... We were all fine, thanks to my fantastic driving, and the idiot had to pay out the a** for everything...
space"Again? What the hell does that mean?" He did not care for the line of thought this man was following. The Holts were good people, they would never resort to cannibalism. The bandit laughed.
space"You really don't know? Goddamn, you're a ******** idiot! These people have been chopping up the other other white meat for years now! I seen it with my own eyes! They drag the corpses in that barn! We're just trying to pay these sick ******** back!"
spaceDirk punched the bandit again, knocking him out. By the time Blade had returned, he was fuming. He untied the bandit from the porch and hoisted him over his shoulder. He started walking to the barn.
Oh yeah, a*****e even spent time in jail for not having the truck insured.
Blade raised an eyebrow at his anger but simply put the refilled thermos on the porch swing and followed him across the yard. She could easily feel how angry he was through their bond but did her best to keep calm for his sake, knowing full well that he wouldn't want a pissed off leopard on his hands.
When they got to the barn, she helped him open the door then searched for the lights. She found a lantern and matches and used them to light the lamp and turned the wick up before returning to him with it.
spaceAs they entered the barn, Dirk dropped the bandit upon the ground, dust and hay flying up. Dirk took the lantern from Blade, knowing that her night vision was better than his, since he no longer had the shade sight. For the most part, it was a normal barn. They startled a cow, which lowed for a moment before it fell silent again. Dirk felt his anger subside. Of course the bandit was lying. He stepped forward, relief washing over him. Suddenly, his footfalls making dull, hollow sounds.
spaceWith the toe of his boots, he kicked away some dirt and hay, finding a hidden cellar door. His heart racing, he set the lantern down and pulled the doors open. A terrible odor washed over them both, and in the lantern light, blood covered stairs led down into the darkness. A grim frown tightened his face as Dirk picked up the lantern, he glanced at Blade before descending.
space"Grab the idiot."
spaceOf course, if Dirk were to simply use their bond, he would already know what Blade's senses said was down below. At the bottom of the stairs, there was a slaughterhouse. The tiled walls and concrete floor were slick with blood. Steel tables stood in the center, some with piles of butchered flesh, some had the fresh corpses of the bandits. Torsos hung from hooks in the cieling. Dirk's heart dropped, his fists clenched, visibly shaking from the rage.
Blade stayed with the idiot bandit up above. Her sensitive nose could barely handle the scent up here. Heading down there would leave her nose numb. So she simply sent him a wordless feeling through their bond that she wished she could take the burden of this knowledge away from him, that she felt bad about him having to see this, that she was still here for him despite the fact that she couldn't head down with him.
thus always to tyrants
And no real idea how to post to this one but I'll give it a shot...
spaceDirk grabbed a bloodied cleaver and stormed up the steps. His rage emanated like a blackness and with a snarl, he grabbed the bandit and hefted him over his shoulder. He stomped towards the house, shouting to Blade,
space"This ends now!"
spaceWith a death grip on the cleaver, Dirk began to wonder how the Holts could have stooped so low. It did not make sense to him, they showed no signs of cannibalism, but why else would they have a hidden slaughterhouse? His pace quickening, he growled at Blade,
space"Be ready. We might have to fight our way out."
Blade followed silently, doing her best to temper his anger enough that he'd be able to think instead of simply explode. Of course, that meant taking the extra anger inside of herself, but she knew how to handle that much anger easily.
As they approached the porch, though, she frowned at the sight that awaited them. Only Jon was there, sitting in the porch swing. No one else. She couldn't even scent any of the others nearby.
She kept her hands near her daggers just in case and simply passed the information on to Dirk. After all, she was always ready for a fight... But this was just confusing...
spaceDirk threw the cleaver before Jon, the bloody blade embedding in the porch with a thud. He dropped the bandit, and drew his machine pistol, leveling it at Jon's head. The old man was still, staring up at Dirk with a cold calmness.
space"Explain this, Jon."
space"We're not eating them, you damn idiot. Sure, we're killin' 'em and butchering 'em, but I promise you, Dirk; We ain't cannibals."
spaceDirk lowered his gun, only slightly and Jon sighed, leaning back into the porch swing and staring out into the trees surrounding the lake.
space"It started shortly after you and Sarah disappeared. Something in them trees showed up. Don't know what it is, or where it came from but it's got a hunger for human flesh. Took my father and my brother, Jim. One night, we got attacked by bandits. We fought 'em off, and the next morning, the thing took the corpses instead of my kin. So, we antagonize the bandits, get some bodies, dump 'em at the treeline, and it's kept us safe."
spaceJon turned back to Dirk, who had lowered his pistol to his side. Tears were welling up in his eyes. Years of regret were coming out in one moment. His knuckles were white from gripping the cane. He screwed his eyes shut and shook his head as he fought back the tears.
space"It's disgusting, and I'm goin' to hell for it, but I do it to protect my kin."
Blade considered the situation carefully, this time keeping her thoughts from Dirk as she worked them out. There were only so many creatures the thing could be, too few actually craved human flesh after all. She wasn't sure she could identify it, though she had a feeling Dirk might be able to. But only if he could see it.
She looked at Jon, the old man looked like he was either about to pitch his cookies, fall over from exhaustion, or off himself. It was obvious to her that he hated what was going on but couldn't see a way out of it. She had a feeling that they'd tried to leave before but the creature wouldn't let them.
She finally gave a soft sigh and let Dirk know what she was thinking. After all, he killed rogues for a living and knew about all kinds of creatures. He probably knew of a way to kill this one if it could be lured out into the open where he could see it.
There were multiple ways of doing it, though. Use the bandit's bodies for the first look was the easy part. But how to tempt the thing out the second time? She knew for a fact that live bait was all too tempting for creatures like this, and was the most likely to be able to evade the creature long enough for Dirk to be able to kill it...
She raised her brown eyes to his face, meeting his eyes to give a small shrug as she let him know the plan she'd thought of. She wanted to know what he thought of it, if he could poke any holes into it that would make it a better plan, "It's the only way, Dirk... They can't keep doing this..." she said softly, making Jon look at her with a confused frown.
