Chapter Sixteen: The Cat, The Bear and The Bull Continued
3033 Words
Drew..
The dog’s barking clued him in that something wasn’t quite right.
That dog never barked. And the few times he did, it was because he felt some strong emotion.
Plus, Bethany had left here so upset.. What if she had done something? Or gotten into some trouble?
When her panic hit him, he took off running faster than he’d ever run before. He didn’t know how he knew which direction she’d gone in, he just did. So, trying to ignore the shiver racing up his spine, he followed his instincts and chased her down, straight into the orchard. Only to discover Ginger placing himself squarely between Bethany and a very riled-up-looking bear.
“No! No!!” Drew shouted, waving his arms above his head. If he could just get the damned bear’s attention, maybe he could give Bethany a little more time to…
Drew couldn’t delude himself into thinking they were both going to escape this situation unscathed. Drew again wished fervently that Barbatos was there to help them out. Or maybe that he’d stopped and got his shotgun that morning on his way out. Why hadn’t he? Barbatos was always telling him to keep something near at hand in case something happened..
The bear made a grumbling noise in its throat, and began to rock back and forth in front of Bethany and Ginger. Perhaps because there were now so many things it needed to keep its attention on, and it didn’t want to lose its prey. Bethany seemed rooted to the spot, and Drew found himself yelling at her next, screaming over and over for her to run as his feet carried him up the hill towards the trees. The inane thought popped into Drew’s head that a bear shouldn’t be there at all. But then again, Barbatos shouldn’t be gone, so what difference did it make? Drew’s breath caught in his throat when Ginger lunged for the bear, going right for the jugular, and the foolish girl reacted by rushing after the dog to try to stop him.
They were all going to die.
No doubt about it.
Barbatos..
If his mind hadn’t been trained on Drew and Bethany, he might not have noticed the subtle disturbance in their minds that suddenly bloomed into extreme fear and anxiety. He put on an extra burst of speed, hoping to get back quickly, but at that very moment, the sound of electricity overhead and the sudden boom of a strike right in front of him sent him toppling backwards ass over teakettle.
“Now, NOW you choose to show?!” Barbatos bellowed at the sky, but the laughter came from behind him, cruel and mocking, completely devoid of any kind of humanity. But why would there be any humanity? The voice’s owner was distinctly non-human.
“I can’t let you go, Barbatos!” Singsonged the voice, and Barbatos turned with another snarl. “You see, I’ve been told a little secret, and I used that knowledge to send your Marked a gift!" Barbatos stiffened, feeling the panic of Drew and Bethany eating away at his bones.
“What did you do, ‘Ziel?” Barbatos couldn’t quite keep the pain out of his harsh scream, as he still turned this and that, looking for the former friend who refused to show himself and kept dancing around him, taunting him with his voice.
“Now that’s funny. Are you having a hard time seeing me, little Barbatos?” His former friend purred in his ear. Barbatos turned so quickly he nearly fell, claws and teeth bared. There was more cruel laughter, and a lilting “Oh-ho! Looks as though my information was correct indeed!”
“You must be faster! How are you to save your Marked if you cannot even catch me!?” The voice of his former friend taunted. Barbatos roared, deciding he was done with the farce and tried to break away from the fight so he could get to Bethany and Drew.
Unfortunately, his old friend was having none of that.
Lightning bolts rained down all around him and he reared up on his hind paws to avoid getting hit, but still, he smelled singed fur for a brief instant.
“Oh ho ho! Nearly had you there Barbatos!” His former friend sounded less and less like himself, and Barbatos wondered what had happened to him and just who had given him the information.
“‘Ziel, who told you where I was hiding my Marked?” Barbatos didn't even bother to phrase the question delicately or deny the truth of the matter. He hated fancy word-play anyway, and there wasn’t time for that. The crazed laughter resumed and Barbatos took several cautious steps in the direction he needed to go.
“Oh wouldn’t you like to know?” His former friend’s voice echoed all around him, and then the whisper he dreaded came from directly beside his ear again “But if I say his name, all Hell might break loose.”
The chill that went down Barbatos’ spine was enough to break his Virtue’s powers free from where they’d been slumbering in the back of his mind. They roared forward, fracturing his vision, and Bethany stared up at him from a pool of her own blood that was mingling slowly with Drew’s as he lay collapsed across her body. Even the damned dog hadn’t escaped, and Barabtos’ scream of rage and fear was more animal than human as he lashed out so viciously, he scarcely felt his claws connect with his old friend’s side.
Drew..
He knew, with the long-time certainty of being connected to Barbatos, that ‘Tos wasn’t going to make it on time.
They were on their own.
The feeling was almost an instinct, and it settled into him with fearful conviction.
Drew hadn’t even made it to Bethany’s side yet, and it felt like he never would. There was no slowing down of time for him, instead it felt like his mind took in everything one hundred times faster.
Ginger lunged for the bear’s throat and Bethany screamed a protest, moving immediately to protect the dog. Drew yelled at her in warning, trying to get her to back off while he tried to urge his ever-so-slow body to move faster. His limbs ached with the pressure he was putting on his body to move faster than he’d ever done before, and just as he reached Bethany, he saw her arm come upwards, and slam into the side of the bear’s neck so it would release Ginger. She froze as Drew grabbed her around the waist and threw her backwards, placing himself squarely between Bethany and the bear. He turned to see Ginger’s body fall, bloodied, to the ground, as the bear fell back to all fours, the trajectory of its body heading straight for Drew, and at the last minute, he saw what the fierce little wildcat of a girl had done to save her faithful dog.
Drew’s eyes were riveted on the bear’s neck as he was crushed under the weight of the beast. From the jugular on the left-hand side of the bear’s neck, the handle of her knife stuck out from the dark fur. And the last thought Drew had, as the blood poured from around the knife wound, was how well Barbatos must have taught her how to sharpen that knife after all.
He didn’t even get to hear her call his name as he lost consciousness, but he would have laughed if he could, about that silly knife.
Bethany..
She was crying in earnest now, as she tugged at the fur of the bear uselessly.
Ginger and Drew were both buried beneath the monstrous thing, and she couldn’t budge it. She was going to lose, possibly the only person, animal, whatever, that ever cared about her, and the only other person who might try.
Maybe she was being a little overly dramatic, but this was unbelievable! It couldn’t be happening!
“Help me! Barbatos!” That same feeling welled up within her that she had had before. A surge of something she couldn’t explain, except that it built in her blood and chest until it burst from her in an almost visible wave of power. And suddenly, there was a snarling mass of bloodied fur racing toward her, and she screamed outright, the adrenaline still pouring through her veins. But the red eyes and twin tails finally registered, just as the Demon grabbed the bear by its furry back and flung it away through the fruit trees like it weighed no more than a bag of garbage, branches cracking, snapping and breaking as the body impacted far further than it should be possible until the body came to rest on the ground.
Barbatos fell to his paws in front of her, and grabbed her face between his two front feet. The long, strange mix of reptile and cat-shaped paws giving her an uncomfortable feeling as the soft pads massaged her face desperately.
“Are you alright, Bethany?” Barbatos looked her over swiftly, noting the blood on her hands and face where she’d wiped at her eyes.
“It’s Drew and Ginger-!” She pointed, and he nodded.
“I know, but are you alright? You seem to be in the best shape of all of us, and I may need your strength to heal them. But thank the very fabric of the universe itself for you Bethany! If you hadn’t called to me, summoned me when you did.. I might never have broken free..” He grasped her in such a tight hug, holding her by the back of the head and around the waist, that she was certain she heard her bones shift and creak. And then just as suddenly, he was gone, hovering over Drew as she stared at him, totally lost for words for the first time in her life, though she wondered with a sinking feeling in her stomach, if he was only happy she called to him for Drew’s sake.
Drew..
He blinked open bleary eyes, noting he was in the bed he shared with Barbats, and once again clean, and also nude, with a blanket tossed over his body. He shivered. He was pretty sure he had a fever, and when he rolled over to ball up under the blanket, he was shocked to discover a sleeping Bethany beside him with her arms around a bandaged Ginger. He also discovered a shocking zap of pain within him that made him hiss under his breath.
“I told her he didn’t need the bandages, but she insisted. She would have done you too, but your wounds were internal, so less visible. You were lucky. Poor beast.” Barbatos’ grumbly morning voice had Drew once more rolling over, however, more carefully this time, to see Barbatos sitting next to the bed in one of the hand-carved wooden chairs from the kitchen, yawning widely.
“‘Tos,” Drew croaked, reaching out a hand, then wincing. His ribs ached, and Drew didn’t have to wonder too very much about why when he remembered the large bear falling on top of him. Barbatos, however, was up and moving, coming to kneel next to the bed and peeling back the covers to feel of Drew’s ribs in a heartbeat.
“I’m sorry it’s not completely healed up yet. I had to take quite a bit from Bethany, one of your ribs punctured a lung, the dog was on death’s door..” Barbatos sighed “And all this after I got into a fight and nearly depleted myself. Perfect timing.” Barbatos fell silent, seemingly brooding on the issue. He rubbed his eyes with a forefinger and thumb. “In fact, I’m almost certain it was ‘perfect timing’.” Barbatos mumbled to himself.
“What? Fight?! ‘Tos?” Drew rasped, and Barbatos patted his hand.
“Later, my bear-killing-heroes. I’ll have some news for you.. But first: What the actual f**k is wrong with you? Going after a bear with only a knife and your bare hands?” Barbatos growled and Drew grinned, then winced. This was how Barbatos showed his love, the big grump.
Bethany..
Days passed with Bethany spending just as much time, if not more of it than Drew, asleep. Barbatos would nudge her awake to feed her, ply her with water and send her for drowsy bathroom breaks, and then ask her if she was ok with him taking more from her Mark to heal himself, Drew and Ginger.
He’d never asked her before, he’d just taken, so she found herself having a hard time saying no. It charmed her, in a strange way. And then Barbatos offered to spin them all up in the silks, and Bethany balked, remembering her first experience with it.
“Alright, but the healing goes faster that way.” He grumbled, relenting when she refused, and then he stomped off to start some more soup, which seemed to be about the only thing he knew how to cook. Or liked to cook.
“Or maybe it’s just because it’s for sick people..” She murmured to herself, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, only to start awake when she realized Barbatos was back again, and staring at her.
“Did you know you even talk in your sleep?” He complained, and she shrugged.
“And?” She mumbled.
“Do you never shut up?” He griped, then glared at her as he checked Drew’s ribs again, while she looked away with a blush she tried to battle back.
Drew was naked under that blanket. She’d seen him. She blushed harder.
Not that she hadn’t seen a few naked men before, but she didn’t know, there was just something different about seeing Drew like that.
Maybe because he couldn’t give his permission, or because she’d totally seen him have s*x with Barbatos that one time, or maybe her dreams, which kept featuring the two men in ever more lewd situations.. But it made her feel like a virgin all over again.
So she looked away whenever Barbatos checked on Drew’s progress, like at that very moment, even though she wanted to argue with Barbatos that she frequently shut up, he just missed it. For instance, right now, she was silent as the grave, only her thoughts screaming furiously.
Barbatos sighed, and she glanced over to see him pinching the bridge of his nose, and then digging his forefinger and thumb into his eyes.
“All of this closeness with you has granted me an unfortunate look inside your head. I’d say our connection now rivals that of mine and Drew’s.” Barbatos grumbled. Bethany’s mouth worked for a moment or two silently.
“So?” She finally managed.
“So, your thoughts are like an open book to me.” Barbatos glared at her. “If you don’t want me knowing what’s on your mind: don’t involve me!” He barked. Bethany stared at him, stunned.
“Excuse me?” Bethany demanded, struggling against her exhaustion to sit up. “Why don’t you keep your creepy Demon mental.. Creepy.. Mind-reading..stuff.. Out of my head?!” She bleated. Barbatos slammed his hand down on the mattress, grinding sharp teeth together.
“Woman! Did you not hear what I just said? I have no choice-”
“Would you both just shut up and let a dying man rest already?” Drew’s weak protest broke into Barbatos’ roar and silenced him in a moment.
“Drew!” Bethany squealed, dropping on top of the man to hug him around the waist. He groaned pitifully in protest, and she backed off, shoving herself backwards with her hands dug into the mattress to flop down beside him while muttering apologies.
“Not that I don’t appreciate the rather excitable greeting, but uhm, what did I do to deserve it?” Drew wheezed, patting her hand while trying, and failing, to keep the pain off his face.
“Well, there was the bear, don’t you remember the bear? And I know you didn’t know Ginger and I killed it, but you tried to save us, and you nearly died! And-” Bethany babbled, but Barbatos waved a hand, silencing her.
“Never mind all that. How are you feeling?” Barbatos took hold of Drew’s hand between both of his own and kissed it gently, bowing his head over it like he was praying. Without waiting for Drew’s reply, Barbatos continued in a much more gravelly voice “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here to help you.. To save you.. To keep that beast out. I never should have.. And if I hadn’t left to.. It’s all my fault Drew. I nearly lost you! Lost you both! I never would have forgiven myself! I won’t! I can’t!”
Drew reached up and gently moved a stray curl from Barbatos’ forehead. “‘Tos..” He murmured, but Barbatos shook his head slightly, refusing to look up. “Barbatos, Earl of Hell, Fallen Virtue of Heaven, look at me.” Drew’s voice crackled, but power whipped through it, even as his command ended in a coughing fit that made him groan. This time Barbatos did meet Drew’s eyes, worry and tears filling his expression.
“‘Tos, we live on an isolated farm in a pocket dimension. Any number of things could go wrong..” Drew mumbled, cupping Barbatos’ cheek.
“Is that really what you wanna be saying to him?” Bethany broke in, and Drew spoke louder.
“Any number of things could happen, and you can’t protect us from all of them.” Drew ended his little speech with another bout of coughing. Bethany winced and the maniacal look in Barbatos’ eyes that she was pretty sure Drew missed while he was struggling to breathe. If she had to bet, she’d say Barbatos was thinking he could damn-well try to protect them from everything, and she wondered if maybe she made a bad choice following this Demon home after all.
- Writer
