Kidnapped|Book 4|A novel in the Blue Moon series| An Avengers fan fiction series|

22- Crimson on the Snow

The bear stands up on its legs again, roaring, and Thea screams, not able to tear her eyes from the giant claws, the edges of which are tipped in her blood.

And then a shadow leaps from out of nowhere and collides into the beast, sending it tumbling to the ground.

It's Videl.

He turns to look over his shoulder at her, and Thea sees that his eyes are a hard amber, almost as wild as the bear's, his hair tangled and mussed. He takes a dagger from his belt, one that she hasn't seen before, and yanks it up. Immediately, it elongates on both ends and sharpens- a spear.

Videl hardly has time to move before the bear is onto him, but he does, moving so quickly, Thea can hardly blink. He slams the bear's claws back with the blunt of the spear as the beast growls, its nostrils flaring at this new enemy.

Videl backs up, aiming the point of the sphere at the bear, baring his own fangs at it. Thea can hardly decide which looks fiercer; the Velah or the bear. But whereas the bear is huge and brutal and bulky, Videl is graceful, lean, and calculating.

The bear bats at Videl, but he counters it, sliding underneath the furry body and leaping up on its back, then flipping around the other side. The bear roars as Videl kicks in the branch that Thea had stuck in its shoulder, digging it deeper into the beast's chest.

Videl takes this opportunity to leap up again, up onto the bear's shoulders and arching back, looping his legs around the bear's beck and sending it over backwards. While Videl lets go and gracefully lands in the snow, his spear still poised, the bear hits the ground with a thud of fur and muscle.

The bear is fast though, and gets up on its feet quick enough. It charges at Videl, and Videl, similarly to Thea, spins around a tree trunk and slams the bear's face. He attempts to skewer the bear's shoulder, but the bear swats at him, and Videl is forced to jump down to avoid being hit.

Thea, in the meanwhile, grits her teeth, reaching forward and trying to yank the tree log off of her leg. After panting in pain for several minutes, Thea manages to instead pull her leg from underneath the log. She stands shakily, and looks back over to Videl.

The bear is on its rear legs again, and Videl has his spear ready, the sharp point glinting in the dying sunlight. Before Videl can move, the bear swipes down, its claws raking across the Velah's face.

Videl bares his teeth and hisses at the bear, five red lines on his pale, chiseled face, criss-crossing over the scars that Thea's fire had left. He looks positively demonic.

Videl jumps around the bear, but the bear catches him, sending him to the ground. Videl has no time to react before the bear is over him, its giant paws on either side of his neck, its teeth inches from the Velah's face.

"VIDEL!" Thea exclaims.

He doesn't look over at her; he doesn't have the chance. He uses his spear to drive up against the bear's jaws, and wrestles with the beast, so that Thea is watching a deadly game of vertical tug of of war.

Videl loses his grip on the spear, and it is cast aside several feet.

Thea seizes a large rock and throws it with all her strength. It strikes the bear's already-bloody shoulder, sending the beast roaring back in agony, its roars echoing through the clearing. Videl slides out from the bear and tumbles, leaping back on his feet.

The bear is faster now that it is angry and injured. Ignoring Videl, it runs towards Thea, its breath raspy and its growls primeval and manic. She ducks underneath its claws, but it would have caught her had Videl not leapt up on its neck again, sending Velah and beast down to the snow.