Butterflies in Winter

::Chapter 5:: Outsider

Kit froze. He had been face to face with the jaws of death many times in his life, but this was the first time he had been confronted with a gun.

Monsters didn't need guns, they had their claws, their teeth, their powers to fight with. Yet this was more terrifying then any of that combined. Kit didn't move, he straightened so that he could look his enemy in the eye. Staring at her down the barrel of the gun.

"One move," she said. With those two words it became apparent that this woman was as terrified as Kit. "And I swear to God I will put a bullet through your brain. She may have been scared, yet the determination in her tone made Kit certain that she wasn't lying.

Her voice was heavily accented. It had been years since Kit had heard an accent he didn't recognise, but if he had to guess he would have called it Swedish.

Neither hell or high water could have made him move as much as an inch at this moment in time. He would have stayed frozen in that moment for an eternity, if it meant that he didn't have to get shot.

Beside him, Max landed with a soft thump on the grass. Now in human form and his hand held up in a surrender like gesture. He watched the strange woman with sharp eyes, he may have shed his animalistic nature, yet part of him would always be eagle.

"Please," it surprised Kit as to how calm the younger man was able to sound. "There is no need to do anything drastic," he explained softly. Coming to stand beside Kit, placing himself in the path of the gun as much as his friend. More than willing to take a bullet for his friend if that was what it took.

For a moment, she waivered. A part of Kit was surprised that this was all it took, but then she straightened and the gun returned to the wolf's temple.

She had made her mistake, and Max wasn't about to let the opportunity slip past him. He swung left, clocking her jaw and sending her stumbling back. In that moment, Kit lunged and tore the gun from her hand. Careful not to bite anything else but the object in her hand, he wasn't about to injure someone who's only intention appeared to be self defence.

This could be the source of answers for the millions of questions that the two friends currently had.

The stranger could be the person who could help them save their friends, neither Kit nor Max was going to let her go.

"Now the playing field is level," Max said simply. Throwing the gun as far as he could, it landed in the shadows of the nearby shrubbery. If the woman wanted it back, she would have to run a far distance. There is no way in hell that she'd be able to outrun us, at least Kit hoped. "We have some questions."

"You'll have to kill me first," there was no indication that this woman was anything more than human. Yet there was almost a growl to her tone, an anger and a force which was almost animalistic. "You wont get any answers from me."

Despite everything, Kit couldn't help but admire this stranger. She had surprising guts considering the situation she was in.

Kit watched her for a moment, her fists were clenched and muscles tensed. He wasn't able to decide if she was planning to lunge at one of them, or for the treeline in an attempt to retrieve her gun.

Her eyes danced, like a thief on the run from the shopkeeper. Looking for an escape, an out but finding herself cornered. She was scared for her life, this much was apparent and if she had to, she was going to fight her way out of it.

If it ended in a fight, nothing good was going to come of it. Kit stepped forward, shifting as he went and held his hands up. Trying to force his tone to be reassuring, he offered his hand to the woman and said in a calm voice.