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| Jackson |
The creature had no face.
Each time it peered out from behind the tree it hadn't moved from, Jackson saw just a little more of it.
Its human-like body was at least seven feet tall with lanky arms and grey, slimy-looking skin. The only orifice on its face was a gnarly, rounded mouth which stretched from its chin to where its nose would meet between its eyes if it were actually human, and inside were several rows of razor-sharp teeth.
When it leaned its body out from behind the tree again, the creature let out a shrill, rhythmic wail...but it almost seemed curious. It didn't attack, nor did it roar or growl as if it thought the pack was a threat. The thing just...stood there.
Jackson's feeling of fear lingered. It clawed at him, urging him to flee. He was petrified—he had no idea what that thing was or what its intentions were—but he needed to fight his terror. He'd not freeze up this time, nor would he let anyone else suffer.
He swallowed the spit which pooled in his mouth and looked at Damon. "W-we need to get the hell away from that thing," he whispered.
But...no one moved. No one spoke.
Jackson set his eyes on the monster, and when it backed behind the tree, he looked at his packmates. "Guys?" he asked worriedly. "We need to move!"
Still, no one moved or said anything. It was like...they were frozen with fear. But they didn't look afraid; they looked...mesmerized. Entranced. And when Jackson stared closely at Damon's face, he noticed that his iris' had swirling black patterns inside.
It looked as though everyone had it—even Wilson...and Sebastien.
"Wilson?!" he insisted quietly, moving in front of the tiger.
What the hell was going on?
Was that creature doing it to them?
Jackson turned to face it again and watched it peer out at him. It made another sound...clicking quietly as the teeth in its mouth slowly twisted around. He didn't know what it was waiting for, but Jackson wasn't going to wait and find out. He had to do something...but what? How was he supposed to snap everyone out of it?
He stood in front of Damon and nudged him with his paw. "Damon? Damon?!" He then shoved his side, and the Alpha stumbled, but he didn't snap out of his trance.
The creature suddenly chirped...and several chirps replied, echoing through the trees.
There were more of them, and they were coming.
Jackson's heart started racing as he rushed and stood in front of each of his packmates and tried to wake them up, but it was useless, and when he looked back at the creature...it wasn't leaning out from behind that tree anymore.
He frantically searched for any sign of it, but then distorted chirps started echoing from every direction, and Jackson began to feel so overwhelmed with fear and confusion that all he could do was stand there, tremble, and stare at the place he'd last seen the monster.
Footsteps crunched in the snow beside him.
Jackson turned to face the sound, but then it came from behind him.
He swung around, his breaths stifled, and his body stiff.
The creature's clicks came from behind a rock, but when Jackson looked over there, the snow to his left crunched—
With a shrill wail, the monster burst out from behind a tree and charged towards the frozen pack.
Jackson panicked; there was no time for him to hesitate. He shoved aside his fear and charged forward, and before the creature could grab Brando, Jackson snatched its extended arm with his jaw and yanked as hard as he could. He managed to pull the creature away from his packmate, and as it screeched, he used all the strength he had to sharply turn his body and launch the monster away.
The creature tumbled across the snow, letting out muffled wails as it did, and when it hit a tree, it fell still and whined quietly where it lay.
"Damon!" Jackson insisted, trying to wake the Alpha from his trance once again.
But then someone grunted.
Jackson searched the faces of his packmates, and when he saw a struggled scowl on Tokala, a slither of hope raced through him.
"Tokala?" he panted, leaping over to him. He stared into the Zeta's purple eyes—there was no sign of the blackness which had ensnared everyone else's.
"J-Jackson," he grunted through gritted teeth. "K-k...kill it."
The creature screeched, and a flurry of chirps replied. He didn't know how many more were coming, but they were getting closer. There was no time for him to ask Tokala why he had to kill it.
When Jackson turned to face the monster, it had already pulled itself to its feet. And then it charged.
He wasn't going to let it hurt anyone.
Jackson scowled and raced towards it, ready to tear it apart. But that was when he saw something move in the corner of his eye. He looked over there, seeing another creature...and another...and another. They appeared one by one, getting closer, heading straight for his packmates.
He wasn't looking where he was going.
Jackson crashed into the creature, and as it wrapped its arms around him, he grunted and snarled.
And then he felt its sharp, jagged teeth pierce his skin.
Jackson yelped as pain surged through his body. The monster slammed him on the ground, and then it tried to head for his pack. But he wasn't going to give up. He lunged forward and gripped the creature's ankle with his jaw, but holding back just one wasn't going to save his pack. The others were closing in...and everyone was still frozen.
As panic ensnared him, he pulled the creature back and climbed to his paws. He managed to pin the monster down, and then he savagely tore at its chest with his teeth until he gripped its heart. Jackson tore it out, and the creature went silent.
It wasn't over, though. He lifted his head as the heart hit the snow.
There were at least seven more...and they were mere feet from his pack. His mind went blank as terror ensnared his racing heart. What was he supposed to do? There were too many of them for him alone and there was no way he would be fast enough to tackle even one!
But he wasn't alone.
He felt something pulse inside him, and a strange warmth soaked into his right side. From his right bag, crimson fog crept out; it swiftly ensnared his body, and when he felt the inimă wrap around his neck, burning, enthralling demon ethos electrified through him.
Jackson gave in to it the same way he did before. All he could think about was protecting his packmates—
The ground shook.
The monsters stumbled and gripped the trees to steady themselves.
And as the inimă sent forks of crimson light through the snow, a flurry of shimmering red-black crystals burst up from the ground and formed a protective barricade around the pack.
Now...it was time to kill.
With a ferocious snarl, Jackson burst forward. He reached the first creature in seconds and pounced at it. He sunk his teeth into its throat and tore its head off, and when its body hit the ground, he turned to face the crystal barricade. The other monsters were trying to reach through the gaps between the crystals, shrieking and wailing.
Jackson raced towards them. He snatched the arm of one of them and tossed the creature away, and then he lunged at another and plunged his maw into its chest like a hot knife through butter. Once he tore its heart out, he fixed his eyes on his next target, which was trying to climb the barricade.
He grabbed the creature's leg and slammed it onto the ground, and before it could try to get up, Jackson mercilessly tore its heart out. Then, he sprung from creature to creature, tearing them apart as quickly as he could. And when there was only one left, it stopped trying to get past the barricade and turned to face him.
Jackson snarled and glowered at it. The demon power inside him urged him to charge and destroy it, but he held back. There was a small part of him that wanted to wait...so he did. He watched it slowly move forward, clicking and chirping. It tilted its head and swayed its arms—was it trying to communicate? If it was, Jackson didn't under—
"You..." a snake-like voice breathed, echoing around inside Jackson's head. "You...here."
Confused, Jackson stepped back, and the raging demon ethos retreated ever so slightly, giving him room to contemplate.
"You're...the one," the voice drawled as the creature stopped moving.
Jackson frowned and breathed, "W-what?"
The creature suddenly groaned and jerked its body. "H...help..." it choked, dragging itself towards him. "Help...m-me...."
He didn't know what to do, but his instincts were telling him to kill it—the power of the inimă was telling him to kill it. Tokala had told him to kill the monster, and maybe if he did, then his pack would be free from whatever trance they were trapped in. That was all Jackson wanted right now.
So he lunged and the monster and pinned it on its back. The voice was gone; the creature shrieked and wailed and tried to fight him off, but Jackson savagely tore its grey, slimy body apart in a matter of seconds.
And finally...it was over.
Jackson stepped away from the corpse and exhaled deeply. Relief flooded through him when he heard his packmates' confused voices from inside the crystal barricade. But he couldn't remove the inimă until he freed them.
He focused on the barricade and the fact that he wanted it to release his pack, and to his relief, crimson light forked along the ground towards the crystals, and then they slowly sunk back into the earth they'd come from.
"Jackson!" a flurry of voices called.
Everyone started running towards him, and when he saw Damon and Wilson, Jackson found himself conflicted about who he wanted to run to first. But by the time he decided it was Damon, they'd all crowded around him and asked him what happened.
He shook his head. "I-I don't know, you guys were just...frozen. It was like you were in a trance."
"I feel sick," Julian complained with a grimace.
"What the hell are these things?" Wesley snarled, looking down at the corpse of the creature Jackson just killed.
"Jackson," Sebastien then said.
He looked at the hound.
"You gotta let it know that you don't need it anymore—it's done its job," he said, nodding to the inimă.
Jackson glanced down at the amulet around his neck and nodded. He took another deep breath and tried to relax, letting the inimă know that he no longer needed its help. He felt the demon ethos inside him begin to wither, and the red fog that sept from his fur quickly returned to the shimmering crystal.
And then the inimă fell from his neck and hit the snow.
"Are you okay?" Damon asked worriedly as he moved closer and nuzzled the side of Jackson's face.
"Y-yeah, I'm okay."
"You're bleeding," Wilson exclaimed.
Jackson glanced at him. "It's fine, I'm okay," he assured him.
Damon then picked the inimă up with his teeth and put it back in Jackson's right bag. "Thank you," he whispered and caressed his neck with his head.
The Alpha's affection made him smile, and as he rested his head on Damon's, he was able to relax the rest of his body.
"Uh...guys," Lalo called.
They all turned to face him.
"This one's got a tattoo," the Kappa said.
Everyone moved closer. On the upper arm of one of the dead creatures was a rose tattoo with the name Charlotte beneath it.
"Was...this thing human?" Brando questioned.
Jackson tensed up and watched Sebastien examine the body further.
"I think...what we're looking at is some sort of...metamorphosis. Maybe this is some kind of final form," Sebastien said with dread in his voice, glancing at the wolves.
"Like...this is what those human infected turn into?" Wilson asked.
Sebastien nodded. "It looks like it." He shook his head and shifted into his human form. "I need to call this in. The sooner the Venaticus know, the better."
"We don't have time," Damon said sternly. "We've already lost too much being trapped here by these things."
The white-haired demon grunted and reached into his bag. He pulled out a small device and hastily stuffed it inside the corpse.
"What are you doing?" Tokala questioned.
"Tracking device," Sebastien answered, wiping his hands on his trousers. "They'll send a team out to come and grab it." He shifted back into his hound form.
Damon then moved past him and called, "Come on. We need to move."
"Don't have to tell me twice," Ezhno said, hurrying after him.
The pack quickly followed the Alpha away from the corpses and deeper into the woods.
"W-what if there's more of them?" Remus asked, walking beside Damon.
"Then Jackson can deal with them, right?" Wilson said before the Alpha could answer.
Damon glanced back at him and scowled. "We're going to keep moving and avoid contact with anything until we find somewhere safe."
"Does that mean there's variants of infected humans now?" Julian asked.
"It looks that way," Rachel answered.
Jackson then looked at Sebastien, who was awfully quiet. He expected the hound to be talking about the possibilities of human infected variants, but he followed in silence with a haunted look on his face. It looked like he was terrified.
"Sebastien?" he asked quietly. "Are you okay?"
The hound glanced at him. "Yeah. How did you create those crystals?" he asked, obviously avoiding Jackson's question.
Jackson wouldn't press him, though. "I don't know, I just...did."
"That was Luciferium; I only know two demons who can summon it, and they're Lord Caedis and the Zenith. You also used demon ethos in your wolf form, which shouldn't be possible."
"It's because of the inimă, right?" Julian suggested from beside Sebastien. "I-I mean...he did it before when Kane's wolves attacked us."
Sebastien adorned a skeptical expression. "It would appear so."
"You say that like something's wrong," Wilson said, walking beside Jackson.
The hound shook his head. "No, there's just never been a case of someone using one of the Zenith's inimăs before, so no one really knows what to expect. I'm learning shit as you are about it," he said, nodding at Jackson.
"What are those crystals?" Julian asked.
"They come from somewhere else, a place we've all just come to call Lord Caedis' Realm. Maybe Hell, if you will," Sebastien explained.
Jackson frowned strangely. He could summon crystals from Hell?
"Come on," Damon then called, picking up the pace.
Jackson wasn't sure what he was most concerned about: variant infected humans...or the fact that Sebastien didn't know what he might be capable of with the inimă. What if he did something bad? What if he broke something or hurt someone? What if he was messing with things he shouldn't be messing with? He was still struggling to remember what he knew about the Caeleste world, and the last thing he wanted to do was meddle in things that weren't to be meddled with. What if he set a bunch of Hell demons free? What if he opened a portal to Hell and plunged the world into darkness?
He shook his head. Was he overreacting? He'd seen his fair share of apocalypse movies...so maybe he was worrying a little too much about fiction.
But what if he wasn't? The power inside the inimă was literally part of a god. He didn't know what to expect. All he'd done so far, though, was help his friends. He hadn't torn holes in the fabric of reality or set huge, demonic beasts free, had he?
He took a deep breath and focused on following the pack. There could be more of those faceless creatures out there, and if he had to kill more, he would.
What did that monster mean when it told him he was the one, though? He'd heard similar things from cadejo; they always called the word here when they were close to Jackson. What if it was connected? Why did it ask him to help it? He didn't know, and there wasn't any way for him to know. It wasn't like he could strike up a conversation with a cadejo, was it?
...Unless he could.
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