Creatures
Chapter 12

“Are you next?” The being hissed as they approached. “I am so hungry.”

“It looks human,” Karen whispered, standing slightly behind Talon. “Are we sure it is not?”

“I am sure. It is only a skin so he can blend with humans easily for food.”

“But...”

Talon let out a sigh. “If it will help...”

Talon threw a fire bolt at the guy and Karen watched as the skin was burned off and a creature similar to the one she had killed on the first day stood before her.

“Better?”

“Much. Thank you.”

Karen moved towards the life form and activated her weapons. The life form merely looked at her for a moment before coming in after her. Karen watched him come and in a fluid grace of a dancer, ducked and stuck her sword into his stomach, gave it a quick quarter turn and then pulled it back out, jumping out of the way of the blood. She stood and walked away as the being collapsed.

“How was that?” She asked as she walked back to Talon and collected her bag.

“Not bad. However, I do not think we are done just yet.”

“Huh?” Karen looked back and watched as another form rose from the body of the fallen creature. Soon a very large, very ugly creature stood before them, radiating waves of power.

“Who do I have to thank for releasing me from that worm?” The creature spoke in a raspy voice, almost as if breathing was hard for it. “I will reward them with a quick and painless death for setting me free.” He started to stalk towards them.

“Ummm, help would be good.” Karen murmured as it continued to close in on her, ignoring Talon.

“Got it.” Talon turned to the group. He knew that they had a nasty problem on their hands. This was not a lower level being. He was higher up in the food chain and if they did not take him down quickly, they might not be able to take him down at all.

“Eric, quarantine the area. Emerald, Evan, get the people out of here. This is going to get messy.”

“Got it.”

“Right.”

Talon turned to where Karen was almost backed up against the wall as the large being hovered over her.

“Would you like the first hit, because I will most definitely be taking the second.” He asked politely.

“Don’t mind if I do.” Karen nodded.

“Let’s do this.”

Hours of training had them moving as one, but the being was fast and he was able to dodge every blow they threw at him. For every attack they gave him, he was able to counter and push them back. Soon the ground was turned up and the buildings were falling down around them. They were in danger of getting knocked out by falling debris.

“Watch out!” Talon called as another chunk of the building fell next to Karen.

“The ground is not stable here. We need to move to a better location.”

“Got it.”

“Need some help?” Michael asked, watching them exchange blows with the creature from a safe distance. The others watched as the two danced around the creature. They would only help if they were asked at this point, but it looked as if Talon and Karen were in a tight spot.

“Nay we got it.”

“I do not know... you may have bitten off more then you can chew at this stage.”

Talon shook his head. “He is badly damaged, just hiding the blood to make us think that he is in better shape then he is. I can smell him. It should not take too much longer.” Talon moved in once again, struck the creature and stepped back, revealing dark blood on his weapon.

Karen stopped, she had been had. She had thought that they were not hitting him, but her weapons were covered in blood and she could smell it and it was not from them.

“Look out!” Talon turned to see Karen get hit with debris and go down. He moved in as the being did as well, stepping in just as the being’s claws were about to sink into Karen, taking the wound along his back as he rolled them out from underneath it.

“Are you all right?” Karen stood up with him as they headed out of the alleyway and to a nearby construction site that had been cleared.

“I am fine, it is just a scratch. Shall we finish him off?”

Karen nodded, her face grim. They were finally out in an open area where they could move easily without hindrance, but she could feel the pain rolling off Talon. He was not all right.

She was covered with scrapes and cuts and her sarong style wrap skirt was hindering her movements. She looked down at it. “Damn it.”

“Now what?” Talon winced, the cut was deeper then he had let on and he was not going to be much good in a fight soon.

“My skirt is hindering my movements.” She mumbled, trying to decide how to get more movement without destroying the skirt.

Talon rolled his eyes, of all thing to be thinking about right now, she was worried about her skirt. He reached over and ripped one side of her skirt open almost to her waist.

“How is that?”

“Remind me to be upset about this later. I liked this one.”

“Yeah right. I am not that injured.” Talon muttered.

The being caught up with them and Karen stepped behind Talon as he made a frontal attack at the creature. Talon forced the being back until he lost his footing and started to fall back. Karen took a couple of steps and vaulted over Talon, using his back as a spring as she jumped over him and sunk her blade into his forehead, once again giving it a quarter twist and then pulling it back out, pushing off of his head and flying up onto a beam of the building.

She landed awkwardly in her heels and hung onto the beam to keep from falling. She should have thought that one out better. That or start training in heels.

She saw Talon start to stand, red covering his back from his wound as the creature let out a scream and exploded, rocking the unstable ground around them even more. Talon jumped up the beams of the building as the ground fell apart underneath them. He pulled himself up next to her and stood up, leaning against the beam.

“You all right?” He was breathing hard and the pain was starting to register.

Karen nodded. She was hugging the beam for all she was worth. She hated heights and heels and narrow beams were not a good combination.

“What is wrong?” Talon asked. “Can you not stand? Did you hurt something?”

“No. I did not hurt anything. I just cannot stand because of these heels. I knew that I should not have worn them.” She started to shiver from the cold and the wind was picking up, whipping their clothes around. Karen hoped no one was looking too closely. If they were, they would see what little she wore for underwear and that was not a comforting thought.

“Take them off,” Talon commanded.

“I cannot without losing my balance. I hate heights.”

Eric called up. “Do not come down. We have to stabilize the ground down here or we will have an even bigger problem. I will let you know when we are done.”

He turned to the work at hand. Lily and Micheal were already starting to reconstruct the worst parts of the destruction.

“What are they doing?” Karen asked, watching as they started to move things around.

“They have the ability to fix things just like you have the ability to put a shield around things.”

“I thought everyone could do that.”

Talon shook his head. “Nope. Eric and Evan can contain the area around them to keep humans out while we fight and Carrie and Emerald can erase the memory of those that have seen things that they should not have.”

“I see.” Karen started to sit up then hugged the beam again as the breeze picked up again. “By the way, thank you for the shield earlier.”

Talon had moved down the beam as graceful as a cat and just as surefooted. He reached down and pulled off one of Karen’s shoes and then the other before helping her stand up and slowly moving back until he was once again against the beam. He winced as his back hit the cold, hard metal.

“Are you sure you are all right?” Karen asked. She could feel his pain.

Talon nodded, closing his eyes for a moment as the pain passed.

“You are shivering.” He commented.

“I am cold.” Karen snapped. The adrenaline was fading, leaving her tired and hurting. “I lost my wrap and you slit my skirt all the way up and took away my shoes. All in the last ten minutes.”

“Picky, picky, picky.” Talon winced again as the breeze picked up and Karen pushed into him.

“Sorry.” Karen breathed, pain radiating from Talon.

Talon let out a sigh, a bit amused at her grumbling. She was not one to complain so it was nice to see that even she got irritated. He unzipped his coat and pulled her in. He tucked her head under his chin and zipped it back up, wrapping her securely against him. She stiffened and then relaxed, sliding her hands around his waist, making sure to keep them off his back.

“Better?”

“Yes.” Came the muffled reply.

They stood there in silence as the others worked on getting them down.

“May I ask you a question?” Karen finally broke the silence.

“What would that be?” Talon used the moment to lower his head and bury it into her neck, in an appearance of moving closer to hear her.

“It is about the training.”

“Okay.”

“This is going to sound really stupid, but I think that I am getting immune to it.”

“To what?”

“To killing them.”

“Why do you say that?” Talon asked.

“Because... I did not feel the cuts like I have in training. I am afraid that I am... I am going to turn cold and heartless.” Karen finished lamely.

“Is it wrong to want to feel the cuts so that I do not forget to be compassionate to others, even if they are evil?” She continued when Talon kept silent.

“No honey, that is not wrong. You are not losing your compassion and you will not become a heartless killing machine.” Talon wrapped his arms around her more securely and relaxed against the beam as much as his wound would allow him.

“Believe it or not, that is what worries Shorty the most with all of the fighting we do. So he makes the exercises ultra sensitive. That is, every time we make a cut, we too can feel the pain and remember to be merciful in our killings. I noticed that you only cut when you had too. Shorty would be proud. You did not torture the being.”

Karen pulled back enough to look up at him. “Sounds like you know this from experience.”

Talon looked down at her. She was covered with small scratches and bits of blood and dirt, but he thought that she looked positively beautiful at that moment with the last lights of the sun creating a soft glow around her.

He pushed a strand of her hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear.

“I do.” He tucked her head back down and fell silent for a moment.

“Shorty developed that sensitivity for me.” He admitted softly. “When I worked for the mob boss after I realized that they could never be a family for me, I gave up on those dreams and fought until there was no more emotion in me. I did not care who I hurt and no matter how they pleaded with me, I had no compassion for them. I had become the perfect tool for my boss. The perfect killing machine.”

“How did you come back once you went down that road?” Karen asked.

“Shorty beat it into me. Though, to tell the truth, I was still a bit.... emotionless until you came. Our connection allows me to feel the pain you feel everytime you cut or take a life. It has taught me to feel that emotion again.”

“Do you regret that?”

“No. Never. It means that I cannot go back to being that person again. Thank you for that. I do not wish to be that man again.”

Karen did not know what to say in response to his words. She felt the tears fall for the man that had lost so much and had finally gained it back.

She felt a tingling sensation startup in her body and spread out.

“What is going on?” She asked afraid that something was wrong.

“Seems we are bonding again. Damn. This is really bad timing, with us both being weak from the fighting. Hold on, it is going to be rough, but it should be over in a few moments.” Talon grimaced.

With all of their injuries and the exhaustion from the fighting, he was not totally sure that they would have enough life force to survive this. He should have been paying better attention.

“It hurts.” Karen gasped out. “Is this the physical one?”

“No, it is the emotional one and it hurts because of the physical state we are in. Hold on a bit more, it is starting to subside a bit. We are almost through.” Talon grimaced, trying to focus on his breathing. He could feel himself start to black out and he fought it. If he fell right now...

A moment later they were both gasping for air and struggling just to stand on the beam.

“Sorry about that. I guess we were finally synced right. That was a bit too close though. I should have been paying better attention.”

Karen closed her eyes, trying to adjust to the emotions that were running through her. Before she had just been aware of his presence and a few stronger emotions, but now she could feel Talon’s emotions strongly and they were a bit overpowering at the moment, but his pain seemed to be almost completely gone.

“We seemed to have healed our wounds while we were at it.” She was more tired then she had ever felt. Tomorrow would be soon enough to figure out how to control the onslaught of emotions coming into her right now.

She tried to keep her eyes opened, but it was getting harder. Her body was screaming for sleep after everything they had just been through.

“What is the third bonding?” She asked to distract herself from falling asleep and taking them both over the edge. “Is it like this one?”

Talon leaned against her, his wound was mostly healed now, but there was still a bit of discomfort. “No honey, the third bonding is just like it says. Physical.”

“Physical? Like what we are doing now?”

“No. Like what a man and a, I guess it wouldn’t have to be, but a woman does in the bedroom. though, I suppose it doesn’t have to be done in the bedroom either.”

“Huh? You mean... sex?”

“You summed it up in one word, sweetheart.”

He waited for her to digest it and respond back in outrage, but nothing happened. He finally glanced down at her and realized that she had fallen asleep. He leaned back against the beam, wondering if she had heard his affirmative. He fought back sleep, knowing that it would be very bad if he fell asleep as well.

“Ready?”

Eric appeared next to him on a fire truck ladder.

Talon nodded and lifted Karen into his arms. He slowly worked his way down the ladder and Eric handed him the key to one of the cars when they were safely down.

“We will be a while, so go ahead of us. You are under strict orders to go home and sleep. It seems that your injuries are healed enough for now. Tomorrow will be soon enough to have a complete look over.”

Talon nodded, too tired to care as he headed to the Car.

“Oh and Talon?”

He turned back. “We will have to discuss what happened up there. You could have killed each other.”

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