Fret and Misfortunate

[Pocky]

Opener for TheCedarWitch

The musician, now cast into the unseen distance, left his mind, body and soul until only the music remained. It quieted his desires, the ones that prickled and jabbed until someone else could make them still. It quieted the thing that made his wings ache and his hands furl. It quieted the sharp cravings into a molasses.

He moved high in the atmosphere where the air thinned and it was difficult to exert himself without puffing, but at the same time he moved faster through the air. A balanced exchange.

When the land looked familiar enough to tug at his heart, he pulled his wings in and torpedoed towards the land, headfirst. Closer the ground rushed at him until his wings snapped open and decreased his fall. He'd let himself fall too quickly, there was a painful tugging on his wings enough to have him grimacing throughout. His back muscles ached and he would be paying for this maneouvre tomorrow.

Just before landing a figure stole his attention, enough to have him swooping upward once more. Whoever they were, they'd seen him before he'd gone into his cave. He landed a short distance away and approached. It didn't matter how dark the new moon made the night, nobody would miss the fact he had wings. He didn't bother to glamour them away.

[The Cedar Witch]

Under twinkling starlight, black paws pounded against the sands of the beach.  Ever since her father shared his supposed vision from Akasha - of peace - Extasis was restless.  Lately while stalking deer in the forest, she imagined that the warm throats she tore through were dark angels.  It wasn’t enough, but it was a small solace in the moment of the kill even if only for a blink.  Nothing compared to going to battle with the pack, chasing and hunting dark angels.  Without it, the days dragged miserably on.  Their numbers were so few thanks to dark angel hands, why would Akasha call for peace now?  After all the pack had suffered?  The new members, few and far in between, were a temporary distraction.  Ex craved the hunt, the thirst for dark angel blood on her teeth had not abated since the murder of her daughter. 

Evil, narcissistic, self-serving vultures.
What a horror it was that two such creatures were the city’s alphas.  It churned her stomach.

Wrage didn’t seem to share her feelings, and her father most certainly would not.  At first, she questioned her father’s vision but did not press him for more answers.  It would be seen as a crisis of faith, or they would dismiss her as grief-stricken.  Slowly Extasis began to retreat into herself, spending longer hours deep in the forest hunting.  But the trees of the Dios Del Noche Woodlands had begun to close in and she needed a change of pace.

How exhilarating racing along the coastline felt!  The salt air, the pounding surf, starlight reflecting on the horizon!  For the first time in many moons, Ex felt light and buoyant as though she could race across the surface of the water.  A spray of sand spit behind her; Akasha’s gift allowing for such speeds to rival any angel - dark, fallen, or otherwise.  How long had it been since she last ran in the open with all her might?

Tongue lolling out and sides heaving, the wolf slowed while great cliffs came into view.  Something tugged gently at her insides and the farther she trotted,  the more weight that feeling took on.  Sniffing the ground, she stopped at the base of the cliffs.  Something was not right, but there were no obvious clues.  Her eyes followed the rocks stretching toward the sky until she spied the great opening halfway up the cliff face. 

How strange.  Could she climb this face if she shifted into human skin?

A great flapping in the distance above the wind drew her attention before anything could be investigated further.  The black wolf stood straight and tall, ears perking and hackles raised as she spun around.

It was a dark angel.  She could smell the evil on its feathers.  Her snout wrinkled as her lips pulled back to reveal her pointed teeth.  Was this the Alpha of the North-West?  No, that one was a Bitch.  Neither was this the Saraekiel bastard, though Ex could see that they shared some traits in appearance.  Had another vulture come to nest in the city? 

A direct challenge would be unwise and perilous without the support of her pack.  Out in the open, she was at a disadvantage.  Her eyes darted to the line of trees up the shore before returning to the approaching creature.  Nothing about his posture indicated that he meant to attack, and for now she eyed him warily.

She had not yet made the connection between the cave in the cliffs and the winged beast.

[Pocky]

Just a wolf. Adagio's feet sank into sand, golden specks clinging to his toes and sanding them with gentle abrasion. He rolled his shoulders, the blades of his back still taut and uncomfortable as they carried the upper weight of his wings. Their blood red feathers and hollow bones were light but the force of their parachute lingered. He folded them away as a butterfly might, tucking them together before lowering them downward and then settling them like pieces of a jigsaw against his back, hooking them together in an action that defied conscious thought. They became a shield of feathers at his spine, layered enough to stop bullets but not the brutal swing of a sword or the puncturing slow drive of an arrow.

The tide was out but coming in. A generous wash of dark, wet sand beckoned him to step upon it. After a drawn out moment his stare moved from sand to wolf, aware that its eyes were bright and dangerous. Just a wolf.

"Are you an omen?" he asked it. "A portent or an echo?" Adagio laughed to himself. It was flat and mirthless.

[The Cedar Witch]

The empty laugh sent a chill down her spine, all the way to the tip of her tail.  Each thick strand of fur stood straight on end, adding bulk to the large wolf's appearance. 

Was he mocking her? 

A clenching pain gripped her chest, visions of this dark angel standing above the lifeless body of her daughter flashing across her mind.  Body quivering she took a single step forward, black paw sinking into the sand.  Salvia began to build, pooling at the base of her teeth. 

A growl rumbled deep in her throat, climbing in volume until it ended in a barked answer - "Yes."  Barring her teeth in a snarl, the wolf lunged forward in feigned attack to scare the dark angel off. 

Or to test.

[Pocky]

Not just a wolf. The lunge had Adagio backing a step, weight distributed evenly and muscles braced for impact or ready for charge. His laughter choked in his chest while his hands rose, palms out, ready for burning and for killing.

"Real wolves are clever cowards," he said, his gaze measuring distance and opponent's weight. "You're a dead fool in fur."

He waited, prepared for the beast to make its move.

[The Cedar Witch]

Real wolves?

Beneath the rage, Ex knew this was foolish - but she bristled at his taunt regardless.  It wasn't the first time she'd faced off with a smooth-talking vulture, but that was with the pack at her back. 

"Leave, vulture," she snarled, widening her stance and crouching backward ready to pounce.   

[Pocky]

"A dead fool doesn't know the difference between scavengers and predators," Adagio said, his eyes bright, his stance ready. His sentence would not finish if the wolf meant to pounce in the middle of it--a tactic he was prepared for. He had seen the muscles bunching in the other and understood it meant to fight. As the cursed lute had disappeared from his hands previously in the night, so one of his cursed daggers appeared in a hand now.

[The Cedar Witch]

The motion of the dagger appearing in hand drew the wolf's attention.  She had forgotten their weapons.  This was not a foe she could face alone, at the very least not without knowing what this vulture's claws were capable of.  Even if she had one other from the pack, it would be enough to present a challenge.  Shame burned in her gut but manifested as anger in her aura.

Ears pressed flat against her head she let out a vicious growl and began to back toward the trees that divided forest from the sea.  Her eyes remained locked on the dark angel, ready for the twitch of a muscle to signal a speedier retreat.  If there was one thing she could rely on, it was her speed. 

She would come back another time to examine the caves, and she would not come alone.