Chapter 12 - Monster

Iris

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Something was wrong. Valkyre knew it even before he had fully awoken; he could tell by the shivering body against him, by the sudden silence of the night and the stifling air.
Something had broken the barrier he'd set around the small room. It'd been a weak one, he'd admit, but he'd kept it that way, since he'd thought that the seals would do a better job now of hiding their auras, and for the fact that weak barriers were usually less noticable to the keener eyes.
Iris was trembling, the small form pressed against the hunter warm from Valkyre's body heat, but... scared. The angel knew instantly, could sense the cold, icy flush of terror in his own veins.
Valkyre could feel the boy's clenched fingers gripping his shirt. He carefully pried them apart, gently stroking his hair. Iris' eyes were squeezed shut, face contorted, but there were no tears. This was a rare, unusual flicker of emotion from the boy; it worried the angel to see Iris like this. Whatever was here had to be really scaring him. ...But what?
The hunter pushed the boy down quietly onto the bedsheets, then slipped off as stealthily as he could.
When the window shattered and a form fell through with the glass, breaking the stilled silence of the night, Valkyre already had a blade in his hand.
The crunch of broken glass was mingled with the shuffling of feet on the ground as the creature stumbled to its feet. Its pale skin glowed in the faint, dimmed moonlight, showing a bare torso and angled, twisted body. There was an animalistic growing, rasping wheeze, and the creature's head jerked up, hiss passing through thin, trembling lips.
Valkyre froze, meeting its gaze. The eyes he found were bright and glinting through the ragged mass of dirtied white hair, streaked in parts with darker shades, uneven and tangled. The eyes themselves were wide and slightly crooked, like the twisted, lipless mouth underneath, skin drawn back to reveal sharp, pointed teeth.
And Valkyre's deep violet eyes met two others- one pale, unfocused shade of faded green, the other a deep, bright glint of sickly yellow. The angel tensed, fingers tightening their grip on the soft handle of the small dagger in his hands. The eyes... they unsettled him. The pale, skull-like face, the twisted body, the darting, animal eyes. Something was wrong. This wasn't the normal hunter- this creature wasn't even rightfully sane. Its body was covered in dirt and grime, its shoulders hunched, the torn rags around its waist rotten and foul.
Valkyre flinched when the other took in a ragged, rattling breath. It shifted up, clawed, disfigured hands leaving the ground for a moment before falling back on its haunches. Its ribs were clearly visible, and there was something wrong with the way its body was shaped, something that made it seem crooked, broken.
"...Aiih... Rah..." Valkyre shifted his footing as the creature wheezed out, mouth opening and closing as if it was trying to force something up through its windpipe, a small trail of spit dribbling down its chin.
The angel stepped closer, then realized that the creature's eyes were no longer on him, but beyond him.
"...Hah... Aiih..." A twisted, lopsided grin stretched across its face. "...I... ...Iris," he hissed.
Valkyre froze, dared a glance behind him. The boy's eyes were wide in fear, his entire frame trembling, quivering body threatening to collapse.
The hunter whirled around again just as the creature darted forward, small body incredibly fast. Valkyre struck out with his blade, felt it bite through flesh. His assailant hissed, snarling, as it crashed on top of him, sending them both slamming onto the ground. Valkyre whipped the blade away and slashed again, gasping to keep the creature's twisted hands away from him as they scrabbled and tore at his clothing and skin alike. The animal howled again, and the hunter struck it across the side of the head with his clenched fist, sending it crashing to the ground. Something was horribly wrong. Valkyre knew it from the first instant he'd touched the creature. ...It had no aura. He couldn't tell what species it should be, if it was any. ...But that wasn't possible. Whatever it was, it clearly wasn't human. ...Was it?
Valkyre groaned as he sat up, the impact having jarred his mostly-healed wounds and leaving a new throbbing pain at the back of his head. Too late, he saw the creature rise and dart forward. He realized that it was heading not for him, but for Iris. Valkyre stumbled to his feet, grabbing for the creature. He closed his fingers around an ankle thin and spindly, with a texture like driftwood, the bones prominent under his palm as he tried to jerk the creature away. It howled insensible words as it turned on him, clawed hand slashing out too fast for him to jerk away. Valkyre hissed as blood splattered in his vision, the other's fingertips having slit the flesh from just centimeters from his left eye down across his cheek, tearing the corner of his lip. The hunter blinked furiously, trying to clear the blood from his eyes.
He didn't have a chance to dodge when the creature struck out with its other foot, catching him in the chest and throwing him backwards. The impact was incredibly strong for the creature's light body, and Valkyre was slower now in rising to his feet, free hand trying to wipe the blood from his face. His blade had been knocked away, clattering somewhere in the darkness. He glanced down at his bare hand, slick with blood. The sight of it made him queasy, the inky red stains mixing into the black swirls of the tattoos on the back of his hand.
"...Aiih... Iiiris...!" The rasping voice was oddly wavering, as if almost singsong. The creature grabbed the boy as it crawled over the bed, tangled sheets dragged along its twisted legs as it curled its spindly arms around the boy, unmatching eyes focused entirely on him. Its gnarled fingers touched the boy's hair, his face, almost soft and caressing.
Valkyre was more startled as he realized it could speak, though its words were almost too breathy to make out, like an alien language torn from ripped lungs. "...-F-Found you...!" The angel realized with a sudden flash of unexpected anger that the creature was laughing, dry rips through its throat, twisted, heaving form curled protectively, guardingly, over the boy, fresh wounds on its body ignored, dark blood dripping unheeded onto the blankets.
Valkyre stepped closer, slowly, bare feet carefully placed. The creature ignored him, intent on the still form in its arms. The angel was dismayed to see that Iris was completely still, eyes squeezed shut. He had made no noise, and he wasn't fighting the bent arms wrapped around him.
The hunter stepped around the side of the bed cautiously, then bent down and slowly pulled a long blade from the side of one of his discarded boots. The blade had no guard seperating the cutting steel from the hilt, but that had been needed to keep the blade indiscriminate. The angel had no preferrences about keeping the creature alive anymore- it would be of no use, he knew. His dark violet eyes were sharp and cold as he regarded the twisted form curled around the limp body of Iris, still whispering unintelligible words and touching the boy's hair.
"...Hey."
The creature whirled around as the hunter spoke, startled to suddenly find him to close. Valkyre held the blade low in his hand, out of sight. "...Get away from him."
It hissed, loosening its grip, scrawny limbs taunt as it tensed, unmatched eyes glinting at him in the darkness, breath hissing from its lips. "...Mine, mine," it crooned, body wavering back and forth.
Valkyre didn't bother to try and speak again, but lashed out with his leg. His blow caught the creature full in the side, sending it tumbling off the bed. The hunter lept forward as well, blade flashing, ready to finish it off.
The angel was startled as the other suddenly launched itself at him, forcibly knocking him onto the ground. Valkyre hissed at the pain in his ribs and the spots that flashed before his eyes, the blood splattering on his skin. The creature was above him, howling as it slashed at him, blows he could barely dodge as he held it off one-handedly, trying to keep its clawed feet from doing equal damage, the unmatching eyes crazed, burning into him.
Valkyre hissed as it suddenly lunged forward and sank its teeth into his arm, sharp tips slicing deep into his flesh, slick spit cold on his skin. The hunter slammed his other hand into the side of the creature's head, jerking his arm away as he violently kicked the other with a blow hard enough to send it rolling off, keening, to bump roughly against the far wall. Valkyre wasted no time as he half-crawled, half-stumbled forward, blade's bare hilt still gripped tightly in a hand now slick with blood.
The eyes rolled up at him, the sickly green and yellow wild, raging. Valkye ignored them and plunged the blade through the left side of the creature's exposed ribs, tip of the steel edge sunk firmly into the wood of the wall behind. The other still jerked on the end of the metal, a raspy breath broken and uneven as it escaped its mouth, blood splattering from between pale lips. Its body stilled, and it didn't breathe again.
The angel stumbled away, absentmindedly flicking the dribbling blood from his fingers. He inhaled slowly, own breathing uneven. He had no idea what he'd just killed, but it unnerved him, this something that he couldn't begin to understand. He mentally shook his head, while physically, he wiped more of the dripping blood from his face. He couldn't bother with that now.
Iris sat on the bedsheets, curled up onto himself, body torn with ragged breaths. The boy was terrified, pained, sobbing dryly.
Valkyre crawled up slowly and wrapped his arms around the other, slowly, afraid something would happen, afraid Iris would push him away, or perhaps look up and not recognize him. But he didn't.
The boy only sank gently into his embrace, breathing slowly steadying.
Valkyre closed his eyes, feeling the frantic beating of his own heart decrease, Iris' body warm against his own. He found that most of all, he'd been afraid not for himself, but for Iris. Suddenly, his world, all that he'd known and trusted, had grown from himself to encompass this boy as well amongst the new dangers and uncertainties that had suddenly materialized.
...So be it, he thought.

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AN: Gawd, I hate this chapter. Stupid descriptions, took me forever, and the thoughts and dialogue are pieces of crap. -_-; I was trying for something a bit... well, more authentic and mature, but it ends up really cheesy. Sorry.
Oh, and please don't reference anything to LotR. I do not need a mention of Gollum/Smeagul/wtvr, and do not think of Iris as an inanimate object, no matter how boring he may get sometimes. --;; Oh, how I suffer...
...::coughs loudly:: ...Yeah. It's hard to get anything original these days, though I do try... ...and fail. Well, whatever.
This chapter took me a long time, and I think I drew it out too much; I really don't like the quality of it, but I'm too fed up with it to go back and edit any more... Sorry! But, hopefully, the next few chapters will be a lot more interesting... I've got some, ahem, stuff coming up, rather interesting, I hope.
Super crunchy action! ...Like you aren't sick of the lame-@$$ fighting in here anyways! XP Sorry! I try, really...
Man, I'm getting so far with Iris, and I really don't want to give up! It's so amazing! ^__^-
Well, it's the new year, eh? I should make the resolution to actually FINISH a long-term story, ehehehe...
Thanks for reading!

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