Chapter 13 - Dead

Iris

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Valkyre blinked open his eyes. He groaned softly under his breath, squeezing his eyes back closed. There were cramps in his neck and side, and his legs hurt from having been sat on the entire night.
The angel opened his eyes again, taking in the soft glow of morning light, the familiar forms of the worn room, the peeling wallpaper and litter-like pieces of furniture.
In his arms, Iris stirred, mouth a small, almost pouting frown, breathing hitching slightly, then slowing as the boy opened his eyes and gazed up at the other. Valkyre paused, feeling his face heat up by their proximity, Iris' bare skin almost colored, almost warm. An edge of the bat tattoo was just barely visible on the boy's shoulder.
The angel made as if to move away, but Iris clung to him, cheek pressed to his arm, gripping him tightly at first, then slowly softening, almost peacefully closing his eyes. Valkyre sighed, then relaxed. He stared down at the tangled mass of the boy's silvered hair, suddenly remembering the demonic eyes he'd seen in him before. ...Blood red, they'd been, and so predatory, so animalistic... The hunter lifted his hand, wanting to touch Iris' hair, to feel the warm-cool skin. But he stopped, stared down at the black vine and leering skull and twisting, writhing serpents. He didn't want to touch Iris like that. He was afraid of scaring him, afraid of the hand before him that'd slain so many creatures, spilled so much blood. Yet nothing he'd ever done had had a purpose to it. Never.
Valkyre sighed again, dropping his hand. He paused, glancing around the room, suddenly remembering the night. ...He must've simply fallen asleep afterwards.
The hunter glanced at the far wall. That creature, whatever it was, still lay there, impaled on the shaft of the blade, outstretched arm withered and clawed, mouth still agape. Valkyre stared at the unmatching yellow and green eyes, blank and wide, that stared straight back at him, making him shiver.
"...Iris?"
The boy seemed to read his thoughts, for he pressed himself closer to the other, perhaps afraid as well. Valkyre let Iris lean on him, welcoming the touch.
"...Do you know... what this is?"
The angel gestured, rather vaguely, at the corpse pinned to the wall. It was daytime now, and the creature seemed more small and lean than hideous and dangerous. The leftover rags of what might've once been clothing were soiled and filthy, the bare torso, arms, and legs nothing more than stretched, dried skin covering the bare, jutting bones. Valkyre frowned as he stared at the creature; there was still something unsettling about the way its ribs were shaped, about how its fingers and feet curled like claws. A cross between humanoid and beast. Impossible, twisted creation.
The creature's hair was filthy yellow-white, in some places thick and shaggy, in others short and cropped as if simply torn out. Its skin was white, impossibly, deathly white, corners gritted with dirt. The deep cuts he'd delt it last night stood out blandly, the blood already dried and brown-black, flaking.
Valkyre looked away from the creature's unseeing eyes, wrapping his arm around Iris instead, seeking some small brush of comfort. He stopped.
The hunter lifted his eyes again and frowned, studying the creature. A cold shiver ran down his spine as he realized something. It looked like Iris.
"...Iris."
The boy looked up at him, eyes almost sad, almost full of feeling. Did he try to hold his emotions in, or did he try to let them out?
"...Was this... ...from the labs?"
Iris looked down at the bedsheets. "...Yes." A whispered reply.
It was what he'd suspected. But that didn't make any sense. Why would anyone release, or possibly send out a creature like this? Just to track them? It was strong, yes, but Valkyre couldn't see how it would help anyone. The thing, whatever it was, lacked any remote sign of sanity or rationalism. It was crazed, unstable. Not the type of creature you used to try and capture someone else alive, or even dead.
The hunter didn't ask any more, but he pulled away from Iris, standing. He saw the boy look up, brows furrowed, as if hurt, as if scared or confused or lost.
Valkyre shook his head. "We... We have to go," he said. "We have to get out of here. I-If the lab's really still after you or whatever, we have to leave this town." Iris nodded wordlessly, slipping from the edge of the bed.
The angel paused, then stepped towards the corpse backed against the wall. He had not forgotten the bite wound in his arm, or the now mostly-healed cut across his face, along with the other minor scratches. The claws and the teeth, so sharp and jagged... he hoped his wounds weren't infected.
Valkyre knelt down near it, studying the odd twist in its back and the dirt-crusted skin. The creature's skin was pulled back on its face to show the clear outlines of the skull, horribly defined and hollow.
The hunter frowned, then reached over to grasp the hilt of the blade that ran through the body, a straight, clean plunge between the ribs and through the back.
Valkyre's fingers brushed the edge of the handle, then suddenly he hissed, stumbling backwards.
The eyes had moved.
The angel gasped silently, stared at the frozen, twisted face, mouth caught in cracking open as if to snarl or bare its teeth. Its body was still, but its eyes, sickly green and yellow, darted suddenly to the side, showing reddened whites.
Its eyes swiveled back, held the deep amethyst. Valkyre was breathing roughly, cold freeze of terror yet to crack from his veins. He stared at the creature as its eyes roved around wildly, sigh of a breath rattling between its lipless mouth. The angel stared at it blankly, raw, untampered thoughts running through his mind as he saw the fingers twitch, the leg jerk. Impossible.
It was coming back to life. But... that couldn't be. Valkyre stared at the end of the hilt. He'd struck through lung and heart, flesh and tissue and skin. Impossible.
The eyes seethed at him, lips moving, mouth drawing back into what could've been a snarl, what could've been a grin. Valkyre was frozen, unable to move, trapped.
The breathing came again, irregular and rasping, and flecks of fresh, bright red blood splattered the creature's mouth and the floorboards near its head. It hissed, claw-like fingers of its hand flexing now, quivering.
Valkyre jerked his gaze away at a movement from his side.
Quietly, calmly, Iris slipped forward, kneeling down. His hand was small as it reached out, body so impossibly fragile and thin, outline blurred and darkened by the impossibly soft morning light. Valkyre was so afraid for him, so afraid of that delicate body being crushed, smothered.
The boy reached over and pressed his palm to the creature's forehead, moving down to cover the eyes. Iris held his hand there for what felt like a lifetime, then slowly pulled away. The eyes were closed, the body unmoving. The arm that lay stretched out relaxed, going limp.
Valkyre stared at the creature. He'd been disbelieving when it had come alive, but somehow, with these simple movements... he knew for sure that it was dead.
Iris shuddered, then crawled over and clung to the hunter's side, body trembling. The other didn't say anything, only slowly took up the boy in his arms. He let Iris rest from whatever he'd done, then eventually pulled himself and the boy to his feet, exhaling slowly.
"...We-We've got to get going."
Iris nodded slowly. Valkyre stepped away, going about and gathering up their possessions. The simple task he set himself to helped to steady his frayed nerves, settle his pounding heart.
He didn't know where to go now, having lost one of the safest refuges he knew of. Everything was spiraling out of his control, and the angel knew that he was dipping into things he couldn't begin to comprehend.
But that didn't matter anymore. They were already on the run, and he hadn't expected to be able to bed down and hide forever. He had no plans for the future, save to keep himself, and Iris, alive.
As they were leaving, Valkyre bent down and jerked the blade from between the creature's ribs. He wiped it down with a corner of his jacket, then slipped it back into its sheath on his boot.
He had a feeling that he would be needing it.

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AN: I slave away and I bring you another chapter! Shower me with love and adoration, with the comments I madly devour as my sustenance!! ...Before I wither away!!!
... ... ...::coughs loudly:: ...Sorry, had to get that out of my system.
Rather annoying chapter for me, and a little on the macabre side, ne? I'm not much for being scared of by writing though, movies and pics, but never really writing... Hm...
But, on the other hand, some rather interesting stuffos should be coming up in the next few chappies. Hehe. ^__^- Found some loopholes as I was working, and I'm glad I caught them, so I could fix it before it was too late and all... Meh.
Charries... most charries I made are actually rather boring, so I'm working on their char. designs to see if I can't make them a bit more interesting...
I swear, I didn't mean it, but I think my writing is taking after Anne Rice... o_O [I'm reading vampire Lestat, gawd I love it.]
I need to cling to my originality... Sniffle... Hope I've still got it...
Well, thanks once more for reading. ^^-
... ....... .. .......... ... .... ......A-And I'm not completely lying on the need for comments as sustenance either! ::sweatsweat::

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