Boys’ Night Out {Kail/Abby}

[NightshadeVII]

Secret places. Places dear to the heart, present in the mind. Places of one’s own making, given meaning by the individual, given meaning even when there was none. These places were so hard to come across, yet so many desired them, so many strived to find them. Few understood them.
This was one of these secret places, hidden away from the world by heavy underbrush and massive trees, working together to create a weaving maze for anyone to get lost in, that Aberdeen found himself in now.
This was the place where Aberdeen could truly be himself. Here he could be... exactly what he thought he was. The creature beneath human skin. For such was the nature of secret places, what transpired there would never be known to the outside world. He could be as cruel as he liked, as distant as he needed to be, as empathetic as he desired. Here, masks crumbled, skin-dead pretenses fell, leaving behind only the bare truth of Aberdeen, the lies and the deceptions he created, the art, the small compositions and the intricate mosaics. Everything and nothing that he was.
Yet, he wasn’t alone here now. This time, he had brought someone along with him, a woman. Even if he remembered her name, he didn’t need to speak it, she was already lost to his lure, susceptible, open to suggestions. She wouldn’t question what Aberdeen asked of her, he knew as much. Right now, she believed the reality he had created for her. There had been no questions.
They had been laughing and talking together for hours now, Aberdeen coming off human as always, so when he had finally said that he wanted to show her something, she had accepted without hesitation.
So now they were here, in this secret place.

“You can swim right?” Abby said, laughter in his eyes as he looked back at the woman standing on the lakebed. Aberdeen himself had already ventured into the lake, the water dancing around his knees and crawling up the fabric of his trousers, darkening what was already black.
“I swear it’s not cold”, he said sending her a sheepish grin laced with near innocent mischief. Appearing human in her eyes, even when he knew that act would crumble soon.

Now, he was just waiting for her, knowing that she’d take the first step eventually. She just needed a little guidance, a voice to beckon her and words to code her actions. It would come soon enough, after all, they had gotten this far. He had brought the woman here with promises and smiles, sweetly whispered lies and flustered eyecontact. But below it all there had been his lure, lacing every word, surrounding him like an unnoticable aura. She hadn’t noticed it then, as it clouded her mind, and she wouldn’t notice it now, too deeply entranced to care.
She was shifting her weight looking almost unsure of herself, it was as if she couldn’t quite come up with a reason not to walk into the water, and this somehow didn’t sit right with her, the ends of her reasoning didn’t fit together, her thoughts falling just a little short. If she woke up tomorrow, she might not be able to remember what had happened, wouldn’t remember where she had been and who, what, she had been with for the night. All the words exchanged between them would be lost to oblivion or perhaps attributed to a wonderful dream, idealized and romanticized by the rationality if the mind.
To any outside observer, the signs of the nøkk’s lure would be invisible, subtle hints here and there that could be explained by excitement and nerves alike. Yet Aberdeen would always be able to recognize the signs of his craft, he had seen how her eyes slowly had become glassy, returning to him, subtly, but often, how the sound of his voice moved her, physically, emotionally. And slowly, always slowly, her sense of self, her touch with reality slipped away, becoming unimportant as her world narrowed.

Aberdeen knew why, having the answers that woman didn’t. It was the effect he had on people, the effect he chose to have, disorienting and alluring as it was, igniting wordless expectations, creating dreams and fantasies with softly muttered words. He could promise her the world, and she’d believe it, fall into his lies and accepting that they were her truth now. He could tell her his intentions, show his true self and she would embrace it, entranced by the fabrication of cosmetic deception that made reality loose its appeal. For what was the bare truth, but fading and ugly, when compared to a beautiful lie?
That was what he was doing now, his art, creating that beautiful lie and letting it expand and ensnare those it was meant for.

“I promise it’s amazing”, he continued with a chuckle, speaking as softly as always, allowing his lure to become stronger, letting his voice pull at her, “you won’t regret it.”

Finally, she took the first step out, careful as it was, then another step, less hesitant, sneaking a glance at Aberdeen. With each step closer, she hesitated less, giving in, her last ounce of critical thinking disappearing. She had no idea what she was surrendering to. A quick shudder ran through her body as the water soaked her feet, but she didn’t really seem to notice, too focused on Aberdeen, his voice and his invitation. Both knew that she couldn’t stop now.
Just as she was one step away from him, Aberdeen nodded at her, encouraging, the smile resting on his lips with ease.
“See?”, he walked out a little further, the water rising to his thighs now. Slowly, he raised his hand, holding it out towards her, fingers spread. Droplets of water danced across his fingertips, falling together and merging, before they finally let go of his skin, surrendering to the inevitability of gravity. The nøkk’s tailored serenity returning piece by piece, becoming what he had intended.
Eventually, the woman took Aberdeen’s hand, her delicate fingers locking around his. And that’s when he knew that he had truly succeeded.
“You’re right...” she began, stepping closer still, killing the distance between them without a care in the world, eyes meeting, “this is... I can’t believe I haven’t found this place before.”, she glanced around quickly, barely seeing before looking back to Aberdeen, the world couldn’t matter less to her, “It’s so peaceful...”

[qhostqrowls]

Kail stood among the trees fringing Abby's clearing, leaning against a trunk with his clawed hands in his pockets. It was his first night back in Wathais, and when he'd been unable to find Kitty, he'd slunk along the narrow path to Abbys lake, hoping another familiar face would quell the disappointment at the lack of his vampiric packmate. He hadn't been expecting her to be at the farmhouse, but still...he'd been excited to see her again. She was probably busy somewhere in the city, anyway, and he wasn't going to mope around until she turned up. He had people to see, afterall!

Speaking of busy...Aberdeen had reeled in quite the catch. The little lady standing knee-deep in the water was completely ensnared in his lure, or whatever it was he called it, and Kail had been having a fine time watching the nøkk convince her to walk into the lake. It was an incredibly slow - infuriatingly slow - process, and Kail had to wonder why he didn't just shove her face down in the water and be done with it. Aberdeen was strange like that.

His ears twitched forwards as the two spoke, and his lips curled into a wicked grin as he processed the words. Peaceful, huh? Not for long. He'd been amusing himself with imagining bursting in at the crucial turning point of the process, and it looked like that time had arrived. He pushed off the tree and out of the dark foliage, nothing more than a shadow, as he circled, before stepping out into Aberdeens direct line of sight.

“Hey there, Abby!” his voice was crass and loud as he sauntered into the previously peaceful clearing, a little rough from misuse and holding unspoken laughter. “I know they always say take ‘em swimming on the first date, but this is some next level shit!” His grin widened as he came to a stop a good few meters from the shore, hands still in pockets, shoulders slouched. He didn't look concerned in the slightest as he ran a hand over his buzzcut, and his gaze only flickered to the human for a few seconds before it was back on the nøkks face. He hoped she'd run so he could drag her back, or that Abby himself would be forced to drown her without all of the boring foreplay.

[NightshadeVII]

Everything was progressing as it should, taking the time it needed to take. The nøkk would wait, would be patient when it was needed of him, holding back urges and suppressing impulses, imposed self control, self restraint. In some ways it was agonizing, obnoxious even that he couldn’t just act upon every urge, follow every whim or thought. However, he knew what the consequences of that would be, he would loose anonymity, he would loose control over the few aspects of his life he actually could control. So instead he waited, to maintain his control.
When it came to it, he was used to this. This right here, was the one thing he had always known how to do, even when he knew nothing of who he was. A drive beyond words, it was the one thing he would never need explained by anyone.
He knew this. Recognized the part he was playing.
Without placing too much in it, Aberdeen caught sight of a shadow, moving in his peripherals, barely there before it was gone, a trick of light or a lack thereof. The night was strange after all, hiding some truths while bringing out others. But he didn’t let this stop him, not when he was so close, and kept guiding the young woman out into the lake.

Then a familiar figure, a morbid curiosity stepped into the clearing, into Aberdeen’s line of sight. Kail. There was a wide grin on his lips, smug perhaps, baring teeth. No matter what his grin was, it didn’t change the fact that he was standing here again, after so long, after disappearing, he was suddenly just back. Eyes locked with eyes, different nuances of the same colour meeting, recognizing the other within seconds, and despite this their gazes were so different.
Aberdeen’s eyes remained calm, fixed and unmoved by the Wendigo’s entrance, betraying no thoughts. Another lie from Aberdeen’s side, already now, questions were filling up his mind, insensitive curiosity wanting to ask them all right away, logic telling him that he couldn’t, leaving him stranded between the two. Quickly, he looked over the wendigo, remembering some features, finding that others had changed. But not his eyes. Kail’s cold-fire eyes hadn’t changed, still looking at the world the same way, still perceiving what was around him the same way. Something Aberdeen would never get an insight in, but like everything else, he could recognize it.

“Hey there, Abby!”, The wendigo’s voice rang out across the clearing, too loud, rough, perhaps from lack of use, and dripping with laughter barely contained. Aberdeen couldn’t tell if it was because the wendigo was happy to see him or happy to have interrupted.
Either way, the moment, the situation Aberdeen had tailored so carefully, every thread woven together, shattered now. It unraveled between his fingers and he couldn’t do anything to stop it. All he could do was adapt to the changes, surrendering his control of the situation and distorting it, changing it the way he wanted it to before anyone else could.
For a moment, his smile lingered, but the emotion behind died away, as quickly as flicking off the light, making it look like a sad imitation, a dead face, unfeeling and unsettling. But in reality, this was just the truth.
He was being honest. For once.
“I know they always say take ‘em swimming on the first date, but this is some next level shit!”, Kail continued, his gaze flickering to the human for a second. Expecting, excited by some thought that had crossed him perhaps.

But more importantly, the woman had heard Kail, his sudden entrance and everything he had said. It confused her. Or at least that’s what Aberdeen thought, seeing her brows furrow, feeling her body tense, trying to break through the haze of his lure, trying to push through the mist in her mind. Given enough time, she might succeed.
But she wouldn’t have enough time.
“Aberdeen, who is-?!”, she began, starting to turn her head. To find the owner of the voice.
That was when Aberdeen moved, before thoughts could be completed, before words and protests, before his hold on her mind faltered. There was no hesitation as he pulled her closer, sudden, forceful now, his grip on her hand tightening. Everything gentle about him was gone now, the smile gone, eyes inhuman pools of turquoise. All traces of emotion, of sentiment and empathy disappeared, leaving behind nothing more than cold eyes, void of their former fondness, inhuman as all pretenses fell away. True to his nature.
He heard her yelp in surprise, heard her panicked breath and how she stumbled over her words. But that was it. He only heard. The words simply phased through him, or they fell short, directed at the one creature that would never understand. With a flick of his wrist, the nøkk managed to destroy her balance, turn her mid fall, so her back slammed against his chest. No reaction from his side.
With detached, expert grace, Aberdeen slid an arm around the woman’s neck. She only recognized the chokehold when it was too late. She began to fight when it was too late, began to fear for her life when it was too late.
Too late, she began to trash.
Aberdeen was unmoved.

“Kail.” Aberdeen began, eyes returning to the wendigo, “I see you haven’t lost your touch when it comes to... barging in.”
He spoke calmly, a hint of humor present in his voice, something that could be coaxed out. It attributed to the strange aura of normality that Aberdeen had around him, in spite of what he was doing, it didn’t faze him, didn’t affect him in any way. To him, everything was fine, he had no opinion of this sudden reunion. In some way, it was nice to see a familiar face standing in stark contrast with all the strangers that thought they knew him.
Something about his behavior was almost absurd, how calm he was, casually cold. But he didn’t have to pretend around the wendigo, he knew as much. Kail had seen past all of his lies a long time ago. Or rather, he had never experienced them to begin with, only knowing who the nøkk truly was below it all.

Already the woman was thrashing, kicking up the water, kicking at Aberdeen but missing time and time again in her blind panic. Fears stripping away common sense and reasoning, she didn’t seem to think, ignorant to her options.
Or maybe she knew that she had no options.
“Quiet now...” Aberdeen said, his voice barely above a whisper, as if he was letting her in on a secret, the same soft tone he had spoken in minutes before, but with none of tenderness, “your heart’s racing.”
Vaguely, the nøkk heard how she gasped out a quiet ‘please’, but her words faltered, becoming weaker as he steadily applied force to her throat, earning spasms from her. Not enough to break anything, just enoug to drag it out, yet there was nothing sadistic to it, the nøkk didn’t find joy in her suffering, it gave him no sense of satisfaction, no high, no feeling of accomplishment. It was nothing to him, the woman in his arms, nothing to him.
Perhaps it was evil. Perhaps his actions were inhumane.
But it was his nature. What he had done and what he would continue to do. It wasn’t an option for him to quit and he had never considered it. Nothing but a slave to his nature.
“It’s alright...”, he finished, but the words weren’t meant to calm her. They were useless, empty like every promise he had made to get her here.
She was weakening in his arms, but not dead yet. Things such as these took time after all.

“It’s been a while Kail... long enough for you to get a haircut”, Aberdeen said, speaking with ease as he nodded at Kail, relaxed, not showing the slightest sign of struggling as the woman continued to trash in his arms, “what brings you by?”

[qhostqrowls]

The lack of reaction from Abby was...disappointing, but not surprising. Those turquoise eyes stayed as flat as ever as their eyes met. There was nothing but a flicker of recognition and a dead smile before, savagely swift, he had the woman in a chokehold. Kails eyes fixated on her thrashing form, the movement of her legs as she kicked at the water and clawed at the arm around her neck. It triggered the impulse to lunge and stop the struggling, to just sink his teeth into the soft skin of her throat...but she was Abby’s. He briefly considered stealing the nøkks kill - it’s not like he would stop him - but decided to play nice. For now, anyway.

“Kail. I see you haven’t lost your touch when it comes to... barging in.”
His gaze moved back up and his toothy grin widened.
“Well, I ain’t gonna prance in like a goddamn faun, am I?” He sauntered closer, pupils dilating at the woman’s heavy scent. It was becoming thicker the more she fought, as the fear set it and her heartbeat accelerated.

“And yeah, was gone for longer then expected.” He shrugged, gaze sliding back to the woman with an increasing amount of longing hunger. He did not look back to Abby when he spoke, and had a dangerous poise to his posture and a concentration to his expression that suggested he was about to pounce. “Thought I’d swing by, see what ya were up too...same old, I see.” The clearing was filled with the old scents of drowned humans, almost overwhelming the longer he stood there, watching the two with a detached interest. The forest was alive with other scents, but it was hard to drag his attention away from the one directly in front of him. Abby’s scent was a watery backnote, not worth noticing. The lake and he were indistinguishable in that regard.

“Christ, ya take ya time, don’t ya?” There was no real irritation in the wendigos voice, but there was a definite note of growing impatience. “C’mon, hurry up. I wanna show ya something.” A boyish excitement lit up his face as he remembered why he was visiting, his attention snapping away from the woman as he paced the shoreline. The mud behind him hardened as it froze, and frost spiderwebbed over the very edges of the water.

[NightshadeVII]

For the briefest of moments, Kail looked away, but as Aberdeen talked, the wendigo’s icy blue eyes flickered back up, his grin widening almost instantly.
“Well, I ain’t gonna prance in like a goddamn faun, am I?”
Hearing this, Aberdeen chuckled, his smile becoming more genuine as he shook his head. Same old manner of talking, of course. It was still brash, rough around the edges. Just the idea of Kail prancing in like a faun, as he had said it, was almost too absurd for even Aberdeen. Some people just weren’t meant to be anything but what they were.

“Of course not. It wouldn’t suit you. But a flowercrowm would go a long way”, he said, looking up at Kail as if this was any other casual conversation, as if nothing was wrong, as if nothing was off or distorted. In a way, he seemed untouched by the reality of his actions, what he was doing right now. But even so, he was alert, noticing and taking in information. He saw how Kail’s eyes fixed on the woman trashing in his arms, pupils dilated. His posture changed.
He must be hungry.
Somehow, the idea of cannibalism had never disgusted Aberdeen. Not much disgusted him anyway, if anything did. It was simply a different version of what he did, wasn’t it? Where were the differences? Even if what they did was similar in concept, Aberdeen could never begin to imagine the hunger the wendigo felt, how it pushed him, drove him forward and forced him to surrender, to the hunger, to the hunt, to whatever animal reasoning lay behind.
Either way, Kail continued talking, his gaze steadily fixing on the young woman and staying there, the animal in his eyes wanting to pounce, yet he still held himself back. Impressive.

“Christ, ya take ya time, don’t ya?”, Kail sounded impatient now, yet not hostile, not yet, “C’mon, hurry up. I wanna show ya something.”
Like turning on a light, Aberdeen’s curious came to life, the reaction internalized as his thoughts began to race and wonder and theorize. He tilted his head.

“It does take about five minutes for a person to die from this.”, Aberdeen said, matter of factly, as he pushed harder still, feeling muscles give away. A strangled cry filled the clearing, not a cry for help or a plea for mercy, just a guttural, animal cry. Mindless noises falling past lips without purpose, useless and graceless, nothing that needed to be listened to in any way. But then she managed to kick him, her heel crashing against the nøkk’s shin, weakly, barely driving out the faintest reaction. A pathetic attempt at doing something in a situation with only one possible outcome.
“However...”, he mumbled, his voice half muffled by the woman’s hair as he turned to look at her. He was acting on after thoughts. Near soundlessly, the skin of his arm split, making way for branches pushing out, reversed roots tearing through the cloth of his shirt, a defense mechanism of sorts, stripping away yet another layer of his humanity. At first they were unnoticable, growing steadily, but then they began pressing against the skin of the young woman’s neck, causing yet another primal cry, her eyes glazing over with panic as she wasted breath trying to push away.
Gently, with a kind of detached tenderness, Aberdeen ran a hand over the woman’s hair, fingertips catching knots and letting go again. He whispered to her, shushing her as he called her name. Yet there was no more pretenses, no lure in his voice and no veil for him to slip over her mind. There was only the stark reality of what he was.
A monster, by any other name.
Then he pushed her head forward. A decisive movement with no hesitation behind it, no emotion, no sentiment.
And her cries stopped. The moment branches pierced her skin, her throat, her jugular, spilling her blood and wasting her tears, that was the moment she became so utterly still. Eyes widened and one last spasm took hold of her body. And then she was still. Quiet. Peaceful.
Gone.

“I’ve had practice.” He finished, looking back up at Kail.
Aberdeen let go of the body then, stepping back and pushing it away from him, only to have it land between him and the wendigo, facedown. Empty. Without even thinking, Aberdeen raised a hand, branches still protruding from his skin, and gestured to the body, nodding at Kail.
“It’s yours if you want it.”, he said, the turquoise of his eyes retreating into the confines of his irises, “unless of course you’d prefer to hunt.”
For a moment, the nøkk just stood there, painting the most confusing picture. In so many ways, he looked like a man, human and fragile as he stood there, wet clothes and hair clinging to his slender form making him look almost pathetic, lips pale, but not from the cold. Yet that picture was distorted, wrong. The blood on his sleeve and the branches growing from his hand and lower arm revealed what he truly was, it unbalanced him, distorting what he tried to be.
Luckily, he no longer hand to pretend.

A frown touched the nøkk’s lips as he saw the blood on his sleeve. It didn’t shake him, he just considered it disgusting. So he sighed, beginning to roll up his sleeve, yet doing nothing about the branches as he made his way up to the shore.
Finally, the wendigo and the nøkk were at eyelevel, Aberdeen standing barefoot on the frozen ground.

“You wanted to show me something?”, he asked, one corner of his mouth tugging upwards in a boyish, crooked smile, that perhaps would have been charming in other situations, “now I’m getting curious.”

[qhostqrowls]

The wendigo snorted at the mention of a flower crown, narrowing his eyes in mock offense. By all means, he was surprised that they were joking and chatting so easily. Usually he had to force every reaction and word from the blank super.

“Eugh, five minutes. Ya really ain't very efficient, ya know-”
He cut himself off at the sudden flurry of movement in the lake. There was a whisper, the near-silent sound of tearing cloth, and then there were branches erupting from Aberdeens skin like wooden spines. He hadn't seen that before. The woman thrashed, and then stilled as her head was snapped forward, throat impaled.

Kail let out a loud whistle of appreciation, mock wincing as her blood dripped into the lake.
“Fucking hell, Abby! I didn't know ya were such a savage! Ya should do that more often!” His sharp smile widened at the thump of her corpse at his feet, and when he next spoke it was with the detached sense of someone finding a more interesting topic to concentrate one.

“I ain't one to turn down a meal. My compliments to the chef.”

He fell upon the corpse with his usual gusto, flipping her over and going for the heart. There was the crunch of muscle and bone, the snapping of ribs, and soon enough he had straightened, chowing into the bloody mess of her heart like it was an apple. He'd eat the rest later.

“Mhm.” he spoke around a mouthful of muscle, swallowing after a few sharp, snaps of his teeth, tearing rather than chewing. “I sure do. Ya up for a hike?”

The question was a rhetorical one. Aberdeen would be forced along regardless. The wendigo ushered him along, striding out of the clearing and heading off in a seemingly random direction. There was no clear path, not so much as a animal trail to mark the way, but it was obvious that he had a destination in mind, signalled by his purposeful stride and the way he occasionally stopped to scent the air. If the nøkk so much as made a single twig crack underfoot or rustled the bushes too loudly, he would get a harsh, ‘playful’ whack on the back and no small amount of friendly insults to be more quiet.

“So,” he spoke as they walked, eyeing the other. “I aint seen ya do that twig shit before. Ya always been able to do that?”

The trees were thinning around them, nearer the lighter area of the forest where hiking trails and campgrounds crossed over like the many threads of a spiderweb. Indeed, the two passed over a few of the worn trails, empty at this time of night. The air stunk of humans. Too many. But they were not headed for the main camping grounds.

[NightshadeVII]

The wendigo’s appreciation of violence wasn’t new to Aberdeen. He recognized it, recognized how Kail’s eyes widened, how his voice lifted with some animal excitement. Familiar patterns, just like everything else. Time and circumstance had changed, while other things remained the same.
He just observed Kail for a moment, as the maneater set to work, pouncing on the corpse, tearing into it without regard, without sentiment. Just another meal. An object, something to be used and discarded when it had served its purpose, like it already had for the nøkk. The sight of the wendigo tearing into the woman’s chest, the wet crunch of bones and muscles giving way and snapping did not faze him in the slightest. The gore didn’t bother him. Violence was a force of nature after all. Creative destruction. He didn’t look away. Instead he just watched, eyes following the wendigo’s movements, knowing it was something he could not imagine the feeling of. He couldn’t imagine the satisfaction the wendigo might feel in this situation.
Still he wanted to.

Then when Kail asked if he was up for a hike, Aberdeen let out a sound, some kind of chuckle perhaps. He knew there was no choice with the wendigo. If he said no, he’d be forced to come with him anyway. A short, quiet laughter pushed past Aberdeen’s lips at this realization. Maybe it was more like accept. Resignation. Knowing that he couldn’t change the situation.
“Even if I said no, you’d drag me along regardless, Kail”, The nøkk replied, raising an eyebrow at Kail, as if daring the wendigo to prove him wrong, “but yes, of course. Lead the way.”

He didn’t ask where Kail was leading him, didn’t nag or beg to find out, knowing that he see it one way or another. Instead, he just followed the wendigo through the forest, treading lightly. With ease, he ducked under the low hanging branches, used to moving through places like these. And he watched, as the forest changed around them, becoming tainted with the pressence of humans. Campgrounds here and there, scattered like wounds across the forest floor. Yet despite their seemingly random path, Kail seemed to know where they were going. There was purpose in his strides, in how they didn’t waver.
Just once, Aberdeen stepped on a twig, snapping it underneath a bare foot. And while the sound was muffled, it was enough for the wendigo to hear. The smack on the back that Aberdeen received, forceful enough to push the unprepared nøkk, was followed by a string of friendly curses, urging him to be quiet. Familiar. Still all the reaction the wendigo got, was a gasp and a half hearted glare, followed by a nod. Aberdeen didn’t want to pretend around Kail, having the feeling that the other wouldn’t appreciate it, now that he knew the truth and could tell the difference.
 
 
“Oh, that?”, Aberdeen echoed, looking down at his arm, as Kail asked about the twigs. It still looked inhuman, distorted, the branches still protruding like broken bones. In a way that was what it was. Already he had forgotten about it, not really feeling it anymore. For a second, he allowed them to grow a little again. Then he could feel it.
 “I’ve always been able to do it, yes. But it makes sense that you haven’t seen it before. I try to avoid it though,” He realized he was rambling, wasting words, and looked back up at Kail, “it’s not that great when you want to blend in.”

Then, after a few minutes, once they were walking among trees, the silence was broken again.
“Kail...”, Aberdeen began, returning his gaze to the wendigo as he walked up beside him, “when you left, where did you go?”

[qhostqrowls]

“Ya should do it more.” He said, casually, glancing at the twigs. “Why pretend to be human if ya ain’t one?” That was all he would comment on the matter, and he fell silent for a spell, focusing on where they were going. It was not far now.

Something flickered in his expression as he stared at the nøkk out of the corner of his eyes. It could have been regret. Could have been irritation.
“Up North. To Canada.” For a minute, it seemed that was all he was going to say, but then he huffed, his breath misting in the air. “I went to my old hunting grounds, ‘round Hudson Bay. I dunno why. I guess I missed it.”

And he had. But he’d soon realized that the landscape wasn’t his home anymore - he’d valued it for his pack, and because it was all he knew. It had hurt that he hadn’t found a single other wendigo during his trip, and though he knew - hoped - he wasn’t the last of his kind, but it had sure felt like it. He had the sudden need to speak to Abby about it all, wanted to talk to someone, anyone. But he shut his mouth, grit his fangs, and swallowed down the urge. Aberdeen wouldn’t understand anyway, and he didn’t want to sound sentinel. He didn’t need anyone else.

“Anything happen while I was gone?” He said absentmindedly, stepping over a patch of nettles. The thorns caught on the trailing fur of his ankles, but he didn’t stumble in the slightest and simply crushed them underhoof with a misplaced vengeance. He frowned, and didn’t look at Abby. Made sure he didn’t, in case his expression gave too much away. “I haven’t seen Kitty since I got back.” It was a causal statement, and he tried to make it sound as nonchalant as possible. Like he didn’t care at all, like it was a passing thought.

[NightshadeVII]

Why pretend to be human if you aren’t one? That was something Aberdeen had wondered about himself. He didn’t need to pretend, didn’t need to keep up his charades and try to be the exact opposite of what his nature demanded of him. And yet, he still pretended, again and again, pulling a mask on, faking a smile, pretending to be human, just for a moment. It didn’t tire him. Over the years, it had become just as natural to him as breathing, perhaps even more so. And he couldn’t help but wonder, if he would be able to stop pretending.
Aberdeen chuckled then, shaking his head a little, before he drew breath to reply.
“You’ve seen me when I don’t pretend Kail... I suppose it would get lonely in the end.”, he said, absentmindedly toying with the leather bracelet he always wore around his arm, class beads clinking loudlt in the silence, “I like taking a break from my own fucked up mind every once in a while.”

When Kail explained where he had gone, Aberdeen couldn’t help but listen, wondering what Kail’s old hunting grounds looked like, what they felt like, how it was to be there. Aberdeen himself had never been to Canada, had only heard about it from others. He had heard that there was beautiful, that the trees and mountains stood tall, and the wilderness was so easy to get lost in.
Even if he wondered, Aberdeen noticed how it seemed like Kail wanted to say more, how words seemed to rest just behind his lips, wanting to spill out. It only showed for a second before Kail managed to shove whatever it was back down. Still Aberdeen wondered what he had wanted to say, did it revolve around where he had gone? Was it thoughts racing through his mind?

“Nothing much happened on my end. You know I like to lay low...” Aberdeen said, words trailing off as if he decided against them, “so I’m afraid I can’t tell you the most action packed stories”
The nøkk didn’t mention that he had begun seeing a certain creature around more often, the one creature he wouldn’t hesitate to kill if he had the chance, didn’t mention that that was the reason for him laying low. But it didn’t change the fact that the nøkk had begun to see the dullahan slinking around more often, sniffing around like some lost dog without its master, looking for just the slightest lead. Looking for anything and nothing at the same time. Confused thing. The dullahan, that Aberdeen knew too well for his own liking, continued to cling to his blind sense of purpose, perhaps believing it somehow elevated him above other monsters.
Then the nøkk shook his head, trying to dispel the thoughts and what they brought with them from his mind. Instead he focused on Kail’s gestures, his expressions, how the wendigo frowned and avoided eye contact. There was something. And Aberdeen wanted to know. But then again, prying might not be the best idea.

“Kitty... she’s your vampire friend right?”, Aberdeen tilted his head a little, “I’m sure you’ll find her one way or another. After all, sometimes we get lucky and are reunited with friends by chance.”

[qhostqrowls]

“Ah, so boring.” the wendigo elbowed Aberdeen, grinning. “No fights, no good drownings? C'mon, Abby, get a hobby or something.” he laughed a little, and kept the grin on his face even as he veered back into the more serious topic. It was a false expression for the moment.

“Tch, yeah. You're right. She's probably off ghouling some poor bastard. She can look after herself just fine.” There was a finality about the words, a closure of the topic. He wasn't going to mope about her in front of his friend, especially when the nøkk seemed to be making an effort to cheer him up. He shook himself off before turning to the other, still cheerful.

“Anyway! Shuddup for a bit.” he shot the nøkk a look, speaking in a low murmur. “We’re here.”

The forest had thinned. They had moved away from the popular trails and crowded campground, and instead followed a lesser known route, frequented only by experienced hikers. In some places it looked more like a deer trail then anything else, had it not been for the red signposts hammered into the trees or pegged into the ground, marking the way. Kail didn't even glance at them. He could smell his way just fine. The lone hiker he'd been stalking had been through here only a few hours previous, and the smell of his sweat and skin still clung to the leaves of bushes and hung in the air, clearer then any signs would be.

The predators steps became more slinking, and he held himself lower to the ground, ears pricked forwards. He motioned for Abby to do the same, moving through the underbrush with an unnatural lack of noise. Through the trees, the orange canvas of a tent gleamed. A campfire, burnt down to the coals, smoldered in front of the structure. Kail held himself perfectly still, and seemed to be waiting for something as he watched the tent, unblinking. Or maybe he was just biding his time, or waiting for the nøkk to say something

[NightshadeVII]

When the wendigo laughed and joked, it became easy to remember and fall into the roles they had had last time they saw eachother. With ease, Aberdeen fell into the person he allowed himself to be around Kail, at once both honest and relaxed, but aware. He played off of the wendigo’s jokes and friendly, harsh banter, sending his own sarcastic replies back when he could. And perhaps he enjoyed it, because it allowed him to feel like some kind of person, even if only for the few hours they spent together.
Then, as the wendigo made a remark on Aberdeen’s hobbies, he chuckled, shaking his head.
“I do have quite a few hobbies, Kail.”, Aberdeen mused, raising an eyebrow at the wendigo, “however, I think you’d consider those boring as well.”

As Kail spoke about Kitty once again, his tone changed, becoming harder, more a statement of what he assumed to be facts, the way he wanted thing to be. Aberdeen agreed with Kail, with what he said, after all he probably knew best, Aberdeen on the other hand, had never met the vampire that Kail was so fond of. He’d have to do that one day.
Kail’s words left little to no room to continue talking about his friend or the uncertain situation, and perhaps it was best that way. It wasn’t that Aberdeen didn’t want to hear what had been going on in Kail’s life while he had been gone, he was so curious about other people after all, but he saw no reason to pry, to push the wendigo further than need be. The matter was closed, for now.

The two continued on their way in silence, following paths that Kail knew and Aberdeen barely saw as a trail. Still it was obvious that they were following something or someone, as the wendigo moved with the single-minded focus of a hunter closing in on its prey. There was no unnecessary movements, the wendigo’s head didn’t even twitch in the direction of any unimportant sounds, as if the world around him had disappeared completely, leaving him with nothing but the signs he followed.Soon enough the forest thinned, making way for a small clearing.

Without a word either of question or objection, the nøkk moved into a crouch beside Kail. The movement wasn’t quite as silent as the wendigo, but it had an unnatural fluidity to it, making it impossible to see where one movement began and another stopped. Perhaps it was elegant in a way, if it wasn’t so ghost-like. His illusion of humanity dissolved, unmade itself as iris, pupil and sclera melted together into a singular mass of colour allowing him to see just a little better in the dark.
With a tilt of his head, Aberdeen took in the scene in front of them. Through the bushes, a tent could be seen, illuminated and inhabited, a sign of life. The campfire had gone out an unknown amount of time ago, leaving embers to die in the ashes of the tree they had burned, glowing like old stars, forgotten now that their light was no longer needed. It was peaceful, with a wall of dark trees around the little camp making it seem like a little pocket of peace.
Idyllic from the perspective of an observer, an outsider.
The camper in the tent probably thought he was alone, unobserved, least of al by two predators. Maybe he even felt safe in his little canvas shelter.

“A tent?” Aberdeen spoke in a voice that was almost a whisper and looked at Kail, one eyebrow arched, before he continued, dryly as only he could, “didn’t take you for the campy type, Kail.”

[qhostqrowls]

Kail stifled a laugh at the nøkks snark, and settled for a cuff on the back of his head instead. He spoke in a rough hiss of whisper, half laughing and half hushing the other.


“I live in the fuckin’ woods, I'm camping all the time.” He flashed a sideways grin, and then his gaze was abruptly back on the tent. It was remote enough that he could carry out his plan without fear of interruption. So with that thought in mind, the wendigos gave the other a shushing motion, and then cleared his throat. Took a deep breath.


“Help me!”


The voice that left his throat was the tremulous cry of a child - a young boy. There was not the slightest hint of the wendigos usual rough, mature voice. It was the wail of a child through and through. It was no forced, fake scream - it was a perfect mimic. He repeated the scream, and the wicked grin he sent the nokk as he did so was jarringly at odds with his fake voice.


Had the whole ploy not been such an awful play on human compassion, it may have been humorous, with the young human voice coming from a 300 year old supernatural. He didn't do this often, and had expected himself to be more rusty. It was a ruse his older packmates frequently used on larger groups - but they typically stopped following the screams from the forest by the time the third had gone missing. But this man was alone. Had no one to learn from. Would doubtlessly hurry to help a child, of all people.


And hurrying he was. The beam of a torch shone through the orange canvas, and there was the hasty rustling of zips and cloth as the man stumbled out of the tent, boots unlaced and blinking sleep from his eyes. He cupped his hands to his mouth, breath misting in air that was far colder than it should have been at that time of year.


“Hello?! I'm coming - stay where you are!” He took a step in one direction, then the other. “Where are you? Keep calling!” in his panic - and who wouldn't be panicked, hearing a child's scream so deep in the woods, so late at night - he did not even begin to reach for his phone. It was perfect. Over the top, for this single camper, but he had wanted to show Abby.


“Over here!” came the scream, again, wet with tears even though the wendigos eyes were as bright and as dry as chips of ice. “I'm stuck - help!”

[NightshadeVII]

Aberdeen glared, somewhat good naturedly, at Kail when the wendigo cuffed him. Some things really didn’t change it would seem, however unfortunate that was. But he supposed he’d just have to get used to the wendigo being so physically affectionate. It was such a Kail thing to do, and the nøkk couldn’t decide whether or not he had missed it.
Still Aberdeen returned the grin the wendigo sent him, even if his own grin was strained and a stiff. Another snarky comeback was ready on the nøkk’s sharp tongue, however Kail has absruptly turned his attention back to the tent, staring at it with animal intent, and made a shushing motion at the nøkk, so Aberdeen remained silent. Curiousity welled up, and the lake-dweller had to admit that he was almost excited to see what Kail had so show him. Some part of him expected it to be something brutish and graceless, like the wendigo shifting into his animal form and stampeding through the camp, wrecking havoc as he went.

But as Kail opened his mouth to speak again, Aberdeen was caught by surprise, when the wendigo didn’t speak with his own voice and instead had adopted the voice of a young boy. The nøkk didn’t know much about wendigoes, despite his more than 120 year stay in Northern America, Kail was the first wendigo he had met, so seeing this new ability displayed was interesting to say the least, and most definitely useful. And the little stunt seemed to have the desired effect. Lights were turned on in the tent and the sounds of panicked fumbling and stumbling could be heard so clearly.

As Aberdeen saw the human stumble out of the tent, so ready to help someone he wasn’t even sure was real, he could’ve laughed, almost. It was classic, human behavior to help anything that even seemed like a child. It played on their instinct to nurture and take care of the young, their social, pack drive, which, no matter how much they wanted it not to be, was a weakness to exploit.
With a certain sense of detachment, Aberdeen watched as Kail stringed the human along, the wendigo’s faked voice beginning to sound more and more desperate, while Kail himself seemed to be enjoying the entire situation. The nøkk was simply curious, feeling no sympathy for the human as he stumbled through the dark, half blind and alone, and it showed in his lack of reaction, he didn’t do anything to stop Kail, didn’t once consider that perhaps this was needlessly cruel. Instead he was simply a silent observer, until...

“I must admit, I’m impressed, Kail. Cunning suits you.”, Aberdeen finally said, calm as always, but surprisingly genuine for the otherwise impersonal super. Impressing the nøkk was no easy feat, and he made it clear, having seen so many things in his life, it took a bit more than flashy, one-time tricks to truly impress him. However, this little show of mimickry was something he never would have expected from the wendigo, and he had to admit, that he enjoyed seeing the more cunning side of Kail. A smile touched his lip, wry and perhaps even slightly amused by the situation.
With the smile still on his lips, he turned his gaze back the human as he stumbled, calling out for the child that didn’t exist, and tilted his head.

“So... how long do you intend to toy with him?”, the nøkk asked, turning back towards the wendigo.