Playing Coy [Vegas/Siofra]

[qhostqrowls]

Siofra slunk through the shadows of the forest like she was made of one herself, her inky pelt blending seamlessly into the dark of the twilight. Her teeth gleamed white with every panting breath, and she raised her narrow muzzle to the sky to scent the air, paws planted wide in the leaf litter.

The forests of America were unlike anything from her homeland. Sprawling and untamed, with different trees and different animals. So many new forms to learn. Some of them were familiar but forgotten - the bear and the wolf had long been gone from Ireland, but others, like the coyote and the cougar, were unlike anything she had seen before.

But even on a different continent, the humans were the same. Their cities encroached on the wild like the slow crawl of rot over a corpse. They hunted and hated what they did not understand. And there were so very many of them, now.

The fox turned in a circle, aimless, hungry. She wasn’t sure what she wanted tonight. Her mistress hadn’t called on her for weeks, and she could sense her irritation when she followed at her heels.

There wasn’t anything she could do but wait to be called back.

Maybe she’d follow the animals of the forest, watch them within their packs and their herds. Maybe she’d hunt them. The fox shook herself, and loped deeper into the woods.

[hadopelagic]

Vegas, who was disguised as her male twin (it was a thing she did) and therefore wore jeans, a cowboy hat, and her obnoxious silver chains, had planned to go fishing until she caught a snack, but ... well. She'd been at the lake just thirty minutes, and something felt wrong.

She was being watched. She sensed it.

Or maybe she was just a bit paranoid because of the bounty on her head.

A couple years back, while disguised as her male twin (that thing she did), she stole a Picasso from an extremely criminal collector. It was supposed to be a victimless crime; she'd ransom back the painting and use the dirty money to start a new life in Wathais.

Unfortunately, before the exchange, she accidentally put her foot through the Picasso.

She'd hoped that the crime boss would forget about her whoopsie, but apparently, he'd been pursuing her relentlessly, and now there was a bounty.

On the bright side, Vegas was almost positive that the sociopathic asshole wanted her ALIVE, not DEAD or ALIVE. Unfortunately, that's because he probably wanted to kill her himself, and he wasn't known for quick, painless murders.

As casually as possible, Vegas cast her line far into the lake, propped her fishing pole on a y-shaped stick, and sauntered over to the cooler near her new dirt bike.

Then, she leapt onto the bike, revved it twice, and ZOOMED down the dirt path between the lake and the forest's edge, where her van was parked. Gotta go fast. Faster. Dangerously fast! The trees whipped past, blurs. Once she returned to civilization and the safety of Sita's mansion full of beautiful vampire ladies, she could fake her brother's death. It wouldn't be the first time ...

BANG. A gunshot!

Its back tire exploding, her bike wobbled and then skittered on its side; Vegas tumbled into the brush and slammed against a pine trunk. Pain jolted from her hip; ignoring it, she grit her teeth and started to run.

She'd need good luck to survive this mess. And so she reached into herself and made it so.

LUCKILY, at that moment, Vegas ran in front of the path of ...

She sniffed the air.

Oh, interesting. A fox that wasn't a fox?

"I'LL GIVE YOU TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS IF YOU SAVE MY ASS!" she shouted. "SOMEBODY SHOT MY BIKE! THEY'RE TRYING TO KILL MEEEE!"

[jarahamee]

Kallik lowered her rifle, slinging it onto her back as she strode silently after her quarry. While she was a tall woman, she moved swiftly and gracefully, with an inhumanly smooth gait. She stalked through the treeline, lowering her head as she loped after the motorbike.

There were few creatures, man or beast, that she could not catch, and this man was not about to be one of them.

As she closed the distance between herself, her prey and the motorbike, she lifted her rifle again, and fired.

The shot went wide (barely), grazing her quarry and impacting the tree next to Vegas.

Damn.

[qhostqrowls]

Siofra startled at the crack of the gunshot, her belly pressing against the leaf litter. There was another bang, the skitter of metal across rock, the distant thump of an impact. Her head swung towards the sound, ears pricking, mouth parting to scent for blood.

Leaves fell around her as the flock of birds she’d been watching fled, the beat of their wings and the echo of their alarm calls distracting her momentarily. She felt a flash of irritation, watching her dinner fly and fade into the blue of the twilight, but she wasn’t given any time to mourn the loss.

There was a man in front of her - shouting - and the startled creature stared uncomprehendingly upwards, hackles raised and bushy tail held straight.

He had a faint canine scent, something nonhuman curling around the smell of fuel and fish settled on his skin.

And then there was another defeating bang, a spray of splintered wood. Her large eyes settled on the aggressor and narrowed, her muzzle wrinkling into a snarl. The stature of the Hunter and the gun she held didn’t seem to dissuade the little beast in the slightest, and she lunged past Vegas in a blur of morphing black fur and gleaming teeth.

The jaws of a wolf snapped savagely at the Adlet - and missed entirely. Her fangs clacked together painfully, but she wheeled around to lunge again in the next heartbeat, all slavering jaws and wild eyes. 

[hadopelagic]

"OW!" A sting of pain: Vegas fell to the ground and clasped her upper arm, wincing. The bullet had only grazed her, but damn, did it smart. She could heal quickly, compared to mortals. Didn't mean she was invulnerable or impervious to injury. A bullet to the heart would kill her, same as it killed a human woman.

She had power left. Maybe a couple large feats and several smaller feats. Vegas could spend the positive luck on her ally and the negative luck on the enemy.

Speaking of ...

The fox had become a wolf.

Half-hiding behind the tree, Vegas watched the fight unfurl with wide, excited eyes. Oh, she was terrified for her life. That much was true. But when was the last time she'd seen a pair of ladies fight for her? Must have been the summer of '52. Best summer of her life, 'til the ladies decided she wasn't worth the hassle.

TWANGGGGGG

Suddenly, an arrow buried itself in the dirt near the hunter and the wolf-fox. There was a piece of paper rolled around the shaft, secured with a rubber band. Something was written on it ...

[jarahamee]

Kallik did not expect to be attacked by a fox? A wolf? A shapeshifter who was asking for an early death at the hands of a master Hunter.

The Adlet turned her rifle, using it like a club to strike at the slavering wolf with all her considerable strength. Her features contorted, baring white teeth as she changed directions, drawing her hunting knife and slashing at the beast with surprising speed.

She didn’t have the time for this. Perhaps a taste of steel would change its mind.

Kallik changed her stance, shifting lower as she centered herself and prepared for the wolf to rush her again. She would slash it across the throat as it charged, strafing to avoid its attack, and thus deal with it.

As she began to enact her plan, an arrow, coming from an unseen source, buried itself between the two of them.

Kallik peered around, and saw nothing. Concerning, and potentially hazardous. She moved in a careful crouch, leaning forward just slightly to pick up the arrow, with its note.

The note read “ITS MINE” With a frownie face on it.

The Adlet herself now frowned. What was his? What did he want?

[qhostqrowls]

The rifle connected with a painfully loud crack, and there was a curse beneath Siofra’s snarl of pain. The wolf stumbled, righted herself, and again lunged straight for the Hunter.

The knife sliced through thick fur and met skin, and dark blood splattered across the undergrowth. Now the snarl was like the scream of a woman, and the beast shook its shaggy head, spraying more blood as she backed off.

Tail lashing angrily side to side, like a cat and not a canine, she circled Kallik, her eyes narrowed in frustration. The man was hunkered behind a tree, and she half-growled at him as she slunk by. She wouldn’t have helped him, but he’d bought the fight to her.

When the arrow thudded to the ground and the Hunter stooped to read it, she saw her chance. She lunged again for the woman’s arm, wanting to rip and tear until she couldn’t hold the gun anymore.

[hadopelagic]

Vegas gave the fox-wolf an apologetic shrug and smile. Sowwwry, and thankssss. Up close, there was something ... off ... about the shifter's wolf form. Perhaps she'd transformed too quickly. It happened. Vegas wasn't going to complain about her savior.

Suddenly, an arrow? Where did that come from? The whole situation was going sideways.

Vegas took a step back. Then another. Maybe she could flee while the hunter was distracted. She just had to be quiet.

***

From his vantage point on a rather high branch, Eterio clicked his tongue with annoyance and lowered his binoculars. He normally did not interfere with another bounty hunter's business, but this was personal.

Eterio's grandmother raised chickens, her beloved cluck-clucks. When they started disappearing, Eterio investigated, expecting to find evidence of a fox. Instead, he found evidence of a super disguised as a fox. For the past two weeks, he'd been meticulously tracking the chicken killer, waiting for the right moment to strike.

By the end of the day, the beast would either replace his grandmother's birds or perish at his hands. Her choice.

But first, he had to deal with the two fools who'd started a fight with his quarry. The chicken killer was trying to tear apart the lady with a gun, which really wouldn't do.

He took a special arrow from his quiver and fired at the ground near their feet.

THUNK.

When it hit the ground, a cloud of thick, noxious tear gas SPRAYED into the air.

That should give them pause.

"I said STOP!" he shouted, deepening his voice for effect. "Shapeshifter! Today, you are MINE to subdue!"

[jarahamee]

Kallik literally yelped with anger and pain as the wolf’s jaws tore through her winter coat, sinking into her forearm beneath. She turned her leg in an unnatural direction and leveled a kick at the side of Siofra’s head. She would have to dispatch this creature, and soon.

Her eyes scanned briefly, for either the one who had shot the arrow at them, or her quarry. The wolf was far too distracting, and it wasn’t even her target.

And then another arrow landed between them, seeping out..poison?

Shouting at them from above? The source of the arrow. It had to be.

Her fine nose was immediately offended by the noxious gas, and she leapt back, her small feet catching her body and allowing her to re-balance herself as she skidded away from the fox-wolf. She pressed her hands through her hair.

Kallik kept her eyes on the relentless beast, though she called out to the Hunter;

“Hunter! I am not after this beast. If it is yours, come claim it. If it continues to attack me, I will have no choice but to slay it.”

[qhostqrowls]

Siofra backed away, muzzle wrinkled in an ugly snarl. The kick had landed solidly, and her ears were ringing from the impact. She lowered into a crouch, clearly about to lunge again for the woman.

Another arrow thwacked into the grass, and she skittered away, blazing eyes narrowing at the stinging gas. These hunters and their tricks. It wouldn’t be enough to save them, she thought savagely, her hackles raised as she loped over to the man with braids.

She snapped at him, teeth catching his sleeve, and dragged him down and into a large bush. While the gas stung her eyes and her nose, it made a screen between them and the Hunter - they had time to hide, lay in wait. The beasts hot breath washed over Vegas’s face, stinking of blood, her fangs too large for her muzzle and her animal expression unreadable.

She pricked her ears at the voice from above, and her coat rippled as if she’d change again.

“You will both die by my teeth.” She snarled, slinking out of the bush, keeping low to the ground. She pointed her muzzle skywards, trying to sniff out the man. Beneath the toxic stench of the gas, she could smell a trace of human.

“Show yourself, boy, and I’ll make your death swift.”

[hadopelagic]

Vegas huddled into the bush; the shapeshifter's bite had guided her to safety, which meant she still had an ally in the fight. But how long would that last? She had to sweeten the deal, become indispensable.

It'd take a moment for the stinging smoke to disperse. Time enough for Vegas to make her offer.

"What are the chances?" she whispered. "Both of us hunted. Lucky we met."

Siofra was scenting the air; strangest thing. There was no human scent near the ground, but she smelled him above her - ahead and to the left. Perhaps in one of the two tall pines clustered nearby.

"I can bless you," Vegas continued. "And curse them. Take me somewhere with cell signal - that's all we need to escape. I have friends, you see. They'll help us both."

There was a hill in the distance, perhaps half a mile away, and the road there was connected to Vegas's phone network. If they could reach the hill without dying, Vegas could call Domin for an extraction.

"I have a better plan!" shouted Eterio. "You will pay for my grandmother's chickens--ten of them!--or I will make you a pincushion for my arrows!"

Then, to the other hunter, he called,

"I propose an alliance, my friend! You can take the money, while I'll be paid in justice. Tell me! Do you need your prey alive?"

[jarahamee]

Kallik stared back in the direction of the voice. Did she know who was calling her? No. Was she willing to agree at this point? Yes. She pressed the fur ruff away from her tanned face.

“A pact. I’ll help you, you help me.”

As it was, her quarry was escaping, and a strange shapeshifter she did not know was attacking her arms and legs, which she needed to be a successful bounty hunter. She needed to deal with this threat, and capture her actual target, who was already running away.

“I need him alive, and he’s already escaping.”

She glanced in Siofra’s direction, and caught a glimpse of the beast slinking around among the bushes, head high as she searched for the Hunter.

The Adlet raised her rifle, aiming it at Siofra, preparing her shot.

[qhostqrowls]

“Yes, bless me. I’ll protect you.” Siofra whispered back. “Where is your cellsignal?“

She had absolutely no idea what the man was talking about, but she could follow directions just fine. If he was lying, she could just leave him. Or eat him. But she really would prefer to eat the ones who were shooting at her.

Her ears swivelled, trying to pinpoint the director of the male Hunters voice. Payment or punishment. No member of the court would make a deal with something as inferior as a human. As shameful as a Hunter.

In her peripherals, there was glint of metal, and as she turned to face it, another deafening crack. The impact of the bullet knocked her off her feet, and her form blurred again as she registered the pain of the bullet

Dark wings beat against the leaf-litter as she righted herself, blood dripping down her plumage. It had lodged somewhere in her hind leg, and she hissed angrily at the Huntress.

A bird might be weaker, but it was also harder to hit. And she needed to get to that boy.

The eagle took wing, disappearing from Kalliks sight amid the leaves. Would she risk another shot with her ally hidden somewhere up here? The humans scent was stronger up here, and as she wheeled around she caught sight of the man.

There was no hesitation - the bird swooped straight for him, talons outstretched, curved beak snapping at his face, aiming to push him off the branch, make him drop his weapon.

[hadopelagic]

"We need to go there," Vegas whispered, pointing northwest with her chin. "Toward the hill. Half a mile, maybe less, not too--"

Then.

Bang.

Vegas flinched back, her ears ringing. Her nose prickled at the scent of fresh blood. For a moment, Vegas worried that the shapeshifter was dead. But then, a bird of prey soared into the air.

"Attagirl." She made made a finger gun and pointed at the hunter in the tree. A small act of luck--good luck for the shapeshifter and bad luck for the male hunter--would give them an edge in the fight. She sensed the threads of chance, which wound through every atom in the universe. With a little concentration, Vegas could give fate a nudge ...

#

Eterio side-eyed the trigger-happy huntress. Impatient creature. Had she no sense of dramatic timing?

Then, he saw the shapeshifter grow wing and fly toward his perch in the tree. Ah. So she'd made her choice, and it was death. He'd strapped a machete to his back, the blade crafted from fibers of silver, iron, and steel, its hilt carved from elderwood. The combination of potent materials made it a perfect weapon for unknown supers.

However, lucky for Siofra, the machete became stuck in its holster. Did he forget to grease the metal latch? With a soft curse, Eterio leapt away from Siofra's talons. Unlucky for him, the branch he landed on SNAPPED with a ringing crack. He fell through the canopy, colliding with fanned branches that slowed his fall (but bruised his side).

THUMP.

Eterio landed beside the huntress. For a second, he stared at the sky, stunned and aching. Then, Eterio burst into deep laughter. "Wouldn't it be poetic?" he asked the huntress. "If I was killed by a bird while I avenged a bird?"

He yanked the machete loose and stood.

"I'm not a poet, though. I'm a killer."

From behind the bushes, Vegas groaned.

[jarahamee]

Kallik’s eyes watched the progress of the shot, and saw the satisfying bloom of the blood upon Siofra’s flesh. She whipped the rifle around, reholstering it onto her back, only to see a bird rising from the brush, bleeding, but alive.

The huntress made a sharp hissing sound between her teeth, and brandished her own sharp claws, waiting for the bird to make impact, but instead, the eagle swept upward and into the high branches of the trees.

There was the sound of a scuffle, the crack of a branch…and Kallik instinctually sidestepped away from the falling branch and Hunter. Just because she was fated to die by human hand didn’t mean that she wanted to be struck by a falling farmboy-turned-bountyhunter.

She lifted a lip to expose one of her little fangs as he quipped at her.

“You do a lot for that bird.”

She retorted, her voice heavily accented.