Chapter 10 – Hell


    Someone was touching him.


    Brandon felt it all over his skin, no he sensed it. Eyes. Hands. Something wet and slimy spread on his flesh.


    His breathing was so slow that he couldn’t hear anything but the thrumming pain spreading out of his stomach into every inch of his body.


    His skin was too tight, it was melting. It was popping. His eyes itched. Nothing felt solid. The earth rolled.


    The thoughts that tried to take hold slipped and ran away from him like spoiled eggs.


    And the cold......he felt the cold like thrones beneath his clothes. Grating on every nerve like nails. Ripping. It stabbed all throughout him. Borrowing into his stomach and spine. But....there was also the wet feeling all over him. In the darkness his entire body seemed to torture him. But the worst pain was coming from his lower body. It was like someone was knawing on his guts.


    But still. He sensed the hands on him. The eyes on his face. Voices talking over him.


    Muffled, distorted voices. And the light was so far. It drifted so far away from him that Brandon knew that he didn’t have the strength to open his eyes and take it in.


    Hands pressed on his skin made him angry. Made him terrified. But he couldn’t move. It hurt just to scream inside of his own head. And these hands....were not hurting him. They just touched him. His face. His arms. And where they went, something wet and warm was left behind.


    Who are you?


    What do you want?


    Brandon moaned to himself, wishing that he had even the will to force his lips apart. But the pain just sucked him down and the cold crawled around inside of him like spiders.


    He didn’t know where he was....but maybe this was Hell. And it was all that he deserved.


    ***


    Ezekiel closed his eyes slowly and stretched his arms to the side. A giant yawn cracked his teeth, but his claws played an anxious beat on his forearms as he crossed them.


    He was camped out on the floor outside of the room where he had left his mother Glen to tend to the mortal’s dire wounds.


    In truth, their mother had almost bodily thrown her sons out of the room. After Nate helped her spread salve all along the mortals’ arms, and Ezekiel helped her wrap them in gauze, she swiftly escorted them all, even Walter, to the hall and closed the door in their faces.


    And after that the moments had slid into minutes, then bled into an hour and still the door stayed closed.


    And in the time that passed Ezekiel and his brothers were wrapped in anxious silence.


    Nate passed the time humming a soft tune to himself, with a carefree air about him that Ezekiel envied.


    While Walter stood like a stone statue beside the door with his head cocked to the side. His face was unreadable, but Ezekiel could tell that he was using his sense to reach beyond the door. To listen to their mother as she worked on the mortals wounds without them.


    And Lander was out there in the darkness somewhere with their Father, hopefully keeping his dad out on the outskirts of their Lands; chasing the blood scent left behind on Lander''s clothes and skin after being near the mortal.


    Or he could be selling you out....


    A small voice said to him.


    Ezekiel sighed and pushed that thought away.


    He knew that Lander, a moody prick though he was, was also a man who he could count on to do the right thing. Even if he sometimes pretended like he didn’t know what that was. And Ezekiel also knew that there wasn’t anything that he could do about his father now.


    He could still feel the slight trickle of power draining out of his core and settling around the wound in his shoulder that the stranger had given him only a few hours ago.


    It would take more time before the beast within Ezekiel was done healing him and that meant that he needed to rest. Ezekiel fought it for a while....but as he sat on the carpet next to Nate everything began to fade. His eyes grew heavy, and his head slipped down to his chest...


    It came without warning. An instant and then chaos swallowed their home.


    WHOOSH! BANG!


    Suddenly the sound of crashing thunder filled the entire home. The sound of shaking wood broke Ezekiel from the cocoon of sleep, followed by the roar of something big....and very male.


    ***


    The house thrummed with tension. It sat on them all thicker then air.


    “What was that? “Ezekiel mumbled half a second later, quickly climbing to his feet and staring down the hallway. But the stairs beyond were where the roar had actually echoed from.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Nate and Walter crowed around him and Nate hit him on the shoulder. “OH, that?” He said with a cool chuckle. “That was the sound of the shit hitting the fan.”


    “Dad seems to have discovered that there is something amiss.” Walter rumbled from beside the door. His warm eyes reflected neither fear or worry. “It’s only a matter of time now.”


    “But how!?” Ezekiel hissed at them unconsciously quelling his voice as though that would somehow keep his father from locating them just a little bit longer. “What happened? Landers so useless he was supposed to keep dad occupied!”


    “Looks like Dad really can’t be distracted the whole night.” Nate shrugged, not bothering to lower his voice a single octave.


    “Hey...he didn’t sound very happy about the little goose chase you sent him on Ezekiel. Walter sad casting him a disappointed look. “You know? Stalling him really was a bad idea.”


    Ezekiel snarled at him in disgust. “It was your stupid idea, Walter!”


    Suddenly the door behind them whooshed open and there was his mother. Her hair braided back, her dress smeared with dirt, and water and blood looked considerably less elegant then it had before and her hands in front of her were wrapped in a thick cloth that was almost stained bloody red. But she seemed pleased with herself and completely unmoved by the roar of her husband.


    She finished wiping her hands and cast them all one grim glance and raised her eye brows. “Well.” She said to them, slapping the towel over her right shoulder. “You had better get ready. I told you that this wouldn’t end well.” Glen sighed and turned back into the room, her stained dress still swirling out around her, holding the bedroom door open she looked back at them and rolled her eyes.


    “Let’s go. ” She told them. “Get in here. Since he''s already in a lather nothing is gonna stop him from getting into this room. You know he’ll be up here any minute and I can’t be leaving my patient to have a family meeting in the hall.” She finished and slipped further into the room and out of sight.


    Ezekiel looked at his brothers shrugged and followed her inside.


    The moment he came into the room his eyes traveled to where the bloody mortal still laid. Slumbering and still filthy, but now he had bandages wrapped around his arms and a giant patch on the side of his temple. Multiple bloody rags sat in a heap on the floor beside the bed, but for the most part, the mortal was still a dirty mess.


    So much so that his face was still a general mystery to Ezekiel. But still he couldn’t help looking. And Once again Ezekiel was overpowered by the mortals smell and had to pause just indie of the door to catch his breath as the smell of the stranger''s blood, shot down into his lungs and coated them in a mild stinging warmth.


    Dammit! Why does his blood affect me like this!


    Ezekiel snarled to himself as he felt the warmth spreading in his mouth and across his tongue. The beast inside growled and pushed at him slightly, he felt his teeth starting to itch in their gums.


    What’s wrong with me?


    Ezekiel chocked and coughed, caught off guard for a second. Not paying him any particular attention, Walter quietly brushed past him.


    While Nate slapped him on the back and put an arm around his neck. “Are you okay?” He asked him as he pulled him into the center of the room. His eyes gazed at Ezekiel as though he could see into his mind.


    Ezekiel let Nate pull him as he put a hand to his nose, trying to block out the exciting smell pulling on his senses.


    “It’s fine. I’m okay.”


    “Oh No! You’re not!” Lander suddenly hissed from behind them all.


    Startled Ezekiel and Nate spun around, but to their surprise, they came face to face with their father who was standing in the open door way.


    “I''m only going to ask this ONE TIME...Why do I smell mortal blood in my home!? He growled under his breath as he continued to stand in the outside threshold. All of his six foot eleven body blocked the exit. “What’s going on in here?”


    Ezekiel''s first thought was to step closer to Nate and Walter. Futilely trying to block the mortal from his father’s view and for a few moment’s it worked.


    Mantilo, their father, was a large man especially compared to Ezekiel’s small mother.


    He was even bigger than his oldest son Walter. And when Ezekiel looked at him it was easy to see how he unlike their mom had given them all a huge helping of testosterone.


    As their Clans Leader, he had to be strong and his physical strength was readily apparent in his long legs, barreled chest, muscled arms and stomach that completely filled out his white t-shirt and jeans. But the strength that he possessed was noticeable in other ways too. In more profound ways. It was in his presence. His stature.


    The command was in his long rounded chin and shaved head. His hair was jet black, cut nearly to the scalp at the sides and six long inches at the top and back, and pulled into a neck length ponytail. Sharp eyes, were glowing a hot golden, but his eyes were normally a warm blackish brown when his inner beast was under wraps. His stern mouth opened on a hiss of outrage flashing all of them with a mouth full of fang.


    A sound and sight that Ezekiel and all of his brothers knew far too well. A top predator sizing up his prey.


    Unfortunately, they managed to upset their father quite often and now as he stood in the light of the hall, his eyes glowing a bright yellow. Ezekiel fought to remind himself that he wasn’t a little kid waiting to be scolded anymore.


    I don’t care what he says I''ve done nothing wrong.


    Ezekiel told himself seriously.


    “Ok, so no one wants to answer that question?.” Mantilo growled and stepped further into the room.


    Then he reached back and grabbed something from behind the door. Suddenly Lander was there, being shoved bodily into the room. And he looked terrible.


    “Next question. Does anyone want to explain this to me then? He stinks of mortal blood.”


    Ezekiel felt himself wilt on the inside. Walter and Nate all froze like deer caught in very angry headlights. But somehow it was Lander who shattered the unimaginable tension. With a hesitant limp, he circled from the hall, and past their father and into the middle of the room.


    Ezekiel’s first reaction was to slug him, but he was instantly brought up short as he looked at his elder brother’s current state. Landers blond hair was messy and filled with dead pine needles. His jeans and upper body were splattered with fresh grass and dirt. And his bottom lip was busted wide open and swollen up two sizes.


    “Oh Good God!” Ezekiel laughed forgetting how dire his situation really was for a few seconds. He looked Lander up from head to toe and sneered at him “Damn! He beat your ass Lander!!”


    “Fub you Ezekiel!” Lander snarled around his busted lip. His every few words distorted and slurred as he tried to talk around the swelling. “You’re the one who came up wit the shit-ass plan to wave the mortal''s smell around him.” Lander put a hand to his mouth and winced as he poked at his swollen lips. “I nearly gob mauled to death because of you!”


    “Well.” Walter suddenly chimed in. “Maybe you should have run faster Lander?”


    Nate snarled, his teeth flashing in an arrogant sneer. “Yeah, I think he wanted to get caught, hes such a suck up!” he said to Lander walking up to him.


    “What do yo know you mangy mutt? You cant be calling me a liar when your....!” Lander tried to hiss and took a threatening step closer to Nate who snarled back.


    “ENOUGH!!!!!!” Mantilo barked loudly as he barged into the circle and shoved his son''s back.


    Suddenly Glen marched into the fray. “Mantilo calm down!” she hissed at him. But it was then that Mantilo zeroed in on the occupied bed that she had left behind her.


    “No...Is that what I think it is!?” Mantilo breathed casting a glare about the room at his family and his glowing golden eyes demanded an answer.