(MxM)Tales Of A Shifter (P2) - The Clan Celebration

Chapter 33 - Protector

Chapter 33

Brandon knew he should have listened to Ezekiel and gone back to the Mansion, at least so he wasn't in the way as the Guardians tried to dispatch the threat to their home.....but the knowledge that the last of the Ghouls was out there kept him out in the open....out in the field.

Brandon was racing out into the open, his eyes scanning the thinning crowds for the shadow of the death in the night.

If he was honest with himself....he wanted to do something.

Please god don't let anyone else die because of me....

Brandon prayed not really knowing if anyone was listening to him.

Then a sound so harsh and chilling that it made him stumble to a stop caught Brandon's ears and his head snapped up. A child. A Shifter child. A little brown haired boy....alone in the field, surrounded by chaos.

Brandon hesitated to assign age to such a being as a Shifter, but he had to believe that the child was very young, too young to run as fast as he needed to, especially since he was now in the third Ghouls sights. The little boy fell, tripping as most small children do, and this was his first mistake.

"NO!!!" Brandon screamed as the Ghoul fell on the boy like a mountain onto of a caterpillar. He began to run then stumbled to a stop once more as the horror unfolded before him.

The Child screamed pitifully, snarling and kicking, but he was too young to summon the help of his Shifter. Too young to pull up his claws or teeth. He was as defenseless as a mortal child....and Brandon knew just how defenseless that really was.

How easily their bones broke.....

With a shake of his head Brandon reminded himself to move. So shying away from all of his inner dark thoughts....because they would break him. Weaken him, when he needed to focus.

So Brandon pulled his mind together. And knowing that he needed a weapon to hit the Ghoul with, lacking the claws and fangs of the Shifter, or his combat blade, Brandon was forced to improvise.

He sprinted to his left and took up the hot poker that had been laid in the sand, just inches from the roaring flames of the bonfires. The metal was visibly reddened by the close heat of the bonfire....but knowing that his inner power would heal him Brandon reached down and took the burning metal in hand. In seconds his palms burned beneath the heat, the smell of sizzling flesh hit him. But he ignored it. Pain like this he could take. Pain like this was a ghost of what he had already endured.

But foremost in his mind, were the thoughts that made everything else so small.

It was the belief that had to save that child. This was his fault....and the child was innocent.

And with that thought, Brandon hefted the burning poker, and took off at a dead sprint. Caution would do him no good with the Ghouls....he had learned long ago to kill them quick and mercilessly....because they had bodies of steel that could circumvent even the best laid plans.

The heart, the brain, the throat....and the spine....those were the only weak points on a Ghoul. Weak points that only sharp objects....or the best precision could mark.

With every step....the rage built....the murderous hatred......the hunger.....the Flame. It thrived beneath his churning emotions. His weak mind.

It grew inside of him, turning into a raging inferno.....It begged to be unshackled. It begged for a taste. But Brandon couldent release it as he had earlier that week....it wouldent just attack the Ghouls....it would kill everyone.