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

Chapter 36 - Mauled

Chapter 36

The sharp sounds of flesh being ripped from a body was horrendous.

IT was a sound that should have stroked the primitive need of his beast to seek out prey.....but in that moment Ezekiel had never known a worse sound to fall upon his ear.

But none of this was compared to the sight that befell him as he and his family split off into the night to hunt for the last Ghoul invader.

On an odd hunch...and a strange sense of dread beckoning him Ezekiel dashed to the far south of the Mansion.

Ezekiel danced in a frustrated fashion past the few stragglers that were still trying to flee the area of the attack and get to safety.....until the "Schleck" and snarl and slurp of something big feasting.

And there was Brandon...dead. A still pale silhouette laid low beneath the gnashing, snapping teeth of the Ghoul. He was on his stomach, a small boy wrapper underneath him....and his back....was sliced wide open. The Ghouls face buried deep in his back and chest cavity. Chewing him up like hamburger. Brandon wasn't moving...or screaming as the beast devoured his flesh.

The overpowering smell of his peppered blood running across the fields and the horrible knowledge of what was transpiring had Ezekiel at Mid-Shift in seconds. Fangs and claws shot forward from his flesh, his eyes burning , Ezekiel didn't remember closing the gap on the Ghoul.....but in moments he was on the beast.

A fountain of the beasts blood ran from a sever puncture mark placed expertly through its windpipe. Ezekiel absently wondered if the wound had come from Brandon had been the one to place the injury to the Ghoul but thoughts were hard to maintain when his entire being was swallowed in blood lust. A heavy metallic thud beneath his feet called Ezekiels attention momentarily to a flame poker laying discarded in the grass.

The sight of the poker momentarily surprised him seeing as the closest bonfire was at least teen feet away, but feeling dually happy to be provided a weapon, Ezekiel slunk down and grasped the warm metal in his hands. Then not caring for stealth Ezekiel descended on the Ghoul.

Possibly weakened by blood loss the beast didn't notice Ezekiel encroaching on its meal and with a dominate growl Ezekiel rushed in towards its front and much like a bat he cocked back and slammed the metal bar into its face.

The metal connected on the solid side of the Ghouls head and barely managed to rip off its large leathery ear, as in the last seconds before the attack, the Ghoul became aware of Ezekiels presence and tried to dance back out of his range.

Blood...and white flecks of something Ezekiel didn't want to think about stood out in the sharp moonlight , as the Ghoul let out a small heckle flashing all of its needle sharp fangs at him in aggression.

Then the Ghoul tried to swipe back at Ezekiel. But its movements were far from subtle or fast. Its moves obviously made sluggish by the blood loss and the blow it had just suffered to its face.

And yet The Ghoul seemed unwilling to move away from Brandon and the child that Ezekiel could easily see laying wrapped beneath Brandon's unmoving form.

Brandon still wasn't moving....or breathing.

But Ezekiel couldn't...wouldn't let himself consider the fact that he was fighting over the carcass of the mortal. Just considering it....almost made something inside feel like it was going to crumble.

He's gonna be okay.....I just need to get to him....

"Get the fuck off of him..." Ezekiel hissed as he circled the beast, forcing the Ghoul to choose between standing over Brandon....or watch its flank. The Ghoul released a heavy breath and pivoted around

"Come on!" Ezekiel roared at it trying to lead it away and as if incensed by his challenged the beast suddenly rushed forward, putting out more speed and strength then Ezekiel and believed it capable of summoning. The Ghoul drove him backwards with ferocity and multiple swipes of its claws, one of its blows striking Ezekiel in the hip hard enough to dislocate it sending him stumbling, but Ezekiel recovered quickly ignoring the sharp pain and then he rushed into the Ghouls face.

Ezekiel brought up the metal poker to deflect the Ghouls snapping jaws, then slammed the bar against the Ghouls arm, knocking it away before wrapping both of his hands around the metal poker, swung the weapon forwards and slammed the point first into the Ghouls belly, then up into the Ghouls left eyeball.

The Ghoul let out a small whine as it stumbled back and promptly fell to the earth...and didn't get back up.

Ezekiel didn't even waste the time to breath he rushed past the dead Ghoul and skidded to a stop over Brandon then quickly dropped down beside him.

His back....oh my god....oh my god...

These frantic thoughts were rushing through his head as Ezekiel beheld the damage that had been done. There were mounds of flesh missing from Brandon's back, shoulders and ribs. Bite marks. Deep gases and gouges filled with gushing blood and black saliva were only the tips of the damage done, ignoring the white flashes of what looked suspiciously like rib and spine bones peeking out of the muscles. Ezekiels heart was in a vice.

The damage was...beyond fatal. The poison....was going to kill him....if he wasn't already dead.

And it wasn't hard to see that Brandon wasn't even breathing.

Brandon was dead. He was dying. He was.....

But Ezekiel couldn't seem to get this information to penetrate the surface of his mind....much less his heart.

And sitting there to distract him from facing the truth for a few more seconds was a small child trapped beneath Brandon's body.

Was the child alive? Had Brandon risked it all to protect this child from the Ghoul? He couldn't think of any other reason why this had happened.

Ezekiel fought to think straight knowing that his first actions should be to move the child. To see if the Child needed medical attention.

So gently as he could Ezekiel shifted Brandon onto his side, careful not to jostle his bloody back into the earth, the Ezekiel took the small boy that was clutching his chest away and into the field. The child came away from Brandon's dead embrace easily to lay in the grass. The child was painfully young, with a small head of brown hair, his little chin and lips stained with blood....and a slow heartbeat. Instantly Ezekiel sensed that the boy was only seconds from death. He quickly spotted the cuts in the child's clothing and the black fluid on the little boys legs.

"God..." Ezekiel breathed as he was forced to look into the little face and know that the child was not long for the world.

With an aching heart Ezekiel made the boy as comfortable as he could, before he turned from the small child and looked into the beautiful face of the mortal....who was already gone.

Swallowing a sharp emotion that Ezekiel refused to let take him over Ezekiel ran his fingertips down the side of Brandon's face as he took his right hand and squeezed it. Ezekiel didn't even notice that Brandon's hands were mysteriously bare of gloves as he leaned forward and placed a kiss to Brandon's cold temple. "Brandon please...don't do this...." he found himself whispering in a trembling voice as he lowered his lips to Brandon's ear. "Please wake up..."

Ezekiel uselessly pleaded with the dead.

With a sudden and horrible rattle of air into starved lungs Brandon's eyes sprung open. He screamed and his eyes grew big as he looked not at Ezekiel, but past him.

"Ezekiel look out!"