Faerie Faerie

19- Absent Moons

The night was uneventful and quiet. Sheila lay on one side of fire, wrapped in her furs and a blanket. Her back was to the fire and to Phoenix. She was still upset with her sister, wouldn't even look at her when they ate dinner. Wolfe had shed his clothing and submitted to the feral calling of the moon. Phoenix sat awake, staring at the fire, and keeping it going so Sheila wouldn't freeze for the night.

It wasn't even autumn in this area and the night was turning her fingers blue. She didn't get too close, for fear of eating all the fire light. Now that she had told them both why she couldn't stay, Phoenix felt the disgusting things writhe and squirm inside her. Demon urges of gluttony, lust, avarice, and wrath, ready to tear through her human exterior and make her something...Filthy.

She sighed and pushed another thick branch into the fire. She looked at Sheila, then the neat pile of clothing that belonged to Wolfe. They had been traveling for weeks, been practically through hell and back, and here she was. Wishing it would last longer with him. Phoenix pulled her knees to her chest, feeling her stomach ache. Lately she had been feeling more voracious or naucious. She had assumed it was just the emotions she gained from going through their village and seeing their old childhood home in ruins.

She put a hand over her mouth, breathing in the sent of slightly dampened wood. "I let them all out during the ride." she mumbled. Her eyes were closed and she felt her stomach.

"That one doesn't have a voice." Sheila said, her head turned. Phoenix frowned at her sister. "the little black fire eaters.... they screamed and shouted whenever they wanted out... that one.... is barely a whisper."

Phoenix stared at her sister.

Sheila lay on her stomach, smiling at Phoenix. "Congrats.... So is it....?"

Phoenix threw a handful of pebbles at Sheila, but the younger woman just kept laughing. Off in another part of the forest, a beast's scream filled the air. A triumphant howl that resounded throughout the woods, silencing all the other predators. Sheila looked at her sister, who pulled up her hood. It was a dull green, something from Pagliarine, made of wool but not from sheep.

She held her head, trying to contemplate her next move. "It's another shadow thing." she mumbled, "It just didn't come out with the fire."

Sheila was curled up again, her back towards the fire once more. Phoenix gnawed on her lower lip and looked up at the moon. It was grinning at them, ever so happy with it all.

"I want to go home." Phoenix groaned, leaning on a log. She held herself, and sleep welcomed her with open arms.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The beast had torn through the thick hide of a boar and crunched down on it's haunches. Using his claws, he took off two of the legs and saved them. When he finished with his meal, he carried the legs back to the camp. It wasn't quite dawn yet, so he still had time to look around in the forest. He had scented a few other beasts, and one in particular had been watching him since their arrival. With the butchered boar in his maw, the blood filled his senses of smell and taste. He saw them though, the pack that had followed them for the course of eight or nine hours since leaving Garland.

The moment he left his kill to return to the camp, they had swarmed it and divided it among their ranks. They were smaller than him, but they outnumbered him by thirty to one. Wolfe adjusted his grip, and trotted along. He'd need to lose them or else they'd follow him back to the girls. They would be mince meat, and ravaged in all senses of the word.

He was stopped by the larger betas and their alphas. A white bitch with brown streaks through her spine starting from the tip of her nose to the end of her tail. The female and male that flanked her sides had brown and tan coats, probably siblings since their coloring was so close. Wolfe eyed them but attempted to avoid the trio. The female beta jumped and blocked him off multiple times.