Cursed

Part Nine

Avi felt hollow. He had no remorse for ending the life of the dangerous warlock that lay a few yards from his feet, but his body thrummed with angst. He hated the feeling. The psychic bond he'd formed with Scott weeks ago had faded to almost nothing, but perhaps the full moon and the resulting transformations ramped things up again, because Avi could tell that the emotions coursing through him were not his own.

Across the rocky canyon floor, Scott sat with Alex's still, bloody body sprawled across his lap. His blue eyes were vacant as they stared into nothingness. And then a spark of life ignited in them as he turned toward a sound. It was Mitch, still in his leopard form, walking slowly out of the shadows. His paws and muzzle were red with blood.

The sight of this seemed to break Scott completely. He shuddered and choked on dry sobs, and the hopelessness echoed through Avi, making him feel utterly miserable. He shook the feeling off and turned toward Kevin.

"We need to contain this. Take care of the warlock and the witch and Aria's body and I'll handle Alex and Scott. Kirstin!" he added, looking upward. One of the hundreds of glittering lights separated from the mass. "See that the General gets back to the Compound."

The pixie suddenly dropped out of the air as a fully grown woman. She nodded gravely and jogged off in the direction of the black leopard, who was beginning to keen and stumble.

Avi turned his attention to Scott. He'd offered to see to him because of the link they shared, but he almost instantly regretted this. Up close, Scott's pain was like razors under his skin. He shook violently as Avi helped to pull the long body away from him and set it on the ground.

"Scott? Scott can you hear me? Are you hurt?"

The blue eyes found his then, vacant again and supremely disappointed in his worthless question. But then he did look down on his body to search for wounds. There was nothing. The blood that soaked him was not his own, not even in part.

"What shall we do with them?" Kevin's voice made them both jump. He was already back, with a strange trio of cots floating in midair beside him. Two bore the young ones he and Kevin had killed. The other cot bore a body covered in a blanket. From the blood seeping through, it seemed that Kevin had wanted to hide the damage Mitch had done. Probably for the best.

"Take them to the Compound for now," Avi said. "They don't belong to another city, not really. They are ours to bury or not."

"Alex will have a burial," Scott snapped, his voice somehow managing to sound both heated and icy.

"Yes, of course he will," Avi said, ignoring Kevin's skeptical look. "And most likely Aria will too. They are the last of a long and glorious line of Los Angeles golden leopards."

Kevin looked irritated but seemed to understand it was not the time to argue. He conjured a blanket and a cot for Alex while Avi helped Scott to his feet. The boy really was quite tall, even hunched in grief.

"Let's get you back to the Compound. Get you cleaned up."

The walk back was nothing like the walk to the park. Scott had been so buoyant, nervous but excited, eager to run. Now his steps dragged and he didn't seem to even see the road ahead of him. He followed Avi's gentle steering of his elbow and seemed to feel nothing, not even the gravel or pavement beneath his bare feet.

A small fleet of faeries had taken it upon themselves to cast a protective glamour over the Elders as they went back to their home. It made sense. Mitch had yet to shift back to human, so a leopard and four floating dead bodies were definitely things that needed to be hidden from mundane eyes. Though Avi himself didn't require the shielding, he was grateful for it.