With Fire and Ice

Chapter seven, in which our story ends

Wolf's hand was shaking when he pulled it back from the map. "Seiko," he muttered, eyes locked on the last open space in the circle. "We have to stop them."

My mouth fell open as I turned to stare at him. "What?" I breathed. "No! Wolf, we can't do that!" It felt like a hand of steel had taken a hold around my heart as it squeezed, and I screwed my eyes shut against the impulse to run away, to fight, to do something goddamnit someone could be hurt this had to stop-

"Red," Wolf interrupted my inner monologue, and I forced my eyes open to stare at him. "If we don't do anything, who will?"

Moving without permission, my body started to pace over the wooden floor. "We can tell the police," I tried desperately.

Wolf's ears drooped, his expression turning broken and sad. "Do you think they would listen to us?" he muttered, crossing his arms and sitting down in one of the chairs. "Two hybrids, one of them black and a female." He snorted. "Not gonna happen, Red. Not in this society. Not today."

"But-" I said, and I started away when he moved his hand towards me, a tad too quick for my instincts. "Sorry, sorry," I muttered at his shocked expression, even as I continued to pace. My heart calmed even before it started to race, panic already dying down.

"Did you think I was going to hit you?" Wolf whispered, pulling back.

Away from me.

A part of me howled in pain.

"Sorry," I repeated, wrapping my arms around my torso and bending forward, breath coming in short gasps. The pain in my chest intensified. What was going on? Why was I freaking out like this? It felt as if I was fighting my instincts again, but why would they be triggered? "Instinct after living with Chris."

Wolf seemed a bit hurt that I would compare them, and the pain intensified again. I gasped and stopped, hurrying over to the other chair in the room so I could sit down. "I'd never hit you, Seiko," Wolf told me, reaching out to put a hand on my knee.

"I know," I said, and at last, my body seemed to calm down. "I know, Gray, I'm sorry, it's a deep instinct by now..."

My friend searched my eyes for a while, frowning all the while, before he gave me a small smile. "It's okay," he said, and pulled back to sit straight. "But we have to go, Seiko."

"Can't we tell them anonymously?" I whispered.

"We can, but they don't even think that there is a murderer!" Wolf insisted, throwing his arms out to the sides in exaggeration. "Listen, Seiko. Let's compromise. We tell the police, but get out there to protect that person, whoever they are. There's no one who knows if the police will actually show up or not."

Once more, I found myself fighting my instincts. I saw his logic, and agreed with it, but my feelings just- they wouldn't allow me! "Promise!" I hissed, as I looked up from my lap to meet Wolf's gaze. I was sure my eyes were burning with that fire I so often saw in his yellow eyes. I shot up to glare down at him, a rage building up within for seemingly no reason. "You must promise me that we'll be careful!"

Wolf stood up and hugged me tight. "I promise," he whispered.

I hugged him back.

*

The murderer would be attacking in two days. In that time, Wolf and I managed to get our hands on black clothes, and grey and white fur dye.

He dyed his ears and tail with the gray color, and I dyed more of my tail tip white. After a bit of experimenting, we found out that the fur on my ears and paws would stay dyed if we actually dyed it, so we made sure to do that, just in case.