Splinterbark: Chaos of the Coyote Crew

Chapter 7: The Coyote and the Hare

The White Rabbit held his captive tightly as he moved to the center of the quad and pressed deeper into the dark labyrinth of the school buildings. He saw the building marked GYM and the door heavily chained shut. The rabbit pulled up a pant leg to reveal a slick mechanical appendage. The chains smashed from one swift kick and barely made a sound in doing so. He closed the door and he felt his way towards the opposite side deeper into the shadows. There was very little light save for the row of transoms on the long edges of the building. So far it was all quiet. The police footsteps were going more silent and he was soon satisfied he could escape. The girl in his arm struggled and sobbed begging though her muffled gags to be set free. White Rabbit patted her head like she was some kind of abandoned puppy.

"Now don't you worry, my dear. Your mother is not going to take you away from me again. I spent two years to find you and I will not lose you again. Not even the devil will separate us."

"Then why don't you ask the devil for his opinion?" Hunter's cold dark growl echoed inside the room. Both the rabbit and girl huddled together joined by the sudden grip of terror that came upon them. A pair of unemotional purple eyes lit in the room and steadily slid toward them. The closer they came, a strange purple haze began to outline a tall gangly figure. The horns were first to become visible, followed twisted claws, and finally long dragonfly wings that flapped in steady but silent rhythmic fashion. The figure raised over its shoulder and drew out a long twisted blade and began to drag the tip on the ground as it came ever closer.

"What...what are you? No one said anything about a demon in Cadric City. Only some second class angel." The demon's mouth open in a cocky grin reveling long vampire fangs with purple smoke dripping from his thin lips. He cackled and the room was flooded with his mirthful noise.

"You should be happy it is not the angel you've crossed. Now I am in a bit of a hurry so let's make this quick, hmm?"

The White Rabbit shot two bullets at Hunter but the devil had managed to melt back into the shadows. Then suddenly the devil bug appeared right at his side and the White Rabbit yelled out as claws raked across his upper arm forcing him to let go of the girl. He roared out in anger as he saw his daughter melt into the blackness. He felt behind him and found the light switch. Hunter yelped as the room was suddenly flooded with the florescent lighting. The sudden change of illumination made him temporarily go blind and he covered his visor with one hand and lost his hold on the girl. Then the sound of a metallic click struck his hearing as the hammer of the White Rabbit's firearm dropped down.

"If I can't have her! No one will!" Time seemed to slow down to almost a crawl as the gun fired and Hunter saw the flash of the bullet. He tried to pull the girl away, but was too late. The bullet stuck the girl in the side. Hunter's body slammed against the hardwood floor as he grabbed the girl before she hit the ground. The wound was a notable tear against her oblique and she was bleeding out. Hunter was desperately trying to stop the wound with his hand but the blood was seeping through the ringlets of his battle claws.

Then his hands dropped to his sides and he slowly stood up. The faint haze that had surrounded him before began to churn and swirl into angry black fire.

"That...was very stupid on your part."

"Oh no, it was yours." Hunter had not bothered to notice any real detail of the kidnapper when he had decided to interfere. Only the top half was flesh. His rabbit costume reached only to just below his waist and was adorned with a tweed red coat. The most notable thing of all though were the pair of cybernetic legs that had been tailored very acute to a jackrabbits.

Hunter didn't care who or what he was facing. He wanted this guy to hurt and hurt plenty. Ebony flames erupted from his palms with full intention of burning the guy to ash. White Rabbit was faster than Hunter had judged and sprung vertically upwards just out of the slice of flame. The embers exploded on contact with the wall leaving a sizable scorch mark in its wake. The rabbit's legs curled back and slammed against behind the upper part of the wall and propelled him across the room over Hunter's head. Hunter threw repeated volleys trying to bring the cottontail down. White Rabbit swung from rafter to rafter completely dodging the sloppy assaults of the devil. He landed beside the girl and was reaching for her when Hunter slammed his body hard against him and the two tumbled until the stands. Hunter was the first to recover and he pinned the bunny between the gaps in the bleachers. The glow in Hunter's eyes shone brilliantly even though the visor of his helmet as he placed his ungloved hand on White Rabbit's neck. As his bare fingers dug into the White Rabbit's neck a sickening muddish swirl began to form about his victim's body as Hunter proceeded to drain him. This was not slow and careful as he had done with Splinterbark. This was ravenous and malicious. As Hunter began to inhale he made sure this creep felt every sting and sense of agony as Hunter began to devour all his negative emotions. The rabbit face started to become a bit sallow as Hunter's own muscles began to press against his coat with the raw power they were consuming. Then a spike slapped him hard on the back of his hand-breaking his focus. Jinn was glaring at him and slowly shaking her head. In her arms was the girl now asleep and the color had returned to her face. Hunter chanced to see it was the green orb in Jinn's staff.