93- Fit for Beasts

The familiar sound of the door closing, the hurried footfalls and muffled cheerful chatter moving further down the hall; the subsequent silence, informed Uroxuz that he was alone.

Rubbing his cheek down against the surface of his new pillow, he enjoyed the sensation of its soft, fuzzy texture against his skin. He also enjoyed the weight and warmth of his blanket, although it didn't feel the same against his scales. Rolling over, he turned and twisted, rubbing himself against its surface until he discovered what he enjoyed most about the blanket and how he wanted to use it. At first, he concluded that he preferred laying on it, instead of beneath it, but soon, after having wound himself up in it, he realized he didn't have to choose one over the other. Folding the blanket in half, he created a pocket for himself and placed his pillow inside. Content with what he had created for himself, he moved to the patio door and contemplated his actions.

The entire ordeal had felt strange to him, as he had never had things to arrange before. All he ever had was his master and his orders, and those were not things to arrange, for they simply were. Now, life had become an odd thing. Tauluthet had changed, and not just in appearance, and this left Uroxuz confused. While he understood Tauluthet's desire to protect Quayleigh, it was his willingness to protect the other humans that baffled him so. For even from his limited perspective, he knew the importance of protecting one's mate, and he had benefited immensely from that desire; a feast of five souls was nothing to complain about, even if they were far from the sweet taste and tender flesh of a fully ripened fruit.

Closing his eyes, Uroxuz lifted his head and sniffed the air. The living world was an orchard in bloom. Fragrant aromas of tiny buds, to the prime ripe fruit lingered in every corner of the outside, and this apartment was a trove of delicate scents capable of eliciting the fondest of memories.

Moving to the couch, Uroxuz breathed in the scents on the cushions and blanket; subtle florals, sweet decadence, the recollection of a divine flavor as precious to him as she was to his master. A deep musty hardwood, with a gritty undertone of something that left a bitter sting, the human brother, a puzzle to be examined, a flavor to not be forgotten. And the heavy complexity of the pretty one, the magus, the mentor, and the friend, who tasted of spice, bold, burning, wild, and sharp, and it clung to his palate; so unique amongst the scents that it was unmistakable. There was even the faint intrusion of the detectives, the Tuhané wretch and the annoying pest, neither who understood their place, and both who were guilty of churning emotions, bringing sorrow and inflicting pain.

Shaking free of his thoughts, Uroxuz slipped into his personal dimension and climbed to the roof of the building. There was a restlessness about him that he couldn't be rid of, and a sensation that had frequently plagued him since he had been forcefully pulled into this world by Tauluthet's command. It was a hunger unfamiliar to him, that even after being sated would inevitably return.

It hadn't been more than a minor inconvenience, and even now, as the hunger began to creep back, it mattered little. For upon the evenings breeze the scents of bright, fully ripened fruit flourished, calling out to him, beckoning him to feed.

Invisible to the beings of the world, Uroxuz moved with ease, capable of passing through walls, and scaling buildings, and leaping vast distances with outlandish speeds. Using his nose, he followed only the strongest of the scents until he discovered its source. A pitiful soul, the stench of gunpowder clinging to his body like a pungent spice, a trail of smoke rising from a freshly lite cigarette pressed between his lips, its sides soaked in the same crimson red that seeped from his wounds.

"You are going to die," Uroxuz said as he emerged from his dimension into the darkest shadow the alley had to offer.

"Probably," the man replied taking the cigarette from his mouth, slowly exhaling; a cough, splattering blood across his chin and shirt.

Uroxuz slithered forward, close enough to see the extent of the damage, but distant enough to remain concealed. Even as the man's eyes were closed, he was still alive, and that could change, and it wasn't yet time to pluck him from his tree.

"You here to finish the job?" The man was struggling to speak, remaining still and calm as he could.

"In time."

"Care if I finish this first? Not like I'm in any shape to run."

"At your leisure," Uroxuz replied, finding the man's acceptance of his situation to be less than enticing as he watched him take another drag.

Leaving the cigarette in his lips, he picked up the pack that was on the pavement at his side, "Help yourself. I'm not going to finish them," he said tossing it in Uroxuz direction.

Uroxuz captured the flimsy package in his hand.

"So, you are there."

"Yes," Uroxuz remarked curious as to how the man had known.

"Thought it was my imagination. Voices echo and all."

"No, I am here," he remarked as he shifted closer, "you needn't fear."

"Ha!" the man began to cough again, his struggle growing more prevalent. "This sucks. I gave that asshole everything, and he still shot me. He tell you to come back, make sure I'm dead?"

"I do no mortal's bidding."

"Oh? Then maybe you'd like to change your mind."

"Change my mind?" Uroxuz questioned as the man took another quick drag.

"Save me."

"I cannot. You are ripe. I can spare you, devour you quickly, but not fix what has been done."

"Just slide that phone over here and leave then. I'll live long enough for the cops to show. They'll save me and catch the asshole that did this. I might die, but not before I tell them what happened."

Uroxuz spotted the phone the man spoke of next to a dumpster a few feet from him. Moving to it, he picked it up. Placing the pack of cigarettes on top of it, he turned back and moved up beside the man, setting the phone and cigarettes next to his hand.

"Thanks," the man whispered, his life slowly fading. "I really thought I was done for."

"Hope tastes better than defeat," Uroxuz said, watching the man slowly open his eyes, the cigarette falling from his mouth as his jaw dropped open to the sight before him. "But fear, fear is my favorite taste of all."

Opening his mouth, Uroxuz lunged forward and bit down upon the man's chest, his teeth easily sinking into the tender ripened soul. Pulling back, he tore it from its body, dragging it into the shadows before dismembering it; devouring the pieces, chunk by writhing, twitching chunk.

"Ah, such a tasty meal," Uroxuz muttered before licking his lips, only to taste an unexpected flavor of something sweet and metallic.

Reaching up, he wiped the side of his nose, and gazed at the streak of blood on his side of his hand. Sniffing the blood, he licked it away. This was unusual, blood had never transferred to him before. Bodies, like peels, were to be discarded, left to rot beneath the dirt, a feast on which the lowliest of vermin were to dine.

Finding it curious, Uroxuz turned back to the body. There was still the pleasant aroma lingering about it, enticing him to prod the fleshy remains. The blood, sticking and warm clung to his fingers, causing him to flinch and turn away.

"Not food," he sneered, even as the smell pulled him back, his stomach growling, hunger now gnawing at the back of his mind. He knew this to be beneath him. He was the weapon of a reaper, not some lowly beast of the dirt. Yet, as he stood and stared at the remains, his mouth began to water at the thought of fresh meat, and the recollection of the steak, a precious gift from Quayleigh. Striking against his sense of pride, he bit down upon the man's arm severing it from the body.

Shaking the limb from his mouth, he pulled the fabric of the coat and shirt from his teeth, spatting at the unpleasant texture of the crushed bone, like coarse sand brushing against the inside of his mouth. But as he licked his lips and cheeks, taking in the fresh, delectable flavor of the newly deceased, he grabbed the limb and began to strip it of its flesh. Tearing away the skin, he discarded the hairy peel, discovering the raw, tender muscles beneath. Pealing them from the bone in long slender strips, he slurped them down, savoring the smooth, chewy texture, finding it much to his liking as his hunger quickly waned.

Yet in his satisfaction, he found disgust and discarded what remained of the limb.

"Fit for beasts," he sneered before returning to his dimension.

Scaling the building he scanned the area, as the thick scents of the orchard, once a vibrant pleasant variety of fragrances and aromas, had turned fowl and accosted his senses.

"What is this?" he snarled, clutching down upon his nose. "Filth!"

Uroxuz growled and wiped at his face, his mind clouded by the overwhelming fragrances and the wonder to what madness he had succumb, when a familiar scent caught his attention.

"The annoying one?" He twisted around and twitched his tail, latching onto the scent more pleasant than all the others, before leaping from the building and following it to its source.

Within a few minutes, Uroxuz found himself in a building swarming with people, some of whom smelled familiar, their scents often clinging to the annoying one's garb, like that of the Tuhané, Kavak, and the woman, Skye, that he recognized from earlier in the day, both of whom were in the same room with Mazurka when he arrived.

The room was filled with boxes, bags, and equipment, all foreign to Uroxuz, and it was lit so brightly that shadows struggled to survive. Moving down the wall, Uroxuz crossed the floor and coiled himself into the space beneath the table in the center of the room, where he listened to the humans as they spoke.

"Folsten was acting strange too," Mazurka remarked as he sat at the table.

"Do you think there was trouble at the MET?" The familiar voice of the Tuhané questioned from the other side of the room.

"I hope not. After last night, Quayleigh deserves a break. She doesn't need anything else to deal with right now."

"She seemed to be in good spirits when I met her this morning," Skye remarked, standing closest to Yechiel, her feet pointing away from the table.

'Inferior female,' Uroxuz thought as he sniffed in her direction, once again finding the scents to be overwhelming and repulsive as he clutched his hand over his nose desperate to be rid of them. 'Foul creatures! What is happening to me?'

"Seeming and truly being are often not the same thing," Kavak commented, drawing Uroxuz attention, his words ringing true as he pictured Quayleigh in his mind.

'There is great sorrow in her. Sadness holds behind her smile until she is in Tauluthet's presence. It is as if he devours it all.'

"If it was me, I'd be a complete wreck. I hope your friend does the right thing and keeps close to her," Skye commented, the friendly tone of her voice hiding a faint waiver.

"As far as I know, he's living with her, and she's got plenty of other people to keep her company," Mazurka replied.

"Don't be too certain about that. It seemed to me that her guests were more his friends than hers," Kavak said, sliding his chair back from the table.

"That might be true for Kyffin, although that's a conversation in and of itself, but Cole is definitely something more to Quayleigh than Dylan."

"Kyffin?"

"Dylan's brother," Kavak replied to Skye.

"Older brother, and I've no idea when it changed, but as long as I've known him, Dylan has been estranged from him."

"They didn't seem estranged or even on uncertain terms last night. In fact, Dylan seemed overprotective, and slightly frightening when it came to him."

"Precisely, and that's just weird. Even with the memory issues, Dylan's nothing like he should be. No one's personality changes that much. I hate to admit it, but I think Harlowe's right. Dylan's hiding something, but I don't believe it has anything to do with this case."

"Based on what we know, I'm inclined to agree. He couldn't actively be doing what's necessary to find victims and control that Karakaram with no memories. His behavior doesn't fit the profile either," Kavak commented.

"Screw that profile. We all know what we saw. That creature is not human, and I have a hard time believing there's some mastermind behind it. Not only can it speak, but it can think. And it isn't selecting its victims at random. We need to find it."

"To stop it?" Skye questioned.

"To take it out for dinner and drinks, obviously," Mazurka replied, the others laughing in response.

Uroxuz found their interactions curious. They sounded afraid and uncertain, and yet they were laughing, but unable to sniff out the truth of their emotions, he was left with only one option, his curiosity reeling with contempt for his predicament.

'Just a taste,' he thought, before striking forward biting through the back of Mazurka's ankle, severing a chunk of his soul clean away.

Mazurka jolted; shooting back from the table, he rubbed at the side of his ankle.

"What happened?" Skye reacted as Mazurka lifted his pant leg and pulled down his sock, examining the area with care.

"I don't know. It felt like something grabbed me."

Uroxuz froze and watched as Mazurka got on his hands and knees, scanning around beneath the table. Swallowing down the stolen snack, Uroxuz found it to taste as he suspected it would, bitter, stiff, and young. It was detestable, even as a snack, but told him nothing and provided no answers.

"You're imagining things," Kavak stated as Mazurka unknowingly stared eye to eye with Uroxuz beneath the table.

"I didn't imagine it. Something grabbed me."

"I know you are in here with us. Show yourself Karakaram," Kavak announced to the room with a chipper tone, clearly poking fun at Mazurka.

Uroxuz grinned wildly, saying, "As you wish," as he shifted into his vaporize form and slipped from his dimension.

The stench of fear permeated the room as he stared directly into Mazurka's eyes.

"Yechiel?" Kavak questioned as Mazurka began to visibly tremble.

Skye dropped the file she had been holding as Uroxuz drifted forward, poking his head out from under the table; Mazurka falling back against the floor, scrambling to get out of his way.

Bolting forward, Uroxuz surrounded Kavak, the vapors of his body coalescing into his solid form, giving none of them time to react.