CHPT 539: Without Alpha

Wednesday Morning, March 25th, 2242. Ra Stadium, The Sunlands…

"Alright!—"

"Shhh!"

"I'm done being quiet! Why is there a thirty year old….burn victim? Here with us? Who is he!?" Warren had maintained a slightly unnerved silence for long enough.

Even Maris couldn't silence him any longer.

"And why has he been asleep with Ursula and the others for so long? Are they hibernating?! Why ARENT WE PANICKING?!"

Maris slapped him.

Warren inhaled and slapped her back.

"Do you feel better?" She asked with a straight face.

Warren shrugged aggressively, "Do you?"

"I don't feel anything."

Warren exhaled loudly as he looked at the sleeping members in Predators Forest. "I wish I could be you."

Maris eyed him, "Be yourself. That's enough."

Warren swallowed loudly, "Thanks man. Also…. Why are you so calm? Ra Stadium seems to be in lockdown. Our friend is missing and our other friend is knocked out cold."

Isaac looked up from the tree he leaned against. Maris remembered talking to Claude when he was in that same spot.

"All of our questions have already been answered, dude."

Following his words, shuffling drew their eyes to the pile. What pile specifically? Well, it wasn't one of the many piles of animal dung or hunted down carcass left to rot.

It was the pile of Berserker, strange man, Glorian Lion and VanaWarg. They rustled and untwisted against the grass like a bundle of serpents.

Serpents was the first thought that came to Warrens mind because he suddenly had the feeling he was about to be bitten. Or maybe it was the sight of Frosty's sabered fangs. Or Loba's. Or Ursula's....?

Or the other g—

WOOSH!

Ursula exploded off the ground in a burst of icy wind. Her clawed hand lunged for him as Isaac slid in front of him like a blazing knightly hero of legend. Before her hands to graze his shield, the other man had her in a full Nelson. The veins in her arms bulged like tree roots.

He looked around at them as Ursula strained. Warren didn't expect the man's eyes to be so yellow. It made his stomach turn. But looking at Ursula was worse….

"Mornin, fellas." He said as he strained to hold Ursula.

"Cassidy." Maris nodded.

He suddenly lowered his head and began whispering to the Berserker.

For a solid few seconds she seemed impenetrable. Then she blinked.

She calmed. Cassidy let her go and she dropped to the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. He sat down next to her as Frosty and Loba circled. Diamondback stayed asleep.

"So you're all…." Isaac started as he lowered his shield.

Cassidy nodded, "Damn straight."

"Not WereWolves…"

"Nope."

Isaac and Warren stared.

Cassidy shrugged, "What? It ain't my secret to tell. But I can tell you what I am. That's my business, ain't it?"

Warren and Isaac looked at eachother once.

"I'm a Lupine. The fun of it is…. Lupine means I'm wolf-like…. But what else? I was born from a WereWolf parent. It makes me better. More accustomed to the shift and the urges. Unlike her." Cassidy bumped shoulders with Ursula lightly.

"Shit, Maris. She even smells different." Cassidy said to her matter of factly.

"What does that mean?" Maris questioned.

Cassidy looked at the three of them before pulling on his hood, "Here's the bulk of it. Your buddy, Claude, is our Alpha. He's strong as all hell, I've seen him do things that would impress The Nine. But it's his mind and ethics that's the kicker for me. He ticked off an Elder. They got him. Our connection was severed. He's not an Alpha anymore... I don't know what that means."

"And that's why… everyone's…."

"Yea." Cassidy finished for Isaac. "Think a panic attack on steroids. That's how it's felt ever since the connection was severed. I can feel my pulse at the tips of my fingers." Cassidy looked down at his hands in disbelief.

"Do you think he's dead?" Isaac questioned.

"Do you want him to be?"

"No. Whatever he is, he's been that for a while. Lupine, WereWolf, Wendigo whatever. It's still Claude. He's saved our lives and put us on to new abilities plenty of times. Now I just gotta question what that means for everything else….. Plus, if he's dead I can't kick his ass for holding that over us for months."

"He's not dead." Ursula huffed as Loba and Frosty circled her.

"Wherever he is, he gave me a final message before we lost connection. He said Torture not kill. Their mistake. Be safe."

She laughed, "Why the hell is he telling me to be safe?? He's being….." She couldn't finish the sentence.

Ursula's tears hit the grass silently as she shook.

"He read too many sensationalized superhero propaganda novels as a child." Maris commented.

"Felt." Isaac replied.

Everyone looked at Warren— who hadn't spoken since the start of the conversation.

"When you said Elder…. Did you mean Vampire? Because that would be h—"

VWOOMP

Rupont stepped out of a portal opened behind the tree Warren and Isaac stood in front of.

They turned around as he stepped out into the light. Dark brown hair glistening. Jewels shining on his long fingers and ears. Eyes deceptively playful— in unison with his grinning lips.

"Did someone say Vampire?"

Warren's eyebrows raised damn near all the way to his hairline.

The muscle and bone in Ruponts face bulged. Pushing his jaws outward and forehead downward until he looked nearly prehistoric. His skin lost its pores. It was hard to notice something like that until it actually happens. It made his skin look less like skin and more like some thing that could be easily torn or impenetrable. The last and final touches were the fangs. As if his face didn't already scream the word.

Vampire.

"Boo."

"AHHH!" Warren and Isaac stumbled backward with their weapons at the ready before tripping over tree roots.

Cassidy and Ursula were on their feet. Weapons raised and aimed.

"We're currently on a no Vampire diet. So why don't you fuck off, sucker." Cassidy held his autobows high.

Ruponts face returned to normal. Leaving everyone to consider in horror if every Blood Balanced Vampire had a BloodStarved face.

He raised his hands, "I'm not your average Vampire so how about an exception? Have I not been a great tour guide?"

"Not if you've got anything to do with Claude."

Rupont went serious and shook his head, "That was Bertrand. It could only be him."

"So what? You come here, reveal yourself to two humans. One of which being the Lions son, and then go about your day?" Cassidy questioned.

Rupont looked up at the sun. "Throw your fate to the wind. Don't sit in it."

"What?"

"You are sitting in what fate has planned for you— isn't it infuriating?! They took Claude. Why are we sitting here? Claude's enemy is clear. So is ours. It's fate. Get up, I have a way for us to fight it."

"What is he talking about?" Warren whispered to Isaac.

"I understand the power of progeny."

Ursula and Cassidy's ears perked up.

"Your progress is his own, yes?"

They didn't answer.

Rupont ran a jeweled hand through his middle parted hair. "We can't be here. We need to face the Beasts of The Sunlands. You make progress. So does he. If you truly believe he's not dead—"

"He isn't." Ursula pressed.

"Then he needs power, doesn't he? Be good to your Alpha and give him some."

A portal spun into existence behind Rupont. Red as blood, rimmed by strands of rainbow steam. It made him look chaotic as he smiled at them.

"Our enemy is fate. And our goal? The power to break it. In doing so, Claude's chains may be broken as well. See you all at nightfall."