STORY

ON UNDERSTANDING LESLIE KANE
By Ebbtide Cheque

Fingers ran down the smooth skin of her neck. Sam Winchester let a half-smile drape lazily across his face. He stared down into the woman’s stormy gray eyes and noticed for the first time flecks of dark blue in their depths. She grinned hesitantly up at him.

“What are you thinking?” She asked curiously.

“Leslie, I think we should go out tonight.” Sam suggested, running his fingers up her neck.

Leslie let her head fall forward, letting it rest against the strong, broad shoulders of the Hunter. She relaxed against the strength that he both embodied and projected. She had wanted this kind of contact, theses feelings, for so long now it was almost impossible to believe that it was really happening. Her grin widened.

“Sounds good.”

Sam stroked the dark, wavy hair that spilled over Leslie Kane’s shoulders. He felt like a missing piece of his heart had been found and put back. He had never known it was missing, not since Jessica. Years of being alone had left the man jaded and convinced there would never be anyone for him. No one who could possibly understand his life would want to stick around. At least, that had been his thoughts before Leslie. He felt her warm breath against his shoulder, he felt butterflies stir inside his stomach.

“Or we could stay in.” He muttered, voice husky.

She giggled and kissed the blue, plaid shirt covering his rock hard biceps. She could feel his heartbeat through her skin, it made her own skip a beat. She closed her eyes to the low light of the hotel room.

“Dean will be back soon.” She said softly, circling one of his shirt buttons with her fingertip. “If we’re going to…do something, we should hurry.”

Sam wrapped his arms around her body, gently drawing her close. He breathed in deep and relaxed at the smell of apricots. He remembered their hot shower that morning, his hazel eyes twinkled at how little metaphorical meaning had went into that thought. He placed a kiss on top of her head, squeezing her a little tighter. How had he ever survived without this woman? She completed him in a way he would have never imagined possible.

Leslie Kane felt tears spill over her eyelashes and she hiccoughed. In all her life, she had never once thought true love could find her, not a love this perfect anyway. Sam Winchester was everything she had ever wanted and all she would ever need. He understood what it was like to be a normal person stuck inside the body of a monster. To be different and yet feel like everyone else on the inside. Sam Winchester knew what it was like to be Leslie Kane.

She let her hands snake across his skin and behind his back, she hugged him, their bodies meshing perfectly. Puzzle pieces of fate finding each other in a corner section of love.

They sighed simultaneously.

*****

Sam felt her body shake in his arms.

Leslie pulled away from the hug, turning away with her face hidden from view by a veil of dark wavy hair. She had a hand over her eyes shielding her further. Sam felt uncertainty bleed into his calm. What had he done? The woman’s shoulders were shaking and it was obvious something had upset her greatly. Sam put a hand on her shoulder.

“What is it?”

Leslie felt a hot blush turn her ear tips red. This was not how she imagined the day going. The last thing she wanted was for Sam to think she was some kind of emotional - She broke off the thought and whirled to face Sam. She kissed him passionately on the lips. Sam leaned down towards her with a squeak of muffled surprise. His worries and doubts fell away as he reacted to her insistent touches. He could feel her hunger as if it was his own.

A love they craved, a love they had found within each other. Soul mates by any other name…Sam pulled back from the kiss to breath, he let the fractured Shakespeare marinate his thoughts. A soul mate by any other name would not be as sweet. He snickered and leaned down, planting a feather light kiss on her nose.

“Are you alright?” He asked.

Leslie’s tears had dried in the face of their shared love. Her blue-gray eyes were sparkling. She stroked his sideburn with one hand and lay the other over his heart.

“I just find it hard to believe that any of this is real.” She confessed in a low whisper.

“You mean us?”

“Yes. I mean us - what we’ve found together.”

She kissed his chin and then moved to kiss a trail down his neck. He closed his eyes at the feel of her soft lips against his skin, a moan broke through the sexually charged silence. With a grunt Sam abruptly lifted her into his arms and walked towards the bed. He stood over the bed, the woman he had come to love more than life in his arms. She was smiling confidently up at him.

“The thought of living my life without you - of having never found…us. I can’t imagine the universe where we don’t - where this never.” Sam kissed her deeply and sat down on the edge of the bed. “We were meant to be together. Everything in our lives was leading us…to this.”

THE END

Stories from Moments

Corners Of Hell
By Ebbtide Cheque
Summary: While Dean was in hell. Sam was stuck dealing with his death the only ways he knew how.

Dean closed his eyes, prayed for home and screamed Sam’s name for the thousandth time. He had been in hell for an eternity, or so it felt to him. His body had wasted away under the duress, his mind in shambles that he dutifully swept up and reordered. For Sam he would not let these demons break him, for Sam he would hold out until a miracle could save him.

“Sam!” His scream of anguish and pain was drown out by the sounds of hell.
****

“You wanna hear about the corners of hell I’ve seen, Sam?” Ruby asked sarcastically.

****
Sam gulped a shot of whiskey, stared at the wall for a moment, poured himself another shot of whiskey and repeated. He could sense the demon’s eyes on his back. Ruby sat on a chair in the far corner of the room and silently watched as the man drank himself into a stupor.

Sam could image Dean calling out his name for help. Screaming.



THE END

LD

The teddy bear groaned and turned on it’s side. The TV had been smashed to pieces, the news to awful to contemplate any further. He had his dark paws laid out over his twinkling, crimson eyes.

He wanted to express his grief in some substantial way, but there was nothing. No tears for the teddy bear. Even his girl had left him. Audrey had been shuffled down the stairs and out the front door by a couple of doctors who hadn’t helped at all. Teddy sniffled a little, trying to imagine what it must be like to have a runny nose. Tears were easy to imagine. He had already dabbed water under both of his eyes, the dampness making him smell vaguely of wet dog.

“Nothing makes sense.” He moaned aloud though no one could hear his tragic cry. “Nothing at all. It’s meaningless.”

He had heard the doctors talking earlier. They had told his girl that he had contracted a disease, a very common and contagious disease. He knew that this was why he was alone now. The last thing the teddy bear wanted was to add to the world’s chaos. Little did he know that he had been borne of it.

Lollipop disease. Teddy thought long and hard about everything he had learned since he had woken up. He knew what a lollipop was - Audrey had tried to feed him one during their first fiasco of a tea party, the sticky candy had taken ages to get out of his fur. Disease killed, he had heard that on the news that morning. Thousands dying each and every year from different diseases. Now, there was a disease of sticky candy that killed large bears. Teddy sniffled again.
His time as a living bear kept getting worse and worse. The alcohol soaking through his stuffing couldn’t burn away the pain of it. He just wanted it all to end.

He spied a bit of chalk on the floor of his girl’s playroom. He reached down and carefully grasped it in large, soft paws. He looked around for something to write on. A chalk board, perfect. His maroon jeweled eyes lit up with hope. Maybe there was a way to end his disease before he could harm anyone else. The last thing he wanted was to cause even more distress in an obviously precarious world.

LIFE IS MEANINGLESS. SINGED, TEDDY

He cocked his head to one side. It looked right. Now the girl would understand why he would do such an awful thing. Picking up the hunting rifle he had stolen for protection against the scary world, Teddy put the muzzle to his chin and pulled the trigger.

There was a rush of air through him and a loud bang that made him flinch. He wanted to cry more than ever. Shaking his fists at the sky, Teddy cried out.

“Why?”

There would be no answer for the teddy bear. No miraculous escape from reality. He turned his gaze to the floor and rocked back and forth.

Lollipop disease would end him eventually, at least he had that tiny consolation.

THE END.

She Wolf by Tina c.

2008

A raindrop splattered wetness on the tip of her freckled nose. Minutes before, the gray skies had been dry of heaven’s tears. A brisk current of air blew through cracks in the plaster wall, lifting up the red fur on her feet. She shivered and hugged her knees closer.

Julietta Lightbarer sat huddled on the mold-invested floor of her apartment room. The thirty year old felt real fear claw at her inside das she whimpered away the dark hole in her heart.
It had been years since she had last felt safe.

A lady centuries before, loved and adored, now only a barely perceivable remnant of that glorious past. Human change was kind to none, her least of all. Julietta took a shuddering breath of icy air. Tomorrow seemed so far away. Too late in coming.

A light at the end of an eternity of tunnel travel, she felt its presence. Unhelpful and useless as the metaphorical light was truly, it gave her hope.

Julietta Lightbarer felt the end would never come for her, she was destined to live a life made horrible and filled a despair that she dreaded. Royalty meant nothing in this new age of computers and accountants, teen punks and television.

****

Seth ran a paw through his thick, red facial hair. He twirled his finger around the ends. He remembered the morning Julietta had met him on that lonely street corner. Violet and Pine. Twenty long years and three states later he could still remember the intersection where she had stolen his heart. His nose wrinkled at the phantom smell of sewage and old fruit. A grin softened his often grim expression.

Julietta had been a lovely creature. A human with the ability to perceive that paranormal. The werewolf sighed heavily. Perhaps it was this reason alone that compelled him to harbor the vampire, Jade Suon. She had been human not so long ago and a highly empathic human at that. Seth could see so much of Julietta in the quiet, non-assuming Jade Suon. Her asian eyes sparkling with the same vigor for life and beauty and acceptance.

A knock on the door stirred the werewolf from his musings. He placed the sweet memories back in their little spot at the back of his mind where he could always mull over them when the mood took over.

****

Jade Suon stood on the other side of Seth’s door, her palm resting flat across the dark, aged wood. She listened with the ears that so recently had been made super-human. Paranormal abilities were only the beginning of the change that had taken over her body and soul.

“Come in.” Seth’s voice invited, there was a melancholy air to the tone. “It is open.”

Jade turned the brass knob, it’s shiny countenance out of sync with the old buildings rusty interior. She had puzzled over the new plumbing as well, but left the questions unasked. A simple shrug was enough to pass over these trite details.

She stepped into the small quarters and spied the werewolf sitting on the edge of his bed. A blush made it’s way up her neck, she twisted his sleeves in her hands, suddenly nervous.

“If I am interrupting your prayers I can come back.”

Seth chuckled, a bright smile lighting up his red eyes. True humor entered his voice.

“Nonsense, child. I was merely thinking. You are always welcomed.” He motioned towards the chair opposite him, where it had been placed next to the wall of fading red paper. “Now, tell me what has been bothering you.”

Jade took the offered seat, she ran her sweaty, shaking palms across her jeans trying to calm her speeding heart. This would be more difficult than she had first though, but, of course, she could count on Seth not to judge her. Seth never judged.

“I’ve been thinking about blood lately. . .A lot and it is starting to really scare me.” Her wide eyes locked with his knowing gaze. “I’m worried.”

A sad frown met her concerned one. “I would be upset if that did not worry you. The fact that you are aware of what you are feeling and are still able to curb these impulses leads me to believe that you are not going to play out your worst fears.”

“But what if I can’t stop myself? I’ve heard the stories of vampires unable to control their urges.
Especially if they are already hungry.”

This grabbed Seth’s attention. He studied her intently with his glowing red eyes.

“Have you not been feeding? Is the chicken’s blood not enough.”

She shook her head. “It isn’t that. I just. The whole thing disgusts me. I’ve been having a really hard time keeping it down.”

“Ah. I am sorry to hear that.”

“I’ve tried.” Desperation leaked into her confession. “I’ve tried telling myself that it is just incredibly gross warm milk. I’ve tried thinking of it as tomato juice…Nothing has worked so far. I’m starting to feel….hungry.”

“That is regrettable.”

****

Trevor Snow looked out the small, barred window of his room. It felt like a cozy cell. There was everything that he needed - or wanted - to survive, but he was still a prisoner. The outside world inaccessible while he stayed in the protective custody of the monastery.

Seth had introduced him to a few of the others that lived in this new world. An underground brotherhood of the unusual. Paranormal, supernatural and just plain strange were all patrons of this religious sanctuary. Trevor felt both blessed to have been found by the monk and distressed that he was forced into the life of a freak.

His parents were out there somewhere, no doubt devastated by his death. Trevor would give anything for a chance to see them one more time. To hug them close and tell them that he would be alright, that everything would be alright. It tore him up inside that he could not even give them that little bit of closure. Tears pricked his eyes painfully and he ran a hand over his face. He had spent a lot of time thinking about where his life was headed and the answer had still not presented itself to his internal debates.

Whether he was now meant to go on in this world as a strange creature of the dark, feared and shunned or not was still for him to determine. Seth had been a great help. The large werewolf had been there to talk to and he had given sound advice to Trevor, for that the boy would forever be grateful. Whatever he decided, his new life would be thanks to that kind werewolf. A bit of a contradiction, but a reassuring one as Trevor knew that someday in the near future he would also be a contradiction. It was his hope, his redemption and all he had left to do was figure out how to make it real.

Trevor stared up into the blue open sky and tried harder to close the gap between what he wanted to become and what he had become. A gray area that he knew Seth would help him through.

****

Tamlina Gray sat on the floor of her room, her eyes stared unseeing at the uncarpeted, cold cement. She could hear her little brother’s screams and she could see the terror in her mother’s eyes. It was a bad nightmare that played over and over and refused to let up for even an hour.
Dark circled colored her eyes and she ran a hand through her knotted hair. It had been days since she had thought of eating. Pale skin pulled taunt over her muscles. She had never been capable of keeping on a few extra pounds, something her mother had always been on her case about. A tiny sob escaped and she hugged her knees to her chest, her brow furrowing in deep distress. Another sob shook her shoulders.

This was just too much to take. Knowing that her family’s bodies were located just blocks away under six feet of clay and dirt. Tears sprinkled her bare arms as she tried to hold back the scream of anguish that was building up inside of her heart. It all hurt so badly.

****

Seth watched Jade closely. The last thing that he wanted to do was introduce a danger to his children or those fragile creatures under his protection. He had safety rooms where he could put Jade until the hunger passed or until she could come to realize that drinking animal blood was a way of life for her now. It was not a disgusting thing, it was a life giving ritual and until he could convince the woman of this he would have to make sure that she did not endanger herself or those that called the monastery home.

“Jade.” He started softly, imploringly. “You know that I want to help you, but I need you to want this to happen. You have to accept that what has happened to you is not just a bad thing.
Vampires have been painted with a bloody brush of misunderstandings and ignorance. I think that there is much more individuality to vampires than the legends would imply. Are you willing to put the stereotype to the test?”

Jade smiled through pooling tears. “I’ve already put it to the test.” She wiped at her eyes delicately. “I understand what you are saying and the answer is ‘yes’. I am not going to let this thing beat me.”

“It is more than that, Jade. You have to accept that this is not going to go away and it is who you are now. I’m sorry that this has happened to you, but it has so you have to deal with it. Not as we wish it were, but as it is.”

“What does that even mean?” Jade asked, her voice raising.

“You have to be willing to let yourself change into something…it will be up to you what that something is.”

“English!”

Seth sighed heavily. “Like it or not, you are no longer human and you need to start treating your body that way. You need to change the way that you think. It will be difficult, I won’t lie to you, but I know that it is possible to guide your new powers and senses. I am living proof of that. You do not need to be a monster, Jade, but you are not human anymore and you have got to accept that.”

“I can accept that. I’ve had to!” Jade argued, her voice growing angered.

“On an intellectual level perhaps, but this goes so much deeper than that. Your heart has to accept the fact that you are a vampire.”

Jade flinched at the name. A tear smeared her dark mascara sending a dark trail down her cheek. Seth felt badly for the woman and for the things that he was being forced to say to her, but he also knew that tough love was sometimes the only option available. He reached across the distance separating them and laid a hand on her knee.

“I will be here to help you through this. You will get through this.” He promised solemnly.

“I’m not so sure. This hunger. It’s so strong sometimes and I cannot control it.”

“You can, you have. How do you think you have made it through the common rooms up to my quarters without anyone losing their lives. I know that you passed the infirmary. I know that you smelled the blood. I also know that you are sitting before me scared and every bit as innocent as you were the day your grandmother sent you to me.”

The shaking grew and soon Jade was engulfed in a hug of self-loathing. She felt her body spasm and after a moment realized that she was trying ineffectually to cry tears of regret. One moment. It had taken one moment for her to lose her life and gain a new curse.

“I never wanted this.” She admitted to the world, losing site of the fact that she was not alone.
Her eyes grew distant and clouded. “I never wanted this at all. I saved that woman from the vampire…I thought it was the right thing - the only thing that I could have done, but I’m not so sure now. I just don’t know. What if I could have avoided all of this?” She questioned.

“Whether your choice was right or wrong. It was made. Now we need to deal with what is facing us, not what could have been.” Seth replied softly. “I am so sorry for your loss, Jade, but we need you to move forward.”

****

Trevor itched for a chance to go outside and experience the life of a young adult he had been deprived of at the whim of a dark creature. He took a deep breath and made his way to the door of his room, his cell, reaching down he turned the knob.

The hallway outside was dark, cobwebs clinging to the corners of the ceiling, the wallpaper
peeling. He wondered who had chosen what must have once been a very cheery, floral pattern. Somehow he could not see Seth choosing such a decorative wallpaper. With a shrug, Trevor dismissed the detail and continued on his trek through the mansion. He had not been given a very liberal tour and now thought that his time could best be spent discovering exactly where it was he had agreed to live. A smile of curiosity stole over his features.

He was reminded of the summer his freshman year when he and a group of five friends had decided to break into the local ‘haunted’ house on Halloween. He frowned suddenly at the thought that maybe their fun-filled quest to find a ‘ghost’ might have ended in true disaster that night. A shudder ran up his spine.

****

Julietta sniffled a bit, her dark nose twitching at the phantom sneeze that wanted to manifest. She fought the urge, tired of all the allergies she had built up over the year of living in that broken down place she called home. The rent was cheap so she was able to keep it otherwise she would be forced to take to the street. Others life her were luckier, they could get jobs in the defense industry, but she refused to hurt anymore than she already had and so she had tried her hand…her paws at other careers, but it was hard for a furry, tall, obviously non-human to find employment through regular channels. She knew a few kind people who took in charity supernatural cases and they had graciously agreed to pay rent for the building. Another sniffle broke the chilled silence of the room. Julietta hugged herself closer, her long floral print dress scratching against her long, red fur.

A growl of disgust rumbled through her chest. She was sick of living through the same day of nothing.

****

Knocking On Death's Door by Ebbtide

***TO BE CONTINUED****




Summary: Dean lost everything in his life but Sam. Now he’s lost everything in death. The life of a hunter is so difficult, but now the Winchester boy has to look out for himself and his brother…they can’t live a life. They can’t die. They can’t continue on like this. Is there a solution???






A blue halo lights the inner green of hazel eyes staring down into Sam’s soul, searching for an answer. Dean blinks, looks away from his younger brother and coughs to hide his interest.


“Drink up, Sammy, we’ve got a long way to go.” Dean tries to sound like things are all good.


His heart is lost in a battlefield. Memories assail him at every turn. His fingers rub the beer stain on the table in an attempt to distract himself. Sam Winchester gives his older brother a strange look, he knows that something is off. Things are not right in the world of the Hunters.


“Dean, you okay, dude?” Sam asks quietly, his own eyes intent. “You want to talk…about anything?”


Dean gives a half-shrug. “Nah.”


****


Bright, illuminating light sheds a high beam out to scatter the darkness. The Impala purrs obediently under the guiding hand of her master. Dean Winchester mulls as he looks out the front windshield into the rainy night.


“Well, this is some crap scenery.” He jokes weakly just to fill the air.


Sam nods in distracted agreement. “Uh-huh.”


Dean shoots him a sideways glance to reassure himself that the younger man is alright. Sam has his penlight out and is nose-first in a book on medieval myths and legends. Sam feels the gaze, but does not look up. He does not shift his expression.


“Ouch. Don‘t strain your brain over there.”


Sam smirked at the lame attempt at humor. “Don’t worry, Dean. My brain don’t strain.”


“Regular poet.” Dean smiles softly.


Sam chuckles. “Yeah, whatever.”


****


The shower water runs lightly against his skin and brings a refreshing feeling to his tired body. Hunting really takes it out of a man, Dean decides as he lathers the shampoo dripping from his short blond hair.

Angels And Demons No More

BY EBBTIDE

A tear winds its slow and lonely way down my face. It reflects in the harsh light of the room, showing a clear trail that I would hide if I could feel its presence. Too many other thoughts and feelings intrude on my mind and so this weakness it not removed.

Sam Winchester is watching me, his dark eyes gauging my own, assessing the damage done by the past year of separation. I try to smile, I try to let my eyes speak for me, but there are no more smiles. I’ll never feel my lips curl upwards again, they are leaden and heavy with memories. They are overburdened and weighty. No. That is my heart, not my numb lips. Everything is numb. I do not feel the second tear that snakes its way to my shirt collar.

I’m the older brother here, I should be the one to break the silence that has engulfed us these past few minutes. The first time in twelve months we meet in the middle of a hotel room. The “old days” come back in a rush of sepia-laced memories. I breath in sharply, bittersweet feelings pumping through my veins. I know what he represents, what he became all those months ago and he knows the true me.

If I could go back in time and warn myself about what would happen, even I would never have believed it. Not in a million years.

Sam had let himself turn into a demon. That sweet, caring man I had called ’Sammy’ and looked out for all my life. He had turned evil. Pure, unadulterated evil. I had seen him in all his darkness, the bloody violence so hard to watch. I knew what he had become. The eyes may no longer be yellow or red or even black, but behind their hazel guise I read the truth in them. Their iron core daring me to speak aloud my reservations at being in the same room with this killer. The monster Sammy.

He opens his mouth and I visibly flinch. For some reason that even I cannot comprehend, I had expected him to burst into a Latin saturated exorcism that would banish my soul. Sam could extinguish angels now too and I was an angel.

Castiel had shown me the metaphorical ropes. I gulp down the urge to whisper his name for help. This meeting I need to handle on my own. Two brothers, two different sides to a war that started so many eons ago. I wish it would all go back to the way that it was, but logic dictates that can never be allowed. We are not truly the same two men that we were before.

The physical, the mental, the ideological sides of our characters have changed so very much since my twenty-sixth birthday. I stare at my brother.

“You should leave, Dean.” Sam says calmly, as if I had not just seen him massacre an entire family.

My feet stay rooted to the floor, I could not move if I had wanted to, because there is something about the way his mouth curves to easily at the corners. He is grinning at me. The same smile I used to treasure, to coax out of him, now gives me chills. I feel the hairs on my arms stand up. Everything is so wrong.

“Leave.”

I do not need to be told twice. Tearing my body out of its stunned freeze, I turn my back to him and to that genuine smile. I walk away. My brother is dead.

THE END

Seth looked over his shoulder, wary of the shadows moving just outside the scope of his vision. He sniffed the air with his long, dark snout at the suspicious behavior. He hated going outside the monastery. Holy ground kept his family and he safe, but on the rare occasion he had no choice in the matter.

There had been talk of a new vampire, a young one, in the neighborhood and he wished to offer an alternative to the fledgling. Seth was the overseer for an underground safe house for those of supernatural tendencies that wished to change their lives. He was more than that, Seth was a werewolf. He understood the pressures and the fears.

The early evening’s soft drizzle had finally abated, but his breath still came out in sharp clouds of condensation. The creature looked through glowing red eyes at the silent world. It was well past midnight and he had the next three blocks to himself. A dim moon hung low in the sky, veiled by the smog and smoke from an active city. Seth shrugged his cloak closer about him and moved quickly through the distance separating him from his target. Rumors had put the young vampire in an abandoned warehouse near the waterfront district.

Seth hurried faster, his pawed feet pattering softly along the damp cement. He had thirty minutes before his children had been instructed to send help. Vampires were dangerous creatures and he did not want to get bitten.

****

Daniel H. Harris took a bite of his yogurt, sighing as he leaned back in the kitchen chair. It had been a good day, a long day. Three vampires had been released from their forced captivity. He would report the numbers to the Reformers in the morning. For now, he was ready to just have a cold beer and get some sleep.

Ten minutes later he watered his plants, fed his fish and then flicked off the lights. Through the semi-darkness illuminated only by the streetlights outside he made his way to the bed.

Tomorrow would come soon enough. The clock read past midnight.

****

Seth glanced cautiously around the front of the building before attempting to access a side door. The warehouse was large and smelled strongly of rats. The werewolf ran a pawed hand over his thickly furred face. He hated rats.

Scratching and the soft patter of tiny feet greeted him when the door was pushed silently open. Inside was dark, but his red eyes could easily distinguish the forms within. Boxes and barrels stacked and then deserted were trailing dust and cobwebs. The floor was covered in boot prints. All the same size, all small. Either a woman or a young man.

Seth sniffed the air - he felt no presence, but vampires were always difficult to sense. He walked further into the warehouse, passing a tall stack of boxes on his left. He cocked his head to one side, his advanced hearing had distinguished a sound that did not fit. He knew that if the vampire was present, it had already become aware of him, there was no reason to keep hiding.

“My name is Seth…I have come…to help.” The werewolf spoke loudly, pulling down the hood to reveal his own creaturely features. “You have nothing to fear from me.”

“What are you.”

Seth’s keen hearing could not pinpoint the origin of the voice. He stepped further into an open space towards the middle of the warehouse. He looked around, his peripheral vision picking up movement on the far left corner of the ceiling. He stood very still.

“Why don’t you come out so that we can talk about it.” Seth invited calmly.