"Night Moves" - an Ostara tale- part 2

[nachtjaeger]

(Editor's note: I've been after Ostara to finish this story for awhile, but she is notoriously averse to anything resembling actual work. -Nachtjaeger)

Hey, quicksanders. Ostara here. So, when last we met, I had used my cool new Vampire powers to feed off a rich merchant, seduce his wife in their private clay pit, and rob him blind. viewtopic.php?f=14&t=875#p7162

So, I had gotten clean away- or so I thought. But my new predatory senses realized that I was being tracked through the rain-slick streets by an extremely skilled stalker. I pretended to be deaf and blind, and simply walked through the darkness and around the corner into an alley. I slipped into a handy doorway just into the alley, then took one of the small pebbles I keep in a handy pocket and tossed it halfway down the alley, where it bounced, sounding somewhat like quiet running footsteps. Then I pulled my broad-bladed dagger from its sheath and waited.
Whoever it was was good. He stopped at the mouth of the alley, just around the corner, and waited. Then he slipped around the corner. In a single movement almost too quick to watch, I spun out from my doorway and drove my dagger up under his ribs into his heart. He looked right into my eyes. But instead of his eyes going blank and him falling down, his eyes went from blue to yellow, and he growled at me. His canine teeth were long, and grew longer as he snarled at me. His face was getting longer too. (Insert a few of your favorite swear words here- I was too shocked to do it at the time.) I did something I don't very often do. I turned around and ran for my life (or whatever my current status is.) Yeah- you called it right. Werewolf. Worse yet, a werewolf thief-catcher (bounty hunter, to you outworlders) if my judgement of his clothes was accurate, and on my tail. Okay, time to use all my vampire powers, never mind the blood use- always time to refill later. I was pretty quick as a human, with a muscular body and long legs (you boys like that) but I can move even faster when I don't get tired or feel most kinds of pain. Behind me I could hear four paws on cobblestones- big paws, at least as big as an Elghound. {Elg- old name for Elk -ed.} I was running more or less towards the city gate. I didn't want to run into any city guard, but I didn't want to change direction right then. I remembered a way to get over the wall that I had noticed back B.V.- before vampire- but I never had the guts to try it. No time like the present. I'd describe how I launched myself off the shaft of an oxcart, somersaulted onto an awning, bounced up to grab a flat spot on a buttress of the gate, and then pulled myself up to the roof, but you'd never believe it. I didn't hesitate- I launched myself off the city wall and over the narrow river channel that served as a moat on the Western approach to the city. I spread out my cloak, and soared into the darkness. Behind me, I heard a snarl, then a yelp, then a splash. Wet doggie! I wondered if he could do the dog-paddle. I hoped I had enough height to clear the river- running water and I don't get along lately. I made it across- sort of. I made a very undignified face-first landing on a mud bank. I dragged myself onto solid ground, trailing smelly mud everywhere. Behind me, I heard swimming sounds from the river. Wonderful. Fido had survived his bath, and was still coming after me- he must have heard the splat when I hit the mud. Okay, back to plan A- run like hell. I put on some speed again, the wind peeling the mud off me as I slipped through the high grass of the river bottoms. I pulled up my mental map of the city and its surrounds, and came up with a plan. I changed course slightly, and headed for a nearby ox-bow lake. Not much of a lake any more- just lots of pretty much bottomless mud. I had an idea- maybe Fido couldn't swim any better in quicksand than a normal dog. It was pretty dark, but with my enhanced senses I could see the terrain a few yards ahead. On the edge of the oxbow, if I remembered correctly, was a little hummock of land about four feet high. (Yeah, I'd been there before- more than once.) I looked for it as I ran- yes! I changed course to zero in on it, and Fido gained another yard or two. Boy, was I hungry- I was burning through a LOT of blood. But no time to worry about that now. I hit the hummock at a full sprint, launched myself like a spear into the darkness. It worked perfectly- for about a half a second. Fido matched my leap, and just as I was about to spread my "wings" he hit me like a ball from a catapult. We tumbled through the dark, all claws and fangs, and landed with a sickening *splut* in the middle of the spring-fed mud of the oxbow. Fido tried to sink his teeth into me, but sank up to his belly in the soft mud. My cloak spread my weight a bit, but I wasn't going anywhere in a hurry- my left arm and knee were sunk, and it looked like the rest of me was going to follow them. I managed to get my right arm out, but it cost me both legs to the hips. Fido actually whimpered, then changed back to his human form. He managed to get his arms free, but ended up waist deep, facing me. He was easy on the eyes- blonde, long hair, blue eyes (at the moment, anyway.) "Truce?" he said, and I laughed. "Okay, truce until we get ourselves out of this bog- then we can rip each other to threads. Deal?" He laughed, and extended his hand. His name was Lucian, and I introduced myslelf. By this time, we were about chest-deep in the sucking mud. He looked down. "Of all the ways for a werewolf to die, I never thought of this one." Right- he still had to breathe. Score another one for the vampires. "There's a way out of this, if we work together" I told him. He grinned. "A vampire and a werewolf working together? There have to be about a hundred rules against that." Okay, so he's gorgeous and has a sense of humor. "Rules are for tools" I said. "I like the way you think" he told me.
We played sort of a game of quicksand leapfrog. Using me as an anchor, he managed to get himself horizontal on top of the bog. Then he helped me do the same thing, complaining about the weight of all the mud on my cloak- which I was NOT giving up, no matter what. Then we took turns crawling over each other until we made it to shore. After about the third time crawling over me, I noticed he was enjoying this. "Is that your sword, or are you glad to see me?" "Didn't your mother tell you the story of the Big Bad Wolf?" "Yeah. I always cried when the hunters killed the wolf." As we were scraping the mud off ourselves, he commented "I need a new line of work. Hunting humans is just good fun, but Vampires are too much work for the money." "How about bodyguarding? I know somebody who needs a guard- and you get to work the day shift, so your nights are your own." He looked at me. "The client isn't a vampire thief who's too damn sexy for her own good is she?" I was about to make some sort of sexy double-meaning reply when we heard a beautiful, beautiful sound- the bleat of a sheep. Us vampires can survive on animal blood in a pinch, and he- well he IS a wolf. We looked at each other, he shifted, and off we went. Good hunting for us both- the sheep were very fat and healthy (or so Lucian told me) and I found the Shepard to be a man of excellent taste.
So there it is- that's the story. And Lucian, sorry about the "Fido" comment, but that's what I was thinking at the time. You can punish me for it tonight, if you like.

[joedeep130535]

thanks i liked that one--wolfed it down you might say!!!

[Lomax]

I must admit that I regret Ostara's change of status (has she been reading trashy teen novels - and I use the word novel entirely inaccurately ?). Nevertheless, she is still capable of a memorable turn of phrase; and I'm glad to see that her teeth haven't grown so big that she can't get her tongue in her cheek.

Sometimes the writer in me (distressingly dormant of late) thinks that it might be a good idea to whisk up an interdimensional portal and "borrow" Ostara for a bit. Possibly to deposit her in Ankh-Morpork where she could meet Otto Chriek. And Sergeant Angua......

But that would be bad manners.

[nachtjaeger]

Thanks for the comment- glad you liked it.

Feedback = more stories

Constructive criticism = better stories

thanks i liked that one--wolfed it down you might say!!!

[Lomax]

Feedback = more stories

Dream on.

[nachtjaeger]

Lomax, given your level of writing skill and sense of humor, you are more than welcome to "borrow" Ostara. Just remember the old caveat- never summon what you can't banish. For further warnings, I refer you to O. Henry's short story "The ransom of Red Chief." http://fiction.eserver.org/short/ransom ... chief.html

As to the "trashy teen novel" comment, Ostara's reply to that (the part I can repeat, at any rate- I don't even know what some of those curse words mean. . .) is that she is a bloodthirsty undead nocturnal predator at present, that only the 'undead' part is entirely new, and that she does NOT- repeat, NOT- 'sparkle.'

I must admit that I regret Ostara's change of status (has she been reading trashy teen novels - and I use the word novel entirely inaccurately ?). Nevertheless, she is still capable of a memorable turn of phrase; and I'm glad to see that her teeth haven't grown so big that she can't get her tongue in her cheek.

Sometimes the writer in me (distressingly dormant of late) thinks that it might be a good idea to whisk up an interdimensional portal and "borrow" Ostara for a bit. Possibly to deposit her in Ankh-Morpork where she could meet Otto Chriek. And Sergeant Angua......

But that would be bad manners.

[AyaneMatrix]

I'm not even sure where to critique your great story as other than saying it needs better paragraph separation, it's a great read. I especially like how she describes events as they unfold from her encounter with Lucien all the way to their tumble into the mire.

As for general feedback, I know how that goes as many of my own written works, including artwork, hardly gets so much as a passing glance as of late. I could say it's one of the major reasons for me being so slow in posting finished stories as well, but that could just be plain old laziness too.

And vampires that sparkle? Oy... after I heard about that happening in Twilight, I wanted to puke in disgust! Vampires are supposed to burn or at least be severely weakened in daylight; but, never, EVER sparkle like some sort of glittering playboy.

[PM2K]

I like these! Glad to see Ostara still up and about!

[AyaneMatrix]

I'm not even sure where to critique your great story as other than saying it needs better paragraph separation, it's a great read. I especially like how she describes events as they unfold from her encounter with Lucien all the way to their tumble into the mire.

As for general feedback, I know how that goes as many of my own written works, including artwork, hardly gets so much as a passing glance as of late. I could say it's one of the major reasons for me being so slow in posting finished stories as well, but that could just be plain old laziness too.

And vampires that sparkle? Oy... after I heard about that happening in Twilight, I wanted to puke in disgust! Vampires are supposed to burn or at least be severely weakened in daylight; but, never, EVER sparkle like some sort of glittering playboy.