Blood & Carrots Ep. 26

"Sir... should you really be making such a display?" The snake next to him spoke out in an apologetic tone.

The lion frowned and took a seat, folding his hands over the table. "Your trickery may coax our knight, but it will not us. Any victories you shared with her were obviously some elaborate scheme to corrupt her, which you have no doubt done."

"You should put your tinfoil hat on when you talk like that." I showed him a condescending grin. "You're obviously the type that reason doesn't work with."

"You've strained my patience enough, demon." The angel snarled the words and shifted his gaze to Gloria. "Knight Gloria, it's painfully obvious you have been hopelessly tainted. It's with a heavy heart that I judge you must be purified."

The dog barked out at the words and then Alex pulled her closer, his form shifting to full-on werewolf. "You go through me first, cat." He snarled the words, keeping the dog held in his large paws.

"And me..." Katrina hissed the words as she flung her hand, large drops of blood scattering and taking up formation above the armored dog's body, sharpening to large razor points while she aimed both guns at the lion.

I unfurl my whip in my right hand, drawing my revolver in my left. "A shame... truly... I really did come here to talk, not kill you and your men..." I sighed the words and nodded as the two dogs behind me drew their guns and the cat gripped his sword.

"Y-your eminence!" The seer spoke out sharply towards him. "Our men will fight and die for her in their current state. Striking her down will not remove the charm upon them!"

"I... you will not take my loved ones so readily..." Gloria pulled from the large wolf's paws and drew her own rapier. "Were it just me, I would not resist, but you now threaten everything I love and hold dear, divines forgive me but I will not stand by and watch it."

"Sinners, you will know the divine fires of judgment, even if I must make sacrifices to do so!" The lion stood and thrust his hand out, his will pushing forth like a tidal wave.

I flinched as did everyone else. "Divine fires you say?" I snapped my teeth together and summoned it all up, my eyes shifting to a fiery blue as white-hot flames poured forth from my body. The ethereal fox tail and ears had been lost a few years back with my own personal growth. The power now simply poured off my body and clung to my ears and tail.

The four of them all shielded their eyes and Gloria flinched but had expected it. The lion clenched his teeth hard, squinting at the radiance, the fox simply yelped and shield her eyes along with the snake.

"Here's your divine fires you son of a bitch!" I spoke the words in a haughty tone of voice, the hunger in me fully unleashed. "You will not have her life, and if I must lay you all low to ensure that, I will!"

"By the divines, Ezekiel! That's Elias of the divine flame!" The snake hissed the words out.

"Elias is a fox, not a worthless rabbit!" The lion roared the words and shoved his hand out as a wave of force slammed into my body. The wave of power sent me sprawling back through the conference hall into various tables and desks.

The world stopped spinning a second later as I found my footing and screamed in fury. I blurred through the room and was over the lion with my whip drawn, the length coated in red flames as I lashed out at him. The blows struck against a screen similar to what a mage would have but I felt the unholy energy making him flinch.

"Alex, Kat! Get Gloria out of here!" I shouted the words as I lashed against the lion's barrier, I could feel it wouldn't be breaking against my assault and simply did so to buy time at this point.

The armored retriever had attempted to intercept me, but between dodging Katrina's blood magic and the trio of guards, she wasn't having much luck.

"I'm not leaving you, Alice!" Katrina screamed the words as she kept her thaumaturgy up.

"None of us will!" Gloria set her stance and sprang into the melee with the larger armored dog.

A moment of clarity filled my mind as I realized it was the snake making the shield for the lion. The fox was doing something similar for the armored dog. "Both of you stay out of this!" I shouted the words, lashing my whip at the snake and taking a shot at the fox with my left hand.

The snake hissed out and I saw his focus shift to shield himself while the fox yelped out and likewise shifted her focus. Alex blurred and was on top of the fox in an instant, his claws tearing at the screen she held up.

I slashed my whip at the snake's shield and leveled my gun at the lion before me only to see he was out of sight. My eyes widened as I realized he had blurred behind me in the microseconds I had spent to distract the other two. His hands wrapped around my throat and I was slammed to the ground. I yelped out as he continued to bang my body and head to the floor while growling.

I cried out at each impact then quickly fired a shot off clipping his shoulder. He roared in pain and grabbed my left arm, clenching hard against it. I yelped again as I felt my bones break in my arm, losing grip on my gun as it fell to the ground.

Ezekiel grabbed me by my throat and held me aloft as my flames guttered out from his overwhelming power. "Go, be judged by the divines, abomination!"

"Alice!" Katrina broke from the assault on the armored dog and began firing upon the lion from his side. The shots started bouncing off a new screen of power the snake was projecting, the fox still occupied by the wolf. "Bastard!" Katrina quickly deviated her aim and got the snake with a shot to his hip but it was her last round.

I felt myself blacking out from the overwhelming will and clenched my teeth. I had one more ace up my sleeve. One more trump card I could pull out but it would do me little good. However, it might save everyone else. I gave the lion a defiant glare and parted my lips to speak out as loudly as I could.

#

I giggled at the faint whisper to my ear and smiled at her. "Why so quietly?"

The sheep smiled and tapped my nose with a grin, laying next to me naked in the bed. "It is my true name..."

"Is it such a grand thing, my love?" I looked into her soft brown eyes, my hand sliding up and down her bare hip beneath the sheets.

She nodded at me slowly. "Alice, when beings such as me grow old and powerful enough. Simply speaking our true names is a statement in and of itself. It calls to us."

"R-really?" I asked curiously, my ears lifted up.

"You know that old saying, speak of a devil and they will appear?" She tilted her head curiously. I shook my head and she just sighed. "Getting old is frustrating..."

I giggled and squeezed her hip. "So I should call upon you when I need you?"

She shook her head. "Only in the direst of situations, my rabbit. Using my name will tell me where you are, what you are doing, and the fastest way to get to you, but..."

"There's always a but, isn't there?" I showed my teeth in a lazy grin.

She nodded. "It's like a supernatural billboard sign. You utter a powerful creature's name like that, you will have a lot of attention on you, not just mine. Any nearby beings of power will know you called me."

I swallowed hard and nodded. "Sounds scary..."

She put a hand to my cheek and gave me a gentle look. "It could be... only when it's dire... promise me..."

#

"Lorelai Tahmineh!" I spat the name in his face, along with some of my blood and spittle. The lion's eyes widened in realization at what I had done. Everyone in the room seemed to halt at the surge of energy that gripped them at the utterance of the name.

The doors to the conference hall slammed open with a wave of force and the whole room stopped as if frozen in time. My eyes widened and my heart soared as I looked to the entryway. He stood there, wisps of smoke drifting from his exposed skin to the sunlight. His teeth showed in a savage feral snarl, white flames already rolling off his tail and ears, veritably pouring from his body.

He fixed his eyes on the scene with the lion holding my battered body. There were no words, he simply was across the room and upon us. Elias thrust his fist out, ethereal flames slashing across the lions face as he dropped me and pivoted from the blow. Elias caught me in his left arm before I hit the floor.

Seeing my injuries the fox grabbed the lion's own arm in his right hand and dropped his heel, breaking it with a loud crunch at the elbow. The lion yowled out at the pain before Elias delivered a roundhouse kick to his side, sending him sprawling through the room. He slammed through the conference table they had been seated at and the chairs, before crashing up against the far wall of the room. He slid down the wall to the floor, his left wing clearly broken from the impact.

"Master..." I panted out as my eyes filled with tears. He looked me over, his teeth still bared in a furious snarl and I felt him push a bottle into my good hand.

"Drink... and heal your wounds..." He growled the words and looked to the snake and the fox. Alex looked like he had been ready to tear her throat out when the melee halted. "Alex! To me! Do not kill her." Elias barked the words in commandment.

The wolf dropped the smaller fox and quickly moved over to the white fox. He nodded then glanced at Gloria and Katrina. "Both of you, with me as well." The dog and cat shared a look and moved beside the fox as well.

I fumbled the cap off the bottle with my good hand and started gulping the blood down by the mouthful. I felt Gloria grip my arm and begin to work her healing prayers while the blood started to repair the damage.

"Dame Rachel, why did you not try to stop this nonsense?" Elias snarled the words towards the blonde fox who had staggered to her feet.

"I tried multiple times to diffuse the situation, you know we celestials cannot disobey a superior once they give a command." She spoke the words in that neutral voice of hers, rubbing at her throat where Alex had been ready to rip it out.

"That's right, Elias of the divine flame... we were but marionettes once the brawl began." The snake hissed the words, rubbing at his gunshot wound and slowly healing it.

"Ezekiel, I should have killed you years ago..." Elias snarled the words furiously and clenched his fist.

The lion staggered to his feet, holding his left arm which looked as broken as his wing. He slumped back towards the main group. "Stupid sinful fox... your divine flames won't protect you from me..."

"Ezekiel, are you mad?!" Rachel barked out at him, her ears perked sharply.

"Do not question me, seer." He coughed out and I could see he was already healing the wound on his arm. "These abominations are not leaving this room."

"I will question you, did you not hear what the rabbit uttered?" The fox spat the words out, clenching her teeth together. "We no doubt have an arch-vampire on her way here as we speak, an arch-vampire that killed archangel Hagen! We do not have time for this, Ezekiel!"

"Do not be absurd... I would know if she were on her way. There has been no shifting of such power." The lion growled the words and clenched his mostly healed fist.

"Our people will never make any progress so long as senile old fools like you are within the ranks." Elias snarled the words and set his stance. "I will just do your family a favor and cut out the diseased wound here and now..."

The lion showed his teeth and said nothing as he pushed out his will and a bright radiant burst of energy appeared before him. The sphere of light reminded me of the sun and I felt dizzy and weak despite having mostly recovered. Gloria barked out as I took a knee along with Katrina and Elias.

"You talk a big game fox, but look at you now." Ezekiel showed his teeth victoriously, the artificial sunlight having even brought Alex to kneel, his form having reverted from the light. The light must have been making my grip waver on the trio of celestials as well, they simply stood dumbfounded before it.

The retriever set her sword and stepped before the four of us as a shield. She showed her teeth in a growl. "You will not touch any of them!"

"Knight commander!" The lion called out towards the armored retriever.

"My lord!" She barked out and moved towards him.

"Put the heretic to the sword and do it within sight of them." He showed me a contemptuous glare.

I gave a weak laugh as I leaned against my fox, feeling his hand grip my own. "Ha... you speak a big game about being divine and righteous, but you're the evilest son of a bitch in this room, cat."

"You dare question my divinity, Rabbit?" He showed me a grin, a cocky look that showed me he knew he had beaten all of us.

"Also, fuck you..." I spat the words out and felt my fox grip my hand hard, his power and will surging into my smaller body, fueling my own power. My free hand erupted in black and red flames before I pushed my will forth. I poured the hellfire over the divine sphere making the light from it dim.

"What?!" The lion snarled out and in a flash, Elias was atop him.

The fox drew a blow forth and slammed his fist into the angel's head, making him slam to the ground with a heavy thud. He showed his teeth and slammed his booted foot down against the lions head, grinding his heel against his cheek. Elias cut his eyes to the dog closing on him with longsword drawn, just as my whip wrapped around the blade and wrenched it out of her grip.

The dog barked out her protest at me and set me with a glare as the light faded. By now Katrina had risen and Alex was back in his werewolf form. My trio of friends were even back to following my orders.

"Are you going to kill him, Master?" I asked dryly while picking up my gun I dropped earlier.

Elias sneered through his teeth and clenched his flaming hands. "Yes, mercy is wasted on this one. He would sooner plant a knife in our backs for it."

"I don't think you should..." A voice called out to the room from nowhere in particular. I lifted my ears sharply, recognizing it right away.

"Are you sure about that, my lady?" Elias growled the words and stepped back from the downed angel.

"I am." The sheep shimmered into view, leaning up against the wall, her arms crossed over her heavy chest. I felt my heart sing to see her again and flicked my tail happily.

"Why do we spare him? The celestials would be better off without him." Katrina hissed the words, levying a gun at Ezekiel's head.

"Do you question my will, Katrina?" The sheep gave the cat a level look. The cat swallowed hard and shook her head, quickly putting her guns away.

"Ah... Y-you're..." Rachel stammered as she looked upon the small sheep.

"Yes seer, long time no see. You should be thanking the divines all of you are still drawing breath after threatening my rabbit." Lorelai showed her teeth as she kicked off the wall and moved towards me.

I bit my lower lip at her approach. Lorelai grabbed my collar and pulled me closer, shoving her mouth to my own. I shuddered and wrapped my arms around her, feeling her not just kissing me, she was pouring her will and energy into me, helping my torn up, weak body recover.

"Sinful creatures..." The lion snarled from the floor and slowly climbed from it, rubbing his jaw as he set it back into place.

Lorelai pulled from my lips and gave the lion a grin. "Your mind is still like the rest of you, Ezekiel... weak and ineffective..."

"How dare you speak to me in such a wa-" His words caught in his throat as the sheep stretched her hand outwards.

I saw Lorelai give him a wicked grin, a cruel look I had never seen upon her before. "Ezekiel... who is the most incompetent and worthless creature in this room... no, on this planet?"

"I am!" The lion barked the words out obediently, despite his eyes being full of fury.

"And who has to boss their subordinates around to make up for their obvious shortcomings both in life and the bedroom?" The sheep hummed the question while flicking her tail.

"I do." He spoke again, his fists clenching and tail whipping about furiously.

"My lady, how long have you been here?" Elias spoke out curiously.

"About the time you sent this scrap of a cat across the room." She spoke the words dryly then looked to the lion. "You look stiff, do some jumping jacks."

I giggled along with Gloria as the lion snarled and started doing as he was told. "My love, why did you not make yourself known sooner, especially during the holy light thing?"

"I wanted to see you overcome the trial with your mind. Had you not I would have stepped in before it was too dire." She shrugged and looked to an empty corner of the room. "Also he wanted to observe the situation a little longer."

"He?" I lifted my ears and looked at where she was looking to see a man appear there. He was as tall as Alex with a similar figure. He looked strong and powerful with a large broad chest and well-defined arms. He wore simple clothes, a pair of jeans and a white shirt, no shoes to speak of. Large folded wings were on his back, so big in fact the tips dragged against the floor as he pushed off the wall and started towards us.

My heart leaped into my throat, he was a rabbit like me. He had long white ears sticking out of curly platinum blonde hair that cascaded down his back. The hair moved between his wings and ended at his own small puff of a white tail. My enthrallment broke upon the trio of guards as they all dropped to their knees along with every other celestial in the room but the lion.

Lorelai smiled at the lion and waved a hand to break the domination upon him. The lion growled furiously until the rabbit shot him a look and he quickly took a knee. Much to my shock, Elias also took a knee before the angel.

"Uh... should we all kneel?" I asked the room curiously.

The angel gave a soft gentle laugh as he looked upon me. I felt my face flush as my blue eyes met his and I felt my mind empty of all thoughts. I simply wanted to gaze upon his beautiful marble colored skin. "You and your friends need not, Alice. Elias and I simply have history."

Lorelai cleared her throat. "This guy is why I also didn't jump in right away. We were talking on the sidelines."

"You're so pretty..." I huffed the words and flicked my tail, a dopey grin on my face.

The sheep pushed her palm to her face. "Alice, please focus..."

I shook my head of the haze and nodded at the sheep. "Ah... R-right, I'm sorry love." I frowned and realized Katrin and Alex weren't saying anything either, they were just standing there in awe of him.

Lorelai folded her arms. "Remember that story I told you about the archangel I fought to a draw and had tea with?"

I widened my eyes. "This is him?"

The angel gave a soft laugh and smiled at the sheep. "Really, Lorelai? Is that how you are spinning the tale these days?"

I lifted my ears and frowned. "Is it not how it happened uhm...?"

"Call me Toroah, my little rabbit." The bigger rabbit spoke the words to me with a gentle smile. I blinked at him several times and simply nodded my head. "To answer your question, no. Lorelai handily had the advantage upon me, she simply chose to cease the duel."

"You're getting senile in your old age, Tor. It was closer than that." The sheep grumbled the words and waved her hand. "My story is better, sounds more dramatic and helps you save face."

"Why did you want to watch things?" Katrina finally spoke out, having shaken the initial awe off and moved over next to me.

"I wished to witness Gloria's fortitude in the situation, I wished to see the bonds she formed with all of you." He spoke the words gently and looked toward the dog still kneeling. "You may rise, Knight."

"I have no right to, sire. Please do not ask me such a thing." The retriever spoke the words dutifully and shook her head.

The rabbit grinned and rolled his eyes. "See? She is a good dog, isn't she Alice and Alex?"