Fenrir: Dawn Rising (Part 2)

Vulpa's body jerked backwards as Ris's fist connected with her stomach. With her non-bandaged left paw, she went to grab at the wrist of his punching hand, and then grabbed at his other wrist with her blood-soaked, bandaged right hand.

Ris wasn't expecting her to try to grab him. In fact, he had expected her to fly backwards, maybe skid across the floor a little bit. Thanks to that, he wasn't able to jerk his fists away in time.

Vulpa coiled her fist around his wrist with the gash, digging her claws into it and letting go of his other hand.

"Game over," Vulpa said, before her paw starting glowing violently red. The blood dripping from Ris's cuts trickled down his arm and into Vulpa's hand.

Ris didn't like the sound of "Game over", nor was he fond of the feeling of his blood trailing down to Vulpa's hand. His free hand tightly clenched into a fist, the fox threw it towards her chest in an effort to get her off of him.

"Well I don't need to play with you two girls, anyway. I have a Pantheon to see..."
With that Phasmatis turned around and began walking away, towards the direction of Ris and Vulpa.

Alice looked over to Leo raising an eyebrow, "Were we even hurting him?"


Fenrir crossed his arms, "Good. Because I would sooner die than call the Pantheon a son of mine."

How embarrassing... I could become father-in-law to a Pantheon... Jörmungandr will make fun of me.

The hard punch to Vulpa's chest made her heart skip a few beats, followed by a soft, cracking noise. Her paw lost grip. All the drained blood exploded back at Ris in a vicious wave of blood, probably capable of knocking him off his feet.

Vulpa stumbled backward, losing her footing and falling to the floor. It took a while for her to get her breath back, groaning at the now tenderness of her broken collarbone.

---

"I'm just saying he never would, that doesn't mean he isn't," Terra replied, smiling. "Not a son by blood, anyway."

"A Pantheon to see?" Leo 'hmmed', then sighed. "We probably weren't. If he's really going after Ris."

She sighed, leaning against the wall and turning to face Alice. "Sooooooo...."

With a brief, painful shout, Ris was knocked back off his feet, more blood spurting out from the newly-formed gash across his chest. Hitting the floor, the blue vulpine bounced before landing again, skidding to a halt a few feet later. Quietly panting for breath, Ris sat up, one hand on the ground for support while the other clutched at his chest. "Dang it..." he breathed, looking down at his reddened hand.

Fenrir shook his head, "Well, regardless, I will not call him 'son'."


Alice just continued to stare at Leo, before pointing in the direction Phasmatis walked in, "Maybe we should warn Ris?"


"If we're gonna be forced to live here, then sure." Jackal said, putting his pants back on.

Vulpa laid on the ground still, trying to calm her racing heart. It wasn't soon before long that she was up on her feet, trembling slightly, with a grin across her face. "Figured it out yet?" she taunted.

---

"I wouldn't never ask you to," Terra replied. "But, enough about him."

Getting up onto his feet and again facing the vixen, Ris groaned. "Seriously? I was supposed to be figuring something out this whole time?"

"Yeah, let's do that." Leo replied to Alice, stretching a bit before starting to run, hoping she'd be faster than Phasmastis.

And she hoped Alice would be able to catch up.

Aetsia nodded. "Yeah... just remember, we're not mindless slaves. We have actual worth to him too. So long as we don't suggest anything outlandish."

She had opened up the door, poking her head out. "Now, where could they be?"

"I would have hoped it was obvious," Vulpa replied with a jump towards Ris, sinking her claws into the ground just in front of him. The immediate area shook with a tremor, cracking the castle floor, before a geyser of blood shot out in a circle around Vulpa's paw.

Ris took a few quick steps back, watching the event unfold in nervous confusion. "What's going on?"

"Yes... talking about the idea of being father-in-law to a Pantheon is making me think of committing ritual sacrifice on myself..." Fenrir said bitterly.


Alice took off after Leo. Phasmatis, however, was just walking at a leisurely pace. It was likely that Alice and Leo would pass the Pantheon. Alice looked ahead and could see a geyser of blood. "Whoa!"


Jackal nodded, "Yeah, I got it. When have I ever done anything outlandish?"

He paused after he thought about it. "...well... there was one time, when I gained 80 pounds and Master made me run around the town every few hours until I lost it all."

"That's sick in more ways than one!" Leo said as she skidded to a stop. "Ris?! Holy shit, what the hell are you doing fighting this crazy bitch?!"

Aetsia giggled. "Well, so long as you don't suggest we have pizza everyday I think we'll be fine..."

She began to make her way to where Fenrir and Terra were. Once she found them, she poked her head in. "Um. Fenrir, Terra? Jackal and I are ready to discuss our terms of employment with you."

"What's wrong?" Vulpa asked, pulling her claws out of the ground, watching a few drops of blood trickle down to the end of her finger. With her tongue, she licked the blood up and grinned at the vulpine deviously.

---

Terra's ears perked. "Fenrir. If you even think of killing yourself again, so help me..."

She was interrupted as the door opened, turning her head to see who it is.

The squirrel?... Terra stared in amazement. "Since when can you talk?"

'That's just wrong...' Ris thought with a shudder, turning his head towards Leo. "She started fighting me!"

The fox hated Vulpa. She was far too much like Cebelrai.

Or maybe they were both just disturbed and that's what he was picking up on.

"It seems to me, like..." Vulpa flicked her eyes back, seeing the approaching group. "You think I'm some kind of freak."

"However..." Vulpa stared down at her bandages, all soaked in a crimson color. Deciding it was no further use, she ripped them off, revealing an arm similar to Neku's earlier. A furless, demonic arm, disappearing under the leather straps of her clothes.

"Rage... blood lust... fury... These were the gifts bestowed upon me by my Mistress."

Leo sighed, running up to join her bestest friend. "Sorry I wasn't here to help. But I made a new friend in the process of not being here to help you out! Alice, up for fighting one more? That we might actually be able to hurt?"

"And yeah, I do think you're some kind of freak. Who would WANT that?" Leo asked. "Tch... any explanation from you will be insane."

"Great, I'm glad. And you know what, Leo? I hope you two end up making out by the end of this." Ris replied with a light nod, his eyes remaining focused on the bloodied vixen.

Not that he thought Leo was into Alice, he just felt it was a justifiable thing to say.

"Near death puts me at my peak," Vulpa said, relishing in the blood on her arms. "The closer I get, the stronger I become. You won't even live long enough to see that."

"Oh, come on, there's three of us and one of you." Leo replied to Vulpa. "And what comes after your peak? A really goddamn sharp decline, that's what. You ready?"

Alice crossed her arms at Ris' comment, "I'm NOT into Leo! She's not my type!"

Meanwhile Phasmatis stepped forward, grinning, "Well, well, well. Ris Grestar, himself." The Jackal look-alike clapped his paws as he made his entrance.


Jackal scratched at the back of his head as he nervously stood in front of Fenrir and Terra. Fenrir was clearly giving Jackal a glare, which was enough to make shivers run down Jackal's spine.

"More of you? Tsk..." Vulpa gritted her teeth, holding a paw out-stretched to Ris, and the other to the group behind her.

---

"What do you want, Jackal?" Terra said.