Baby Steps [Ongoing]

 

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Introduction to: "Baby Steps"

This is a fiction story based around two of my original characters and a baby they're hiding from hostiles. Kyle is a mestizo demon of sixteen years. Maria is a cougar demon of nineteen years who is slow and can't speak fluently, and most often speaks in unfinished sentences. The two of them are from warring clans, but with an innocent baby on the line, they are willing to work together to spare the infant a brutal death. Along the way, Kyle faces his own demons when he realizes he's betraying his clan and his own mother, and he also must fight his own growing feelings for this demoness he's just met. Before they get in any rest, physical or mental, however, they just may have to face other real demons to keep the child alive and safe. Whatever awaits them, it will be no nothing less than a roller coaster ride.

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Chapter 1: More Than Just "The Big Bad Wolf"

She was older than me. And not just by a few months or a year, she was at least two years older than me. I had seen her when I was standing at the entrance to the caves she called home with my mother's clan, but she was a shadow in the corner. A baby-sitter, perhaps. A last line of defense? Her eyes looked so innocent, like she didn't know anything but how to care about another living creature. She didn't exude hate and caution when I had so bluntly warned them of the oncoming attack, only curiosity. Being a cougar demon, obvious by the cat-like ears and tail, perhaps it was a cat curiosity thing. I don't know, my blood ran part canine, not feline. Whatever it was, curiosity or blatant unawareness to the havoc I could have been there to cause, it had gotten my attention. No one had noticed my examination of her, it seemed they were too busy looking among each other as they decided if I was lying, or showing mercy on an infant who'd barely had the chance to see the sun. I wanted to spare the baby the suffering of a war that it had been born into under terms of rape and abuse. I knew the story of his creation, and either way, this was my half-brother. I couldn't let him die, at least not without giving my mother a warning. He deserved a chance. I crept away from the clan I had just recently joined the ranks of three days before the attack was planned to give this warning. When I continued on my way to the trees, to hide among the shadows, I heard them talking. They used her name, her name was Maria. I hadn't gotten a good look at her features past the ears and tail, I hadn't been there to flirt after all, but I felt as though that name fit her. Little did I know, I was about to be able to see if my guess was correct up close and personal. 

I should probably tell you what I look like, and what I'm made of. My hair is long to a typical boy's opinion, it's length is just a little past my shoulders, and tied up in a ponytail. Ebony in color, shimmering silver under moonlight, I'd been told. I don't really think it does that. My eyes have slit pupils, much like a cat. They're red in color, giving away the vampire in me as if I'm always craving a blood meal. Snow white skin, I suppose that is also because of my vampiric nature. Cold, dead - but you'd be surprised to know my black hair is surrounded by red flames. This is because of fire nymph in my blood. A fire nymph's hair burns brightly, but the flames don't hurt their hair, it's like a shell. A heart on the outside. If it's blown out or water is poured down on it and it turns to smoke, the core temperature of the nymph drops drastically, and a fire nymph needs a blazing core temperature. If they get cold, their organs shut down at a fast pace. For me, it's a little different. If my hair goes out, if the red flames that flicker through and around the black locks are extinguished, I get cold and tired. Sluggish, at worst. Unlike most fire nymphs I can use my claws to spark up a fire and relight my hair if anything happens to it. You see, I don't have fingers. In place of them from the knuckle at my palm, my "fingers" twist into a hard, keratin substance that come to a curved hook like a fishing lure. I have no feeling in these ten deadly daggers, nor do my palms have the ability to feel as the skin is not skin, but not-so-solid scales like the foot of a bird. This is where my second most noticed feature also comes into play. My back is not an easy target for you if you plan an attack, for guarding it are two large, thick wings. My shoulder blades are double-jointed to allow my arms and wings to move separately from each other. My wings are made like that of a bat, leathery and with a defined sharper bone where they bend, but I have patches where feathers grow. Instead of a bird's rounded joints, my wings look more like a bat on the ground, pointed and accentuated. Yes, I even have a dull, curled claw there where a real bat's "thumb" would be. Finally, my most obvious feature. From my knees down, my legs are... well, unusual. While no other part of my body has a canine feature, my legs are the hind legs of a wolf. Yes, this does mean my knees point backwards, and my "feet" are actually the rounded paws of a wolf. When I was young I couldn't walk, only crawl. I became a great hunter thanks to my paws helping in stealth over time, however. The pads of my toes and the "soul" pad gently shift the ground beneath me, instead of stepping on top of sticks and breaking them my toes spread out around the stick and, though I still step on sticks and break them, the majority of the time I am spared that embarrassing give-away to my position.

Now that you know what I look like, suffice to say, I'm easy to recognize. No one's ever forgotten my appearance, but how could they? It's true I can hide very well in the shadows by wearing dark clothes, and it helps that my fur is grays and blacks, but with this many distinctive features I hardly need to be described to someone who may be after me. Just say "the wolf-legged boy" and bam! I've got someone on my trail. Well, it can't be helped. And so, when I heard hurried footsteps behind me. I knew one of the members of my mother's clan had tracked me down, and I knew they'd done so easily. I turned to look over my shoulder, expecting to see her mate, or her father - someone who was furious that I had been so cryptic about my warning. But instead my maroon eyes were met with dual emeralds. I froze, and so did she, her quick steps slowing, and then coming to a stop. She stared, I stared, and the baby whined in her arms. I blinked in shock as I took in that last piece of information, turning my body to face her. She was holding in her lithe arms the very baby I was trying to warn my mother to better protect! I was part of the clan that wanted this child dead, why the hell did she send this cougar-girl after me with the baby? I would have understood if they took the child to a secondary home the enemy didn't know about, moving it and taking the "sneak attack" on to win the battle safely, not risking the child, but...

"What are you doing?" I asked, staring into her eyes with the determination to understand the purpose of her actions. My voice is deep, threatening; I know and hate that I sound a lot like my father. His voice is deep and smooth, a lure for all breed of demon women. Mine is also deep, but more sharp and rugged. I sounded a bit older than I was, I suppose. She seemed to think so too. Her ears perked, and she tilted her head as she seemed to ponder how to react. Was she frightened? Was she deciding whether to laugh or ignore the voice that didn't quite fit the awkward me? I was small, I won't even begin to deny that. I was a premature twin, and badly malnourished during my first ten years of life. I was behind in growth, but there was no way to change it. I was strong though, I just didn't look it.
"Sent after shadow-boy." She explained herself, and I almost wanted to laugh at this response. Shadow-boy? Was that what my mother had told her to call me, or was that a nickname of her own making? But, instead of laughing, I noticed something even more strange that made itself a priority. She didn't say the full sentence. She'd skipped the first two words that belonged there. Why had she skipped them? Did she not like to talk and so made it short and sweet? I tilted my head the same direction of hers, narrowing my eyes as I tried to read her. I was excellent at understanding people, I could read their eyes like a book. But not her eyes, her eyes were shining brightly back at me - too bright. It was like trying to read something past the sun's glow. I crossed my arms, finally giving up reading her, and closed my eyes. I let my chest expand as I took a deep intake of air, and released it slowly. Thinking about it, it made no sense. But, my mother didn't make sense in almost all she did or didn't do, and so in turn if she had sent this girl, there was a very slim chance I'd ever understand the why of it. She broke into a smile and looked down at the baby in her arms, and while she tried to quiet the uneasy baby's whimpering, I finally took in her appearance. Her hair was also jet black, as long as mine but not put up in anything fancy, it was just down. Her skin was tan, and it made me think of her skin may feel like fur, considering cougars were tan creatures. Her cheeks bore a barrage of tiny freckles that resembled whisker spots. I didn't mean to, but I smiled. Her lower jaw seemed squared, like the jaws of a cougar should be. Her face wasn't at all distorted, but where my chin was rounded like most,  hers seemed much more defined. My assessment? She was damn cute. And with a baby in her arms? I'll admit, I was quickly realizing I had a crush on the feline, which was wrong on so many levels I couldn't even begin to count them. I was made of bat, bird, wolf - everything I was contradicted everything she was! She was one breed, but I was far more than that. It was almost embarrassing, but in this world, you don't get to choose your parents or bloodline. I wondered if, as she rocked the child in her arms and swept away his bangs from his eyes, I even cared. She was beautiful, but I was the big bad wolf in this scenario. More than just a bad "wolf", actually. I was a big, bad mestizo; a monster of many breeds. I had been told I displayed the most evil aspects of each of my bloodlines, and if that was why I was so powerful, I was okay with that. Well...
I had been okay with it.

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Chapter 2: Level Head

I looked uncertainly at the cougar-eared girl after a few conversation-silent moments had passed of her humming to the infant in her arms. This child didn't deserve what he was going to now forever be running from. He was so small, so frail and fragile. His feathered wings were even more-so, and I worried even holding him wrong could cripple those rust-colored appendages. Keeping in mind I had wings on my back, I reached out my arms slowly and said, "Here, give him to me. I think you're hurting his wings." She looked at me with a smile bigger than before, and she handed the child to me. I couldn't believe she actually trusted me. Did she realize who I was? Was she one of those "innocent until proven guilty" pacifist? Either way, I now held a baby in my arms. My mind raced as I worried about dropping him while I tried to adjust him without doing just that. His hair was just like his father's, a deep chocolate brown. And his eyes, a striking silver hue that looked like he was blind, but his eyes met mine without fault so that was ruled out. His little hands pulled free of the cloths he'd been wrapped in and he raised them, grabbing my ponytail and tugging my head down. "Stronger than you look." I grinned at the boy, who smiled and cooed a happy little tune as he looked at me. "Like you." I heard her voice despite how quiet she spoke. I glanced up, and she jumped a bit, not realizing she'd spoken loud enough for me to hear. I had very acute hearing. She had two sets of ears - one that resembled her cougar nature, and the more "natural" placement of a humanoid. How, with that kind of set-up, did she not realize she'd spoken loud enough for me to hear? It was amusing, really, and I chuckled not for the thought the baby liked me, but that she had gotten spooked that I'd heard her. I had to say something about it, she may not make the mistake again! "You have two sets of ears, how did you not know that level of speech would be audible to me?" I questioned teasingly, watching her cougar ears fall and her freckled cheeks flush a delicate pink. She really was embarrassed, and she wore the expression adorably. If I hadn't been holding the child, I'd have reached out and tucked away her hair, because it was falling into her face to try and hide her blush. She must have felt the warmth on her face. Her small hands raised from her side and she placed them over her face and eyes. With her unable to see me, I pouted playfully. She was adorable. While she let her emotions settle down, I tucked the child's wings into a position that didn't seem to bother him and looked him over. He was so familiar, he looked so much like his father. I wondered if this child's father was as worried as I had seen the man be years ago, for me. He had raised me, for a long time. I'd learned a lot from him, but we had been separated before I knew all he had to offer, and my life changed without him. Things he'd never told me became crash-courses, life-or-death tests I had to pass on the spot. This child... I didn't want him to grow that way. My little brother, he deserved more.

A sound in the distance put both me and the cougar, Maria if memory served, back on alert. Her ears shot up and she turned towards the direction of the sound. I stretched my wings out from their tucked-in position against my back, wrapping them around my front, thus hiding the little boy behind leathery wings. "What is it?" I asked her quickly, sure that she knew better than me. My animal senses were all muddled up. I could read eyes, that was about it. She, however, was a pure-blood cat. Her senses had to be more keen. She turned to me and said, "Harpy." She told me quickly. I knew what that meant, or rather, who. That damn woman! Had she noticed I was gone already?! But how? I was always "gone", hiding in the shadows and keeping to myself. As I was freaking out trying to understand how the harpy had figured out I was actually gone this time, I felt a gentle, smooth hand on my arm, and heard the soft words, "Not this way."
I looked up and saw Maria had approached me with her smile back in place like a reset button had been pressed. If she meant what I thought she did, that meant... had they expected my betrayal? Was my mother's clan under attack a day early? I saw out of the corner of my eye that my little brother looked to be mimicking my worried expression, and I wondered not for the first time if things really did happen for a reason. If, maybe, things really did work out the way they were supposed to. If he hadn't been brought here, out and away from the cave that was the target, my mother wouldn't have been prepared. He might have still been in the main corridor of those caves and been killed by the surprise attack that was surely only to be the front-line. Maria gently took my brother back from me, and I gave her quiet hints to put less pressure on his wings. She sloppily adjusted her arms, and the boy looked ready to cry. I acted fast, rushing to grab her arms and forcibly move them into the correct position. She looked shocked, and I felt bad for having surely scared her, but if he had cried out his distress the harpy that was not heading our way before would have turned around for sure. "We have to keep him quiet." I whispered to her, seeing her nod her head slowly, swallowing past a nervous lump in her throat. I lifted my hands off her skin, and remembered something I'd wondered earlier. While her skin was tan, it wasn't covered in any fur. My claws, coming to as fine a point as they did, I would have seen friction where I couldn't have felt it. It was just smooth skin. I sighed, looking the way Maria had come, wondering what was befalling my mother and her family at this moment. Maria soon grabbed my sleeve, and I looked at her with a curious and borderline harsh, "What?" She told me in her soft voice,
"No worrying. We move." She seemed to be suggesting we continue away from the cave, and though I wasn't sure, my mind was busy thinking so many things already to try and figure out her word play. "Right, um, East. That way." I raised a wing and gestured with it like it was a hand in the spoken direction. She nodded and started off, leaving me confused and uncertain what I was now going to do. I looked back only once more before I realized it was already too late for me to do anything if the fight had already begun. My only option now was to help Maria, who was the only one of us that had a level head, keep my little brother safe.
I hadn't signed up for this.

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Chapter 3: The House of Skies Pt. 1

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The House of Skies Pt. 2

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Chapter 4: These Forests Sing

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