Chapter 7
The Animal Shelter
On a sleepy property nestled behind a a strip mall and a gym lay a branch of the L.A. County Animal Shelter. It wasn't much to look at, especially from the back of the building, where Emerald parked the "borrowed" SUV. Just a tall cinderblock wall with bougainvillea planted around it to deter intruders, and a locked chainlink gate.
"This had better not be another wild goose chase," Mercury moaned.
"Just do your job, Mercury."
"Fine." He jumped up, and hefted a gleaming steel suitcase out of the car. He mumbled, "Not like we spent the last few hours because the doctor was totally sure the last time."
Cinder let the backtalk pass, because she was having pretty much the same thought herself. She just wasn't a complainer. If Watts was wasting her time, she'd just take it up with him personally and directly.
The animal shelter was closed to visitors at that hour of the evening. But since the creature they wanted to take wasn't exactly up for adoption, it was no matter to Cinder and her team, who simply hopped the fence with some minor acrobatics.
Cinder pulled out her scroll device and unwound its transparent display screen to about the size of a cell phone. On it, she consulted the map of the facility. With her good arm, the one not covered by her black cape, she gestured to the left. "This way. It went into their biggest cage."
Strolling past cats cowering in the back of their three-tiered shelter cages, Mercury asked, "Sheesh. What was it this time? A Goliath?"
"How would they even capture a Goliath?" Emerald wondered. And worried.
As they rounded the corner into the main yard, Cinder replied, "Not very well, it seems."
One man's body was thrown against the bars of the cage, his back broken. A young woman's corpse lie near the center of the yard, a deep set of gash marks across her torso. Her spilled organs were still oozing blood onto the dirt. Her name tag was ripped and stained with blood, but you could still make out that her first name was Sarah.
Emerald drew Thief's Respite, folded down as a pair of revolvers, almost automatically. Mercury examined the slain woman. He didn't even have to stoop down to recognize the damage pattern in her flesh. "Beowolf."
Emerald looked all around her to locate the grimm. Not in the cage from which it had escaped, its steel barred door having been broken and twisted into metal scrap. Not in the feed shed, its door still bolted. Nor was it in the hallway heading to the administration building. All she saw were various animals, a few dogs and a pony hiding as best they could in their enclosures. The animal life of this world, it seemed, didn't know that creatures of grimm have only one prey: humans.
It was, however, in the place she didn't look: up, atop the building roof. It was from there that the creature roared, waited a second, then took a running pounce on the frightened humans. Emerald, feeling very exposed, jumped back towards the shed to seek cover; her bare midriff mere inches away from ending up like poor Sarah here.
Mercury leapt out of the way himself, firing his boot-guns at the beowolf as he backflipped. The firepower boosted his jump, but it didn't seem to have any effect on the grimm. "Shit, it's an alpha!"
The only one undaunted by the sudden attack was Cinder Fall, who didn't share her companions' healthy fear of the ancient grimm. Larger than a horse, the beowolf alpha was larger and stronger than its kin, and despite its lack of identity, its long existence a shaped it into a crafty killer. With skin of jet black and its face and claws armored in bone, anyone could see it was formidable.
Cinder, however, knew herself to be even more formidable. As the grimm turned to face her, she called out, "Mercury, get ready!" From under her cape, her other arm emerged, colored a deep, unnatural black with a clawlike hand. A ball of magical fire started to form in her hand, as the arm uncannily stretched out towards the beowolf.
And then with a great leap, the beowolf was no longer there. It jumped across the compound's gate, and ran towards the city. Emerald took a few shots at it midair, but the only thing that really had an effect on it was Cinder and her grimm arm.
"Damn it!" Cinder cried. "After it!"
Mercury and Emerald didn't need to be told. Although Mercury did grumble, "And me still carrying the damn suitcase."
They chased the beast up to Abbot Kinney Boulevard, whereupon it a single swipe from it's front claw flipped a parked truck right into Mercury's path. He leapt out of the way, but a Grand Marquis sedan wasn't so lucky. In the resulting aftermath, the beowolf slipped off into the dark, sleepy housing tract to the south.
They followed it, of course, but couldn't exactly be sure to where it had run off. The trio almost split up until they heard a bloodcurdling scream to the south. Cinder used her magic to fly straight up in the air, where she saw the beast running towards the beach boardwalk.
That would be even worse for trying to keep a low profile, so she threw a fireball in its path. While the Grimm are not exactly animals, they do have some animal instincts, and a fear of fire, albeit weak, was included in that. The blast had the intended effect, driving it back towards her party. It also ignited backyard wooden fence; the hot flames spread to a canopy, and then to a house. Cinder didn't know, nor care, whose house it was. Just that this kind of collateral damage was well within mission parameters.
Neighbors began to flock outside to looky-loo at the inferno, as is habitual for Californians upon noticing anything destructive. However, the beowolf alpha let out its hideous roar, which scared the residents enough to leave. Some straight up ran, while others grabbed their kids and threw them in the car. All the while the grimm grew stronger.
One hipster decided to grab the nearest electric scooter. He tapped to open the Bird app, stepped on the aluminum deck, shoved his fedora down, and cranked the throttle. The damn thing barely moved, having run out of power. "Shit, this is seriously not cool." The beowolf saw him and plucked him up in its massive maw. It shook its head back and forth, breaking his spine, and casting his body into the fire. It then began to search for its next victim.
But by this time, the immediate area was mostly deserted. The only people it could find were three humans, ostensibly huntsmen. It decided it needed to rend them apart, just like it had done with all the other huntsmen before. As Cinder sent forth a searing ribbon of flame towards it, it surged forward towards its prey.
The Animal Shelter
On a sleepy property nestled behind a a strip mall and a gym lay a branch of the L.A. County Animal Shelter. It wasn't much to look at, especially from the back of the building, where Emerald parked the "borrowed" SUV. Just a tall cinderblock wall with bougainvillea planted around it to deter intruders, and a locked chainlink gate.
"This had better not be another wild goose chase," Mercury moaned.
"Just do your job, Mercury."
"Fine." He jumped up, and hefted a gleaming steel suitcase out of the car. He mumbled, "Not like we spent the last few hours because the doctor was totally sure the last time."
Cinder let the backtalk pass, because she was having pretty much the same thought herself. She just wasn't a complainer. If Watts was wasting her time, she'd just take it up with him personally and directly.
The animal shelter was closed to visitors at that hour of the evening. But since the creature they wanted to take wasn't exactly up for adoption, it was no matter to Cinder and her team, who simply hopped the fence with some minor acrobatics.
Cinder pulled out her scroll device and unwound its transparent display screen to about the size of a cell phone. On it, she consulted the map of the facility. With her good arm, the one not covered by her black cape, she gestured to the left. "This way. It went into their biggest cage."
Strolling past cats cowering in the back of their three-tiered shelter cages, Mercury asked, "Sheesh. What was it this time? A Goliath?"
"How would they even capture a Goliath?" Emerald wondered. And worried.
As they rounded the corner into the main yard, Cinder replied, "Not very well, it seems."
One man's body was thrown against the bars of the cage, his back broken. A young woman's corpse lie near the center of the yard, a deep set of gash marks across her torso. Her spilled organs were still oozing blood onto the dirt. Her name tag was ripped and stained with blood, but you could still make out that her first name was Sarah.
Emerald drew Thief's Respite, folded down as a pair of revolvers, almost automatically. Mercury examined the slain woman. He didn't even have to stoop down to recognize the damage pattern in her flesh. "Beowolf."
Emerald looked all around her to locate the grimm. Not in the cage from which it had escaped, its steel barred door having been broken and twisted into metal scrap. Not in the feed shed, its door still bolted. Nor was it in the hallway heading to the administration building. All she saw were various animals, a few dogs and a pony hiding as best they could in their enclosures. The animal life of this world, it seemed, didn't know that creatures of grimm have only one prey: humans.
It was, however, in the place she didn't look: up, atop the building roof. It was from there that the creature roared, waited a second, then took a running pounce on the frightened humans. Emerald, feeling very exposed, jumped back towards the shed to seek cover; her bare midriff mere inches away from ending up like poor Sarah here.
Mercury leapt out of the way himself, firing his boot-guns at the beowolf as he backflipped. The firepower boosted his jump, but it didn't seem to have any effect on the grimm. "Shit, it's an alpha!"
The only one undaunted by the sudden attack was Cinder Fall, who didn't share her companions' healthy fear of the ancient grimm. Larger than a horse, the beowolf alpha was larger and stronger than its kin, and despite its lack of identity, its long existence a shaped it into a crafty killer. With skin of jet black and its face and claws armored in bone, anyone could see it was formidable.
Cinder, however, knew herself to be even more formidable. As the grimm turned to face her, she called out, "Mercury, get ready!" From under her cape, her other arm emerged, colored a deep, unnatural black with a clawlike hand. A ball of magical fire started to form in her hand, as the arm uncannily stretched out towards the beowolf.
And then with a great leap, the beowolf was no longer there. It jumped across the compound's gate, and ran towards the city. Emerald took a few shots at it midair, but the only thing that really had an effect on it was Cinder and her grimm arm.
"Damn it!" Cinder cried. "After it!"
Mercury and Emerald didn't need to be told. Although Mercury did grumble, "And me still carrying the damn suitcase."
They chased the beast up to Abbot Kinney Boulevard, whereupon it a single swipe from it's front claw flipped a parked truck right into Mercury's path. He leapt out of the way, but a Grand Marquis sedan wasn't so lucky. In the resulting aftermath, the beowolf slipped off into the dark, sleepy housing tract to the south.
They followed it, of course, but couldn't exactly be sure to where it had run off. The trio almost split up until they heard a bloodcurdling scream to the south. Cinder used her magic to fly straight up in the air, where she saw the beast running towards the beach boardwalk.
That would be even worse for trying to keep a low profile, so she threw a fireball in its path. While the Grimm are not exactly animals, they do have some animal instincts, and a fear of fire, albeit weak, was included in that. The blast had the intended effect, driving it back towards her party. It also ignited backyard wooden fence; the hot flames spread to a canopy, and then to a house. Cinder didn't know, nor care, whose house it was. Just that this kind of collateral damage was well within mission parameters.
Neighbors began to flock outside to looky-loo at the inferno, as is habitual for Californians upon noticing anything destructive. However, the beowolf alpha let out its hideous roar, which scared the residents enough to leave. Some straight up ran, while others grabbed their kids and threw them in the car. All the while the grimm grew stronger.
One hipster decided to grab the nearest electric scooter. He tapped to open the Bird app, stepped on the aluminum deck, shoved his fedora down, and cranked the throttle. The damn thing barely moved, having run out of power. "Shit, this is seriously not cool." The beowolf saw him and plucked him up in its massive maw. It shook its head back and forth, breaking his spine, and casting his body into the fire. It then began to search for its next victim.
But by this time, the immediate area was mostly deserted. The only people it could find were three humans, ostensibly huntsmen. It decided it needed to rend them apart, just like it had done with all the other huntsmen before. As Cinder sent forth a searing ribbon of flame towards it, it surged forward towards its prey.
"Kitto daijoubu da yo." - Sakura Kinomoto