The Possession

[James]

A bright light beamed up into the sky, the thick clouds ending its travel while taking in its blue color. The source was far and passed the forests, but the dull light could be seen even from a distance. Those even slightly tuned to arcane forces could easily pick up the magic traveling with it and even through the clouds illuminated. The beacon of light didn't last long for a large figure blocked off the beam midway, quickly traveling down towards the ground.Less than ten minutes later, something pushed through the forest, bent on finding one thing. That was its only purpose for this moment, and nothing would stop it. This goal was linked to the same one all the others were, and it would do as it was to do. It would prevent the death coming.

Whatever the creature was, it had no true physical form. Only its glowing eyes truly held shape, along with the anvil sized claws at the end of each limb, the rest was only a dark form. Knowing just what it needed to do, it continued its search through the mountains. In its fisted hand the creature held a piece of raiment, crunched up into a small ball.The Beast knew that the one needed would come to the crushed and fragile thing as soon as the one sensed it, and knew what to do when the one came. Moving as quickly as it could, it pushed from one part of the forest to the next. It didn't matter if branches broke. The Beast paused occasionally, in hope that the one could come to it if the one had sensed what was crunched in his hand. It didn't matter to the Beast how long the search took; his purpose called for patience. The live one would live longer.



James lay in a tree, quite lazily. When zip was safe as she was now, he always wandered around. But today... he just felt sleepy.

In the middle of a yawn, his nose poked his brain. The scent of zipcat on the move? No... something else had the smell with it. James' hair erupted into a fireball of fur, and he leaped down to face whatever was coming this way. Branches crackled, trees groaned and bushes were tossed aside as the Beast approached him. The glowing red eyes, the gleaming, anvil sized claws, the crumpled piece...

Suddenly, the light of the monster stretched. It seemed as though it entered another plane, or smeared itself upon reality. James was shocked and backed up, uttering a growl of discontent. The stretching reached him, and within seconds the visual portion was gone. The only thing left of the Beast was the raiment... and the pain.

James writhed in agony. His body pounded the forest floor, his eyes exploded behind their sockets, his ears were aflame with a deafening sound, his body being torn apart from the inside. He howled. He fought. Struggled, to the death if he could have. The Beast would not leave him.

And then, it seemed as though it did. James lay on his side on the ground, heaving breaths. What just happened?!

He sighed. It was over. At least, he thought, for now. He was wrong.

His eyes dilated and seizures overtook his body. The Beast converged upon James' brain, sharing whatever knowledge it had wanted to give him.

Then, it stopped. Almost unconscious, James lay in a pool of agony and grief. He needed to get to zipcat...

He blacked out.

[Milton]

Bored, Milton was walking through the forest. Blythe didn't need anything at the moment so there was nothing to do other than stare at the sky while the lights lasted. He didn't care what had happened, but it was pretty.

So he was out collecting plants to practice his alchemy, and maybe to head to town to sell them to those who needed them. People always wanted to feel better.

Only a ways into his walk, Milton ran accost a wolf sprawled out on the ground. It didn't look like a natural position. There weren’t any wounds. Poison maybe? Or possibly something unseen.

Either way, many poisons cooked out, and the pelt would still be nice.

Pulling his knife out from under his robes, Milton knelt and placed the blade right on the proper spot of the wolf's spine. With one push, he knew he could kill it. He had only to do so before it was too late, so, without hesitation, he readied to lodge the blade into the wolf's neck.

[James]

James' intestines squirmed. His body moved of its own volition, his unconscious state awakened. The beast exploded from within him, and his body grew. The reddish hue of its eyes leaked into his, and James fought to control it.

Without a second even passing, this took place inside of James. His neck arched back quickly, biting at Milton's hand.

James' internal struggle continued. He fought the beast, bit at it, yelled at it, screamed at the top of his lungs. He knew this man, and he was kind, if not a bit odd. He didn't want to kill him!

Escaping from under the knife, James' body swelled and shrunk as the beast struggled to take control. He howled. On the inside, he gave the beast a swift headbutt. It loosed control, and James' body returned to its normal size, his eyes returning to their normally blue hue.

James backed up. His eyes gave a begging look to Milton, begging him to recognize him. Tears welled within his eyes as his confusion mounted...

The beast howled within him. James barked at it, to keep it at bay. He would not let it control him. Not unless he couldn't help it.

[Milton]

Milton backed up when the wolf suddenly started to grow in size. He'd never seen that before. If only he moved quicker, he could have kept his hand in tact or at least kept from dropping the knife. All well, it didn't hurt too much and he could get it back. Or he would just die; it didn't really matter to him.

That didn't mean he shouldn't get away. He had yet to repay those he owed, so he couldn't let himself die yet. He backed up, not knowing if running would only get him chased. Then the wolf shrunk back to normal, obviously in pain.

Milton could help with the pain, he knew. His hand was still bleeding. If only there was a way he could get Blythe, or something to keep this wolf-thing from chasing him he would run, but for now he backed up slowly, keeping a close eye on the wolf.

If Milton didn't know that wolfs couldn't, he'd say that the thing was crying.

[James]

James pulled back a bit. Not knowing what to do, he sat down.

His eyes locked on Milton's. He never tried talking anyone like this before, but he figured it might work.

He barked. Almost like sounding out syllables, he barked and tried to say something. He thought, "zipcat! zipcat! zipcat!!!" His bark uttered something that sounded like "ipba", though in one bark he managed a "ipcaa" sound.

Once again he lay down. He covered his head with one paw, the other covered his eye. His legs sauntered down, and in a full laying position, James looked up at Milton, almost pitifully. He wanted him to understand, but he couldn't speak...

[Milton]

Now the dog was barking at him. It was bark unlike any other he had heard, but it was still barking. Milton wondered if it would be a good time to go.

Then though, the wolf laid down. It too was different, but this would be the perfect time to walk off. So he took it, turning and slowly making his way off. He would heal his hand soon, and clean off the blood as soon as he could before something smelt it.

At least it wasn't bleeding too much. He could always get another knife or come back for his, it wasn't special.

[James]

James growled as Milton left. His legs extended and brought him upon his padded feet, and with a quick bend of his knees he flew into the air and away from Milton. His body reached the ground and he leaped once more into the tree large enough for his tastes, and he laid in its branches. In it, he thought, he could fight whatever was inside of him.

His intestines writhed. He hated this feeling, it sickened him. Looking at Milton half a while away, James felt sad. Something wrong happened to him and it might not help him protect zipcat.

James bit at the branch he laid upon in frustration.

[Blythe]

..:: Blythe liked Milton, but he could have sworn that the human was blind to everything, other than how people acted and why from their personalities that is. From all the time he had been with Milton, he could tell that he watched rather than saw things, but Milton still did what you asked him to. This night he had something important to ask, and the sooner the better, but where was the healer? Strange things had already happened, but what Blythe didn't know; he was still in the caves he knew so well from being locked in. ::..

..:: He knew what had happened inside them, all of the wonderful things, and zip was behind each of them. Someday, he would use that to help him, but he had to open the cavern to himself first, and he needed Milton's help for that. He could do it himself, but why should he waist his time trying to get somewhere quickly? The healer could travel with the sun anyways. Moving out from the hole in the ground, Blythe dusted himself off, and began his search for Milton. Then did the sent of blood catch his attention, taking his thoughts from what needed to be done for just that instant; he had yet to eat this night. ::..

..:: The smell quickly lead him to Milton, with the coward walking back from something Blythe didn't see, other than his knife on the ground. Maybe Milton had cut himself, for whatever reason, but still Blythe had found him. Milton didn't look or smell afraid, but then again the healer didn't really seam to care, people only feared for what they valued. He silently waited for Milton to back up just a bit closer to him, or notice him. ::..

"Heal yourself; there's something I'd like you to do."

[Milton]

((woops ... -.-))

[Milton]

Milton turned around with a slight smirk when he heard Blythe. With the wolf fleeing into the tree, he didn't think that it would come after him with his back turned. It didn't matter if the wolf did now that Blythe was here. He might even go fetch his knife.

Doing as Blythe said, he healed his hand. It hurt a bit, but only small bones were broken. He could rub off the blood after it dried.

Smirking just a bit more, he slipped his clean hand into his robe's side pocket while waiting for the vampire to go on. It would be great not to be bored anymore.

[James]

While laying in the branch, James noticed Blythe's arrival. Perhaps the vampire would be friendly to him.

Or perhaps not, considering the last time they met while he was in this form, James attacked him.

Confusion once again wracked his mind.

In frustration he bit at the branch again... while the Beast attempted to take control. The chunk of wood that was pulled from the branch flew downward towards Milton and Blythe, while the branch itself cracked and broke, falling downwards.

James' body writhed again. His scattered jerks flew him off the tree, and he landed on his side with a yelp.

The wolf jumped up and bit the ground, the convulsions still lashing him in his body behind. His body bulged and shrank, until finally they came under control once again. Inside him the beast bled, recovering for another attack upon James' body.

[Blythe]

..:: Blythe pulled a small vial from his pocket, keeping it safe in his hand while holding it out. He knew it wouldn't break if he dropped it, but he treasured this; it could help him greatly. Argus had given it to him, and he had the perfect use for it, he would get what he wanted and anything that helped with that was special. He waited for Milton to take the veil before speaking, ::..

"Ask her for a drop of blood and put it in this, she'll give it. She's expecting to see me in the cold lands, but I have other things to do."

..:: As soon as the sound of a crack was in the air, Blythe turned, on guard for whatever it was. He had turned quickly enough to see a wolf slip from the tree, landing on its side, and not just any wolf. Blythe had seen this one before, and even if it was darker then, it wasn't hard to make out that this was the stupid animal that had attacked him. There was one other thing that this stupid animal reminded him of. ::..

..:: Milton had described the teen from the tavern months before as 'dogish', and this clumsy wolf was dog-like enough, Blythe knew that there was a full moon then. It would make sence, but Blythe knew that this was the wolf that attacked him, the same one he had seen with zip. If his speculation was right, then that teen was also this wolf, which would explain why the filthy teen knew zip's name. Still this wolf tried to kill him. There was nothing wrong with asking questions first, and he did so calmly, if the answer wasn't as he thought he could always kill the wolf for trying to kill him. He hadn't done anything wrong then.. ::..

"James?"

[Milton]

Milton didn't hesitate when he took the vial from Blythe, putting it in a pocket on the inside of his robes. The boy was obviously talking about zip; she was the only 'her' he ever talked about. If Blythe said zip would give him it, then Milton trusted she would. He didn't know zip as well as Blythe anyways.

When Blythe rushed to turn to the sound, Milton instead looked back to where the almost harmless wolf was. If it was going to attack, Milton didn't really care. He had no idea what Blythe was talking about; James was a teenager, not a wolf.

[James]

James, at hearing the sound of his name, released the root he was gripping with his teeth. He blinked and looked at Blythe, his ears drooping. He hoped Blythe wouldn't want to kill him... Blythe's demeanor from when he met the vampire seemed to be that way.

The wolf walked towards the two figures and sat down next to Milton's knife. Looking down and spying it, he reached with his muzzle, and brought it over to the two, dropping it in front of them. His head nodded down, and his eyes closed, while his ears stayed flattened against his head. He wagged his tail slightly, hoping they wouldn't be mad or...

He needed help. That's why he was doing this, James thought. Hopefully they would understand.

[Blythe]

..:: Blythe crossed his arms in front of his chest as the wolf approached, not at all concerned about the small critter, and waiting. He didn't vivify his true expression with the gesture, but rather, he just thought it would be the best posture to hold with how the wolf was already acting. He may have been pretending, in a sence, but adding to the intimidation the filthy wolf already had wouldn't hurt. ::..

..:: It wouldn't take much genius to understand the wolf, both the filthy adolescent that may help him and the dirty wolf that attacked him for no reason, now what would he do with 'James'? Maybe this would make the dirty teen--no, the dirty thing--stronger. Still, it had tried to kill him. It was such a hard decision. Even Blythe didn't know if he wanted to make the thing die for what it had done, or instead, try to get it to help him still. He shrugged, again for show, and peered down at the cowering thing. ::..

"Thought so."