Homelands Pt. 11 Ch. 03

"Remember why we came here," he told the black wolf-man-beast-nightmare-thing. Against all reason, things had gone according to plan. The last thing they needed now was for Frank to get bloodthirsty and pour it all down the drain. But the look in his eyes said that was precisely what he intended to do. "She's more use to us alive than dead."

"That's right!" she rushed to say, turning her blue eyes from Nick to Frank, though her hands remained stretched towards her hapless lover, who was struggling as best he could against Nick's constraints. "Let him live and I'll come along willingly."

Eric threw Nick a wide-eyed look. He shrugged in response, though not because he didn't understand the question. He did. No words were necessary. His brother was asking, "Is this a trap? What kind of snow leopard gives herself up so easily?"

And she obviously was that. No hare could command those fucked up steel-tipped tigers. Besides, it took a snow leopard to wear that bustier and those shoes.

Could she care that much about the guy? The guy Nick was slowly choking to death couldn't be too important. He obviously lacked the killer instincts Daphne's other children possessed. But he had to be either a wolf or a bear, or the two snow leopards wouldn't have been gearing up to fuck his brains out. Nor would he be walking about the palace freely. Hares were fit for hunting and no more, from what he understood.

Maybe that was genuine concern for the wellbeing of her brother they were seeing?

Nick had never witnessed anything that had led him to believe that Winter's children were particularly sentimental, but he supposed even they had to occasionally develop feelings for one another. At least, some of the time. Those their mother deemed fit to live.

Frank lurched forward abruptly, startling Nick and the two hostages alike. Eric must have had nerves of steel though, because he didn't so much as flinch. That surprised Nick, causing a surge of both pride and jealousy at the same time.

"Talk some sense into him, would you?" the snow leopard asked Nick. Then she turned her gaze on Eric as well, though whether that was because she'd already picked up on the fact that he wasn't as crazy as Frank or was just a desperate ploy, Nick wasn't sure. "While he's still breathing, if you don't mind." A hard edge crept into her voice. "If you let him die, you'll find me less open to negotiation."

Just then, six more of her beasts appeared. Each was half again as big as the two that Frank had dispatched earlier. If any one of these drove its tail into his gut, he'd not live to exact revenge. Yes, the woman looked visibly drained after doing so, knees buckling and shoulders slouching, but there were still six monstrosities surrounding them. That she was probably in no shape to conjure up any more brought Nick little consolation.

The tendrils inside her brother's nose and mouth thinned, allowing air to pass by. Not much. The guy still had be in extreme discomfort. But his death was no longer imminent.

"Two hostages would be a lot more useful than one," Nick told Frank.

"Besides, this one can't know much," Eric said, jerking his head towards the guy.

Their arguments didn't seem to impress him. But the small bestiary did. He stared into the cold blue eyes all around him, very obviously weighing his odds and just as evidently concluding that they were bleak. He'd no doubt take more than a few of the things with him. But there was no way he could kill them all before one managed to land a fatal blow.

"Fine," the wolfed out Frank said. Then he returned to his usual form.

The snow leopard raised her eyebrow at the show of trust. Turning to Nick, she said, "Now let him go and my kitties will go back in their cage."

Nick shook his head. "Not part of the deal." He let go of the guy's wrists, since the thick tendril wrapped around his upper arms was doing all the hard work anyway, and pointed at his mouth. "He's breathing. No harm's been done. That's what we negotiated."

She looked tempted to order the tigers to devour the three of them anyway. But she had to know her brother wouldn't survive the affair. Blue eyes closed, she gave a slow nod.

The moment her "kitties" disappeared, Frank gave her abdomen a mighty back hand.

Even wearing his regular body, Frank still sent the snow leopard flying. She was still airborne when she hit the icy wall behind her. But while the blow might have knocked the wind out of her, she climbed up onto all fours more or less the instant she hit the ground.

Before she could make another move, Nick tangled her up in shadowy ropes.

"Why didn't you do that sooner?" Eric asked.

The words barely got through, it took so much of his concentration just to hold her still. Unlike her brother, the snow leopard was really strong. And smart enough to resist him in a less physical way. Nick felt a thousand streams of energy pour into his constraints, trying to evaporate them. If she hadn't worn herself out summoning those six beasts, she probably would've succeeded. As it was, she still came damn close to doing so.

Which meant they'd snagged a big one. One of Daphne's more important daughters.

"Let's get out of here," Frank said.