A Twist in the Story

A twist in the story

'animal speak'
"Humanspeak"
"other languages"

Chapter 3: first meetings and packs

"D'you smell that Victor?"

Victor looked up as his brother. "Smell what Jimmy?"

"It smells like blood." Victor sniffed the air and his eyes narrowed in agreement.

"Well do you want to go check it out?" Victor asked in a bored tone. They had been living in a cabin in this forest for a few months, since the end of the last war. They were relaxing and just living for once... They were both a little bored, and the idea of something happening was promising.
James nodded.

"Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!!" Cora howled as the bullet wounds healed. Pan stood guard as Rasta licked the blood away. Cora hissed when his rough tongue hit a still healing wound and he gave her the eye and pulled back.

'You lost a lot of blood.' Pan meowed concern coating his words.

Cora grimaced and looked at her now torn and blood-spattered straight jacket 'I'll be fine, I just need to rest.' she stood and tried not to trip, the dizzy-ness making it near impossible to walk straight. They moved further into the trees, until she found a place she was comfortable enough to let her guard down. 'Keep watch?' she asked her cats faintly. They both bowed, and she drifted off against a tree. Rasta curled next to her and stared out into the trees ears twitching while Pan scaled the tree and watched from above.

Twenty minutes, that was how long it took Victor to track down the source of the blood. He stared down at the prone form on the leafy ground from a tree, James looked as well. "It’s a girl..."

Victor growled "She's just a cub! Wh-" He was cut off by a loud yowl and a lanky cat jumped from a tree to join the cat already standing next to the girl’s body.

"I know you're there. Pan's nose is never wrong. Come out." James and Victor shared a confused look before jumping out of the tree and landing a good ten feet away from the girl. The cats hissed and moved to stand between the brothers and the girl. Victor instinctually dropped into a crouch, eyes narrowed at the cats. The girl didn't even open her eyes. "What do you want?" James gave a alarmed look at the amount of blood.

"How are you alive?! Your clothes are soaked through with blood. What ever happened, you shouldn't have survived it." Victor nodded agreeing with his brother silently.

"I'm fine." eyes still closed and unmoving.

"Bullshit."

Cora snarled and forced her eyes open she flipped off her back and into a crouch, her mismatched eyes rapidly taking in her surroundings and the two men in front of her. Shit. They were huge, both were tall and well-muscled. They stood with an air of authority that spoke of experience and knowledge. These men were strong and they knew how to fight... shit ...again.

Cora bared her fangs and backed away warily, the pair of cats followed her lead still hissing out threats.

Both Victor and James' eyes widened in shock at the animalistic behavior and the display of fangs. She was a feral?! James took a step forward. "We just want to help you"

The female feral just growled and snapped her teeth "Humans don't help, they just destroy!" James saw the flash of fear concealed deep in her eyes. The pair of cats just hissed and James briefly wondered how much they really understood.

Victor snarled and mimicked the girl’s stance, baring his own fangs. Cora froze, her mismatched eyes wide. Her instincts screeched at her to submit to the alpha before her, but she refused to back down and blindly launched herself at him. Victor caught her mid-air by the throat and pinned her to the ground. Leaning down, he grazed his fangs across the side of her throat and growled in his chest. All her struggles stopped immediately as her instincts took over. She whined tilting her head back and baring her throat in submission. James watched with wide eyes as Victor pulled his fangs away and nosed her neck in acceptance. Victor sat back on his heels and pulled the girl off her back. "What’s your name cub?" She sent an anxious look to James and shifted closer to Victor.
"Cora. Corvina Aislynn Black." Victor nodded.

"Names Victor," he motioned to the other man." that's my brother, James, I call him Jimmy." Cora nodded hesitantly still watching James warily. Victor stood and scooped her up very much like a toddler, she yelped and wrapped her arms around his neck. “How 'bout we get you cleaned up, huh?"
Cora blinked and a confused look passed over her delicate face "Why? Why do you want to help me?"
Surprisingly it was James who answered the tiny feral. “‘Cause we didn't have anyone to help us when we needed it." Cora didn't say much after that except to call for her cats to follow. She let herself be carried and pressed her face against Victors shoulder trying to absorb as much of his heat as possible.

James was a little unnerved; He could not recall Victor ever being this gentle before. Yet he treated this cub as if she were made of glass, well after the initial throw-down at least. To be honest he'd expected his brother to kill her after she had attacked, but no he had soothed her and managed to get her to be agreeable. They reached the cabin and Victor kicked open the door. He dropped Cora gently onto the kitchen table and told her to stay. "Watch her Jimmy, and open the window for her cats.” James nodded and opened the kitchen window before moving to the table, he sat lazily in one of the kitchen chairs.

He took the opportunity to look Cora over more carefully, taking in the blood, bare feet and the straight jacket. He heard her speak but only vaguely understood. The pair of cats hopped onto the sill and into the room. "what are their names?" he asked trying to make small talk to ease the growing tension in the room.

She gave him a look that sat between wary and confused. "The Savanna is Pan and the Maine coon is Rasta." She looked at the cats 'I don't understand this one.' The cats hissed laughter and moved to explore the house.

"How'd you lose so much blood?" James asked into the new silence that came after the cats left.
"It's not all mine." James' eyes widened and Victor re-entered the room with a chuckle. He was wearing clean clothes, carrying a couple towels and a large shirt "some hunter shot at Rasta in the forest. I lost my temper and my focus. He shot me twice and grazed me once" she paused and pointed at the set of bloody holes in her jacket, one at her right shoulder, one right in the middle her left ribcage and another a couple inches above her left hip-bone. “The rest is his. I ripped his throat out, with my teeth." victor laughed loudly. James Rolled his eyes and wet one of the towels at the kitchen sink, handing it back to Victor who began wiping the blood and dirt off Cora's face. She closed her eyes and let him. Next he unbuckled the straight jacket and pulled it off of her, leaving her sitting on the table in a black sports bra and shorts.

Victor growled at her emaciated form. "When was the last time you ate cub?"

Cora shivered from the chill air in the kitchen. "Some time last week. It's harder to hunt in the winter and when you can't use your hands... I'm just lucky it hasn't snowed yet." (Her hands are caught up in the strait-jacket sleeves)

Victor growled again but moved on to prod at the places she had been shot, they were healed cleanly no scars. He pulled her off the table and handed her the shirt and second towel. "The bathroom is down the hall first door on the left. Go take a bath or a shower." Cora nodded and scampered away.
Cora was VERY confused. Her whole life was filled to the brim with hate, neglect and pain. She didn't quite know how to handle all the positive attention she seemed to be receiving. She sighed and started the shower.

James sighed when the shower started. "We keepin' the kid Victor?"

Victor raised an eyebrow. "She's just a cub we can’t very well send her back out there to get shot at? ‘Sides she's like us Jimmy... I don't see any harm in having a pack, It might even be better."

"A pack, huh?" James crossed his legs and leaned back in his chair. "I think that sounds... kinda nice actually. 'sides you seem kinda attached bub" he smirked.

Victor turned from the fridge with a growl throwing a beer at his little brother’s head. James caught it with a grin. "Shut Yer trap Jim and go get us some rabbits!" James just continued to grin as he left for the shed. It was a few minutes later that Cora emerged from the bathroom in the borrowed clothes; his shirt engulfed her tiny frame, her shorts barely peeking out from the bottom and the neck hanging off one shoulder. She shuffled into the kitchen and stood in the doorway glancing between her feet and the door. Victor sighed putting down his beer. "What is it cub?"

Cora bit her lip "when do you want me to leave..."

"You’re Not." victor growled.

Cora's head shot up and she stared at the man with wide eyes. "W-What?!"

"You heard me cub. Now either sit your little ass down at the table or help me get dinner ready." Cora nodded dumbly and followed Victor around the kitchen following instructions as he gave them. James came back with a couple of skinned rabbits and went about cutting them apart for the stew Victor was putting together. They fed the cats the entrails and chunks of meat left from the stew.

"So what exactly can you do kid?" James asked leaning back comfortably in his chair.

Cora looked to Victor, who simply raised an eyebrow. "Umm... I can talk to animals, heal, natural animal instincts, my fangs, but my other abilities are stunted."

"Stunted?" James asked.

Cora nodded "My body had to adapt to constant electrical pulses from the shock treatments. So my healing forced my body to adapt, and took on the ability to absorb, hold and discharge electricity so it wouldn't fry my brain. But I can't develop my other feral abilities 'cause it happened while I was so young, it kinda shut down the other abilities to make room I guess."

James and Victor stared. A furious rumble ripped from Victor's throat. “Shock Treatments?!"
Cora cowered down in her chair. "M-my father always hated me, he was just looking for an excuse to get rid of me. I inadvertently gave him one when I ripped my uncle’s throat out on my 11th birthday. " she paused at their once again shocked faces "In my defense he did throw Rasta, hit Pan, and attempt to rape me... but anyway my father came, saw what I did and had me committed that same night." Both Victor and James growled low in their throats.
"How old are you cub?"

Cora thought carefully. "I think I just turned 16? I left the asylum around this time last year... and it took me forever to get to Canada on foot and avoid all the main roads and cities and towns." Victor nodded; he stood and moved around the table. He scooped Cora into his arms and left for the spare bedroom, the cats following behind. Victor dropped her onto the bed and left, throwing a 'get some sleep’ over his shoulder.

TBC...