πŸ“š ratter Part 5 of 6
ratter-ch-05
NON HUMAN STORIES

Ratter Ch 05

Ratter Ch 05

by _aine_
19 min read
4.73 (15600 views)
adultfiction

A/N

: Thanks be to my editor amerks29hockey, an of course all the reviewers.

* * *

The sword slipped from Seere's hands as everyone watched April sink to the ground beside the vampire. Rane was the first to move, catching her before she hit the ground and the hooked blade tore more of her away.

Seere stood there, vaguely aware of Rane calling for him. He couldn't move. He couldn't help. Too much blood had been spilled, even he had his limits and her pulse was almost gone. He could hear its rhythm, taste the blood in the air; air that seemed to pull at him and move with him at the same time.

Like the Netherspace

.

He jumped at the realization.

What was he doing here?

He tried to ground himself back to the mortal world but something gripped him and held him back. His head snapped around looking for the cause of his restraint. A light moved forward from the darkness and materialized as a man in a black, hooded robe. His gray eyes smiled at Seere with something like amusement, and he pulled a chair from the haze of the space before sitting down.

"Seere, is it?" Laughter rang in his tone.

"Who the fuck are you?"

The man laughed and lifted the ground beneath Seere, settling his figure in a chair like his own. "I'm the one responsible for tonight's little affair," he answered.

Seere's knuckles turned white as he tried to drag himself from the chair unsuccessfully. A dull pain started in his head indicating his time was running short. "Why? She hasn't even come into her powers yet. Why would you need to kill her?" He choked over the bile in his throat.

The man smiled. "I don't."

Seere looked at him curiously, "what business do you have with her life?"

"That shouldn't be your concern

Seere.

I would be willing to let the beings I've employed have their fun, but I thought it only fair to offer you the opportunity as well."

"What opportunity is that?"

"The opportunity to get your memory back," he grinned, "to be able to walk between worlds without dying, or enter the Netherspace without bleeding," he gestured at Seere's face and Seere could feel the blood running down it as the pain intensified. "To return to what and where you are from, and let me tell you boy, it would be worth the sacrifice."

"And all I'd have to do is kill April?"

"No, I don't want to kill April, Seere. I want her to live. I want her to get her powers back. I have no intention of

killing

her."

"Then what do you want with her?" His voice was thick and his vision spun around him.

"I want her with me. It shouldn't be difficult for you to find the right sacrificial order. So many of them will work."

He gritted his teeth against the pain, "go to Hell!"

The man laughed again moving forward, his voice barely a whisper. "Isn't dragon's blood a fascinating thing? Right now she's lying in a triangle and all you'd have to do is say my name, and let her die. Human, vampire and dragon blood. A very potent mix, wouldn't you agree? The name's Gare. Take your time, I'll be waiting." He disappeared and Seere landed on his hands and knees in the living room.

Michael and Rane were bent over April, Michael snapped the top off the khopesh and Rane removing it as delicately as possible. Charity spotted him from across the room and helped him to his feet dragging him towards April. Her words seemed urgent but Seere couldn't hear them. His mind was caught on something Gare had said.

Dragon's blood

.

Charity cut his palms and pushed him down beside April. "Heal her!"

"I can't."

"What?"

He turned towards April and watched the last strain of her pulse slip. "She's too far gone, I won't be able to keep her alive for less than a minute, let alone heal her."

She knelt down beside him in stunned silence. He let his hands trail through the silver blood on the floor, wracking his brain for the memory that wouldn't surface. He thought he heard a soft chuckle in his mind before it hit.

An alchemist in a seedy bar, "

Dragon's blood has many unique properties boy. At one point it was believed to be the fountain of youth. Now we know better. Its energy conducts other elements. The problem is stability. It's too strong for use on the mortal plane. On others, however it's greatly sought after to temporarily increase power. It's a good thing there aren't many dragons out there.

"

His eyes snapped back to April's inert figure and he lifted his palms coated with blood. "I hope this works," he mumbled, and pressed his hands into the wound.

* * *

"Why is it you're always the one unconscious?" A gentle, familiar voice called to her through the darkness.

April opened her eyes, wincing as the light burned through her head. Brown eyes laughed at her and she smiled. "Rane."

"It's nice to see you too princess. We weren't sure we could save you. Lucky for you, dragon blood carries some unique properties."

She choked on the words, her throat painfully dry. "Dragon blood healed me?"

"No. Seems it increases the effect of certain powers. Healing being one."

"Is Wade okay?"

Rane's smile widened, "he's been lashing out at everything that moves, and a few things that don't. He blames himself for what happened."

"But that's wrong."

"Yes it is," a very angry voice called from behind Rane. She shut her eyes, breathing in and out. But when she looked up, the sight of him still pissed her off. "It's yours."

Rane rolled his eyes at her in an attempt to calm the tension. She ignored him and did her best to glare with white spots still flying in front of her eyes. "Did you expect me to just sit back and watch all of you die?"

"Yes."

She matched his tone. "Sorry to disappoint."

He shifted his eyes down to where the wound had been. He flashed Rane a guilty look and turned to walk away.

Yes, because April's a weak and frail little girl, playing grown up games

. "I'm not fucking sorry, you bastard," she yelled after him "I can handle myself in a fight and if you think I'm going to sit on the sidelines while your big, strong testosterone-charged ass fights my battles for me,

you

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can go to hell!"

Seere slowly turned back to her. She smiled triumphantly at him and sank back against the pillow. Charity came up beside him and tugged at his arm. He shook her off and crouched over April. She flinched when he reached forward and swept the hair out of her eyes. Leaning in close, his whisper was more of a growl and she could almost count the number of people he'd slaughtered from the look in his eyes. "Some day, you're going to push me too far April, and you better hope you come into your powers by then, because I'll tear you apart." Then he got up and walked away.

* * *

Charity followed him to the meditation room and gripped the edge of his shirt. He spun around and she took a conscious step back raising her hands in defense. "Hey, no need to be pissed at me. I just wanted to know…"

"Charity, get out."

She froze as she realized the voice was coming from behind her and turned to Rane. "Huh?"

He took off his shirt and his eyes coiled to gold. "I said, get out."

Her gaze flickered from Seere to Rane and she rolled her eyes, muttered something about testosterone, and left.

Seere looked at Rane and smirked. "Is there something you wanted to say?"

Rane kicked off his shoes and grinned. "There's a lot I want to say but it all comes down to you being an ass."

"Oh, come on, she was baiting me!"

"I would have thought after all these years you would have learned a little patience."

"I have no use for patience."

"Is that right?" He moved into the centre of the room and held his palms out, setting easy on his feet.

Seere kicked off his shoes and rolled his shoulders. "Had enough fighting for the day brother, well the week actually, try again later."

"This isn't fighting. If I was going to fight you, I'd have you pinned and begging for mercy by now."

"If it's not fighting, what is it?"

"A lesson."

Seere removed his shirt and moved to stand opposite Rane. "And what exactly am I supposed to learn in this lesson?"

It was Rane's turn to smirk. "That I'm better."

* * *

"April, you shouldn't be getting up." Charity whined.

"I feel fine. Better than fine, and I think I should find Wade and make sure he's okay." She swung her legs off the edge of the sofa.

"Actually, I think you should be trying to settle things with Seere."

"And why would I want to do that?" She answered coolly.

"Uh, because you pissed him off."

"So?"

"You are

so

going to die."

April's head snapped back to her, "He can bring it on. I'm not afraid of him."

"April, Seere is good. No, he's really good. The only person who can even come close to beating him is Rane, why do you think they've been friends for so long?"

"So you're telling me he can kick my ass?" She said slowly.

"No, I'm telling you that if he wanted to kill you, he would. He hasn't, so he probably won't, but that kind of power deserves some form of respect. Especially when the person who wields it is a psychopath." She grinned.

April left the room and went in search of Wade. She found him sitting next to Michael on the floor of the meditation room, watching Rane and Seere fight. She stood there staring for a moment. It was beautiful to watch. They moved with the ease and speed of two jaguars, every move intended to inflict pain with the least amount of effort. Rane gripped Seere's arms and flung him back into the wall. He twisted his body and pushed off sending him barreling back into Rane. Not seeing an end to the fight any time soon, she sunk down beside Wade and he handed her a bag of popcorn.

"Do they do this often?" she asked.

"Nah. Only when they need to let off steam."

"So this isn't a real fight then." She watched as Seere got a jab in and blood dripped from Rane's mouth.

"Trust me, when they fight for real, you'll know it."

Rane kicked Seere in the ribs and she heard a crack. "How?"

Wade grinned, "they'll both be dead."

"Oh."

It was four hours later before Rane broke Seere's kneecaps and the fight ended. He grinned at the three of them and went for a shower, the cuts and bruises already disappearing. April went to where Seere was lying facedown on the floor. "Are you okay?"

He rolled onto his back, breathing ragged. She resisted the impulse to vomit as she watched the broken bones heal through his skin. He grinned at her reaction, "This is nothing. The last time we fought we used weapons. Now

that

was fun." He lifted himself onto his elbows and watched his kneecaps re-form.

"What was it about?"

"What?"

"The fight."

"Oh. Just Rane trying to teach me a lesson." He shifted and she helped him to his feet.

"What lesson?"

He grinned but didn't answer. Instead he cracked his back and picked his shirt off the floor.

"Did it work?"

"Never has, never will." He caught her shaking her head in disbelief and his grin widened. "Come on, I'll show you the library. There are a lot of things you still don't know."

She stepped back and wrinkled her nose. "Not until you take a shower."

He shrugged and made to move. When she followed he grabbed her arm, pulling her tight against his chest. She struggled against him, the sweat from his body seeping through her shirt. "Now you need one too." He laughed and ran out the door.

"Ew!" She yelled after him and looked down at her clothes. "We'll at least he's not trying to kill me," she muttered and headed for her room.

She felt strange. That was the only word that seemed to fit, strange. She wasn't in pain, but she felt like she should be. Her body seemed to be buzzing and swollen. For a moment she wondered whether she could be coming into her powers so quickly, but her instincts told her no.

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The bedrooms were upstairs and hers was at the very end of the hall. She'd gotten a shock when she saw it, mainly because it was so feminine compared to the rest of the house. The walls and floor were made of a lighter wood and the bed was covered in a sand spread with rose and jade throw pillows across the top and a jade blanket thrown on the end. Like the meditation room, one of her walls was glass, doors opened onto a balcony overlooking the forest and mountainside.

She walked to the ensuite and took a shower, hoping it would get rid of the feeling sinking and rising between her stomach and chest. It didn't. Half an hour later, she wrapped herself in a towel and exited into her room. Flicking through her new clothes, she slipped on a pair of black jeans and a pale blue halter and grabbed her brush off the dresser. One look in the mirror left her frozen.

Her reflection smiled back at her and lifted a brush of its own. It rolled it around in its hands, as if it was the most fascinating thing on Earth. Then stared at April. April's jaw dropped and all she could think was

'wow, I'm crazy'

. A small voice in her head told her it was funny she thought she was crazy when her reflection started acting without her, and not when she saw a sixteen year old turn into a dragon.

On autopilot she brought the brush down, through her hair. Her reflection watched her curiously and did the same, staring in awe as the hair straightened. April laughed, high-pitched hysteria from her mouth. Her mind tried to right itself, but she was too panicked. She dropped the brush on the dresser and walked backwards until her legs hit the bed. Sinking down, she watched her reflection continue to brush its hair, oblivious to the impact on its other half.

* * *

Seere knocked on April's door, wondering if she had left while he and Rane got the traditional lecture from Charity.

Stop fighting, blah, blah, blah

. Even Rane had started tuning out. As long as they nodded at every pause, she would give a final huff and leave them alone after a couple of minutes.

He knocked again and opened the door. She was sitting on the bed, staring at her reflection in the mirror. Her face was pale and she was holding a jade pillow, playing with a loose thread.

"A bit of a shock, isn't it?" He sat on the bed beside her and nudged her shoulder, trying to break through the tension.

"Huh?"

"Almost dying. It plays with your head."

"Yeah." She was still for a moment before turning to him. "Tell me about Doppelgangers."

He almost fell off the bed. "Doppelgangers?"

"You were saying something about them before we left the city."

He tugged at another thread on his side of the pillow. "Don't you want to talk about that stuff with Rane?"

"Why can't you tell me?"

He laughed, "It's not that I can't tell you, it's just that Rane can do it without giving people nightmares."

She leaned her head on his shoulder and his arm went around her instinctively. "Tell me."

He sighed and leaned them back to rest on the headboard. "Vampires have reflections but Doppelgangers don't."

"You've said that before."

"If you know anything about them, you know the common belief is that a doppelganger is a persons double." She nodded. "This is only half true; they're most commonly a consequence of being a vampire. A vampire isn't born, and they're not turned. They're a hybrid born of power. Humans who made tokens to beings from other worlds for eternal youth and life, superior strength and agility, and for some the ability to fly."

"But they have reflections?"

"Yes. When a vampire transforms, he doesn't die. It's the opposite; he becomes more alive. His 'life energy', if you like, increases dramatically. As it would need to in order to sustain him until he either gets himself killed or commits suicide, as well as fuelling his new abilities. In order to produce a reflection, a mirror absorbs a small portion of energy for all sources it reflects."

"And since the energy in a vampire is supercharged…"

"So is its reflection. Every vampire has a doppelganger in the mirror. They're warned of this but sometimes it gets ignored. If they walk past a mirror an exact duplicate will manifest from their reflection. The energy is so strong that it takes on life."

"They're killing machines right?"

"After a century or so they end up that way yes."

"So why wouldn't they want a second version of themselves running around. Wouldn't it be easier to kill people with two of them?"

"It's creepy."

April laughed.

"No I'm serious. The doppelganger is an

exact

duplicate. Anything the vampire was doing, the doppelganger would do at exactly the same time. It would make it impossible to live."

She bit her lip thoughtfully, "so there aren't human doppelgangers, they're all vampires?"

"A vampire is the only being where it occurs naturally. Human doppelgangers are victims of an act of vengeance." He paused, "you need to understand, anything that gives power, has power and knows how to use it. Rites and rituals are temperamental, if someone tries to ask for something and then insults the creature by not making a big enough sacrifice or fucks up the chant, the creature will get angry."

"When it gets angry usually it will just kill or torture the person making the sacrifice, but there are a couple of cases where they have drained the persons life force and imprisoned it in glass. The life force becomes hoarded energy inside the mirror. Half the time it's harmless. An animal will walk by and the doppelganger will emerge as the animal. Or if a plant is reflected, it will emerge as a plant. Anything alive is capable of having a doppelganger. On very rare occasions a human walks past one of these mirrors. That's the only way I know of. Even then, there would have to be more than human energy for the doppelganger to actually emerge from the mirror as a living being."

She nodded and relaxed against him, coiling her hand into his. She looked back towards the mirror and dropped his hand. He followed her eyes and saw his own reflection in the glass. April wasn't beside him. Her reflection was tugging on the handle of the balcony door, trying to get it open. It slipped in her hand and the latch released. With an excited smile she walked out onto the balcony.

He turned to the real April, now just as pale as she'd been before. "If that's the only way," she said. "Tell me what the fuck is that."

* * *

"RANE!"

"That doesn't sound good." Charity said, disentangling herself from Rane's arms.

"I'm gonna kill him," he muttered and lifted himself off the bed.

"RANE!"

"Coming!" he yelled back, pulling on his pants. He moved to the door muttering something unintelligible and swung it open on a very agitated Seere.

"Definitely not good." Charity said behind him.

"Thank you for the insight," he glared back at her. She mock bowed and headed for the shower.

Michael came running up behind Seere holding a bazooka of all things, with Wade hot on his heels. Wade ducked under Michaels arm, pushing himself to the front, "we getting some action, brother?" He punched at the air playfully.

"Not anymore." Charity called from the bathroom.

"Once again,

thank you

Charity."

"No problem, baby."

Rane glared at Seere but he didn't notice, instead he pushed into their room dragging a protesting April behind him. He drew her in front of the mirror and let go. "Jesus, Seere, that's going to leave a bruise." She whined. He didn't take his eyes off the mirror as he gestured to Rane.

He came up beside him. "I'm assuming there's something wrong."

Seere didn't answer, just nodded towards the mirror. Rane stared blankly at their reflections. "I don't see what the….holy fucking hell!" April's reflection stared back at them before spinning around to explore the room. She paused, her mouth formed a giggle and she spun around again.

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