"Holy mother of God." Ian said next to Kayla, they were on the far side of the room watching what was going on. None of the humans or demons were fighting anymore. They'd been forced not to at first, a mental command. However now it was stupid to. To draw the attention of these two was foolish. It appeared there was not going to be any discrimination.
Kayla couldn't take her eyes from Savon. He was fast and deadly, just like Astor, but it was easy to see that Astor was built for power. Not speed or stamina. Savon had a pair of huge wings that ripped from his back. Just the size of them spoke that whatever his form was as an acolyte, it might not fit in the building. She didn't know he could change shape like some demons.
"This time I won't be changing to human for you to kill so easily." They heard Savon say, but it wasn't his voice. It was deeper, almost animal like. Astor responded in a different language.
"We need to get out of here before these two start to rock and roll." Todd said taking slow steps backward.
"Ditto." Tina commented and they went to move, but the fighting started again and it was worse than before. The two of them fought like wild animals and it was hard to think or move. The floor shook with how hard they hit it. The ceiling started to come down as they slammed into it.
The humans managed to get to the hall, and Kayla looked back. She saw the hell hounds that were staying out of the way. Just watching and she felt like she couldn't leave. She was a torn mess, she just couldn't leave and not know. Couldn't stand outside or run and just hope and pray he came back. She couldn't do it anymore, run and not know if the one you loved was coming back. It just didn't matter what he was or who.
"Kayla!" Todd said.
"Go ahead, I want to stay."
"Are you insane!"
"I need to know." She snapped at him. Todd looked at the others that disappeared down the stairs and he sighed.
"Then I will stay with you." He said. "Insane as it might be." She met his gaze and clearly he was thinking a similar thing. His reasoning a bit more on this being their last stand. If Astor won, that was it. What was the point? If there was even the smallest chance, they had to stay to see it through.
"Clearly we have mental issues." Drake said coming back up the stairs. He moved up by them, they could see all the others trying to get out of the room now as well. Demon and human a like. It really wasn't a room anymore. The walls were destroyed, part of the ceiling was coming down. They were staying back in the hall at the corner watching through the damage as the two fought.
_____Savon_____
The fighting between the two of them was brutal and nasty. At one point they crashed out through the front wall and into the street. They fought and tore flesh from each other. Savon felt his body changing more every minute. His acolyte wanting the power of his real body, but his human part was being pushed down and there was what felt like a tear mentally for a moment at the physical pain and the mesh of their two minds.
'Don't.' Savon said.
'I have to.' Savon just took a calming breath inwardly trying to coincide with the mind that was taking over. It was nothing like a human's. It conflicted and worked in ways that Savon's didn't, but he was trying to learn it. Trying because he had to fast or risk it being shredded. He couldn't afford it. He had to learn to allow what his nature was, but keep it from consuming them.
They rolled and hit the side of the building. Astor was nearly twice his normal size now and looking more like a beast every minute. Savon was caught between change and not. He was taller, he had claws and razor sharp teeth.
The wings that he had hit the ground and where massive. It was bizarre to see how huge they were attached to a smaller humanoid form. He jumped back and up as Astor lashed at him. His wings spread out to catch him and right now he had at least a twenty foot wing span. Which looked odd and was growing by the minute.
'Kill him.'
'Like we aren't trying.' His acolyte part snapped annoyed, but knew that time was a factor. His human half was trying hard to acclimate fast, and doing well. The change was speeding up now. They were sent flying as Astor's tail hit them like a giant spiked club. They nearly went through a huge glass display window. It cracked and then rained down on him as he hit the ground.
'Just... pass out.' Lycain said to his human part. Astor was trying to attack their mind again and if he did it differently then they would have a problem.
'Just how is that going to work?'
'I'll make you, but you can't fight me.'
'You won't be whole without me. I can handle it just do it.' They couldn't be separate, it would handicap them in another way. Savon stood his ground serious and there was hesitation on the acolyte's behalf.
'It may tear your mind.'
'If he gets in our mind, or I am not awake we will be handicapped and we'll lose. Do it, I can handle it. Even if it doesn't work we will be alive.'
Savon stood up, Astor changed fully. At the shoulders he stood near ten feet and his body was close thirty feet long. His jaws opened and he made a horrid sound. Savon just let his mind go with what his acolyte needed and his body felt like it was being ripped a part for a moment.
Everything happened so fast, one second he looked human and then he wasn't. He looked like the marking on his body. And was far bigger than Astor was. However holding this form wasn't possible for long, both of them knew it. Savon was mentally breathing slow, counting. It felt like his muscles tore, his bones cracked in ways they shouldn't. He just concentrated on why this had to be done. But fuck it hurt.
Lycain lunged and got Astor around the neck driving him to the ground and blood rushed into his mouth. Blood that he need. Astor could ill afford the blood loss. Savon and his acolyte were savage. They could both feel the draw on their energy and fought with Astor tearing at him. They gave it their all, and Astor was dealt horrible blows. He was fighting hard as well but unlike Savon he had never had to fight for his life.
Now that it was for his life he was already in deep trouble. When you always had to fight knowing you could lose it gave you an edge over someone that had never had too. That was a critical mistake for Astor who now felt what it was like to realize your life was on the line. With the severe damaging blows neither of them could hold their form and became instantly human.
The rules of this world were far different than hell's. Savon was driven to his knees for a moment and coughed up blood but stood his gaze hard. Astor was pushing himself up from the asphalt looking very much like a dragon had chewed on him. Savon felt a humorless smile for a second.
"How does it feel Astor? Being the lesser, knowing you are going to die?" Astor roared at him and clearly was beyond a response. He shot forward at him.
Savon fought him hand and fist. Astor got a solid hit to Savon's ribs and broke one, cracked a couple more. But Savon did good damage to him as well. Savon moved rolling and was up he grabbed a flat sheet of what looked like metal and turned as Astor came at him. All Savon had left was the adrenaline and it wasn't going to be able to keep him going much longer. Savon turned and with a cry of rage swung the sheet in both hands with everything he had.
He brought it up before Astor could stop his momentum. The edge of the metal embedded right into his neck deep. Astor went back and down with Savon on him. Savon pulled the metal from Astor's neck and looked at him. Blood gushed from the wound. In that moment the two of them knew that the tide had shifted greatly to Savon's side. Even with the half torn neck Astor wasn't dead yet.
"I hope that you suffer beyond endurance with where you will go when you die. I'll morn not hearing your screams of pain as it happens." Savon said and shoved the metal down hard and felt it hit the concrete. This would be the only way to kill him to take his head and destroy the body.
There was that moment of silence where the world seemed to stand still, and then it all came rushing back in. The sounds seemed overly loud to him. It was his body that hurt most, he knew that there were multiple broken bones. He'd bled horribly, and open wounds on his body as well.
'Not that the change helped that. Fuck it hurts.'
'We are fine. We will live.' Savon just made a sound and leaned back from where he knelt. He closed his eyes. He tasted blood in his mouth, and it was in his nose. Everything hurt so bad, he was starving. The smells of the world around him hit him hard. Not to mention the raging migraine that was starting now. Throbbing badly, little burst of color and blurred vision happened too. He didn't know if he could move suddenly.
"Savon?" Came a feminine voice and he managed to slightly open his eyes and look at Kayla who stood there. Where had she come from? Had she been here the whole time? He felt more energy drain from him. She should have run, yet hearing her voice seeing her lifted a bit of a weight to be honest.
"What?" He said feeling on edge. She moved kneeling next to him, not looking at the body right by them. She softly touched his face. Her scent was intoxicating, but he didn't feel the need to attack her. He didn't even consider her as an option to replace the energy he needed.
"You look like hell." Kayla finally managed, he felt a slight bit of a smile. She was so odd to him, but he felt a relief coming into him. Part of him couldn't believe what he'd done. Like it had only been a dream. Astor was dead, and for the first time in his life he felt like crying with the relief.
"That's all?" He said to her, he saw others not far away. They would have to leave and quick. He'd only managed to take the life of those within a few block radius of the place.
"Well, I'll admit that whatever you managed to change into for a minute kind of.... Scared the crap out of me. I'm assuming that was only because of the extreme circumstance."
"That would be correct."
'We could change when we wanted.'
'We aren't going to, we're lucky I'm still whole after that.' He said he felt the marking moving on his body, it was more over the left side now where it normally was.
"Can you get up?" She asked, "Here by the way." she said and shoved a pair of pants at him. "Kind of don't have clothes, just in case you didn't notice."
Truth be told he hadn't, he was more focused on the pain in him, running through him. He felt the movement around him. The three hell hounds moving around him.
"Maybe." Savon said. He didn't like the thought of being weak. Of needing help, but if he needed it she was the only one that he would really accept it from. He moved to stand, and managed on his own though his left leg throbbed and his ribs screamed in protest. The pants that she gave him were easy to get on, but still he hurt. They snapped up the sides luckily. He didn't ask where she found them. Didn't matter. He'd say being naked didn't matter, but honestly he was feeling cold.
"Kiore." Savon said, and Kiore appeared from behind him looking at him. "Thank you for before, for stepping in."
"I...that's...you are welcome." He seemed unsure of how to respond to the gratitude in Savon's voice. "I would say that I have to protect you, but in that moment I did it because I chose to. So saying I had to would be a lie."
"I know that is why I thanked you." The other two sat looking at him. Their heads cocked slightly confused looks on their faces.
"You need to feed." Kayla said, she looked at him. He was in bad shape, there were cuts and slashes all over him. He had a horrible wound on his shoulder. An even worse one up near his neck. She could see from the way that he moved, that he might have broken bones, or was in horrible pain.
"Yes." He said, his eyes were still bright, the pupils more like slits than anything else at the moment. His teeth were nearly normal except the canines that were sharper.
"Just give me a minute and I will go."
"We will bring you what you need." Ikis said and ran off. Ichor following her. Savon watched them go a bit of a frown on his face.
"When you are finished." Kayla said and turned to go back by the others who were moving quickly to leave. She stopped at the feel of his hand taking hold of her upper arm, it wasn't forceful or hard, just there.
She looked back at him, and he just stared at her for a moment. She didn't know if he was going to speak or not, but he dropped his hand after a moment. She gave him a bit of a smile. Kayla turned to walk away again. She got the silent touch, what he couldn't seem to say right then. It just made her heart feel lighter.
"Kayla," She glanced over her shoulder at him. "I'm sorry." She thought that a very odd comment to make.
"For what?" She asked confused.
"That I am what I am." She didn't get why he would apologize for it. He had no control over it and she was fine with what he was. She knew the kind of person that he was and that was what mattered to her, nothing else.
"I like what you are, it keeps things interesting." She joked to relieve a bit of tension that was suddenly there. He gave a half smile that made him look almost wicked, but damn sexy in her opinion. She moved off to the others, following them to where they needed to go.
She saw the other two hell hounds coming back from a distance and pulling with them someone or thing. It was better to just let him do what he needed alone, than watch. They were alive, he won and that was all that mattered. He would come back when he got what he needed. Of that she was sure.