Their souls were all reborn and back in my arms after years of waiting.
The five chances I had risked my life for all turned out to be nothing but the same heartache. Even when they were slipped under the Skin of my new mate, they all died within days.
Junie was wonderful too. She stayed in that vulnerable form, naked, to try my luck with what I had bought to her.
Despite knowing what would work best, I was determined not to have all of my sacrifices be for nothing. I couldn't just cast them aside. I should have, but I dreaded to think about it.
But, after weeks of waiting and defending my mate, the answer I already knew was presented to me in the pile of dead.
I didn't want to start our new family amongst bones and blood. With Junie still pouring Spores, I picked up what remained of our family to move them somewhere safer.
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It wasn't easy. Despite being well-fed and energized, my children still missed their dead father. With only three left, I knew he wouldn't have been able to give them the life I had planned. He wouldn't leave me with the large family I yearned so badly for.
Junie treated them like her own, even when her Spores stopped flooding her brain with maternal desires. She had birthed hundreds to fleeting partners; the last and longest being the one I had killed.
With him dead, she couldn't care for his children with a new mate around. It was the law of nature. To prevent more death in her new broods, she watched me kill every last child I hunted down. She even helped when they got too close to her nest.
They weren't hers anymore. They were imposters to a better mate who could properly defend her.
I was Junie's. She was mine. She gave me everything.
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I laid beside her as we watched our children swarming the land I had claimed as our home. The youngest were engaged in a game of hide-and-go-seek, the older ones playing rough amongst each other, and my eldest two hanging on the outskirts of my vision.
Ethel had grown into such a beautiful creature. She really was a spectacle to behold above her sea of brothers and sisters sporting my black fur or their mother's brown and white. A few mutations from my warped dna had snuck in too, creating a range of different patterns and colours not usually possible with our looks.
Avery was as handsome as ever. He really was growing into something proud of himself. He towered over the others like Ethel did, gleaming from the abundance of food and protection here. He was already putting himself to work at being undefeated in the fights the others dragged him into.
Ester wasn't much bigger than my middle children. She was a bubbly little thing who liked to stay close to her mother. If she wasn't burrowing into her speckled fur, she was exploring the area around our nest and reporting back with what she had found.
She reminded me so much of Maisie. Her curiosity and bright outlook had definitely been borrowed from Maisie's soul.
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I closed my eyes with a smile at my family.
"Quinton" Junie chuckled, nudging me "you aren't going to sleep."
"And miss seeing you?" I grinned with my eyelids still dropped "never, my beauty."
She giggled, nudging me again.
"You said you would get food."
I sighed, remembering my promise.
"I did, didn't I?"
"And you said it would be 'the biggest creature you ever killed'" she mocked me with a snort.
I chuckled back, rising regretfully.
"I know you'll do good" Junie smiled up to me "I'll be waiting for you."
I nuzzled into the side of her face lifted to mine, enjoying the soft sound she made in return.
Her speckled back was swarming with babies clinging to her brown fur. Her body was bursting with more waiting to be born any day now.
If this was a dream, I never wanted to wake up.
I really had everything with her by my side. She hadn't disappointed me once in our five years together.
"Just a few minutes more" I whined to her shaking her head at my antics.
"Go" she laughed "and don't be long."
Even without her Spores filling me with dread every moment I was away from her, I still hated leaving her alone.
She had our eldest children, but I was the one who should keep her safe when she was occupied with our vulnerable family.
I didn't have anything to worry about, but I still did.
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Stretching out my weary limbs, I caressed Junie again before watching her lift herself from the cave we had nestled in so she could climb down the tunnel behind it.
The gaping hole led down a short direct drop down into a cavern where Junie chose to brood our newest members. She birthed and fed the youngest below ground until they were ready to scamper up the walls and out the cave to join the others outside.
Every night, everyone would pour down into the nest to huddle around their mother and myself. Avery chose to sleep at the entrance above so he could be alerted to trespassers. Ethel and Ester joined us below and would snuggle into Junie's other side.
It was the most protected area here. But, it also gave Junie no escape other than the entrance I stared at.
Deep in forestry and away from the dirt road that ran through it, we were well protected; but I had thought the same thing with my last home when Maisie had been lured and killed.
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The landscape around us was sprawling and filled with leaves from the surrounding trees. I could see our children venturing amongst them to entertain themselves or practise hunting small wildlife that dug beneath the litter.
I headed for the slope to my left, sliding down it for the side of the road snaking in the distance below.
Keeping beside it would lead me further down to where the road split at a wooden sign. If I kept left, I could avoid the human campsite at the right and hunt the grounds around the waterfall out there. I just had to avoid the outlook around it where tourists gathered to swim the waters.
The water itself was clean and cool. I could take advantage of it snaking its river through the trees to the right of the tourist trap.
Several kilometers along the river side would take me deeper into the forestry and into territories I hadn't properly mapped yet. I knew from the scents and markings dug into the trees around the entrance of another cave that a feral dog demon lived inside. Last time I had gone past it, I had been charged by the protective mother defending her yowling babies within. Since that encounter almost a month ago, I had taken to trading a small kill for safe passage through the grounds.
I couldn't go around the cave either. Up the cliff to the right of it was a human home and its occupants trying to live a life through Skins. To the left, I met a steep drop down into more trees and unknown territory.
But through the other side was a sprawling land of wild grass, peeling bark, and an abundance of deer waiting to be slaughtered.
The dog chose well in being so close to prime grounds where tall grass masked its bulking body and long white fur. I had prioritized seclusion over distance to the grounds we shared. I had other grounds planted into my mind, but these were the most open and plentiful that I followed my path towards once more.
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Dripping with blood and loaded with the bodies of dead deer, I already knew my heavy burden wouldn't be enough for our swarming family.
I carried them still, ignoring our children rushing to greet me and snap at the deer dangling within reach of their little mouths.
Junie would eat first. Then, it would be free pickings for the rest. They knew the routine, but they still tried their luck for bigger portions I held away from them.
Clicking for my mate to meet me, I froze when I picked up a scent in the air that lingered around the cave entrance.
Taking it in, I poked around the bitter trail coming from behind our outlook and venturing further back. I didn't follow it, instead scanning for Avery and Ethel.
I couldn't catch either of them amongst the trees. The absence of my oldest two was making me far too nervous and paranoid that the cause of the scent was still lingering nearby.
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Everyone reacted instantly to my call for them to dart inside to safety. There wasn't many outside that bolted past me to scurry down into the cave.
I still looked for Avery and Ethel, but wasn't greeted with either when I ushered the last concerned child past me so I could climb inside.
Inside was deathly quiet as I picked my way down the wall and towards Junie positioned beneath the opening of the tunnel above her. I pressed my body against hers when I huddled to her side, spotting Avery surrounded by his younger siblings snuggling against him for comfort. Ester was by his side.
"Where's Ethel?" I whispered to him.
He shrugged back, looking around.
"She must have taken a bunch of them with her" he searched, frowning "Pox, Daisy, and Silvi are missing too."
He was right. My three middle children were also nowhere to be seen in the swarm of confused and afraid faces peering up to me.
Pox was an easy one to pick out of the crowd with her speckled markings like her mother. The only difference was that her brown fur and white spots sported my mutations i had given to my previous children. Spots became hoops along her limbs and back.
Daisy was appropriately named because of her speckles mashing together to look like obscured flowers. A few children sported this oddity that Junie loved to admire.
Silvi had light grey fur that was swiped with my blacks and her mother's white from her skin condition. She had tips of brown below the vibrant markings that appeared almost tribal along her body.
Out of hundreds of children, there were a few that stood out above the others. They were three of them.
I'd have to search for them after we were safe here. I wasn't leaving my horde unguarded to search for a few compared to many, no matter how dear Ethel was to me.
Everyone stiffened when the roof above us pounded with the sound of slow footsteps.
I watched where each one landed, tracking it across to the entrance where it stopped.
Flaring, I made sure I was beneath it instead of Junie. If someone was going to come down, they'd have to deal with me first.
The scent flitted down to the air. It was faint but sharp, like the trees and their pinecone surrounding our home. There was a tang of sweet alcohol too.
"Quinton, we need to make sure our babies are safe" Junie whispered with her eyes locked on the tunnel above "we can't have humans snooping like this. Not this close."
It was uncommon for them to be so close to our home to begin with. We had the odd few drive by below on their adventure for the outdoors, but only rarely would they actually leave the convenience of the road to trek up the slope to where we were. Humans were lazy, and we benefited best from that.
I heard laughter and the clinking of empty glass bottles being laid outside our entrance. Music pumped from a speaker struggling not to blow itself apart from the heavy bass.
When I heard the wet smacking of lips against each other, I knew they were getting too comfortable.
"I'll take care of them" I vowed to Junie before leaping up and making myself known to the intruders while rushing up towards them.
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Hearing the screams of the group of humans gathered there was hilarious. They scattered and panicked when they sprinted away from their resting area at my doorstep. I saw they had even spread out a picnic blanket and were in the process of passing drinks when I appeared.
I chased after the ones who bolted around the back of my home and along the scent trail I had picked up earlier.
It was exhilarating to see them run so frantically. Even the prey in the fields weren't this erratic or mindless.
It made me laugh with this senseless toying of something that should have been a threat to me and my family. Instead, it was a game of how panicked I could make them on their terrified chase back to their two parked cars below.
I saw one sprint down the steep slope and roll over the leaves when it fell. Another clutching a case of the sweet alcohol ran with its two other friends straight ahead of me. She was the one with the keys to the car too, as the others kept screaming out. A fifth broke off to hide in the trees, while a sixth chose to brave the slope as well when I lunged for their feet.
So many little legs and screaming mouths. Despite their panic, I wasn't going to kill them. The food here was already more than enough, and I didn't need humans returning on another headhunt for doing something completely avoidable.
This was just a bit of fun for me.
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I kept scattering the friends further from my nest until the one with the keys dropped them when trying to pull them out of her pocket.
I stopped and grinned down at them at my feet.
Three of them stopped dead in their tracks ahead of me. Below, the others screamed for them to join them.
Now, this really had got interesting.
I could smell the sweat drenched on them, as well as the fake watermelon of the drink slopped down the front of the girl closest to me. I could hear their panting breaths and panicked whining when they tried to figure out silently how to get those little keys back.
I could see them thinking it over through their eyes. I stood proudly over them, nudging the keys further under me.
The stench from them was strong. None of them were brave enough to come closer and try to snatch back their only way to escape.
But, amongst the fear, alcohol, and faint tinge of piss, I could smell myself.
Lifting my head to try and drag it in over the human stench, I caught it again to my left.
Ethel?
I abandoned my game in an instant to race towards it. I heard the humans race for their precious keys and crash their way back to the others crying out for them.
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My mind was on Ethel. She wasn't out of our territory, but the fact she had come out this far from the nest was worrying me.
I knew she was old enough to venture out by herself, but I was always afraid of what could happen to my little girl.
She had the others with her too. The scent grew stronger as I rushed for it blindly. Tinged on familiarity was another that made my stomach drop.
"ETHEL!" I cried out when I felt it burn in my throat.
"Dad!" she called back from ahead "we're over here!"
"Dad!" another smaller voice whined.
I darted for it, breaking through to a clearing where Ethel was frozen on the spot, staring ahead.
The trees had been cut down here in a frenzy. Others had been pulled from the ground where they laid with their roots in the air.
My children swarmed me, sobbing. They snuggled against the shelter of my arms they refused to leave.
"Ethel, baby" I whispered to her as the strong scent burned through my body "come here."
She turned, her silent tears running down her face. Her body trembled against mine when I pulled my face up towards what she was frozen before.
At the sight, I found my strength had also left me.
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The overwhelming stench of duct tape smothered that of my children trapped beneath it.
In the clearing, the air was filled with their hanging bodies. Every head of my children was strangled with thick, black tape that suffocated them.
Young was tangled with old. I had babies barely old enough past leaving the nest dangling beside older children bordering Esther's age.
She was only five. Who could do this to someone so young?
Every leg was broken. Some curled inwards while others jutted at odd angles hanging below. None of them had a chance to escape.
There was no pools of blood like my discovery of Maisie. Whoever had done this wanted to make sure I didn't find them until they were ready for me too.
Ropes had been hung from every branch hanging over the clearing to display every broken child. I saw more swinging in the gentle breeze, awaiting more bodies. I had been early with my discovery, it seemed.
I would never have noticed them missing if I hadn't come out this far in my mindless game. I had hundreds of children now; a few could disappear undetected at any time.
It wasn't the work of those humans I had chased either. None of their stink lingered. It was the sour oil and smoke that clung, just like the first time.
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"What are we going to do?" Ethel peered up at them while still huddled against me "it's happening again."
Was it someone I knew doing this? How did they find me out here? I made sure to stay away from towns when we didn't have Skins. I only killed wildlife, never pets. There should have been no trace we were even living here.
How?
"Daddy" Ethel whimpered when tears started to blind me.
"Go back to your mother" I choked out, shushing her voice that rose up "don't leave the nest until I come back. Seal up the tunnel; get Junie away from the entrance of it. I have to find out what is causing this."
"Dad..."
"Please" I begged her as I pulled from her side "get the others back safely."
I couldn't have them here. They needed to be where I knew was safe.
My eyes locked on the bodies of my family above me.
Was it even safe anymore?
"Come on" Ethel nudged the others around her "stay close, stay quiet."
"I love you" I blurted to her as she started to leave with them "I love all of you."
If she died.... and I didn't let any of them know....
Ethel smiled back weakly.
"Love you too, Dad" she replied before gathering up my children around her again to march back through the trees.
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I stayed until I couldn't see her anymore, inching further from the clearing just to make sure she was safe. As soon as the trees obscured her, I turned back to the horror I wanted to avoid.
Now further away, I could see something else about the display.
There was a message here, not yet finished; malicious intent as clear as the bodies of my family dangling above.
With a new perspective, I could see it all, and how much time I had left to catch whoever was picking their way through what was most precious to me.
I backed up from it to make sure every broken limb and strangled face was as how it was intended.
They all lined up, forming the incomplete message I already understood, hoping that I had somehow read it wrong; hoping I hadn't been so blind to not notice this many children missing from my growing horde.
There was no escaping it. I couldn't keep running from something chasing behind me like my own shadow.
My eyes refused to leave the trees, even when they were blinded with tears that shook through me and escaped my trembling body that dropped to the dirt.
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You're next, Quinton.
ns 18.68.41.146da2
