Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Nine - The Beast Coated in Midnight

Dexter once described the small community of thirty or so individuals as his family. And there happened that one member of the family walked on four legs not two...

Dawn still often came a little lazily in spring as the sun burst out above the horizon only to be swallowed by a blanket of clouds that had overlaid the previous night sky while bringing with them spring rain. The blackbirds, sparrows and other small birds that had taken residence in the conifer and other trees and overhanging roof tops, enjoying the relative safety of the walls with the other occupants, still burst into song welcoming the sun despite this. Two midnight furred ears moved at the enthusiastic sounds for a moment. The owner then yawned broadly, revealing a mouthful of white canines and molars, then took care of a sudden itch on his neck with his rear paw. He rose to his feet, shook himself out a bit then his eyes turned towards the small bed close to him.

Seeing a small pale leg sticking out of the covers upon the leg, the large, black beast padded over, carefully gripped the corner of the duvet with his teeth and covered the exposed limb. He then nodded to himself that his little charge would be safe and warm enough now before suddenly vanishing, leaving only a wisp of dark smoke. The smoke seemed to drift downwards and through the narrow gap between closed door and frame before the hound reappeared in full glory upon the landing. At the same time, another door opened and an irritable looking, slender, dark haired man sauntered out of their own room. He grunted at the hound in greeting, rubbing his eyes that some might claim had a seductive quality to them in this dim light during the early hour, but later they would say that they were just cold or sly.

Whether the man happened to follow the canine beast down to the kitchen or whether they just happened to be going in the same direction, neither cared to say, but on arrival, the irritable looking man grabbed a glass from the cupboard, holding it in his hand as it suddenly filled with crystal clear water. He poured this into a stainless steel bowl on the floor before refilling the glass and then both man and beast drank their fill, clearing the remnants of sleep with the refreshing liquid. Tyler rinsed his glass in the sink with more water before placing it on the drainer, then he headed down towards the basement to check on the freezer, as he did most mornings, no matter what hour he was allowed to sleep to usually.

The hound did not wait for him, just lapped a few more mouthfuls of water before turning once more into a puff of smoke and escaping through the keyhole in the backdoor. Taking advantage of the spaciousness of the outside world, Aslan was quick to revert to his large, solid form that he might stretch his long, powerful legs and race towards the wall. He stopped halfway to deal with some small business discreetly, then continued on at a more leisurely pace, knowing that he would likely get enough exercise on patrol this morning anyway.

The humans had never given him any specific duties like they gave themselves, he didn't care to analyse whether they were looking down on his intelligence or respecting that he already took great care of his small charge as well as assisted whenever the rotting things or vicious beasts tried to destroy their small haven en masse. His small charge's adoptive parents never spoke to him like he was a dumb dog or something similar anyway, though the other small ones still tugged on his ears on occasions as if he was a toy... he'd forgive them for now. Small humans were seldom bright like himself.

Regardless of how he came across to others, he knew himself what he would do to keep his territories and small charge safe. One was to patrol, like this morning.

His ears twitched as numerous sounds entered them, such as a rushing winds when the air was otherwise still, the clash of metal upon stone and the odd squelch. Those were coming from beyond the walls. Grass rustled before him and his nose caught the scent of a rodent. It was an ordinary one or at least not an undead one and before he could determine whether it was necessary to deal with it, the metallic scent of blood reached his nose. It seemed that something else, possibly even the grass itself, had dealt with it first. He moved on.

As it had rained, the ground was quite soft beneath his paws wherever there was no hard landscape and even that was often cracked with weeds pushing up through the crumbling concrete now. Humans could no longer maintain their dominance over nature, but the hound didn't think that was either a good or bad thing, just that it would be more difficult to clean the mud from his coat as there were less good pathways to patrol along.

The light was improving, Aslan paused to survey the area that he had come to be in. This was where the humans had begun planting a lot of seed. The birds were also naturally interested in this area and were not necessarily digging for worms, so as he happened to be here, he raced through the fields to scare away the cheeky feathered creatures. Most scattered in several directions, but there was an overconfident one who met him head on. But a mutated pigeon was still a pigeon at the end of the day, they had yet to form thoughts more complex than 1 or 0; this bird with all its interesting new plumage and noisiness couldn't defeat Aslan even in its most elaborate dreams. It finally flew away several feathers less, finally knowing fear.

After defeating a rotten squirrel that crept over the walls only to meet its end swiftly by a vicious bite and an undead hawk that was attacking a flock of neighbourhood blue tits (not on Aslan's watch!), Aslan decided to call it a morning and return home to fill his stomach. It had become apparent that mutant beasts like himself were somewhat immune to the sickness that had caused more than half of the world to exist in a dead yet not dead form, but even then, the taste of their rotten meat in his mouth was unpleasant and their stagnant blood on his coat reeked, thus he didn't take a direct route, but visited the smallest dwelling first.

The quiet youth with the second most pleasant human scent on his territory wrinkled his nose at first. Aslan understood that the young man had a satisfactory sense of smell, though still weaker than his own, but also the young man would not say a word about it, just create the water to wash him down and allow him to rinse his mouth. There was another reason Aslan liked to visit the youth rather than the irritable man who would have done the same for him, though complained louder than a squirrel whose acorns had been stolen at the same time, and that was there was something different about the water. It tasted the same, it was just as clear and refreshing, yet it was so comfortable when in his stomach.

Cleaned and refreshed, he thanked the youth with a nod before heading in to the large house close by for breakfast.

No sooner had he materialised than two small arms wrapped around his neck and his oratory sense was filled with the most wonderful scent that any two legger could possibly have. A petal like touch fell between his eyes along with a familiar sound. "Mwah!" Then those arms freed him and his small charge ran up to the woman busying herself at the counter. "Mama, Aslan hungry!"

"His breakfast is right here, my sweet," the woman smiled lovingly at his small charge and Aslan once more felt satisfied with the parents that he and his small charge had chosen for her. "Why don't you put it down for him?"

Lucy took the bowl in hand and placed it between his front paws. He sighed as he backed away enough that he might eat it, but noticed her intent expression as if she would watch him consume every meaty mouthful. <Have you not eaten?>

"Have!" She replied happily.

<That is good. Have you human lessons or chores to do?>

Her expression morphed into one that Aslan recognised as a pout and he couldn't help but shake his head. His small charge did not mind her chores, they were easy, such as watering plants and checking on the animals for things that only she could recognise with utmost ease. But she really did not like sitting down to learn the things humans felt necessary. Like reading. Aslan believed he knew more of the letters that she was meant to learn that she did due to her lack of interest.

<I will eat then accompany you.> He advised her, scrapping the plan to take a nap as usual. A smile reappeared upon her lips and her mother called her away to clean her teeth that Aslan might finish his meal without an audience. Aslan watched the little girl leave and began to eat. It seemed his day had only just truly begun.