Sebastian [3]

"No, I'd rather follow her. I don't think she is scary looking." Sebastian pointed at the beautiful fox girl who had kept her head down quietly behind Liam. Luna hadn't spoken since Sebastian had seen her. Luna raised her head, startled. When her eyes became refocused she immediately cried out in surprise to see the adorable kid.

Luna rushed over to Sebastian and started fawning over him as if she was his own mother. She kept asking questions like "Are you hurt anywhere? Have you eaten? Oh you must have been so scared…" Sebastian's eyes once again started to well up and he raised his arms and reached out to hug Luna.

Luna reciprocated in kind and Liam froze. Sebastian's head was the perfect height on the smaller fox woman and he buried his whiskered little fuzzy good for nothing face right into her bosom. Luna seemed oblivious as if this was how a child should behave. Liam was trying to decide if the whole situation was intentional or not when he saw Sebastian wink at him with a devious light in his eyes.

'So much for his brother huh Noona?' Liam frowned when he noticed Noona hadn't responded.

'Noona?'

<Kill him.>

'What? Kill the kid for this little thing? Now who has no empathy?'

<Liam, remember how you used the bulwark and conquest energy to make yourself covered in scales and look like an Ipili?>

Liam's pupils contracted and he instantly widened his view of the visible light spectrum. He realized that Sebastian's entire body was glowing a dull red in infrared. Liam sprung forth in an instant.

Bloodlust roiled off of him instantly and his entire demeanor changed from a casual observer of a touching reunion, to amusement at the antics of a small child, to the blatant intent to eradicate a life faster than one could blink.

His mercurial mood shift was so quick one would never be prepared for it…unless they were staring directly at him and had their hands around someone that would be a befitting hostage.

Sebastian's instincts had always been strong. They had saved his life more times than he could count, and when he felt the overwhelming monstrous bloodlust from outside the village moving in, he made a quick plan. He used his mixture of Blockade and the tiny bit of Glamour he had to make his small rat body look like a Shanmao child and hid in the well, faking his rescue.

When he saw the man at the mouth of the well he knew well he had no chance to fight this person. His instincts screamed at him he wouldn't know how he died.

He had tried to act like a scared kid and run away, but the guy just followed him. He had to improvise a touching scene of brotherly affection and sorrow, and hopefully the guy would just leave him to 'mourn' in peace.

But his luck had seemed bad from the start. Looks like he missed one of the contemptible Shanmao. If he met the injured Shanmao after claiming to be the Chief's brother, his story would fall to pieces and he'd be caught. He had noticed the Huli with the man was extremely quiet and seemed distracted, not even looking at him at first. He decided to use her to get a hostage and get away.

It was a neat plan, but the man seemed to have noticed his illusion. His right hand quickly turned into a fierce claw and wrapped around Luna's neck. Luna was startled as she watched the little boy in front of her change.

His height didn't shift, but his nose elongated and thick black whiskers shot out of his once adorable face. His eyes grew to a dingy yellow and his mouth opened in a rictus snarl revealing yellow fangs that looked sharp. His fur changed from the slightly golden brown and yellow it had been to a dull dingy brown. His tail's fur seemed to retract into a segmented smooth skinned rat tail. Yes, a rat tail.

Finally back into his own comfortable body and posture, Sebastian gripped Luna's neck tightly to the point where blood oozed out from her pale skin under one of his nails.

"Don't take another step. She and I are leaving, or I'll tear her head off to give to you as a gift. Once we are far enough away from here, you have my word I'll release her."

Sebastian licked his lips. He would 'release' her alright. As soon as he had gotten far enough away he would 'devour' this little fox in every way and vanish off the face of the earth. He could still smell the scent of her on his face from his little lecherous stunt earlier.

Liam stopped moving, but the bloodlust coming off him didn't lessen. In fact, it grew a full magnitude as his eyes became bloodshot.

Satisfied his threat was working, Sebastian began backing up with his hand on the Huli's neck.

He glanced at her perfect figure and smooth skin as he backed away and licked his lips in anticipation. His whole body seemed to be heating up just from the anticipation.

He needed to regroup with the rest of the Shu. He had hidden during the battle and then picked over the scraps afterwards, just like he always did. He would follow the horde and live a life of ease while they threw their lives away during the Swarm.

He was one of the smarter ones that had maintained enough consciousness during the period of the Swarm that he wouldn't become a mindless rabid beast when the Swarm struck. His own confidence in his plans led to him feeling a burst of warmth all over his body. So invigorating to be in control of everything!

As Sebastian kept backing away, Liam didn't pursue, but kept staring at him. Finally, even the frost in his eyes seemed to melt and a subtle…was that mockery?...appeared in them.

Sebastian was about to start taunting his opponent from the distance they were, he could definitely get away. He was so excited his heart was racing with anticipation! It was really racing! Like…why was his heart rate going so fast? Why did his instincts scream at him? He glanced at the Fox in his hands and his eyes widened in disbelief. Why was his arm black?

Luna was absolutely furious. She had already blundered once today and now she was captured by this vile creature? She knew that if she kept messing up like this Liam would never want to travel with her. She quietly weaved her glamour and newfound flame energy together.

Using it carefully, she hid the fact that she was slowly cooking the monstrous Shu that had his hand on her. Like a frog in a pot of boiling water, she brought the temperature up slowly and infused Glamour to make it feel natural to him.

When Sebastian realized the danger it was already too late. Luna gently resisted Sebastian's arm's pulling on her, and his arm broke off at the elbow. The bone was a startling white in the midst of the black charred flesh. Sebastian made a puzzled face at her before his heart that had been racing so fast due to the damage to his body, suddenly ruptured. He dazedly looked down to see…a fist? When had a fist got in his chest?

Sebastian's body crumpled on the ground as the last light faded from his eyes. As his mind was shutting down, he felt strangely at peace. 'At least I got to put my face in them once.'