It had been quite a while since he had stalked this close to the Inferni lands. He had defied Gabriel’s will once by stalking quite close to meet the ivory coyote puppy, but that had been all. With that previous action he thought he perhaps had sought to aggravate the clan, but he knew that such a thing would not be in favour of Dahlia and its members anymore. It had never been in the first place, but Haku quite liked such conflicts. Now there was a possible conflict between Dahlia and the retard pack, and so the fragile peace with Inferni had to be respected for now. It was not possible to find an answer on how long the chocolate and cream coated Lilium could go on playing these games of his, but it had gone extremely well all in all. In general the male had complained quite a bit both to others and to himself about the fuzz that always rose into an angry crowd whenever he twisted and bended the rules. In the end he was still here and still second in command of Dahlia de Mai. Just such a shame how the pack seemed to slowly shrink. It was not yet a problem, but he wondered if Inferni or that Miracles pack would make a move if Dahlia’s strength eventually became less of an issue.

His nose was close to useless in the heavy rain, and every now and then the secui let an annoyed glance turn up towards that dark sky with the heavily leaking clouds. Haku did not particularly like or dislike any kind of weather, but hell, there had to be some end to this crappy weather. To be stripped of one of his finest senses made the male feel uneasy. Of course, this did not keep him from doing his usual patrolling, but now when he was out of Dahlia so close to the clan, he saw it more of an issue. The last expansion of the lands had been slightly odd in his opinion. Dahlia had stretched east with a thin line, and those canines seeking to from east to west and whatever other directions had to either take a long way around the borders or merely take the chance to dart through the thin piece of land. The male had picked up a scent here and there, but they were always hours old and barely detectable at all. He disliked trespassers in his land, but as long as he could not catch them while doing it, he saw no reason to stalk them and rip off their heads. With the current tensions around him he probably wouldn’t get away with such a move anyway.

The male sought sanctuary in a forlorn cabin. The roof had giant holes in it and one of the walls was simply gone, but it was somewhat drier in a corner where the man decided to huddle up temporarily. He curled into a tight ball in the darkness, and the brilliant, almost glowing blue orbs stared out into the dark night.

The heavy drops of water changed into that clear white noise in his ears. If he had not been so damaged, the gentle sound could have given him a fleeting moment of peace while the soaked clouds wandered over him. There was soon nothing left. The chocolate and cream man knew little of this. The suspicions were always there, forever present in his mind, but he knew nothing of what to expect from the future anymore. The demon had always convinced himself that he was the one and only in charge of his life, but doubt came more and more often these days. Could he see the signs of what was coming or was paranoia slowly brushing over him? Sometimes the man wondered if there were creatures in the deep shadows; in the dark. He wondered if he was ever alone anymore. On the outside he had not changed. His insides were twisting and turning.

The amber eyed woman by the crippled wall in the poorly illuminated scenery however: she seemed to be more concrete; almost definitely real. His cold blue orbs rested on the hybrid until finally her eyes eventually found his form in the corner. He was uncertain if she saw him or not. A hint of her scent neatly mingled together with Inferni was registered by his sensitive nostrils, and that triggered the release of a low rumble deep down in the secui’s throat. The light did not allow the vision to take in the desired details of the woman, but he knew that he should have been able to recognize the Inferni member by that famous name. He did not. Haku Soul had never met Kaena Lykoi in person.

He was not by the actual borders, though wondered if it was a scout that had found its way to his temporary residence. Either way his body reacted with vague hints of hostility, and the mind, as always, was eager to play along with that. Mirroring the woman’s, Haku’s chocolate fur rose to match. At the moment he was clearly outmatching her in both size and strength, very much so because of the secui form. Muscles constricted and shoved his body off the ground to expose his actual size. The arrogance within the male roared proudly in his chest because of the unfair advantage of size and physical strength that the man possessed. He also took it for granted that he would be able to match her in skill, but that belonged to a zone where thick fog blocked any insight before the middle of the storm was reached.

She did not look fragile though. ”Does Jael have any siblings?” The question came suddenly and cut off the low rumble that had kept the rain at bay. Those blue orbs kept their focus on her face, and he could clearly see the map of scars upon her features. At that point, the Dahlian wolf should have recognized the other individual. Still, he failed to do so. She had led a more quiet life most of Haku’s life. There had been fewer rumours in his time, but they would soon arrive again and whisper about the return of the Lykoi matriarch.

He was intrigued by the lack of fear. There were certain individuals that quite quickly revealed their extra worth. Some were meant to stand out in a crowd. The woman’s age alone, now when those blue, calculating eyes invested her much more closely in detail, was out of the ordinary. Her body was strong and muscular still, but there were signs of age everywhere. How old could she be? Eight years or possibly more? That would make her the oldest canine he had encountered. He wondered if she would prove sufficient if they were to clash together. Haku quickly reached out and dressed himself in that brilliant arrogance that came with power and strength, but he was always careful with underestimating new opponents. She was a strong and proud individual, he did not question that fact.

While her features twisted and bright fangs were bared, the male kept his still position, merely watching the smaller canine, wondering if she knew that she was toying with one of the devil’s own devilish pets. For a moment the most obvious threat in her face seemed to fade away together with an unworthy answer, although that lonely eye of hers gleamed darkly back at him. The chocolate demon pondered what would become of the female if she was to lose her last eye as well. Her voice sounded a second time with such a delicious taunting tone, and the male could not keep from mirroring that mischievous grin, finding her behaviour deliciously appealing. His mind did not question certain sensations any longer. More often than not nowadays, he just followed and played along like the good boy he was.

Several moments passed before he decided to dignify her with an answer, although it was he that sought further information, not she. ”There’s a certain related youngster waddling around with your kind, yes.” His voice was slow and dark, and was spiced with the smile that still rested oh so comfortably on Haku Soul’s dark lips. Could this doing have a touch of Gabriel in it? Haku had considered that possibility, but judged it as far below the Aquila’s dignity to make such a lowly move as to mix his own blood together with that of Haku’s, going through Colibri Soul to create that connection. The world was an odd place, Haku knew that well. It was just that it fitted so well by not making any sense at all. That it had all been merely a coincidence, now that the demon did not want to believe in.

The secui rolled his shoulders casually and let his pose take a less tense appearance, though the move was only meant to deceive. ”Family is so important, I’d be grateful for any information about them. I'd love to hear about them, perhaps meet them. Spend some true quality time and all that jazz.” the man continued, still wearing that heavy voice, dragging the words out from the pit of his stomach one by one. Family was like air to some individuals; they were unable to live without it, but Haku saw family and such ties as something ugly, something that only weighted an individual down. All his ties were either broken or in the breaking. Haku would face the end of the world in complete solitude.

The tainted beast remained still, adored and embraced by shadows as the woman decided that he was interesting enough. She sat down quietly, and he wondered if she had failed to detect the invalidity in his words. Unless one knew the male well, it could be hard to be certain if his words were deceiving. Most beings did treasure those blood ties. Blood was so much thicker than water, but he preferred to open those veins rather than guard. The secui had yet to successfully kill one of his own, though he had almost taken his mother’s life many years ago. He had lived in that belief, but she had somehow survived. Next time he would have to let her bleed out instead of blocking her airways. The heart and pulse could be so deceiving. The demon had also determined that it would be necessary to devour her soul. Such a treat strengthened the taint and gave him power to wield that darkness that Corvus Vendetta had spoken so fondly of.

”Do not attempt to play around with me, female.” the man warned lightly, although that had probably not been her intention. He would not be interrogated though, not in any way for any reason. She was to answer him or fail to return home tonight and every other night. Gabriel had promised that the demon’s blood would leak in heavy streams from his body if he took a clan member’s life, but Haku wanted a war with freshly maimed corpses to bask in. If she was a grandmother, then perhaps it was time for her body to lie down and rest under soil. He found that he actually wished for that. ”I’m his brother, now give me what I’ve asked for and you will live.” The man had quickly learned that delaying death could be so delicious sometimes. In anger, he became a grinding machine, ripping and tearing creatures apart, but he was not out of control now, and he would not be light on the hand if there was information to be retrieved.

He shifted slowly, muscles tensing, ready to explode into movement if she dared to refuse to cooperate. Creatures like her should not be alive at that age. Their general life span was usually around one to four years. Haku was four and also slightly above his estimated lifespan. Dahlia had protected him well and gave him immunity from many creatures that would have liked to taste his tainted blood.

There was the sound of a gun’s trigger being pulled, then silence. Haku wrongly assumed he lacked emotions, but he was wrong. He loved to ruin people’s lives. If he could damage Jael by allowing his teeth to grind her bones into polluted ash touched by what was the true inferno, then he would be all too happy to do this. Her shift was fast, but Haku did not allow many seconds to slip by once he understood the intention behind the shift (what other intention could there be, going to the Halfling freak form?). Those last words directed at him were mercilessly brushed away as his ears flattened fully. Haku could see his shadow charge for the form of the female, and he willingly followed, no sound except for too long claws digging into the ground and hungry jaws opening wide to seek salvation.

Such moments were not calculated. Life flourished through him, and the two of them were the only things that existed in the world of extinguished fire and shadows. The wolf shot out from the shadow, ready to drag her down along with him into the pits of hell. He basically seemed to purely charge her, but Haku was too accustomed with those silly things that believed they could just jump to the side. Although there was power behind his movement, he had absolute control and could shift instantly if the old hag decided she too would try the luck by attempting to avoid the attack. In first round, claws and teeth only wanted to tear whatever was exposed, though he hoped to give her a proper smack by running into her.