an eye for an eye [Mac]

[Zen]

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[atrb=background,http://i54.tinypic.com/2rxfezc.jpg] The prince of the Iris Pride sat alone. In an attempt to distance himself from the rest of the pridemembers, he had sought out the smallest and most secluded section of the alleys and had remained there for the rest of the day, brooding over his new role in this war and the expectations he was now being held to. In the five months since Florence’s death, it was becoming more and more apparent that his father, Panja, would not always be around to lead the Pride. The white lion was old, and grief over the lioness’s murder and the stress of his new leadership role was only speeding up his aging. Alexander knew also that there were some cats who believed his father was incapable of meeting the needs of the entire pride, that Florence’s death had done something to his mind and he was slowly beginning to go insane after losing her. The thought of anything happening to his father scared him. Not only because he feared becoming an orphan and losing his mentor and role model, but because it meant the pride would then turn to him to lead them. Alex wasn’t ready for that. He felt far too young and weak, and he had barely gained any experience in how to properly rule a pride. His mother had died too soon to teach him much of anything about leadership, and his father was now all but ignoring him and his siblings to focus on the rest of the pride. The kidnapping had scarred Alex, and it would take a lot of time for those scars to fade. But whenever the frequent nightmares of the kidnapping or of the stormy summer night his mother had been murdered woke him from his sleep, the only thing that comforted him was the possibility of revenge. Before either of those awful memories, the very idea of killing a dog was something that only existed in the realms of his childish daydreams. How often he had boasted to his siblings about how he would be the first one of them to bring back a dead canine for their parents, but he really had no plans to actually wander out of Iris territory and commit such a deed. Not until now. Now he felt capable, confident in himself that he actually could slaughter a dog if he wanted to. His body was becoming stronger and he was developing muscle, while his retractable claws were growing in thick and sharp. True, he was still nothing more than a young kid - at just eight months old, he had plenty of growing to do yet. But it was hard to argue that he had gotten a lot bigger since he had returned from the Tempest Pack, malnourished and starved of food and water. He knew he was large enough at this point to be able to wrap his paws around a medium-sized dog and strangle it to death. Of course, suffocation was such a…clean way of dying. Alex was aware that there were far more grisly methods of murder, some of which he had only heard of, some of which he had gotten to see firsthand thanks to his mother. As he sat there in the empty alley, his claws flexed out slowly to scrape against the rough texture of asphalt underneath his paws. He longed to know how it would feel to slide them through something softer, perhaps the flesh of the dog that had kidnapped him on that terrible night. Or the dog that had slain his mother. The young lion slid down to the ground and on to his belly. His blue eyes wandered skyward, staring up at the endless sea of grey clouds that rolled across the city. The darker part of his mind was urging him to leave this musty alley now and go on a revenge-seeking hunt for canine blood, and yet the better part of him knew it was right to stay here and let the Pride handle the ones responsible for Florence’s death. He knew, deep down, that the death of one dog wouldn’t change anything – it wouldn’t bring his mother back from the grave, nor would it relieve Panja of his grief and the burden of leading an entire pride on his own. The taste of canine blood on his lips might satisfy him for one night, but it wouldn’t rid him of his sorrow and heartache. So then why did he want it so badly?

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[{Mactíre}]

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[atrb=background,http://i56.tinypic.com/2qbetnd.jp] Nebula strode across the roof of a building, her thoughts far away from where her paws were taking her. Her brown eyes were dull and emotionless as she bunched her muscles and jumped the gap between the roof she was on and the next. The princess of the Iris Pride had not been the same since her mother had been killed; nothing had been. In the space of a few minutes and in one fell swoop, she had lost the lioness who was her mother, her role-model, her leader, and the head of her family. It felt as if a limb had been torn from her body. But surely, the loss of a limb was not as painful as this? Losing a member of her family had been one of her fears since before the night on which she, Alex, and Orbit had been captured. She’d known that someday her parents must die; she just hadn’t expected it to happen while she was so young, or that it would happen so suddenly. Nor that she would be killed for such a reason. The young female had barely spoken a word to anyone since she had returned from Tempest Pack territory, mangy, half-starved and with very little will to live. For the first week, she’d done nothing but lie in the main room of the slaughterhouse and cry; grief left her with no appetite; no will to do anything but mourn. After a week, she’d accepted the food that she was given and attempted to get on with life. With the food and exercise, her muscles hardened, she regained weight, and her coat took on a healthy sheen once more. It was hard to act normally, though; when she wasn’t thinking of gruesome ways to kill canines to avenge Florence’s death, or simply grieving, she was worrying. The young lioness was more apprehensive about the mortality of her remaining family than ever. She was especially worried about her father; Panja had been devastated by his mate’s death, had known what she had been going to do, days before she did it. As she sprang from the rooftop to the ground, she pondered it. Why, why hadn’t he stopped her? Why hadn’t they sent a group of Warriors instead? Even as the angry questions flooded her mind, the answer was there, smothering the combination of grief and rage that pushed her into a near hysterical state. She loved us, loved us so much that she was willing to lay down her life to save ours, and in her eyes, there was no other way. Ignoring the tears that brightened her eyes, she looked up to find three alley cats staring at her. They were all mangy, underfed creatures, with wide, wild eyes. She barred her teeth in a silent snarl, her overfull eyes blazing with a mixture of anger and embarrassment that these lowly creatures were seeing her in such a state. With barely a sound, the trio fled, with Nebula staring absently after them, her strength draining away with her anger. The way they had looked at her – the way so many of those in the Pride had looked at her lately – told her plainly that they thought she was going insane. Mad. Cracked. She pushed such thoughts from her mind, concentrating instead on thoughts of revenge. There were so many ways to kill a canine, as Florence had taught her and her siblings, but she was still too young to hunt a decently-sized dog on her own, even if she was practically an adult. Besides, killing all of the dogs in the world would not rid her of the loss that was a physical and mental weight, not unlike what one felt when terribly hungry. But unlike starvation, the absence of her mother could not be relieved by anything she did. It was always there, constantly weighing her down, impinging on her thoughts; it urged her to kill, to do whatever it took to bring her mother back from the dead. She had to ignore it, otherwise she would go mad. Turning a corner, the white-furred feline stumbled against something solid. Looking down, she saw in surprise that it was her brother, Alex. Mumbling what could have been an apology, she sat down near her eldest brother, observing him critically as she had not in many months. He looked healthy enough, but like her, his eyes were dull with grief. Her death had hit the two of them harder than their other brothers, or so she had reason to believe. Of course, Denim, her other elder brother, had not been captured by the dogs, so he hadn’t been there when Florence had been killed. And Orbit. . . Well, she wasn’t sure about him. He’d always been rather immature, and out of all her brothers, she was closest to Alex. She felt that she was fairly mature for her age, and as for Alex, he had to be mature, being Panja’s heir. If their father died, something she didn’t want to think about, Alex would have to step up and become leader. Nebula had nurtured dreams of being leader one day, but the last thing she wanted to do was kill her brother so that she could get what she wanted. Her family was her greatest weakness, really. She loved her brothers and father dearly, even though it was completely at odds with her ambitions. “Alex,” Nebula addressed her brother suddenly, her voice hoarse from lack of use, “What are you thinking about?” She followed his gaze to the sky above them. It was dark with storm clouds, not unlike both the evening when they’d been captured, and the night when they had been freed from the Tempest Pack, and Florence had died. The lioness’s breath caught in her throat, and she forced it out with a sound that was halfway between a dry sob and a great, shuddering sigh. Glancing at her brother again, she moved a little closer to him and waited for him to reply.

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[Zen]

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[atrb=background,http://i54.tinypic.com/2rxfezc.jpg] The sound of gentle footsteps in the distance and Alex’s ears stood up in alert. He looked around for the source of the noise, vaguely wondering in the back of his mind as to who would possibly be wandering about in this section of the pridelands. With a squeak of surprise he fell on to his side when another white body collided into him, and then looked up to stare into the eyes of the one who had tripped over him. It was Nebula of all felines, his sister whom he hadn’t seen or spoken to in what felt like a lifetime. Alex rose up to meet her, and immediately he saw in her face the same weariness he held. His heart sank for her, a sadness filling him at the thought of what his strong, intelligent sister might have become in the last few months. He hoped more than anything that she hadn’t turned into something like what their father now was. As she settled beside him, he shifted closer and tried to offer her a weak smile. She and Panja were the only cats whom he had ever felt a true connection with, and at that moment she was the only one he would have wanted to talk to. Oftentimes he felt so useless, so insignificant to the pride he was going to be in charge of one day. None of the other cats understood this feeling, except perhaps Nebula – after all, she was an important member of Iris too and next in line for the throne after him, so surely she must feel the same pressures he did. He pressed his shoulder against hers and let the fur of his short mane softly brush against the side of her neck. In that moment, he didn’t care about appearing weak; he just wanted to comfort her and be comforted in return. Now that they were older, Alex guessed the cuddling they used to do as infants was no longer as acceptable in the eyes of the adults – they were expected to be emotionally hardened, to be able to deal with their feelings on their own. But once again, he didn’t care. No one was around to see them, anyway. Alex pulled back after a moment, but he kept her locked in his steady gaze, debating whether or not he should share his true thoughts and feelings with her. “Nebs,” he started, his eyes straying towards the ground near his paws. His voice was lowered, the childhood nickname he had made for her rolling off his tongue in a near whisper. “I was thinking…” There was a pause of hesitation, and he almost didn’t want to tell her. Would she think him pathetic for his plans of vengeance? The more he considered it, the all more stupid and useless it sounded. One dog isn’t going to change anything. But if he couldn’t trust Nebula, he couldn’t trust anyone. The fact that she was here with him, in the loneliest corner of the city, had to say something about how she felt about the pride, their parents, everything. “They deserve to die,” he growled suddenly. The words rushed out of his mouth before he could think to stop them. “All of those monsters in the Tempest Pack – every one of them!” He unsheathed his front claws and thrashed violently at the pavement as if attacking some invisible enemy. “No, not just them. Every single canine in the city!” Finally he stopped his assault on the concrete and fell back on to his haunches, breathing heavily. His face was a mask of bitterness and anger, and he didn’t dare look back at Nebula. In this terrible time for the pride, Alex was expected to be the calm, rational leader now more than ever, but his outburst only showed him for what he really was: an immature cub. Slightly embarrassed, he tried to force some calmness back into his voice before he continued, “I want to make them pay for what they did to us. I don’t know how… but I want to do something instead of just sitting around. We’ve been sitting around for months and it’s gotten us nowhere.” At this point he turned back around to face his sister, and the question in his eyes was obvious: did she desire revenge as much as he did?

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[{Mactíre}]

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[atrb=background,http://i56.tinypic.com/2qbetnd.jp] Alex smiled wanly at Nebula as he settled next to her. The feeling of his shoulder against hers, his immature mane brushing her neck, was like a hug; it certainly had the same effect. She put her head on his shoulder and let herself relax for a moment. It eased her pain a little, but also brought back the happy, yet melancholy memories of when they had been tiny cubs, with both their parents around them at some point in the day. They had been able to play and argue and not have a care in the world. She wished it could go back to that. But no. No one could turn back time and erase everything that had happened. There was no going back - all either of them could do was go forward, to continue life. Her brother's voice brought the white lioness back from her thoughts; he spoke her nickname, then the start of a sentence, which was the start of an answer to her question. He hesitated, letting the words hang between them, before more suddenly began to burst out of him, uttered in an angry growl. His words filled her with fury, too; he was right, every single dog in the city deserved to die. They were skulking, murderous beasts, and all of them, she was sure, would have been glad when they heard of the Iris Pride leader's death. And for that, they should and would die. The female watched as her brother's claws scratched the concrete; if there had been a body there, it would have been shredded to ribbons by now. Nebula couldn’t see Alex’s face, but her anger faded into empathy for her elder brother. There was what she could only identify as an embarrassed silence on his part, and then he strove to be calm as he clarified his outburst. She found herself nodding at his words, and when he looked her in the eye, she told him deliberately, “Alone, either of us would only be equal in power to a medium sized dog. Together, we’d be almost as powerful as if we were one fully grown creature, if not more. I agree with you, and I think we should do something; you lead on.” Her eyes had sparked with combined grief and fury at their mother’s death, and eagerness to sink her teeth into a dog’s skin and make it pay. For once, the proud ivory female didn’t mind ceding leadership to her brother; she just wanted to do this.

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[Zen]

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[atrb=background,http://i54.tinypic.com/2rxfezc.jpg] Alex’s mood shifted completely when Nebula agreed to his little idea. He wasn’t really sure what sort of reaction he had anticipated from her, but knowing that she didn’t think he was totally crazy was at least a small comfort. And she was right – two cubs were better than one, and working together as a team, he could barely imagine what sort of destruction they could wreak on those horrible dogs. “That’s why you’re my sister,” he said with a grin, bumping his nose against her shoulder affectionately. Alex stretched out his legs, trying to work some feeling back into his muscles after sitting for so long. He had only been out into the main section of the city a few times in his life, and if he didn’t have Nebula by his side he might have been too frightened to leave the safety of the pride. But like she had said, the two of them together was more than a match for any canine they might come across. “Let’s go,” he purred confidently, then began leading her out of the labyrinthine series of alleyways and into the open area of pride territory. He was careful to avoid being spotted by any of the cats he knew were friends with Panja; he didn’t need anyone turning him in to his father for leaving home like this. After some careful sneaking around, the cubs stepped over the pride border and set out into the vast unknown of the city. Alex stopped when he noticed that the smell of Iris was no longer in the air. This was a problem for them. He knew that on a hunt, the first thing you always wanted to do was disguise your scent. He quickly rubbed his body against the side of a building in an attempt to rid himself of his usual smell and replace it with the smells of the city. It wasn’t going to completely mask his Iris scent, but it would at least help a little. When they were a good distance away from home, the road they were taking opened up into a wide, straight highway that seemed to stretch on for miles. The buildings on each side of the road were dwarfed by the massive freeway, and standing there in the middle of it Alex felt twice as small as he normally did. But if they were going to find a stray dog anywhere, it was here. Their search ended quickly. A sharp rustling noise near the edge of the road caught his notice, making the fur on his neck stand on end. He straightened his shoulders and motioned for Nebula to follow him into a nearby alley so that the two of them wouldn’t be spotted. Finally, a dog. It was a German shepherd female rummaging for scraps of food amongst a pile of rocks and broken bits of concrete. She looked thin around her shoulders and hips, but her belly and sides were somewhat fat and rounded, as if she had either just become pregnant or had given birth not too long ago. Alex narrowed his eyes, bristling with fury at the mere sight of the disgusting creature. His first instinct was to just fling himself at the dog and start clawing her apart, piece by bloody piece. But no, his original plan had been to do this methodically, to make her slowly suffer the way he had suffered while held hostage in the Tempest Pack. He turned to Nebula, smiling. “I think we found our prey. Let’s ambush it – you go around the other side of the street, and we’ll attack together from opposite sides.” The young lion lowered himself down into a crouch, his tail lashing with excitement at the thought of what they were about to do. As soon as Nebula was in position, they would spring from their shadowy hiding places within the alleys and he would launch himself straight at the unsuspecting dog, his claws flexed out to pin her to the ground. Then the real fun would begin.

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[{Mactíre}]

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[atrb=background,http://i56.tinypic.com/2qbetnd.jp] Nebula's heartfelt words obviously satisfied her brother - the grin on his face was comforting, as was the affectionate gesture he gave her. A smile spread, unchecked, across her own face; this was the Alex she knew from when they were small cubs! Rising from the place where she had been sitting, the female yawned widely and waited patiently while Alex stretched the stiffness of sitting still for a long time out of his muscles. When he was finished, she followed him, for once not feeling resentful about his "bossing her around". This was different; she knew that, for him, as well as a chance to satisfy his appetite for revenge, it would help prove that he could lead successfully, that he would make a good leader for the Pride one day. They trotted through the streets and alleyways that made up the Pride's territory; Nebula noticed that her brother avoided being noticed by any of the cats who knew Panja. She knew this to be sensible, because if their father knew what the two of them were doing, he would, without a doubt, stop the two cubs from doing this. Halting momentarily next to Alex as they reached the border, the young lioness followed him into the unclaimed city. When he stopped to rub his body on the side of a building, she guessed what he was doing and did the same. Their Iris scent would stick out like a tree in the middle of an empty field, out here, and that would be less that helpful in what they were about to do. If they at least smelled a bit like the city and less like the Pride, then the two cubs would be far less noticeable. Soon, after winding through unfamiliar streets, they came to a broad, flat road; there was bound to be someone around here. Nebula looked all around her. The buildings were so tall, and she felt ant-sized compared to them. Standing as still and quietly as she could next to Alex, she heard a rustling noise, sharp and loud in the silence. The white female's heartbeats quickened in excitement, and once again she followed as her brother motioned for her to. From the cover of the alleyway, they watched as a dog, a female German shepherd looking for food that she could scavenge. She was thin for the most part, but her belly was swelled, either with puppies, or because she had recently given birth. Suddenly Nebula felt like a lashed animal; she wanted to go out there and rip it apart, make it suffer for what its kind done to her mother, Orbit, Alex, and herself. But no, she waited for her brother to give the word. Only then would she move. When Alex turned to her and spoke, she nodded wordlessly, seeing the hunger she felt reflected in his gaze. Her heart hammering in her chest, she did as instructed, nodding silently to him when she was in position. She crouched, remembering everything her parents and Sota had taught her. Then she launched herself towards the dog as swiftly and silently as she could. She was just inches from their prey when it looked up, surprise on its ugly face. Nebula chuckled inwardly as she unsheathed her claws and aimed a blow at its muzzle.

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[Zen]

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[atrb=background,http://i54.tinypic.com/2rxfezc.jpg] While waiting for Nebula to get into position, the Iris prince had a chance to really look at the creature they were about to kill. He watched the dog carefully move about, nosing here and there for any scraps of food it could pick up, and began to notice how innocent and serene it seemed from afar. He wondered how such a violent and ruthless beast like this could make itself appear so harmless, and he had to remind himself that this was one of the animals that had practically ruined his life. Alex couldn’t help but group all dogs together as a bunch of bloodthirsty savages. He had never once met a decent canine, and had never once heard even the slightest good thing about them from anyone else. With recent events, nothing was likely going to change his mind now either. When he was very young, he had always thought of them as monsters that were so much bigger and more powerful than him. Now he saw them as something weaker; his prey. I’m gonna make you regret everything you did to us, he mentally screamed at the scavenging dog. When Nebula launched herself at the female shepherd, Alex immediately followed after. The two lion cubs collided into the surprised dog at nearly the same time, rolling around on top of the bigger animal until it was pinned beneath both of their bodies. As Nebula threw a dizzying blow at its face, Alex’s forelegs wound around the struggling canine's neck, holding it down and cutting off its air supply until it started choking for breath. He reluctantly released some of the pressure on its windpipe, not out of any kind of mercy, but because he didn’t want it to pass out while things were just starting to get interesting. After securing a tight hold on their prey, Alex managed to catch a whiff of its disturbingly familiar scent. “Hmm, it smells kinda like the Tempest Pack,” he noted, staring down coldly into the German shepherd’s wide, fearful eyes. “Aren’t we lucky, sis?” The young lion’s handsome smirk turned into an enraged snarl as his jaws opened wide to clamp down on the dog’s shoulder blade, his small yet sharp fangs ripping into fur and skin, drawing a pained yelp from the helpless canine. The blood that flowed into his mouth was both wonderful and horribly disgusting at the same time. Maybe the taste of dog was just one of those things you had to get used to. Alex drew back, pushing harder into the dog as it twisted its body even more wildly in desperation. He wasn’t letting go, however – death would be this canine’s only escape. And it wasn’t yet time to put the poor mutt out of its misery. He licked the white fur around his lips clean and spat out the remaining blood in his mouth, waiting to see what his sister had planned for next.

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[atrb=background,http://i56.tinypic.com/2qbetnd.jp] It was strangely satisfying for Nebula, to be able to feel the warm body of the dog writhing beneath her. She felt Alex join the fight as the bitch struggled even harder to escape. You will pay for everything you and your kind did to my family, she snarled silently at their victim. She was pulled out of her frenzy momentarily by her brother’s voice. Inhaling, she found what he said to be true; this canine was from the Tempest Pack. “We are extremely lucky,” the little lioness agreed, as she pinned the dog to the ground by its belly, sinking her claws into the soft, taut flesh. She felt a twinge of satisfaction as she felt Alex bit into their prey’s shoulder, the dog yelping in pain. Digging her claws into small wounds that already flowed with blood, she then dragged them out, causing the dog to cry out again as her crimson claws parted from the holes they had made. Glancing at her brother to assure herself that the dog was secured and not about to move, the ivory feline pounced at her victim’s behind, grabbing onto the furry tail and biting down hard near its base. Spitting out a mouthful of disgusting dog fur, she chomped down once more, her jaws seizing the tail in a vice-like grip. The Tempest scum struggled and whined, one of her clawed hind paws catching Nebula a lucky blow on her flank. But this was to no avail; the pain was only to grow as the lioness tightened her grip. Blood pooled in her mouth, its metallic tang threatening to overpower her senses. Despite the dog’s flailing body, she hung on until there was a crack and a howl of agony left the canine’s jaws. Disentangling herself from her victim, she spat out the mouthful of blood onto the concrete ground. Glancing at the Tempest female, she was gratified to see that the monster’s bushy tail hung at a crazy angle, with blood staining the fur that covered it. Dashing back into the fray, the white female came at the fallen dog from behind, raking her claws across its forehead. She could smell its terror; its eyes were wide as it snapped at her. Hissing and growling in response, she darted a paw at its nose, and sank needle-sharp teeth into its pointed ears. Nebula’s brown eyes were filled with fiendish delight at the bitch’s pain and suffering. Now it knew the agony her mother had felt before she had died, the suffering that she and two of her three brothers had gone through at the paws of the hated Tempest Pack.

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[Zen]

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[atrb=background,http://i54.tinypic.com/2rxfezc.jpg] Claws lightly raking over the dog’s trembling body, Alex pondered where to strike next. There were hundreds of bones he could break and thousands of veins he could rupture. He looked into its terrified face, focusing on one of its fuzzy upright ears that were tender and sensitive to even the lightest touch. Bingo. He paused in his thoughts long enough to gleefully watch Nebula snap its tail nearly in half, snickering at the way the furry appendage hung at a weird angle once she was finished. Mutilating the dog was actually proving more fun than killing it. She went for an ear too, and he followed suit by latching on to the other. Instead of simply biting, though, he pulled – hard. Flesh tore from flesh and bone was ripped away from bone. Blood poured freely from the open wound. The dog’s howled scream of anguish was like music to Alex’s ears. Its dismembered ear hung out of his mouth for a few seconds before he spat the damp piece of fur and skin onto the pavement. Perhaps he’d take it back home with him, start up a collection of little souvenirs like this. This dog was only going to be the first of many after all, and he wanted something to remind him of each and every kill. Alex studied their work, smiling to himself in approval. “What do you say we drag it back to the Tempest lands as a little gift for their leader?” His eyes shifted from the dog to Nebula, and then back down to the dying mutt, now on its last breaths of life. He could hear it struggling to intake air as it gagged and choked on its own blood. Its limbs twitched spasmodically, and its once bright brown eyes were beginning to turn dim and glassy. Even if they didn’t kill it right here and now, there was no way it would survive the long haul to Tempest. But still Alex knew their leader would recognize who the dog’s killers were – Brooke would remember their scents from when they had been held prisoner in the asylum. She would smell Nebula and him all over the dog’s corpse and realize her mistake in letting them escape from Tempest. She would know that Florence’s cubs were alive and well.

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[{Mactíre}]

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[atrb=background,http://i56.tinypic.com/2qbetnd.jp] As Nebula mangled the dog's ear beyond repair by biting it again and again, she kept one eye on Alex. Her brother had taken hold of the other pointed ear, and instead of biting, he chomped down on it and tore. It was probably one of the most agonizing things either of them could have done to their victim, as bone snapped and flesh was ripped, leaving a bloody hole. The bitch certainly seemed to thik so: despite the fact that all the wounds that were being inflicted on her were slowly killing her, she still had the strength to let out an agonized howl that was more like a scream, in its tone, volume and intensity. The feline was a little jealous of her brother's success; she was determined that he would not outdo her. She watched with satisfaction as Alex spat the blood-stained piece of skin, cartilage and fur onto the ground. The little lioness looked over the dog's wrecked body as her brother did. Surely no-one who saw it could doubt that the two knew how to inflict pain. A grin caused her mouth to curl up at the edges when she heard her white-furred brother's suggestion. "A wonderful idea," she agreed, her eyes narrowing to slits. The dog was dying now, and the idea of dragging it across the ground white it was still alive appealed greatly to the ivory female. Her mouth twisted into a snarl of delight as she realised Brooke, the Tempest Pack's leader, would recognise the scents of Florence's eldest son and only daughter, after having kept them as prisoners for several months. They would be sending the bitch that killed their mother and ultimately their brother a message that could not be ignored. "I'll take it for a while," she told Alex, jerking her head at the dog. Circling it once, she realised that there was at least one more thing to be done before they took it to its home. Stopping in front of her victim's head, Nebula stretched her neck forward and closed her jaws on the dog's tender black nose. The dog let out a choked yelp and attempted to shake her off, but its struggles were too weak to do any good. Fixing her teeth into the nose, the lioness clamped her jaws and pulled, twisting it to help it rip. it came away quite suddenly, and she was thrown backward, but she managed to retain her balance. Spitting the grisly trophy onto the footpath, she turned back to Alex and purred with a wink, "Now I'm ready to go." Padding around so that she was behind the dog, the white female grasped one of the dog's back legs in her mouth and pulled experimentally. It wasn't as heavy as she had anticipated. The mutilated canine let out a groan and scrabbled weakly. Taking hold of the leg again, she turned herself and the dog in the rough direction of the Tempest Pack's territory, and spoke to Alex through it. " 'Et's go!" Pulling hard on the appendage, she set off, the dog's now subdued whimpering rather encouraging and seemed to make her burden less.

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[Zen]

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[atrb=background,http://i54.tinypic.com/2rxfezc.jpg] Stepping back to let Nebula grab hold of the dog, Alex gazed out beyond the wide stretch of road that lay before them and recalled the correct way to Tempest. When they had first been captured by the Scavengers and taken to the packlands, his eyes had been shut tightly in fear for most of the journey and he had repressed most of what had happened after that. However, when Panja had rescued them later, Alex made sure to do his best to memorize the path between Iris and Tempest on their way home. He felt it was something good to know, and he hadn’t forgotten it since. They could alternate between which of them would drag the stupid mutt. Whenever Nebula grew tired, he would be more than happy to carry the dying bitch in his jaws for awhile. Her final method of torture, yanking off the tip of the shepherd’s long, ugly snout, got another guffaw out of Alex. The thing barely resembled a canine anymore. All it was now was a bloody mess of open wounds and torn up flesh, and it was a surprise the dumb animal was even still breathing at this point. During this entire time, the gravity of what he had just done never once occurred to him. That he had brutally taken away someone’s life like this did not faze him, nor did he feel the slightest ounce of sympathy for the canine who lay bleeding to death at his paws. Less than eight months ago he had been an innocent cub whose only desire was to protect his siblings and be loved by his parents. Now he was a powerful killer who craved the flesh and blood of dogs. After following the roadway from the center city and out into the more open surrounding areas, Alex eventually began to hear the distant sound of waves crashing against the shore. The silhouette of Tooth Cliff on the edge of the horizon confirmed they were close to their destination. That was the place their mother had died for them. A faint noise, something between a growl and whimper, spilled from Alex’s throat as he looked on at the jagged overhang. The sorrow began to bubble up in his chest before he glanced down at the mangled dog and focused on the task at hand, trying to imagine the look on Brooke’s face when she found it. The old bitch would be in for the shock of her life. But encroaching too far into Tempest territory could be a dangerous idea – just like Iris, the dogs had guards patrolling the perimeter of their lands every hour of the day. Alex also had to keep in mind that their sense of smell was much more advanced than a cat’s, which meant he and Nebula would need to be quick with their mission or risk getting caught. There was no time for dawdling; they would have to drop off the dog and flee towards home as fast as they could. He poked the dog in the flank with one paw. It didn’t stir or even twitch, and he wondered if its heart had stopped beating altogether or if it had simply passed into unconsciousness. “Mother would be so proud of us,” he commented lightly, smirking at his white sister. His voice dropped an octave lower as he continued, “I know this won't change anything, but…I feel so much better, just knowing someone else suffered the way she did.” He gave the canine one last ruthless shove with his paw, watching its limp body roll over pathetically in a pool of its own blood.

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[{Mactíre}]

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[atrb=background,http://i56.tinypic.com/2qbetnd.jp] Nebula's smile widened when she heard Alex laugh at what she had done to the dog. She felt no pity for it whatsoever - it was a dog, for goodness sake! To her, it didn't matter that she'd practically killed it in an extremely cruel fashion. She didn't dwell on it - what had just taken place would not scar her conscience for a long time, if indeed it ever would. Her childish innocence had long since been snatched away, revealing a hate for canines and a passion to destroy them as strong as her mother's. When canines and felines alike spoke her name and though of her, they would remember her mother - and realise that it was no accident that she, Nebula, had turned out just like her. Walking slightly behind her brother, the white female followed him along the main road and out into the city's outskirts. Faintly she could hear the waves crashing into the cliffs; looking up slightly, the bitch's limp leg still held tightly in her mouth, she saw what Alex did - the towering outline of Tooth Cliff in the distance. The young feline couldn't hep but shake slightly as she remembered running away from this place, the terrible snarls of Tempest dogs as they pinned her mother to the ground, Brooke towering over her. Clenching her teeth around the dog's limb, her pain was eased slightly as it twitched in pain - it was only just alive - and she forced herself to think of anything but her mother's sacrifice. I wish this dog were Brooke, she thought savagely. She decided that, if she had anything to with it, the Mistress of the Tempest Pack would not die of natural causes. Nebula could smell the putrid odour of the Tempest Pack's scent markers as she and her ivory brother halted. With a grunt she released the leg of the dog - by now it was well and truly dead, that, or deeply unconscious. Its back and flanks were torn and bleeding freely from where it had been dragged across concrete, stone and hard dirt ground. She knew that there would be trouble if she and Alex were not well away from here by the time it was found by the Tempest dogs. The gangling cub watched as her brother poked the dog with a paw. "She would. And so do I. Brooke will know now - the whole of her mangy pack will, too - that we're not just a few innocent cubs who will forgive and forget. They've paid for what they've done, and by the time we're dead, they'll have paid that price tenfold." Her teeth showed in a smile that rather resembled a snarl as she watched Alex push the dog's corpse to one side in the pool of crimson blood that had seeped out from its wounds.

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