The First Touch (49 page)

“
Are you sure?”

Mirth nodded his lip slightly curling in
disgust
, “
He is all yours.”
Autumn
smiled even brighter then, and she turned her head up to Ivan who did not meet her eyes.

Autumn
barked her first order then, “Ivan come here
,”
he complied dragging his back leg slowly towards her. Then she said her voice still ruff
, “
Henry and
Drake
I will need you as well.” They both approached cautiously, as
Autumn
spoke her mouth never opening,
“
I am going to have to close my
eyes and I want to keep us safe as
I heal him.
”
They both nodded and turned away from her as she took a deep breath.

Then she slid her hand up and took the head from one of Mirth’s men and
shooed
him away. Then she placed the head back on to the decapitated body. Next
,
she slid her hand up and gripped his wrist
roughly
and then the body of the dead man’s in the other.
As she focused, she began to hear
the whispers as she closed her eyes
, feeling at once, at peace
. She slowly let her mind wonder to the two bodies
in front
of her.

Ivan flexed his wrist
, as she began to heal him and when
she felt it working
,
she
repeated the same healing to
the other Male as well. Henry could
feel the warm
glow upon his back
,
as if he were standing in the sun
and smiled
. This was a powerful healing.
O
ne that she would
likely
be tired from, perhaps she was right about keeping Mirth’s man. He watched as all of the men stood watching her closely. One female in particular seemed anxious by the turn of even
t
s.

Henry turned to Flora and saw that she could feel the female’s pain as well. This female was new to Mirth’s clan, raven hair and round cheeks, like a child’s. Her eyes were wide with anxiety and her button nose twitched as she swayed back an
d forth
. The two males near her edged closer attempting to sooth her wi
th hushed tones. As the glow grew
brighter she was near breaking, and Henry looked at Flora.

Flora seemed particularly worried by the female though it did not seem more than her over developed sense of empathy. Until Flora gasped as
Mirth
hit the female in mid air dropping her to the gowned, she curled into a ball and whimpered in pain. The two males pulled her back chastising her,
while
Mirth said nothing.

Next
,
Henry heard gas
ps as a coughing sound began be
hind him. Ivan placed
his hand on their arms
, “All finished.”

Mirth’s male stood looking at Henry and
Drake
with wide blurry eyes
. He shook his head
to clear his vision, looking back at
Autumn
,
who was shakin
g and sweating profusely. H
e
reached his hand back offering i
n a scratchy voice, “Thank you.”
Autumn
nodded looking more and more unsteady.

Ivan slid his arm around her waist and
pulled her to her feet, while
Mirth spoke harshly
, “
Why would you heal one of my men?”

Autumn
answered back coldly, “He is no longer your man Mirth. Now he is
mine
.” Mirth looked
at the male and raised his eye
brow. The male met his gaze and nodded de
fiantly.
Autumn
slid her hand up beck
oning another of Mirth’s clan. “
He
will
also need his female
,”
Mirth said nothing though his mouth tightened.

The small raven haired girl stepped forward eyeing
the male
cautiously
, “
Jessup?” He nodded and waved for her to come forward.

As she approached
, cautiously,
Autumn
explained
, “
If you would rather stay with Mirth I will not stop you.” She nodded but continued on her course,
to Jessup.
“That goes the same for the both of you.”

Jessup lifted his chin, “I am staying
, Mistress.” Then he looked down at his female, as he whispered, “It’s alright Annie,” and she
looked up at him in utter devotion.

Autumn
felt a stab of pain then
, “
Ann?”

She
smiled
her eyes unflinching from Jessup’s face, “I am staying.”

Autumn
nodded and turned to the council, “All in favor?” They all raised their hands and
she beamed turning
to Jessup and Ann who were still staring at each other. “Well now that that is settled.” Then she waved frivolously at th
eir intensity and
turned back to Mirth, Ivan still holding her waist
all the while
.

Attack

“Now, Mirth, will today be a good day or a bad day for us?” Mirth watched her closely and played with the vile in his hand
, contemplating his chances of success
.
A
hunger pain hit her hard then and she gripped her stomach.

He hissed, “Now.
” The remaining members of Mirth’s clan
leaped
at their assigned
council
member’s
,
growls
ripping from throats. Ivan pulled
Autumn
back b
ehind him but not before Mirth jumped at them both.

Ivan took
quite
a few blows before
she
could roll out from under the two of them. One of which nearly sliced him in two.
Autumn
took a slice at Mirth throwing him across the room. He hit the far wall and came back to face her a second later. He moved lightning fast
for being so old.
There was even a slight bit of pain when he hit her though her body still healed itself quicker than she thought possible.

A
few moments later
,
Ivan was standing with his back to hers and she felt the heat coming from him while he changed in to Henry. Mirth began with clean swipes as
Autumn
smiled moving with ease
. Ivan
grabbed at the other male that was
jumped
at
her
back.
Autumn
felt his powe
r serge and her chest heaved as Mirth struck
her
across
the face, knocking a few teeth loose.
Autumn
felt new ones grow back quickly,
and she smiled, jumping
at Mirth.

Mirth
fought
fiercely
,
growling and taking chunks,
while she
swiped his neck nearly clear off, but he landed a hard blow to
her
ches
t sending her back a few feet
away. She landed on her feet though and charged back at him again. It was just enough time for Mirth to drink the fluid in the vile that he had been carrying.
Autumn
was about to slice it clean off when he grabbed her wrists snapping them and throwing her
across
the stage
, with a new power
.

As
she
flew through the air
,
she saw that the rest of the audience moved forward watching the action closely
now
. She also noticed that a few of them had already begun
to get involved in the figh
ting, most
of them taking Mirth’s side
,
save one particularly large male with
fiery
red hair like
Flanagan’s
.
Autumn
smiled at that as she landed.

Each of her friends
was
fighting
at least
two or three
of
Mirth
’s
supporters
. Alt
hough they were fighting well and managed to keep the others at bay
, they
already appeared to be a losing battle, by sheer numbers alone
.

Proudly though
Galen was doing particularly well swooping down and taking the men high into the air to rip them to piece
s
, all supped up on her blood
. Jessup and his mate were even fairing well against two of Mirth’s new
supporters
from the audience
.
While,
Flora was singing a
particularly
dark
piece
of music
convincing
men to att
ack one another instead of her particularly well.

Helen was zombieing nearly eight men into fighting each other
, but a
small female was giving her a bit of trouble, attacking her instead of the others. The other male that she was
suppose
d
to be fighting
was attacking her, while she was attacking Helen. It was almost comical,
Autumn
landed
noiselessly
as her wrists snapped back in to place. Then she jumped into the air and landed in front of Mirth hissing.

Once grounded,
she noticed that Mirth’s eyes had changed as had his
skin,
it almost glowed
in the darkness
. He let out
a
deafening
growl in
response
to her hiss and a
ll eyes turned to Mirth
,
as he raised
her
up off of the groun
d
by her neck
. The
howls
broke from
the crowd
sending chills down
her
spine. He pulled her close to his face growling a challenge at her. Her eyes blinked unflinching as
a
final growl of her stomach, sent her hand back to her belly.

Mirth sniffed her
and felt her power twisting in
side of her body struggling to get out
, and he flinched, surprised by the discovery
.
He knew what she was and what she had hiding inside of her and he could not let it get out.
He struck her so hard in the face that her jaw snapped and hung by a thin strip of skin
on her cheek. Then he smiled as he
disemboweled
her, thro
w
ing
her down as Ivan changed into Galen
and bit
his neck.
Instantly,
Ivan was thrown lifelessly to the
ground
landing with a heavy thud
,
still in Galen’s form. The
howls
rose up again and the
tide turned as Mirth turned to finish off
Autumn
. Only to face
Drake
,
who stood in between the two of them
,
snarling
, his entire body
aflame.

Mirth was cautiously
sizing
him up and began using his mind to slice at
Drake
who
growled each time he was cut but
bravely
did not move from the spot.
Autumn
meanwhile pushed her jaw back into place and healed slowly
,
her eyes watching Mirth closely.
She
realized as she slowly pushed her intestines back inside of her stomach that Mirth was worried about
Drake
’s fire.
She could not burn, and if he was to be the eye he should not either.
Her blurry mind raced as she realized that
she was focusing on the wrong thing,
two of Mirth’s men were approaching Ivan
’s
body slowly, carrying a torch.