Chapter Sixteen
Francis groaned inwardly. Of course. Russell. The monkey bastard was such an annoyance. Why did he think he could just come waltzing into this room without knocking?
"I was coming to bring a message."
The ruby in Francis' blood heated to near boiling. "Do not. Ever. Read my mind." He hated when they did that. Francis fought to get control of his anger. He did that a lot around the creatures. It was difficult to find a decent spot in his mind for them. Especially after they'd bitten Karly. He still didn't feel right calling her mom. Yet. It just seemed disrespectful to assume such a close bond before it actually existed. And he didn't want to rush her. Especially lately, she wasn't feeling well at all. He glared at Russell. Due to his kind.
Sure, it hadn't been Russell or one of his siblings to bite Karly. Francis could easily make that separation. He didn't even blame them for what others of their kind did, but that didn't mean he had to like them. But Russell, he could not stand for the simple fact that he had a drool crush for one of the human wives.
Forget the message and get the hell out. That's what burned on his tongue. "Give your message."
"Well I…" The creature sniffed, tilting his head slightly. He looked around and a low growl gurgled from his throat.
Francis stood, his ruby immediately forming a protective barrier over his skin.
The animal let out a bone crunching roar aimed at the human boy.
A flash of confusion struck Francis.
Peggy shifted into metal form, holding her hands out toward the beast. "What's wrong?"
The thing thrashed and bellowed as though something held him… No. As if he held himself back. The second Francis doubted he would succeed, he flew over to help with a ruby punch to the heavy chest.
"Don't hurt him!" Peggy screamed.
The scene became a flurry of insanity in only a millisecond as Russell's brothers came thundering down the corridor, no doubt in answer to the beast's distress. The cause of that distress was unclear, but Francis wasn't taking any chances.
The creatures still had the potential to be as bad as they were good and just because Peggy insisted they were practically angelic didn't make him feel better. She'd mothered the beasts when they were babes, not him, so he didn't share her confidence. Especially since their kind had bitten his mother and now snarled at his first human friend.
Was it jealous?
"Stand down!" Francis yelled in the creature's face. "Tell your brothers or this is going to get bloody!"
The creature growled as though possessed by some unseen power. "I…I can't…"
"Something's wrong with him!" Peggy cried, shoving at Francis, holding the creature's head and peering into his face. "Talk to me Russell."
The lust in its eyes was unidentifiable, but Francis knew it wasn't friendly, and by the looks of it, his eight brothers shared that lust.
"Stop…me!" the creature finally managed in a horrific growl.
Francis wheeled to face the wall of teeth that barreled up on his right. Their eyes were trained on the doorway to his room. Tyler. The creatures shared a mind link and whatever Russell's problem was had immediately become theirs.
Francis quickly formed a ruby bow out of his arm and shot a spray of sleep darts into their hides, fighting his instinct that insisted lethal force was called for each and every time he faced the abominations.
"Bloody hell!" Robert perched on the top of the couch and peered at the beasts who'd merely staggered briefly before resuming their rabid pace. The diamond scorpion's lethal stinger was poised and ready.
Francis' anger mixed with sudden fear at having to possibly kill the beasts. Maybe if he hit one hard enough? He turned the bow into a sledge hammer. "Maxwell! Protect the boy!" Francis swung his arm and upper cut the first beast. The sound of shattering jaw bone mixed with a howl and the creatures' shrieks reached a deafening level. They were suddenly torn between a savage need to avenge their sibling and the mysterious drive to pursue the boy. Francis had never seen anything like it aside from demonic possession.
"Russell!" Peggy screamed. "Stop it!"
Russell's only response was to fight even harder to free himself of her metallic bear hug. He chomped at her like a rabid dog, his teeth snapping loudly on her metal skin.
The rest divided their attack. Four on Francis and four toward Tyler.
Robert left his perch on the couch and stood with the boy embraced between his pincers. A solid diamond shield enshrouded both of them while Maxwell went dragon and blasted a wave of liquid ice over the oncoming beasts.
Francis hesitated to injure another one until he understood what was happening. He might not like the bastards, but this attack had to be someone else's action. The behavior just didn't fit the facts. He exhaled thick ruby mist over the creatures until it held them powerless and immobile. He spoke the command to open a slit in the air next to the creatures. Another word hardened the ruby mist and bound the beasts inside a cluster of shimmering jewels. He flicked his finger and sent them into the darkness between the Universes to wait while he figured stuff out. The slit closed with a slight hum at his command.