The Dry Dead
Zane the tiger shark is a rookie in the Paranormal Division, but his new investigative partner and superiors are strangely reluctant to tell him very much. All of this makes his first mission... interesting.
Several Egyptian furs have been found dehydrated to death, probably by something uncanny. Zane will learn much on this mission.
A story for Medicgrif from FurAffinity.
He pushed Natsi away and launched himself into the air where she couldn't follow, dust swirling upwards in the vacuum he created. She leapt and champed at him but he was already out of the reptile's reach.He had to find Zane! He angled his wings and floated away on the night's sticky thermals.The briny and very much alive scent of Zane's soul came from a space between two boulders. Some of it had already been taken from him - Kymara had to act quickly. He swooped down to the ground and sneaked closer, and peered into the darkness. His night-vision showed him the scene he'd feared he might see: the feline succubus sitting on a rock, her knees wide, leaning back in a lewd gesture of invitation, her eyes reflecting yellow-green light like only a cat's could and locked in the direction of her norm companion. And he saw the tiger shark, numbly shedding his clothes, fully-aroused and stepping into the space between Dessel's striped and spotted legs.Kymara lunged and grabbed Zane by the arm.Zane gave him much less of a surprised look than Kymara was happy with and tried to shake himself free. The shake lacked strength - he was in a daze. Bad, bad news.He'd hoped that Zane would only be half under Dessel's spell. If he had, he'd have snapped out of it and looked embarrassed about being semi-naked in front of his new colleague. But there wasn't any coyness in Zane's eyes, just a kind of numb irritation and a clear impatience to get back to Dessel as fast as possible."Zaa-aane..." sung Dessel, rolling her hips. The tiger shark forgot all about Kymara and turned back to her. She flashed him a look of conquest."Come on Zane," the canine dragon said and pulled on his arm again.Dessel gave a seductive, derogatory laugh and Zane, in his fit of demonic lust, copied it - most likely to please his mistress. The scent of the fragment of his soul that Dessel had already eaten hung in the air but its scent was diminishing fast. She must have given him a teasing kiss, just taken a little of it. Most likely she meant to take the rest of his soul while he was in full sexual passion. That was the way of succubi.Kymara wasn't taking any more of this crap. He grabbed Dessel by the shoulders, twisted to put himself between her and Zane, and bounded out of the hidden space between the rocks."Hey!" shouted Zane - with genuine rage this time - and followed him, huffing with frustration and unrestrained fury.But Kymara didn't look back. Instead he took wing, twisted again and braced her high up against the rock with both of them out of Zane's reach. He scrabbled against the rock and pinned her down near the top."Where are the bodies coming from?"Dessel hissed at him and gave Zane a pleading look - a pleading look that Kymara knew was horse-shit. She wasn't the damsel in distress she was pretending to be, she just wanted to keep her victim. To call him to her. He knew how
dangerous she could be. She could afford not to fight back."Dessel," he intoned. "Where. Are. The bodies. Coming. From?"Without him changing his grasp she screamed as if in pain and squirmed. The movement had a seductive edge - the pained, panting, frightened squirm of a helpless virgin on the silver screen. Out of the corner of his eye, Kymara saw Zane run out of sight - probably to find a way to climb the rock."Twenty-seven victims," the black demon said doggedly to the succubus. "Fluids drained until it's so thick they're mummified with dry blood. All along these few miles. Why?""Zaaane, baby. Help me!" Delivered with perfect B-movie hamminess.Kymara heard Zane scrabbling and knew he was running out of time. He asked again. "Dessel. What's eating them?""Zaaane." A despairing cry. It would've ripped Kymara's heart in two if he'd never had this trick pulled on him before.Why can't I hear scrabbling any more?He scented shark soul again and nearly dropped Dessel in shock. Natsi!How could he have forgotten? He loosened his grip for a fraction of a second as he realised he'd have to hunt the new couple down.Dessel took the chance to bat Kymara away and did so with surprising force with a hearty swipe and a kick of her legs. Without giving him a second look she sped over the rock and down the other side, a picture of fury.Kymara recovered his grip of the air and followed - Dessel's nose would lead them both to Zane.Sure enough, Zane was in another passionate embrace. This time with the crocodile.He dived in, shoved them apart and grabbed Zane by the tail. The two succubi growled and followed as he pulled Zane backwards, heedless as Zane roared with fury and flailed between swiping at Kymara and reaching for the two females. Kymara bunched his legs beneath him and flapped into the air, his grip on Zane's tail strong. He reached a high enough altitude to pause for a moment and looked down. The two succubi leaped and glared and shouted obscenities, and Zane cried in pain and rage.What a night... The demon arrowed away from the succubi and the rocks and took his piscine companion to the commercial quarter. There he'd be able to find somewhere safe and quiet to check on the state of his comrade. The air felt warm and sticky but at least up here the only warmth was natural. Here the only sounds were the canny ones of seagulls and the calm rush of traffic below.Thankfully Zane's shark-leather was rough enough for Kymara to keep a keen grip. He was a strong bugger though, and the demon admittedly found himself impressed by the muscle definition and the shark's ability to swing his whole body with each swish of his tail.But he wasn't going to drop him, though. He wasn't going to drop him.BREAKKymara landed on the roof of an office block. Nofur would be likely to hear them there. He deposited Zane carefully on the
concrete roof and landed himself, quiet and confident. "Zane," he said with a voice of cool command. He had an idea of what the shark was going through. He hadn't always been a demon, after all."Let go of me!" panted Zane and swung a punch at Kymara. Still oblivious of his loosened clothes and exposed erection.Kymara dodged the punch and stepped patiently back, the better to observe Zane for a moment. He had to see how much of Zane's soul was left. It was leaking, torn. He could smell its ragged edges.The shark launched himself at Kymara and snapped, his teeth white in the darkness.The problem with a soul was that, just like a body, it could be injured. And it could scar, and develop a tough, inflexible edge. Kymara could clearly smell it now: Zane's soul was bleeding, sending tendrils of brine into the cold night air. The poor bugger. He needed to heal.In that moment Zane seemed to come back to himself. He stopped advancing on Kymara and blinked, lost. And then he started to shake. "What the fuck? What... the fuck?"Kymara said nothing and simply let the rookie rant as he fought to prioritise between pulling his clothes back into place and hugging himself. That was what a ripped soul did to a norm - it left them wanting to curl up, to protect something they instinctively felt deep inside their cores. Zane was clearly aware that he'd embarrassed himself, but he really didn't seem to know which he wanted to do first."Come on partner. Let's get you back to the hotel."TO BE CONTINUED...