Dolion growled, sitting up and keeping himself in front of the younger man. “What do you want?”

The leader grinned down at them. “Why, we just wanted to talk to that boy you got behind you. We saw the two of you walking out of town and followed. Such a shame. It looks like we ruined a romantic moment between you two.”

One of the men walked over and grabbed Len’s arm, making the smaller man gasp in pain as the man dragged the Light Elf over to the leader. The man aiming at Dolion moved closer to him when he heard the Vulpkith growl and tried to stand up. “Don’t move! The next time you do, I’ll shoot you in your heart.”

The leader leered at Len and forced him to look at him, licking his lips, “You won’t be refusing my offer this time, boy. Not when we have your friend hostage. Do you want some company?”

“No, he doesn’t,” Dolion snapped. “Let him go!”

The man who grabbed Len’s arm kicked him in the stomach. “Shut up! You’re lucky we don’t kill you right now.”

The leader grinned and turned Len’s head to look at Dolion. The other man was curled up in pain and coughing. “See that? My friends will keep kicking him around if you refuse us. So, what do you say?”

Len’s stomach twisted at the thought of these men torturing his friend. If he said yes, he dreaded what they would do to him. But if he said no, they would continue to hurt Dolion. 

“Don’t say yes to them,” Dolion called out to him. He could see that the Light Elf was torn and gave him a reassuring smile. “They can’t kill me.”

The leader chuckled and pulled Len closer to him. “Hear that, boys? Show that smug bastard he’s not as tough as he thinks. Maybe it'll make the prissy boy more agreeable.”

Len felt sick as the men began beating Dolion mercilessly. Bile rose up in his throat when the man with the bow kicked the Vulpkith several times in the ribs, and he knew some of them were broken. His heart almost stopped when he heard Dolion cry out and tried to cover his torso. He tried to run over to him, but the leader firmly held him.

“See what your refusal is doing to your friend?” the leader snickered, squeezing his arms. He licked his ear and chuckled when Len shivered in disgust. “If you had just said yes to my friends and me, this wouldn’t be happening. You have no one to blame but yourself.”

“Please stop,” Len begged them. His vision got a little blurry from the tears he held back, and he felt a little dizzy from seeing his friend in pain and being helpless to do anything. The only thing he could hear was his heartbeat as it got faster every second. He was surprised that none of them could hear it because he swore it was ready to burst out of his chest. It felt like he was suffocating slowly when he saw Dolion’s beaten body on the ground. His vision started to blur when the men kicked Dolion onto his back. He would’ve fallen to the ground if the leader hadn’t held him up.

The men laughed as they stopped, watching Dolion spit out blood and curl up. “Not so tough now, are ya?” the man who’d grabbed Len’s arm spat.

 

Dolion looked up at the men as he tried to catch his breath. He could see okay out of one eye, but the other one was swollen shut. The man with the bow aimed at him while the other man kicked his ribs a few more times. At that point, he didn’t know how he would get himself and his friend out of this situation. He didn’t know how the Light Elf would feel about killing a person, but Dolion knew there was no other way out. If he didn’t find a way out of this soon, they would kill him and do worse to the younger man.

“What do ya say, boss? Should we kill him?” the man with the bow asked, looking at the leader. 

The other man laughed and looked down at Dolion, only to see something peculiar sitting in front of him. “What the fuck is that?”

Both of his comrades looked at the small black rabbit sitting in front of the Vulpkith. It looked up at them, tilting its head in curiosity, almost as if it was trying to figure out what was happening. The rabbit focused on the Light Elf male with an unblinking stare and looked between the two men standing in front of it.

The man who’d grabbed Len laughed at the little animal. “Well, aren’t you a cute little rabbit? Strange-looking with those weird horn things pokin’ out of yer head, but I bet ye still taste the same as any other rabbit,” he chuckled, reaching out to the rabbit. Just as he was about to touch it, the man gasped when he felt a sharp pain in his fingers. When he looked at his hand, he didn’t see anything except bloody nubs where his index and middle fingers had been.

The other men gasped as they saw the rabbit looking at them with glowing red eyes, with their friend’s fingers hanging from its mouth. Tulip dropped one on the ground and swallowed the other one. The man with the bow shot at her and missed as she quickly hopped into the woods for cover, giving Dolion the opening he needed to shift into his fox form. He jumped on the man and bit into the man’s throat while digging his claws into his chest. Being a Vulpkith, his fox form was much larger and stronger than the average fox, and sharper and stronger teeth and claws. His claws quickly tore through the man's skin and muscles, leaving him and the man a bloodied mess.

The man screamed out in agony, trying to push the large beast off him, but to no avail. His friend with the missing fingers finally came out of his stupor and grabbed the hilt of his dagger. Before he could even unsheath his weapon, Tulip reappeared and jumped on him. He fell to the ground screaming in pain as the daemon rabbit dug her sharp nails into his throat. The man tried to push her off him, but she dug her nails deeper and began furiously scratching him. He barely got a scream out before he felt an immense pain in his mouth. 

The leader watched in horror as his friends were mutilated. The Vulpkith had made quick work of his friend, having ripped his throat and gutted him beyond saving. When he looked at his other friend, the black rabbit sat calmly on his chest as she ate his ripped-out tongue. Blood poured out of his throat wounds, and he choked on the blood in his mouth. The leader wrapped his arm around Len and held a dagger to his throat, slowly backing away.

Dolion shifted back into his demi-human form, spitting out some blood as he stood up and glared at the leader. “Your friends are dead. Let my friend go and walk away.”

The leader gritted his teeth as he tightened his arm around the smaller man’s waist. “You bastard! I’ll kill him if you or that rabbit get near me!”

Len hissed when he felt the dagger press hard enough to cut him. He could see Dolion and Tulip looking for a way to help him get out. Deciding to take a risk, Len focused all his magic power in his hand and grabbed the man’s wrist holding the dagger.

The leader screamed and released him. He fell to his knees from the white-hot pain, clutching his now-burnt and blackened wrist. He saw Dolion walking over to him with a furious look in his eyes despite the impassive look on his face. 

“This is your final warning,” Dolion said in an eerily calm voice. “Leave, and never come back to this town. If I ever see you again, you will end up like your friends. Is that clear?” He saw the man nod and run away, watching him until he was out of eyesight. As soon as he could no longer see him, he looked over to his friend. The ebony-haired man was pale and shaking. Dolion managed to catch him before he fell to his knees. His ears could hear his heart beating rapidly. “Tegan! Tegan, speak to me.” He noticed the smaller man struggling to speak. Dolion picked him up and brought him over to a nearby rock by the river. He saw Tulip was already washing herself off and rushed to her owner when she was done. She hopped onto Tegan’s lap, looking up at him as Dolion held his hands. “Tegan…?”

Len tried to think of something other than the words those men said and the images of their dead bodies. “T-They t-t-t-threatened-I-I-I c-couldn’t…” He put his hands over his ears to try and block out the loud ringing in them. He hated himself for not doing something sooner and panicking instead. Had he been stronger, Dolion wouldn’t have gotten hurt. Those men would still be alive. Maybe not in one piece, but they would be alive and not…

“Hey, it's okay,” Dolion assured him, cupping his face with both hands and forcing the younger man to look at him. “Take a deep breath. Don’t think about anything else.”

They stayed like that for what felt like an eternity. Len focused on the man in front of him and Tulip sitting on his lap. His vision became less blurry as his breathing evened out and his heartbeat slowed down. After a few minutes, he could see the Vulpkith’s handsome face clearly, and his hands weren’t shaking so much. “I-I’m fine,” he said shakily.

Dolion smiled at him and nodded. “Okay, wait here, and don’t look behind you.” He ran off to get his clothes, having forgotten that he was still naked. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw his pants were still in one piece. Sometimes his clothes would rip from transforming in a hurry, so he was grateful everything was intact.

Len looked over to his comrade, blushing when he saw the man putting his clothes on. He quickly looked away and smiled at Tulip, petting her while she looked up at him. “I hope you don’t get a craving for human flesh after this.”

“She did it to protect you, not because she has a taste for humans,” Dolion assured him. He helped the Light Elf stand. “C’mon, let's get you out of here. I’ll take care of this…mess later.” He wrapped his arm around the smaller male’s shoulders as they walked away, keeping himself between Tegan and the sight of the carnage. Dolion knew he would have to come back and clean up the mess later. He couldn't risk leaving the bodies there, especially since they weren't that far from town.