Chapter 11
Octavia got up.
Small chunks of plaster fell off her. Her body stretched involuntarily, feeling like it needed to expand after being hammered into the wall.
It had been a long day. This wasn’t the first time she’d fought with the intention to kill in the last twenty four hours. It wasn’t even the second or third. But her fatigue was forgotten and her fangs were out again.
Fleur stood across the room. Octavia had never seen her mutation before, the two wrist-thick tentacles that emerged from somewhere within her hair. Of course, that fit perfectly. Fleur had shown her true self. Octavia had never liked her, so at least her attitude to Fleur was one of the few things that wouldn’t be upturned today.
Fleur had taken a stance, but hadn’t advanced while Octavia was down. Part of that might have been Vinyl, who stood between the two. Fancypants stood off to the side, apparently unconcerned about the damage to his house.
“Are you good?” Vinyl asked.
Octavia flexed her hands and took a breath, eyes locked on Fleur. “I am.”
Fancypants spread his hands. “Let them fight.”
Vinyl looked at Octavia, glanced at Fleur, and then stepped back.
Octavia walked forward. She didn’t know what had become of her weapons, probably lost when Fleur had tossed her. She raised her fists.
Fleur had longer reach; Octavia had never fought anyone with tentacles before. Still, as Octavia advanced on her, Fleur actually took a step backwards. Their eyes met. Octavia didn’t stop to ponder what Fleur might be thinking.
The tentacles came up and Fleur went on the attack. She’d tipped her game too early, though, and Octavia was easily able to brush back Fleur’s grasp, being at the full extent of her range. She made a grab for the flailing tentacles and Fleur backed up again.
“Stop running!” Octavia shouted. “This is ending here!”
Fleur did not respond except to continue to keep Octavia at tentacle length. The two circled slowly, Octavia pressing for an advantage. Nothing had yet happened in the fight and it was getting tiresome. Octavia was cautious by nature, but this needed to be done. That thought was balanced by the risk. What would happen if she lost? Could she even operate now that her emotions were unregulated? Had she only been such an effective killer because the mind control had made her that way?
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Vinyl with her hands clasped to her chest, excitement plastered on her face. Many things had changed in the last day, but that was one friend who hadn’t. What would happen if Octavia lost? Then Vinyl would finish it.
With that knowledge, Octavia waded in.
She ducked forward and raised her arms as Fleur struck. One tentacle lashed her forearm, but she got her hand on it. Pulling back, she raised her foot and rammed Fleur into it. Not kicked Fleur, more like raised her leg and yanked Fleur’s gut onto it.
Fleur’s other tentacle came around and smashed into the side of Octavia’s face, instantly knocking her jaw out of place. Octavia rolled with it, twisting with her grip on the other tentacle, rolling up it and coming back around with an elbow to Fleur’s nose. Blood splashed radially across Fleur’s face and she jerked back. Octavia brought up her other hand and grabbed Fleur’s other tentacle at its base near her head.
Fleur’s arms punched and scratched Octavia’s sides, but she barely felt it. The two of them were so close that there wasn’t much power in the blows anyway. Octavia twisted the tentacles in her grasp, forcing Fleur’s head to tilt backwards and exposing her throat.
Forgetting her broken jaw, Octavia tried and failed to rip into Fleur’s jugular. The other end of the tentacle Octavia held came around and coiled around her neck. She kept her hold, even as Fleur tried to pull her back. It was a tug of war between Octavia’s grip on Fleur’s tentacle which was connected to Fleur’s head and the constricting other tentacle around Octavia’s neck. Something had to give, something had to break the stalemate, and Octavia was suddenly aware that it just might be her neck.
She let go of Fleur and stepped back, throwing herself against the tentacle around her neck. It stretched tight like a bowstring and Fleur had no choice but to go along with the momentum. Octavia dropped to one knee as Fleur stumbled towards her, and then put everything she had into an explosive charge forward.
She caught Fleur around the midsection and knocked her off her feet, lifting her clear of the floor and then slamming her back down. Octavia scrambled up Fleur’s body, getting her knees into her chest and beginning to swing.
Fleur raised her arm to block. Octavia seized her wrist and twisted, snapping the bones in Fleur’s forearm and tearing the fractured ends out through the skin. Fleur’s other arm came up to cover her face. Octavia peeled it back, raising her other hand to strike. Her arm was almost immediately wrapped up with a tentacle. The other was still coiled around her neck.
The two of them struggled, neither able to break the lock. Octavia tried to lunge forward, to headbutt, anything, but she was held too tightly. Fleur struggled, knowing that any mistake would cost her.
Again, something had to break the stalemate. Octavia tried, but couldn’t attack and couldn’t back off. She leaned forward, muscles in her back flexing. Her vestigial claws stabbed forward and tore out Fleur’s eyes.
Wait…
Fleur screamed and flailed, loosening her hold on Octavia and moving to cover her face, rolling out from under Octavia. She scrambled away until she ran into the wall and stopped there, alternately bleeding and sobbing.
Octavia paused, sitting on her knees. Parts of her body she didn’t even know she had came into view. Out of everything that had happened to her over the last two years, this left her most bewildered.
She’d grown bat wings of skin and bone. The hooked claws at the joints were coated with Fleur’s blood. Octavia had used them instinctively, before even realizing they were there. They were more than big enough to cocoon her as she brought them forward to examine.
The sheer amazement was enough to distract Octavia until Vinyl’s face popped up right in front of her own. She’d crawled under Octavia’s wings to appear inside the small space in between.
“Holy shit,” was the first thing Vinyl said.
Octavia tried to reply, but her jaw was still out of alignment. She popped it back into place and managed to speak, albeit slurred. “I think that sufficiently describes it.”
“I have never seen a vampire mutation like this.” Vinyl raised her head. “What about you, Fancy?”
“I have not.”
“Check this out.” Vinyl ran her hand over the spar of Octavia’s wing, down towards her back. The wing flexed reactively.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” said Octavia, only just now managing to think coherently. “Why would I have wings on my back? Bat wings are the forelimbs. As a mammal, it doesn’t make any sense that I would have additional limbs growing from my back.”
“Does it look like we’re doing science here?” said Vinyl. “At least you didn’t end up a freak like Fleur.”
“But how am I going to hide this?” Octavia said. “I can’t go out in public this way!”
“We’ll figure it out,” Vinyl assured her. “If we have to, we’ll just rip them off.”
“Why do you always resort to the most violent option first?”
“You’re one to talk. You beat the shit out of Fleur.”
The two of them looked across the room to where Fleur still lay. Her eyes were still bleeding and she cradled her shattered arm close to her chest, the bones still exposed.
“I did,” Octavia acknowledged.
“So anyway,” said Vinyl, “can you fly? I totally want to see that.”
Octavia unsteadily stood up, adjusting to a new center of gravity. Aside from the gut-twisting anxiety over mutating, the prospect of being able to fly did secretly excite her. As for going out in public, well, it wasn’t as if she had a social life to lose.
She discovered that her wings had ripped their own holes in her shirt as they’d emerged, likely with the same claws that had gouged Fleur’s eyes. It took her a moment to realize that they’d also torn her bra strap.
This was really turning out to be an immodest day. Octavia figured there were probably even odds that Vinyl would comment.
Proactively changing the subject, Octavia took the initiative to go over to Fleur and begin the interrogation. Fleur heard her footsteps, but at this point she was past resistance. It looked like she might have begun to heal, but sundered limbs and destroyed organs took time and blood.
“I want you to tell me everything you know,” said Octavia.
“W-why. You-you will just...”
“I haven’t made my mind up on that,” Octavia said, truthfully. She probably would put Fleur to death. But she wasn’t yet certain. She’d already made her point, after all. “Now, where can I find Carousel?”
“Can’t t-tell you. I love him.”
Octavia leaned closer. “I loved my parents.”
Fleur did not respond. Octavia took Fleur’s wrist, the one attached to her broken arm, and began to bring the sharp edges of bone back together.
Fleur, knowing what was coming, did a feeble impression of trying to resist. Octavia hesitated, knowing what she needed from Fleur, but still mentally steeling herself for what she was about to do to a defenseless foe.
Vinyl touched Octavia’s shoulder. “I can help you.”
Octavia turned her head, not sure how she would reply, but Fancypants broke in. “Or we could simply dig through her phone until we got the information we wanted.”
“Yes,” Octavia decided. “Let’s do that.”
She backed away, mind already clearing. Would she have hesitated to be so brutal if she was still under thrall? Were her own emotions limiting her?
Fancypants picked up Fleur’s phone and handed it to Vinyl. “You two run along. I’m sure Carousel Brass won’t be expecting you yet.”
He punted Fleur in the stomach, slamming her into the wall. “I shall tidy up here.”
“Come on,” said Vinyl, taking Octavia’s elbow and turning her towards the front door. Octavia could do nothing but go along.
Out in the car, Vinyl picked through Fleur’s phone as Octavia struggled to get her wings situated. They didn’t want to fold quite correctly and she didn’t yet have the kind of control to make them comfortable.
“Here, let me-” Vinyl tried to reach over her to adjust the seatbelt. Her hand touched Octavia’s back near the wingroot.
On its own reflex, the wing snapped open, throwing Vinyl to the other side of the car. Her head thunked against the windshield pillar.
“Sorry!” Octavia gasped.
Vinyl laughed and adjusted her sunglasses, which had nearly been knocked off. “We can work out all the batty stuff later. If I know you, you just want to get this over with.”
Octavia nodded. “I suppose I used to hope for normality. I know that’s an impossibility. I just wish things didn’t keep getting worse.”
“You’re tougher than you think. You’ll get through this.”
“Am I? I just found out the last nearly two years have been a lie. It wasn’t me.”
“Your past doesn’t define you. Hell, you’ve got so much future ahead of you I’d be more excited about that.”
“But what of the future? How can I go on like this?” Octavia gestured to herself.
Vinyl grabbed Octavia’s hands and held them. “Listen to me. You are a stone cold badass. Even if you might have been under mind control, you still have those skills and experience. You’re on the right side of morality here. You personally took down a lot of bad people, and Carousel Brass is no exception. He needs to be stopped. And you can fucking fly! How cool is that?”
Octavia breathed out through her nose and closed her eyes. “You always know just what to say.”
“Hey, Itchy and Scratchy are a team.”
“I’ve never actually flown. For all we know, I can’t.”
“Baby steps. Kill Carousel now, terror of the night later. Though, if you want, you can try flying to his place now.”
“I don’t have a pilot’s license.”
Vinyl threw her head back and screamed with laughter. “Oh man. No, Tavi, you don’t have to worry that being enthralled made you different. You’re still you. Fleur didn’t do shit to your mind.”
Octavia leaned back, managing a smile even despite the discomfort of her wings on the seat. “That’s a relief. Thank you.”
“No prob.” Vinyl started the car. “Let’s go kick Carousel’s ass.”
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That mutation is cliche, but sick as fuck.
YES. YOU GO OCTY. FUCK YOU FLEUR.
Mutations? What the flying fuck?
That's Tavi, alright. Vinyl said it best, she's still herself.
Seriously enjoying this story. Can't find a flaw yet, and if there are any, I'm engaged enough that I'm not seeing them--a win, in my book.
Ooooohohoho, well then, this just got interesting~
Oh me oh my~
Good work!
I've been waiting for Octavia's mutation to show itself. It is suitably badass. Also, all the bat jokes that are sure to follow.
On a side note... what even the hell is Fancy? I do hope we learn more about him. He's pretty damn great.
8553933
When Vinyl became a werewolf or when Vinyl saw Ocatavia change?
Can I ask when this will update? It isn't like you to leave a story for a long time for no reason.
8609413
I got busy with other things. However, I did some writing yesterday and today I finished my final in this semester's class so my schedule is open for a little while. My guess? New chapter within a week.
8609556
Oh shit, nice. That's a lot faster than some people have been. I once asked someone about his story and he said he would have a chapter by Christmas. It was closer to Easter when it released.
I mean fleur deserved that but i also don't want to see her get killed off either. Now i can't stop thinking about gargoyles and the Manhattan clan