sins9

No one dared move. Those who could, held their breath. The moment was frozen in time. It lasted a few seconds..... or was it a few days? The moment was broken.....

Holding her neck, the blood flowing freely from the deep gash, Thorn tried to grasp what had just happened. Something soft had bounced off her head, causing her to flinch away and loosen her grip on Lily. In that instant she had narrowly missed loosing her head as Hunter's brace screamed past her, slicing the side of her neck open. At the same time, Hunter had grabbed Thorn's hand, prying it off Lily. Pulling a startled Lily towards him while reeling in his brace, Hunter also wondered what had happened. He'd had the perfect shot when Thorn moved suddenly.

"BAD LADY!"

From above, an obnoxiously bright green plush frog hit Thorn on the head. With a plop, it bounced off and landed on it's horrid sunny yellow belly. With a war whoop, Oddball leapt down from the landing over looking this part of the battlements, a light blue elephant in hand, ready to throw. Thorn hissed, backing farther away. The wound in her neck keep bleeding, covering her hand and soaking her shirt red. How could this be happening? Everything had been going so well. Her blood went cold as several Kai's appeared behind Hunter, each taking aim at her. The click of more braces made her turn, Kai13 and two others stood behind her. She was trapped.

The Kai's tensed up as a sick smile suddenly appeared on Thorn's face. She laughed harshly, which sounded more like a cough. With unnatural grace she spun and jumped up on the outer wall. Turning, she faced them again. She shrugged and said softly, almost regrettably, "Ah well. The sins of the mother.." No one had the chance to stop her. Several fired their braces, trying to grab her, but it was too late. She jumped.

The sounds of snapping jaws and loud splashing filled the darkness.

"I think that's enough for tonight." Heather said softly, braking the silence that had fallen after the story was done. Running her finger's threw Lily's hair, Heather felt the girl's crying finally stop.

"Yes." HunterKai stepped around the couch they were sitting on, "The living need to rest." Reluctantly, Lily let go of Heather, and let Hunter scoop her up. Saying goodnight, Hunter carried Lily upstairs. She was asleep before they even got to they're door.

She didn't wake as he changed her for bed, carefully checking the bandages over the gouges in her neck. Slipping into bed, he pulled her into his arms, letting her snuggle up to him. Holding Lily close as she slept, he marveled at the twists of fate. Two "cousins", one tried to kill him, the other gave him a reason to live. Breathing in Lily's soft, sweet scent, Hunter again thanked those same fates that had brought them together.

In the soft silence of the night, Kai13 held Heather close, her back pressed to his chest. The moonlight drifted softly threw the windows, laying gentlely on her face and making the bandage on her forehead shine like a beacon in the night. Her eyes were closed, but he knew she wasn't asleep. He waited quietly, knowing he should hold off till the morning, but.... "Heather?" He said softly in her ear.

"Hmmmm?" Heather mumbled sleepily.

"I.. wanted to ask you something?" Heather turned her head towards him, eyes half open. "Before Thorn....... she said something, "The sins of the mother." Do you know what she ment? Does that mean anything?"

Wide awake now, Heather rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling a moment, She didn't say anything for a moment and Kai13 wondered if he should have kept his mouth shut. "It's an old saying from my homeworld. It's kinda like one I've heard here." Heather paused, still looking upwards, "The sins of the mother shall be revisited by the children." After another moment, she looked over at Kai13, "It basically means that what the mother starts, the children will finish."

Kai13 nodded his head, "Crabgrass tried to kill you..."

"And Thorn tried to finish me off." Heather said softly.

The soft silence returned. After a short while, Kai13 listen to the soft rhythmic breathing and held Heather close while she slept.

The next morning, Kai21 and MyKai investigated the spot where Thorn jumped. Besides a small smear of blood on the ground near the water's edge they found nothing else, not that they expected to.

Three days later there was quite a ruckus when Angelmay, in the process of opening a crate that had been mistakenly placed in the kitchen's large freezer, found a strange anti-Kai frozen among the bags of chips and pretzels. Half of the Kai's descended on the kitchen when they heard her scream in surprise. Not bothering to thaw him out, they removed him from the crate of snack foods and quickly put him the deep freezer with the other captured anti-Kai's. They made note of his unusual appearance, he seemed to be covered with scars, and decided to interrogate him at a later date.

In a run down house several miles outside of Realityville..

Doggie waited, licking his lips. Wagging his long, fringed tail, he whimpered, waving one paw in the air. Bending over, Rhino carefully sat down Doggie's food bowl and a large soup bone. Digging in with more energy then the old dog had had in years, Doggie gulped down his food. Straightening up, Rhino turned to ladling out some soup. Though he had the IQ of an ox, he was surprisingly good at simple cooking. Placing the bowl on a tray, he carefully carried it threw the house into the back bedroom. Only a few bars of light peeked threw the boarded up windows, into the dark room. Setting the tray on the night stand, he knelt next to the bed and with the patience only the dead could possess, slowly spoon feed the soup to his injured friend.

Though the body was broken, the soul still burned within. The bite from the moat creature would heal. The broken leg would mend. The cracked ribs hurt like hell but would be OK. The cuts, scraps and huge masses of black and purple bruises would fade. And when they did, when the body was whole and healthy again, Thorn would reappear......

The Ripper would return.