And the Day Started so Nicely

And the Day Started So Nicely

*Warning, foul language and violence*

Whistling softly, Ari walked towards the park, going to meet Sparrow there for lunch. She started as she reached the corner, her eyes darting one direction then the other as she hunted for a sound she thought she had heard, but truly hoped she hadn’t.

"NO!! NO MORE!! I WON’T DO IT!!!" A distinctly feminine voice yelled from an alley nearby.

Ari frowned, flipping open her cell phone. "Sparrow? Yeah, it’s me. I’m really sorry to do this, but it looks like I won’t be able to make lunch. Yeah, we just got really busy here, a tourist bus or some such. Look, I will buy you dinner tonight at that new steak house instead, promise. Love you too, see you at 6 then."

She really hated lying to him, but it would buy her enough time to find out just what was going on.

"NOOOOOO!!" She shrieked again, twisting her body to try to dodge the whips that whistled through the air at her.

The huge man laughed viciously at the helpless woman, watching as the bonds cut into her wrists, blood trickling down her snow white arms.

"Bitch," He snarled. "Tell me no in front of my friends will ya! I’ll teach you respect one way or another ya whore!"

Again the whip through, cutting fresh red stripes across old scars and scabbed wounds. Screams pierced the air, ripping into the ears of their unseen watcher.

A falcon shrieked into the air, it’s cries filled with rage and hunger. Its white eyes peered in through a window.

No one noticed as the bird melted, flowing over the windowsill to coalesce as something much smaller. Finding a crack in the wood frame, the new creature slipped through, the single trace of its true form shrinking with its wearer to the size fitting a tiny ladybug.

After what seemed an eternity of agony for the bound woman before them, the man shrugged. "I gotta go take a piss. Ya better have your ass still awake when I get back bitch, I ain’t done wit ya yet."

This was the moment that the tiny insect was waiting for.

Mist shrouded her form as Ari stood before the innocent woman. She slumped into her arms as her arms were freed from the leather chafing them.

"Who…are you? You better..go ‘fore he sees you." She tried to warn.

"No, he can’t hurt me. Rest my friend, save your strength. Is there somewhere I can hide you?"

Ari carried her to the couch, slipping her behind it. An evil grin spread across her face as she made herself look like the girl, and placed her hands in the unlocked manacles.

"There ya are bitch." He slurred as he came back in. "Good ya stayed where ya was supposed ta." He laughed. "Maybe I won’t leave ya bloody in other places tonight."

Ari bit back a growl, and allowed him to keep thinking she was the one he was hurting, till he turned his back to grab a cruel looking piece of metal at least.

He fell onto his fat behind when he turned back around to see a huge bear staring him in the face. It’s lips pulled back in a snarl, every hair on it’s body quivered with the growl it let forth.

"I thought you were tough….or is it only against women who can’t fight back?" The bear growled out at him, a deep rumbling voice, filled with fury.

"B…But…" His eyes widened and he shit himself, the stench filling the room like a flood as his bowels and bladder released at the same time.

"BUT NOTHING!!" The she-bear roared at him. "I have dealt with your ilk before…you are nothing but a little boy, tormenting those weaker, running from true strength. I should end your pitiful existence here and now, but I won’t. I am not a cruel heartless beast like you." The bear melted, forming into a beautiful Indian woman, causing him to shake even more. "Regardless of my form. I am taking her out of here, and you will not stop me."

With that Ari went to get the woman behind the couch. She held her up, one of the poor girl’s arms around her shoulders for support, Ari started to walk to the door when she heard a click behind her. She grinned, and turned to see the man pointing a gun at them.

"Oh please, that won’t hurt me." She said confidently, turning and opening the door, starting to walk outside.

A huge noise filled the air as he shot, the shriek of pain coming from the girl beside her.

"NO!" Ari whirled on the man, dropping the girl’s limp form. In an instant, where the woman was standing, there was now the borrowed form of a large, coal black wolf.

"You bastard." It snarled and launched itself at his chest. Her fangs tore through skin and bone, listening to it crack and pop as she tore him apart, feasting on his guts.

After licking her face clean she loped back to the girl’s side, and took on the form of her talisman, a huge thunderbird, gently picking the girl up in it’s strong talons, and baring her weight to the roof of the UFB.

She kneeled over the still form, looking for the wound. Fortunately there was still a heartbeat, but not for long if she didn’t do something. She was torn, she knew nothing of healing, but there was not time to get the girl to Haven to Angel’s aid.

"RAVEN!! I need help please…" She cried out, fighting back tears at the thought that the cruelty of this man might win out.

"Shhh…I am here my child." A soft voice whispered into her mind. "You can save her. You can heal, but not how she does. Kiss the girl..your body will know what to do….."

Her eyes wide, unsure, she did as she was told, lips meeting those of the girl on the roof before her, and they were both engulfed in a brilliant blue glow.

The girl sat up, looking around.

"Where am I?" She whispered, her voice strong, her body healed once more. Her head whirled at the coughing from the other side of the roof.

Ari sat there choking. She gagged and heaved, something causing her throat to bulge out. Her hands tore into the tar on the roof as her body shook. The wounds on her body obvious from the blood pooling around her knees.

"What?" She crawled to the side of the blue woman, trying to pat her back, helpless to truly help her. She hated that, since this woman had done so much for her. "Please, spit it out..whatever it is, spit it out"

Ari could hear the words, but could do nothing to react. Inside her body was fighting over the unfamiliar thing that was happening to it.

"Release it, it is not part of you, let the pain go, it is not yours, and is no longer hers." The strong guiding voice flooded her mind again, and she clung to it.

Thrown to her knees, Ari gagged once more and vomited, a cloud of black flies spewing from her mouth and dissipating into the air. Coughing a couple more times, the wounds on her own body faded, and she regained her strength.

"Thank you, for trying to help me." She turned to the worried girl beside her. "What is your name?"

"I’m Allie, I should be thanking you though, you saved me. I don’t know how he missed me in such a closed space, but I am grateful he did."

Ari just smiled. "Look, I know you probably don’t have a place to stay now, but I think I know somewhere that will welcome you, if only for a while before you find somewhere of your own, if you want. And I can give you a job here in my shop."

"I’d like that a lot." Allie smiled.

Ari nodded and helped her off the roof, taking her to Haven, to meet all of who would hopefully be her new friends.