Bitesize 5.1

Off we go again. :P

Bitesize 5.1

Ed sat in Max's room. Silence hung in the air, held in a stale cloud of cigarette smoke being added to by Max. The young German took a deep drag and held the smoke in his lungs before letting it jet out in a billowy plume.
"Will it hurt?" he asked.
"Yeah, a little." said Ed, honestly, "But not that much. It's your best shot of fighting off Crowley's mind control."
More silence, more smoking.
"And then when he wakes the demon up I just have to force it to seal the mirrors instead of opening them..."
Ed didn't reply. The question was clearly rhetorical serving only to clarify Max's thoughts.
"And then I'll be trapped in there with them."
"We don't know that for certain." said Ed, "All we have to go off is an old legend. The last Onigawa who did this did so voluntarily and without a human host. I was relying on that for my backup plan."
"So what's the backup plan?"
"Well. If you aren't able to prevent the onigawa opening the mirrors then they will all come through and exist as they did in the past. I'm banking on the fact that they won't need human hosts then. I couldn't help but notice that Raddick knows what his onigawa knows."
Max nodded, following his train of thought.
"I get you. The onigawa will leave me, but I should still know how to seal them away."
"I hope so, yeah. Although that doesn't necessarily mean you'll be able to do it."
"So either way, it's all on me."
"I'm sorry Max."
"Don't be. We brought this on ourselves with our youthful foolishness. We all have to repay our debts one day. What about Odolf? We taking him too?"
Ed shook his head.
"I don't see the point. We don't know what he's capable of. He could be a wildcard against us."
Max stubbed his cigarette out in the ashtray and exhaled deeply, running his hands through his hair.
"Ok, let's do this."


Just a short while later Max found himself in the cage that had previously held Grace. She was there too with him.
"Is the cage necessary?" Max asked.
"Yeah." said Ed, from outside, "You might not be able to control the wolf at first. Hopefully the onigawa will keep it under control but we can't risk it."
"I'd rather not have an audience."
Ed nodded and he and Katia left the room, leaving Grace and Max locked in the cage. Outside Ed tapped into the room's CCTV and watched.
"Are you ready?" Grace asked.
Max nodded in reply then took off his shirt and turned his back on Grace.
"Get it over with."
Behind him Grace began her transformation. He'd seen it a couple of times now but Ed was still shocked at the visual aspect of it. It seemed to defy everything he knew about logic and science. It reminded him of watching movie special effects the way Grace trebled in size in a matter of seconds and the hair and nails sprouting from her as she became less human and more beast. Max kept his back to her the whole time, steeling himself for the inevitable. Once the transformation was complete Grace didn't waste any time. She gripped Max in her claws and sank her teeth into his exposed back. It wasn't an attack, there was no tearing of flesh. Just an agonising scream from Max as Grace held on for a few seconds then released her jaws and let him slip to the floor. She waited, still in wolf form, watching over Max's prone bleeding body. Her teeth had left a circle of puncture wounds around his back and it was through these that her saliva would enter his system and irreversibly alter his DNA. They waited as one. Minutes slipped by before Max eventually stirred and groggily rose to his feet. His face contorted in pain and then seemingly exploded, expanding at once into a lupine snout. The rest of his body followed suit and before long two wolves stood face to face in the cage. Grace was definitely the larger of the two but Max looked wild. He snalred a challenge to Grace and launched himself at her. The T-Alpha batted him aside effortlessly, clanging his head off the bars of the cage. This seemed to stun Max and for a moment he simply stood still, then cowed his head obediently. His animal instincts had led him to recognise Grace's status and there were no more attacks.
"What now?" Katia whispered to Ed.
"We wait for the wolf to leave him." said Ed, "Then we head for Hakodate."