Two of a Kind - 11. Chapter 11: Pictures in the Mind

Cavel's head lifted off the pillow as he blearily tried to locate the ringing sound that woke him up. Snarling a bit in irritation he reached over Bashta to his pants on the floor. He blinked a few times, trying to bring the words on the screen into focus. Saulle

He flipped the phone with a grimace, "Hello?"

"I'm sorry to bother you and your mate," Saulle said apologetically.

Cavel rubbed at his eyes with his free hand, glancing out the open doors to the sky that was just beginning to fade from pitch black to a deep midnight blue. "What time is it?"

"About four thirty."

"This had better be important."

"Yes, alpha, it is." Saulle paused so long Cavel lost his temper.

"Well what is it?" he snapped. Bashta rolled over and laid a hand on his chest. His other hand slipped over Cavel's side to caress the line of spots running up his back. Cavel instantly calmed under the relaxing sensations Bashta was sending through their bond. He sighed, "I'm sorry. I didn't get much sleep."

Cavel could almost hear the smirk on Saulle's face in his voice. "I understand, my lord. I would not have interrupted you for anything less than something critical."

His forehead wrinkled. "Is everyone okay? The kitlings?" Bashta asked. His sexy ears Cavel loved to tease so much caught every word of the conversation. Saulle could hear him as well and answered his worried question.

"No, no, they're fine. At least the ones we have here."

Cavel frowned. "What do you mean, the ones we have here? All the sick kitlings were gathered there at the community center." He looked at his mate who was chewing on his lip. "Wait, did this spread to another clan? Has someone contacted the doctors?"

Saulle started talking quickly, trying to reassure Cavel. "No, nothing like that. Dr. Waddel did call a few hours ago and tell us they were working hard on the next batch of antiserum. I was talking with Nallelija, when I was feeding her some broth, about our search. I can't believe we forgot them!"

"You're not making a lot of sense, Saulle. You're jumping around all over the place. Slow down. Forgot who?"

"That visiting family, the nomads requesting to join our clan."

Cavel's eyes went wide. "Shit! You think they brought this plague to our clan?" Cavel swore again. "I'll track them down and kill them!"

"You don't have to."

***

"Show me," Cavel ordered.

"We haven't gone in. We didn't want to risk the plague spreading." Saulle pulled the agitated alpha male around the edge of the building to the backdoor. The glass slider was shut but the curtains were left open to the dawn light coming up over the trees. The soft pink rays highlighted a disturbing scene.

Lying on the floor was a large male. His face was turned toward the door and clearly visible were black lesions marring the warm gold skin and circular rosettes. He was sprawled with his head toward the living room. Cavel shifted, looking as far sideways into the room as he could. He could see the mother sitting up, her face slack as flies crawled on it. Her hands were curled protectively over a small body sheltered under a blanket on her lap.

"Do you have the key?"

Saulle's mate, Nallelija, usually did the work that the alpha's mate was usually responsible for. Before Bashta returned home with him Cavel had no one else. She helped him entertain visitors and often arranged for their stays in the guest houses on the outskirts of town. She got sick soon after Ariella. Saulle had been nearly frantic as they tried to find someone to help them. That fact was the only reason why Cavel had not kicked him out of his clan for his treatment of Bashta in the rainforest. .

Saulle looked at Cavel in disbelief. "I do not think you should go in there."

"I didn't ask you.” He held out his hand. “Keys."

Bashta spoke up from his place at Cavel's side. "You are wrong Cavel."

Cavel swung around to look at him with his mouth open. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

"You can't go in there. It's not safe."

Cavel's eyes narrowed. "I'm just as safe as anyone else. We have the antiserum. Someone has to go in there and this is my responsibility. I am alpha; I allowed these cats into our territory. I allowed this sickness to hurt our clan." His claws were extending by the time he was done, his anguish ruining his control.

"You are not to blame. We don't know how they brought this here. You couldn't have known." Bashta reached out and carefully grabbed one of Cavel's hands. "I know you are the alpha here; but I am too. Clearly this is the plague, plague that kills, Cavel. There isn't enough antiserum for everyone yet. Would you take a dose away from a sick kitling because you are too stubborn to admit we’re right?"

Bashta's fingers massaged Cavel's hand as he sent reassurance and calming emotions through their bond. He felt a surge of relief when Cavel nodded in defeat. Bringing the captured hand up to his mouth, Bashta dropped a quick kiss on the palm.

"I'll need the key."

Saulle looked at him and winked, Bashta's ability to calm Cavel would be invaluable to the clan. As second in command, Saulle had often felt the need to question Cavel's orders but as an alpha, Cavel didn't tolerate too much resistance to his orders. He was more open than most alphas but the burdens on him that had grown increasingly heavy had made him often intractable.

Cavel didn't know of the talks Saulle and Bashta had while they watched over the sick kitlings. Bashta had gained new insight into his mate. He also understood more of why Saulle had objected so strongly to Bashta when they met. Without a female mate there would be no kitlings to lead the next generation. For Carthera jaguar clans, only the black jaguars are alphas. Only they could lead their clan. Bashta shook his head; that was a worry for another day.

"I'll need some place to clean myself once I come back out." Bashta looked at Cavel, "You said people could get this from touching something that has the plague on it and then touching someone else. That's not just person to person, that means stuff like the doors and furniture, right?"

"That's right," Cavel said reluctantly. "I should be the one going in there. What if this has mutated, or there is something in there..."

"This is my clan as much as yours now. We are done discussing this. I'm going in. I just need some way to make sure you don't get this sickness too."

"There is another guest house up the road. We'll go and unlock it. You can shower there. The dresser and closets have a few spare sets of sweats and t-shirts. Bag your clothes and we'll burn them after. We can close up that house and this one. Once everyone has been given the antiserum we'll be safe to come back and clean and give this poor family a proper burial ceremony."

Saulle handed a key to Bashta. "We'll wait at the car."

Cavel pulled Bashta to him and held him close. "I..."

"Promise me you will wait at the car," Bashta whispered. Cavel's muscles were rigid under Bashta’s hands. Through their bond, Bashta could feel his emotions warring within him. He would use whatever means he had to convince Cavel that he was right. He kissed Cavel’s neck and sent a wave of love through their bond. "Promise me."

Cavel grudgingly nodded. "I'll wait." His hand came up and wrapped around Bashta's braid. He brought their lips together, teeth clicking as he pressed with almost bruising force, controlling Bashta's head. He pulled back abruptly, pressing their foreheads together. "After this we go home. Just us, for a whole day."

Bashta was breathing hard. "You don't even have to finish the tour. We can stay in bed."

Cavel smiled at him, his hands falling reluctantly away. He took a few steps back, their eyes locked together. Saulle put his arm on his shoulder and Cavel turned away, slowly following him around the corner of the house toward the car parked on the street.

Bashta turned and walked the other direction, looking at the ground and the trees around the house. He stopped at the front door, turning the key in his fingers. Seeing the sick kitlings had been hard for him. His nightmares had combined their faces with those of his dead family. He had prayed to not have to face any deaths from this evil plague. Those at risk in the clan were safe but for these poor jaguars help had come too late.

The smell when he opened the door made him gag. His senses were much sharper now that he had bonded; the scent of plague death was the same as he remembered but much stronger. He stood frozen, one step inside the door.

"Get away!"

"Burmal, what are you doing here?" Bashta's mother gasped when saw the symbols on the tree her mate was leaned against. "Oh my god. Who is sick?"

Burmal managed to turn to face them and his head lolled to one side. Black sores dotted his face, marring his cheeks and forehead. His eyes were fever bright and he gasped as he tried to breathe. They could see his chest heaving with each breath.

"Everyone. They're dead. All dead." His fingers scrambled hard at the ground as he was wracked by a coughing fit. Blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth.

Bashta clung to his mother, his eyes huge as he watched his father struggle for breath. She tried to take a step forward and he held her back, whimpering. They couldn't go closer, it smelled... wrong. Bad.

"No. Take Bashta and go. Stay far away from here. This is a sickness the healers have never seen. Everyone died; none of our medicines could do more than halt the course of this plague for a few hours. You have to take the kitling and teach him to be strong.

"I had a vision. The Jaguar will save him; keep our line from dying out. No one else can protect the Temple." He began coughing again, blood spraying out as Burmal fought to draw in one more breath of that life giving air.

"I... love... you."

Arms wrapped around each other, Bashta and his mother stumbled away from their village. Even after they were miles away the smell, the sickly sweet scene of decaying flesh and the bitter tang of the weeping sores clung to Bashta. They had washed repeatedly in the river but he could still smell it every time he drew a breath. When the nightmares came they were filled with the scent of the plague and the blood slowly dripping down his father's face.

The same smell filled this small square house. Bashta coughed and covered his nose with his hand. He took shallow breaths through his mouth, grimacing when his enhanced senses made even that distasteful.

"Bashta!" Saulle was standing by the car. He had a small silver object in his hand. "Catch."

Catching the metal object Bashta looked at it and then back up at Saulle in confusion. "It's a camera. Push the small button on the top. It will take images of whatever you point it at. Just push the round button on the right until it clicks and the flash goes off. The screen in back will show you a copy of the picture you just took in case you need to take another one.

"This way we can see what you do without entering the house." Saulle reassured Bashta, "It's easy. You'll catch on in minutes. Make sure you get pictures if there is some form of medical technology; needles, small glass tubes, things like that. Once you get to the other house clean your hands, then open the flap on the side. Push down and then pull the little card, we can get the images from that."

Bashta followed Saulle's directions and turned on the camera. Even his interest in the amazing technology couldn't distract him from his grisly duty for long. He took shallow breaths through his mouth. He grimaced when he entered the main room. He could see the top of the female's head over the back of the couch. Approaching slowly, Bashta snapped a picture.

He inched around the side until he could see the woman's face. It was swollen, black lesions marring her smooth skin. Her eyes were wide open and glassy, focused on the ceiling with the blank stare of death. Bashta hated to do it but he held the camera out in front of him and took another picture. He looked down at the blanket wrapped bundle on her lap and turned away. He couldn't look yet.

Bashta snapped a picture of the man lying sprawled out on the floor. His face was turned away from where Bashta was standing so he carefully stepped over the prone form and crouched down. The flash highlighted the gray undertone of his face. Bashta gagged.

He still couldn't move toward that small bundle so he began moving through the house room by room. He stood in the center of each room and took pictures, turning in slow circles to get everything. He did the main living areas and then moved to the three bedrooms. One was empty but he took a picture of it anyway. The master bedroom and bath took him a while to go through as he looked under the bed, in the closets and cabinets. Finding suitcases in the closet he dragged them out and opened them.

He couldn't read the papers in the front flap so he spread them out on the messy bed and took a picture of each page, just in case. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and then continued to go through the blue suitcases. A bunch of clothes, personal effects, and shoes made up the rest of the contents.

The kitling's room was the hardest to enter. The blanket was pulled off the bed, obviously the one wrapped around the small form in the living room. Several toys were spread around the room. The small dresses and pink shoes told Bashta the gender of the child. He took a deep breath, going through the room with the same meticulous care he went through all the others.

"Jaguar save us!" Bashta stumbled back in shock. He stared at the object on the shelf in the corner while tears streamed down his face. It was a statue. A statue he recognized.

Lasemo was the best carver in the village. His jewelry was highly prized by the women and the men believed his blow guns were lucky. Often carved with the images of the beasts they hunted, it was considered an honor to receive a blow gun made by Lasemo. The kitlings... the kitlings crowed in joy when he made them toys.

Wooden flowers that cleverly came apart and fit back together like a puzzle made from bloodwood, statues of jaguars made from the pale huayruro wood, polished to a glistening shine with sand from the river and given black spot with the help of hot stones from the fire. Monkeys with clever curled tails that linked together from tigrillo, a rich brown with stripes. The favorite of the female kitlings, though, were the fantastic dolls he created. He carved the figures with fantastic headdresses and the mothers would create intricate skirts and capes for them.

Sitting on a small blanket on the shelf was one of those dolls. Her skirt and cape were missing but the headdress...

Bashta pointed the camera at the shelf with shaking hands and pushed the button several times with his eyes closed. He was crying so hard he could barely see as he fled from the house and ran up the road. The camera dangled from his wrist, forgotten, as he tried to outrun the memories that threatened to swamp him.

It took him several times to open the door at the other house. He hurried through the rooms. The similarity in the floor plan disturbed him but made it easy for him to find the bathroom. He dropped the camera on the counter and ripped off his clothes. There was already cleanser and shampoo in the bathroom, just ready for guests. He spent long minutes scrubbing the sick smell of death off his body and out of his hair.

Sobbing, he slowly sank to the floor under the warm stream of water. He drew his knees up and rested his forehead on them, rocking in anguish. Flashes of his family, his litter mates and his parents flowed through his mind. His baby siblings, only a few years old. Little Velli, his faithful shadow. She had climbed all over him in the evenings, falling asleep in his arms more often than not. That doll had been hers, the headdress one Bashta himself had designed and asked Lasemo to carve for her birthing day.

Unable to think past his grief, Bashta stayed on the smooth floor of the shower until the water turned icy. It pulled him from the hold his painful memories had on him. He reached forward and shut off the water, his hands still trembling. Taking a breath he suddenly felt a swamping wave of love and concern. Cavel knew something had happened. Feeling his mate's emotions had Bashta rushing to find clothes. He was still dripping when he pulled on a pair of black sweats and tied the cord to hold them up on his hips. The t-shirt he found was equally as big but he didn't care.

He did remember to grab the small card from the camera. Holding that in his hand he walked barefoot out of the house. The dew was still wet on the grass under his feet as he walked across the lawn. His eyes were locked on Cavel standing beside the car. Saulle stood next to him. Bashta stopped a few feet away and wordlessly held the card out to Saulle.

Cavel looked as if he wasn't breathing. He stared at Bashta who stood motionless, tears beginning to trickle back down his cheeks. Bashta was unsure if he could stand any questions but when Cavel simply held his arms out, Bashta rushed into his embrace. He buried his face in Cavel's neck, breathing deep.

Cavel's clean musky scent washed away the last of the smell. Bashta couldn't do anything but tremble. Cavel carefully maneuvered his unresisting body into the backseat and then pulled him back into his arms. Bashta curled up and wrapped his arms around Cavel's chest, holding on with all the strength he had. He could feel Cavel's occasional struggles for breath but he was unable to relax his grip.

"It's okay, I'm here," Cavel soothed him, rubbing his back in small circles. "I'm not going anywhere. We'll be home soon."

"You want me to take you back to your house?" Saulle looked back at Cavel in the rear view mirror.

"Yes. You can use my laptop to look at the pictures."

"Do you think he will be able to tell us what he saw?" Saulle whispered.

"No. I can't feel his thoughts at all but his emotions are swamping him right now. I don't think he could understand us. But I don't think he'll need to tell us what he saw. I could feel this overwhelming sensation of pain right about a minute before he came running out of the other house. Whatever he saw will be the last pictures he took."

"If he remembered to take pictures."

Cavel continued to rub Bashta's back. "He's the strongest person I know. He took them."

Saulle just nodded and continued to drive.

"Hold on baby, we'll be home soon," Cavel said softly. "Hold on."