The Dark Beast's Love

I sat on the couch like I always did during the full moon nights, closest to the door. My father gave me a concerned look as he walked past me, but we were way past him trying to convince me to let my mother's death go, way past him telling me to hide instead of hunt like every other normal person would do. My brother only rolled his eyes at the sight of me.

"You know that if it actually decides to storm in here, you sleeping on the couch will make no difference," My brother Varius pointed out. "You're just encouraging your own death."Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

I glared at him with as much heat as I possibly could. "Perhaps if you would lend me your fancy gear it could make a difference."

Varius only scoffed. “As if I would even hand over the weapons to someone as fragile as you."

And he left it with that, my blood boiling in my veins as I considered shouting out an insult towards him and his fragile masculinity, but in the end, the satisfaction wouldn't be worth the lecture from my father.

So I waited, eyes closed but ears focused on every noticeable sound around me. It wasn't until I felt the temperature drop around that I finally started moving towards the closest window, curious eyes scanning the houses nearby to see if there was anything nearby. As expected, the village was dead in the night, as it always was, the only warning we got before the massacre was the temperature change, nothing more, nothing less.

Once the coast was clear, I sneaked out the door, the echo of my promise to Nathan a reminder in my ear, but I assured myself that all I needed to do today was to see. I went in the direction my body begged me not to go, the icing feeling more of a warning than anything else but my determination was set in stone. I walked slowly and quietly, another trained skill of mine that I taught myself while roaming sound in the woods. The feeling of the handle of my dagger worked as a stabiliser against my palm and I found myself gripping hard on the bow I had slung over my shoulder when mist started forming in front of my lips.

I followed the cold to the outer parts of town, where the homes were barely houses and the inhabitants few after a harsh winter. By now, I was suspecting to at least see some traces of the beast's presence, but there was nothing, nothing but the cold and the full moon above me. I heard some whimpers from one of the poorly built houses, but since their isolation was next to nothing, I could distinguish it as a human sound and nothing more, so I kept moving, using the shadows to blend into the surroundings with the hopes that nothing would catch me off guard. However, when I realised that the houses were coming to an end, and in order to continue towards the increasing cold I would have to leave myself vulnerable in the open, I hesitated. The memory of Nathan voicing his concern replayed in my mind, and I knew that despite my curiosity I was going to turn back and wait for the next full moon before I got the chance to do it again.

I was about to retreat when I heard a snap from not too far away, and a growl that was too low to be mistaken as something a human could have done. The blood froze in my veins as I realised what was happening, and more importantly, what was close. I took some deep breaths in order to calm my pounding heart when I suddenly heard nothing. Realisation dawned upon me like a thousand raining arrows.

During one of my many hunts, I once found myself close to a Lynx, another predator of the woods that caused enough damage to keep the citizens of the village away, despite the overflowing life that the woods provided. It had not yet noticed me, so I was carefully retracing my steps with the hopes that it would remain that way. However, suddenly it stilled, not moving a single muscle, barely even breathing from where I saw it. I remained still with the hopes that whatever had caught its attention would direct the danger away from me, my prayers were dismissed as the Lynx charged right at me.

This time I ran before it got the chance to charge. My instincts bought me some mere seconds, but those seconds saved my life, at least for now. As I ran through the houses, grateful over the escape path I had mapped out in my head, another decision that gave me some precious minutes as I heard the beast crash everything in its way in order to get me. This was when the screaming began, but I wasn't sure whether it was from someone getting torn apart or seeing the beast as it continued its hunt. What frightened me the most, except the fact that I was about to die, was the fact that it hadn't caught up to me yet despite it being described as faster than anything.

I ran towards the woods, determined not to let my foolishness doom the rest of the village and with the hopes that the beast would by some miracle lose me amongst the trees. I was fully aware of the fact that no matter how many traps I tried to lure it through, the beast snapped free of everyone within a blink of an eye and gave me almost no time to come up with a plan.

My luck ran out when I felt its claws grasp around my ankle and I was sent flying forwards.

During my escape, I hadn't dared to look back, risking losing important seconds that could lead to my survival. But now, with the beast's face in front of me, I almost wished that I had, just so that the nightmare could have been over by now. It did not have wings and was definitely made out of something more solid than mist and shadows, but none of these realisations made it any less horrifying. Its face was something close to the combination of a wolf, a human and a lion, its fangs abnormally sharp and face too advanced for me to comprehend in the middle of my panic, however, of all the sharp angles the beast was made of, its eyes were the sharpest of them all, golden, glowing and piercing me under its vicious look. When it raised its arm, the hand humanlike but with large claws and pale fur, I prayed to every god that would listen to spare me.

Perhaps the gods did listen, because when my eyes collided with the eyes of the wolf-like beast again, something close to hesitation washed over it and its gaze seemed to reflect something I couldn't sort out. I took its moment of faltering to drive the dagger into its shoulder and it howled in pain as I scrambled to my feet, ignoring the pain in my ankle left behind by the beast's digging claws. I ran again, this time towards the large boulders where I knew that there were spaces tight enough to prevent it from reaching me, unless it could tear apart stone.

By some miracle, I reached the caves before the beast caught up to me again. I hadn't heard it coming up behind me after I ran from where it managed to grab my wrist, parts of me suspected that that was mainly because of the pounding in my ears, but when I turned around from the crack between the stones where I hid there was nothing there. But still, with my heart beating violently in my chest, I waited until sunrise.