#2

"KYSEREAN!"

The cave was dark, but moonlight filtering through a few open skylights allowed a dim perception of the objects strewn about. A large desk shoved against one wall; an old fashioned typewriter perched upon it; a large boulder- almost chair sized- sat in front; a leather jacket lay across it; books piled everywhere; a few candles and battery powered lanterns mingled amongst the books. A solitary stainless steel frame was braced against a wall, clothes on hangers draping down.

This was not a damp, moldy explorers cave but a home.

HER home.

In the back, where no light would enter, where the darkest shadows lie, she slept.
Until that piercing scream broke the still air.

An eye opened, glinting even in the dark, catlike pupils dilating. It moved. She moved. Hunkering up and stretching her limbs, her wings reached out touching each side of the cave simultaneously, the dragon was awake.

It. . . She shook her head. As it - she- awoke, remembering the prying cry of that scream that had disturbed her dreams, the scales flashed, not a blinding light but a dim, bluish glow, not even bright enough to scare away the shadows. The claws began to shrink, their color changed from a dark black blue to light, pale fingers. The nails, however, were still black. And sharp. The body, already thin and lithe, flattened and shortened, the legs coming closer to the arms and formed fingers. The back claws already becoming toes with black nails. The touch, strong ankles became soft and delicate looking, nonetheless they hid a superior strength. The wings pulled in, lost some of their expansive width, and closed in tight to the newly pink and fresh back. The crest on the dragons head became long, rich red hair- one of only two remaining signs of her true heritage. The blue light surrounding her face pulsed and faded away, leaving a stubby nose, high cheek bones, and arcing eyebrows. Her eyes were the last to change- they retained their catlike pupils for several minutes. The surrounding iris was green, a vivid emerald shade. It changed with her mood, sometimes a lighter green apple when she was in a jovial mood, and a dark hunter green when she was angry, or on the prowl. As now.

She looked around herself, listening for the scream again. She gathered her implements. Her sword, her coat, and her boots. She jabbed the extra knife she carried in to it's hidden sheath in her right boot. She checked to be sure that she was indeed fully clothed. She'd forgotten to check one night and had rushed out, eager for a fight, only to find that her clothes had not morphed back with her after her slumber. Despite her open vulnerability, she'd dispatched several of her prey that night with ruthless glee. Or perhaps it was because of her mistake.

Either way, they were dead and she'd gone home satisfied.

She ran out of the cave and jumped, holding her jacket in her arms, and spread her wings and flew quickly towards the city.

"KYSEREAN!"

The scream blasted her hard in her mind. It distracted her from her flight, and she fell, her wings wrapping around her from the pain. It took a second to recover. She breathed in and out quickly, letting the pain go, and spread her wings again. None too soon, as the rocks below were becoming dangerously easy to see.

She flew hard towards the city, the picture the scream left in her mind bright before her eyes. The roof of a skyscraper, flashing neons signs leaving reflections on the victim's face. Terror captured on her face as though in a picture.

Dammit, she cursed herself. I don't have much time. She pushed herself harder, siphoning each bit of speed she could out of her wings. Harder, faster, have to get there NOW!

Seven and a half minutes later, surely a new record for her semi-human form, she reached the building. She landed on the roof, scanning the area for the woman. She ran as she spotted a lump of some kind on the ground.

"Oh, God, oh God no, no." She cried as she reached the body.

The body was on it's side, it's hair hiding it's face, the arm bent backwards in a horrific angle.

She gentle pulled it over, careful to bend the arm back to the front. The sound of the broken bones rubbing against each other tortured her ears. The hair fell away, showing a blood streaked face, half ripped away. It's thrown was gone. The eye left in it's socket stared up at her, accusing her, branding her with it's death.

"No, no, no. Tabitha, no. Oh, Tabitha. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." She kept murmuring over and over to the corpse as she ran her fingers through it's hair.

She'd lost all thought of the hunt, Tabitha's killer gone from her mind for a moment in her grief. Tabitha had been her only real mortal friend. She'd actually spent time with Tabitha, and had even gone to see a movie with her. The only sense of normalcy she'd ever experienced in her life. And it had been thanks to this woman, who was lying dead in her arms.

The grief ripped through her in waves, each seeming to batter her a little less. Quickly, the wave of grief was replaced with anger, with seething rage that threatened to boil out of her in flame.

She couldn't calm it down, the fire would come this time regardless of her will, so she turned her face towards the sky, and screamed agonizingly, the fire singing her hair as it always did, and evaporating the tears that seeped from her eyes.

Once it had been released, the fire was tranquil; it'd lost it's strength for the moment. She looked back at her dead friend's face. She leaned down and kissed her forehead, and shut her remaining eye. She paused for a moment and concentrated, holding a hand over her friend's shattered skull and face. Slowly the pieces came together again, skin pulled up and seemed to be sewn back together, the eye that had been dangling by it's nerve clumsily jerked back to it's natural place.

She could not bring her friend back, but she could at least let her be remembered for her beauty, and not let the ravages wrought by that beast torture her in her death.

She placed her head on the tarred roof's floor, carefully to not disturb the work she'd just finished. It wouldn't hold forever, but it didn't have to. It'd hold long enough, and then it would be undone by decay despite her greatest efforts.

She reached down and closed the corpse's eyes, and then stood up. She took one last look at her friend, and then turned away. She picked up her coat from where she'd dropped it, and took a deep, deep breath.

She could smell the creature. It left a scent trail that stunk in her nose, that no amount of cheap toilet cologne it wore could cover.

She yanked the door to the stairwell open, ripping the locks off the inner wall and the door off the hinges. She looked at the door she held in her hand, and threw it to the side. It bounced and clattered.

The stairwell was dark. It almost reminded her of her cave, with it's homey shadows and lightless corners. But that smell taunted her. She stepped in but stopped. Her hand on the doorjamb, her head tilted to the side as though she wanted to look back over her shoulder one last time. She didn't. She gritted her teeth, and grinned maliciously in the last glint of the light.

She walked across the landing, and stepped down into the dark.


*****

Okay, that stretched on a little longer than I intended. Hope it's okay. Tell me what you think.

#1

I actually started this story back in August or July of 2006, I think. I went back through my blogs and found it. I can't believe I wrote this- well, I can, but I had forgotten the twist I'd been going with and am really interested in picking it back up. So later today I'll add a new section and I'm going to write a new section in a new blog, everyday. (Who knows, maybe it will become a blovel- a blog novel, get it?? hahaha.. I am so funny) Anyway, tell me what you think.

******

Standing there listening to her mp3 player, oblivious for the moment to everything around her, she could almost believe that everything would be okay. That there weren't monsters that prowled the streets at night, eagerly awaiting a chance at a passing human, starving for blood. The same anxiety and fear she felt every night she went out sat in her chest like a lead weight. Her adrenaline was pumping madly, her heart at once racing and pounding in her ears, yet still and stone cold. Her fingers twitched at her side, hungry for the grip of her sword.

Her hearing was incredible, and could focus on the music in her earphones and hear everything moving on the ground below. She could hear animals rustling the trash cans in the dark alley to her side and people walking, driving, talking in the well lit streets of the city. She was waiting for the right moment to strike.

There, in the alley, she heard it. An indrawn breath, the first soft beginnings of a scream for help then cut off. Silence.

Dropping to a crouch, she perched on the edge of the roof, peering into the darkness below. She could see almost as clearly as though it was a gray cloudy day, when a few years ago it would be like daylight for her. A bad knock on the head had damaged her vision. She could see the white legs of what she assumed to be a woman, lying next to a dumpster. A dark figure was huddled close to the woman's torso.

Waiting no longer, she jumped. Her coat flew up behind her, though it made no sound to alert her prey. She landed with a soft thump a few feet behind him with barely a change in her stride. She reached over her shoulder and gripped the pommel of her sword.

"Hey," she whispered. The thing, manlike in it's size and shape stood up, turning away from the woman on the ground. It was bald, and it's skin white and paper thin. She could see blue and black veins threading it's face and skull. The clothes it wore were filthy, covered in dirt, shit, and stained with blood. It gave off a terrible rotting smell. It's eyes, staring at her with barely contained rage, had black pupils and irises; the usual whites of the eyes were so lined with red and black veins that it appeared almost totally black. It opened it's mouth and growled, a low, threatening sound that would make anything's hair stand on end. Except her.

She faced it squarely, drawing her sword from it's sheath. It advanced on her while she stood her ground, taking strength from her dominant position, rooted to the earth. It gave one last growl followed by an inhuman scream full of hate and anger and fear. It knew who she was, and was terrified of her.

It approached, it's mouth hanging wide and emanating a horrible smell of death and decay. Most of it's teeth were rotten away, but the ones it'd managed to keep so far were obviously sharp and angular. Soon, it wouldn't need them anymore.

She listened to it's hunting sounds, letting them fuel her rage. It attacked, leaping forward and at the last second changing tactics from directly attacking her to ducking down, attempting to grab her legs and force her to the ground. She moved nimbly out of it's grasp, and when it fell forward past her she simply struck it down in one slice of her sword. It's upper and lower body hit the cement in two separate pieces. However, it was still writhing on the ground. It's upper body began pulling itself towards her, still trying to kill her.

Knowing that killing this thing would require fire, she reached deep within herself, feeling for her inner fire that was constantly burning, always trying to consume her. She kept it in strict control, releasing it only when needed. As she let loose her reigns on the fire, she felt it building up inside her chest, struggling to break free and cause chaos and destruction. Turning toward the thing's pieces, she released the fire upon it, feeling it singe her face and hair. Always it tried to turn itself back on her, but beyond a discomfort with the heat, she was immune to any fire, including her own.

After just a few seconds, she fought for control again, pulling the fire back and putting it in it's place. The pieces were just a black stain on the ground now. Sheathing her sword and shutting off her mp3 player, she approached the woman's body, and saw that she was unharmed, but knocked out. Seeing she was ultimately okay, she had been about to leave her there, but heard the discussion of a few homeless men further away down the alley, out of sight as yet but they were heading this direction and would come upon the woman's body still unconscious. She didn't want the men to have the chance to take advantage of her and have that on her conscience.

Grabbing one of the woman's hands, she lifted her easily and carried her to the street. It was very late night and aside from the usual night crowd, only a few people were wandering around nearby. She dropped the body by a shopkeep's locked door underneath a street light. She would wake in a few minutes, she could already hear the woman's breathing and heartbeat picking up their paces.

Walking quickly away, she reached a dark corner on the street. Another alley way. She stepped into the shadows, continuing to watch the woman from her hidden vantage point. She could sense the rising sun already. It was only an hour or so away. After a few minutes and she could see the woman moving, and sitting up with a frightened look on her face, she felt she was free of her obligations to her and began to leave.

Turning away from the street, walking deeper into the dark alley, she took off her coat. The early morning air felt cool and crisp on her skin. Her top, cut to allow her as much free movement as possible, bared most of her back to the sky. She stopped, and felt the breezing blowing across her face. Tilting her face to the sky, she unfurled her wings, spreading them wide behind her. They were leathery and thin, but incredibly strong, able to lift her weight in human form and much larger in her other form. They stretched out a good five feet either way behind her.

Holding her jacket close to her body, she lifted her wings, and in one smooth motion had taken off the ground and was now flying towards home.

copyright 2007 Shanna Wynne, all rights reserved