Page 157 of Let Us Prey

The light from my talisman glows with the same electric blue as my eyes, crawling over my body until I’m completely enveloped in its power. Obsidian covers my skin and my normally lithe frame expands up and out until I tower over my friend. My wings and tail stretch, while my fangs and claws sharpen with the full effect of my transformation.

It feels good to let the beast out.

“If he did, he’s in for a nasty surprise. We have no idea if our girl can retain higher brain functions fully shifted, much less if she has magic to wield,” my companion finally replies as he follows my lead and transforms into an enormous blue dragon.

I nod, hoping Chess doesn’t allow his emotions to lead him into doing something reckless. Since my exploration of the tunnels with the cheetah, he’s been driven to help protect our girl and I worry it will override his common sense. He’s not an alpha animal and can’t react with both the animal and human sides of his mind.

“Are we saving our girl, or are you going to brood at the moon all night?” the dragon growls, small puffs of smoke escaping his nostrils. “The longer we wait, the further away she gets.”

I chuckle softly at his prickliness. He’s worried as fuck about herand has no idea how to handle it. “Alright, Flames. It’s time to fly.”

Enhancednight vision is a blessing when you’re searching the night for your missing magical rabbit girlfriend.

Aubrey and I have made several passes over the forest, and now we’re headed towards the east side of campus where the training ring is located. I’ve had to coax my old friend out of simply burning the entire place down—despite the obvious drawbacks of that solution—at least four times. He’s belching fire and billowing smoke like a volcano, and if the campus didn’t know there was a dragon in their midst before, there’s no mistaking it now.

My fear for her safety, and the safety of others, is all-consuming, but Aubrey needs my calm support right now.

Suddenly, a flash of white appears in the corner of my eye, and I adjust my course to get a better look. A column of flames rockets past the tip of my wing, and I whip my head around to glare at the infuriated dragon. “Careful! I saw something. Let’s take a closer… without scaring her off.”

I’ve barely finished speaking when Aubrey dives for the ground like a heat-seeking missile, and I groan under my breath. If it’s not our girl, he’s likely to fry whatever unfortunate shifter distracted him from his search. Flexing my wings into position, I angle myself toward the snowy fur, intent on hitting the ground before he wrecks havoc with his anger.

My landing isn’t particularly graceful given my speed, but at least I’m close enough to intervene before he goes berserk. “Aubrey, we have to be calm; Dolly may be frenzied. She needs us to help her gain control of her animal brain, and you,mon fougueux ami, need to find your zen to help me follow this trail.”

Sliding into a half-shift, he glances behind me before smirking. “You mean the trail of blood behind you?”

The scent finally registers and I turn in the direction he’s staring. My hands tighten into fists as I see the haphazard drops and splatters leading across the field toward the Shird. I close my eyes for a brief second, taking my advice, then nod at Aubrey. Together, we follow the trail in hunting formation as more blood and… what looks like entrails… appear in our path.

“Troubling,” the dragon rumbles softly.

“More like… curious...” I reply as the gore leads us through the patio area behind the arts building and towards the edge of the lake.

Aubrey snorts, his reptilian eyes full of the worry he’s trying to get a handle on. “Curious? Aren’t you concerned that Dolly’s in trouble? Look at this fucking massacre, Rennie.”

I think about it for a moment, realizing that as we’ve prowled along this trail, my worry for her safety has actually lessened. My concern for everyone else, however, is rising by the second. This trail of fluids and fleshy chunks is not our girl—it’s someone who made the mistake of crossing her path. I just hope it wasn’t anyone she’d regret ripping limb from limb when she emerges from whatever headspace she’s in.

“No, actually.Ma petitehas transformed into a shifter who can truly take care of herself from now on—once she learns to control it. The how and why this happened are vital to understanding the events of tonight. However, at the moment, our focus has to be on locating and helping her through what had to be a terrifying realization.”

“Not to mention cleaning up this fucking mess,” he grumbles. “Let’s not forget the paperwork involved in an accidental death on campus, either.”

Barking a laugh, I look over at my companion. “Nothing trumps your bone deep hatred of paperwork, does it,mon ami?”

He pauses for a moment, turning to look at me seriously. “Humor aside, Rennie, how do you propose we get a newly changed magical shifter to leave the primal hunger phase and come back to reality? It’s not like we’ve ever met one. What are we going to do—tie her up until the moonlight fades?”

“As fun as that might be, I don’t think shibari is the answer you always seem to think it is.” He gives me a fangy grin and shrugs as I tilt my head. “For now, we need to figure out who these pieces belong to, subdue her, and strategize from there. I’m uncertain how strong the magic part will make her—we’ll need to research that later—so let’s proceed with caution.”

“Got it. Identify leftovers, pin her down, and then decide how to calm her,” Aubrey repeats as we move again.

The trail is heading towards the Tower, and I’m fairly sure that at least one shifter is dead, if not more, based on the detritus on the ground. Something in her brain, even as animalistic as it may be at the moment, sent her running towards our home. That bodes well for our mission to soothe her until she shifts back.

I hope.

Winding our way around the base of the Tower, we approach the courtyard carefully. Aubrey sucks in a breath, pausing as we take in the sight in front of us. I stop as well, muttering softly, “Until at last, serene and proud, In all the splendor of her light, She walks the terraces of cloud, Supreme as Empress of the Night.”

Standing in the center of the courtyard, bathed in moonlight, is a rainbow haired rabbit shifter. She’s surrounded by swirling magic and holding the head of Professor Abel in her clawed hand.

Our girl whips her head towards us, ears twitching as she roars an unmistakable warning through elongated fangs. The sound makes my eyes flash and my tail flick, although not in agitation—mygargoyle likes it. A blast of smoke fills the air as my dragon companion chuckles to himself, despite the seriousness of our situation.

The white fur around Dolly’s mouth is stained like a sociopathic clown did her lipstick. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why we’ve been dodging chunks of flesh as we tracked her down.

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