Page 80 of Werewolves Don't Howl
Except that Cross was in love with me and would be miserable without me. Where was he? Had something happened to him while I was struggling in the bushes?
My beast, my gnome, and my elf strained my senses, but I couldn’t hear anything other than distant screams. Was he hurt?
I dove out of the way of Lo-beast’s claws, following the exact training Harold had drilled into me every day for four hours for months. Were there any useful seeds I could use? There was an oak tree on the other side of the enclosure, old, elegant, thirty feet above, but it dropped a lot of leaves and seeds on this side of the fence.
I rolled between the Lo-beast’s legs and slashed her right flank before leaping to the side. I made my way in the general direction of the oak, stretching out my song to those beautiful acorns, searching for something with optimal viability.
I barely got out of the way when Loren jumped on me, but her claws brushed my side, barely anything, but those claws were like shovels heaving my blood and flesh out of me. I stumbled to the side and summoned gnomish healing while stretching the elven growing, sinking roots deep, deep, deep, while a tiny sapling shot up. How far was I from that?
“You’re awesome,” I told myself, because I needed some encouragement.
She gave this horrific laugh/screech that made my beast shiver along with all the rest of me. “I am the culmination of every study done to improve humanity.” She snarled, baring her teeth. “He doesn’t understand. He thinks that the beast is an unfortunate side-effect, not a beautiful fulfillment of true potential.”
I stared up at the monster with absolutely no beauty I could see. “Is that why he sent you away from the office, to hide your beast?”
Her rough growl was worse than nails on a chalkboard. “I had to check to make sure Ridley didn’t leave any evidence behind in Golden City, proving his innocence. He didn’t.” Enormous trails of drool hung from her gleaming teeth. She slurped with her tongue, dragging it all back behind her chompers.
Shudder. “You’re the one who left evidence in your apartment. I found the kitten with the constellation on the collar.”
She snarled and swiped at me. “He’s mine! You stole my creature! I’ll never forgive you for turning her against me!”
She was so fast, and so big. I blocked, but only ended with shredded arms. I stumbled back into the corner of the enclosure, tumbling down the hill to the bottom into the pile of leaves.
My baby tree wasn’t big enough to contain that monster.
She crouched on top of the hill, eyes gleaming, ready to pounce.
An enormous ball of fluff hit her from the side, knocking her down and out of sight. I carefully pulled myself upright, sending a fresh wave of bleeding out of my many wounds. Okay then. I’d just sit this one out. My wolf drained out of me, leaving me a cold, shivering elf-gnome. Also naked. Somewhere not too far distant was a party filled with screaming socialites. If any of them saw me like this, I’d wish I was dead. The world grew bleary until I forgot what I was doing. The tree. Right. I focused on the roots, summoning them closer as my blood soaked the ground. My blood would be great if I were a dark sorcerer. Then again, this experimental serum that had turned me into a beast probably had some dark sorcerer in there. Pity I had no idea how dark sorcerers used blood to feed their spells.
I started singing, soft at first, but louder as the night responded, wrapping around me with an ominous undertone that matched my beast and part of my elf that was angry that Cross might be killed by someone else. She was seriously cold. Is that how my dad was before he fell under my mother’s gnome spells? Also, how was it possible that Cross wasn’t spelled into love for me? That made no sense for him to fall in love with my song without some kind of external push.
Where was he? I sang louder, calling him to me, but also feeding the soil my blood and pain. The roots stirred, growing in strength until with a shriek a tiny ball of fluff came flying through the air to land in the pile of leaves beside me.
The kitten twitched and then lay still. What kind of monster kills kittens? I surged to my feet, my anger and horror fifty times greater than the time Ridley marked my cashmere. I screamed as Lo-beast came flying off the hill towards me. I threw my hands together, and the tree shadowed me, clapping the enormous beast in its branches, pulling it into its core. The beast clawed and snapped, but the oak was alive, angry, and more monster than plant.
I didn’t need to control it, not when I’d fed it my anger and my purpose. The tree grew around her, bark coating the fur, branches bursting through her body, coming out in a rush of blood-soaked leaves. The oak loved her blood and reveled in it, groaning and cracking as it drained her life and became a true monster tree, thirty feet, forty, fifty… until I couldn’t look up that high anymore.
I searched the dried leaves until I found the limp body of my sweet kitten. I snuggled her against my chest while my heart beat precariously. I’d lost too much blood to stand without weaving. Still, I’d heal quickly, and I needed to get Lynx help.
“Lynx, my precious, you are so brave and cute! What kind of snacks should we get when we leave here? What about sushi?”
I swear, she twitched at the mention of it. I held her tight while I walked on my unsteady legs up the hill through the thick leaves. The main pad had a deep ditch all around that side so whatever was in here couldn’t climb up and out. Maybe I could get zoo personnel to bring a ladder. No, they were probably busy with the distant screaming, although that had faded to a low moaning.
“Where are you going?” Forsythia hissed at me.
I paused and looked towards the rail where she stood, mangled peacock feathers dangling down over her right shoulder. “Do you have a ladder?” I whispered back. Why were we whispering when the beast’s snarls and the tree’s groans and snapping were still so loud?
She gestured me back the way I’d come, throwing a look towards the far end of the enclosure. “It’s woken up, and it’s coming.”
I stared at her blankly and then I looked into the shadows and heard a growl and a snort. Oh. The enclosure’s resident beast had come out to play. It wasn’t going to eat Lynx, and I didn’t have enough strength to put up a fight, not to mention that it wouldn’t be fair to attack an animal in its own home.
I turned and slid back down the hill towards the enormous tree, only a few of the Lo-beast’s limbs sticking out while the trunk ran with her blood.
“Now what?” I asked.
“Tell the tree to grow a limb to take you out!” she called.
“Right. Tree,” I said, leaning a hand against the slick wood. “Would you please grow a branch for me that can take me away from the animal? It’s not the enemy.”
