well here it is, the fourth chapter. another long one i'm afraid but it should be good. (hopefully) please review!
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Chapter 4
A low droning voice filled my ears; I assumed it was Rourke’s, lecturing me but I wasn’t listening, I couldn’t.
I glanced around at the dark, secluded part of the forest Rourke had brought me to, feeling as if the world was closing in on me. The trees seemed to press closer, the half moon seemed to taunt me, the leaves crunching under my feet whispered the one word I was desperate to avoid, monster. I shook my head, struggling to think.
I had just behaved like a total monster, and the cold hard truth was that I really was one. It hit me with such a rigid solidness that my mind was numb, my hands shaking, my breath quickening. I was a monster. The kind of thing people took weapons up against, had nightmares about, ran from… like I had. The fiery anger seeped into my veins again, why had Rourke stopped Guerin? Just so he could use me in his freak army? Just so he could prove to his precious leader that he was competent?
My eyes narrowed and a low growl rumbled in my throat.
There was a war raging in my chest; one part of me resisted giving into the anger again while the other side was in uproar that Rourke had done this to me. It seemed the longer I fought with myself, the louder the growls became. I was trapped inside myself, two twins fighting inside. Which one was I? Was I human? Or was I a monster? The feel of the fight, the look on the werecat’s face… it all leered before me, showing me proof of what I was. I didn’t believe it, my human side wouldn’t accept it. Surely I wasn’t all gone? Surely there was still some small part of me that remained as it once was? I had to believe it, I had to believe that I was still me. I wasn’t giving up yet.
“Are you paying attention?!” Rourke shouted suddenly, grabbing me by my shoulders and shaking me.
“Get your hands off me!” I yelled, jerking away from him.
“What is wrong with you?!” Rourke roared in frustration, “First you take on a full grown werecat, then you totally ignore me, and now you’re exploding in my face?! What’s up?”
“How would you know if something was wrong with me?! You don’t know me! You ruined my frikkin life! Recruited me into an army of monsters! You expect me to thank you?!” I shouted, shoving him back a few steps.
He slapped me. Hard. I raised a cold hand to my stinging cheek, eyes gone wide in surprise.
“You will respect me!” he commanded, eyes menacing.
“No! I’m out of here!” I screamed, turning around.
He swept my legs. I hit the cold wet ground. Leaves crunched under my weight and my hands, which were splayed from the impact, slowly flexed into tight angry fists.
I glared up at him, his sharp features twisted in rage, and exploded. Literally. With no warning, fur erupted from my skin, bones crunched and twisted into different shapes, muscles thickened, claws sprouted from my fingernails, my face lengthened, my fangs grew into daggers. I twisted in a spasm of painful discomfort, my entire body jolted suddenly. My muscles vibrated for a second, as if struck by lightning.
I let out a gasp of surprise. (At least it started as a gasp, towards the end it sounded more like a cat that had its tail stepped on) It was as if the monster in me had burst out of my skin, tearing its way to my mind from the inside out, leaving my feeble human husk behind.
Then, altogether, something pulsed through me. Something ancient, something familiar… instinct. The comforting customs of cats before my time ran through me, leaving me confident and ready to attack.
For a moment, I just stared at Rourke; savored the shock and fear on his face, flexed my new powerful body, twitched my tail, taking in my surroundings with newfound efficiency. Acting on the instinct I now had, I dropped my haunches and crept forward, enjoying the way my muscles tensed, the way my shoulders shifted powerfully, the way my claws clicked ominously against the ground. I was immortal.
Rourke started backing slowly away, holding his hands in front of him, fear evident on his face. I raised my lips to show my fangs and twitched my ears. My tail whisked back and forth while my whiskers quivered.
With a small effort from my powerful hindquarters, I launched myself at Rourke. He dodged to the side and I shot past him. It took all of three seconds to change course, launch myself at him again. This time I hit him full on, he fell, sprawled on his back against the leaves. Something lurked in the corner of my mind, elusive. This all seemed too familiar. I opened my jaws, snapped at his face, playing with him.
Gleeful now, I batted him with my enormous paws, letting him come so close to freedom and then yanking him back. Finally, my teeth hovering above his neck, I remembered what had seemed so familiar. It was all so much like when Guerin had caught up with me. Just before Rourke saved me from Guerin, just before he saved my life…
What was I doing?!
I scrambled off Rourke, letting him jump to his feet. I backed up slowly and sat down, my head lowered in a submissive pose. I asked forgiveness with my eyes.
His face was traced with lines of horror, slowly they softened as he realized I wouldn’t hurt him. Now, he glared at me, angry but wary.
Suddenly he glanced away, closing his eyes, “This is impossible”-I got the feeling he was talking more to himself than he was to me-“No one can transform without a full moon, no one! It’s impossible… This is… amazing! No, it’s impossible its… Llewellyn must be informed.”
He shook his head slowly then his eyes met mine, “Coden? Can you understand me?”
I bobbed my head up and down.
“Follow me then,” he asked, not commanding me this time.
I got to my feet (all four of them) and trotted up next to him. He began walking towards the fort. Every once in a while he would mutter ‘amazing’ or ‘impossible’.
Walking is so much more fun as a werecat. I mean, humans just stumble around, stomping their way like a herd of elephants through the forest but werecats, wow… werecats glide almost prowl silently, so silently that Rourke looked back at me several times to ensure I was still there.
The fort was an enormous span of sparsely placed brown buildings. In the center was a large building from which streamed a line of werecats. (Human form) As soon as we stepped into the moonlight, every one of them fixed their shock-widened eyes on me. I ducked my head habitually, though I knew they had already identified me by Rourke’s presence beside me.
We made our way through the curious werecats to Llewellyn’s quarters on the left side of the main building. Rourke raised a hand to knock and I glanced up at him. His face was grave. The three sharp raps of Rourke’s knuckles seemed to echo suspensefully through the fort.
From the other side of the door came a click and Llewellyn himself answered the door.
“Hey Rourke! How’s it…” he trailed off in the same shock that had encompassed everyone else when he caught sight of me, “Come in.”
The room’s interior was brown and wooden; one chair sat opposite a couch, there was a door in the right corner. He sat in the chair and motioned for Rourke to occupy the couch. I sat beside his feet. I looked around the room, taking in the surroundings with new curiosity. It was so barren and crude, why? Why, why, why, why, why… that seemed to be my new favorite thing to think.
“This is the girl I met before, Coden?” his eyes never left me as he questioned Rourke.
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Well, first she got into a fight with Griff, you remember him? Enormous, unusually powerful? She won. I took her into the forest to ask her about it and she got angry at me for turning her into a werecat, then she shoved me and I hit her and she tried to leave and then I swept her legs and then she glared at me and… exploded. She almost killed me.” Rourke rushed through his explanation and I was tempted to laugh at his likeness to a child who had been in a fight and was explaining it to their parent. I had a feeling his nerves were a little frayed.
“Why didn’t she?”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Why didn’t she kill you? If she was in a rage, why did she stop?”
“I don’t know. One minute her jaws were around my neck”-he gulped and rubbed his neck-“and the next she was off me, looking tame as a housecat.”
Llewellyn stared at me, as if he could lift the answers from my mind. I wish I could have told him that I didn’t have the answers.
He blinked, shaking his head suddenly, “This is… incredible! It’s impossible. It’s… it’s…” he gave a small cough of disbelief, closed his eyes again, and put his head in his hands.
We stared.
He jerked upright and threw his hands in his lap, “Well it’s pretty near mind boggling, is what it is!”
I glanced at Rourke; he was shaking. Slowly, he gained enough composure to ask, “Will she return to her human form soon?”
Llewellyn looked suddenly at Rourke, as if he had forgotten he was here, “I’m not sure… Extreme emotion got her there so maybe it will get her out? Or maybe extreme calm?” he shook his head, “Probably calm. I don’t know. Sleep, maybe. For now, she should just find her room and sleep. I think that will work.”
Sleep! How the heck was I supposed to sleep with so many questions still hopping around in my mind?! Besides, my cat side wanted to play!
The only thing that sucks about being a werecat is that you can’t talk.
“Yes sir,” Rourke nodded, standing up and walking to the door, “Come on Coden.”
I rose and prowled to the door.
Outside, it was crisp and cold. The feeling ran through me, leaving a deep desire to hunt or run around in the dark. Climb! Run! Pounce! I looked up at Rourke, he was staring straight, leading us towards the line of werecats.
Out of the corner of my eye, a small twitch of movement caught my attention. Without thinking, my muscles tensed and I launched myself into the air and caught it between my paws. It was a leaf.
Ha ha! I have you now, evil leaf! Now you shall pay for your actions! Never again shall you or any of your kin litter the forest floor beneath my feet! Take that as a lesson… yah. It was pretty pathetic.
A sound made my ear twitch to the left. Laughter. Rourke was pretty much cracking up at my antics.
Shut up! I meant to do that! It was all part of my plan to uhh…
I released my prisoner and rose to my full height, lifted my nose into the air. We continued walking, Rourke still chuckling every once in a while.
The mighty werecat stalks the forest realm, the image of terror and fear, killing humans and leaves alike. Yah… impressive.
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ta-da! if you got this far, you deserve a prize!
So, if anyone finishes an in-depth review before this, forgive me for repeating things.
