Unchained

She made her way to the mountains nearby. She felt better than she had in a long time. Stronger. She remembered everything from the night before. The beast had come back for her. Finally. She was magnificent. She lived. She was strong, fast, unstoppable. She killed and killed and didn't even bother eating everything. She started with homeless people but soon found herself picking off single men and women as she made her way to the man's house. She was drawn here. She didn't even notice she was in Altadena until her fifth kill.

She sighed happily. She could still remember the feeling of warm blood on her muzzle. The taste. The glorious taste. Her stomach rumbled from the memory. She'd eaten nothing else since waking. She had all of her teeth again and her hair was even better. She was strong again. Weak and small but stronger than before. The thing she spit out was... was probably just flesh from the diseased humans she feasted on. Even her stomach knew to reject the bad parts.

But now here she was. She found the man. Her company would be so pleased. So happy. She'd... they'd... What would they do? She couldn't remember any of them. What did she do? What was her company? No. No, she told herself. They would be pleased. She did well. She found him. By herself. But she couldn't meet him like this. Not weak like this. She had to be his equal. She had to show him her strength. She would never be his equal like this.

She was finding a comfortable spot to wait when she heard a voice behind her. "Woman." The voice creaked. Elizabeth froze. After an eternity, she turned her head. He was there. The man with no face. Her eyes immediately went down. No. Oh god, no. No. He wasn't real, was he?

"You find. You kill. You kill this man. You kill pet." She could see his legs crossed in front of him but she dared not look at his face.

"I... I found him. For my... for my company. I found him. Are... are you pleased?" She asked. Her voice was shaking and she hated herself for it.

The man laughed at her. "Stupid, stupid woman. So stupid. Did I make stupid? No. Already stupid. I make strong. Fast. Not stupid." Elizabeth started crying.

"I think, can't kill them. Not yourself. No. Can't kill them now. Weak. Stupid. Even good maker like me can't make castle with shit." He slapped her casually and stood. "Stay. Stay here. Tonight, you kill. Or die. Don't care. I make others. Better." His legs were blurry through her tears as he walked away.

CHAPTER 17

Her snakes were frantic. "Hole... sssssssee... can't... hole... can't... ssssssssssee... dissssssrupted..."

She paced in her room, following her own tail with her arms crossed beneath her breasts. She'd told Rob what she could. He had a rifle for scaring off coyotes or anything else but she made him promise to stay in the house. Her tail made a rough "shhh shhhh shhh shhh" sound on the floor as she paced.

"Nothing would happen during the daytime. Nobody does that. It has to be at night. Besides, I'm not going out at daytime. If they're going to attack during the day then I'll just do what I can here. When the sun starts to set, I'll go out and see what I can." Her snakes wove a pattern in the air while she talked. "Can't you guys see anything?"

"Sssssomething... block... ssssssstrong... block... ussssssss... ssssssssomething... blocking... ussssssss..."

"Great, okay. You mentioned before there was ways to make a strong pact. Is there anything we can do there?"

"Blood... Blood... Innocccccent... Death... Blood... Sssssssacrificcccceeeee..."

Victoria frowned. "No, I won't. That's out. I'd rather die than kill someone innocent. And I guess that's just what I'll do. Come nightfall, I'll go out. Whatever it is, I'll face it."

She found Rob loading his rifle. He blushed at her when she coughed. "You know, Rob, for a man that's been mind wiped and hypnotized, you don't follow directions very well."

"I... I just... I can't..." He stuttered.

"No. Here's what you're going to do. You're going to go into town the next few days. I have the cell phone you bought me. I will call you when it's safe to come back. If you don't hear from me tomorrow one way or the other then don't come back."

"But...!"

She stared at him, this poor man that's been abused and still loved her. Little lights flickered around the room - floating, dancing lights. She crooned to him, her voice sweet and husky at the same time while her snakes danced around her. "Robert Frank Poole, son of Scott Alaric Poole, hear me." Clear lights caressed Rob's face. "You will obey me in this. Go away from here. Wait to hear from me but never return if I die. Go now, Robert Frank Poole."

The lights faded and, without a word, Rob left. She whispered to him as he did. "I'm sorry."

She spent the rest of the day meditating. Sometimes she would watch the motes dance around her and sometimes she would close her eyes and rest. At 5 pm the sun was nearly gone. She watched it from the window, her eyes narrowed against its pale brightness. She stripped out of her shirt and bra - no sense wasting them. They won't help with whatever happens.

She stopped at the north entrance to the house, facing the mountain in the distance. "Let's see what we can see..." She told herself. She set out slowly, listening to things around her. Birds and small animals but nothing else. Her tongue flicked out and she tasted that blood scent in the air. North. The mountain. Of course.

She was thirty feet from the house before she heard the growling. She whipped around, tail at the ready and her claws out. Her snakes writhed on her head. The little lights cast eerie shadows in the twilight around the two shapes behind her. She didn't know what to expect but certainly not this.

They were... tigers but they were standing upright. Human. Tigers. Male. What do they call werewolf tigers? Is there a thing for that? They were growling at her, long thick tails lashing back and forth behind them. One was taller than the other and more muscular but they were both huge. The smaller one had four dark slashes of fur across his chest. They were not the smell from earlier. My, she thought. Their teeth are amazing. Her eyes dipped to their crotches but saw nothing other than a thick furry bulge. Damn.

She held up her hands. "Hi. Hi there. I... uhh... Yeah, I don't know what to say. This is my house, though. I'm not a bad guy." They growled louder. "No, seriously. Oh, shit. Yeah, I look bad but not all snakes are bad. Just... just misunderstood. Circle of life, you know?"

Her snakes were hissing loud in her ears. "Kill... kill... kill... kill..."

"Shut the hell up!" She whispered fiercely. "Oh. No, no, no. Not you guys. Look, there's something out here. Something bad. If its you guys, then I'll see what I can do against two huge tiger men. If not... I smelled something earlier. Blood. Something bad. I'm looking for that and its not you guys. Are you part of it?"

The larger tiger looked at the smaller one. They stopped growling. She couldn't help but admire them. The larger one was huge. Reared up, she was taller than him but only barely. Even through the fur she could make out each muscle in their body. Her eyes kept being drawn to their crotches. What did that look like, she wondered. She felt herself getting wet. Dammit. The smaller one glanced at her and almost grinned, large sharp teeth behind thick black lips. The tall one tapped the smaller one on the chest, right on the dark slashes of fur. He made the universal neck slicing motion with his claw.

"Right. Right? I..." And then her sense went wild. She heard a woman's scream coming from the base of the mountain. Horrible bone cracking noises followed. The two tigers leaped past her towards the noise. It was incredible to see them move and she wondered if she was that fast. She followed behind them but let them lead.

Halfway to the rocky hills at the foot at the mountain, one of the hills moved. She stopped but the other two kept running, streaking for the smell of blood. She watched in awe as the hill broke apart, pieces of it forming rough arms and legs. It stood in the rough approximation of a human but without a head of any kind. The sound of it moving sent shivers down her spine. It took three shambling steps forward, smaller pieces of rock raining down around it.

"God damn." She whispered. "What is that thing? Thirty feet tall? Forty? More?" She watched it take two more steps. "Fuck! Those guys!" The two tigers were near the monstrosity when it brought its massive fist down on the taller one. The tiger twisted at the last possible moment but the rock first crashed down on his lower body. She heard a sickening crunch and a roar of pain. The tiger's lower body looked like bags of meat as he dragged himself away with his hands.

The rock giant's other arm was in motion. "Shit, shit, shit, shit! Stop!" Victoria yelled. Small lights blazed around the landscape. She called to them, praying they were fast enough. Brown and green lights dove for the giant's arm, completely surrounding it and then suddenly pulling away. As they did, the arm disintegrated, raining rocks of various sizes around the hurt tiger. The giant stood and tilted before correcting itself.

Victoria felt out of breath but she ran. Slithered. And she was fast. The giant's leg was raised, coming down for the tiger but she was already there, scooping him into her arms. He roared at her but she kept moving. The thump of the foot behind her lifted her entire body in the air. So, she could fly, she thought. She pulled back her torso, aiming her tail for the impact. When she did land, she felt the stress on her bones all the way to her neck. She almost dropped the tiger in her arms but laid him down gently instead. One of his legs seemed fine already.

She turned to face the creature. "Rock, huh? Bad idea, guy." She closed her eyes and clapped her hands together, rubbing them briskly. She watched him, concentrating on its torso. Breathing deeply in and out she willed herself to feel the ground beneath her, to feel the rocks and dirt. "Now. Come apart." She whispered. This time a tornado of brown and green lights surrounded the creature. Her body ached. "Gentle, little guys. You don't need that much. He's made of you. Go easy."

With a sound like two massive boulders grinding against each other, the giant's chest evaporated. A huge dust cloud floated away from it, covering everything.

"Haaaaah... haaaah.... haaaahahahaa!" Victoria yelled. As the legs and arm crashed down around them, the taller tiger was up and moving. With the giant gone she could hear a roaring yell. The smaller tiger was facing off against another tiger. Female, she noticed. And big. The female's left arm was entirely black and as she slashed, trails of gray smoke followed her claws. She followed the large male tiger. That female was the bloody smell. Her scent was rancid.

"What's wrong with her?" She asked.

"Already... sssssss... dead... disssseased... already... dead... curssssssed... Wait... wait... wait..." Her snakes told her.

She heard rumbling from a smaller hill behind her.

Victoria stopped. Her snakes were moving - all of them searching. One stopped and hissed loudly. The other turned in the same direction. "There... there... there... Far... too... too... far..." She turned to look. Sitting on a small boulder, one hundred feet away from her was a small figure. A bald man, she thought. Too far to stone, then? He was wearing rough, simple clothing with a belt of small pouches. As she watched, he turned to look at her. He grinned and his mouth was full of black, rotting teeth.

Victoria grinned back. The world was awash in a sea of lights and the creature was sitting on a rock. She waved to the little thing cheerfully, smiling her best smile. Its grin faded away to a look of confusion. The air around him began to shimmer.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the smaller hill starting to stand, another giant made of rock.

Victoria stopped waving and made a fist with the same hand. The rock beneath the small figure liquefied instantly, dropping him into it. Her fist opened and it was a rock again. Differently shaped but still a rock. The rock giant behind her made a sound that vibrated the bones in her body before collapsing.

"Yessssss... yessssssssss... good... yesssssss..." Her snakes sang, rubbing against her face.

She turned to the tigers again. The smaller male was down and struggling to move. His chest was open, steaming in the cold air. The female had blood running down her left arm and a cut in her right side. The tall male's left arm was at his side, dangling. She ran to him. When she thought she was close enough she called the lights down and felt the pulse from her snakes. The female stumbled, coughing grey dust before dodging a swipe from the male.

The male turned to her and roared, anger plain on its wide white, orange and black face. "Fine. Fine. Go ahead. Die, moron." She turned to help the fallen tiger but the other two blocked her path. As she watched, the male's left arm twitched back to life and came up to slice the female's face. The female pulled back, snapping her jaws at him.

"If you could just... get... get out of the way!" She told them, trying to find a way around to the tiger on the ground.

The female lunged at the male, mouth open with teeth flashing. The male stopped and raised his arms wide. "Noooo!" Victoria yelled. She watched the female sink her teeth into the fur of the male's stomach. He roared and fell with her, grabbing her claws away from rending his flesh. She buried her muzzle in him instead. Muscles stood out on the male's neck, back and arms. His biceps bulged and vibrated. He was roaring so loud. He locked his legs around the female and tightened them. A crack sounded the end of the female's left arm. Another crack and her right arm fell, almost separated from her shoulder. The female pulled her bloody muzzle back to scream - an almost human scream. Something slick and white hung from her mouth. Victoria was afraid to know what it was.

The male wrapped his arms around the female's neck as she roared, snapping her jaws shut with the pressure. Victoria watched the female's feet scrabble against the ground, sending clouds of dirt and rocks everywhere. Muffled sounds came from her muzzle. The tall mall grunted, twisting in a sudden motion and the female's body went limp. His jaws were almost immediately at her throat, biting and tearing. Victoria turned away. When the terrible chewing noise passed, she looked back to find the female's head laying several feet from the bottom. There was no blood coming from the neck.

The tall male, his face painted nearly black with blood was staggering to the other tiger. Wet, wriggly tubes hung from his stomach as he curled his right arm around himself. He knelt by the other tiger. Victoria moved to help with what she could.

It was worse than she thought. There was a literal hole in his chest and half of the tiger's heart was gone. The other half was ringed with blackened tissue. She watched the heart try to beat as the blackness ate away at the living tissue. Blood dribbled from his mouth and his chest slowly rose and fell. The larger tiger laid his head against the other one. The smaller tiger slowly reached a trembling hand up to lay against the larger tiger's muzzle. The larger one nuzzled the hand and sobbed.

Victoria called the lights down to him, willing them to repair the damage. She watched them stream into the chest and get swallowed by the blackness. She tried and tried until she could barely hold herself up. Finally, his heart stopped beating and his hand fell away. The larger tiger leaned back and roared, loud and long.

Victoria bent over and gently laid a hand on the smaller tiger's face. She said a small prayer for his soul, willing him to whatever paradise awaited him.

Her snakes turned over and over. "Ssssssss... blood... sssssss.... sssssacrificccccce.... blood... yesssssss..."

Victoria fainted.

CHAPTER 18

She wasn't next to the fire as she expected to be - she was standing in a town. An ancient town, filled with villagers in rough, unfamiliar clothing. Families were going about their business while small children played. Nobody noticed her or paid attention to her.

As she watched, a line of people marched down the center of the street. Perhaps twenty adults, men and women, walked in a line. Their eyes were grim and determined. In the middle of the line was a young girl with dark black hair. Her head was bowed and her eyes were closed. Her feet dragged on the rough ground as she was dragged unconscious, her thin white shift cleaning to her.

"Hey! What the fuck do you people think you're...!" Nobody heard her. Nobody turned to look at her. She took a step and found herself in the trees, still behind the odd procession of people. She looked around to find the town behind her.

"What?" She took another step and she was out of the trees, standing before a large mountain. The group of people were there too and they split apart, ten people going left around the mountain and ten people going right. One adult male held the child. He carried a crude pack with sticks and ropes tied behind him. As she watched, he walked up the mountain. She followed the man and after a single step, found herself at the top of the mountain.

The man plunged a wooden stick in the dirt. The girl was on her side, still out. She was surrounded by five wooden stakes. Slowly, the man took his rope. He tied one end to a stick and wrapped the other end around the girl's neck. He was not gentle. Another rope tied a stake to the girl's arm. By the time he was done, her neck, arms and legs were tied to stakes. He sat on the ground next to her.

Victoria looked around. She could see more mountains to the north and a huge amount of water to the west. Around the base of the peak they were on were the twenty other adults. Her eyes strained to see them but they each stood by a large fire and that helped to pick them out. She thought she could see some villagers coming out of the trees to see what was happening.

The man started to speak. She had no idea what language he was speaking but it was vaguely familiar. When he stopped talking, the girl opened her eyes. Victoria's breath hissed out. The girl's eyes were pure black. No pupil. No white. Pure, dark black. The girl was angry but didn't struggle.

The man nodded and raised his hands. Clouds gathered above them. Lightning flashed. The man began chanting in a different language. Victoria could feel the ground rumbling beneath her. Other faint voices joined in the chanting. Sudden fierce rain and wind lashed against her. Lightning struck again and again until she felt she would go blind from the light.

The chanting reached a crescendo and then suddenly stopped. The world held its breath. Nothing moved. The man lowered his hands slowly into his lap.

The ground beneath her erupted and she was consumed in a hell of roaring red flames.

When she could see again, she was in a different place. Modern. The streets were narrow and filled with cars. People laughed and spoke to each other. She thought the language was Italian. Mothers gossiped and old men smoke pipes while watching everyone else.

Her eyes were drawn to the end of the street. A young girl wearing a dirty gray shift walked barefoot towards her. Her pure black eyes looked neither left nor right. People looked away at her approach, not even aware they were doing it. The girl walked slowly, determined.

She stopped in front of Victoria and looked up, as if seeing her. Victoria thought she could drown in those eyes. She felt trapped by them.

The girl knelt and pulled her shift over her head, exposing her lean naked body. She went to her hands and knees. Thin red lines ripped down the skin of each shoulder blade. Beneath the skin was not the white of bone or pink of flesh. It was black. Leather black skin stretched out of the cuts, growing larger and larger.