Moon Blood (COMPLETE)

Chapter Fourteen: A Scent of Death

Perhaps it was dumb luck, but as soon as Neil heard the door practically splinter under that woman's fist, his heart burned and his skin itched all over. He groaned and his palms steadied him on the floor as muffled instructions barked left and right. He knew it was tonight, but why now? Right at this second? He was at his most vulnerable during his transformations.

It only seemed to fuel the banging. It became louder, and more desperate. Lily braced the grain with her shoulder but it was evident it was barely a temporary measure.

Yowls and howls began to grow from the other side. Frantic scrabbling claws.

Daisy changed first. Not even making a sound and leaving her clothes in a fabric puddle on the floor. A magnificent tan wolf stood in her place, growling with wide brown eyes and underneath, her canines extended and even her mouth seemed to get bigger with it. Through the heat of his own change, Neil saw how little ceremony there was in it, unlike his. He gathered himself in a ball as the tremors ripped through him once again. Why was it so inconsistent? When he'd been with Ruby in the woods on that magical afternoon, he'd changed without even realising. He could not anticipate whether a transformation would be as smooth as slipping into silk sheets or like his insides were trying to escape his body. Unfortunately, this time was most certainly the latter. He groaned and grimaced under his burning skin.

Lilly transformed next, the claws on her front paws extending and pulling at the earth beneath them. She howled to her sisters, and Ruby also changed, almost on command. As before, her great wings unfurled above her and Neil practically cowered underneath these powerful creatures. They all tensed as the door buckled once again.

Little women. Let us in. We know you have the male in there. Our male.

He could hear that woman's voice in his head, and it made Neil quake. She sounded just like she had that night at the bus stop, only it echoed right between his ears. He whimpered.

Don't worry. I'm here for you. Ruby's silver and white head looked at him, teeth bared and ready to fight. Neil looked down at his front paws, and wished he hadn't agreed to the manacles. A rage was burning in his belly. Unquenchable, unable to be doused. He wanted to fight, to help Ruby and the rest rather than just sit here and hope to not be taken away.

Untie me! He said to nothing and no one. His voice wouldn't leave his head, and he growled in frustration at his impotence. Why didn't Lilly, Daisy and Ruby trust him?

The door buckled, splintered, and finally gave. In came two wolves like liquid immediately after. The one with the neck tendrils leapt on Lilly with inhuman speed. The other grabbed Daisy by her scruff and jumped onto her back.

The sounds, the smells. The sight of these women fighting, trying to bite each other. Neil looked from one to the other, and a hot flush shuddered through him, making him tremble. It was so overwhelming, he lowered onto his hocks and his muzzle hit the floor. Everything tingled, saliva ran down his tongue and pooled on the floor. He cursed inside himself. Why now? Why here? This was the most inappropriate time for his body to want to do anything except run or fight.

He was completely incapacitated. Just like when those she-wolves pinned him before, his body reacted in just the same way, only not as fierce as this. It was too much, and his entire body crumpled and folded, shuddering in a pathetic heap. Around him, the yowls and yelps of the women melted into the background, and he smelled blood but it didn't seem to matter. Just an overwhelming heat. Is this what it was supposed to feel like?

He blacked out.

*****

Neil saw Rachel in his mind's eye. Her hair up high on her head, just like that night, and wearing the same clothes too. She stood still, looking at him with glassy eyes.

Why couldn't he sleep without her staring at him? Scrutinising his sleep, boring into his head.

He tried to approach her, but his feet were stuck. He looked down. Chains were wound around him like vines, and as soon as he noticed, they pulled taut and yanked him to the floor. The floor was slick with her blood: he could recognise its smell anywhere.

I like you. A lot. Her last words she'd said to him bounced about in his skull, and yet her lips didn't move. She stood there like stone.

"Leave me! Leave me alone! Please." He knew exactly what it was that pressed into the back of his eyes and made them hot with tears. The taste on his teeth reminded him at the moment just before he passed out at night, fatigued with fear of seeing her every new moon. Without proof, definitive proof of her death, a hope rotted his heart, protecting it from the reality of what he knew was true. He just couldn't bear to admit it. Not yet.

A hand slick with cold blood touched his face. A face now void of fur or muzzle, and he looked up. Rachel looked back, an unreadable expression on her gentle face.

Her hair grew long and black and her clothes melted away to reveal a woman he had seen many times before. Taut and trained stomach muscles flexed as Ruby's hand reached down and stroked his cheek, leaving a red mark like a paintbrush. She was freezing. Neil looked up and saw a monster.

Rachel's grotesque, half-eaten face looked back at him, but he saw Ruby too, equally bloodied and smiling at him. He shrieked but that only seemed to invite the creature closer. It slunk almost, buckled by the weight of its body, or a bloated corpse in the water trying to fight the weights attached to it.

Almost there.

*****

Neil awoke screaming.

At least, his throat attempted to scream. He could tell that with his body the way it was, a scream was no longer possible. And also, his muzzle had been bound and so his scream had turned into a pathetic and muffled bark.

"Good evening, pup."

That voice. Her voice. It sent shivers down his tail. He couldn't see anything but he could smell her, he could smell them all, along with blood and metal and cold stone.

From what he could tell, he was slumped on the floor. A marble floor potentially as there was no purchase to be found when he moved his paws. His claws clicked against it, causing a murmur amongst his captors.

He shivered, the feeling of milk pouring over his bones flooded his body before a violent case of pins and needles.

"What the hell? Hettie, what's happening to him?"

Neil grimaced and fought through the pain. Perhaps it was out of spite, or anger that made his body freeze and burn and change shape once again. He could tell his body was returning human by the way his toes flexed.

A scent of Rachel's hair.

He flinched. "Wait!" He jumped up, only to find his wrists bound and also, to his horror, stark naked. As quick as a scalded cat his hands flew to protect his modesty. Far too late, but it was an instinct almost.

"It's too bad we were late this month, but there's always next month. You'd better get comfy, pup." The tall woman grabbed his chin and stared him in the eye. "You're our honoured guest for the entire month."