Rogue Moon (unedited(complete)

chapter 9

~Seraphina

Waking up, I found that the night had finally set in, and with it came the chill of cold air. Shivering, I sat up from my spot on the floor of the cave and looked around. Of course... Just as I thought, This wasn't a dream.

Glancing over at the cave entrance and I could see the wolf beast laying on its side, fast asleep.

I shivered as cold wind from outside nipped at my skin. Standing up I hugged myself to keep warm. How did i even manage to sleep the night before... Oh wait, I had that mangy beast laying on top of me...

I glared at the monster before me, but my anger quickly sizzled down when I noticed how uncomfortable it looked... The way it was sleeping was anything but ideal, not to mention its wounds didn't look any better...

Instinctively I touched my injured shoulder but to my surprise, I felt nothing? Looking down I moved my shirt off to the side and amazingly the skin was smooth and flawless? Not a mark or scar left behind. How was that even possible?

Glancing over at the beast I thought about how it licked my wound. Did that have anything to do with it? Did I misjudge the creature?

Carefully I walked up behind the beast, it stirred in its sleep and let out a small whine. I could tell it was in pain.

Kneeling down I looked over the claw marks on its side and shoulder. Most animals would have died from such deep wounds... Much less be up and walking around. I sighed and watched it stir uncomfortably in its sleep. There was nothing I could do for the beast even if I wanted to...

Looking it over I noticed the glint of metal around its neck. Curious I moved closer and hesitantly I touched the beast's shoulder to get a better look. When it didn't wake up I looked closer.

The metal around its neck seemed like some kind of collar and at the front of it, I could see a pendant... One that looked familiar...

A dark red ruby with silver bracing hung from the collar, and it felt ominous. Carefully I reached out to touch it.

As if reacting to something the ruby started to glow and the familiar ear-piercing sound came back giving me a headache. I covered my ears to block it out but it didn't seem to help at all.

The wolf beast squirmed then started to thrash around as it woke up. The sound stopped but I could still see the ruby faintly glowing in the dark. Standing up I took a step back as the beast thrashed and snarled. Its eyes shot open glowing bright yellow and its lips were pulled back in a snarl.

Its claws dug into the ground as it stood up hunched over. I stepped further away from the beast.i could feel my stomach drop. Something was wrong...

As if sensing me its eyes locked onto me and it snarled. This wasn't the same monster that had a look of intelligence.

It stepped towards me with the hair on its back sticking upright.a blood drained from my face as my breath hitched. This thing wanted me dead.

My heart started to race and I glanced at the entrance to the cave. I needed to run, but even before the beast wanted to kill me I didn't stand a chance of escaping.

Another snarl had me looking back at the creature. It might not have harmed me before but something tells me it no longer wanted to keep me... Now I was nothing more than prey.

I looked around me, I needed some way to escape. My eyes stopped as I looked at the ground covered in dirt. It wasn't much but it was all I had. I hesitated before quickly grabbing a handful of dirt.

At my sudden movement, the creature lunged towards me.

Throwing the dirt in its face I successfully managed to blind the beast. I rammed into the cave wall before backing up and shaking its head.

"Now's my chance!" I ran outside and blindly went into the dark forest. I needed to hide!

A howl pierced the silence of the night and this time I didn't dare look back.

Soon enough I came across the creek from before. Looking around I found the area I had first traveled through when I had found the creek, and an idea came to mind.

The rustle of leaves had me running for the dried-up path I traveled on just the other day. I knew the beast was going to catch up to me any second so I pushed myself to run harder until I came across what I was looking for.

I smiled at the sight of the small den, dug out under the tree, running over to it I crouched down and looked inside before climbing in. A snarl broke through the treeline and I shrieked as the monster came barreling towards me, just as I crawled into the hole.

Its teeth snapped at me barely missing my arm. A deep growl could be heard before it attempted to reach into the hole with one of its clawed arms. I watched in horror as it started to claw at the dirt, it was going to dig the opening big enough so that it could reach me.

I started to shake and pressed myself against the back of the small den to avoid its claws. It proceeded to bark and snarl at me through the small opening. For a moment it pulled away and circled the den, I thought it was giving up until I felt the tree shake, and heard a loud thud. It was attacking the tree?!

It continued its assault and I could hear the craking of wood as dirt particles fell from the roof of the den. I nearly screamed when it came back over to the entrance and clawed at me once again.

It started to push against the tree and I was almost certain it was going to uproot my only shelter.

This was the monster I remembered from my childhood, this was the creature that I had nightmares about, that would stop at nothing to kill me. I yelped as another hard thud shook the tree. And I could see the roots were starting to loosen up from the dirt.

I needed to do something but I had no chance against the monster. It reached in again trying to claw at me. This thing was going to kill me...

Its claws were mere inches away from reaching me. My heart threatened to burst from my chest as I kicked at its arm.

This only seemed to piss off the creature more and in turn, it sunk its claws into my leg. I screamed at it dragged me out of the hole. It felt like fire as its claws buried themselves into my flesh.

Tears blurred my vision as I looked up at the snarling monster above me. It glared down at me and I watched as it opened its maw ready to tear into me. I pushed against the monster's chest in a feeble attempt to hold it back and my hand touched the pendant that hung from its collar.

I screamed as its fangs came down on my neck. "Stop!!"

I waited for the end... I waited for its teeth to rip out my throat. After a moment I opened my eyes to see the creature had stopped its fangs were hovering over my skin, I could feel its hot breath as it was ready to tear into me. But it was as if it was frozen. I looked into its eyes and I could see the golden glow was fading.

I was shaking and couldn't stop the tears from streaming down my face. It slowly moved its mouth away from my neck and let go of my leg. It seemed to finally snap out of whatever enraged state it was in and looked down at me confused.

As if realizing what it had done it quickly backed away from me, looking me over it shook its head then ran off into the forest.

Once it was gone I moved onto my side and looked down at my bleeding leg. Sobs racked my body as I curled up on the ground. I've never felt so afraid in my life, I couldn't stop myself from shaking, at this point I couldn't tell if I was shaking from the cold or fear.

I felt weak...weak and afraid... Why was I even still alive?... Was it luck?...

I didn't even flinch when a howl pierced the night. I had a feeling the beast would come back...it would finish what it started...

Closing my eyes I waited for it's return...