They swung open the cage door, cattle prods at full power, humming with electricity. The man lazily lifted his hands in surrender. "Now, now." He said softly. His voice was like velvet. "No need. I'll do as you please." The man in the cage said, his...
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Theo watched Clara in the mirror, tracking the throbbing pulse in her neck. Her mouth salivated, and the presence in her mind hissed its command.
'Bite her.'
She opened her mouth, an almost inaudible growl clawing its way up her throat. Clara's eyes flashed up to her own in the mirror. The soft way they crinkled at the corners stopped her imminent lunge.
"Miss?" Clara asked as Theo shut her eyes tightly to keep burning tears of guilt from making their way down her cheeks. "Is everything alright? Did I pull too hard?" She fretted, fussing over her hair with tiny fingers. "I've never handled hair like yours, so if I'm doing something wrong please tell me."
"No." Theo forced out, opening her glassy eyes once more. She couldn't take much more of these new thoughts that had been plaguing her. The shame was overwhelming. She couldn't look herself in the eyes when they arose, or think too hard on them, so instead she distracted herself. "Can I ask you something?" Clara fidgeted uncomfortably, setting down the brush, but nodded.
"Why are you here? In Ilaross, I mean," Theo prodded.
Clara let out a soft sigh, and her face fell into a dark shadow. "It wasn't my intention to be here." The young woman started. "Seven years ago, when I was little, women in town began to go missing."
Theo's eyebrows raised. Seven years? Judging by his features, Kiril couldn't be any older than twenty-five.
"Two years after the disappearances started, my mother was taken. I wish I'd never seen her again." The young woman began to weep, fat tears rolling down her flushed face.
Theo spun in her chair and took up the girl's hands. They trembled in her own, but she didn't try to reassure or silence her. She needed to know. "She was pregnant, and she had these horrible bites all over her."
Theo's gaze shot down to her covered leg, scarred horrendously but nearly healed. She'd taken care to not let Clara tend it anymore, lest the young woman question how she had healed so fast. "Was it like mine?" She asked, staring intently as the girl gathered herself.
She shook her head. "No. No, they were smaller. Like big dog bites..." Theo's hair stood on end as she thought of Kiril's snarling jaws hovering above her. Large, no doubt, but nowhere near the size of the lycan who had feasted on her own flesh.
"What happened to her?"
Her gut wrenching sob made Theo's heart turn in her chest.
"They came for her in the night. After she'd escaped them and come back to us." Ragged gasps parted her lips as she cried. "They killed her in our living room."
"Who did, Clara?" Her hands moved to the woman's arms, shaking her slightly to keep her on course.
"The men!" she shouted, her last shred of resolve completely crumbling under the weight of her trauma.
