The Freak of Society

Chapter One

Okay, so the girl wasn't at lunch. And I never saw her again for the entire day, either. Tomorrow, for sure. Yeah, I'd make sure to find out what happened. In the meantime, I was walking home in the cooling heat of the day with a semi-empty stomach. Another thing that makes me different from humans is my appetite. I eat much more frequently than you do. But enough about my appetite... no more useless information.

I sighed as I went my way up the apartment building to the third floor, trying to ignore the peeling wallpaper that looked craptastic. Good thing my apartment didn't look half as bad as it did coming up. I lived a couple of blocks away from the high school, so it made my traveling routes easy. Around the corner was a major grocery store and a mile down was the community shopping mall.

Finally, I removed my baseball cap once I got inside my own space. My ears thanked me plenty for that, and out came my now-unshaded tails, twitching and swishing me their thanks. Once I ate to my heart's content, I flipped on the TV, speeding through my assigned homework in under ten minutes. How? Being a daimon has their perks, including superior brainpower. The drawbacks of a superior brainpower? Less creativity.

I watched some random sitcom, one with a bunch of friends doing stupid things. That reminded me of my own group. Sagi was the uber-serious one, and Duncan was the idiot. No joke. Every instructor and Graduate Trainee hated him and tried to expel him. Only he's graduating this year, which is a miracle in itself.

I flipped open my notebook, and jotted down a few notes, mainly from the first time I stepped foot into the school to the time I sensed that daimonic odor from Erika. When I was finished, it was shoved inside my pack.

Rustling... where is that coming from? My left fox ear twitched towards the window. Rustling... and running. And breathing. Was someone exercising this late in the day?

Peering out I saw nothing, but heard more. Heavy breathing and running. A small breeze brought the same daimonic scent to my nostrils, and Erika's scent. My chance!

I dashed out and down the stairs in hopes to lure the scared girl into safety, shading my appearance along the way and securing my baseball cap.

The door opened without a hitch, and I carefully looked both ways, deciphering where she was heading. The footfalls were coming closer; yes, she was being pursued.

The minutes that passed by felt like hours, which felt like eternity. Finally, I caught sight of her for just a mere second from the alleyway across the street. I ran as fast as I could without passing her too much, waiting for her in another alleyway. Using just my keen sense of hearing, I waited for perfect opportunity.

When it came, I grabbed her arm and pulled her alongside me. Of course, she struggled and fought.

"Ssh, it's alright!" I covered her mouth, ensuring she wouldn't give me away. With me being just an apprentice at hiding my scent, I hope it worked with the werewulf temporarily. "Come with me, now!"

Before I could give her time to nod (or bite my hand), I ran pulling her alongside me. Surprisingly, she agreed.

We reached my building, and I pulled the door shut, locking it as best I could. She leaned against the mailboxes catching her breath; when she looked up, her eyes went wide.

"...you?" She blinked. "How, how could-"

I shook my head; we had no time for this! "Go to my apartment, it's on the third floor. 33c."

Erika hesitated, probably wondering what in the hell my motives were. But after a one-second deliberation (and crazy trust), she ran up the stairs. Good thing my door was still unlocked.

Okay, one problem down: she knows that I know, and that she's safe. Second problem: fend off this werewulf to the best of my ability and remember what I learned. I suppressed a harsh sigh... I was trained to fend off regular rogue daimons, not werewulves... I just royally screwed myself.

No matter, hopefully I would survive tonight and not end up in the hospital too beaten up.

Then, the scent came. It was... how could I put it in human terms? It had a musky smell to it with the sickly scent of some aftershave cologne. Think of someone wearing too much Axe in the elevator, only mixed with body odor. Go ahead, imagine it for a second. Nice, isn't it?

"Oh, so someone has noticed?" He said.

My blood ran cold at thought of the being at the other side of the door, which was the same one I was pushing with all my weight to keep closed. I had a feeling it wouldn't matter to him.

I heard chuckling, one full of amusement and cunning wit. Before I could brace myself, the door blew apart sending me flying. I knocked my head against the wall and I almost blacked out, but I struggled to keep my focus on identifying the creature, whose silhouette was coming closer.

His animal appendages were shaded, but with more skill than I had.

With the smoke settling around him, he looked like the uncloaked figure of Death, void of his scythe, I braced myself.

He picked me up by my neck with a clawed hand, raising me off my feet and thrusting me up against the wall. My body was still throbbing from the earlier impact, but otherwise okay. It was my head that was disagreeing.

"Well, aren't you a little young to be playing protector? Come now, boy." He purred, getting too close to my face. His canines dribbled off saliva like some wild animal but his face was cold and calculated- the exact opposite of such. His hair was as blue as the ocean, and his eyes the color of a sapphire.

I struggled in his hold, trying to get more air into my lungs. "What do you want? What....ugh!...has the girl done to you?"

His claws dug into my skin, and a burning sensation started radiating. He chuckled once more at seeing my pain. "On the contrary, little fox... it's what I want from her."

Before I could try to utter another sentence, he disappeared into the evening. And once more I fell to the ground, coughing. From the pain in my neck, no pun intended, it was affecting my stomach somehow, and I felt nauseous. A great feeling... the bastard had mastered poison abilities.

After I wretched my guts out, everything turned black.