Once upon a story

Chapter Nineteen

I didn't think about what I was doing.

Quickly I climbed up onto the desk knocking off the tray without a second thought. The two mugs emptied onto the floor, soaking into the carpet. Neither seemed to be broken but I would find a crack down one side when I cleaned them up. From the desk I pushed myself up window ledge and watched the fight for a few more seconds. I then felt myself begin to shake.

“There's a first for everything!”  I whisper as I felt the fire take my whole body. As I begin to shift I see a wolf push Toff's to the ground, I don't know how I knew it was Toff as his eyes were away from me but I did. My heart broke at the thought of never seeing him again. That was the last straw, I was a monster and I might as well enjoy it.

With the fire flowing through my veins I unlocked the window with shaking hands before swinging my legs outside. With a quick intake of breath I pushed away from the window and soared down, my body changing and my fangs extending. A worry in the back of my mind was that someone would see and stop me, especially as they didn’t want woman fighting and for the fact I was completely untrained by no one noticed me or at least didn’t care. I felt my legs move below me and before I even fully realised it, I was running at full speed in the direction of Toff. I hadn’t even been able to stand before but now, with all the adrenalin, I felt like I was flying along the ground.

A body was thrown over me but I ducked just in time. This was a battle, not a time to be admiring my new form. I could just about make out Toff in the distance, the other wolf and he were rolling on the ground frantically scratching and biting each other. The second wolf was bigger and Toff was clearly loosing energy. I sped up towards the pair leaping into the air just as the bigger wolf went to rip at Toffs throat.

I pushed the wolf off Toff and we fell backwards. The other wolf didn’t seem to care that his fighting partner had changed; instead he focused completely on me. Each time I saw an opening I would strike, biting down on the other wolfs flesh and not letting go. There were fights going on around me but I ignored it all. I couldn't get distracted.

He took a bite at me and misses by inches, towering over me I could see a mixture of his blood and mine kept his fur in clumps and I can imagine mine was the same. If he was in human form I could imagine him gloating now, laughing at how weak I was, I recognised the look in his eye. He might as well have been some bully picking on a smaller kid for their lunch money. Only he wasn’t and the only way this fight would end would be in death.

We rolled again, each of us snapping at the other with drawn back mouths. I swiped with a paw to cut his face which only angered him more. With sudden new found strength he pushed me to the ground standing on my front legs until the district crack of bone came over the sounds of the fighting.

Somehow I pushed the pain to the back of my mind and waited for the perfect angle. I saw it. Quickly I shot out and grabbed a hold of the other wolf’s throat with my teeth, he didn't whimper just fought back and I was pleased, if he had I would have felt sorry for him. With another fluid movement I pulled my legs free and moved quickly backwards, his flesh in my mouth. I killed him. He tried to kill me. He tried to kill Toff. But it was I who killed him.

The limp body fell down on me, making me trapped. Even this form I was becoming tired and all my energy now was in pushing the wolf from me, not focusing on what else was going on. I gave up trying to push him off, the breaks in my front legs making it impossible and instead wriggled out. This technique worked and I was free. I lifted myself up and ignored the searing pain pumping my body. With my head raised I looked around me and watched. One wolf from the pack was fighting at least three others and there were causalities on both sides. The bodies were piling up but I knew in this state we could never win. We hadn’t a chance.

 I looked towards the house and saw the glass doors. The one I had seen before I changed. At that point I locked eyes with a woman staring behind the glass, she pleaded with me but I didn't understand. It was only when I saw another wolf from our side be knocked down that I did.

They wanted to help. I nodded once at her and began moving towards the glass door hoping that if I hit it in the right place it would crack. Another pitch black wolf loomed above me but I skidded out of the way, glancing back quickly to see that it had already engaged in another fight. I shouldn’t have turned as I didn’t see the body in front of me. I didn’t recognise the wolf even when I went flying over it, landing painfully on my back. My sight flicked into darkness before I pulled myself away again. I needed to get to the doors. I pushed myself over and stood as quickly as I could, my legs shaking underneath me.

I was still far enough away from the door to build up speed. Death was all around me but I only had one focus now, breaking the door. My run built up slowly as I was putting pressure on the wrong parts of my feet. I started a chant in my head, run and break, run and break, run and break. My pace continued to quicken and if I could I would have crossed my fingers I would have but that was impossible in that state and really not something I should be focused on. So instead I braced myself and specifically my shoulder as I smashed into the glass door. The blackness didn’t come straight away; instead I heard the glass shatter and the pounding of feet as the female wolves jumped over my body. I saw the woman I had made eye contact with smile as she and the others poured out of the house and into the fight. It was then everything when dark.