Unnatural Conflict (Fantasy Story)

Chapter 4: Conflict

Gail preened herself carefully before going out.  She knew she would be a shambles before dawn, but she always started the night looking perfect.  She licked her lips in anticipation, yearning for the excitement that dared her with oblivion.  

Gail loved the full moon, even though it took away her humanity in a lust of darkness and blood.   Once the moon hit her bare skin or shone full in her eyes, nothing could prevent her transformation into a fearsome creature of the night.  Nothing could match her out there, once she changed.  

She was ready a few minutes early, and slipped out her back door and over to the fence.  There was no sign of Lucas.  It occurred to her that he had not put a gate in his fence, anywhere.

In a fey mood, eager to get started, she began pulling on boards of the fence, seeing if she could get enough of them loose to let Ruddy out.  If she did, she was sure she could get him to chase her all the way across to the forest.  By the time they got there, she would have transformed, and it would be dinner time.

She would still play with him first, of course.  It was always more fun that way, and the stupid brute would probably not have a clue that the human had just changed into something dangerous to him.  He would chase her well into the forest.  By the time Ruddy realized his mistake, it would be much too late.

She glanced behind her and saw the sharp shadow of the fence top.  The moon was out now, and she was trapped.  As soon as she left the safety of the shadow, she would be a werecat until sunlight touched her again.  Her heart began hammering, her breathing ragged.

Ruddy heard her excited breathing.  The dog came over and snuffled at the other side of the fence, then broke into ferocious barking and snarling, biting at the fence to get at her.

Gail chuckled, and crooned laughingly to him.  She had learned long ago that the bigger and meaner the dog--or the man--the more fragile was its ego.  Ruddy became even more frenzied. 

The new fence was more solid than it looked, but Gail found a loose board.  She managed to rip it free, making a small screech.  She hoped Lucas wasn’t where he could see out back or hear it, but she was half-frenzied herself, and couldn’t make herself care very much.

There was no moonlight shining through the gap in the fence.  The moon must be behind a cloud.  She glanced behind her to see that the fence shadow had gone.

Maybe I can grab it by the collar and drag it through, she thought, as the dog tried to force his head through the gap.  She whacked his nose and spat at him, which only increased his rage.

Gail had never played this game in human form before.  This is fun.  Just one more board, and she could get him through the fence.

Ruddy fell silent.

What?  thought Gail.  She put her face to the gap and looked. 

Ruddy had backed up a step and was standing stiffly, looking off to her left.  He was barely within reach.  In reckless impulse, she lunged her left arm in and caught him by the collar, under his mouth.  He tried to bite her, but could not reach her wrist.  Gleefully, she began dragging him to her, half in bloodlust already.

Large teeth clamped onto her arm, grinding into her flesh, crunching into her bones.  Gail yowled in shock and agony, looking back through the gap.  How could Ruddy have reached her?  Her arm was being bitten off.

It wasn’t Ruddy.  She still had her hand in Ruddy’s collar, and he was struggling to get away.  A much larger dog was there, clamping down on her arm with more pressure than she would have believed possible. 

Desperately, she just managed to reach her other arm through the fence and hit the beast in the eye with a long, sharp fingernail.  As she did, it let go, and she was able to yank her arms back through.  The second animal thundered against the fence, but apparently could not get through the gap.  It probably could not climb the twelve-foot fence, she thought, trying to calm her panic.  Probably.

Gail ran back into her house, holding her mangled arm, dripping blood.  The moon was still hidden.  Behind her, a savage howl arose behind the fence.  

Gail was not worried about the bite, although it was terribly painful, and she was staggering with shock.  Animals could hurt her in her human form, but she would heal quickly.  Despite all the damage, she would recover fully in a couple of days.

When she got to her kitchen, she turned on the light to wash the wound.  If she hurried, she could still make a night of it, although she would have to take it easy.  She would stay away from Lucas’ dogs tonight.  Next month will be a different matter, she thought, grinding her teeth.

As light hit her arm, she froze in horror.  The very distinctive, bloody wounds from a large canine bite on her forearm had left severe damage.  Instead of leaking blood, however, the wound was bubbling with green foam.

No! her mind screamed, This isn’t possible!

She was looking at what could only be the bite of a werewolf.  The green foam meant the magic was working on her, even now.  On her!

Gail had only met a werewolf once before, when she had been a young werecat.  The werewolf had bitten her, but it had healed by the next day, as would an ordinary bite.  The werecat which had bitten and transformed her had been the only one she had ever seen.

But she hadn’t been a werecat when she had been bitten this time.  She knew how it worked.  The bite would transform an ordinary human into the were-creature that bit it, but were-creatures were supposed to be immune.

“This isn’t possible,” she said aloud.  “I’m a cat!”

Then she realized that as an unchanged human, she was not protected against the magic.  Were-creatures always met each other as two humans or as two were-creatures, since the moon transformed them all.  By staying out of the moonlight and being bitten, she had been vulnerable.

In a flash of anger, she wanted both to bite through the back of Lucas’ neck and to rip out his throat.  One of those impulses was natural to her, but the other was not.  Even worse, despite her anger and pain, the thought of him in human form still gave her insides a quiver.  Free as any cat to act on impulses, she cursed her own body for this one.

Reeling in the shock of the moment, she collapsed onto the floor, finally giving in to the pain.  As her mind began to fade to unconsciousness, she wondered what would happen to her nature, as two different supernatural patterns tried to take control at once.

The next full moon, a voice in her head seemed to say from a distance, should be very interesting indeed.