The Beast Of Gevaudan

The Beast

113 deaths and 98 of the people killed were partly eaten, and it is all my fault. As you may know by now there have been killings about 210 attacks resulting in 113 deaths and as I said 98 of the victims were partially eaten and it was me Sebastian Deloffre that was the one who killed them.

As I said I am Sebastian Deloffre, if you are reading this I am more than likely dead. I write this so you know the full story about the La Bete du Gevaudan. This may be the only record of my life if it wasn't burned during Damnatio Memorie. I tell you this because I know now that I am not fully human.

It was a normal day during the year of 1764 on the French Province of Gevaudan, I was in a local bar when a man came in talking of the deaths of almost a whole family a mother and her four children found dead by the husband who was returning home from a trip, it looked like an animal attack.  It wasn't the first and nor would it be the last death because of an animal attack as many kept happening during the night as well as the day.

There were many descriptions from eye witnesses as the attacks continued.  Some would say a red-furred giant wolf others a cloven-hoofed panther the size of a horse, the fur a reddish tinge which emitted an unbearably rank odor. But according to a man Lucas Mazet who described it with vivid detail "The beast's body was solid but shapeless at the same time. It was like a shadow pretending to be real."

Lately I would wake up in random places with no memory of what I had done earlier In the day which I found strange. This kept happening as well as the attacks.

King Louis XV took a personal interest when the attacks didn't stop mid way through the second year of them going on, so he set up a hunting party consisting of many men and one very brave woman by the name of Marie-Christine Deloffre, and, yes, she is my sister and one of the bravest hunters I know. They went out every night for a month losing one or two men each night. I feared for my sister though I know she can protect herself.

One night I heard loud noises, the hunting party had returned home early tonight as they had killed a hybrid hyena-wolf like creature. The next day it was paraded through town and the creature's corpse was burned. Life returned to normal for everyone for about a week, but then after that I would again wake up with no memory of most of the day, and more people were being killed.

This time Marie-Christine took it upon herself to go looking for it as new theories came around about mythical creatures. With these new theories Marie-Christine decided she should use a weapon to protect herself against mythical creatures. This weapon that was forged by her own had was a steel pike made of wolfsbane and mountain ash with her own blood under a full moon. She went out one night to end this once and for all armed with nothing but her steel pike for a weapon. Before she left I spoke to her.

"Marie-Christine , I know you can take care of yourself, but I still want you to be careful out there. You have no backup. I love you, and be safe little sister."
"Sebastian you worry to much, you know I am the best hunter in Gevaudan, and if I go alone, I may have a chance to kill the beast and no one else will have to die. And I love you too, I will see you in the morning, big brother."

With that she went out to the woods. When she got back the next morning, she was telling of how she had stabbed the beast with the pike she had been armed with. She told of how she stabbed it in its left side, and that morning I awoke to find a scar in the exact spot on my own body. Merely a coincidence right? Wrong. After that night memories started coming back to me, my guess is from being stabbed with the special steel pike.

It was now the beginning of the third year of the attacks. Marie-Christine decided to go out taking with her the best male hunter Theo Marais, whom she had become close with spending much time with him. That is when it all went downhill for me. I knew I was the beast but had no control over it so that night I unwillingly went out as well. The two hunters split up to cover more ground, Theo was the one I ran into first he stabbed me with another pike that had been forged. So weak from the encounter I couldn't stand so I fell to the ground.

Theo picked me up and carried me into town they question me asking if I had an accomplice and I answered with a no. As I write this I am being held until the king comes to condemn me. They say I have committed treachery  they call me callous. For a while they thought I would be inexorable being a monstrous beast.

I have heard from the guards that my sister will wed Theo Marais, and that they have bestowed the name The Maid of Gevaudan on her. I bet you are wondering how they have kept me caged, wolfsbane and mountain ash is how.

Now you know my side of the story weather you believe it or not that is up to you.