Kill The Beast

The Wolf and The Girl

Warning: Slightly graphic violence. 

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We're not safe until he's dead. He'll come stalking us at night. Said to sacrifice our children to his monstrous appetite. He'll wreck havoc on village if we let him wander free...

The Mob Song - Beauty and The Beast

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Death had been his destiny, of that Harry was certain. His father had always believed it, so had his sisters and his uncle Smee. An auld fortune teller had sworn it on the day of his birth, that after his eighteenth year, he would meet Death.

And meet him he did.

It came as a surprise, even though he knew it was coming. He had always thought he would meet the Reaper upon the tides as all pirates and sailors should, but instead, the meeting came upon land on a bitingly cold Halloween's night.

He had made a mistake, gotten carried away in his merriment at a tavern and lost track of time. He should have known better. He did know better! He knew the repercussions of being out at night, his father had hammered it into his head for years. He was a fool, a complete and utter fool! He hadn't noticed the sky darkening nor the sun setting, sealing his doom like a seal on a death certificate.

He could still hear the screams of the patrons at the tavern ringing in his ears as his true identity had been revealed. The accursed light of the full moon had penetrated the ceiling windows and fallen upon him, sizzling his flesh and sprouting thick, black fur all over his body. It had been his pained cry that brought all eyes on him. There had been a stunned silence as everyone looked on with morbid fascination as the gruesome change took place. They had watched how he crumpled to the floor with an agonised roar, his body contorting and twisting, ripping his clothes to shreds as he shifted from human to the monster that he truly was.

He heard them whisper the words that had plagued his family for decades. Monster... beast... demon... werewolf. Even through the pain of the change their words made him seeth, bringing out his natural craving for blood and destruction. He wanted to tear them all apart with his teeth and claws and show them what a monster really was. He wanted to paint the tavern red with their blood, to watch as the life dwindled from their eyes.

Despite it only taking a few moments, it felt like he had been shifting for hours, the pain so great and tolling on his body. When he opened his once blue eyes that now shone a sickly amber colour, he saw the horror on the human's faces. It was only when he growled, his fur bristling and pointed ears bending back that they were snapped out of their shock.

Everyone flinched and shrieked, stumbling over each other as they tried to get as far away from him as possible. Some had fled from the tavern, others hid under tables or behind the bar, while more pressed themselves up against the walls, shielding their loved ones with their trembling bodies. Those who considered themselves courageous picked up their knives, guns, swords and bows, crying out for the beast to be killed.

Harry wanted to kill them all, but even he knew when he was outnumbered. He was also still too weak from the transformation - it took werewolves a few hours for the aches in their bones and flesh to heal. He snarled, spittle-spewing through his fangs before he charged through the fools blocking the door, ripping one's arm off and slashing at another torrso, causing four streaks of blood to seep through the man's shirt. Harry ran as fast as his four legs would carry him, straight into the dark forest with a shouting mob hot at his heels.

He should have been able to escape them, he had the advantage of darkness. But once again the moon betrayed him, lighting the shadows with its pale glow for the humans to navigate the forest with mild difficulty, further eased when they lit up their torches. They chased him relentlessly. His aching body barely allowed him to keep ahead. He swore he would get revenge against them for this, that he would wreak havoc on this village for their treatment of him.