Chapter 230
I felt something move over my shoulder and I dove. “Come back, I’m so cold.” The woman’s whisper sent chills down my spine. I rolled and sprang back up, facing the woman, or the creature the woman had turned into. Her hair was stringy and matted, clumping together in long tendrils that were a mix of dreadlock and braid. Chunks were missing, leaving pale skin it the gaps. Her eyes were sunken down into dark pools of need. She knew nothing else, only need. Lips had pulled back, leaving her teeth exposed, giving her a perpetual manic grin. A dark dress body, once beautifully draped and stunningly jeweled, that now hung off her emaciated body. It was like her entire soul had whittled down to nothing while her dress stayed pristine.
The thought was terrifying, knowing that she was looking to take over my body, my life. “Stay away.” I turned and ran as she started after me, moving surprisingly quick. She scrambled over rocks and dips as I ran, but somehow she was quicker than me, moving like some kind of spider, coming closer and closer to me. If she touched me, I shook as I dove away again. I felt the whisper of her fingers on my shirt. “Wendy! Toya!” I called, hoping they would realize I needed them.
I stumbled back again as she dove for me. I hit a wall and screamed as she started to laugh. “So warm. You’re so warm.” She stumbled over a boulder, trying to move to quick to wrap me into her arms and I dove to the side, slicing my leg on a sharp shard of rock or glass. When my blood hit the air, it was like a shock when through the ghoul in front of me. Her tongue darted out, and her dark eyes rolled in the sockets. I screamed as I pushed up to my feet, running once more, but it was like my blood was somehow feeding her. Her skin started to fill in, and she became more animated. “Taste so good.” Her words, once sluggish and slurred, became clearer.
Every drop of my blood she passed was pulled into her. Every drop strengthened her. “Get away from me.”
“Oh….sweet girl…I just want your warmth.” She moved quicker, and finally, like a beacon, I saw the light to the outside. I ran full speed, using as much of my wolf’s strength as I could. Yet she kept up.
She moved like water now, flowing over the rocks, like she was made for this rocky terrain. And as I had the thought, it occurred to me she had lived in these caves for years. How many? No one really knew, but she knew. this ground better than she probably knew her own face.
I stumbled again and screamed as I felt her nails scrap against my neck. I thought I was free, breeching the cave entry way, but then my hair was yanked back and I nearly fell. z
“No, you’re mine. So warm. It’s my turn to be free. To be alive.” She wrapped my hair tighter in her fist and dragged me back into the cave.
I panicked. My head felt like it was bleeding, but still she pulled. I could feel my feet losing purchase and I slipped back an inch. “Let me go.”
“No.” She grinned now. Her skin had plumped up enough that her lips now covered her teeth. She was actually quite beautiful. Her dark black eyes were now a golden brown, and her hair was shiny, tangled mess of black curls. “I’ve served my penance. It’s now your turn.
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“I didn’t break any rules.” I pulled away and my hands shifted. I felt my claws drop, and I wanted to dance, because it was the first time it had happened without fighting for the shift for months.
“You are here without your shell. Broke the rules. The shells first.” I screamed again, swinging my claws, severing my hair, and releasing me from her clutches. She foundered without the tension from my hair and she fell back, still clutching the handful of my dark curls. “No!”
I didn’t waste time, I didn’t even look back as soon as I was free. I ran. I ran without reason, just away from the cave. Once I crested the hill, I started to recognize the land, he start of my father’s pack lands. Just as I passed the pack house, I froze at the savage howl behind me.
My body wanted to freeze, but I new if I did, I would be screwed. So I kept running. The further I ran into the
Chapter 230
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forest, the more confused I felt. I didn’t know the way to go. So I did the only thing I could of. “Toya! Wendy! I need you.” I called out again, and this time I felt a pull to my right.
I pivoted, and I ran for my life.
