Secrets:

Hundreds of miles away, Daciana stood in front of the ruins of the old house that had once been her home. Her memories here were fleeting shadows. She stepped over the scattered bones of an animal and onto the steps. A wave of dizziness hit her, and she reached out and grasped the broken column that had once held up the roof of the porch.

“Memories…,” she hissed.

She wrapped her hand around the column and extended her nails. Pain, death, fear…. She remembered those feelings. She looked at the brittle, bleached bones.

She had returned here to find answers. Turning on the top step, she glanced over the ruins of the compound. The burned-out remains of a large metal building were now covered in vines. The single concrete block structure near it had fared better than the hollow skeletal remains of the other structures.

She would start searching in the house she remembered before exploring the outer buildings. Turning back around, she stepped over the hole in the porch’s floor and passed through the doorway. The front door had been blown off during the initial devastation and had landed partially across a long rectangular table and the sofa.

A quick scan of the room showed that very little of the house was left intact. There was the living room and combination kitchen and dining room. In the corner of the living room lay an antique dresser that had fallen through the ceiling from the second floor. One of the drawers was partially open, and clothes were spilled out onto the floor.

She stepped over the debris littering the floor and made her way over to the low table. Grabbing the edge of the front door, she tossed it out of the way. On the couch was the skeleton of a human woman. Wiry strands of gray hair still covered the white skull. The stained and torn remains of a light blue blouse, tan pants, and dark brown shoes hung on the bony frame.

Daciana frowned. There was something familiar about the woman’s clothing and hair. She looked down at the woman’s hands and noticed a folder clutched in the skeletal fingers. The door had shielded it from the after-effects of the comet and weather. It was covered with a light film of dust, but otherwise undamaged.

She stepped around the coffee table and pulled the file from the dead woman’s grasp. Opening the folder, she focused on the papers inside. Frustration ate at her as she thumbed through the documents. She didn’t understand the writing on the sheets of paper. She paused on the photo of a young dark-haired girl who stared back at her with a large smile.

The photo shook her for some unknown reason. Closing the folder, she silently stood staring down at the deceased woman. Her memories were disjointed and saturated with pain and fear.

“What did you do to me?” she demanded in a soft voice.

An eerie howl outside drew her attention. Turning, she straightened and looked out the door. Through the open doorway, she could see several dark shadows slinking near the concrete building.

“Secrets…. What secrets are hidden here?” she murmured.

She bent over and picked up a light brown satchel lying on the floor. Opening the flap, she emptied it before carefully placing the folder inside and snapping it securely shut. The satchel had a long strap that she could either wear across her body or easily grip in her hand depending on which shape she assumed

The shadows across the compound moved again, coming closer. She emitted a low, hissing snarl of warning. The sound of their approach and scents were carried on the wind. Daciana’s very presence exuded a powerful warning that she was no ordinary adversary. It drew whines of submission and fear from the creatures who had been stalking her.

“Come to me,” she ordered with a wave of her hand.

The creatures reluctantly emerged into the fading daylight. Most of the beasts cowered in fear as they came closer, yet they were still unable to resist her summons. Her attention focused on the last beast when it finally emerged from out of the shadows. He did not cower beside the others. This more dominant creature was larger than the rest of the pack.

“You will submit to me, creature,” she ordered, jutting her head forward in warning.

The beast shook his head and stood on his hind legs. Once standing, he was still nearly a foot shorter than she was in her human form. His charcoal gray body was hairless. She studied him with a glitter of warning in her eyes. A short snout protruded from his flattened face. His mouth was wide and filled with sharp teeth. While his hind legs were short, his front legs were longer. Instead of paws, he had hands with three fingers and a thumb ending with long curved nails.

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“You will die,” she stated, allowing the strap of the satchel to slip from her fingers.

She watched dispassionately as the beast opened his mouth and roared. His long yellow canines dripped with saliva. He bent forward and charged at her on all fours. The creature’s long claws dug into the hard ground, sending dirt and gravel flying in all directions.

Daciana’s features changed between one thud of the male’s paws on the ground and the next. The long white gown she wore was replaced by sleek black fur. Her face contorted, forming a long snout with a powerful jaw full of razor-sharp teeth. Her body elongated, becoming lithe yet muscular. She kept her claws sheathed until she struck.

She waited until the beast was almost upon her before she leaped. While gracefully twisting her body, she extended her right arm out and ran her now extended claws up under the beast’s neck. Her sixteen inch long, scalpel-sharp claws cut through tendons, muscles, arteries, and bones as if they were soft butter. Simultaneously, she pierced the skull of the creature with the claws of her left hand, impaling the beast’s severed head as her momentum carried her forward. The creature’s headless body rolled to a stop against the steps of the dilapidated porch. Dark red blood pooled over the steps and dribbled down to soak into the ground behind her.

The fight was over before it had even begun. Daciana landed in a crouch, facing the other creatures who warily watched from a safe distance. She lifted the severed head high, and, tilting her head back, she released a long, ground-shaking howl.

As the sound faded, she lowered her arm and tossed the head across the ground at the other beasts. She curled her lips and savagely snarled. The other creatures cowered and whined, backed away into the shadows, and disappeared.

Daciana’s dark gaze scanned the area for any other threats. Her nose twitched as she sniffed the air. She could smell decomposing flesh.

Partially turning, she looked down at the beast that had attacked her. Once again, memories assailed her.

She concentrated on the images flowing through her mind. For a moment, it almost felt as if Daciana was seeing them through another’s eyes. Her focus moved to the dark space beneath the porch.

She remembered waking up frightened and confused. She hadn’t understood what was happening at first. Bending down, she looked under the porch. Despite the dark shadows, she could see the bleached white bones of almost a dozen animals. The hollow-eyed skull of a large canine looked reproachfully back at her—as if accusing her of some horrific atrocity.

“Litter…,” she murmured as the image became clearer.

She had killed her mother and her own litter mates. She remembered the unbearable hunger that had felt like it was driving her insane. She rose to her feet, stepped back, and looked through the open door at the skeleton of the woman sitting on the couch.

She remembered her puppy form staggering out from under the porch. Ash was falling from the sky and the ground shook. She had been the runt—the smallest of her brothers and sisters. Tilting her tiny head back, her focus had fixed on the darkening sky above. There had been strange, green flashes of light all around her. The light had mixed with the glowing ash that coated her small, shivering body.

“Pain. There was so much pain,” she whispered, closing her eyes.

She had been in intense agony as her body contorted and changed. When she woke several days later, she had been ravenous. The more she had eaten, the stronger she felt—and the more powerful she became. The changes had not only transformed her physically, but mentally as well. New and more complex thoughts had come to her—a newly heightened sense of self-awareness and the ability to process and analyze what was happening in her environment.

The sound of voices—human voices—had frightened her. Her primitive instincts of survival had warned her that she was in danger. She had escaped into the night. Over the next year, she learned to perfect her hunting skills. She had encountered dangers, and with the overcoming of each one, she grew stronger, more cunning. It was not until she met the boy/man named Dust that a different desire came to her. She wanted the power he possessed. The more power she gained, the more she evolved until she had transformed into the creature she was now.

Her focus moved back to the satchel she had dropped on the porch. There was still something missing. With a mere thought, her body contorted—the bones, muscle, and tissue changing and reforming. There was pain, but she was used to it now. The pain of her transformation was a part of her power, and she embraced it.

She now resembled a fifteen-year-old girl on the brink of womanhood. Her long, black hair hung down her back. Her features were almost classical. Her dark brown eyes were almond shaped, her nose slightly wide, her lips full, and her skin a lovely light mocha.

She stepped over the dead beast. Bending over, she picked up the satchel and returned to the house. She walked over to the overturned chest and picked through the clothing that lay partially scattered from the open drawer. She quickly dressed in the clothing, which fit her surprisingly well. These were different from the white gown that she had created—they made her appear more human.

Daciana didn’t understand why the clothes fit so well until she pulled out a pair of socks. Under the pile was the framed picture of a family. Pulling it free, she carefully studied the picture of a woman with gray hair and a young couple who had their arms around a teenage girl. The girl was smiling at the camera—and she looked just like Daciana’s assumed features.

“Who am I?” she hissed, her eyes growing dark with suspicion as she turned and looked back at the gray-haired skeleton on the couch.