The boy screamed right in her face. Calypso didn’t know what was about it, the vibrations she felt, seeing him so scared—she had to stew in that fright and found herself in a brief and loving daze.

Giving the boy a much needed moment to scramble from under her, escaping as he exhaled out in panic with every step. Unfortunately for him, Calypso’s honeymoon experience was over.

Still on all fours, Calypso simply closed the gap with a few gallops, finally grabbing his right ankle in a well-timed swipe. Yanking him, causing him to crash right on his chin.

“Ooooh—” Calypso’s voice was mockingly low, “I saw teeth flying out—was that teeth? I hope not, because you can’t say your name now…”

She just lifted him up, as if he was a caught fish. The action gave her pause, before remembering how tall she is now.

It looked like Calypso’s perfect eyes weren’t seeing things, as J-Baker’s front teeth were smashed into stubs, blood dripping out of his reddening mouth into his fearful eyes, in addition to his chin that now had a skidmark that torn it up.

“Ikn—” he tried to sputter out, “I knew y-you were fucked up; I sssaw you! Your face--!”

“My faaaace…?” Calypso tilted her head.

“Eyesss! Fucked up eyesss, facish—it wassn’t just you being mad, your shit changed in a sssecond--!”

“Interesting to know…!” Calypso smirked at this pathetic person. “But you do know what that means, yes~?”

J-Baker “replied” with a whimper.

“That’s right~! Now I really have to kill you. Well, I was, but y’know—I wouldn’t put it pass me to somehow mess things up or whatnot. And why make it such a morose affair~?”

Calypso felt his ankle collapse into pieces in her palm, causing her to shoot her gaze there, ignoring the bloodcurdling screams of pain.

“Oh my god, I really do not know my own strength, do I--?”

She was then kicked in the face a number of times. J-Baker’s boot sole digging into Calypso’s cheek, immediately drawing blood with each impact. The boy in pure survival mode, all latent strength of his own being unlocked in this desperate, dire moment. His free leg twitching afterwards, expending everything he had.

All for it to heal within seconds, Calypso smirking at him.

“As I was saying…” Calypso let the simmering drip from her words. “Let’s have fun with this, Jared.”

It was a whim, simply put, something easy to think about as much do.

There couldn’t have been a better definition, of Calypso tossing the boy so hard, he battered the side of a car’s door. Flopping to the ground, as the alarms began blaring, the lights flashing on and off.

Adding to Calypso’s casual strut, the area illuminated before plunging into darkness again.

“No one’s going to miss you,” Calypso ridiculed. “And ultimately, when the shock and sympathy wears off—remember you either~! Though—well—that’s not true either…”

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Plunging her claws into the shoulder, forming it into a grip as they were embedded in flesh, Calypso shuddered with a huff. Picking up the dangling body as she continued to belittle further.

“I’ll remember your little remarks, at least~ That’s your legacy, Jamie. I hope every single one was worth it—"

Calypso was cut off by a sound that she never heard before.

It wasn’t quite mumbling. But they were nowhere near words either.

The boy could only twitch. Twitch and burble out weak sounds that were only seconds in length, cutting out in pauses. His eyes starting directly at her, but clearly vacant.

“…no,” the first time since she’s transformed, Calypso sounded so small. “T-that was me—"

The immediate shame became sharp pain in her chest.

She dropped the boy, recoiling as she started to shiver. Her dark eyes, filled with terror and regret, looking at her blood-stained claws.

“Oh god—what have I—But I wanted to—why did I want to--?!”

She grabbed at her head, looking around, her face that was designed to be fearsome, now only stretched in fear.

“I’m no different—” Calypso muttered out. “—No different from that skull monster—I did the same thing, I’m doing the same thing--!”

This wasn’t sudden clarity, nor regaining control… But destabilization, a collision that leaves both forces broken beyond repair.

Both sides shared the same fear, of being proved right all along. And the deserved feeling of weakness following then after.

The internal conflict was beginning to tear her apart. So sudden a tug-of-war, her features were shifting, back and forth. Before ultimately rescinding.

“No no no!” Calypso shrieked pathetically. “Not now, please not now…!”

She didn’t know if she pleaded that for the sake of staying the monster, to be absent of the shame she’s feeling at the moment. Or the possibility of getting caught, and being branded as a crazed near-murderer.

Regardless, Calypso ran. Ran away from this new, somehow harsher reality she’s found herself in. Vulnerable in the dark, because she now knew what she was within it.

***

“GOOD LORD!” Artemis practically jumped in her own skin. Recoiling back, but knowing that she needed to keep going forward.

“My—” Bradley cut himself off, turning around and motioning towards the girls. Sal, mainly.

“Don’t let her see this—she doesn’t need to see this—oh my god—”

Sal hugged Calypso, moving her back from the murder scene before looking forward at it again. Calypso made no attempts to react, never mind move against her.

She was hoping dearly that her cousin that hugged her didn’t catch on. That she was wearing a completely different sleeping outfit. That she still smelt like a hint of iron, despite doing nothing but scrub for the remainder of the night.

“What the hell happened here?!” Bradley wasn’t yelling at his wife, more at the situation at hand. Who caused this.

“It ain’t anything that’s normal, that’s for damn sure!” Artemis lowered her volume, so Bradley could hear her. “What can lob off a head that easily?!”

“What leaves its meal like this and only takes out a chunk…?” Bradley whispered in disbelief. Rubbing his sweating brow.

“And the rest of the animals are traumatized—oh god, this… This is just awful…”

They were whispering and yet Cal could still hear them. Loud. Clear. As her face was stuck in a distant, sorrowful mask.

“Please tell me you didn’t hear this in the night while we went out…?” Sal braced herself as she thought she knew the answer.

Calypso couldn’t swallow due to her throat being so dry. Her mind repeated the one thing over and over, as she shook her head lightly.

But her walls were down. Gone. She openly wept before falling into Sal’s hold.

Sal hugged her cousin. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry Cal—I knew I should’ve stayed, I knew I should’ve fucking stayed…”

The parents looked on at the display, having heavy, forlorn expressions before snapping back into seriousness.

“I’m calling everybody,” Artemis told Bradley. “We can’t let no one not know about this—its almost like there’s a demon on the loose. You go help calm her down and I---I’ll try not to give Penny her own panic attack when I tell her what happened as well…”

Calypso sobbed, breaking down. She knew she was doomed. That she was still hungry after everything, that she was destined to keep transforming back and forth, that even the discussion of becoming a human eater is now off the table that they know that she’s alone. And the unbearable sadness that made her sicker than the fact that she ate a cow alive.

She hated how her “fun” was ruined. And that she wanted to simply kill everyone for ruining it.

***