“Where are we going?” James yelled over the wind rushing past his ears.

She did not answer. As they flew, he watched the town shift quickly beneath them. From where they were, he could see more land than he’d ever seen in his life. If the situation hadn’t been what it was, it may even have been a beautiful sight.

“We’re here.”

“Where?” Looking down, James could just barely make out the buildings below. They all looked the same, however, and he was unable to determine their exact location.

“The police station.” She turned her head to look at James who was even more confused than before. “You’ll find him in there. He’ll be the only one.”

“Why did you bring me here?!” He shouted once he realized who she was referring to. “What am I supposed to do, jump down there and tear through the building until I find and kill him? I won’t even survive the fall!”

“That’s right.”

He hoped she was joking but found no trace of humor in her expression. James looked down once more, gauging the distance from them to the building. No matter how he looked at it he was certain he would die on impact, or shortly after. She cut him off before he could speak again.

“Use the ring.”

“What?!” James was not only confused at this point, but angry. Angry that she had brought him here, and that she wasn’t making any sense. His life wasn’t something she could toy with. As he looked into the ruby eyes of his ring, he felt a sudden push followed by the sensation of falling. He whipped his head around to see the broom steadily growing further away from him.

“What does that even mean?!” James spun his head towards the ground and panicked at the speed it was approaching him. Convinced that he was going to die, his mind began to play his life in reverse. The witch abducting him and shoving him to his death. How she burned the corpses of wolves into his body and fused this hideous ring to his thumb. Everything came rushing to the forefront, smashing against each other as they competed for his attention. Fear, anger, excitement, confusion, worry, sorrow, and countless more emotions swirled within him as he fell. Until one thought overtook the rest and rooted itself firmly in his heart. He was falling straight towards the one man in the world that he could never forgive. The one man in the world that he wanted to kill. Acting as a conduit for all of his pent-up rage, his one desire to repay this man for killing the last of his family grew explosively.

Just as it seemed he was reaching his boiling point he noticed a strange feeling coming from the back of his mind. It was as if his rage itself was being sucked out. Following the sensation through his body he discovered that it was being funneled toward his ring.

“Use the ring or you’ll die!” The witch yelled after him. Her words brought his attention back to the buildings below and he gasped. He had only a matter of seconds left before his death.

“If you want my rage, you can take it! Just help me out!” James closed his eyes and concentrated on the previous feeling, this time trying to force it along. With all of his mental strength he focused on that connection. As the ring continued to drain him of his rage, his body began to burn hotter and hotter until he was certain he would burst into flames. He tried to scream as his vision went white to the sound of a very loud snap. Had he not retained a sense of falling he would have sworn he hit the ground. Unfortunately, this was only the first of many. James’ bones began to snap one by one as they rearranged themselves. Some were growing much larger and longer, while others would shrink or disappear altogether. Occasionally a bone would snap out of his body, ripping his flesh apart as easily as cooked fish. When that happened, he became intensely itchy, feeling as though his skin was slithering across his muscles before stopping in strange places. It was so painful that his mind froze for a moment, completely blank.

When he recovered, it was too late. James slammed into the roof of the police station, broke through the second story floor, and crashed into the ground beneath. The force of his impact shattered several desks and sent slivers of wood shooting into the walls.

Dazed, he opened his eyes to the sight of papers floating gently to the floor around him. When he stood up everything became clear, too clear. His vision had never been this good before. Counting the individual specs of dust in the air would have been easy now, as well as reading the papers as they fell. James sucked in a breath through his nose and was shocked to realize that his sense of smell had increased as well. The smell of wood was abundant, but underneath he could make out several types of food intermingled with coffee. Somehow, he could even tell how long they had been there. Then, even further buried, he caught the sense of a man’s sweat. The smell of fear and panic saturated his nose as he focused on it. James tilted his head, listening to the man’s pounding heart. Aside from his own, this man’s heartbeat was the only one in the building. Looking up toward the hole he had created, James wondered where she had taken everyone and just how far he had fallen. Even with his enhanced eyesight though he could not clearly spot the witch. It was a miracle that he had survived, although the pain he felt had him wondering if he might be a ghost instead. He lifted his hand before his eyes to inspect the ring and let out a surprised yelp.

Terrified, he continued to turn his hand over in front of his face. Thick brown fur covered the length of his arm, which was now at least ten inches longer. Where his fingernails had been, he found long black claws. As he examined his body further, he noticed that every bit of him had changed. Taller, thicker, furrier.

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“What am I?” he asked himself aloud. His eyes widened at the sound of his own voice, now much different than before. The way he sounded now was too feral, too evil, for his liking. His head then erupted with a sudden pain. James let out a wolf-like howl of agony and the pain was replaced with rage. This rage was so strong, so unrelenting, that it blocked out any rational thought. His only desire became the man in the building. Ignoring doors entirely he chose to bust through walls one after another as he closed in on the sound of a beating heart. His hunt would be short however, as his prey had no way of escaping.

“What the hell?!” The man screamed and backed into the furthest corner he could. James paused to let out a vicious roar, sending saliva spraying into the air. In response, the man in the cell pissed himself.

James ripped the cell door off and sent it flying through the hole he had just made upon entering.

“S-Stay back! Get away from me!” The man was kicking his legs frantically as he clawed at the corner, ripping his nails off in the process. As James approached, the man raised his arm to shield himself while begging god to save him. This only angered James more as memories of his family danced in his mind.

“Why should you be saved?” he growled in his savage new voice. The man’s eyes widened to a point they might have popped out of their sockets. Without waiting for a response, James lunged forward and ripped his arm clean off. The man let out a scream of pain unlike any other he had heard before, but it only lasted a second. He was quickly silenced as James’ huge maw closed around his throat. He shook his head and ripped the man open before swallowing the large chunk of meat within his mouth. Flesh peeled from bone, blood splattered against walls, continuing until there was nothing left. His fur dyed red, dripping blood and small chunks, he once again let out an angry roar. A tormented howl of rage and sorrow that drew out every bit of his breath before stopping. Without a target to express his rage upon he sped back to his landing site and jumped straight through the holes until he landed on the rooftop.

“Happy?” the witch asked, hovering above him.

Consumed by his rage, James could only focus on the sounds of people in the streets below him. Moving to the edge of the roof, James crouched and prepared to continue his hunt. The witch realized that he was no longer in control but before she could stop him, he flung himself to the next building. The air rushed through his ears and fur as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop, flinging bodily residue everywhere. Although he was moving quickly, he was able to minimize the sounds he made. It wouldn’t do to have his prey notice him as he closed in.

“Revert!” the witch yelled as she whipped her broom in front of him. James leaped into the air and swiped at her, yet he missed. She flew higher up, anger flickering in her eyes.

James landed and changed direction, crossing a street in one jump. He was following the particularly enticing scent of a lone woman several blocks away. It took only a few moments for him to close the distance and land silently behind the woman. Without noticing his presence, the woman continued walking. He attempted to reach out for her with both sets of claws and found himself frozen in place. Once the woman had turned a corner, leaving him alone in the street, the witch called out to him.

“Revert!” A sharp pain jabbed at the back of his mind. James struggled against his invisible bonds, forcing his body to move inch by inch as he turned to face her. Without blinking, the witch repeated herself.

“Revert.” Again, the sharp pains jabbed at him. Angry and annoyed, he pushed his way toward her.

“If that won’t work, I’ll have to try something else.” The witch smiled and snapped her fingers. Immediately the sharp pain that had been jabbing his mind rushed through his entire body. Pain overcame his senses and caused him to lash out randomly. Had she not been restraining him he would have ripped her open.

“Now, revert!” The already intense pain doubled and threatened to force him unconscious. James roared in pain, as close to her as he possibly could, and lurched forward just enough to startle her. In that moment her grasp on him weakened and he swung at her. Reflexively, the witch knocked his arms away and sent him flying down the street before he could attack again. When he recovered, James chose to flee. Allowing instincts to guide him so he could focus on speed, he took off into the night.

It did not take long for the blur of buildings and screaming people to fade into trees and silence. Of course, the sounds of the forest were present but compared to those of the city it was much gentler on his newly increased hearing. The soft earth beneath his pads comforted him as he ran. At one point he dove into the river and emerged a few hundred feet upstream, completely cleaned of his previous gore.

After running for several more miles James found himself standing before a mid-sized hole at the base of a tree. Mentally exhausted and still running on instinct, he crawled into the opening hoping for a place to rest. As his eyes adjusted to the darker environment, he realized that it was an animal’s den. At least, that is what it once was. Clearly it had not been lived in recently as the once worn floor had become rough again. Deciding it was safe enough, James curled into a ball of fur and allowed himself to fall asleep.

As he slept, images of everything that had happened in the last two weeks replayed in his mind. Over and over, the scenes danced before him. His body twitched aggressively as the night he should have died came back to him. The ones that shoved him into the river in the first place. Their faces were ingrained in his memory, laughing as he was carried away. As he sank in the water his vision shifted and he found himself calling out to Sara and his mother who were walking out his front door. James cried and begged for them to turn around, and stay with him, but they ignored him. They disappeared as the door closed and his vision shifted once more. This time he found himself standing face to face with the monster that he had become. His heart raced as he realized what he had become, and fear pumped through his veins. He backed away shaking his head, telling himself it wasn’t real, and the monster lunged forward. James let out a terrified scream as it caught him by the wrist and yanked him forward, nearly dislocating his shoulder. He tried to turn and free his arm so that he could run but it was useless. Nothing he did managed to loosen the monster’s grip at all. Growling now, the monster snatched his other wrist and held him close so that their faces met once more. James strained his neck to lean as far back as he could to avoid the monster’s hot breath that was suffocating him.

“What do you want?!”

The monster grinned, opened its mouth, and placed its jaws over James’ head. Slowly, it began to bite down. James screamed in pain and fought as hard as he could, snapping his left wrist in the process, but was still unable to free himself. Just as the pain was becoming unbearable, there was a loud cracking sound. James’ body went limp, his vision faded and everything went black.