Itchy, itchy, fucking itchy! I growled, scratching my arm. A tiny missile exploded and slapped my left cheek. Never mind that or the stream of lead the metal cockroaches pissed at me. Vanessa’s stupid gnats gnawing on my arm were the most annoying!
Gnawing on my arm and in my arm.
Those raisins were easy to spot in my sea of fur—there was a tiny bald spot around each one. They sheared off my crimson hair with their piranha-like teeth before trying to penetrate my thick skin. My senses had improved to such a degree that I could count the veiny ridges lining their bodies and isolate their gibberish babbling from all the noises around.
Maybe they were actually saying something. Didn’t care.
Despite the mouth familiar’s best efforts at chomping my fur and hide, depositing the tiny chunks they consumed into some mysterious dimensions—they certainly weren’t pooping them out—most of them barely harmed me. Only the biggest and most determined of Vanessa’s angry raisins successfully drilled through my skin and burrowed into my flesh—these were the annoying ones.
Like a pebble in a shoe, the itch was barely noticeable until I noticed it.
And then I couldn’t unnotice it.
“Grrrrooargh… hroaarrr?” Where are you, Vanessa? I stomped forward, flattening the drones scampering on the floor. Disappointing. They didn’t explode.
Everything should explode! That was how it worked in movies!
My ears twitched.
“This… for Hardy!” The tattooed muscle bitch who looked too chewy was back from I couldn’t remember where I swatted her away. She rocketed through the air, flame serpents swirling around her like a ribbon dance routine. Flying was pretty cool, but she was just a glorified firefly. “Burn, you dog!” Fire Tattoo cracked the flaming snakes like a whip, sending arcs of fire at me.
I raised my arm infested with the mouth familiars. Fierce flames turned my lush fur to ash. The stubborn raisins remained—fucking warts on my burnt skin. And the fire definitely didn’t do anything to the raisins buried in my flesh. I didn’t know how to get them out.
“GRRAAORGH!” Fucking idiot Vanessa! She complicated things by joining the fight!
Did she betray me? Too late for that; I was already turning their base upside down. More likely, she didn’t want her cover blown, so she joined the Tea Party attacking me. Obviously, she didn’t know my powers made me want to use her bones as a toothpick. Annoying!
“How… that? You… colossal mutt?” were the only words I heard from Fire Tattoo. She landed and materialized another creature of fire from her tattoos—a bull was what it looked like, with oversized horns and a flat face. “… gonna… you!”
Unlike my sense of sight and smell, it was much harder to discern words. I could hear minute movements, a prey’s frightened heartbeat, squeals and groans of pain, but my predator side didn’t care for what weaklings had to say. I could focus on understanding words. But my Erind part also didn’t want to—that was boring.
I raised my snout, detecting a tempting scent. The void in my stomach called for food.
On a metal bridge ringing the upper wall of the cavern, there stood Vanessa, hiding behind a magenta-colored weirdo. Magenta Cannon—for the ends of his metal arms opened into shooty thingies—frantically barked at Vanessa. This time, I concentrated on his voice.
“—distract this giant mutt!” he shouted. “We need more time!”
Time for what? Whatever their plans may be, nothing could stop me! Insert twirling mustache villain moment. Magenta Cannon had a funny mustache—I’ll let his insult pass because he looked funny. And he didn’t look appetizing at all.
“Go left,” he told Vanessa. “Let’s play tag with this stupid dog.”
“Got it!” Vanessa traversed the bridge to the other side of the cavern.
Since Mom was safe, I had time to play with these ants. What were they planning? Did they want to fail? Overwhelming power surged through my pumped muscles. Indestructible and immortal. I welcomed them to throw everything they had at me.
Despair. I’d like to see it on their faces to study that elusive emotion. Funny seeing people despair. Curious too. I didn’t need to understand normal human emotions to get why people despaired when up against a giant werewolf Adumbrae.
But what did that feel like?
I turned to Vanessa. Sure, I’ll play catch… my friend. Her heart pounded faster. Her stomach grumbled. I could hear everything. She covered her mouth as she ran, violently coughing and gagging. I could see individual globules of tears pooling on the sides of her eyes.
Didn’t Vanessa mention she could taste whatever her mouth familiars ate? My memory of the night at Eve was fuzzy. She could’ve been talking about her eye familiars—she could see what they saw. If it worked the same for the mouth counterparts, I’d understand why she struggled to hold back a puke. I’d imagine my werewolf flesh didn’t taste good at all.
Was this punishment enough for Rule #4? She seemed to be suffering, and that made me smile. I pulled back my lips and bared my fangs; a wolf couldn’t really smile. After what I did to her at Eve, maybe I should allow her a few hits in? Like in the movies, enemies offered a free punch before becoming allies.
However, my Blanchette werewolf part didn’t agree with that.
“Roooagrh!” Just a bite! Prey that dared fight back, prey that hurt me—they were food. All food. Vanessa was food. A taste might lessen Blanchette’s hunger. Bothersome trying to rein in it. A leg, an arm. Both? Vanessa shouldn’t mind. She could regenerate it.
“Get your bone, doggy! Face here!” Magenta Cannon aimed for my eyes, trying to get my attention.
I didn’t pay him any mind. My senses homed in on Vanessa. The more the raisin ticks nibbled my flesh, the more I wanted to eat her in retribution. My stomach grumbled with hunger, sticky drool streamed through my fangs, and feral instincts to feed on prey jostled my Erind consciousness away from the driver’s seat.
And I let it.
Vanessa zoomed across the walkway and swung over the railings, dropping to a lower and wider bridge. I loomed over her and chomped the metalworks, intentionally letting her escape a split-second before my fangs clamped shut. Fear. I could smell it from her. Fun, fun, fun!
Weird sensation in my mouth. Raisins. Vanessa must’ve chucked them inside when I bit down.
I swished my tongue around like trying to get a stuck fishbone. I scooped the angry raisins to my teeth and ground them. Vanessa staggered, the slits on her right arm spewing blood. Smelled sweet. Holding her bleeding arm, she zoomed up a staircase, going over several steps with each stride and climbing onto another bridge that ran straight over the gap of the cavern.
A small door was at the end—her goal. I should let her go—I had enough presence of mind not to kill her—but not before messing with her a bit more.
I buried my claws into the ground, breaking slabs of concrete flooring. I scooped rubble and flung it at Vanessa. Covering her head, she ducked to avoid the debris. Big ones hit the walkway, knocking out the supports beneath. She managed to leap across the yawning gap and continue her escape.
I hurled another handful of rocks at her. With my hand the size of a car, it was more of an avalanche.
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She screamed in terror. Music to my ears. She was saying stop or something.
Why stop? Playtime was just getting started.
I could pretend this was the werewolf’s mind at work. But no. A predator wouldn’t play with food. I could catch Vanessa and throw her into my mouth right now. This was me, Erind—with maybe a touch of Blanchette’s wildness tearing down my usual controlled predisposition—being a sadistic bitch.
Sadistic—my Mom used that word once when she caught me playing with insects as a child. I pestered her about what that meant, and she never repeated it. Seeing people so tiny in comparison to me, insects really, I thought this was the best way to distract my Blanchette part from the hunger.
Run, Vanessa, run!
Magenta Cannon and Fire Tattoo kept up their attacks to draw me away from Vanessa.
My left eye stung, it burned, and it was fine again. Pokes on my flank. The fire bull slammed against me—a tiny hammer, a tiny pointy hammer. These two were next on the menu. Or maybe not. They scarcely hurt me, so I didn’t care for them.
Ice Woman and Hammer Man did a much better job than these two. However, comparing them might not be fair as I was much weaker minutes ago. Eating Ice Woman and Hammer Man fueled my growth spurt to become a building of muscle and fur—those two were super dumb fighting me in a cramped tunnel. So easy to catch them, especially Ice Woman, who wanted to get close to my face even though she could fly and rain ice from afar.
Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Vanessa was near the door. I reached out to stop her, my hand a big rig slamming against the wall, blocking her way. She jumped down as I flattened the bridge. Claws out, I raked sideways, shredding the door and bringing down rocks on the opening.
Vanessa landed on the ground. My shadows—multiple of them cast by the raging fires—covered her and the entire floor. She picked herself up. Terror filled her eyes. The scent of fear wafted up my nostrils.
Despair? Was this it?
Itchy. Itchy! Fucking itchier!
The mouth familiars inside my arm went insane as Vanessa’s heartbeat thundered. Right, her emotions affected them. They wanted to protect her by hurting me—that was going as well as a guy with a spoon trying to bring down a building. But fuck, it was so itchy!
“GRROARRGH!”
“I’m on your side! I’m on your side!” Vanessa shouted—shrieked was the better term—not caring who heard her. She likely thought I had lost myself to the Adumbrae inside me. “Erind! Remember—"
I roared to cover her voice.
She turned tail and headed to the main exit of the cavern. A fairly large door, but I doubted if I could fit through it. Digging required. I went after her, intentionally lagging, throwing a swipe or two to give her some exercise. Would be fun if I snagged a limb—blood, fun, blood, fun.
My arm itched like hell. Not fun, not fun!
“Don’t go that way, Vanessa!” Magenta Cannon had jumped down to the floor as well. He didn’t dare come near, hiding behind an overturned forklift while taking potshots at me. “They’re coming from there!”
Who’s coming?
An intrusive scent was in the air. Something familiar. But I couldn’t focus because the raisins inside my arm were bugging me!
“HROOOAR!” I munched on my arm, biting off the portion where the mouth familiars had invaded—pain, pain, pain, but also instant relief from the itchiness. I quickly chewed my flesh along with the raisins before they could start burrowing inside my mouth.
More blood spurted out of Vanessa’s arm. She veered left toward Magenta Cannon. Fire Tattoo headed me off, sending a whole zoo of fire summons at me. I didn’t move as a blazing rhino bumped my hairy butt.
Hmmm… weird. My hunger was partially alleviated.
The raisins were part of Vanessa! They were eating me, and I ate them. Still, they were Vanessa’s body. The absurdity of the situation made me giggle while watching Vanessa and Magenta Cannon escape through a utility hole previously hidden by heavy creates.
I made no move to stop them, satisfied with terrorizing and hurting Vanessa. I wasn’t hungry for Magenta Cannon; he didn’t hurt me enough. He also had plenty of inedible parts. Annoying. I was content to sit on my haunches and wait for the next wave of enemies.
Their thick scent permeated the air.
Movement caught my eye. Fire Tattoo headed for the open utility hole. She was still around? I was mulling whether to catch her when a sudden blast threw her against a pillar. A stray explosive?
That means you’re unlucky, I thought as I grabbed her. She struggled between my index finger and thumb, yelling boring stuff. An Adumbrae brain. Better not let it go to waste. I tossed her into my mouth. Hot and smoky. She must be using her powers. After a couple of seconds of chewing, I swallowed her.
Then I got up on all fours, towering in the middle of a spacious cavern. If I stood straight on my hind legs like a human, my head would bump into the ceiling. Like the thunder of an approaching storm, the noises of my next meal arrived after the scent—parasite monsters.
Not that they were making any sound specific to them. Just generic monster stuff.
The Tea Party must’ve released them in a last-bid attempt to stop me.
More food. Most of my Erind part sunk to the depths of my mind, deciding to sit this one out. In my current form, I wasn’t disgusted by the thought of eating parasite monsters. And their scent? Didn’t bother me at all. Overpowering and pungent, but I had eaten worse. Frankly, it wasn’t that bad. There was a hint of sweetness mixed in… like candy.
Cotton candy?
My ears prickled. As the din of the monster horde grew louder, a lone female voice stood out. Upon hearing it, my Erind consciousness came to the surface, pushing away the feral instincts of werewolf Blanchette.
“Erind! Erind!” Deen called. I tilted my head, my ears moving to catch her voice better. “Erind, where are you?”
“Ghooorggh...” I forgot about my best friend… Awkward. How did she know I was here? Did Vanessa tell her?
A blonde woman came running into the door, her hair, clothes, and skin coated by dried red blood and black slime. She gasped when she saw me, almost tangling her feet as she stopped. Gazing upward, she exclaimed, “Erind! You’re here! I was right that they were talking about you!” She looked over her shoulder.
Shadows peaked at the corridor. Parasite monsters were near. Deen hurried to me, jumping over my claws and latched onto my fur. She scaled my arm—or foreleg, whichever was which.
“I hope it’s you in control, Erind,” she said. “Gabe is telling me to go to you, so it probably is you.”
I growled in response. I wondered how she was going to interpret that.
“I overheard Tea Party people talking about a giant werewolf with red fur,” Deen shouted from somewhere below. “It had to be you; I can feel it. Erind, listen to me. They’re planning to kill you. I couldn’t let that happen, so I tried to find you. If we’re together, Gabe will also protect you.”
Parasite monsters of all shapes and sizes rounded the doorway, tumbling into the cavern in a wave of mutated flesh. I roared and swiped the front row, scooping a bunch and bringing them to my mouth. Deen took the chance to leap from my hand to face while I munched the monsters.
“You must be wondering how I got here.” She clambered across my forehead, pulling on my fur. “There was this guy who teleported us here—me and Pino. A door that turned into a portal. I don’t know where Pino went, and I don’t really understand what happened. Did the same thing happen to you?”
How the fuck am I supposed to answer that? I didn’t know sign language.
Did she expect me to scratch words on the floor? That option wasn’t possible because the floor was parasite monsters right now. They crowded around like it was grade school, and I opened a bag of candies. None were strong enough to hurt me. I forced myself to eat them, ingesting their powers as offerings for SpookyErind.
Deen clung to the back of my ear and loudly spoke, “That man was looking for you. Did he find you?”
I nodded. She hung on my ear as I bent down and then scrambled back up as I straightened my head to continue eating.
“So that’s how you got here.” Deen clung tighter to my fur. Her heart was beating fast. “Your mom…” she whispered. “Anyway, there’s something I have to tell you,” she hastily changed in almost a shout.
This bitch was glossing over Mom. She probably thought Mom was one of these monsters, and we had no way of saving her. Deen wanted to hide that ‘fact’ until we were out of this place. She didn’t know Mom was already safe. I was going to play dumb and blame Deen later.
The thought of emotionally abusing Deen excited me. I consumed the parasite monsters faster, bending down to the ground and chomping them left and right.
“I came across several men setting up explosives.” Deen dangled from my ear like an earring as I ravenously gulped down parasite monsters. “They’re going to blow up the tunnels to bury you! I, uh, asked them.” There was something in the way she said that last sentence that made me think there was more involved in her ‘asking.’
I listened with only half an ear while picking up running food. The parasite monsters, like those I met in the basement of the convention center, sensed they were up against something they couldn’t consume and reversed directions, fleeing from me. I’m at the top of the food chain here!
Deen continued, “Erind, we have to get out of here! Follow my directions, okay?”
KABOOM! BO-BOOM! The string of explosions continued, and the floor quaked.
“ERIND HARTWELL!” Deen shouted with all her mouth. “Turn around and enter that tunnel over there!”