I don’t know what woke me the second time, but I felt immediate danger. My eyes sprung open and I quickly stood on my four legs. My tails wrapped close to me, making me a smaller target. As I looked around I knew I was in a human dwelling. It was a single room with no window and only one door. I was lying on the stone ground although a human bed was not far from me. I sniffed cautiously and could smell some lingering scents. I knew that I was alone in this room. I eyed the human bed particularly the space beneath it. It would be a bit small, but it would work. As quietly as I could, I crawled under the bed. I went to the corner that was furthest from the open space and wrapped myself into a ball with my eyes pointed toward the door. I was a bit cold, so my tails wrapped around me, sharing their warmth. I took a moment to think.

The first thing I found strange was that I had no memory past when the hunters had neared my den. I couldn’t remember the face of my mother, or even my last meal. I grabbed a tail to clean as I thought. I found myself observing my foot. It seemed somehow extraordinary. It seemed different than how I would expect, and yet I couldn’t understand why I thought that. My ears remained alert but I pulled my foot toward me and tried to find what seemed different. It smells alright. It worked alright. It was when I went to clean it that I discovered something. It felt odd. I touched my tail and then I touched my foot. It was different. I didn’t think it was supposed to be different. And now that I was really looking I noticed that my front foot also seemed a little different then normal. The word ‘hand’ came to mind. Did I always have hands? I couldn’t remember, but it felt as though I didn’t. So where did these new things come from?

I heard footsteps approaching and so I stopped my examination. My foot and... hand pulled tight to my body and my tails quivered with anticipation behind me. The door opened and I froze. I smelt the human before I saw it. It was one of the humans who had captured me. Without meaning to, I growled slightly and the human paused. Human hands rested on the floor and a face came into view. I did the only thing I could think of and lashed out. This time something caught and I had the satisfaction of blood. The human backed off. “DAMN IT! The thing caught my eye!

“Relax Min, it will grow back in a moment.”

“Yes. But it bloody well hurts!”

Two more humans entered my room. Neither human smelled familiar and I felt a new terror. I was way too outnumbered. That was four humans to my one self. These humans carried the smell of other humans. There was no hope. My tails began to twitch slightly and my skin seemed to itch.

“Get Madison in here now. The creature is gathering magic.” I had magic? I was gathering magic? I looked toward my tails. Ah yes. I remembered now. I had magic. I could protect myself. I closed my eyes and focused on gathering quicker. Suddenly the human bed was lifted from its place. I had no protection. Whatever magic I had been gathering disappeared in my shock. I quickly tried to run up the walls, but there was no bark to dig into. The stone was unwilling to yield to my claws and I whined at it in frustration.

“Calm down!” A voice called to me. It seemed different somehow. It seemed soothing. But it felt off. I shook my head but I couldn’t keep the calm from surrounding me. In the place of fear, I felt helpless. I lay down in my corner and shut my eyes. My tails lay over me, but my shaking began regardless. I heard an oddly animalistic growl from one of the humans, the one with the odd voice. “Did you have to scare her to death?”

“We didn’t do anything. We just found her in our territory.”

“And then what?” There was only a moment’s pause. “No, don't tell me. Get out. Tell the Queen that I will come to her as soon as I have calmed the were down.”

“It is a were then?” Min said. I couldn’t help but listen as well. I felt unsure as to what I was. Now that I knew my... hands looked like human hands. But I couldn’t understand. How could I be a place?

“I don’t know. The tails and ears would make it seem like a were stuck in transformation. But I have never seen a were with more than one tail before.” This made me grab at my tails. They couldn’t take them from me. They were mine. I had earned them.

There was another pause and I took a peek at the humans. I found their glances startling so I covered my eyes with one of my tails once more. They didn’t say anything else, but I heard three humans leave. I could still smell the one with the calming voice. But it wasn’t moving. I peeked out once again. I was surprised to find that the human had moved. It was now sitting on the floor against the opposite side of the room. Perhaps I had been too preoccupied listening to the humans leaving to pay attention to this one.

Its eyes caught mine. I saw curiosity. But I didn’t feel like this human was an enemy. I could smell the predator scent, but I felt that I was not its prey. So why had it captured me? I couldn’t understand. There was so much I couldn’t understand. A whine escaped me. The human seemed slightly startled but then bared her teeth at me. I almost tried to attack it but then I found the knowledge that humans bare their teeth to show that they weren’t planning on harming you. It was a sign of... something. I didn’t know what. But cautiously I lifted my head. I watched the human, but it didn’t respond. Slowly I sat up until my feet were before me and my back rested against the wall.

The human spoke then. “Can you understand me?” I knew that humans nodded to say yes, so I slowly moved my head up and down. It felt awkward, but the human bared its teeth at me once more. “Can you speak with me?” This time I had to move my head from side to side. I did so slowly without taking my eyes from its face. I was watching for an indication of an attack. Its face seemed strangely upset with this turn. But I wondered if I could speak the human language. I had never tried before. I knew that at least. Once the human had left I would try to speak human. “Can you write?” The word seemed to taunt me. I knew this word. But I couldn’t remember what it meant. So I shook my head from side to side.

“Then Yes or No questions it is.” The human took a deep breath. “Are you a were?” This word also seemed to taunt me. Where was I... but it was asking... if I was a place... or... maybe I was misreading something in its body that clarified its question. But it was too late. I didn’t want to say no, because this seemed important so I just stared at it. I hoped the human would get the idea. The human seemed to take forever to realize I wasn’t answering. Its face grew a few strange lines. But it eventually asked its next question. “Did you know you were on vampire territory?”

Vampire? I had a vision of razor teeth and dog-like speed. The memory seemed out of place in my empty past but I knew vampire. Vampire was a predator. Vampire would kill me. A shiver ran through my whole body. “I guess not.” The human let out a heavy breath filled with a strange scent but then it slowly stood. “I don’t know how much you will understand this part, but you are in vampire territory. You weren’t killed because of your unique characteristics, but you need to prove that you are of some use here otherwise they will kill you. For now we need to go see the Queen. Can you manage that?” I didn’t know what a queen was, but it seemed like a powerful human... or vampire.

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However I was already locked in this human room either way. Slowly I moved my head up and down. The human paused. I then realized that it was waiting for me. I observed how much taller it was than me. I didn’t like that. I thought back to trying to run from the den, I hadn’t been sure if I could use my back feet only. I wondered if I could do it now. I pushed the muscles of my back legs and slowly began to rise up. Well my tails did. It was then that I realized I would have to let go of the ground before me to stand completely up.

The human stepped toward me and my tails lowered to the ground once more and I growled at the human in warning. It stopped walking toward me. When I didn’t move again it took a step back. I steeled my courage and lifted my front feet... my hands from the ground first. This wasn’t so bad. Again I pushed the muscles of my back legs. This time my whole body rose up. When I was as high as my legs would let me, I looked around. The human dwelling seemed even smaller than before. I found that the human was even a bit shorter than I was. It pleased me. I watched the human.

It seemed unsure before it took a step forward. I did the same. The world wobbled precariously but my tails quickly balanced me. The human stepped forward with its other foot. Again I copied, and again the world wobbled but only a little. By the time I had walked toward the human at the door I was fairly steady. I was not expecting the human to reach out and touch me. And I was not expecting the pain that shot through me. I let out a strangled yip. I quickly went back to my corner and nursed my aching wrist. I looked down at it, and found a strange dark marking wrapped around it. I whined at the human.

“That should not have hurt you.” It said, holding its hands up. “I swear. It just binds your magic...” This caused me to whine even louder than before. “I can’t let you go before the Queen with your magic free...” But the human seemed unsure. The pain started to grow and I whined louder. “It can’t be... it’s not that bad. Is it?” I didn’t respond. I just cradled the hand to my chest and wrapped my tail closer to myself. Humans were bad.

Footsteps approached the door and I curled even closer to myself. The door flew open. “What on earth is going on!” A voice roared and I curled even closer.

“My lord I was just...” The was a whine and I opened my eyes. The world was a bit blurred but I could clearly see the human against the wall. But its feet weren’t touching the floor. Holding it up by its neck was a large human. Its scent came toward me and I corrected myself. Vampire.

“I thought I told you to calm it down.”

The human’s voice had just enough breath to answer. “I did. But it reacted negatively to the binder. The creature is acting as though it is in pain.” The vampire dropped the human. The human lay close to the floor in submission while grabbing its neck and coughing.

“Then take off the binder.”

“But my lord.” The vampire growled, and it caused the hair on my tail to raise on an end. “Yes my lord.” The human essentially crawled toward me. I didn’t want it near me, but I felt as though the human would remove the pain. Reluctantly I held out the arm. The human touched it and the pain disappeared as did the markings. I couldn’t resist swiping my claws against the human’s face. Lines of red appeared on its face and it stared at me in horror.

“Get out.” The vampire growled. The prey in me froze every hair on my body. It would not do well to have the vampire look at me. The human must have thought the same thing because it ran from the room. It was unfortunate that the vampire did look at me then. Its red eyes screamed predator. It lifted its chin at me. “I was listening to the conversation. You can understand me correct?” I moved my head up and down as minimally as possible. “Good. I will take you to see the Queen. However, should you even think up any magic to use on her I will kill you before you can try. Do you understand?” Up and down. “Good. Now follow me.”

The vampire opened the door and walked out. I followed at a much slower pace. With each step I grew steadier and I could place my feet lighter on the ground. My tails were in near constant motion to keep me balanced and I was afraid that it would draw the attention of the vampire. But it didn’t. It just kept walking forward.

I heard the large group of people before I smelled them. It was vampire and human. There were also some scents I didn’t know but one that I did. My predator was past the doors the vampire was approaching. I slowed and then whined when the vampire didn’t react. This time it slowed and turned to look at me. “What is it?”

I whined and took a step from the door. The vampire’s eyes narrowed at me and it took a threatening step toward me. But this vampire was not my natural predator, there was one behind that door. I was not stupid enough to approach a creature that would eat me without a care. I found my eyes more centered on the door than on the vampire. It seemed to notice this and turned to look back at the door. “Do you fear something inside the room?” Slowly up and down. “Is it the group of vampires?” Left and right. “Something else then?” Up and down. “Hmm. A were perhaps. You lesser creatures are based off of animals and all animals have a predator. Very well. Wait here. I will ask the Queen to remove all weres from the room.”

The doors opened and a vampire stepped through. This one was smaller than the vampire who had guided me, but this one was no less predator. “There’s no need Lord DongGeun. The Queen heard your conversation and already had them all moved.”

“Easier then. Follow me.” I barely registered that it was for me. I followed at a slower pace but didn’t want the smaller vampire behind me so waited until it began into the room to cross the doorway. I could smell the predator here. There were many of them. A low whine started in my throat as I quickly scanned the bodies around us. I couldn’t pinpoint where the scent was. A touch to my arm excited another yip out of me and I jumped to the side. The smaller vampire looked shocked for a moment before commenting. “It's so high-strung right now. I am surprised I can’t smell the fear.”

Anything the other vampire would have said was halted at a voice from further down the room. “Ah DongGeun my dear. I see you brought a strange new creature.” The vampire lowered his head in submission and I realized that this voice must belong to the... queen. I didn’t want to, but I slowly lowered my head as well. A strange sound filled the room and a moment later my mind informed me that it was laughter. “Come here, strange creature.” I slowly made my way toward the voice but grew wary as the vampires grew in number behind me. It was a cause of relief that the predator scent was fading. The predator was truly gone.

At the end of the hall stood a vampire with a light colored pelt. Many vampires and humans had light colored pelts, but this one was rather unique. Before I could help myself I approached the vampire. I took in its scent before cautiously reaching out to touch its pelt. It was so soft I could hardly feel it. The vampire also carried no scent of predator to me. The vampire laughed. I jumped slightly at the noise but the vampire placed a gentle hand on my arm. I didn’t mind it there, as I had minded others and slowly began to pick through the vampire’s hair looking for anything I could remove for it.

The vampire let me do what I wanted. I was both disappointed and not surprised to find that not even the smallest bug lived in this creature’s pelt. Exhaustion swept through me. I felt the safest right next to this vampire and so I crawled into a ball in the corner where its chair met the wall and allowed myself to go to sleep.