The small barge slid onto the frozen coastline at the edge of the village, the women waited anxiously for their arrival. Excitement buzzed as they saw them beached with a haul in tow, the massive sperm whale as their prize. Crowds surrounded them all as they leapt off the barges, spouses and children ran up to their kin. All hugged each other, now that they were back safely.

Grusha felt the strong presence of Aput fast approaching towards her. Uninterested in any useless idle chatter, she slipped between the crowd and ran off on her three limbs into the village. Hiding behind the coverings that offered shelter.

Sufficiently far away enough, she resumed her mission to spy and intimidate her creditor in the distance. He scrambled between everyone, asking around if anyone had seen her. Naturally, none of them even noticed how slipping in between them all, she was sly and ample enough to escape unnoticed. Aput quit his search for her and got to work to haul the barge further inland. His crew pulled out a few snowmobiles out and attached the ropes to them, hauling the whale onshore to get immediately to work.

Why does he ignore me? Grusha thought. ‘

She hoped her intimidation would drive him mad, forcing him to do something brash that would give her the excuse she needed to free herself from the life-debt. Instead, he acts curiously. Her senses gave her mixed messages about the man, there were muddled emotions mixed in him. Hate, depression, regret, resolve. Contrasts so stark that they were hard to believe that they blended together to begin with. It is clear that he knew what she was, but no matter how much more blatant she becomes in exposing her true nature, the man held back. No. She tasted satisfaction, his pulse eased each time she tried. At first, his inner self was a turmoil, and yet he was finding peace.

She growled frustratingly.

With nothing else to do, she chose to hide back inside her hut. Cradling herself to sleep, she needed some rest from spending some of her energy. Sleep was non-existent with her, there was always a portion of her that remained active when the other rested. That was how she knew that only an hour passed when the other barges came back, and that they were the only ones to come back with a catch. Aput and his crew were the only with the smell of blood, the others only came back smelling like the ocean. Untainted from the odors of a hunt. Their surprise to see that Aput won the brotherly competition was the talk in the village.

Did these simpletons have nothing else to do?

Fast approaching steps alarmed Grusha’s senses, putting her instincts on edge. The brother Nukilik stormed into her room, he tasted angry. Not that it mattered to her, he was just another weakling that surrounded her.

The door burst wide open. She was laid down on the bed pointed straight at him, eyes narrowed, daring him further to take some sort of action. He slammed the door shut and made his own observations in the room.

“No fire. By the looks of it, you haven’t lit it up for a while. There is no human way to stay warm this way.”

She blinked.

“You mock me?” His fists clenched.

She blinked again.

“Fine then, mock me if you will. You’re a demi, aren’t you? My people may be humble and innocent of what the world is like, but I am no fool. You can’t trick me.” 

Turning over, she exposed her backside towards him. This was just uninteresting idle banters, ranting of some childish adult. She did not amuse herself with those beneath her on the food chain. He was not amused with her dismissive attitude. Grabbing the nearest sharp object he could reach for, he picked up a knife and ran up to stab her in the back.

Jaws clenched and hair quilled up, Grusha’s instincts took control of her motor skills. The knife poked her on the back side, but did not penetrate. No human had enough force to penetrate her unreasonably sturdy skin, she did not need to put in any conscientious effort to harden her skin, all of that was instinctual on its own. Nukilik did not attack her unscathed, needle like quivers pricked his hand through-and-through.

He grunted. His pride was so great that he could not even permit himself to scream in pain. 

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Grusha smiled. She was somewhat amused from his acts of heroism and respected his self-dignity. However, she knew that he was a coward at heart, and he was in her way towards being the ultimate beast.

She sat up straight.

“Ah-ah-ah.” Nukilik exclaimed painfully. Her sitting up twisted his hand awkwardly, and he could not pull his hand out straight. Her quills had his hand firmly gripped.

“You think you are superior.” Her voice deepened with every word. “I. Am. Alpha.”

The body heat Nukilik gave began to rise higher and higher, his heart beat risened. She could feel the droplets of sweat that rolled off his arm on her.

She avoided raising her voice loudly, but she was also aware that no one else was near them. He could be killed here and now, and she could bury him somewhere that nobody will ever find him. His luck had run out. Wrong words, wrong place, wrong time. None of those abstracts were of her concern, they were just his misfortune.

Reaching behind her, she took hold of his wrist and ripped it off of her back, taking off some needle-like quills off with it. Twisting around without ever letting go of his wrist, she stared him deathly into his eyes. Wide amber eyes showed terrified fear, a much more lifeless glow than that of his brothers she thought. An unremarkable specimen if she had to be honest.

He acted primal by flailing a clean punch with his available hand on her cheek, but failed to accomplish anything with that. Horrified by her invulnerability, he tried again and again hoping that she would at least be fazed. She did not even blink. 

With her other available hand, she grabbed him by the neck. Her hand transformed into something monstrous, long fingers wrapped around his neck and began to choke him. She was careful not to completely suffocate him, she wanted to see him try more.

“You wretched demis!” He choked. “You take everything from humans. Why won’t you all just die?”

She leaned him closer. “Humans made me into the monster that you see before you. Take a good look, for this is the product of your humanity. Now reap the fruitage of your product.”

Her iron-grip tightened, slowly taking the life out of him. He choked harder and tried to desperately to peel her fingers off with his two hands, but all to no avail. He gave up on trying, accepting his inadvertent death.

With the thrill of the fight taken away, Grusha accepted his defeat and prepared to end his life. Until she was interrupted with Aput rushing into the room, catching them both with this altercation.

“Stop that! Right this instant!” Aput yelled at her.

She growled and hissed at him for interrupting this activity, if it were anybody else, she would not have cared. Nukilik was let loose from her deadly grip, which he fell to the ground gasping for air. He did not take his freedom seriously, he picked up the knife and jumped straight at her again. 

Grusha was completely prepared to kill him when he tried that, but Aput placed himself in between them again. Nukilik was held back in an armlock from behind by Aput, held back from moving any forward. Every fiber of her itched for him to be set free, just so that the prey could be put back in its place. Aput swung his brother around and down to the ground, rolling him away from her.

“Why do you defend her?” Nukilik coughed.

Aput did not offer a response.

Nukilik stared dead in the eyes. “Fine, if you can’t answer that. Tell, did you know that that beast is a demi? Please! Tell me that you simply were ignorant of that fact.”

Aput blinked slowly and took a deep breath. “No. I was fully aware that she was a demi.”

The older brother looked at the ground and fisted it angrily, he then stood and went for the door. Aput tried to get his attention before he left by grabbing his older brother by the shoulder, he was greeted with a punch on the nose. The younger brother was knocked back against the bed that she kneeled on.

“You’re no brother of mine. For your own sake, do not speak to me again.”

Nukilik then left.

Her interrupter covered his nose to stop the bleeding, seemingly unsurprised about it all. There was silence.

“Care to share with me what that all was about?” He asked.

His warm amber eyes glowed, for a brief debilitating moment, she almost divulged. However, she reminded herself who he was and who she was. Brushing the entire situation aside, she rolled back onto her side on the bed again. Uninterested in useless chatter.

Aput sighed. “Good talk.”

He too left her alone in the room. Everything was returning all back to normal, with all things considered. Throughout the night, she heard large pieces of wood burning from a giant fire pit, and cheerful dancing among the simpleton crowd. If only they knew the kind of beast they housed here, then they would not have much of a reason to be so cheerful.

Grusha sat up. Her quills quivered nervously, excited by something approaching far off in the distance. At moment it was just a small murmur, but the bloodlust was loud and clear. It was calling out to her. A lure without a doubt, and she knew exactly who it was.

So you’ve made your first move Static. She thought.

Exhilarating thrill exuded through her pores.

Well then, it is certainly impolite to keep you waiting. Especially since you’ve come this far.

Without another moment wasted, she dashed out of the door and ran eastward deep into the forest on her three limbs.