It was cold enough that the grass crunched under her feet, but Sofia didn’t mind. In fact, she liked the cold as much as the rain, it made her feel alive again and it was also one of her greatest allies. The winter weather, especially on that side of the mountain, kept people cooped up in their homes during the dark hours. Away from the prying eyes of humans she felt free. The night had always been her domain, first as a hunter, and now...

Sofia stopped and looked down at the village that rested in the valley. The lights from the street lamps and the houses pulsed through a thin mist that was barely able to turn the buildings into soft silhouettes. Now she was a stateless person who had no land, who was not a hunter but was not a cinanthrope either, and neither did she belong to the human specie.

“I live between the three worlds and belong to none of them.”

With a sigh, she turned her back on the world of humans and looked at the forest in front of her. To most people, it was a labyrinth of impenetrable blackness. However, she was able to see everything clearly, as if it were a cloudy dawn and not the middle of the night. That was something all cinanthropes could do since they were pups. In fact, Sofia didn't really know what it was like to see the night through the human eye, and only had some notion from films, drawings and photographs.

It might sound like fun, like having a superpower, but it was not. In order to see clearly in the dark, Sofia sacrificed three-color vision in exchange for a reflective tissue called tapetum lucidum, which grew on the back of her pupils whenever they sensed low luminosity. This meant that their eyes reflected light, and given the right conditions they could shine like a dog's eyes. It wasn't easy, and it was usually a brief greenish glow, but it could happen.

A shiver ran down her spine and Sofia hugged herself.

“Those are the kind of things hunters pay attention to.”

At least there, in the company of trees, she didn't have to worry about hiding any of her features. In the forest she could be herself. Sofia took a deep breath and let the scents of nature fill her nose. The energy she always felt curled inside her chest stirred and began to flow through her veins. It was a feeling that made her feel alive and also frightened her, because she suspected that this was what drove the change.

As she walked she sniffed the air, and she perceived so many aromas that for a moment she felt overwhelmed. It was the smell of pine, of fern, of damp earth, of moss, it was the smell of freedom, of peace and of silence broken by the wind whispering through the branches of the trees.

With her lips curving into a smile Sofia looked up and opened her arms, letting herself be enveloped by that autumn’s night cold. Through the gaps in the treetops’ latticework a silver rain began to fall onto her face. The full moon embraced her and began to whisper in her ear. She was calling for her daughter to let go and join her. There was no denying that it was a hard to resist temptation.

It would only take a moment. She just had to let herself be carried away by the lullaby of the moon, by the flow of energy she felt coursing through her veins, by her desire to howl, and everything would change forever. Once she accepted her true nature she could dive into the forest and escape from her mother, from the hunters' guild and from a human society that would never accept her. For an instant she visualized herself running on all fours among the trees, free, completely free. It was hard not to long for that freedom.

Then she remembered her friend's words and the images they evoked. For a moment she saw herself sitting in the park, with her two friends, eating snacks and laughing. She saw Sara and could almost hear her thunderous laughter. She saw him, his bright blue eyes looking at Kas, who was sitting next to him, demanding to be petted. She saw that restrained smile and tried to imagine it much wider and more spontaneous. She saw herself lulled by the warmth of her feelings, happy for the first time in a long time. She wasn't ready, not yet.

Sofia opened her eyes again and found herself face to face with the moon. The silver rays caressed her face with the loving gesture that a mother would have with her daughter. The energy continued to flow through her veins, stoking her instinctive impulses and fueling her urge to howl. Yet that night it didn't happen either. She was afraid, yes, and she kept a tight grip on her behavior because she knew how hunters worked and was truly terrified of them. Maybe that's why the change didn't come, because she was so afraid of becoming prey that she was not letting herself go.

“Maybe if my father hadn't abandoned us now I wouldn't have all these problems. Fucking bastard!” She curled her lip and growled.

Another growl, not too far away, joined her own and brought her to a sudden hush. It was then that she heard the rustle of trampled earth and broken branches that made the hair on the back of her neck bristle. Driven by her fear of hunters, she sought cover in the bushes and crouched as far as she could in a shady spot. Her heart was beating so fast that, though she tried to avoid it, she started to pant. Yes, her mother had told her that this was her territory and other hunters would not come but Sofia knew the guild, and there was not always honor among thieves.

The wisest thing she could do was either hide or try to flee. They wouldn't hunt her in human form. Hunters wanted fangs, pelts and claws to sell on the black market. However, if they had found the cinanthrope she crossed paths with, his own life was in danger.

“¿What do I do?” she whimpered, very aware of how much she was shaking.

A chilling, high-pitched yelp reached her ears and froze her blood. Pain, it was a cry of pain. ‘No’. With a nimble leap, she jumped to her feet and ran towards the place where all the commotion was coming from. Maybe it wasn't the smartest idea but she had to help him. She had sworn that she would protect him, that she would not allow him to be harmed, and that was what she was going to do. The only thing she hoped was that she would reach him in time.

“Oh, shit!” she exclaimed as she stopped so hard she almost stumbled.

Just in time she threw herself to the side and rolled on the ground. An enormous stag, with antlers with so many spikes that it could only be an experienced adult buck, galloped past where she had been just seconds before. In his wake he left a scent trail of blood that was not just his own, since in addition to the wound on one of his hindquarters, one of the tips of his antlers was dripping with a viscous crimson liquid. The animal was so scared that he soon disappeared into the vegetation, without even noticing the girl who had been less than two meters away from him.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Attacking a deer in the middle of the rut. Are you insane?”

After shaking the mud and dirt off her clothes, Sofia looked around and noticed the damage the deer had left behind in its flight. Biting her lip, she looked back to where it had come from. If that had been the work of the cinanthrope, as it seemed, she would have to be careful when approaching him. Not because he was dangerous but because she would most likely scare him and he would run away. The best strategy would be to try not to let him see her, at least until she could find a way to let him know that she meant no harm. Cinanthropes were very elusive and they had more than enough reasons to be.

Using everything she had learned from her mother, though Helena was undoubtedly much quieter than her, she followed the path of destruction through the forest until she came to a small clearing. That was the spot where the deer had been ambushed, but there was no one there. The cinanthrope was gone although, being a pup, the chances were that he had left a pile of footprints. It shouldn't be too hard to follow his trail, so she got to work.

The first thing she noticed was the disturbed dirt that was next to a nibbled patch of grass. Some of the broken blades were still on the ground, having been spat out by the deer as he felt the attack.

“The animal was eating when the cinanthrope ambushed it, probably from there. How did he manage to get within such close range of a deer without being detected?” she said to herself, biting her lip. “But he attacked an adult buck in the middle of rutting season, a very large one. The buck fought back, managed to shake the cinanthrope off and skewered him before running away.”

With a slow, methodical pace to avoid stepping on anything that could be a clue, Sofia approached the place where the cinanthrope had fallen. The ferns were crushed under his weight and the leaves were stained with blood. With two fingers Sofia took a sample and rubbed it between her fingertips to feel its viscosity. Then she put her hand to her nose and sniffed thoroughly.

“There is no trace of other body fluids. It probably didn't touch any organs. It was a wide tear, but it only hit muscle. I don't think he lost too much blood but I should make sure.”

After wiping her fingers on the floor, she concentrated on studying what appeared to be the footprints the creature had left when it stood up. They were too blurred to be reliable, as if he had tried to erase them. In fact, he had soon left the soft ground to walk across more settled earth, where his paws left only a faint and almost imperceptible mark. Sofia knew he had walked that way not because she had any special gift, but because of the drops of blood on the vegetation.

Fortunately for them, cinanthropes healed in a matter of seconds, so Sofia didn't get to walk two steps before she lost the trail. However, it had been enough for her to recognize the place he was headed for; the creek. Perhaps he had gone there to relieve his thirst and clean himself after the failed hunting attempt.

“I don’t get it. A cinanthrope that attacks livestock is usually a pup with little self control, and chasing an adult deer in the middle of the rut isn't very smart either. What is exceptional is that he managed to ambush it. He knows how to use the terrain, he knows how to move in silence. He is a wild animal, he likes to hunt and feed on his prey, the hunt excites him,” she said to herself as she walked through the forest with silent steps.

Before she knew it, she was smiling. This cinanthrope had her completely confused. Sometimes he seemed like a pup overwhelmed by his instincts and other times like a true, experimented predator. He was fascinating, so much so that she wondered what the person behind the dog-like appearance was like. Did he reject his nature? Or did he like what he was? Did he start hunting because he couldn't control himself, or out of sheer enjoyment? There were so many questions she would ask him if she had the chance to talk to him.

It didn't take her long to start hearing the murmur of water flowing down its course. Before she reached the stream she looked for some bushes in which to hide, and only when she was sure she would not be seen did she peek out. The moonlight slipped through the trees' branches and shimmered on the crystalline surface. Next to the riverbank was the white cinanthrope. He was sitting on some rocks in a very human posture that no dog would ever assume and was gazing thoughtfully at a stone he held in one of his humanoid hands.

For a few minutes Sofia remained very still, unable to take her eyes off him. He was a very handsome, well proportioned creature, with strong legs, well-toned chest and arms and a dense white mane over his shoulders. His muzzle was somewhat shorter than a wolf's and his features were pleasant. His tail was thick and had a slight curvature that let her know that, at rest, it curled over his back.

The weredog closed his fingers tight around the stone and his jaw tensed. With a sudden bark that boomed through the silent forest and almost made Sofia jump, he threw it into the stream, where it sank with a dry splash. Then he sighed, ducked his triangular Samoyed ears, and looked up at the sky, at the full moon that hung overhead. A high-pitched whimper echoed in his throat.

Sofia's heart broke when she saw the sadness in those blue eyes. Biting her lip, she thought about going over to talk to him. That creature seemed to be as lonely as she was, and Sofia knew that behind all that fur there was a person just like her. They were not monsters. Whether they were in human form or dog form, the person inside was always the same. The only thing that was different was their appearance.

A slight movement of her leg spooked a rabbit that had been hiding in the undergrowth. Startled by the dashing creature, Sofia jumped back and fell to the ground, where she remained seated in full view of the cinanthrope, who had turned at the sound of the commotion. At the sight of her, sadness left his blue eyes and in them arose fear, not of her but of being discovered for what he really was. With the fur on his back bristling and a whimper in his throat, the weredog stood up on all fours and dashed towards the forest's depths.

“Wait!” Sofia shouted, holding out her hand to him.

It was no use. After leaping across the stream, the dog ran until his white fur disappeared in the thick undergrowth. The sound of his footsteps, which were surprisingly quiet, soon faded as well. For a few minutes Sofia sat there, staring into the forest’s shadows, and bit her lip. She understood why he had fled, but she only wanted to help him, especially after seeing how sad and lonely he was.