Chapter 62


    -Dorothy-


    It was horrific. It was a deer, or at least it had been once. But everything about the creature was twisted


    and deformed like it had been sculpted out of dough and its shape changed over time. The antlers


    stood haphazardly on its misshaped head and protruded in odd angles, pointing in every direction


    Sharp, elongated teeth protruded from the creature’s mouth in Eyers like evil-looking needles in a


    pincushion. Bits of raw meat from some poor unsuspecting forest dweller hung from the deer’s jaws in


    blo ody tendrils like red floss.


    It didn’t move like a deer either. The creature’s gait was slow and stilted like its hones were never


    meant to bend that way. I stiffed a shrick as the creature stepped into the light of the clearing and I


    could see the monstrosity with full rity.


    It was only a few feet away from us when I felt Ignatius move over me, his skin rippled as he prepared


    to shift and gray fur grew on his b*dy.


    “When I leap, you run. Okay?”


    “I’m not leaving you.”


    I was terrified and my b*dy was itching to scramble away from the gruesome creature but I would not


    leave my mate behind.


    “Go ddam mit. Dorothy. You need to get out of here,”


    The creature paused and raised itsrge head, a head that looked too big to be supported by its bent


    neck. Bits of fur had rubbed off in ces and rough, rotting skin could be seen on the bald patches all


    over the deer’s b*dy.


    I swallowed my fear, my dry throat burning as I did so. Im not leaving you.”


    It was clear to Ignatius that I wouldn’t budge on the topic and his frustration could be felt through our


    mind-link “Fine,” he said inside of my head, stifling his anger and fear. “Fine, but the second I go for this


    monster, you get out of the way, okay? If it looks like I can’t take it down then I want you to leave.”


    “Win this fight,” I answered him. “Because I’m not leaving


    He let out an aggrieved growl. He didn’t manage more than that before the deer moved. Way faster


    than I could have anticipated. It darted towards us with lightning speed, inhuman speeds, and its jaw


    unhinged as its teeth sought out a target


    Ignatius pushed me into the floor as he leaped over me, shifting in the air and meeting the creature’s sh


    caggy jaws with teeth of his own. I watched, frozen on the ground as the gray wolf collided with the


    monstrous deer.


    It was bigger than Tor, much bigger, but he managed to snag the creature’s throat and tear a chunk


    from its flesh before the being could snap its own teeth down on his head.


    I scrambled backward through the clearing as the two creatures grappled. Snarls and whines and the


    snapping of jaws filled the clearing and sp ooked every small creature for a mile around us. The deer


    keened, a disquieting, bone-chilling sound, as Tor went for its spindly legs..


    The gray wolf was taking great care to avoid the monster’s teeth. And that seemed to take a great seal


    of effort as the being able to inuke its head unnaturally in every direction, following the wolf as he


    snapped and tore at the deer’s deformed


    Eventually, for snapped his jaws shut on the creature’s hind leg and in threw back its head to release


    an unearthly siren wail. Trovered my hands over myran as I tried to get to my feet and the trees around


    is swished as binds took flight to escape


    the awful d


    With a sharp twist of his head, for managed to snap the creatunes leg and the deer numbled to the side


    Its snaking head still fought to sink long needle darp teeth into the gray wall but for danced around the


    creature, biting and howling in furious. vehement


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    After some time, the creatures thrashing and wailing banshee call began to subside. The b*dy of the


    deer was beginning to look more like a gnarled clump of meat than a living being and it moved its limbs


    weakly, kicking at the ground and dragging its heavy head along the dirt as it foamed at the mouth


    Its antlers dug up the soil as the creature bucked its head, releasing one final ear-piercing shriek before


    its head and neck Thumped to the ground and ity still.


    Tor howled in victory and I stared in horror at the remaining carnage.


    “What is that thing?” I was frozen to the spot while Ignatius reverted back to his human form. “What


    was that thing?”


    Ignatius looked up at me with strained relief etched into his features. His clothes were torn and his bare


    chest was streaked with the creature’s blood.


    Steam rose from the dark crimson liquid like the blood was boiling on his skin. He wiped at the liquid


    with what was left of his shirt but the crimson was stained on his skin like tiger stripes.


    “Not Deer. Nob*dy really knows for sure where they came from!


    “Not Deer? As in not a deer? What kind of name is that?” I was trying to be lighthearted, to prove that


    the encounter hadn’t phased me. But my voice shook and I wrapped my arms around myself and my


    stomach in unease.


    Itentatively stepped closer to stand beside Ignatius and we both gazed down at the shredded b*dy of


    the creature that looked like a deer but most definitely was not


    Ignatius had not held back. The creature’s neck was bent at an impossible angle and the bones of its


    legs had broken through


    Blood pooled around the corpse and matted with its short fur, seeping into the surrounding soil and


    turning the ground. around it ck like the earth had opened its mouth to swallow up the fallen


    creature,


    Its one visible eye remained wide open and empty, a ssy ck orb that absorbed the sunlight that


    shone down on it.


    Ignatius kept his eyes on the so-called Not Deer as he continued, Tve never heard of one in this area.


    At least not for a very long time. They roam the forests to the East most of the time.


    “Barely anyone has seen one and those who do rarelye back alive. It’s possible Johan is sending


    them this way t weaken us beforeunching a full-scale attack.


    A bite from a Not Deer is a fate worse than death.” he trailed off, sliding an arm around me and pulling


    me close to him like he needed to make sure that I was real and very much alive.


    His mouth set in a grim line as he stared down at the creature. “I never thought I would see one again.”


    He ignored my questioning stare and continued.


    Some people think that they’re witches who attempted to replicate our shifting abilities. Decades ago,


    they sought to wield the power of the shifters for themselves, but their spells went wrong and trapped


    them in this form. Their minds were mangled over the years until eventually, they were neither human


    nor animal anymore.”


    I shifted on my feet, feeling ufortably vulnerable in the open clearing, even with Ignatius” arms


    around me, “If Johan is sending them, what do we do about it?”


    Before he could answer me, the ssy eye of the fallen creature rolled in its socket to gaze at us.


    Ignatius started beside me. sp ooked by the swiveling orb that rotated from me to him and back again. I


    felt sick to my stomach. Everything about this: creature felt wrong, unnatural.


    Without taking his eyes off of the creature, Ignatius reached around me and pulled the iron de from


    Rita that I always kept on my person, from where it was concealed in my back pocket.


    Kneeling, he drove the knife deep into the inky ck pool of the Not Deer’s eye. A shiver ran over the


    creature’s mangled b*dy and then ity motionless. A trickle of blood, so dark it was almost ck with


    the oozing texture of thick treacle.


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    trailed slowly out of the wound.


    “Let’s get out


    of here. Ignatius gripped my forearm and turned to leave. “I’ll have some of the guards burn the b*dy”


    “My knife..”I protested.


    “Leave it. It’s tainted now, It’ll only bring you bad luck.”


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    I pulled my arm away from him and reached down to grab the hilt. “Rita can cleanse it, she’s done it


    before after I used it on the Tally shifter. It’s valuable to me.”


    I lifted the de from the creature’s skull and it came out with a suctioning force and a sickening pop. I


    wiped it on the grass before sliding it back into its sheath in my pocket.


    Still gawking at the corpse I let Ignatius lead me out of the clearing and back through the woods


    towards the manor.


    Later, I watched several Bielke members set the b*dy aze on a pyre, the Not Deer wrapped in a


    tarp. The smoke was ck, and suffocating and I could have sworn I saw something move under the


    greasy tarp before the mes devoured the pyre entirely.


    Ignatius had been less than talkative since the encounter, but he hovered around me for the rest of the


    day andte into the evening, tonching me from time to time as if in a dream and relying on me to bring


    him back to reality.


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    All through the night. I reassured him over and over again that was still there, that I wasn’t going


    anywhere. That night it was my turn tofort my mate who awoke from nightmares he couldn’t speak


    of


    All I could do when he reached for me in a cold sweat was wrap my arms around him as he buried his


    head in my chest and wept.


    That night I dreamed of the Not Deer. I was standing in a clearing under the light of the moon. I felt


    safe, at first, bathed in that silver glow. Through the dark of the woods before me, something was


    stirring.


    Awkward antlers on a mutted face, the Not Deer nirmed to look at me, an iron de in its left eye.


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    10:58 Fri, Jan 26 G