《The Queen's Favorite Pet》


 Prologue

    I opened my eyes and found myself surrounded by a comforting darkness. I could smell the damp earth that surrounded me and I closed my eyes again. But then I heard it again. Voices. Humans. Humans were bad. A spike of pain flashed through my mind but I started to move. Humans were dangerous. I knew this deep in my bones. I twisted my way deeper into my den, but I felt too big, and my feet were too wide. Something was wrong.


    I started to try and claw my way through the eart, but my claws were dull. The earth pulled away slowly, but the voices were getting closer faster. The ground around me shook with their footsteps and I knew I had only moments. Panic flooded me. If I couldn¡¯t go down, I would get out instead. I pushed through the too small space, feeling stones catch on my pelt. I pushed harder and finally turned a corner and saw the opening. Sunlight poured into my darkness and now I felt fear.


    ¡°It¡¯s close. I can smell it.¡± I froze as I heard the human speak. It must be right above me now.


    I had one chance. I scrambled as fast as I could from the hole. My tails caught on the lip a bit, and pushed hard and popped out. I could smell it, it was a predator.


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    ¡°It¡¯s over here.¡± Another voice. Another predator. I tried to run to a nearby tree, but my legs felt too long and my bones and muscles protested at their use. Still I moved, but I had barely reached the tree when I was grabbed by my scruff and lifted into the air.


    ¡°It¡¯s not human.¡± The voice behind me said. I began to whip my tails around, I kicked my back legs out. It must have hit stone before pain raced through me but I refused to give up. But then the other predator walked into my sight and faster then he should be able, he grabbed my lower legs. My stomach was exposed and facing the sky and I twisted trying to free myself. I used my blunt claws on the predator behind me.


    ¡°This is worse then dealing with snakes. Hey you, stay still.¡± Contrary to what I said, i continued to throw my weight around, but the hand on my neck hadn¡¯t faltered once and the smell of predator flooded my nose. Then I knew it. I was going to die. A whine ripped through my throat and I heard the predators react.


    They said more to each other, but I heard nothing, my vision tunnelings and my hope slipping away. Then I felt a sharp pain in my head and I felt my awareness slipping. The last thing I heard was the first predator.


    ¡°She¡¯s feral, but perhaps she will want to keep...¡± I slipped into silence.

 Chapter 1

    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.

 Chapter 2

    Danger. It was, again, the thing that woke me. The scent of the predators was coming close to me. I kept my breath steady, and I kept my body still. I moved one tail slightly to the right and peeked out. I was still curled up next to the vampire¡¯s chair. From the corner of my eye I could see the vampire sitting there calmly. But all my attention was on the group coming toward us both. They looked human, but they smelled like predators. They didn¡¯t notice me, so I kept still and hoped for the protection of the vampire.


    Everything changed quickly. The lead predator spotted me first. It sniffed the air and took in my scent. It bared its teeth at me, but not like a human might. I was in danger. I didn¡¯t hesitate to stand on four legs and raise my tails threateningly. The predator laughed, and a few others who had noticed me did the same. But I wasn¡¯t going to die without a fight. A low growl filled the back of my throat and echoed through the otherwise silent room. It was only a moment later before the entire group of predators echoed back the growl. I disregarded my fear and scratched my claws on the ground. I hardly noticed digging into the stone beneath me.


    The vampire¡¯s voice broke into our standoff. ¡°Now now. Ashford I did not bring you here to antagonize my special guest.¡±


    The lead predator kept its eyes on me as it replied. ¡°Can I have it when you are done? It smells delicious.¡±


    The vampire paused and I felt my sense of safety waver. ¡°Does it? Then again, I am not like you who treats every gift as a meal. No Ashford. For now she is mine. But I may one day throw you a bone.¡± Laughter filled the hall and the predators looked unhappy about it. I however had no idea what was going on.


    ¡°Of course, my queen.¡± The... Ashford? said and bowed its head in submission. I was not fooled. I remained ready to attack or flee.


    ¡°Calm down my darling. You are safe right now. He won¡¯t try anything. Will you Ashford?¡±


    ¡°No, my queen.¡±


    ¡°See.¡± The queen vampire leaned over the edge of the chair and looked at me. I didn¡¯t trust the large predator standing only feet from me. I didn¡¯t truly trust the predator close to me either. But I had no choice. If both the predators and the vampires wanted to kill me, I would not be able to stop them. So my head moved up and down and I sat back as far from the predator as I could. One of my tails wrapped around my legs and the other two remained on alert. Now that I thought about it, I could feel the magic pooled into them and so I let some of the magic slip out of my feet. I looked down and was pleased to find a small patch of grass. This was much better.


    If any of those watching thought it odd that I grew grass no one said anything. The vampire bared its teeth at me before sitting back in the chair. ¡°So now we know that it was you werewolves who had her so on guard before. Ashford, tell me, what kind of animal does she smell like to you?¡±


    I had thought the predator would growl at being asked, but instead it gestured to another of the predators. ¡°Sable is better at that kind of thing.¡±


    ¡°Very well. Sable?¡± The vampire asked with a gesture.


    The predator took a deep breath. My hair rose up, the predator was taking in my scent again. ¡°I can¡¯t be completely sure, but perhaps a fox of some kind.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s all?¡± The vampire seemed disappointed. I watched in interest as the smaller predator looked nervous.


    ¡°From this far away that is all I can tell. If I could come closer to it...¡± That was not going to happen. I let out another growl and stood on my two feet. The predators seemed surprised by this but even more so when I pointed a shaking claw at them. I didn¡¯t want to make a fool of myself by not being able to speak their language so I moved my head slowly left to right. I hoped they would understand.


    The vampire laughed. ¡°Well that seems clear enough to me. So a fox hm? JongIn.¡± A vampire stepped forward from the left side of the hall. ¡°Do you have any werefox at the moment?¡±


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    ¡°I believe I just might my queen.¡±


    ¡°Bring the fox to me when you can and perhaps I will purchase the beast from you to accompany my precious here.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, my queen.¡±


    The vampire merely waved its hand and the other vampire stepped back into the crowd. ¡°Anyway, what brought you here in the first place, Ashford? We were interrupted last time by the presence of the precious being over here and you never quite got to the point.¡±


    ¡°The point, my queen, is that we need to take back some of the land to the east. The humans have taken over there and my pack runs out of space to run. With the humans close by we have to be careful not to attack them. If another war would start...¡±


    ¡°Yes. Yes. We all know what happened the last time your kind was discovered by humans. Oh and precious. You can sit down now.¡± I blinked slightly. I hadn¡¯t realized I was still standing next to the queen. I nodded my head and sat back down. I stopped paying attention at this point. I didn¡¯t have much interest in land or humans. Why tie yourself to one place and not travel where the food went? Speaking of, my stomach chose that moment to remind me of my lack of meals. There wasn¡¯t much I could do however. There were no bugs or small animals in this room, and I was not sure the queen would let me leave on my own. So I took to digging through my tail looking for a snack.


    I was lucky enough to find a few smaller bugs. My stomach was not quite as empty but it largely protested the misuse I was putting it through. I apologized and took a moment to look around at the beings here. The predators had left already, but I could smell a few other animals in the room although they looked like humans to me. I was able to scent out the two who had captured me. They smelled so human, but I could see signs that they were vampires. This didn¡¯t seem right and I decided to investigate it when I could.


    My attention turned to the queen. The pelt was still as stunning as before I had gone to sleep, but as I looked more on its face I came to a new knowledge. This queen was female. I had known there were male and female of course, but the scent of the vampires were all the same, except those two. All these predators disguised as humans lacked the normal markings of male and female. But now I could see that you could tell female and male by their face. I began to recognize face markings that I hadn¡¯t known before. Or perhaps I had. I looked out at the gathered group once more. I spotted the large vampire who had led me here. This was a male. The second vampire I had met on the way was a female. Both of my capturers were male.


    I was so lost in my discovery that I didn¡¯t smell her at first. But one of the vampires walked forward and I saw the female walking with him. She looked human too, but she smelled of home. She smelled of family. I stood on my four feet and approached her. The hall was silent and she wouldn¡¯t look at me. I growled at the vampire who stood so close to my family. His eyes turned to the queen. Mine did not. But the queen must have done something because he moved out of the way quickly. I approached the female.


    Her eyes were looking down but they wouldn¡¯t look at me. I butted my head against her leg and nothing. I whined and nothing. Finally I stood on two legs and touched her face with my hands. She looked up when I made her. But her eyes were dead. She was prey. She was no longer a predator. I was filled with sadness for her. My arms wrapped around her and I buried my nose against her neck. The human words filled me and whispered them to her. ¡°Go in peace Sister.¡± I was not sure where those words came from but the female''s body relaxed. I opened my jaw, there was a shout from the room. They couldn¡¯t stop me from burying my teeth in the body and ripping a hole in her throat.


    Blood covered me and the body. I swallowed the bit of meat, knowing I would carry this member forever and live in her honor. A hand wrapped around my wrist and threw me across the room. My tails swished angrily as I landed on four feet. I looked up to find a vampire about to drop something on the female¡¯s dying wound. I knew that if its blood touched the wound the female might yet survive. But that was not the female¡¯s wish. My tails gathered the magic quickly this time. I ignored the shouting and those who tried to approach me but found they could not. My eyes were on the body of the female. I could suddenly see her true form. The human body disappeared from the vampire¡¯s arms and instead the body of a fox was dropped to the ground. I made my way to my sister and curled around her body. I closed my eyes so I could not see those trying to enter my protection. I only listened to the slowing heartbeat of the fox.


    Finally the last breath left her. I cleaned her face before I released the magic. Angry faces filled my vision and I let out a yip. I quickly stood and tried to run back to my corner. But fingers wrapped in my pelt and made me yip again, this time in pain. Everything froze and all eyes turned to the queen. She looked bored and was eyeing the dead fox with dislike. I didn¡¯t like that. She had to respect the dead. But before I could say anything she turned her eyes toward me. Her eyes were blood red. They were the eyes of the predator and I no longer felt safe from her. This vampire would eat me before I could do anything to stop her.

 Chapter 3

    Our eyes met across the room, and I froze. Her eyes were blank as water, with no emotion reflected in them. However, I knew that if I made even a sound she would kill me. An eternity seemed to pass before the intensity of her gaze calmed. Her head tilted to the side, her long golden pelt slipping over her shoulder and a small smile grew. Her hand lifted into the air ¡°Come here precious.¡± I knew that my life was in her hands, I knew there was no escape from this dwelling. But I also knew that if I went to her, I¡¯d never be able to escape. Something in her eyes, in the curve of her wrist, the white of her teeth... and yet.


    My eyes remained locked on the queen, but I gently uncurled from the corpse. I felt a chill as wind swept over the blood that covered my body but still I watched the queen and took my first step toward her. That is not to say I had forgotten all the predators that surrounded me, and having so many behind me that I couldn¡¯t see kept my heart racing, and my ears searching for any errant sound. But I only heard my own heartbeat and the gentle sound of my limbs touching the stone ground.


    I hesitated just a breath away from her hand. The smell of this predator wafted over me and my hair stood on end and my breath came in small deep breaths. But neither of us moved. Her hand held steady in the air, her claws blood red, but not pointed at me. Time continued to pass, and my back legs began to tremble from staying in one position so long. So hesitantly, I moved closer and pressed my cheek against her hand.


    Instantly, the claws spread, pressing against my face and I felt relief for a moment, before she grabbed my hair and yanked me close. Panic set in as my neck was forced to the side and left vulnerable. My hands grabbed hers and my tails began to swing so that I would get the momentum to leave her grasp. But it was impossible, her grip and her body were like stone. I considered using my claws to rip my way out, but I knew that would be impossible as well. My magic was too weak after the shield earlier to even flicker in the air. Eventually I stilled. My two hands clutching her wrist, my legs having slid atop hers as I crouched above her.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what possessed you to kill my present. But I will not have you acting of your own accord in my court.¡± Her voice was as calm as before. ¡°You are here because I have allowed it. You are ALIVE¡± she growled the word into my ear ¡°because I allow it. Do you understand.¡± I went to move my head and she spoke ¡°Use your words. I know you have them. I heard you speak to it.¡±


    I opened my mouth and my brain scrambled to find anything I could say that would make this vampire release me from my death grip. A single word ¡°Yes¡± slipped out with a whine. Instantly, her hand softened and she brushed it through my pelt. I turned my eyes to her and noticed just how close I had gotten to her. I hesitantly pulled away and she released me and I returned to the spot next to her chair.


    The queen called someone¡¯s name, and there was no hesitation before those gathered began to move once more. I curled in a ball and watched as the corpse was taken away, and the pool of blood ignored. As time passed, and people moved throughout the hall, no one stepped in it or cleaned it. I knew what a vampire was, so I waited for someone to collect the blood, or lap it like river water. But no one did. I watched as I cleaned my own tails of the blood. Before finally turning to clean my hands and feet, noticing the odd texture of my pelt again.


    It distracted me enough that I looked away from the crowd, covered my body with my tails and stared at my hand. The pelt on my tail was the color of sand in the morning and snow on the mountains. But my hands, feet and torso were dark like an owl¡¯s wings. And stranger, the more I stared at it, the more I realized. I expected to have fur on my limbs, not skin. A whimper slipped from me. Why did I not feel comfortable with skin? The humans and the vampires around me all had skin. But I wasn¡¯t human. And I wasn¡¯t vampire. I was... something else.


    My fingers buried themself in my hair as I wrapped myself into a tighter ball. The empty gap that was my memory seemed to tug at my new memories, threatening to leave me blank. I wanted to know what I was WHO I was.


    My thoughts scattered when I was scooped up by someone. Panicked, I tried to escape, but the stone grip of my capture wouldn¡¯t let go. As though I wasn¡¯t struggling, whoever it was swept their arm under my knees and brought me to their chest. I went to attack their face, when I found the Queen looking down at me. My clawed hand stopped before it touched her skin, but my tails continued to swirl beneath me as the queen cradled me.


    I lowered my hand into my lap, and she watched me for a moment more. Her brown eyes seemed to see even the smallest movements of my hair. But then she looked up and started walking. I wanted to protest. I wanted to know where we were going. But I bit back all my questions. The firmness of her grip on my shoulder reminded me that she could easily snap my neck before I could do anything about it. I bit back another whimper at that thought.


    The further she walked us, the colder the air felt on my exposed skin. I moved one of my tails around my hip to rest on my stomach and keep me a bit warmer. The other tail ended up curing around my knees and the tip rested on her wrist. I froze when it happened, but she made no reaction to it so I relaxed again. My ears could only hear my breath, and her footsteps as I looked around.


    We were walking down some sort of stone hallway, but each stone was perfectly cut to fit with the others. But as I looked closer, I saw carvings of animals in the walls. But the queen was walking too fast for me to look in detail, but I saw birds and dogs and dragons. Eventually, we arrived at a door that opened with no one to assist, and the queen walked us into a bright area. The walls were white, and it seemed like mini-suns were in the roof. Doors of cold metal were on either side of us.


    The stark difference had me glancing over her shoulder, but instead of an archway there was only a solid wall behind us. I must have made a noise because she spoke up. ¡°Barrier Magic and a bit of teleportation. Every city in Korea has an entrance to my palace. Some, like Seoul, have more than one.¡± She glanced down at me as she walked and I marveled at her golden hair as it cascaded down her shoulder and onto me. It brushed against my exposed skin and I shivered at the softness.


    Her pace paused for the smallest moment before she looked up and kept walking. ¡°You, precious, are now mine.¡± Her voice brokered no disagreement. ¡°We are heading to my doctor, who will check your health. Then I will show you where you will be staying. As long as you heed me, I will give you privileges. Should you disobey me, even in thought, and the punishment will be dire. Do you understand?¡±


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    I started to nod and her eyes shot toward me. I bit my lip before letting out a quiet ¡°Yes.¡± but that seemed to appease her and she kept walking. It didn¡¯t take long before she walked toward a door. Only a moment later, the door opened and she walked us into a room. My eyes noticed many things, but focused on the table which was filled with a variety of metal tools. My stomach dropped, my tails puffed but before I could so much as move, the queen dropped my legs. My paws hit the ground, unsteadily. My waist automatically bent to bring me back to all fours, but her other arms still gripped my shoulder.


    Her now free hand grabbed my chin and forced me to look at the queen. ¡°You, my strange creature, are boring if you are fearful of everything you see. I don¡¯t want a rabbit.¡± Her voice was calm and collected, but I felt my heart surge in both fear and anger. I wasn¡¯t a rabbit. Rabbits were weak, they were prey. I was... not a rabbit. I flicked my tail once to flatten the fur, and pressed my head forward. She allowed it, though her fingers still pressed like cold ice against my jaw. I butted my forehead against her chin and she released me.


    I turned to face the human I had seen as we entered. Now that I can smell her though, something about her is strange. She smells human, but something feels wrong about it. As though it was hiding a different scent. I felt a flicker of magic that had gathered in my tail and I used it through my nose now. It was like a dam broke, and the room was filled with the scent of magic. It was different from mine, but my tails began to absorb the energy and turn it into something I can use.


    The woman must have said something, but I didn¡¯t care. But I heard my queen respond. ¡°I want to know what my precious is. Also, how her health is doing.¡±


    I opened my eyes as the woman stood from her desk and came around her desk to stand next to me. ¡°Lady BoSeokHi, please give me your hand.¡± I turned to the queen, assuming this woman was addressing her. But both women were watching me. I pressed a hand against my chest.


    ¡°Lady BoSeokHi?¡± I breathed out. Unlike the queen, this woman¡¯s eyes were very expressive, and I saw her confusion. ¡°Me?¡±


    ¡°Precious, what are you asking?¡± I turned to the queen.


    I paused for a moment, taking in her eyes. ¡°My... name?


    ¡°It is the name I have given you. Yes. Precious.¡±


    I whimpered as a headache bloomed. I understood what was happening. For some reason, I knew their words. But I didn¡¯t understand them. This whole time the queen had been calling me BoSeokHi, but I... I had heard her say precious. Suddenly, I remembered the conversation in the hall between the queen and the werewolves. They had been speaking in a different way, but I had understood. Even as I heard the two women talking in the room with me, I could now feel my magic grabbing their words, changing them to one I understand. Could I do this with all the ways people speak. I could feel that the world was filled with many languages, could I understand them all? And when I spoke... I had used the words the queen used.


    Now that I could feel my magic responding to words, I chose to speak again and really hear what I said. I chose to respond to the growing panic in the new woman¡¯s voice. ¡°I am fine. My magic... I understand more of it now.¡± I opened my eyes, which I hadn¡¯t realized had closed and turned to my queen. ¡°I didn¡¯t know I could speak.¡± I told her, but my ears picked up the growls and yips that I knew to speak. And yet, she looked like she could understand me. ¡°Do you understand?¡±


    ¡°No. Explain more.¡± She pressed the heel of her palm against my cheek, and I could feel the prick of her claws on the back of my scalp in warning.


    ¡°I... I think my magic changes my words so that you can understand them. But... I am not using words.¡± The queen¡¯s eyes stared unblinking down at me for the longest time, and my fear started to spike again. But she turned her eyes to the other woman.


    ¡°What do you know of this magic?¡± I tried to turn my head to face the woman, but the queen held fast so I turned only my eyes, my body still leaning toward the queen.


    ¡°Sounds like a translation spell, but for speaking. The clans have tried to make something like that for as long as I know, but I don¡¯t think any of us had succeeded.¡±


    ¡°Tell me any Mythos that surround it. It will help identify my sweet new pet.¡± Her nails scratched against scalp softly. I couldn¡¯t help the shiver that wracked down my body. It felt so pleasant. But she only did it once before stopping.


    ¡°Myths aren¡¯t my specialty. I can put in a request with my mother. I only know there are various gods that have the ability to speak all languages. Egypt has Thoth, Yoruba has Eshu. But both are depicted as bird species, so I don''t imagine a feline would be part of theirs. The Gangcheori might know more as well.¡±


    ¡°Those money grabbing dragons haven¡¯t made a fair deal with me in a few hundred years. I¡¯d rather speak to your Tanggol family.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll ask for my mother to come help then. She is somewhere in Jirisan right now, but I will send a message. I imagine she will arrive within the next 5 days. Particularly if you ask it of her.¡±


    ¡°I do. Now, mythos aside. Check her health.¡± At this the queen turned my head and body to face the woman. The woman began to check the cuts and bruises I had acquired the day before trying to flee, then used cold metal to listen to my heart, then checked my tongue. She explained everything she was doing and why, but I only really listened with half an ear.


    Inside, my mind was thinking on Tanggol and the more I thought the more I knew. A family of magic users who would train the next generation. They would often stand and mediate between humans and non-humans. I felt no need to be wary of this particular witch, but I didn¡¯t want to meet any more if I could help it.


    At one point in her examination, she tried to touch my tails. Instinctively, I turned and bit her hand. She cried out in pain and I released her hand, the tang of blood on my lips. The witch looked at her hand and then up in fear. But not at me. Her eyes were on the queen.


    The queen scoffed at her. ¡°Please, I am not so newborn that my hunger controls me. Are you finished with your examination?¡±


    The other woman, who I now realized never told me her name, skittered around her desk while nodding. ¡°Yes. I see no issue with her health, except perhaps that she is underweight. She should eat, and exercise. Weres get sick easily if their body is kept from it. I know you vampires prefer slow, but she will need to run.¡±


    I ignored the rest of her words and I thought about running. Feeling the wind brush across my face, down my back, and to dance with my tails. The feeling of dancing in the air as I leapt from rock to branch. With a pang, I realized that this was my first real memory from before I was caught. Running. I should run again, maybe I will remember more.

 Chapter 4

    I hardly listened to the words of the Tongol woman after that, my focus split between the vivid memory of wind brushing through my fur and the Queen¡¯s hand which gripped the back on my neck and was holding just too tight to be comfortable. The conflicting feelings of freedom and constraint made my heart ache fiercely. But then the Queen¡¯s nails started to dig into my neck, I felt them break skin and my awareness came back in sharp focus.


    ¡°Why would you even mention that?¡± My capturer growled at the Tongol.


    ¡°Lady Daeho,¡± the Tongol had taken a step back and was holding her hands up to try and placate the Queen. I finally knew the queen¡¯s name. ¡°I meant no disrespect. But, a girl with tails... the most obvious connection is the Gumiho.¡± Queen Daeho forced me to turn.


    ¡°And yet this fully formed creature has two tails. Not to mention the last Gumiho was killed hundreds of years ago.¡± I felt their eyes on my bare back, tails bristled in discomfort and I tried to turn back around. After a moment the Queen let me. ¡°The Gumiho are gone.¡±


    ¡°Yes, my lady.¡±


    The queen growled and my eyes turned to the enraged vampire. Fear gathered in my throat and stomach at the fury in her vision. I had angered her earlier, but even in that moment her face had been calm. My breath caught as my instincts screamed at me both the run but also to not move. The three of us stood there for the longest time. The Queen¡¯s face slowly calming down, the Tongol¡¯s breathing picked up in her panic, and I couldn''t stop the whine that slipped out my throat.


    The sound seemed to break the moment, as suddenly the queen released my neck and grabbed my upper arm and pulled me from the room. I floundered as I followed her. It only took a moment for me to misstep and fall. The queen had taken two more steps before she realized she was essentially dragging me across the ground by my arm.


    Her eyes turned to mine and I knew in that moment I would die. But then I didn¡¯t. Her expression softened into a more neutral look, though her lips were still pulled in a frown. Then she let out a sigh and swept me up into her arms and started walking again.


    Once again, I hardly noticed my surroundings, instead keeping my eyes on the queen. I had no way to escape should she change her mind and decide that she would kill me. But as she kept walking, she never looked at me,but I could feel her anger fade away. The scent of rage dissipated. Through it all, the stillness of her chest caused my unease to linger.


    When the light around us shifted, I felt just safe enough to look around and noticed that we had returned to the stone hallway with the animal carvings. But the dim light and the speed the Queen was walking made studying them difficult.


    Eventually we crossed into an area that was wider. The stone walls were covered with wooden posts and various wall decorations. I saw plants that grew in the dark, and images of scenes pressed against the wall. More and more hallways branched from the one we walked. I saw others walking throughout those areas. Those who spotted the queen would bow their head in deference before continuing on their way. The queen acknowledged none of them.


    Not far into the hallway we passed open doors that showed the throne room, and there were still many who were lingering and talking amongst themselves. But the Queen didn¡¯t linger, instead passing by that room and a few others before finally turning down a shorter hallway. At the end were two larger doors, and I thought we were going there, but instead she opened a door on our left. Before I could really take a look around, the queen dropped me on a small bed that was against one of the walls.


    I hadn¡¯t expected it, and landed awkwardly on one of my tails, and pain laced up my spine, but I held back my yip of pain as the queen¡¯s gaze was staring at me with intensity once again. I froze and waited.


    I saw a question appear in her eyes, and I thought she was going to ask me, but then closed them, and when I saw the blood red eyes again, the question was gone.


    ¡°This is your room.¡± She pointed to a wall opposite the bed where there were two doors. ¡°The one on the left leads to your bathroom.¡± The word was strange, and I must have made a face because she paused. ¡°A bathroom... a room to relieve yourself...¡± I worried about angering her, so I nodded, though I didn''t really understand why there would be a room of relief. ¡°The other room connects to my chambers. That door as well as the door to the hallway can only be opened by myself and those I¡¯ve given permission. Trying to open them yourself will only cause harm to yourself.¡± I nodded again. ¡°While you may prefer to be nude, I prefer my company clothed. The next person to enter this room will bring your clothing. I will return when I have need for you.¡± She reached forward and grabbed at my hair, gently but the threat of pain was there. ¡°Do not try to leave. You are mine until I decide you aren¡¯t.¡±


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    ¡°Yes my lady.¡± She snorted, released me, and walked out of the room. As soon as the door closed, I felt magic wrap around the wood. I quickly moved off my tail and began to message out the pain. As I did so, I looked around the room. It was much smaller than the other rooms I had seen since arriving here. It would only take a few of my two-legged steps to cross it. The bed took up most of the wall it was leaned against.


    The walls were in the same dark orange wood as the halls outside, but with a green color on the walls between them. It was brighter than leaves, but didn¡¯t seem to be anything natural. The ground was the same stone as the largest hallway, and other than the bed, bare of anything else.


    I also noticed there was no way for me to see the sky outside, and I felt the loss of the sky and wind as a deeper ache than even the pain of my tail. I hoped the relief room might have a view of the sky. I crawled off the bed and crossed. I pressed my hand against the wooden wall and slowly stood back to my two feet so that I could open the door, mimicking the way the queen had opened the door to the hallway.


    The relief room was even smaller than the other, and I saw there were only 2 things in the room. The first was a hole in the floor that was surrounded with a white stone, and a similar white stone statue. I ignored the statue, and stared at the hole. My bladder took that moment to scream at me. Normally I would have just let it out against a tree, but I hadn¡¯t seen a real tree since I was caught, no matter the wood on the wall. But as I stared at the hole... could that be its purpose? I had seen or smelled any other area for it.


    Slowly I crossed the floor, and the stones beneath my skin felt smoother, and more like crystals. But I kept crossing until I could hover over the hole. When I finished, I moved away and then a great sound like a waterfall echoed from the hole and water rushed across the stone and washed my scent down the drain. My pelt was standing on end and I stared at the hole, but the sound quieted until once again it was just a quiet hole.


    After waiting, and seeing nothing else happen I left the small room, but left the door open, just in case something did happen. Then I had the choice of either going atop the bed, or going underneath it like I had the last time. Eventually I climbed on top of the bed, remembering that it had given me no protection before. I curled into a ball with my back in the corner and where I could see all three doors easily.


    I wasn¡¯t sure when I had fallen asleep, but I was woken up by someone hitting the door to the hallway. ¡°Lady BoSeokHi, may I come in?¡±


    The voice wasn¡¯t one I knew, but I guess that this was someone sent by the queen so I called out ¡°yes.¡± The door opened and I found myself looking at an older woman. Her gray hair was piled up on her head, and her face was filled with wrinkles. When she saw me, she let out a shocked noise before pushing into the small room. I noticed that she was holding a small box when she put it on the bed farthest from me.


    ¡°My lady said that you were bare, but still.¡± The woman touched the box and it suddenly grew and I I had to ball myself up tighter to give it room. My tails were curled around my torso and the tips brushed against my chin. The woman opened the box and pulled out some kind of fabric. Her eyes turned to me once again and she smiled, but it was not encouraging. ¡°Let¡¯s get started.


    <hr>


    I don¡¯t know how long the woman had me change into different clothes. At first, she had to explain how to put these things on in the first place, as well as taking them off. Most of the clothes were too large for me, but the woman just marked the fabric before giving me something new to try. Each thing had a different feeling, some were softer, some were warmer, and a few felt like they were pelts themselves. I let her do what she wanted, and when I realized that she was mostly talking to herself, didn¡¯t speak either. But she seemed to notice which style and feelings I liked and those I didn¡¯t. One of the first things she had given me, was long and had covered my tails, trapping them against my skin, but even though I saw more of them get pulled out of the box, she never made me try them again. She had called it a dress. I realized she was teaching me the words for the clothes, as in her ramblings, she always made note of what they were called.


    Magic was obviously filled in the box, as the amount of clothes she pulled out and put in was impossible, but eventually she reached the end. She smiled at me and left the room without another word, leaving one of things I had tried on the bed. I took that to mean I should wear it. The first were some pants in black that were just tight enough to not hang loose, but didn¡¯t stop me from moving as I wished.The back of the pants had a large hole with a button loop on top. The woman, who never had said her name, had taught me how to feel and button it, as it was painful to try and twist enough to see. She had also left me a shirt with short sleeves and without any other buttons, or decorations. The shirt was in a light purple color that reminded me of flowers in spring.


    A chill I didn¡¯t realize I could feel disappeared as my bare skin was covered, and I curled into a ball once more and fell into an uneasy sleep. I had a dream where I was talking to an Inmyeonjo. While I could see the woman¡¯s mouth moving, I couldn¡¯t hear what she said. But I could also feel myself responding, but couldn¡¯t hear that either. It felt like I was trapped in my own body.


    The feeling of a cold hand on my wrist woke me from my nightmare and I looked up to see the Queen gazing down at me, the door to her wing open. Once I was awake, she let go and walked out of the room. My heart beat wildly as the vestiges of the nightmare faded away and I began to wonder just why she had come in here. Why she had been kind. Why did she keep me here, and how long I would accept it.

 Chapter 5

    I noticed she had left the door open, so I cautiously followed behind. The pants pulled strangely as I walked on my four limbs, my two tails had to work harder to keep my balance as I crossed the door frame. But as I did, I paused. The room was large and round. I could see most of the walls were covered in bookshelves filled to the brim with books and scrolls. On the far right, I could see the Queen. Unlike my space which had a bed, she was on simple bedding that was directly on the floor. She was sitting against a wall with a book in hand, looking as though she hadn¡¯t been in my room moments before.


    She made no indication of what to do, so instead, I looked around some more. The room was only dimly lit with a few candles but I could still see the ceiling clearly. It was domed and had bright paintings of flowers and animals. Swirls of green, orange, and pink danced across beams and through the images. There were a few doors leading out of the room, the two that were obviously to the hallway, the one to my room, and two more on the opposite wall.


    But I couldn¡¯t help but turn back to the queen. Her face was expressionless as she turned a page. Her golden pelt hung loosely and was hanging off her shoulder. I recognized that she was wearing a deep red robe, the word given to me earlier in the day. Or night. I realized there were no windows in here either. My nose scrunched as a feeling of being trapped choked my throat.


    The sound of the page turning shook me from the feeling and I looked to see the queen had looked up at me. Her eyes seemed to pierce through the dim light. My tails bristled, and I wished for sharper claws to grab at the ground. But nothing happened. She continued to look, unblinking. I slowly took a step toward her and she frowned slightly. I froze. After a moment, I tried again and she frowned more. Did she want me to stay here? But why would she have opened the door? But then... she kept making me stand on two legs. Maybe... Slowly I started to stand up. I used the door frame to help me. But once I was up, my tails stabilized me. Her frown lessened slightly.


    I took a shaky step toward her. Her face returned to normal. She watched as I very slowly crossed the large room. The muscles of my back legs ached by the time I got to her bedding. I stood over her, looking down, trembling under the strain. And then she smiled. She lifted a hand up to me. I took it after a slight pause. She pulled slightly and I fell into her bedding. Rather than falling gracefully, my back legs collapsed and I ended up landing with my head falling into her lap, and my body hitting the floor hard.


    I let out a yip of pain, and the queen let out a soft chuckle. Before I could try to lift myself, her fingers began to comb through my hair. My nose was pressed painfully against her hip bones. I held myself in the uncomfortable position for as long as I could, then I cautiously started to pull away. When I did, her claws pressed against my skull in warning. I held still again. But couldn''t bear it, so tried to turn my head instead, and this she allowed.


    Over the next few minutes, I slowly adjusted my position to a more comfortable one, pausing only when her claws would scratch me again. I quickly found out that she wanted my head in her lap, and for me to be laying down. Eventually I ended up laying on my side facing away from the queen, my body curled in a ball and my tails covering me.


    When I finally settled, she started to comb her fingers through my hair once again. Despite the threat of who was doing it, I couldn¡¯t help but relax at the sensation. Exhaustion tugged at my mind and before I could stop it, I fell back asleep. This time there were no dreams. Just rest.


    When I woke up, I was alone. I was curled in a ball in my own little room. I debated for a moment whether what had happened was a dream or not, but the ache in my legs told me it had happened. How I had gotten moved back here without waking up I didn¡¯t know.


    I sat up and began to clean my tails and waited. And waited and waited. I eventually got up and had use the hole again. And by accident I had discovered that the statue was actually a way to acquire clean water. So I had a long drink. But my stomach protested. I realized that except for taking in the meat of the foxkin, I had not eaten in a long while.


    To distract myself, I stared down at my tails and felt the magic that seemed to flow through them. Since being caught, I had done so many things with my magic that I didn¡¯t know I could do. First was the patch of grass, which I tried to repeat and was pleased when my little room was suddenly filled with grass and some flowers and vines. Then I had used the magic to block the predators from healing the foxkin. I tried again, but if anything had happened, I couldn¡¯t tell.


    Then I had used it for my nose, and then again for my words. That was two of my senses, so I decided to experiment. I channeled some of my magic to my eyes, and I was suddenly surrounded by images that floated in the air. As I looked at them I realized that they were some sort of picture that had magic flowing from them. Most of the images were floating near the two doors, so I figured this was what other magic looked like. Other magic? I paused and looked at my own magic. My magic was like a glowing tail in its own, and solid source and thousands of strands that pulled out from the center. My magic seemed to be colorless where the other magic was in colors of reds and yellows.


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    I pushed my magic around, and watched as the strands would stretch and touch things and cling to it until I let go. It made me think of spider webs. Eventually, I reached the magic toward the images in the air. As soon as my magic touched an image, the image faded away and I saw the color of the magic rush up the strand and into my tails. Slowly I touched each symbol and the magic slowly disappeared.


    I hadn¡¯t even thought about how my little room was lit until I had absorbed one of the images and my room dropped into pitch black. I stopped the magic from being fully absorbed and tried to push it back out. But instead I watched as a small green flame appeared in the air near me. It both looked like a little flame, as well as if a ¡°hair¡± of magic was floating in the air. Curious, I tried and was able to make more of them in the air, purely from my own magic.


    I heard some noise outside of my room so I pulled the magic from my eyes. I looked around the now comfortable room, with the greenery making it more natural, and the green fire lighting up the room. I realized the noise I had heard was someone or something entering the queen¡¯s rooms. I decided to push my magic to my ears and suddenly I could hear a lot more than I had a moment before. I could hear someone walking out of the queen¡¯s room, and I realized they were walking to my door..


    Panicked, I stopped my magic, and my room dropped into darkness again, the flames extinguished. The door opened and I saw the outline of a tall man. But I guessed from the lack of heartbeat it was probably a vampire.


    ¡°What the fuck is this?¡± He growled and I recognized the voice. This was the vampire that had taken me to see the queen. It was the one called Lord DongGeun. He turned and yelled out into the hallway. ¡°Get Miss Jessica here. Now.¡± Then he turned back to me. I realized that his gaze just didn¡¯t pierce the darkness the way the queen¡¯s did. He just... didn¡¯t feel as dangerous. But still dangerous.


    A few moments later, I could hear someone running, their human footsteps obvious in their clumsy slaps. DongGeun turned to whoever had arrived. ¡°Why the fuck has the light magic faded already?¡±


    ¡°What? But, I just cast it the other day.¡± A face peaked around the corner. It was a young woman with very pale skin and a brown curly pelt. Her green eyes were wide and curious. ¡°Wow, it is dark in there. Hold on, I¡¯ll cast again.¡± She pushed the vampire out of her way. Although there was no way the human was strong enough to move a vampire, he did. But now I could see the full form of this woman. My attention was drawn to a large stick in her hand.


    I turned on my eye magic to watch what she would do. But instead she gasped and was staring at me. She hadn¡¯t been able to see me a moment before. I released the magic and watched as her eyes struggled to find me in the dark. The vampire hadn¡¯t seemed to notice.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± The vampire asked, and I watched as he touched her arm almost gently. Interesting.


    ¡°Nothing. It¡¯s just... hold on.¡± She lifted her stick and said something about being blessed by light. And suddenly the room was glowing in light once more. The woman¡¯s face lit with happiness but then both she and the vampire noticed my room. Although I had grown the greenery with my magic, they were now real and here, so they hadn¡¯t disappeared earlier. Both sets of eyes scanned the room before falling onto me.


    The man bared his teeth at me. ¡°Well ain¡¯t that fuckin interesting.¡± I bared my teeth back at him. I almost regretted my sign of aggression, suddenly worried that he would try to hurt me. But the queen¡¯s affection the night before stopped me. She might not protect me, but maybe he didn''t know that.


    The girl laughed, her voice light and carefree despite the obvious danger of the vampire. ¡°I like her. She¡¯s got spark.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not your job to like her.¡± Growled DongGeun. But it was said without bite.The woman rolled her eyes and walked into my little room.


    ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Jessica.¡±


    ¡°Hi.¡± I responded and she gasped again.


    ¡°You speak English?¡± And this time I could hear her making different sounds than before and realized that although I understood it all, she must have heard me speak in English.


    But before I could respond; the vampire growled out. ¡°How do you know if she speaks English or not.¡±


    ¡°But... she just did. Didn''t you hear her say ¡®hi¡¯?¡±


    ¡°No. She said ¡®hi¡¯¡±.


    The three of us paused for a moment before I realized what was happening. I didn¡¯t know why the vampire had come here, but on the chance he offered food, I wanted to stay on his good side. More than I have so far at least. ¡°My magic...¡± I faltered as both of them looked at me. ¡°Changes what I say. To you, I am speaking... Eeng-lish. And to you I am speaking... something else.¡±


    The two looked at each other. ¡°Well I certainly heard her speaking English.¡± the human said.


    ¡°And it was Korean for me.¡± The vampire frowned and they both turned to me. Silence returned, but it was broken by a loud growl of my stomach. I put a hand on it, and felt the hollowness of it. ¡°Well. I guess that answers my question. Come with me, I am going to take you to get some food.¡±


    ¡°I want to come too.¡± The human said, smiling up at him.


    He looked at her, his frown faltering for a moment before he turned away ¡°Do whatever the fuck you want.¡± He started walking away, and the human gestured that I should follow. I didn¡¯t know how long we would be walking so I fell to my four limbs and began to leave the room.


    The human gasped. Again. I turned to her, and she looked so confused. But she was not my priority, food was, so I quickly caught up to the vampire. He looked down at me and continued to lead me down the hallway. Moments later, her clumsy footsteps caught up with us as well.

 Chapter 6

    I was conscious of the various looks the three of us received as we walked. The human seemed to babble about a bunch of things I found uninteresting and not worth remembering, and whether the vampire agreed or not, he didn¡¯t ask her to stop. So she kept going. She seemed super focused on talking about something to do with magic circles and how it was affected by the moon. But, my magic wasn¡¯t in circles, and the magic in my room wasn¡¯t in circles either.


    The three of us walked past the throne room, and I couldn¡¯t help but look to the Queen¡¯s throne, wondering if she was there. She wasn¡¯t. I turned back to the hallway and caught the vampire watching me from the corner of his eye. I couldn¡¯t help the soft growl, though I wasn¡¯t sure why I needed to. He turned away.


    We walked for quite a while, the hallways seeming endless, and the ones I recognized quickly left behind. Instead the hallways grew larger, and filled with more of the mini suns I¡¯d seen before. More and more creatures were in the hallways, and though they gave us a wide berth, I could smell them. Vampires, humans, and a few I didn¡¯t know. One creature smelled of death itself. Even more than vampires did. Our eyes caught, and the depths of blackness in the eyes caused a shiver to rake down my spine.


    The vampire seemed unconcerned by the creature, and so I followed cautiously after it. But the human grew quiet. Her fingers in a tight fist and her gaze fixed on the ground. I watched the creature as we walked past. It looked like a human from the front, but as we passed, I saw that instead of human legs, it had legs like an insect and a large tail that shined black in the dim light.


    Then I felt magic reaching from the creature to me. Instinctively, my tails stood at attention and I turned my full body to the creature. The human muttered ¡°shit¡± under her breath and stepped behind both I and the vampire who faced this creature.


    ¡°Doctor, please stop whatever you are doing. It has put Lady BeokSongHi on edge.¡±


    A wide, dangerous smile slid across the creature''s face. She spoke slowly, even as her magic withdrew. ¡°I simply wanted to greet one seeped in death as much as this one is. I¡¯ve never seen her like that.¡± While everything about this creature screamed danger, her voice was soft and calm.


    The vampire turned a suspicious eye to me at the creature¡¯s words. But I ignored him, and stared at the creature. So much of my instincts screamed at me that this was dangerous, but it didn¡¯t smell like a predator. The creature''s body language was relaxed despite the fact that mine was poised to attack. And I was confused.


    The creature''s dark eyes bore into my own. She whispered words to me then, and I knew that no one else understood them. ¡°May the goddess protect you.¡± Whether she knew what I had said or not, I couldn¡¯t help my nose scrunch at the mention of a goddess. A word slipped through my mind and I suddenly knew what she was. A priestess. I knew this. I had seen this before. Though I didn¡¯t know why. But I could suddenly recognize the clothes draped over the creature as ones worn only by the servants of religion.


    ¡°Which goddess¡¯s blessings do you give to me?¡± I asked, and I felt my memory twinge. I had said this before. And it felt like many times. It felt like a ritual of sorts.


    The creature¡¯s face flickered in surprise before she smiled again, her tail lifting higher as she bowed slightly to me. ¡°I follow the goddess Serket in all things, as it is her magic that has blessed me such.¡± I was disappointed when the name of her goddess sounded unfamiliar. But my body moved, my muscles remembering something my brain did not. My front paw touched my forehead and then my heart. The creature looked surprised again before mimicking my actions. ¡°Should you need protection, Death¡¯s blessed,¡± the creature continued. ¡°You may call upon me, Priestess Halima.¡±


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    Then the creature turned and continued on her way down the hallway. The vampire wasted a mere moment before growling and turning angry eyes at me. ¡°What the fuck was that? What the fuck did you two say?¡±


    ¡°I...¡± I stopped. Why couldn¡¯t he understand what I said? Why had my magic not shared my words with him, and only with the creature. I turned to the human and as though knowing my question, she shook her head. She had also not understood. ¡°My magic did not... I don¡¯t know why.¡±


    ¡°Fine. But what did you talk about?¡± He took a threatening step toward me, and I glared up at him.


    ¡°Her name. And her goddess.¡±


    He glowered down at me, but then turned away and continued down the hallway. I had no doubt he would tell the queen, but I had done nothing wrong. Though, I now realized I had spoken twice without thought. Twice did I say something more complex and almost without thought. Since waking up in my den, I hadn¡¯t cared much to remember the past. But now, the mystery of who I was pressed against my skin and made me itch.


    My thoughts swirled around, trying to find clues and hints as to what I was. But there was nothing. We arrived in a room filled with creatures of all types, and after scenting the air and knowing that there were no predators here, I returned to my thoughts.


    I finally gave up with a growl of frustration and realized I was sitting against a wall with a plate of meat in front of me. I looked up to see the vampire and human sitting at a nearby table, both of their eyes on me even as they talked. I didn¡¯t care to hear what they said, so instead I turned to the meat. It was raw, bloody and my mouth watered instantly. I sniffed at it, and the stink of sickness was absent, so I dug my teeth at it. I was frustrated when the meat wouldn¡¯t rip the way I knew it should.


    Absently, I called my magic to my mouth and the taste of the meat exploded, and I felt the meat begin to tear the way it should. But as I let the taste of the blood soak into my tongue, I knew it was wrong. This wasn¡¯t what I wanted. This was... trash. I spit it out and looked up at the vampire. ¡°Not right.¡± I told him.


    Before he could do anything, magic wrapped around the meat and pulled it away. I thought about grabbing at what was my only source of food, even if it wasn¡¯t right. But then the food disappeared. I turned to the vampire, worried. But he just glared at me and continued to watch me. I turned to the human, what if she had taken the food. But she just watched as well. A moment later, meat appeared in the air near me.


    I grabbed it and began to use my teeth to tear at it. It wasn¡¯t right. But it wasn¡¯t wrong either. I slowed down, drinking in the blood of the meat, which was right. But the meat tasted empty, bland. But I ate it anyway. And I ate the second and third portions that appeared after.


    When I finished, I began to clean my paws of the blood, and looked at dismay at the blood that had seeped into the clothes I had worn for the queen. The human must have noticed my face because she stood from her table and walked to me. ¡°Do you want me to remove the blood?¡± She lifted her stick. I nodded. She began to mutter about liquids to dissolve and plants to remain. It was very strange. But then her magic reached out and pulled the blood from the clothes and they vanished.


    I nodded my head in thanks, she smiled at me. But then the vampire started to herd me through the large room and back into the hallways. Before I knew it, we passed the still empty throne room and I was deposited into the little room. My stomach satisfied, I let them leave and curled into a ball on the edge of the bed and fell asleep quickly.

 Chapter 7

    When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a new space. Panic flickered at the back of my mind, but the forefront was filled with words for the things I saw. As I looked around I knew that I was in a cottage in a forest, though I couldn''t see the trees. I knew where everything was, and as I opened a cabinet, I was unsurprised to see the crude plates stacked there. I ran my fingers along the windowsill, near invisible grooves where I must have done the same thing a thousand times. The air was warm, and comforting. There was a flicker of something outside the corner of my eyes. A fire, raging hot and burning down the cottage, but when I turned... there was no fire.


    As I stared at the wall confused, I heard someone come into the cottage. Again panic at the back of mind, but I knew this person. They were {redacted}. I heard their feet in the hallways coming toward the kitchen, so I turned to the arch to greet them. A foot crossed into my vision, a leg, an arm. But I turned my eyes down before I saw their face. The panic welled up inside me. They reached out for me, the echoes of words in the air, but I couldn¡¯t hear them properly. When the hand touched me, the cottage burst into flames, and they were pulling me frantically from the house. I looked up to see their curly brown hair slicked back with sweat and ash. Their ears. Those perfect ears.


    I opened my eyes into my little room. I didn¡¯t breathe. I didn¡¯t move. My mind whirled and ripped at the memory, parts of me wanted to forget it. Parts of me wanted to keep it. In the end, I chose to keep the ears. And the cottage. And the smell of burning flesh. Because I had no doubt that that had been a real memory.


    Decision made, I began to breathe again, and I curled onto my side and wrapped my tails even tighter about myself. I thought only of those ears. Normal human ears. But the skin was pale as the moon.


    Eventually I fell back into slumber. When I woke again, the sound of someone walking nearby, I felt equal parts relief and dread that the memory had stuck. But, I sat up and leaned against some vines, which wrapped around my wrist instantly. A small white flower bloomed in my eyesight and I couldn¡¯t help a small smile. The plant was trying to offer me comfort in the only way it knew how. But then the door opened.


    The vampire stood there. He watched me for a moment, and I lazily stared back at him. He grit his teeth and said. ¡°Are you... well... now?¡±


    ¡°I... yes? Was I not...?¡±


    ¡°You were on fire.¡±


    I sat up quickly and looked around even as I asked ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°My lady came to see you, and found your whole body on fire. It¡¯s been 3 days. No one could put the fire out, and it only harmed anyone who reached for you. If you are fine now, that means you need to come see the queen now.¡±


    He turned without waiting and I followed behind. He led me straight to the throne room where I could see the Queen sitting, her eyes narrowed on the doorway. When we passed through, her eyes found mine, as cold and uncaring as ever, but then she looked to my feet and a smile lifted on her face dangerously. I looked down to see what she was seeing and I realized... I had walked on my two feet without thinking. My muscles still ached, but the feeling of standing and walking in that cottage stuck with me, and now it felt unnatural to be on all fours in this form.


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    I paused walking and shook my head. ¡®This form¡¯. Why had I phrased it like that? Did I have another form, but before I could spend more than a moment, her voice rang out. ¡°Come pet, let me attest to your health.¡± I looked at her and she lifted her hand toward me. I heard some mutterings from others in the room, but I made no note of it, so I walked to her. My instinct took over, and before I thought too much, I pressed my cheek against her palm. I froze for a moment, remembering the last time I had done this and the threat that had come after. But she just watched me, waiting and so I let my instinct take control again and climbed into her lap properly. I curled around her, my head leaving her hand and pressing against her neck, my legs bunched up over her armrest, my tails gingerly pressing in her side.


    I smelled her, and finally the scent of burning flesh was chased away. She held still a moment before one arm wrapped around my back and the other rested on my legs. ¡°Very well.¡± she muttered under breath. ¡°Let us continue.¡± She called out, and I didn¡¯t pay much attention to anything happening.


    Instead I sat there, and after a moment I felt my throat tighten and whine left me. I didn¡¯t know why, but she adjusted to have her claws pressed in my hair and into my scalp. She scratched it across my skin, precariously balancing on pushing too far and cutting into my skin. But she didn¡¯t, and I felt my body relax even more fully. My eyes opened and I looked at the Queen¡¯s ears. They were smaller than {redacted} but despite her being a vampire, they had a sort of honey sheen to them.


    My instincts were so close to the front, I almost wanted to taste them. But I didn¡¯t. I think the fact that she could very quickly kill me, was the only thing that let me stop. Eventually, she spoke and I knew she was speaking to me because again she called me. ¡°Precious, now that immediate business is over, care to explain why you were a little bonfire for the past few days?¡±


    ¡°I remembered...¡± her fingers tightened and she tilted my head so that she could look me in the eyes.


    ¡°Remembered...¡± she prompted.


    ¡°Fire. That¡¯s all I remember...¡± As I thought about it, light flickered from the corner of my vision and the tips of tails lit themselves on fire. The fire once again was in shades of green, not like the oranges of my memory. This fire was comforting, but unease crept up my neck and I slowly turned to the Queen. Anger was in the air around her as she stared at the fire. I dropped the magic and her eyes turned to me again.


    She opened her mouth to speak but someone else¡¯s voice rang out across the hall. ¡°That¡¯s a fun bit of magic!¡± My eyes shot to the speaker and found what smelled like a human walking into the hall, over the spot of dried blood in the middle, and without fear up to us. The human was wearing robes of white with the center being in bright reds and blues.


    ¡°Grandmother Aera. I see you have arrived.¡± The queen¡¯s voice floated gently in the air, but her fingers were biting into my skin, revealing that she wasn¡¯t as happy about this.


    ¡°Indeed I have! Green flames are a fun one.¡± The human removed her white hood and I saw an extremely old woman, her eyes sparkled with mischief, and with zero fear.

 Chapter 8

    ¡°Out.¡± The Queen¡¯s voice echoed throughout the space, and hear her anger. But her fingers released my skull, and the hand now cupped my head. But I watched as everyone else in the room left the room without hesitation. I spotted Jessica standing in the doorframe, and once everyone was out, she pointed her stick at the door and said something. Immediately I couldn¡¯t hear those out in the hallways.


    Frustrated, I pooled my magic into my ears. Nothing. I felt my nose scrunch as I sat up a bit more and pushed more magic into my ears. I heard a high pitched whine coming from the doorframe.


    ¡°Stop.¡± The sound of the Queen¡¯s voice so close to my ears ripped through my eardrums and screamed as the intense pain that shot through my skull. I dropped the magic and clutched at my ears. A moment later I felt the old woman¡¯s hands on my arms and her magic swept into me. It was like a freezing river. At first it only soothed my ears, but then I felt the magic try to sink into my core.


    I lashed out with my magic and tails and I opened my eyes to see the old woman a few steps away with a larger grin on her face. The Queen was practically vibrating with anger now. I started to climb from her lap, but her arm wrapped around my waist like a chain. My breath sped up as I fought her hold, my fingers trying to dig through her stone like arm. My eyes were on the old woman, and I suddenly knew I wanted her head. I wanted to rip her throat. Rage surged through me.


    ¡°Calm down.¡± The queen ordered, and I heard it. But my anger remained and I continued to try to twist my way out. Then I felt teeth on my neck.


    I froze. I could tell she hadn¡¯t broken my skin. But the threat was there. My anger washed from me in an instant, and I was filled with anticipation. Nothing happened for a moment, and I snarled. She broke my skin, and a shiver ran down my spine. But my eye remained locked on the old woman.


    The old woman¡¯s smile never faltered. She just watched us. The last vestiges of my anger had me whipping my tail, and a single strand of my magic floated in the air and landed on the old woman¡¯s hand. Glee filled me, as her smile dropped and she looked down at her hand. I felt my magic push into her veins, it raced up her arm faster than she could react, and wrapped itself around her heart. Her eyes turned to me, this time in fear. I smiled at her and let my head fall to the side, giving control to the Queen. She licked the few drops of blood she had spilled and another shiver shot down my spine, but she sat back and her arm relaxed.


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    ¡°If you ever wish to have safe passage in my courts again, tell me what you know.¡± I adjusted my body to face the old woman a bit more, but relaxed against the queen.


    ¡°My granddaughter told me her theories about what your pet...¡± I tightened my magic ¡°...your companion might be. I think you should reach out to the Greek courts. There is a branch of Nymphs called Lampad that she could be. It would also explain her foreign appearance. It would also explain why the Priestess of Serket was interested in her.¡±


    ¡°Very well. Get out.¡±


    The old woman hesitated and her eyes turned to me. Her hand went to her chest and she opened her mouth as though to say something. I tightened my magic again. Pain flashed across her face and she dropped her hand and left. I closed my eyes, but even as the old woman left my sight, my magic remained embedded in her heart. I knew that I would always know where she was. She would never be able to attack me again.


    Then I felt a flicker of my magic. Someone else''s heart was bound to mine. I could feel it. I could feel them. My eyes shot open and I turned to the Queen. She merely watched me, her face impassive, but her fingers scratching my head and I realized I had been purring without thought.


    ¡°What is it, precious?¡±


    ¡°That old woman... she tried to take my magic...¡± her fingers stopped moving ¡°but I stopped her. But I took my magic. I wrapped it around her heart. She is mine.¡± The last word was snarled, and I saw the Queen¡¯s mouth quirk in a bit of a satisfied smile.


    Her fingers tightened on my skull and my neck pulled wide. She licked over skin she had broken before, but I knew that her saliva earlier had sealed the wounds shut. ¡°Mine.¡± She growled. I closed my eyes, I fought my instincts. They screamed that I was no one¡¯s. My magic was free and wild. I suddenly knew that after my magic grew in strength, the Queen wouldn¡¯t be able to claim me. I would wait. Then I¡¯d be free. She relaxed her grip. ¡°Continue.¡±


    I licked my lips. I turned my eyes to the domed ceiling, worried that the Queen would see my thoughts and kill me for them. ¡°When I looked at my magic, I felt more of my magic flicker. There is another. I have another heart. They will know me.¡±


    ¡°Who is it?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. But I want to find them.¡±


    ¡°Very well precious. But not yet.¡±


    I turned my eyes to her in anger that she would stop me. Her knowing look held me down. ¡°Since you were brought here, you¡¯ve antagonized my allies, set my wizards into a panic, and then set yourself on fire. Though you are healthy now, you will not survive out there. And only I get the pleasure of killing you. Shivers raked down my spine again as I stared up at her. Her mouth spread into a predatory grin and my heart started beating faster.

 Chapter 9

    Our staredown was interrupted by sound. I turned to see that the court had started to file back into the throne room. I pulled myself from her lap and she let me return to the spot next to her throne. I looked at the little grass I had grown before. The Grass had completely eaten up the stone. I also noticed a little cluster of whitish growths. Ignoring the conversation that had begun, I leaned in close. Each of the growths had little beads of something that looked like blood. Curious I touched it and watched as the bead broke. I collected a bit of the red substance, which didn¡¯t smell like blood but was somewhat appealing. I pushed my finger into my mouth.


    Instantly, the taste made me flinch back. The bitter liquid seeming to spread across my tongue before I could do anything about it. But when I blinked the room seemed to be tinted blue. For a moment I considered being concerned, but instead I turned toward those gathered. I hissed. As though they were outlined in a black ink, I could see the heart of everyone with ease. I turned to the queen and saw that her heart was limp. I watched as the blank ink tried to wrap around her heart and I was on my feet. I reached to her, but then the black ink slipped off her heart.


    ¡°Precious?¡±


    ¡°Nothing... it¡¯s nothing...¡± I sat back down and turned my eyes to those around her. My tails wrapped around me and in my lap. I sat there and started to brush my tails. I quickly noticed that most of those gathered were like the queen, the black ink continually trying to wrap around their limp hearts but slipping off.


    I turned my attention to those with beating hearts. They were all in various stages of being devoured by the black ink. My attention was caught by one in particular. There was hardly any visible heart left. I tilted my head to get a better look. The ink moved with the heartbeats, seemingly resting on top of the muscle. I looked at their face and saw a weak looking woman. Her eyes caught mine, and I made note that she didn¡¯t seem human. But then, the blue lighting faded and the hearts of those gathered hid from my view.


    I considered saying something to the Queen. But decided against it. Not really sure why I didn¡¯t want to tell her, but knowing that I didn¡¯t. Instead, I turnd my attention to the other heart my magic was wrapped around. I could tell they were far away. I considered pulling on my magic to see what would happen, but the image of flames flickered at the back of mind. I had no guarantee that I wanted this person to know I was alive. In fact, this person might have been an enemy of mine at some point.


    The Queen was probably right, I needed to build up my strength. I knew that my magic would recover and grow with time, but I needed energy. I knew that the bugs I had eated, as well as the meat from before weren¡¯t enough. I needed... something richer. I licked my lips as I imagined whatever I was craving. It would be smooth and flavorful. It would be filled with anger and desperation.


    I opened my eyes and turned to the Queen. She immediately lifted her hand stopping the vampire in front of her from talking. She turned to me and waited. I bit my lip looking up at her. ¡°Food.¡± I told her, unable to find the word for what I wanted.


    ¡°DongGeun. Guide her to food.¡± The large vampire stood from the crowd and I stood walking toward him. ¡°And Precious.¡± Her hand wrapped around my wrist like a vice and I whipped to look at her. ¡°You will return here. As soon as you have eaten.¡± I considered for a brief moment arguing. But I had nowhere else to go so I just nodded. She released my wrist and I followed the vampire out of the doors.


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    In the hallway, he glared at me from the corner of his eye but kept walking. I growled at his provocation, but before anything happened I heard someone running to us. I turned to find Jessica standing there with a grin on her face. ¡°Hi!¡± The vampire hadn¡¯t stopped and so I indicated with my head that she should walk with us. ¡°Your little bonfire was really cool. I tried to recreate it with runic circles but only managed to create a frost fire.¡±


    ¡°Little witch. Quiet¡± The vampire said from in front of us. I turned to see that there seemed to be some sort of fight going on further down the hall. We all stopped and watched. Two of them appeared to be human men, and one of them was a vampire woman. I smelled again and realized that at least of those men was a beast. But then I smelt it. Food.


    But I had the sense to turn to the Vampire first. ¡°They are the Queen¡¯s allies?¡±


    He looked at me. ¡°The woman is. The men are guests.¡±


    I grinned at him. Guests weren¡¯t allies. I walked forward slowly, my eyes on the human man. I could smell the anger on him. He smelled delicious. The vampire tried to stop me, but I dodged him, somehow moving faster than him. One of my tails whipped at his hand, and I heard him gasp in shock.


    The sound alerted the three down the hall. The woman looked at me, a vicious grin pulled across her face and she turned to the men. ¡°You men are not worth my time. Besides, you seem to be someone elses prey.¡±


    The two men glanced at me and then at each other. The delicious smelling one laughed. They said something, but I no longer cared to listen. I pushed my magic into my feet and was pressing him agains the wall before he could react. His eyes widened in incredulity and fear. I wanted anger. More anger.


    ¡°Weak¡± I whispered at him. There was a flash of more anger, but not enough. ¡°Pathetic.¡± Still not enough. I felt a pressure of something hard against my hip where I held him. So I laughed at him and whispered. ¡°Small.¡± His eyes lit with rage and the timing was right.


    My left hand pulled back and I plowed it into his side. He let out a screech and tried to escape me. But I pushed my hand deeper, my magic surrounding my target and cradling it. I stared down at him, grinning, excited for my meal. Finally, I used my hand and magic to rip the organ from his body. His eyes turned to see it in my hand, blood dripping from my hand down my arm and onto the floor. His breathing turned into a gasp, and grew fainter. I dropped his body, no longer interested in him.


    I turned to see that the female vampire was watching the body on the floor. I stepped out of her way and she flung herself toward the body without care. The beast man must have fled, as I didnt¡¯ see him. The vampire who had come with me was standing still but his eyes were on the organ in my hand. My meal. I snarled at him and lifted it to my mouth. I began to rip into the muscle. I couldn¡¯t help the moan that escaped me. It was so delicious! I pressed my back to the wall so no one could approach me, and sank into my meal. My hunger which had always been at the back of my mind made itself known as I ate. And I did. I tasted his blood. I tasted his muscle. But most of all, I tasted his exquisite anger. I could taste each flavor or it. Indignation, Annoyance, Resentment. It was so complex and I felt part of who I was lock back into place.


    I swallowed the last bite and began to lick the bloody remnants off my arms and where it had spilled on my tail. I looked in the dried husk and the vampire woman, who was watching me. I could see hunger in her eyes and I knew it wasn¡¯t for blood. I licked my lips again and stepped toward her. Her pupils grew wider and I knew what I would do. I would press her up against the wall like I had the man. And she would screech too. But for entirely different reasons.


    I took another step, but I felt a hand on my arm. I turned to bite at it, and saw Jessica. Her eyes were wide with fright, but her mouth was determined. ¡°If you are done, we should continue on our way.¡± Her eyes tracked my tongue as I licked my lips. I considered turning my attention to her, but as I did the vampire stepped up next to her. A very faint growl came from him and I realized. He liked her. I couldn¡¯t help but laugh and I turned and walked back toward the throne room. I had made a promise after all.

 Chapter 10

    The vampire reached out and grabbed my arm before I could react. His fanged teeth were bared at me, and flicker of fear was at the back of my mind. But I felt like I was drugged with confidence. I could feel the anger and swagger of my meal racing through my limbs and through my tails. I could feel words on the tip of my tongue, but I realized they were not my own. I rubbed my tongue on the roof of my mouth, dislodging them, and let myself relax in his grip. I didn¡¯t show him my fear, but I gathered magic in my tails in case he tried to hurt me.


    ¡°You can¡¯t just kill the Queen¡¯s guests and expect to walk away.¡± He growled, and I could hear his confusion even as the words were spit at me. His scent surrounded me and I realized it didn¡¯t smell of predator to me. Instead it smelled of rot. Decay. Disease. I couldn¡¯t help my reaction to the realization and he growled at me.


    ¡°DongGeun...¡± the little witches hands were on his forearm, and he turned, blocked my view of her, but releasing me. The two began to talk. But my attention was drawn to the vampire woman who had stood and was trying to collect herself. I watched as she kicked the husk twice, the first almost reflectively and the second with more deliberate action. The second kick and a crack of bone in the husk¡¯s leg was heard.


    Her eyes shot to us at the noise, and the almost couple didn¡¯t react, but our eyes caught. I took her in. Her long black hair was tied in a braid, and her reddish brown eyes caught mine without flinching. The hunger that had been there before had disappeared, instead now there was a curiosity. She took a slow step closer. The couple didn¡¯t acknowledge her, so she came closer and closer.


    A few paces away, the couple stopped talking and turned to look at her. She glanced at them but her eyes were on mine. She bowed ¡°Thank you for the meal. One day, I hope to repay the favor.¡± Instinctively, I reached my arm out, and she took my hand. I pulled her close and rubbed my jaw against hers. She blinked in confusion, but I could smell my mark upon her. I smirked at her, but was yanked back by the fucking vampire. I turned to snarl at him then looked back to see her already walking away. I snatched my arm from him and turned back to the throne room.


    I could feel him less then a hair behind me, and could hear Jessica following behind us. As we walked back, I realized how far we must have moved, or that some kind of magic was in the walls, because we could suddenly hear snarls coming from the throne room.


    As I turned into the doorway, it was to see the Queen. She stood in the center of the room, three bodies at her feet, and a head in her hand. She threw the head at someone in her court and turned back to her throne. The crowd muttered to themselves, and a being rushed past us clutching the head. Our eyes met, theirs of pitch black, but then they pushed past us and out the door. I realized that there had been no scent. Not of blood. Not of being. Not of rot, or predator. It was as if the being was simply not there.


    ¡°Fuckin death lions...¡± I heard the vampire mutter and felt my confusion multiplies. Whatever that thing had been, a lion it was not. But then I could figure that out another time. Now I had to figure out how to cross back into the room. The bodies still lay there, must as the fox blood from the first night I had been here. No one appeared to clean it up, and it blocked the only clear path back to the queen.


    I considered pushing through the small crowd to go to her side, but then I caught her eye. She was sitting on her throne. Her head resting on her fist, her pelt cascading in the light. Nervous pressure began to press down on me. I could walk over the bodies, potentially breaking some courtly rules; but showing I would return directly to her. I could make noise and make her people clear the way, but that felt like too much power for something like I who was her pet. Or I could gently push my way to the crowd, in a sense, groveling. None of them appealed to me.


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    The longer I stood there deliberating, the more the crowd realized the queen¡¯s attention was fixed on me again. The scent of the queen predator and her flock, the scent of weres, and more mixed together. The confidence I had felt earlier seeped from me, and my instincts flared up once more. This time causing my fear to grow. There was no tree to climb, no burrow to jump into, or forest to race through. I was in a box, in a cage. It felt like my paw had been caught in a human trap and I had to wait for my death.


    But then I felt Jessica¡¯s hand on my back. From where she touched, it felt like ice flooded my body, similar to how the old woman¡¯s magic had. I stood tense, my magic hovered at the ready, but Jessica didn¡¯t try to touch my core. As it filled me, I realized that the icy sensation was just the feeling of calm that she was pushing into me. As it touched the edges of my panic it felt like ice on my thoughts.


    Eventually I was able to unclench my jaw and my shoulders relaxed. I realized I didn¡¯t know how much time had passed since we had walked in. Everyone was in the same position, but I knew that vampires could remain still for hours at a time without issue. Somehow... but I shoved my confusion at the new information away and turned my full attention back to the main issue. Getting to the queen.


    The vampire had called the bodies ¡°death lions¡± and the priestess had called me ¡°Death¡¯s blessed.¡± With the help of the little bloody plant, I could see the black ink of death that clung to hearts. If anyone had the right to step over the bodies of the dead, this kind of death... it should be me. Clinging to this logic, I began to walk forward. Those gathered seemed to tense as I approached the bodies. I glanced down to see that the bodies had been ripped to pieces, and yet didn¡¯t bleed. Instead, darkness seemed to gather at where they had fallen. I slowly stepped into that darkness, and felt nothing around my toes. The blackness was immaterial.


    I looked up at the Queen and continued forward stepping toward the Queen, and I heard mutterings from those in the room, but didn¡¯t care to listen. As I reached her throne, her eyes turned to my feet and so did mine. Although I could not feel the darkness, it had clung to my skin like blood could. My hackles raised and I turned from the queen and shook the darkness from my leg. It slipped off easily enough, but then fell to the air as though made of feathers. I repeated it with my other foot.


    I turned to the queen and she held out an arm that was coated in the same substance. Unsure, I took her hand, and watched as the darkness slipped from her hand to mine. I looked at her and she smiled just a bit. I then knew my task. I was to groom her, clean this off of her. So I knelt at her feet and began to do so. I scooped clumps of the darkness off, and flicked it to the side. Those gathered fled the general area, but I could see from their expressions it was from disgust and not fear.


    The Queen¡¯s business continued as usual as I slowly cleaned off first one arm, then another. When I finished, she had lifted her leg into my sight, and I found her black pants and shoes stained with the same. While it took more effort to pull it from the fabric, I focused and continue to work at it. The repetitive nature was relaxing, and I let my my mind wander. I had so many questions about myself.


    The biggest was a matter of skill. What could I do? What was specific to me, and what could other beings do. Obviously, language was unique to me. But was the other forms of my magic mine alone? My ability to bind hearts, to grow greenery around me, to enhance my senses... I knew that Jessica also had magic, but hers was done in words and circles. Then there was the bloody plant, I eyed it and it sat there, almost blending into the stone around it. Was the ability just mine? Or did it come from the plant? I had grown it with my magic, but the grass and vines hadn¡¯t had similar effects.


    I knew that I was physically weaker than a vampire, but perhaps my tails were not? Because of the magic? I vaguely remember hitting the vampires hand with it, and his reaction. That seemed abnormal of one who had been able to grab and throw me easily in the past. Not to mention my capture.


    Why had that human¡¯s organ called to me so. Why did it feel like the only food I wanted. I could still taste the flavoring of his anger on the back of my tongue. And yet, when we had had raw food before my long sleep, it hadn¡¯t had emotion, and it hadn¡¯t had the right texture. Did I only eat human? Was it only that organ? Was it the blood?


    My thoughts were stopped when the Queen, who had been been gently scratching my scalp as I worked. Instead now her fingers and wrapped around my hair and my head had been yanked painfully up. I turned to see the vampire and Jessica standing in front of her. This must be about my meal. I turned my watery eyes to the Queen who was looking at me with rage. Oh... Oh no...

 Chapter 11

    Time seemed to pause as she held me aloft, my knees barely off the ground. I waited to hear her anger. I waited for her to tear into my flesh and punish me. But she didn¡¯t. She just held me there, unblinking, silent, staring angrily into my eyes. It took me, perhaps, too long to remember that I could look away from her. I could submit to her, and maybe that would free me from this position. But I didn¡¯t want to. I could feel the anger of my meal flaring up again, it had been my right to eat. She had sent me out to eat. She had given me permission.


    Still we stood there, I could have spoken, I could have fought her hold, but I held the pain in my neck and continued to look at her. The anger in my stomach only gave me the energy to stay here, to look and observe. My mind cleared and I felt calm. If she had wanted to kill me, I¡¯d already be dead. Tentatively, I reached one of my hands up. She seemed to coil tighter. I paused a moment before reaching up and gently resting my fingers on her elbow. At my touch, she bared her teeth and pulled me higher up.


    ¡°I was hungry.¡± I spoke softly. She didn¡¯t move. ¡°So I ate.¡± Her anger seemed to shift. But before I could see what the new emotion was she threw me back down. My knees hit the stones painfully and she looked away from me.


    ¡°If you are going to act like a fledgling, I will treat you like one. Take her.¡±


    Two vampires I didn¡¯t know shot forward and each one grabbed my arms. They stood just far enough from each other that my shoulders protested. Someone else spoke up from the court. ¡°Queen, the court feels you may favor this beast too much.¡±


    My captors paused and I watched as the Queen seemed to become sharper. She leaned relaxed against the side of the chair, but her eyes seemed to spark. DongGeun and the witch quickly stepped out of her sight. The witch¡¯s eyes caught mine for a moment, and I could see the apology in them. Needlessly, she mouthed the same thing. But I looked away.


    The Queen stood and gestured. The two captors pulled me from the throne room before I could see the conclusion. I was pulled down stairs and eventually in a place with a chill in the air. I was thrown into a small room, and as I turned around, the door seemed to melt into stones. I was left alone.


    I reached for my magic and felt it stored, but when I tried to pull it out, it was sluggish. It was like the very air around me was thick. As long as I kept the magic internally, such as with my ears and eyes, it seemed to work just fine. When I did guide my magic to my eyes, I found the air of the room filled with symbols. Unlike the little witch¡¯s magic, these symbols floated independent of any circles, and slipped from my magic when I tried to reach for them.


    Exhaustion from the day and using my magic eventually caught up with me. I focused on my magic and carefully grew just enough moss that I could lay down more comfortably. With my tails wrapped around me to fight the chill in the air. I slipped into sleep.


    When I woke, it was to the sound of stones rubbing together. When I looked for the sound, I found a hole in the roof of the little room and a rabbit was dropped into the room. Reflectively I grabbed it before it would hit the ground to its death. I snarled up at the hole that was now closing.


    The little body shook in my hands, its eyes wide with fear and its ears as far back as they could go. I set it gently on the little patch of moss. It ran around the room, scratching at rocks and thumping at every shadow. Eventually it tucked itself in a corner and watched me. I settled into the moss and curled up again. Exhaustion was still seeped in my bones and I quickly fell back to sleep.


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    I did eventually wake up, and found the rabbit had grown comfortable enough with my presence to curl next to my stomach and under my tails. Its whiskers twitched as I stretched and sat up, but it didn¡¯t move from its spot. I concentrated on my magic, and tried to chase the symbols in the air again. Mostly out of curiosity, but also boredom.


    Eventually, that wasn¡¯t interesting anymore. I could feel questions that had plagued me in the back of my mind, but they didn¡¯t seem important at the moment. Instead, I lay and counted the stones in my room. I must have fallen asleep when I heard the stone move again. I was already snarling at the hole above me, ready to catch another poor rabbit, but instead a slab of bloody meat fell into my hands instead.


    I smelled it as the stone closed. It was freshly killed and seemed free of rot or poison. My eyes couldn¡¯t see any magic in the meat either. Cautiously I sat down, watching as the rabbit tucked itself against my hip and started to eat the meat. The blood had a tinge of fear in it, but that was fine. It was good but it was fine. The meat was chewier than I liked, but I forced it down anyway. I cleaned the remnants of blood from my body and looked down at the little rabbit. During my sleep, some grasses had grown among the moss and it was nibbling away at that.


    By my third sleep I was surprised that the Queen hadn¡¯t come to collect me. I figured her curiosity about me would make her impatient. But I remembered that she was a Vampire, an old one at that. Three days for her was probably a blink of an eye. For me, I could only remember a handful of days and it felt like an eternity. When I went to sleep again, I worried that the fire would return, that I would have to see hair and blood and death. But the dreams never came. I just continued to sleep.


    The rabbit was sick the next day and it didn¡¯t take me long to figure out why. I may have had blood to keep me hydrated, but the rabbit had nothing. I tried to use my magic to make water, I tried to share the blood with the rabbit, and I even tried to force myself to cry to create a little pool of water. It wouldn¡¯t touch them. A weight settled in my heart and I knew what would happen. But instead of feeling sad, I just felt bland about it. I couldn¡¯t feel the anger from that one meal. I couldn¡¯t feel anger at the Queen for leaving me. It was then that I realized I couldn''t¡¯ feel anything stronger than a passing interest. Curiosity seemed to be fine, but as I chased the symbols again, I had a strong suspicion that these symbols were the reason why I didn¡¯t feel more upset.


    I woke up with a cold form resting against my stomach. I pet its little fur and stared at the wall in front of me. A breath left me, and I knew I wanted out of here. Before I was forgotten and woke up cold one morning as well. But I couldn''t get the energy to do anything about it. A fleeting feeling of frustration slipped through the back of my mind, but slipped away just as quickly.


    The grass and blooms died a few sleeps later. I had lost interest in keeping them active. Instead, I kept my magic inside, with the exception of the small flicker that I had chasing symbols as long as I was awake. I instead sat on the other side of the room, staring at the withered moss and little body. The body hadn¡¯t rot. Which I knew was strange. It took another sleep for me to really focus on why that was strange.


    But then my magic touched a symbol. Like electricity, awareness shot through my body. A whine slipped out of my mouth. I stood quickly and pressed around the stones and curled my tails against my stomach as well. Emotions that I hadn¡¯t felt in a while poured through my body and made me feel like I was boiling alive. My whine grew in strength and I felt both fear and anger and despair sweep through me.


    I stood there for an unknown amount of time before I heard the sound. I looked up at first, but then I turned and found the door I had come in through reappeared. My breath ripped through my lungs and teeth and I stared at the door. It opened. I didn¡¯t move. I didn¡¯t know who I wanted to be on the other side of that door. The Queen who had thrown me here, the captors who had thrown me here, or {void}. But instead, the witch¡¯s face appeared with fear in her eyes.


    ¡°Quickly, we have to go now!¡± I didn¡¯t pause, I shot through the door and out of the symbols. As soon as I was out the door, I felt my magic pulse back to life. But then I also heard the sounds from above. The sounds of death. The little witch grabbed my hand in both of hers. ¡°We have to run. Now!¡± She started to pull me, but her human legs were too slow. I scooped her up and used my magic to push us faster.


    She directed me up the stairs. Magic swirled throughout the air and I watched as vampires and magic users battled in the hallway. ¡°Go left!¡± She screamed in my ear and I didn¡¯t hesitate. I turned away and ran. She gave me more directions. We ran in front of the throne room doors at one point, and I saw the Queen for a flash. But I didn¡¯t stop. I ran. Up more stairs, through doors, around fighters. And eventually. Sky.