Black Like Ebony (Part 2)

Again, the voice from the dark boomed. “Wrong, little soldier. My kindness is what the bat has seen tonight.” There was a ripple from the garden, where the voice spoke, that coalesced into ink black fur and bone white claw. Ebony followed behind it, drawing herself from hiding and standing in a hunch, towering over the crowd with ease. Her face was a young woman’s, mature but bereft of age’s touch, compounded by whisps of black fur around her collar and neatly arranged razors of teeth. Black wings were folded across her lioness body, her alien tail a pinkish color that ended in a flower-like bulb that jutted out the purplish spikes from the man’s stomach. 

Black Like Ebony (Part 1)

To the boy it seemed a horrid trap, like a fever dream he was being marched into. By lanterns light he tread with his captor and his fellow prisoner in silence along the entrance path. The path was paved with stone, a foreign luxury in the hovel below. It was lined with a garden of surely imported flowers in perfectly matching shades of reds and whites and lilacs. They were cut and trim to perfect measurements, none encroaching past their gardens. Gone was the overgrowth of the village, the unruly weeds and clutching branches that flanked their village. The manor was sterile, it was organized, it was planned. 

The Bird and The Cage Chapter 6

In the disarray of her vision, she saw something faintly and her head locked on it. Heart pounding, her eyes went wide as she saw the small hole in her nest. Frantic, she moved to it, laying flat to look through it and saw a small tunnel just beyond it, her mind snapping to attention. The jumble of thoughts and fears in her mind filtered away and one key memory sprung to mind before she jumped to her feet and flew out of the cave.

A Little Rat

She rested her head on forearm, the silky, spotted fur resting gently against her cheek, tapping the sharp claw on the end of her hand against her temple, the cat-like ears on the top of her head, sprouting out from a mess of short, yellow hair, twitching as he stepped on another stick. Now that she thought about it, watching him rumble through the underbrush, he was more like a very fat rat meandering its way through the forest floor, caution thrown to the wind in its arrogance to satisfy its hunger, not knowing an owl hovered just above, watching in bemusement at its antics. She had to stifle a chuckle at the comparison: it wouldn’t be fun if the prey knew it was being hunted just yet. 

The Bird and The Cage Chapter 5

It started off as a faint squeeze on his leg that Cullen almost didn’t register at first as he was transfixed by the predatory glare of his captor, but the sensation began to grow tighter, causing him to squirm and tear his eyes away from her. He glanced down at his sprawled out legs and saw that her feet was progressively growing tighter and tighter around his calves, which caused him to narrow his eyes in confusion at them before he struck him what she was trying to do, his eyes shooting up at the sight of her talons growing closer to his fragile skin. He tore his gaze back to her, and saw a sadistic gleam enter her eyes as his own panicked look met hers; he swore he could see her smirking at him. 

The Bird and The Cage Chapter 4

Cullen remained rooted to the spot, unable to tear his gaze away from the blood around the creature’s lips. It had to be a dream–that’s it, he must’ve still been dreaming. This wasn’t real, none of it, why would this fantastical creature be before him? It had to have been the exhaustion from the hard work over the past few days, and he was just having a very bad nightmare. He shut his eyes and lightly slapped his face with his hand, hoping to awaken from this nightmare into the comfort of his own bed. But once he opened them, he could only see the same monster before him, it’s eyes filled with confusion.

The Bird and The Cage Chapter 3

Taking a deep breath, she focused only on him, watching him as he stepped further and further into the clearing before he reached far enough from the trees. She took one last cursory glance around the clearing, but, much like how she had first seen it, it remained empty except for her and her target. She took to the sky quick, spreading her wings and hovering just a bit behind him. The angle was perfect, and her target was clear to her–this wouldn’t be any more trouble than any other hunt that had transpired before it, and it felt like those hunts prepared her perfectly for this moment. She took one last deep breath before she began her descent, gliding towards him unblinkingly, her talons now raised out in front of her, aimed for his shoulders, the wind and the pounding of her heart roaring in her ears.