Midnight Moon

The fog of sleep was wearing off, and I was waking up. Not a sound was made in the world around me. I slowly opened my eyes, letting them adjust before trying to figure out where I was. I wasn’t in the orphanage, instead I was surrounded by stone.

I was lying on a blanket, large walls of rock surrounding me. I began to panic, thinking that I was trapped, until I noticed a bright ray of light. There was a large hole in one of the rock walls, probably leading outside. My curiosity got the better of me.

I got up to investigate, being as quiet as possible, so as not to alert whoever may be around that I was awake. I slowly crept toward the hole, keeping a hand on the walls to guide myself.

When I got close enough, I noticed trees. Well, I thought, at least I’m still in the forest.

I snuck out of what I assumed was a cave, and continued to walk beside the rocks outside. A twig snapped underneath my foot, and I mentally slapped myself for not watching my feet.

Suddenly, out of seemingly nowhere, I was pushed back against the rocks, with someone’s hand around my throat. A teenager with pale skin, and spiky brown hair held me against the stone, his deep brown eyes staring into my greenish-grey ones. Some of my long black hair fell into my face as I glared back.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” the boy asked.

“I woke up in the cave, who wants to know?” I growled back.

The two of us glared at each other for a while, until I decided I'd had enough. I roughly pushed the boy’s hand off of my neck and turned to walk away. He quickly grabbed my upper arm, stopping me from moving.

“Let go,” I calmly requested, not turning around to look at him.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” the boy replied.

My patience was wearing thin. I closed my eyes and wrenched my arm out of his grasp, turning around to face him while doing so. My eyes were slightly golden now, as I threw my best death glare at the boy. He didn’t flinch, just threw one right back at me.

My muscles tensed as I waited, I could feel the animal inside myself begging to be released, but I had promised myself I wouldn’t. I winced slightly, as the urge to let go of humanity increased. The fear was obvious in my now golden eyes, as they darted around for an escape route. The trees caught my attention, and I made a break for it, running as fast as I could while trying to keep myself under control.

Once inside the forest, I took my jacket off while running, then proceeded to kick my shoes off. Then came my jeans and tank top. The hairs on my arms began to grow and expand, until I couldn’t see my pale skin any longer. I could hear the sickening crack, as my bones began to re-arrange themselves.

I continued running, now slightly hunched over. My ears grew slightly, and my eyesight became sharper, as the cracking sound continued. I was now running on all four limbs. My hands and feet morphed into paws, and a tail grew from my backside. I continued running as the transformation came to a stop.

I was now racing through the forest as a full-grown black panther. I heard light paw-steps following me, and climbed swiftly up the nearest tree. Once on a tall enough branch, I crouched down, letting the shadows hide myself from my stalker. A leopard, much larger than the one I had met before I passed out, darted from some nearby bushes and into the clearing. Its eyes scanned the clearing, while its nose twitched slightly, most likely searching for my scent.

The leopard made its way over to the tree I'd recently climbed, and I watched as it sniffed around the base of the trunk. Golden eyes met mine, as the leopard found my hiding spot. I didn’t move, still sitting crouched down on the branch.

“Who are you and what do you want with me?” I decided to break the silence, as I spoke in the native leopard language, a series of growls flowed from my jaws.

Since panthers and leopards are the same animal, they speak the same language. The only real difference is their coat colors, and even that isn’t that different. In fact, if you look at a black panther close enough, you’ll see the same pattern on their fur as the leopards have.

“Come down from there, and I’ll tell you,” the male growls of the leopard echoed.

Sighing, I cautiously climbed down the tree, leaving minor claw marks in its bark. I turned to face the male leopard once I reached the ground safely, and quietly sat down in the luscious green grass. The male sat down across from me and stared into my eyes.

“My name is Damien, the man who attacked you is Logan. My mate, Elmira, was watching you, but apparently she wandered off somewhere,” the leopard began.

“Why do you insist on keeping me here?” I glared as I spoke.

“The only reason you were stopped was because Logan was out of town until today and didn’t know about you,” Damien answered.

“How is it that your kind is associating with humans? Can you even communicate with them?” I asked again, my curiosity getting the better of me.

“It would help if I knew your name,” he avoided, changing the subject quickly.

I was about to reply, when a girlish scream interrupted my thoughts. I looked in the direction of the scream, and raced off into the trees, letting my instincts guide me. I slowed down as I neared the area, and peered quietly through the bushes.

A woman with short black hair, whose back was turned toward me, was holding a blonde-headed teenage girl with brown eyes by the neck. She was clawing pointlessly at the woman’s hands as the woman raised her higher into the air.

I crouched, muscles tense, and then leapt from behind the bushes, landing effortlessly on the woman’s back and digging my claws into her skin. The woman dropped the girl, and shook me off roughly. I skidded to a halt, head bent menacingly, and teeth bared. A growl erupted from my throat as I stared into the woman’s red eyes.

The woman let out a low hiss, and fangs slowly protruded from her lips. I growled louder, getting angrier by the second. I never had liked these despicable creatures that humans call vampires. Sucking the blood of innocent people is both disgusting, and cruel.

A small glint of an unknown emotion flashed quickly through the woman’s eyes, and she darted off into the forest, opposite of where I'd come from. I quickly chased after her, feeling the need to make sure that this creature was long gone before returning to check on the girl.

The vampire was fast, but so was I. I caught up to her after a while, and tackled her to the ground, pinning her shoulders down. Fear flashed through the vampire’s eyes, right before her lips broke into an evil grin, exposing more of her large canines.

The vampire chuckled softly and gazed into my anger-filled eyes. I let my claws extend, my tail swaying softly behind me in frustration.

“What do you think you’re doing here?” I growled, speaking human so that the vampire would understand.

“Why looking for you of course, I was getting a little hungry and needed a snack though,” the vampire smiled innocently.

“What do you want?” I hissed back, still keeping my glare on those dreaded red eyes.

“My name is Nira, my master sent me because he knew I wanted to meet you before you died. There's a prophecy about you, you know,” Nira replied.

“What prophecy?” I continued questioning.

“If you’ll excuse me, I'm afraid I’ll have to be going. Tell your lovely mother I said hi,” she said the last part menacingly, a hidden meaning behind her words.

“Leave my mother out of this!” I hissed, hate bubbling up inside of you.

“She was a wonderful girl before I killed her, I’ll tell you that much. Now, I must be going, it’s getting late,” Nira grinned, taking a small dagger from her belt.

Before I could comprehend her words, the dagger was driven into my pantherian stomach, and a hiss of pain erupted from my jaws. That gave the evil creature just enough time to push me off and race away into the shadows.

Blood spilled from my wound, creating a small pool on the grassy floor. My mind was racing, wondering what the vampire meant about my mother. I was told that she'd died giving birth to me, a vampire couldn’t have killed her if that was the truth.

I slowly made my way back to where the girl was, leaving a trail of blood wherever I stepped. I was numb to the pain though, and didn’t bother to take the blade out of me, knowing it would allow the blood to flow more freely if I did. I just continued walking, thinking about the red-eyed demon’s words.