Bloodied Paws [BP Book 1]

Prisoner [Foreword]

I woke up in a dark, damp room. Stone walls contained me, and metal dug into my ankles, wrists, and the tips of my wings. It was pretty dark, although I could still see pretty well.

I attempted to move, but pain shot up my leg as I did. I looked down to see the bloody, matted mess of fur over the injury that human caused. I could tell it was deep, but doubted I would be able to find any sort of medical attention down here. Especially counting the fact that I was in chains.

"Finally awake, huh?"

I looked up to see the same human from before standing on the other side of the bars. His spear was slung across his back.

"Where am I?" I asked, my voice raspy from the dusty, damp air.

"That is none of your concern," the human replied, "But just know that you are going to be down here for a long time."

I growled at him. "Not if I can help it. You know, wolves hate captivity."

"But that part of you is only half, by the looks of it," he said, "What's the other half of you, a demon? That'll just make you more fun to kill."

I lashed my tail across the stone floor. "You won't get away with this."

He laughed.

"But we already have."

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The days dragged by slowly. The humans obviously didn't care if I live or die, for they hardly feed me and tend to come into my cell merely to beat me. The wound in my leg wasn't getting any better, and by the pain I felt it was most likely infected. There are days I can hardly move, or want to move.

I found out the blond-haired human that brought me here was named Jerold. He visits me a lot, simply to watch my suffering. Sometimes I look at him and imagine myself repeating every injury he and the humans have inflicted onto me and other hybrids since they began to attack us.

And as the days blended into weeks, I slowly started to become the monster they see me to be.

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[a month or two later]

Jerold continued down the hall of the prison, two others behind him. He figured it was time to at the very least dispose of the hybrid they had kept imprisoned for the last few months.

Slowly, of course. Those creatures hardly deserve their lives, so why should he take them quickly?

He stopped in front of the cell they were keeping the creature in. The wolf-hybrid's dirty, matted fur seemed plastered to her body, and her ribs were pressed against her skin. Her stomach was hollow, and there were bags under her eyes like shadows. The wound Jerold had inflicted upon her was obviously infected, still sleeping blood and puss, and the fur around it was crusted and dirty.

I tapped my spear against the metal bars. "Hey. Time to get up."

The hybrid stirred, and very slowly sat up. Her eyes were dull and hungry, glaring daggers through my soul.

"Hey, hybrid," Jerold said, smirking, "Today's your day."

She cocked her head, barely acknowledging his words. Jerold knew she could understand him, and he assumed the creature just wasn't in the mood for talking.

"Open the cage and get in there," Jerold told the two men beside him, "Make sure she suffers before she's taken care of."

They nodded, and entered the hybrid's cell.

The two approached her, their spears pointed at the weakened hybrid on the ground. She looked up, and her eyes narrowed. Baring her teeth, she gave a low, guttural growl as she slowly backed away on all fours.

Soon enough, however, she was cornered.

She glanced between the two humans, and one of them jabbed his spear at her.

Quite possibly his final mistake.

The spear missed the hybrid, but in her hunger all she saw was a threat towards her. Which it was - she had reason for her anger.

She snarled, and lunged at the human. He once again jabbed with the spear, but she had her claws around his throat before he could do much of anything. The other human stared in horror as her teeth sunk deep into his companion's neck, blood flowing as she tore at his flesh.

Hunger. Food. It's all she could think about, the only thought in her nourishment-starved mind.

Jerold burst through the cell door, throwing his spear at the hybrid. She yelped in pain as the spear was driven through her abdomen. She stumbled for a minute before falling to the ground, blood pouring from the fresh wound.

The hybrid looked up at Jerold, her snout covered in blood and her eyes wild.

"One day," she snarled, her voice as feral as she looked, "I will return. And I will wipe out all of you. Every. Single. One of you. Just like... you did us."

And she fell to the ground with her dying breath.

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841 words