Moon Dance Ch 6

   "'Daughter of Soulless', my butt," Crow laughed from the outside of the bars keeping me in the den. "Any descendant of a god could get away from here, or anywhere here on Earth. If what you said WAS true, I don't blame the Underworld God. You're pathetic."
   "And you are just as bad, you wretch," I growl back at him, "too cowardly to throw an insult in front of my place. You throw them from the bars, like a... a..."
   "Hah, you haven't any word for it. Stupid beast," Crow sneers.
   I lunge for the bars and manage to swipe his cheek with my claws. He yelps and jumps back, then goes right to the bars and starts up a furious frenzy of barking and snarling. I grin smugly. Typical.
   A dark gray she-wolf appears out of nowhere and swats Crow in the rump. "Come now, must we really mock the poor beast?"
   Crow turns to her, his fur sticking out ever farther. "Shut up, Shadow," he snarls.
   "Oh, come now, I know you want to finish your shift," Shadow says back calmly, examining her forepaw. "Just go on and pick out a snack and take a nap. In fact, maybe you want to curl up with your girlfri--"
   Crow smashes his paw onto her muzzle and disappears.
   "My, how sensitive," Shadow says with fake disappointment. "That boy really needs to cool his head. So strong, but he acts like a pup half the time."
   "Mm," Mosi says.
   Shadow steps up to the bars and calmly examines me; I do the same for her. Her left eye is deep green, but her right eye has some sort of scar over it and is a pale bluish color. I assume it to be blind. Her ears, right foreleg until about 1/4 of the way up and half of her left hind leg are all light gray, along with a faint bit on her stomach and on the tip of her tail.
   She turns to Mosi. "I'm going to go catch the thing some food. She looks a bit underfed. When I get back, you go get her some water."
   Mosi nods, and Shadow trots off.
   "Soooo," I say, sitting a little offset from behind Mosi. "Who's that Shadow character from back there?"
   "A friend," Mosi says. "Just a friend."
   I notice his tail twitch. He's more catlike than I thought, and I smirk. "Your body language is telling me otherwise, Cat-boy."
   Mosi lets out a dark growl. I'm starting to get rather tired, so I drop the subject and curl up in the back corner. Before I know it, I'm asleep again.
---
   Fire. Everywhere. A beast leaps out- its arms and wings are one, and its muscles bulge. Its dead, blank eyes fix on me with an unearthly white glow, and it lets out a horrible roar. I snarl, and suddenly, it's Soulless. Father.
   He smirks. "Hello, pup," he rumbles. "How's the Dark Pack treating you?"
   I glare at him coldly, and he lets out an empty laugh. "Oh, you poor thing! Imprisoned by mere mortal wolves?" He lets out a disgusted sound, like a coughing spit. "Pitiful. You are indeed not a child of mine. And you never will be."
   I let out an enraged roar. "How dare you?! How dare you mock me in that way, my own father?!"
   He sneers, obviously awaiting something. And something is happening.
   Something deep down is stirring. Rage and hate and negativity are all welling up and blotting everything else out. The blue on the tips of my fur hanging over my eyes is disappearing. Being eaten by the red. And branching off... my white fur is bleeding into pitch blackness.
   I bare my fangs, which have become even longer than usual. "Fool," I snarl. "I nearly killed you. You, you fear me. And you know it! You just want control! I won't give it to you!! You hear me?! I WON'T! I'll show you! I'll become the darkhearted cur you wanted to give birth to!"
   "Good," Soulless whispers, fading into nothing with my dream. "Tell me how it goes."
   Everything but my negative feelings, pulsing and threatening to boil over, disappear.
---
   I feel... strong. I slide easily to my feet. It's nighttime, and a bowl of food and water are in the corner of my den. I stalk over to them, fire glistening faintly at my feet as I walk, like a shimmering illusion.
   I devour my food in a few simple bites, and stare into my water bowl. All my markings- the ones that had once been such a beautiful blue, and the original red- were all now bloodred. My eyes were red as well, with a faint blue ring around them. I stare for a moment, then let out a cruel grin. My fangs glisten dangerously.
   I stride over to the bars of my caged den. The gray-brown brute and a plain silver wolf are guarding. I let out a chuckle that's both quiet, deep, and cruel. Both wolves turn in surprise, their eyes widening. I lash out and leap out of my cage bars- they burn to smoldering dust and ash as I pass through them- and sink my teeth into the darker colored wolf. He sinks down, dead on contact. The other one lets out a loud alarm shriek just as I terminate him as well. I hear the others stirring now though.
   "Damn," I mutter dryly. "I woke the darlings up." I stride out of the clearing, the grass dying where my paws touch it, shimmering illusion-like fires still glistening at my paws. I get a good distance away, then sit.
   A pack howl of alarm and fear rises, then turns to vengeance. They are coming to hunt me.
   A dark smirk stretches across my face. "Bring it on."