Our Mundane Magical Lives #sytycw15

Part two: Ringing bells

The bell rang out signalling the beginning of the match. The large brown beast stalked out of its cage into the dirt covered arena with high stone walls and metal bars covering the arena. The monster glared at its opponents, pitiful humans. Even with their fragile weapons they stood no chance against the monster. Although they were all foolish enough to think otherwise. The two men and two women spread out trying to block and corner the creature. A woman with a spear moved first, lunging at the great monster's side. The beast spun, grapping the spear between its teeth then crunched down and turned the shaft to splinters. In the instant that the spear was broken the monster dived at the stunned woman. Catching her neck between its sharp teeth the monster crushed the woman's neck. She was dead in an instant. The next woman swung her mace aiming for the best's head. The creature narrowly dodged the spiked head of the mace and moved into a crouch. Once the woman was off balance from her swing the monster attacked, digging its claws deep in her chest and tearing at her throat. A stone skittered behind the great beast and it spun snarling at its next victim. The man with a sword and a shield held them both like they would stop the horrifying monster. Creeping closer the monster let out a low growl. The man was shaking slightly but he stood his ground. The guy was ether incredibly brave, incredibly optimistic or incredibly stupid. The man swung his sword and the creature smoothly dodged it while sending a swipe of its own that connected with the man's moving wrist. The man howled in pain and dropped the sword, now useless with his almost severed hand. The man clutched the shield closer as the beast approached the man carefully, shields were always tricky. Slowly inching forward the beast started backing the man to a wall so he'd have nowhere to run. The monster jumped to the man's left then shifted and bounded to his right side. Taking advantage of the minimal shield coverage and it knocked him over then tore at the man's windpipe. Once the man stopped struggling the monster proceeded to sniff him. After a moment the beast ripped off a small piece on the man's neck but turned when it heard a whimper. It was the other man, he was gripping his spear so tightly that his knuckles were white. The man whimpered again as the monster tossed up the piece of flesh and caught the chunk in its mouth. After a brief chew the monster swallowed. It was in no mood to kill the buffoon. The monster just hopped the coward would surrender, at least the others put up a fight. The monster stalked towards the last human in blood drenched arena. The man tossed down his spear shouting his surrenders. The beast shorted and turned, just as it guesses, a coward. The monster made its way back over to the dead man and leaned into his neck. The creature opened up its jaw and dropped the chunk of flesh it previously took into its mouth. The taste of humans was bitter, but pretending to eat them always sacred the rest of the disgraceful scum shitless. It was the only enjoyment the monster ever got being stuck in this sick game.

/\/\/\ Three years prior.

The bell rang, singling the end of the period and the start of lunch. Most of the senior class shot up from their seats and hurried out the door.
"Adeline, can you close the door on your way out?" asked the teacher, a short dark skinned woman that stood in the doorway.
"Sure Miss Vee" replied the student as she finished collecting her belongings. Adeline left the room and closed the door with a soft click. Adeline started making her way to her locker so she could switch her stuff. Her brown hair swung behind her head in a neat pony-tail as she speed towards the locker room. The bloody shapeless sack they called a uniform hung off Adeline's slightly petite figure as she dodged other students in the corridors. Adeline exited a building into the warm spring day with little or no clouds in the sky. Typical Australia. Adeline was about to slip into the senior locker hall when she heard a cry of distress. Pausing Adeline turned and sprinted when the sound rang out again. Adeline dropped her stuff on a bench and ran towards the familiar cry. Adeline slid around the side of the building and spotted two other students standing around Adeline's friend. The offenders chose a good time to attack, this spot was hard to see and the teachers were just getting on guard duty. The offenders pushed Adeline's friend, Maddie back to the ground.
"Hey!" Adeline shouted, drawing their attention away from her friend. They just glanced at her and snorted, assuming that's she was no threat.
"Hey! You leave my friend alone right now!" Adeline couldn't deny that she was getting nervous, she didn't really want to fight but if the other student's didn't back down then Adeline would have no choice. Maddie was silently begging Adeline to leave but at the same time Adeline could see the hope in her eyes. The other students just ignored Adeline's demand.
Adeline pulled a bitter face, "Stuff it!" she growled. Adeline wasn't supposed to change at school, but who would give a damn it was a werewolf school anyway. Adeline lunged, changing into a large brown wolf in mid-air. Adeline landed on one of the students, a grey wolf and almost crushed him under her weight. Adeline got off the grey wolf and snapped the black one, positioning herself between her friend and the other student. Adeline glanced back at Maddie a sand coloured wolf, as she got to her feet and gave Adeline a gracious nod. The black wolf growled and edged forward but Adeline snapped back forcing the other student to step away. The grey wolf started snarling at her as he got to his feet. Adeline might not be the tallest as a human but her wolf form didn't match her height status amongst the wolves. She was five foot three in both wolf and human form, in comparison she had a rather large human to wolf height ratio. Adeline ranking in the top thirty larges wolves in the school, that was including out of the teachers. The black wolf hesitated to approach again, the odds were now even, two vs. two. The grey wolf leaped and grabbed Adeline's shoulder in his jaw. Adeline howled in pain but quickly reacted and spun enough to grab the scruff of the opposing wolf's neck. Adeline then proceeded to yank the slightly smaller wolf over her head. When he landed with a soft thunk Adeline risked a glance over her shoulder to see how her friend was going. The odds didn't look good. Maddie was the smaller wolf but even so she stood her ground. Adeline was about to go and help when she heard a low threatening growl. The other student began to stand, and he sure looked pissed. Alright, Adeline decided to take care of her battle first, then go back to help Maddie. Her friend wasn't defenceless, she could hold herself in a one on one situation. The grey wolf was about to attack but Adeline moved first. She jumped, knocking the other student over and sending them rolling into the courtyard. Student's shrieked at the wolves tumbling and grappling for a hold, while older student's merely rolled their eyes at the common event. Finally Adeline managed to get on top gripped her opponent's neck between her jaws. She began to apply pressure and started to tear into the grey wolf's flesh. The wolf whimpered its surrender and Adeline released her deadly grip. Adeline gave a growl to make sure her opposition wouldn't do anything but all the wolf did was look away. Adeline had won a display of dominance, the student with a wounded pride probably wouldn't try anything for a while. Adeline's attention snapped back to Maddie as she was flung into the flower bed and landed with a gut churning thump. Adeline sprinted into action, charging at the black wolf that trotted towards one of her best friends. Adeline ducked her head under the black wolf's chest and pushed him back against the wall. One of Adeline's unusual features, her small horns dug into the other student's stomach as she forced the wolf into the wall.
"Do you surrender?" growled Adeline in wolf tongue. The black wolf's only reply was a snarl cut short by Adeline's horns. Adeline ground the student against the wall, drawing blood.
"I surrender!" yelped the other student quickly once they realised that the pain was only going to get worse. Adeline backed away letting the other wolf drop to the ground.
Within moment's Adeline was at Maddie's side, "Hey Maddie, are you alright?" asked Adeline gently.
"I'll be fine" replied Maddie weakly. Teachers hurried over to Maddie and the black wolf then began to check them both over. The grey wolf stalked around the edge of Adeline's vision.
"What the hell are you, freak!" barked the grey wolf. Ordinarily Adeline would silently take the insult and leave with a cold feeling through her heart. But today that student had tried to hurt her friend and the adrenaline didn't help Adeline's rational thinking, she was pissed. Adeline dove at the wolf and with a roar grabbed a fist full of his fur then hurtled him at the tree. Adeline stood on two legs, showing herself to every student within viewing distance that she was more werewolf than just wolf. Adeline could hear all the whispers and yet she could hear none of them, there were too many to make out the words. Adeline didn't care, so what if she was different. So what if she wasn't just a large wolf. So what if she had opposable thumbs and horns. Adeline took a step towards the grey wolf but a sandy one stopped her from moving any further. Adeline looked down at her friend and stared into her tired blue eyes. Adeline's green eyes immediately softened and she dropped back to all fours. Adeline buried her head in her friend's neck, comforting both Maddie and calming herself. Adeline vaguely noticed the fact that the teacher were also whispering but in a more serious tone.