All-Seeing Eye

The Nighttime Beasts

Just then, a man on horseback carrying a bow and arrow came up to the carcass. He had black hair that stopped just above his shoulders and gray eyes. He was wearing a gray hoodie and jeans. Who was he, a modern version of the hunter from Snow White?
  
It was then that I realized if I were to make him think that I was a real wolf, I would have to either run away or start growling. I chose to run. What? I’m a coward, alright?

However, I didn’t get too far before my paw hit a rope. Before my brain had time to process, I was suspended five feet above the ground in a net. These were traps for bears and deer, not wolves! But the hunter didn’t seem to care. He cut the rope above the net, being careful not to set me loose.

He carried me over to his horse (which was a very beautiful Morgan, might I add), abandoning the moose carcass. I supposed that at least Ichi and Irii would have a meal today. I, however, needed to find a way out of a net without showing him that I was really human.

About an hour later, we arrived at a cottage just at the edge of the forest. It was small. It only appeared to have one floor; it was made of logs and had a straw roof. There were, as far as I could see, only two windows. There was an outhouse a few dozen yards to the left. This was, in no way, modern at all.

Once inside the cottage, he cut the ropes. I didn’t know how stupid this guy was, but he certainly wasn’t the smartest guy in the world, letting a wolf loose in his house. Had I been a real wolf, I probably would’ve just killed him right then. But little old me, I barely had the heart to kill animals. I only did because it was the only way I would ever get any food.

“Listen,” he said. Wow. Now not only had he let a wolf loose in his house, but he was talking to said wolf. This guy was clearly insane. “I saw you transform. I know you’re a Nighttime Beast. It’s okay. Don’t be afraid.” I whimpered. He had seen me? I slowly turned back into human Iko, and as I did so, my tail went in between my legs.

“Um,” I said. “What did you call me?”

“A Nighttime Beast,” he said, confused. “Our race?” Okay. Now I was confused.

“What do you mean our race?” I asked. “You have a human form. You’re not like me.”

As if to prove his point, the hunter grew antlers out of his head and a deer’s tail. He was a stag? “Okay, you see? I’m a Nighttime Beast, too. My name is Machirao. As you can see, I sort of like to live in the past,” he said, gesturing around him.

“No kidding,” I said. Machirao was clearly embarrassed. “Okay, so what exactly was the point of bringing me here?”

“Well, I kind of wanted to know why you were living as a wolf instead of a human.”

“Um, about that...you see, I don’t have a fully human form.”

“Wow. Most of us don’t have a fully animal form. I guess it’s extremely rare to have both, then.”

“I didn’t know more people like me existed up until now. Except for two others that I’ve been travelling with.”

“Ah, yes, the fox and the cat.”

“How long were you watching us?”

“Since I saw your kitsune friend. I followed her around for awhile, and then I saw you, and got slightly more intrigued.”

“That’s not creepy at all.”

“Hey! I was just curious as to why you were living as animals!”

“Can you take me back now?”

“No,” another voice said. It was a different voice. Someone who wasn’t in the room had said it.

Suddenly, a stick-thin woman in a black suit walked out. She had blonde hair that was up in a neat bun and gray eyes, just like Machirao. She was wearing black high heels that clicked loudly when she walked. When I looked into the room she had come from, I saw my friends, all tied up and gagged. At the sight of me, they struggled for help. Panic was in their eyes. Irii was in tears. Her glasses had slid halfway down her face.

When I looked farther, I saw almost fifty more Nighttime Beasts in the same condition as my friends.