Snippets of Eventide

No.1: Waking in Eventide

"Get—" He choked. "Get out of the way."

I scrambled to obey, scattering to the side an instant before he leapt along with me. Stare broken, the shark shot forward, charging jaws first to where I'd been lying a moment earlier. Dakota ushered me backwards, herding me with outstretched arms until I stood behind him.

"Stay close," He ordered.

I nodded and he whipped his gaze back to the shark. Clenching his fists, he raised his head and sucked in a deep breath of air.

I jumped back as his figure twisted, snapping and stretching with a viscous glow until a giant serpent with a fox's head and razor teeth towered above me. He curled around me, wrapping me in the protection of his armored body as he reared towards the circling shark. He bared fangs, each at least the length of my forearm and hissed.

It charged and he struck, fangs sinking into it's sides. Dakota thrashed his head and it's skin tore like paper, halves falling lifeless to the ground. Then it was gone, the shark's body fading away and vanishing without a trace.

"Welcome back Dakota."

Dakota's fox ears pinned back as he swung his head towards the black and white cat perched above our heads.

"I thought we killed you," Dakota snarled, the words coming from deep in his throat like a bird imitating language.

The cat met his snarl with her own. "Oh you only wish." She leaned forward, hackles raising. "You're mine, remember? And maybe if you're going to be this way I'll return the favor and let you die."

"We killed you once, I can do it again." Dakota reared.

But the cat didn't seem bothered, a sick grin spreading on it's tiny face. "You're alone this time." She stood. "But if it's a fight you want..."

She leapt from the tree, yowling and swiping for Dakota's face. He ducked just in time, twisting around to try and snap her out of the air. But she vanished.

I pressed myself against the side of Dakota's serpentine body. His ears were pricked, swiveling at any sign of noise. What was happening? From what I could see over the top of his body, there was nothing but trees and grasses. No sign of the cat. I swallowed. But that wasn't true, was it?

Something moved in the corner of my eye and I whirled. The cat appeared out of thin air, swiping at my eyes. I screamed threw my arms over my head. Claws sliced the skin of my forearms, pain shooting up my arms. I shut my eyes and braced for another blow, but with Dakota's snarl the claws were gone.

The cat dangled from his jaws. He bit down hard, the bone crunching under his teeth before flinging her at a narrow tree. She vanished before her body hit the bark, appearing in the air behind his head with a screech.

He twisted, but not fast enough. She hooked a claw under one of his scales and wrenched it from his skin. Blood welled red and thick as she cut the skin, too high up for him to twist and wrench her off. He thrashed and shook but she held on, digging into the muscle with tooth and claw. I could only stare, frozen to the spot as she tore muscle and exposed bone.

With a cruel grin, she bit down hard on a vertebrae. Dakota screamed, eyes stretched wide. He fell to human hands and knees, panting and bleeding from the back of his neck. The cat leapt for his shoulder and he moved too slow, her teeth sinking into the skin.

He reached to try and tear her off, but she ducked out of his grip each time. My heart pounded as he rolled to shake her, but she dove for his throat instead.