Moonlit Dangers

Chapter Eight

        "I'm going to!" I yelled at him. "Just...get out. I’ll figure it out, and I'll be fine." I wasn't sure any if I was trying to reassure him or myself.

        His jaw clenched and unclenched. "Fine. Prepare yourself. And please...survive this." He said, a touch of control coming back into his voice.

In mere seconds, he was gone and I was in the room alone. Looking around, I examined my surroundings quickly, trying to form a plan. They would be bringing a beast into this room shortly. The room was about the size of an elementary school gym, maybe 30 feet by 30 feet. The walls and floor were both painted dull gunmetal gray, and the room was bare other than a small drain that was located in the middle of the floor. I centered myself, breathing deeply and evenly as I stood in the middle of the back wall of the room. There, I would have a few extra seconds to act when the creature was brought in. I didn't know if they would have it chained first or if they would just push it in from a cage. I took a quick practice swing with my sword, pushing with one hand and pulling with the other. Just as I sank back into an attack pose the door opened.

        The lycan was manacled on both hands and feet, with a type of muzzle over it's snout. It shuffled in, the chains clanging together and scraping on the floor. I felt a brief moment of sadness. No matter what it was now, it had been at one point in time a normal human being. However, the moment was brief. I had to kill it or else it would kill me. Kory was behind it, and after he had the beast in the middle of the floor he began to walk backwards.

        "The manacles and muzzle are both remote controlled. Once I am out of the room, I will hit the button and the dog will be released. Kill it. Because no one will be coming to rescue you." He nodded at me as he reached the door, his jaw clenched so tightly I imagined I could hear his teeth cracking. The door opened and closed, leaving me alone with the creature. Breathing deeply, I slowed time around me. The manacles opening sounded like a pan had clattered to the floor, before they had even completely fallen off of the beast. The muzzle slowly unfurled. The lycan, now unfettered, immediately took a step forward, its snout opening to show its razor sharp teeth, slavering with drool.

        I looked it over quickly, assessing that the fastest way to get this over would be to bleed it out. I charged it, which it was not expecting. As it coiled to spring at me, I was already almost on top of it. I slid underneath the creatures crouched legs like I was sliding into home base, one leg stretched out in front of me and the other tucked close to my body, striking out at the femoral artery in its thigh with the katana, slicing deeply and at an angle. Blood instantly gushed out, bathing the floor and myself. The creature roared, instantly doubling over and clutching its thigh. I knew that it would take the creature at least thirty seconds before it passed out from blood loss, and that was only a hope. While I had been taught some things about the way a lycan’s body worked, I didn’t know exactly how long it would take for the creature to collapse. As soon as I was past the creature I leapt to my feet, and jumped up, levitating a few feet and rocketing myself forward to slice the creature across the back.

         I swong the razer sharp blade edge down until it sunk into the lycan, the impact making a sickeningly wet sound. Bracing my feet on its back, I pulled the sword out and flew up until my back against the ceiling. As I had predicted the creature let go of its thigh and howled as it reached behind it to try to grab me. Too bad I was already out of its reach. The creature swayed on its feet as it tried to find me before it finally looked up and saw me hovering, about six feet above it. I brought my sword up until it was parallel to the ceiling and readied myself to bring it down on the creature's head. I was ready. My arms strained from how tightly I gripped the sword. Do it! Do it! I chanted in my mind. I just couldn't though.