Creeping through the streets, following the sounds of the woman’s scream, her anger growing. She saw red before her eyes, felt her nails sharpening, the sound of rending flesh ripped into her senses, her eyes grew sharper, hearing clearer. She was growing closer now. The woman was whimpering, obviously the worst had been done. Pausing, she listened intently. The man was leaving, moving swiftly in the opposite direction of his victim. Moving. Towards her. A grin spread over her face, and she flexed her muscles, her jaw working, eyes glinting red fire. He was almost upon her, almost to her position. She stayed hunched in the shadows, waiting, watching for him to pass her by. There he was. Walking by. She could still hear the woman, whimpering and crying pitifully. But she couldn’t tend to her just yet. With lightning fast reflexes she reached out and grabbed the guy by his collar. Her nose was invaded with the smell of spent semen and sweat, and that smell unknown to most people. She smelt Fear. He jumped and gasped, which thrilled her to no end. The power she felt coursing through her muscles was only intensified by the knowledge that he was frightened. “So, it makes you feel like a man to hurt women?” Her voice was harsh, barely a whisper, but it’s timbre reverberated through out the entire alleyway. “Makes you think you’re cool, doesn’t it? That you can make them beg for you to stop.” His heart was beating faster now, much faster than a normal human’s. She took another whiff of the air. Yes, she smelt Fear. But there was something else. Something she wasn’t sure of. Then she remembered. “Black Spirals…” the words were barely a whisper, but they growled out of her throat almost as swiftly as she released the man.
She pushed him towards the other wall of the alleyway and grinned as she heard his head crack against the wall and she saw him slump to the ground. But he was just as swiftly upon his feet and shifting. Growling, she quickly shifted to crinos and grabbed the nearest weapon, a silver poker with a rubber handle. Wincing slightly, knowing she could but hold it only for a few moments, she determined to make her best shot. “Come at me, Wyrmspawn! Show me what you have!” With that, she charged the Spiral, slashing downwards at him. By this time, he had shifted fully to crinos, and was holding his own Klaive. “You think you can take me, Cub? I know you. You are the new recruit in this neighborhood. My Brothers and Sisters should have claimed you for us!” Deflecting her blow with a trash can lid he thrust upward to her leg with his silver klaive. “You are a worthy fighter,” he remarked as she dodged that slice by only receiving a small scratch. “ I will tear your skin from your tainted body, Wyrmling, and I will show it high at a moot. Your Klaive will be mine!” She threw the poker at him and watched gleefully as it struck him through his abdomen, her senses lit when she heard the silver tip meet his spine. Hearing his scream of pain was like music to her, knowing she had caused damage, had almost succeeded was like a fire to her blood. But the Spiral was not done yet, caution made her wary, watching him pull the poker from his abdomen. Even against a Spiral, fair fights were key. She knew this. It was born to her mind, a natural ability. And there it was. His gun. She knew what it carried in it. She could not believe, was not even taught how to dodge these bullets. She knew she’d get damaged. But now, all that mattered was survival. Surviving and skinning this Spiral. He fired off five shots at her, she dodged three. The other two bullets embedded themselves into her shoulder. A feral scream ripped through the air, as she clutched her arm. Her Rage was growing, grabbing for his Klaive in a sudden desperate move, she spinned his arm around and used his own Klaive to slit his throat. His grasp loosened swiftly, as did hers. She could not hold the Klaive. It was tainted almost as much as it’s owner. She bent and picked up the poker again, clutching her injured shoulder, she grasped the poker with her free hand. “Never again, Spiral! Never again will you rape another of the Mother’s creatures!” With those words, she shoved the poker into his tainted heart and twisted, pulling the poker and his heart out of his chest cavity and holding it up to the sky. She let out a long howl of triumph and glory. Swiftly, she shifted down to glabro, and used a rusty knife from the garbage cans to skin the Black Spiral, all the time making an apology to the Mother for having to kill another of her children, even if he was Tainted. Taking the Spiral’s skin, and leaving the carcass there, in the alley, with a letter to Pentex, to be found by morning, she swiftly made her way through the streets. Hurrying towards the shelter, carrying her prizes. She slipped into the back door, her senses calmer, and she shifted in the shadows to homid, then headed up the stairs to the shelter’s manager’s room.
“Enter, Cub. I heard the howl. You have won then, yes?” She walked into the room, hiding her trophies behind her, even though the silver burned her hands, and the bullet wounds were festering.
“I won, yes. That Wyrmling will be causing no more havoc in this section of the city. Or any section to be exact.” “So he was destroyed. Good work, Cub. But you are injured. Come, let me see what has happened to you." The girl dropped her prizes on the floor, and walked forwards to see her mentor. “You have skinned him. I can see this. That is not good, Cub. We will need to cleanse you for that. You have a lust for blood that is unnatural.” As she talked, the elder woman tended to the younger one’s bullet wounds and her silver-burned hands. “There is not much taint upon you, for that you are lucky, the cleansing will not harm you that much. But come. You must be tired. You may rest here for the night. Tomorrow is the moot. We will speak of your victory there.” The older woman paused, then continued, “I do believe, with this victory, you have advanced in Rank. And to think we only found you scant months ago. You will be a great Warrior for the Mother. Now sleep, Cub.” With those last words of encouragement and pride, the elder shut the light off and left the room, leaving the younger one to her dreams and her fears. A moot. Now she would be accepted. Now she would feel she belonged.
The dawn came too early, the cub remained curled on the floor of her mentor’s room. The girl opened her eyes slowly, looking around, nervous at first, but the realization of where she was set in quickly. She looked down at her hands, still covered in the blood of the Tainted. Muttering to herself, the young girl pushed herself up off the floor and stumbled towards the small sink in the corner. Looking over the walls, the girl noticed all the carvings, the different glyphs that belonged to others. To Cubs just like her. She knew that this wasn’t a permanent home, just a stopping ground. Soon she’d have to move on, soon she’d have to find a place of her own. But for now, she’d stay as long as she was welcome. She’d stay until the next Cub was brought for training. But for now, her stomach rumbled. Raging always made her hunger, not just for the blood of her victim, but for food.