A Song for Severus ~ (Not Update, but Edit)

Chapter 25 ~ Transformation

Fenrir reappeared in an open field, bordered by a forest on one side. Before him was a large outcrop of rocks. Fenrir squinted up at the sky, then adjusted the unconscious woman slung over his shoulder then leaped to the top of one of the rocks and began to climb behind them, sliding down to the ground and walking straight through a wall of stone.

This was the cave Fenrir occupied when he wished to have a murder-free transformation. The cave was located far from populated areas and he hunted in the forest instead. When Fenrir felt the bloodlust, he positioned himself near human settlements before the moon rose. The sad thing was, Fenrir was subject to a hunger for human blood even when he wasn’t transformed, so was doubly dangerous.

He lit the single torch with a flick of his wand and the cave was illuminated. It was quite small and held nothing but a few small stones and a huge nest made of leaves, strips of cloth, fur and straw. There was nothing here Eloise could use to end her life as she attempted to do in Pumblebrook’s mansion.

Fenrir dropped her down into the nest and backed up, pulling his wand and grinning. No doubt the muggle would be furious and try to attack him. He’d let her get a few blows in before he subdued her and told her what was happening to her and why. They had a little time left before the moon rose.

“Enervate!” the werewolf rasped.

Eloise shifted, her brown eyes opening. She was assailed with the scent of animal and blood and sat up quickly, looking down at the stinking nest with disgust, then looking around the cave, her eyes falling on the grinning Fenrir. She leapt to her feet at once.

“Where am I? And who are you?” she demanded, brushing the fur and straw off her clothing while looking around the cave for something to protect herself with.

“I am Fenrir Greyback, your savior,” the wizard growled at her, “And soon to be more. You are in my cave.”

Cave?

Eloise’s lip curled as she looked at the man. He was huge with a beard, gray matted hair, yellow eyes and long fingernails. He was dressed in some kind of black robe that was too tight for his big body. He had a kind of polished stick in one of his large hands, and a burlap sack in the other.

“You let me out of here,” Eloise seethed, crouching slightly.

Fenrir’s grin broadened as he watched her move into attack mode.

“I can’t do that. You are about to transform. You will need feeding,” he responded, throwing the burlap sack to the ground in front of her.

Not the smartest thing to do.

Eloise darted forward, grabbing the burlap sack in her hands. It was rather heavy. She began to swing it at Fenrir, hitting him with solid thumps as the werewolf threw up his arms to protect himself.

“You bitch,” he smirked, ducking and letting the bag bounce off his big shoulders, “What a temper you have!”

“You let me out of here!” Eloise screamed at him, attempting to run around the wizard and out the cave opening. Fenrir caught her with his arm and flung her back, tearing the burlap sack out of her hands.

Eloise stumbled back and fell on her ass, her hand falling on a stone. Eloise stood up, the stone in her hand and threw it as hard as she could at Fenrir, hitting him in the forehead. The wizard roared with pain as Eloise quickly gathered up more rocks, throwing them at the werewolf as hard and as fast as she could.

“Gods damn it!” Fenrir seethed, slowly making his way forward as Eloise continued to throw rocks at him until she ran out. Then she leaped on him, tearing and biting.

“Good gods, muggle…enough!” Fenrir roared, backhanding Eloise into the wall, stunning the woman. She slid down, her head spinning.

Fenrir attempted to fix his robes as Eloise struggled to get to her feet and continue her attack. Fenrir snarled at her horribly, and she fell still. That was an animal snarl.

”Stay there and listen to what I have to say, muggle,” the wizard rasped at her, “Strange things have been happening to you. I can explain them. The pentacle, the hair growth, enhanced senses, a taste for blood. I can tell you why these things are happening to you if you will just stay still and listen!”

Eloise stared at the brute of a man in front of her. How did he know what was happening to her? Why had he brought her here? All right, she’d listen to him, but then she was getting out of here one way or another or would die trying.

“All right, I’m listening,” she said, her eyes narrowed.

“About three weeks ago you were kidnapped by wizards to be taken to a revel where you would have been raped and killed,” Fenrir began.

“Wizards? Oh shit…you’re trying to tell me a fucking fairy tale,” Eloise said, standing up and preparing to attack again.

“If you strike me, woman, I will hurt you,” Fenrir snarled at her, his eyes narrowed and pointed teeth bared. He looked inhuman and frightening now. Eloise stood there, worried. “Now you listen. This is no fairy tale.”

Eloise folded her arms and looked at Fenrir rebelliously, but didn’t move. He stopped baring his teeth and continued.

“You escaped your captors and ran into me, and attacked me. Let us just say I liked your fire and claimed you as my own. I brought you to a private room intending on having my way with you, when you tried to kill yourself, and almost succeeded. It seems you preferred death to rape,” Fenrir said.

Eloise looked at him incredulously. That really was how she felt…but how did he know?

“You were at the brink of death when I saved you by biting you, passing my gift to you so you would survive,” the werewolf breathed, “Then I brought you back to the West End and removed the memory of the incident.”

“I don’t believe you,” Eloise said bravely, but in her heart she knew this tale, however wild it was, was true. It explained her loss of memory and how she ended up in the West End.

Fenrir held up his hand, palm forward. Etched into it was a pentacle encased in a circle.

”You have my mark,” the werewolf said, “The mark of the beast.”

Eloise looked down at her own palm. Her mark was the mirror image of the wizard’s. She looked up at him, her eyes wide now.

“What did you do to me?” she asked him, her voice quavering.

”I saved your life,” he replied, “And made you better in the process.”

”What…did…you…do to me?” Eloise asked, becoming angrier now as she realized this brute of a man was behind everything that was happening to her.

“You are now a werewolf, or will be as soon as the moon rises,” Fenrir said.

“A werewolf?” Eloise said, hysterical laughter bubbling up. The man was insane…first wizards now werewolves. “You’re mad.”

”You have a lust for blood…raw meat, don’t you? And your body hair grows at an alarming rate. You can smell things no one else can, hear things that you shouldn’t be hearing…even insects in the walls. You feel stronger than you used to…don’t tire as easily. You get angry quickly, more quickly than usual,” Fenrir said to her, “That is all because of the changes your body has gone through. Your animal senses are enhanced, as are your reflexes. How do you think you managed to drive off that pack of young muggles the night I returned you to muggle London?”

“You saw that?” she asked him. She didn’t see anyone else in the station that night, and hadn’t told anyone about the attack.

“I followed you. I needed to know where you lived so I could retrieve you on the night of the full moon. Tonight. You will need to feed. If you had transformed in your flat, no doubt several of your neighbors would be dead come tomorrow morning. Not that I particularly care about their lives, but it would have drawn too much attention. No doubt you would have been shocked and covered in gore when you transformed back to human form and would have been arrested as a serial killer and taken beyond my reach. I couldn’t let that happen, Eloise,” Fenrir said in a soft growl.

Eloise stared at him. She still couldn’t believe this. It made a crazy kind of sense…but a werewolf, wizards? She felt as if the whole world had gone mad.

“Let me out of here,” she hissed at him, her hands crooking into claws. Pointed teeth or not, she wasn’t staying in this cave a moment longer.

To her surprise, Fenrir picked up the burlap sack and stepped aside.

“Go ahead,” he growled, the way to the exit open.

Eloise slowly walked forward, eyeing Fenrir, her hands at the ready, then she zipped by him and out of the cave to find a slew of large rocks in front of it. She began to climb. Fenrir placed his wand in the nest, covered it with straw, then ambled out of the cave after her.

“You can jump, you know,” he called up to her as she searched for handholds.

Eloise looked back at him, narrowed eyed. He was actually telling her how to escape him? Fenrir Greyback was strange. But maybe he intended to chase her once she got past the rocks, and this was some kind of game for him. Eloise made it to the top of the rocks and slid down the other side.

She began to run across the open field, trying to put as much distance between herself and the insane man behind her.

Fenrir calmly leaped to the top of the boulders, then to the ground, taking off at an easy lope behind her, letting the muggle see him in pursuit. Eloise did see him, and began to run faster…much faster than she normally ran. She was fairly flying across the field, her hair streaming back as she sprinted.

“How am I running so fast?” she wondered, looking over her shoulder. Fenrir was still chasing her, not falling back or forward, matching her speed, his teeth bared with pleasure.

Suddenly, Eloise cut toward the forest, intending on losing Fenrir in the trees. Fenrir saw this, then poured on the speed to head her off. He drew up alongside her in a matter of seconds, grinning wickedly.

”Where are you going, Eloise?” he growled.

She shot away again, turning from the forest and Fenrir dropped back, looking at the horizon. He could see the glow of the rising moon. It wouldn’t be long now.

Eloise continued running, streaking across the landscape faster than humanly possible. If she were in the Olympics, she’d surely win a gold medal. But Fenrir was faster than she was…why wasn’t he on her, grabbing her?

Suddenly Eloise’s eyes fell on the horizon. A sliver of the rising moon was showing and a pain shot through her body, causing her to gasp…but she kept running, altering her course and heading directly toward the rising moon. Fenrir followed, watching as the muggle began to slow, stumbling slightly as the moon rose higher and higher. Finally she stopped, facing the glowing orb as it fully appeared, illuminated by its monochromatic light.

Eloise wrapped her arms around her body, screaming in pain as Fenrir stopped beside her. She looked at him wildly, her eyes streaked with black veins, her face beginning to pulsate, the bones shifting forward and back.

“What’s happening to me?” she cried, her body contorting horribly.

“You are being reborn,” Fenrir said, his eyes dispassionate as he observed her pain.

“I’m dying!” she screamed.

“You are receiving new life!” Fenrir responded, “Don’t fight it…let it happen!”

Fenrir suddenly transformed, howling at the moon, Eloise looking at him in horror as the pain continued to wash over her. The werewolf turned to her, his ears flicking forward and licked his muzzle. He stood on his hind legs, his furry genitalia showing a pink erection. He whined, his tail wagging as he looked at her. The creature was enormous.

Eloise let out one more heart wrenching scream before her body transformed, her bones lengthening and joints snapping backward, her jaw bone elongating, thrusting forward and becoming a muzzle, her nose becoming black the bridge disappearing as her clothing vanished, her nude body sprouting long gray fur, a tail erupting behind her. Her scream became a howl, echoing through the night as she became a thing of legend.

A werewolf.

Eloise looked at the male beside her and snarled, backing away, showing her teeth and claws, but sniffing at the bag the creature held in his hand-like paw.

Fenrir’s tail wagged and he whined at her, shaking the contents of the bag out so they fell on the ground. It was a dismembered goat. Eloise licked her lips, but growled at Fenrir, who backed up, fell to all fours and sat down on his haunches.

Eloise also dropped to all fours and crept forward. She quickly snatched up a hind leg and withdrew several feet, devouring the meat hungrily, fur and all, her teeth cracking on the bones.

Fenrir watched her, panting with excitement. When she was full, she would try to flee him…but wouldn’t get far.

There would be a bit of a fight, but after he cowed her, he would mate with her.

Eloise Hedgeberry would be his.

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A/N: After almost ODing on red bull, I finally finished the chapter. I hope you found it interesting reading as I still feel a little buzzed and out of synch. Sigh.