“Move it, kitten.” The words came out sharply with a harshness that was rare for me on any other night.
Corbin was doubled over, struggling in the sameway I was. His pants hadn’t even gotten buttoned before he gave up. His jaw visibly clenched as he glanced over at our girl, who was struggling to get moving.
Looking back at me, his eyes were glowing a richer shade of amber. It was like staring at pools of liquid gold. The message was clear. Neither of us trusted ourselves to touch her now that the unseen force of the curse edged closer.
Harlow managed to get herself up onto her hands and knees, joints visibly compromised after we had just fucked the sense out of her.
Too godsdamned slow. It would be so easy to grab her now, let her blood soak the corn.
I forced the encroaching thought from my head with a yell as my fingers clawed at my skull.
The sound drew Harlow’s attention. She peered over her shoulder, still breathing heavily.
My hands clenched into fists as I roared at her, “RUN!” The depths of my eyes burned like fireballs, emphasizing the control that was slipping through my fingers.
At the same time, Corbin grunted as he fell to one knee with one hand braced against the ground. When he tried to yell, the chorus of caws came out instead. The sound of a murder of crows exploded through his vocal cords before his form devolved into not a single bird, but a whole flock of them.
The jarring imagery finally joltedHarlow into action. She sprang into her cat form, paws pushing at the earth as she bolted.
My eyes tracked her shadowy form until it melted into the dark.
The sound of my voice ran deeper now, the voice of the hunter in me coming out when I spoke. “Run as fast as you can, kitty-cat.”
Power was invading all my senses, all my free will, as I fought to stay planted where I was. It was a losing battle, especially as Corbin’s split form circled in the sky above.
He was already lost to the call to chase. Power surged through my body as the moonlight pressed down brutally on me. It left me curling in on myself until every nerve broke under the pressure.
The curse filled me, eradicating everything inside me that gave a damn about anything but the urge to hunt. The urge to claim our prey. The urge to end the threat she posed to the curse.
Drawing myself upright, I rolled my shoulders back, squaring them off. Spreading my arms out at my sides, I tipped my head back and closed my eyes. I breathed in the scent of one little feline and the trail of fear she left behind.
“Ahhh, there’s the smell I’ve been craving,” I said to myself.
Opening my eyes, I rolled my neck until I was staring straight ahead. My arms lowered to my sides in a controlled motion.
A few of Corbin’s crows landed on my shoulders as I took the first step towards the promise of bloodshed.
Chirping in my ear, all of Corbin’s birds communicated with each other before the magic relayed the translation to me: Harlow was heading southeast.
Good. I could easily cut her off.
My movements weren’t rushed. Every step taken was done in confidence that she would be turned around in this labyrinth made of grain. Besides, there was no need to end all the fun too soon.
Beneath all the curse’s influence, there was a part of me that prayed to the old gods she would make it out. It was a shadow of a whisper of my conscience, but it remained powerless to stop the larger force driving me towards bloodshed.
In her feline form, her movements were more difficult to differentiate from the breeze rustling the cornstalks. It provided an exciting new challenge, now relying on the scent of her fur and my seed.
The many sets of eyes under Corbin’s control made sure that we didn’t lose her within the maze. Even as small as she was in her cat form, she couldn’t hide from us forever. Shadows be damned.
My boots fell silent on the ground as I made every turn based on the way her very existence between my rows drew me towards her location.
Looking at the crow perched on my right shoulder, I smirked. “Go distract her,” I ordered with a devious gleam in my eyes.
Launching himself from his perch, he flew up into the night sky and began to circle with five other crows. I watched with detached interest as they all dove down towards a section of the maze three rows over from where I was.
The shrill feline spitting and accompanying growls of one angry kitty sent satisfaction rolling through me. All except the part of my soul buried under layers of dark magic. That part recoiled in guilt and fear.
When I eventually turned the corner, the sight of the crows all fluttering around Harlow, her tail twice its normal size as claws swiped at every beak and wing that taunted her.
