Page 12 of Zodiac Hybrids

“I don’t understand.” I attempted to reason with him again, but the words seemed to go right through him. He started clawing at his neck, and I bit my lip to brace it from shaking. “Is everything okay?”

“Run” was the last word he said before he dropped to his knees. He buried his face in his hands.

The air in the room grew thick, so much so that it became difficult to breathe. I choked on nothing but his intensity, as a pulse of heat radiated through the cafeteria.

Where did that warmth come from?

No, I was imagining things. That was the only logical explanation.

His whole body jerked, like he was starting to seize, and that had me running to his side to make sure he was okay.

“Professor, what’s going on—”

The force of the blow was sudden and violent. Before I knew what was happening, he was on his feet, his hand was around my neck, and he had me hoisted over his head. I held onto his forearm, kicking and struggling and trying to ease the pressure, while he glared at me with a snarl painting his lips. I was gasping for air through his stranglehold, when he slammed me onto the nearest table with a hard thud.

Immediately, I scrambled backwards on the surface, trying to make whatever distance I could, but I only made it a couple feet away before he took hold of my ankle and forcefully yanked my back towards the edge. He dug in his fingers, then he released me only long enough for him to climb on top of me.

My air had already arrested itself in my lungs when he placed his hand tightly around my jugular again. He held me there with enough force to keep me pinned, but not enough to cut off my breathing or circulation. Words escaped me. My mind was still catching up. His weight, body heat, and grip were the only things translating through my mind as important, and my senses were all focused on the shock and violence of it.

“P-Professor.” I tried first. “Adrian.” I tried second, hoping being more personal might bring him to his senses. I clenched my hand into a fist, trying to still the shaking. His gaze was distant despite his face being so close to mine. It was as if he was possessed, staring through me instead of seeing me. Maybe he was. This place could easily be haunted, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was somehow under the control some angry phantom with unfinished business. That felt more rational than reality did at the moment, so I latched onto it. I just needed to snap him out of whatever trance he was in. I’m not in real danger, I told myself in direct contrast to reality and my pounding heartbeat. I wasn’t about to get murdered, I practically screamed in my mind as if that would make me believe it to be true.

His hand slid up my neck, forcing back my chin. “Y-you’re hurting me, Adrian.” My whimper was pathetic even in my own ears, but I hoped some part of it was getting through to the man behind this possessed monster.

His eyes narrowed, and that unnatural turquoise started to swirl around his pupils like his irises were pinwheels. The color spread, overtaking the whites of his eyes, then he closed that one window into whatever fucked up thing was happening inside him. He rested his eyelids for several seconds, before he opened to reveal a warm shade of brown, split by pupils now shaped like slits.

All I could do was watch, helpless, breathless, and shaking beneath him, as a monster took the place of what was no longer a familiar face. Two sharp horns began growing from his forehead, pointing straight up towards the ceiling, his brown hair lengthened, until it was draped messily around his face, and his muscles surged until his cotton dress shirt gave at the seams. Sharp claws extended from each finger of the hand around my neck, until the needle points were piercing my skin. I gasped as I felt the first warm trickle of blood crawling down my neck, but he was too lost in transformation to care, and I was too stunned by fear and adrenaline to argue.

He growled as the shift continued with a trail of brown fur following his spine, leading into two massive, bat-like wings that were now sprouting from his shoulder blades. The fluffy wings grew and sharpened with a claw on each end, then he spread and pounded those wings for three hard beats, creating gusts with the bat-like texture that filled the frame.

I drew in another breath and squirmed in his grasp, but my legs were already pinned beneath his large, muscular, fur covered thighs, and my ankles were locked under goat hooves that replaced his human feet. A devil’s tail whipped behind him, and a grin filled with razor sharp fangs slowly spread across his lips.

Those were the parts I tried to focus on most, if I wanted to distract myself from his prominent, very erect, and massive fucking—

“Lila, my sweet Virgo.” Professor Karras’ voice took on a much deeper tone than it had before, yet was still unnervingly and unquestionably his. It vibrated through me in a low purr. “Innocent little monster, taunting me with that sweet scent.”

Any effort I made to free myself was pointless, yet still I clawed at his arm, wanting to feel like I’d at least tried to fight him off. I didn’t want the last thing I did in this life to be crying and whimpering and resigning to my fate before being eaten alive by this twisted combination of the man I’d known, a devil, and a goat...

Or a Capricorn.

The thought entered my mind with sudden clarity.

Is that why he was so fixated on astrology? He was literally a Capricorn? It sounded ridiculous in my head, but it was hard to argue with the beast that was strangling me on the table.

These idle thoughts were all I could do to keep my heart from exploding in my chest in utter terror.

I focused on the bead of sweat that slid down my temple, the shallow breaths that didn’t fill my lungs, the dryness in my throat, the overwhelming scent of tobacco and rosemary that tinged the space between us, and my desperate attempts to still my own trembling, because those were the only things that I had any control over. Those were the things that felt real.

The gloss of tears burned my eyes, and I did my best to blink it away, while this creature examined me as though I was a surprise, lucky kill on an otherwise fruitless hunt.

“Professor Karras, I’m your student.” I once again tried some semblance of sane words through my shaky vocal chords, hoping to get through to the beast who was piercing my neck with his claws. Somewhere in there he was still human, right? “You can’t kill your students.”

That argument wasn’t even compelling to me. If there was a code of ethics for the Graves staff, I wouldn’t have been in this position to begin with.

“Why would I want to kill you?” Adrian’s tone was unexpectedly soft when he finally spoke again. He eased the tension around my neck, then trailed his claws along my skin as he slowly withdrew his hand. The sharp points made shallow cuts on each side of my neck, just deep enough to draw blood but not to kill me, then he slipped each tip between his lips, making a show of cleaning my blood from his nails.

This monster, who scented me in his classroom like an animal, was now tasting me on a cafeteria table like a predator, and some deep instinct in my gut told me I was now completely and utterly trapped.

“What are you going to do to me then?” Every question included an active attempt to sound calm.