Hybrid Book One: Becoming

Bite The Hand That Feeds

    I woke in a daze, the world around me spinning like I had been on a bender. I tried to blink away the blurriness and was overwhelmed by bright light. I shielded my eyes from the intensity of it and groggily wiped the sleep from my eyes. My head was pounding and my throat burned. I took a deep breath and felt it burn my lungs too. What the hell had happened? I tried to remember and it all hit me at once. 

    I bolted upright, ignoring my headache, and looked around me. I expected to find Owen somewhere near me but I couldn't find anybody. I was on a bed I had never seen before in a strange room. The walls were a shimmery gold tone with white accents. The rest of the room matched in color, though the carpet was a plushy, cream color. The bed was a four post one, like you always saw in movies. You know the ones that the rich people always seem to have? It was very tall, almost reaching the high vaulted white ceiling. I examined the ceiling for a moment and realize it was marble. There was a large bookcase along the right side of the room with a door breaking up the center of it. The light was emanating from a large and intricate chandelier, that seemed to have a hundred lights in it. 

    Where was I? The last thing I remembered was that awful gas pouring into the cab and Owen acting like a major creeper. I got up and went to the door, finding that there was no window in this room. I put my ear up to it, listening for any sound but I heard nothing. I slowly opened the door and found a darkened hallway outside to greet me. I stepped quietly into the darkness, feeling my way along the wall until I found another door. Finding no noise or light coming from the other side, I entered, hoping to find a window. I felt along the wall until I found a light switch. I instantly regretted entering the room. 

    It was a dull, concrete gray room and it was completely bare, save for the coffin sitting in the middle of the room. I stared at the coffin in shock. What a strange thing to stumble on. I caught myself walking closer to it and stopped in my tracks. Something, though I'm not sure what, was telling me to leave it alone. Then another thought entered my mind. Why was there a coffin? Was this where I was going to end up? This only furthered my need to get out of here and find out where the hell I was.    

    I ran back to the door and began to blindly run down the hallway. In a part of my brain, I understood this wasn't the smartest move but I just knew I needed to get somewhere safe. I'd been kidnapped and taken God knows where, by Owen, if that was his name. I found a coffin in a random room after waking in a windowless room surrounded by darkness. All of this added up to a whole big bag of NOPE.

    I finally saw light starting to appear at the end of the hallway and vaguely wondered how long this thing was. I had been running for a minute or two already. I sent my legs flying forward even faster and found a partially cracked door at the end. I burst through the door and came face to face with probably the biggest dog I had ever seen. It looked like some kind of Husky and it's head sat just under my shoulder. It was the typical grayish/black over white as most huskies were, with ice blue eyes. It was a beautiful dog. It was also the scariest thing I had ever seen. 

    "Nice doggy." I said slowly, raising my hands lightly in a peaceful gesture. The dog simply stared at me, a quiet snarl on it's lips. It took two slow steps forward until it was just in front of me. I felt a rumble roll through me, followed by a terrifying growling sound. I froze as I heard the dog growl but was suddenly confused as it jumped away from me with a yelp and instantly dropped to the floor to expose it's belly. This wasn't a dog wanting a belly rub, this was a dog showing submission. In Alaska there are dog sled teams everywhere and you learn about dog behavior after being raised around dog packs. As the growl continued to sound, I scanned around me looking for the source of the noise before almost screaming in absolute shock. The sound was coming from me. I don't know how I didn't notice it before. The sound was rumbling through my chest and my lips were peeled away from my teeth in a snarl. 

    I had no idea why or how this sound was coming from me but as it continued, I could feel other things happening too. My fingers began to burn, like someone was driving spikes underneath my nails and my eyes felt warm. I looked down at my hands to see what was causing the pain and as I watched my fingers begin to twist and contort on themselves my vision changed. Everything turned to black and white, but I could see the giant dog like I was looking through a thermal scope. 

    Suddenly, my knees buckled and a white hot pain overtook me. My nerve endings felt like they were on fire and my skin felt like it was melting off of my muscle. I started to scream and as it trailed off it turned into what I could only describe as the haunting howl of a wolf. My body jackknifed as my spine bowed of it's own accord and my teeth felt like they were falling out of my mouth. Screaming and howling, I tried to crawl towards the door I had momentarily noticed behind the dog, which I was beginning to think wasn't a dog. 

`As quickly as it had begun, the pain stopped, leaving me in a shaking heap on the floor. My vision hadn't returned to normal and I smelled something unexpected. It smelled like the forest, like dirt and leaves mixed with rain and flowers. It was a pleasant smell, so out of place after such terror and pain. I tried to put my hands underneath me to attempt to regain my feet and when my limbs wouldn't work correctly I looked down and could have fainted. My hands were gone, in their place were absolutely massive canine paws. I opened my mouth to scream and heard a loud barking noise emit from my throat. I scrambled to get my feet underneath me, trying to use limbs that I simply did not have right now, to no avail. I could distantly hear strange barks and yelps coming from me, but I couldn't rationalize why this was happening or if this was even real. 

    "Oh s**t, Katherine. You weren't supposed to turn yet. I needed to explain first. " A voice off the my right said, I looked up to see Owen walking into view. Like a switch had been flicked, my legs suddenly worked and with a snarl I launched myself at the man who had kidnapped me. Just as I would have reached him, something big slammed into my side and sent me flying into the nearby wall. I slumped to the ground with a yelp and as I once again lost consciousness, Owen came over to me. He had the audacity to try and pet me and without a moment to lose as the blackness of an impending concussion overtook me, I reached up and sunk my teeth into his hand, I only enjoyed this small victory for a moment as the sweet, tangy flavor of blood burst over my tongue and I was out.