The missile sailed straight and true through the air and struck right into the heart and a lung. The target on reflex darted away, now in pain and bleeding internally, bounding over the fallen trees and under brush. It only made it a hundred yards or so before it slowed to crawl and then stopped and dropped to the ground as the internal bleeding took it tolls and its life forced faded from its body.

A few moments later the killer stepped out of the tree cover and followed the trail of blood and the scent to where its prey was laying dead. Cassandra approached her prey carefully and used her bow to poke it, making sure it was indeed dead. This confirmed, she set her bow aside and unsheathed a dagger as she set about gutting the deer where it lay.

What felt like a lifetime ago this was routine for Cassandra, stalk the forest, shoot a deer, gut it, drag it back home and skin it. With her father’s help they would get it carved up and prepped for storage and her mother would take some to cook for dinner that day. Now, she was out here hunting to try and some semblance of normality back in her life. Before the smell of a deer didn’t phase her, she was used to it and could ignore it. Now, she was holding back a deep instinct to devour the deer now, raw, fresh and blood hot, she could smell everything and it smelled like food.

”Hold it together, Cass, this is your normal now, remember.” She whispered to herself, arms now covered in blood and her knife danced around in a long practiced dance to remove everything from within the carcass that wasn’t needed. Cassandra didn’t really have a plan for this deer, she just wanted to hunt and get out of the city, perhaps the cooks at the Second Circle could do something with fresh venison.

Unfortunately her plan to get away from the city for a bit wouldn’t go as planned as the city had followed her out here.

Serafina had found herself rather proud of how well Cassandra had been doing since she had taken her in, for lack of a better word. Her adjustment period, at least for the worst of it, hadn’t seemed to be too long at all. She had been a great help around the Second Circle, and Jasuin was quite taken with her. When he and Serafina met to discuss business matters, he had nothing but good things to say about the new girl, as the staff had taken to call her. One thing that Serafina did feel a bit skeptical about, however, was how Cassandra was doing when she was alone.

When she was around others, she seemed to be in control, seemed as though she had accepted what her life was now and how to go about things normally. Serafina knew that this could not possibly be the case the entirety of the time, but she did not want to confront Cassandra about it. It was for this reason that she chose to conceal herself and follow Cassandra as she ventured away from the Second Circle and the Hall of Indulgence. Serafina wanted to observe her, to see what her behavior was like and if she was just putting up a front for everyone, or if she truly was starting to come to terms with who she was now.

After following her to where she took the shot at the deer, Serafina frowned. She thought to herself about how Cassandra shouldn’t have been using a bow and arrow to hunt. This would have been the perfect time for her to shift into her wolf form, for her to hunt her prey in her truest of forms. She was not going to interfere, however, not unless she needed to. She had merely followed her to observe, staying back in the shadows…

Cass stopped her work and looked up, she wasn’t alone!

”Well, aren’t you a sweet looking thing up close.”

Cassandra snapped around as she watched large men step out of the trees towards her, holding daggers and smiling menacingly at her.

Cass cursed herself for not noticing them sooner than she had, she had too deep into thought while gutting the deer, her mind still working out how to focus on one scent at a time. She had too much blood in front of her it was blocking her sense of smell and she hadn’t been listening. Foolish, if Serafina found out she had been this careless she’d be disappointed.

”What do you want?” Cassandra asked, dropping the normal dagger she held and from behind her back drew her specially crafted feather dagger. She could read them already; predators that believed they had found their prey. She’d make a fight of it though, she wasn’t about to let herself be assaulted again.

”Seen you around town, poppet, you’re new blood, ain’t no one going to notice that you’re missing.”

”You know who I work for?”

”Aye, if she’s anything like we’ve heard, she won’t care once you’re missing. Make this easy on yourself, drop the toys.”

”Fuck off. You want it, come and get it.” Her outside was calm, more or less, but her heart was racing, she was in fact terrified, she hadn’t been in this kind of life and death fight before. She would have to rely on herself and her training, she had no other choice.

They rushed her and Cassandra started by throwing one her daggers at the man coming up on her left. He stumbled to the side to dodge it and it stopped in mid air and came right back to Cass’ waiting had. That allowed her to get in close the other man first before they had time to attack together. She used her left blade to block his and her fight one to attack, but for an asshole his size he was quick and kept out of her reach, using his arm length to his advantage. His friend recovered and Cass was forced to jump back away from both of them.

Attacking together again the two men moved to flank Cassandra from both sides. Cass for her part was getting more nervous and scared, yet that was slowly being over taken by a rage bubbling deep within her. She gave a low inhuman growl that neither of the men heard, apparently, they thought she was just a human female. Thing was, Cassandra was still thinking of herself as ‘just a human’ in that moment, she wasn’t using her advantages at all, at least not yet.

Through Cass’ own mistake she lost grip on one dagger and had a nasty gash cut into her hand and arm as a result. She yelped in pain, but that anger was growing and coming to the surface more and her growl became louder and her eyes flashed yellow for a moment. Channeling that rage for a moment she lashed out at one of them and gave him a hell of a wound on his own arm, he howled in pain as the scent of fresh human blood filled Cass’ nose.

”You bitch!” They charged her again and for a few moments with only one dagger Cass held herself well until one of them caught her by the throat. ”Got ya!” He laughed and slashed Cassandra across her stomach. However, it was then he noticed that her first wound was already healed, something Cass hadn’t noticed herself, and the one he just did was healing. He panicked for a moment and threw Cassandra away.

However, when she had been choking her rage reached its breaking point and the wolf rose up in her mind. So while he threw a human, what landed was a four foot tall and seven foot long red wolf, rage burning in its eyes. Now they knew their mistake. Before they could react Cassandra was lunging at the man who had caught her before. He screamed and tried to stab at her but the wolf took the stab in its stride and drove him to the ground, her fangs tightening around his throat and tearing it out. He made a gurgling sound as the wolf snarled and continued to chew and gnaw away at his throat as he died.

The second man stabbed her, blade digging into her side, but the rage was such that she ignored it and turned her yellow eyes and gore covered maw towards him. Fangs dripping blood she snarled at him as he turned and ran into the trees. Cass watched him for a moment before howling into the air and charged after him.

The hunt was on.

The wolf wanted to play with her food first.

Serafina had caught the scent of the intruders before they had fully approached Cassandra, and she put herself on high alert. She was not going to intervene, not yet, she wanted to see how her protégé would be able to handle such a situation on her own. Her decision not to intervene however almost failed when one of the men, after Cassandra made note of who she worked for, commented that Serafina would not have gone looking for her. The goddess felt a rage she had not felt for some time rise within her.

The man was not totally incorrect, had he not been speaking to Cassandra. Serafina could not care less if most of her employees disappeared without a trace, other than the fact that she would have to find a replacement for them. There were two exceptions. Jasuin fell into that category, and now Cassandra did as well. If either of them were to disappear, Serafina would be distraught. Jasuin was essentially Serafina’s best friend, but Cassandra… Serafina felt a connection with her that caused her to feel very protective of the new she-wolf.

Serafina continued to watch the altercation, managing to keep from intervening. She was not worried at the minor injuries being inflicted upon Cassandra, as she knew that they would heal quickly, and she could see them heal and knew she had been right. A sinister smile spread across her lips as the man tossed Cassandra aside and the girl morphed in midair, and a sense of pride washed over Serafina, watching her shift. She felt the lust and excitement rise within her own body as she watched Cassandra kill the first man, and as soon as the wolf tore off into the woods, Serafina ripped her own clothes off hastily before transforming into her own wolf form, bounding off after them.

She was sure to keep a safe distance, keeping both Cassandra’s scent as well as the other attacker’s fresh in her nose, intent only on watching – watching Cassandra have fun as she toyed with her prey, not planning on letting herself be known until the dance had been finished.

The man was running for his life, but his life was over already, it was no longer his life, it was Cassandra’s and she would claim it soon. Credit where it was due the big guy was running full out for a good while, then again it probably helped that he knew there was a wolf somewhere in the trees stalking him. The odd snarl and bark from close by was evidence of this as Cassandra chased him down.

In a blink she ran in front of him, across his path, in and out of sight in a heartbeat and the man skidded to a halt. Cass had turned and came back around again, charging past behind him, and he screamed in pain as her claws tore his pants and shredded his tendons down to the bone on his legs. Immobilizing her prey, Cassandra was done toying with him, done with the chase, now for the kill. She padded out of the trees in front of the man who was still trying to crawl away, until he looked up to see the wolf before him, fangs bared, blood dripping from her maw still.

She walked calmly right up to the blubbering fool, who by now was too terrified to try fight back, but by the smell in the air he had shit himself. Cass’ nose came close to his and she snarled before swiping a paw across his face, leaving him screaming with bloody ribbons left for a face. She barked in his ears a couple times, now she was just torturing him now.

”S, sorry.” He sobbed, blood flowing from his facial wounds and legs.

The big red wolf inhaled deep and barked, but this was something different. When the sound left her bloody maw a shockwave of force lashed out and knocked the man over, scattering leaves and small twigs in it wake behind him. As he went down on his back, screaming as more pressure was placed on his shredded legs, Cassandra was on him, tearing his throat open, shaking him back and forth a few times.

He was dead before she dropped him to the ground, as the bloodlust and hunger building behind her yellow eyes took control and Cassandra started to feast on her kill.

Pride.

It was not a feeling that Serafina felt often, but as she followed Cassandra pursuing her prey through the forest, deftly avoiding the thickets and branches… Serafina felt pride. She could see that, at least in this moment, Cassandra was embracing her true nature and letting the wolf take control. The goddess had to stop herself from howling out in excitement when Cassandra swiped her paw across her victim’s face, shredding the once taut skin into loose, bloody ribbons.

The sound of Cassandra’s primal bark into the man’s ear furthered the excitement. A fervent yet quiet snarl emitted from Serafina’s mouth, not loud enough to be heard by Cassandra or the man, but an indication that Serafina’s own bloodlust was being piqued by scene unfolding before her. As soon as th red wolf had pounced onto its prey, Serafina started to salivate, smelling the coppery scent of the man’s blood and innards on the air.

She let Cassandra have her fun for a bit, watching her devour her prey just as she was meant to. Inside her canine mind, Serafina’s thoughts were running rampant, and had now centered on whether or not Cassandra would make a good candidate for another member of the Volkov clan. Of course, Serafina would have to reach out to Nemesis as a gesture of good faith. When she had turned someone vaewolf without his permission in the past, it had gotten… ugly. She wanted to avoid that this time, as now that she and Nemesis were both members of the pantheon of Revaliir – not to mention that Nemesis was now married to the eldest of the gods.

When she felt that enough time had passed, Serafina changed back into her human form and moved towards Cassandra and her meal. Of course, the wolf would recognize her scent had she remained in her wolf form, but she wanted to verbally congratulate the girl on a successful kill.

She walked across the scattered twigs and leaves peppered with droplets of the man’s blood, barefoot and naked, towards Cassandra. ”You have learned well, Cassandra. I can truly say that this display has made me very proud of you, among other things,” she said, her voice carrying a hint of some sort of undetectable emotion. ”You have truly embraced what it is to be a wolf on this night,” she added. ”Tell me… how do you feel?” she asked, awaiting for Cassandra to transform back into a human and let her know her thoughts.

The red wolf gorge itself for a time, that was until her ears swiveled at the sound of something approaching. Shifting to face the thing coming out of the trees, blood fangs bared as a snarl escaped the wolf as she watched the Goddess come towards her. She continued to snarl, protecting her kill, until the two-legged thing said her name and something in the back of the wolf’s mind latched onto that and the rest of what the woman said.

The snarling slowed until the wolf’s eyes lit up with recognition and she went from growling to pants happily, tail wagging, happy to see Serafina. This lasted only a moment or so, long enough to take a few steps towards the Goddess. As she stepped closer the wolf changed back into an equally named Cassandra, covered in blood around her mouth and hands, and most of her body in fact, she was trembling from the adrenaline pumping through her body. She looked down at her blood soaked hands and a look of disgust passed by her face. What had she done?!

I, what have…” She trailed off and stepped closer to Serafina, the woman who was proud of her for killing and eating that man. Her skin was on fire though, it was clear that Cassandra was feeling a lot of different emotions at the same time as she stared at her bloody hands. She looked to Serafina, right in the eyes, and using that eye contact as an anchor Cassandra slowed her shaking and got herself in order.

She closed her and breathed in deep and slow, held it a moment and then slowly let it out. As she did she stepped right to Serafina. ”Great.” Was her only answer as she reached out and pulling the Goddess to her and locked lips in a deep lustful kiss, uncaring that she was covered in blood and they were both naked. Clearly Cass felt aroused and great, as she had reconciled everything in her mind finally. As they kissed one of Cass’ hands found one of Serafina’s breasts and started to massage.

But things didn’t get to go further, mores the pity, as Serafina gently pushed Cass back a step, breaking the kiss. Cass gave a small inhaled growl of disappointment as she collected herself again. ”You taste good.” Cass found herself saying and blinked, she hadn’t meant to say that, but there it was! She glanced over to the corpse for a moment and then looked back to Serafina. ”Part me wants to be disgusted, and vomit, and maybe even kill myself for what I did. But the much larger part of me is aroused, euphoric, still kind of hungry, angry that he tried to attack me.” She paused. ”Fuuuuuck, I didn’t know I could ever feel this horny!” She groaned, her body was still hot. ”So, this is it, huh? This is what happens when I embrace what I have become?” She breathed out slowly again before looking at her hands and saying, in a near whisper. ”I like it.”