AN: Linus sees Addy, but she doesn't quite see him.


The creature let out a high-pitched whine, and Addy peered around the corner. It was dead. A werewolf was crushing it under its great paws, the snakes hanging from its mouth like noodles.

Swallowing back the bile in her throat, she crept towards the beast, knuckles white around the grip of her cane. She waited for it to lower its head and eat the defiled man.

But it didn't. Instead, it raised its snout, as if sniffing the air.

Addy leapt forward and, in an overhead swing, buried her cane to the hilt in between the beast's shoulder blades.

It screeched. Its arms flew out behind itself clumsily, the claws just catching Addy's cheek and drawing blood. Convulsing wildly, it lurched forward until it slid off of the cane. Blood matted in its fur. It turned, and eyes of pure white stared Addy down.

Addy poised her arm, ready for it to make a move. But it didn't. The growl died in the monster's throat as it watched her. She frowned. It can't still be lucid, can it?

As quickly as the thought came, it was shattered by the beast's brutish weight as it slammed into Addy. She didn't fly far before hitting the wall. Addy struggled to her feet, breathing heavily, ready to swing again – and it was gone. She saw a flash of fur and blood as it ran up the stairs, towards the open window. There was a distant thump, and then nothing.

Breathing heavily, Addy checked herself. No real wounds. Nothing seemed broken, either. That thing had just wanted to get away from her.

Addy stood and brushed herself off, but she felt so dizzy she had to lean against the wall. It was gone. She was safe. But the way it looked at me was so…thoughtful. Can they keep their heads straight like that? Even after they turn? Addy had never seen it, but she hadn't been in this business for all that long. She'd have to ask Blake.

And then another thought struck her dumb. That was a look of recognition it'd given her. It knew her.

It wasn't Blake. It couldn't be.

No, it really couldn't be; Blake would kill himself sooner than he'd see himself as a beast.

It saw the hunter's badge. That's it; it either knew I was trained to handle its type and didn't want to risk it, or it realized I wasn't a monster and has somehow kept a sense of its moral code. Either way, it's gone now, so stop worrying about it. There's no use in that.

So Addy trudged on, her gut squirming as if she'd been the one to bite into those snakes.