Kaina could feel her human brain warring for control with her demonic instincts. She could hear her animalistic snarls mixing with her whimpers and cries for help. A cage…she was in a cage.

A rattle and clanking noise behind her made Kaina turn to face a cluster of guards advancing upon her. The portcullis behind them was being lowered again and each of her attackers were brandishing some kind of weapon. She recognized the sword, but the guns were foreign to her.

"Okay. It's okay," one of the guards began saying, as if she were psychotic. "Don't try anything. No sudden moves. No one has to get hurt."

Kaina's eyes flashed down to the weapons they brandished. "I can't control it," she growled.

"Try."

She bared her fangs. "You mortals and your limits," she hissed, sounding mad. "You will never understand what is beyond your modest reach." Suddenly she lurched and raised her unnaturally pale fingers to wipe at her eyes. When she looked again at the guards, they could see the struggle for humanity. "I'm sorry, I'm trying," she sobbed, suddenly sounding very young. Wondering just how old she was, the guards' weapons began to lower.

Like a switch, her eyes changed again, turning sinister and haunted. She lunged forth and grabbed the sword, effortlessly bending the blade. Their bodies touched and Kaina grabbed him by the gauntlet, forcing his hand the wrong way. Then suddenly a hand was on her throat, pulling her away. She began choking, and her humanity only retreated farther. She grabbed the arm and yanked off the gauntlet, burying her fangs into his flesh and dragging them along his arm. He screamed as his limb exploded in blood.

Suddenly there was a horrible pain at the side of her neck. Her vision tunneled and she felt herself staggering. Moving with a slowness that surprised her, Kaina lifted a hand and gingerly felt something that had embedded into her throat. With the entire kingdom watching, Kaina fell to her knees, without the recognition that she had fallen. She could suddenly feel the cold dirt and soft grass beneath her palms; then a strange numbness took over her body. She could vaguely hear the voice of her victim, echoing as though it came through the far end of a tunnel as he cried, "Am I gonna die? Am I gonna die?"

Kaina then felt the ground beneath her hips. Her ribs. Her shoulder. She inadvertently prodded the unwelcome protrusion at her neck.

Darkness claimed her completely.

When Kaina regained consciousness, it came as a shock. Apart from a sore throat she felt fine, all things considered. The dead did not get sore throats; and she tried to be grateful they had not ended her life…mysteriously. But regrettably, her curiosity on the matter was transient. It was hard labor just to pull herself into a sitting position, and she found herself in yet another cage. The castle was nowhere in sight…but there were still many people staring at her on the other side of the bars.

Kaina got to her knees and pushed herself off the ground. Her large wings extended to their full size. Nobody was able to take their eyes off the aberration that was Kaina. And while she studied the impossibly high bars and the multitude of locks on the door, she began to comprehend what they were saying.

"Nasty creature!"

"Hi, ugly!"

"Vile, sickening, horrible…"

Kaina's eyes passed over their jeering faces, feeling her heart race. Okay, she thought to herself, I'm definitely the only Fomorian.

Why were they surrounding her cage like they had nothing else to do? They certainly weren't going away. Kaina folded her wings against her back, tucking them out of sight. Hopefully they would start seeing her human features and regret locking her away. She looked over her shoulder at the expanse of the cage behind her. It wasn't a very big cage, and there was zero privacy. One chair was placed at a table bearing a bounty of food, and Kaina lurched hungrily to the table. And paused in wonder. Not a single smell was coming from all that food. She picked up an orange and tried to squeeze it, but it was like a rock.

The humans were laughing. "Bon appetit!" someone shouted, and continued laughing, like showing food to a hungry captive was some kind of awesome joke. Kaina picked up the tray of fake food and started launching the decorations at her audience. They quickly began to disperse.

Kaina pushed the table over and roared her anger and frustration to the grieving skies.