Chapter 3

My feet pounded out hastily along the grass and I leapt over fallen logs in my haste. I swerved unpredictably in hopes that the pursuing footsteps behind me would fade and vanish all together. They didn't. Voices whispered, coaxed and demanded for me to stop. The wild in me started burning again, trying to get out, but it was restricted. It however helped me move quicker and be more agile to the point I leapt onto tree branches and landed crouched and running.

My breath huffed out of me and I came to a stop in what appeared to be a small garden. The blood was pounding in my ears and breathing was hard, I could feel the dull throb of my busted knuckles still and the wound in my side was burning. I was in bad shape, I could fight but I hadn't had any sleep or rest in three days, and each day I seemed to get a new injury.

Gregori seemed to appear out of the haze of mist surrounding the forest line, I backed up further into the garden, hissing and spitting at him, there were more men now, the twins from the inn, three more men and two women. They shared the same features, dark hair, long tied back, dark mysterious eyes, a compelling aura. Whatever they were they were all the same.

There are creatures in the dark Rika, some good some bad, just like in the day. Help and protect the ones who are good, and when you figure out who are the bad one, then you fight or run. But if ever a dark eyed monster tries to own you, run for your life child. The same soft feminine voice I'd been hearing lately whispered through my mind. It made no sense to me, but I agreed with fighting who I thought was bad, Gregori with his cold merciless eyes and ice hearted demeanour. But I couldn't do anything unless Don said, not until he took the collar off right?

"Little one, will you calm down and come with us, we mean you no harm." His voice was as dark as his aura. That buzzing came back again, compelling me. I whipped my head around clearing my head."No harm you say? You all mean harm, and I wont be a victim. Creatures of the night, I despise." I felt like I was taking a back row seat in my own mind. A part of me that fought to the front of my consciousness to take control of my body, so that I stood in a crouch with hands curled into claws. What was I doing? I couldn't act without Dons permission, I never had before. What was going on?

I foul scent reached my nose, it made me want to gag, it was like the very presence of evil itself and I hissed at the people facing me."I don't have time for this, either you comply willingly or you-" I didn't hear the rest of his words, a flash of light lit up the darkness. A crash rocked the clouds above us, and the scream of woods splitting and flames igniting speared through my ears. We all turned in the same moment to look at the flaming house. It took only seconds but we seemed to stand there for a millennia. The I heard it a child's scream from the top floor of the house. The flames consumed the building in a heartbeat, hungry to devour it all, and greedy to claim the child's life. The me that wasn't me, became a part of me that I knew but didn't. Lord maybe Erika and the others were right and I had truly lost my mind.

"NO!" The scream ripped out of me and the people around me started moving in the same instant. They blurred their images and spoke words that made it rain in torrential downpour. It did nothing to the fire and as the men were about to enter the flames I dove past them, using my hands and feet to propel me through a flaming window, curving my spine so I could get more momentum.

The fire would burn everything, it was insatiable, and there was a child…. I could hear him screaming, crying and asking for help, the roar of the fire mocked his pleas. I couldn't allow the fire to kill again, to claim another innocent life. I would d what I could.

The flames burned my skin and I felt the heat prickle and singe me, I focused on the child though, moving with cat like grace on all fours and keeping low to the floor to avoid the smoke. I leapt up the crumbling stairs and streaked through the licking flames. I had to save him, he would burn in the fire and he was so defenceless. I promised…..

I broke through a door that was barely being consumed by fire. The stench of death and evil was still permeating the air and above the sound of the fire and screaming house, I could hear the sounds of battle a and a creature screeching in pain and anger.

The baby cried again. It wasn't the child I was meant to protect but it still needed help, she was wriggling around in her play pen. She had beautiful brown curls and deep intelligent brown eyes, she held more knowledge than I suspected her one or two years should.

There was a shiny haze around her, it deflected back flames and stopped the smoke reaching her tiny lungs, but even I knew it wouldn't stop the crumbling ceiling or the rest of the house when it collapsed. The buzzing came back to my head and I could dimly hear someone screaming. "My baby, please save my baby!"

The women sounded nearby, and there were more people trying to get into the house, but the sounds of fighting outside meant something was stopping them. I could save her but it meant I would have to do something I wasn't meant to…I reached up to the collar around my neck. Don would be mad.

The baby screamed just as cracks formed along the ceiling, my mind decided I leapt forward, somehow getting through the barrier that was stopping everything else. I wrapped the baby up in a blanket tightly and wrapped another one around her face to stop the worst of the smoke. I could feel it clogging in my own lungs and choking me, the baby wouldn't last long if she inhaled it.

I ran out of the room, still with catlike grace, but on two legs, I made it to the stairs and as I was about to go down them, the ceiling fell and the stairs gave out. The entire first floor was a ground of fire and smoke, there was no way I could get out that way, I would die before I reached the door. The baby was quieter, but I could feel shivers and whimpers wrack up her tiny body. I had to save her.

I looked across the landing and at the end there was a window, the fire was growing hotter if that was possible, and a huge expanse in the floor had been taken out by the raging inferno. A wild primal instinct in me took over and I sprinted for the gaping hole, at the last minute as my feet touched the edge, I pushed with all my might and leapt the twelve feet across air. I landed in a crouch and quickly checked the baby before heading to the window where the smoke was escaping out of. Through the haze that made my eyes stream and made y lungs strain for air and cough, I could see dark figures colliding in an eternal battle, I was two storeys up, I couldn't clear the jump in my current state and keep the baby safe…. This was where I had to defy Don.

Wary of the falling building around me I wrapped the baby up tightly in one blanket and turned the other into a sling cradling her and tying the edges in a knot above her. I hastily kicked off my shoes and ripped off the expensive clothes Don had paid for, I could feel the heat of the flames on every inch of my body, I hesitated only once before I undone the latch of the collar and stuffed it in the bundle with the baby. I felt the anger and wildness that had been building in me for days now, break out. I hunched over, I felt a different heat prickle my skin and a familiar warmth wash over me as well as an awkward, uncomfortable pain. It flashed through my chest and as my body shrunk and expanded in places. my arms and legs hunched till they straightened with new strength, my face elongated and my pupils flashed to slits, I relaxed as I settled into my natural form. Tiger stripes decorated my orange body, as well as snow white framing my cheeks and underbelly. A flame licked out and snaked across my hind legs, I snarled in rage, the sound rocking the night, I despised fire. It destroyed everything and had taken everything from me once before. It wouldn't take everything away from this baby girl if I had anything to do about it.

I grabbed the knot in my mouth and the baby was snuggled deeply in the bundle and closely to my chest, she would be safe there. I approached the window and climbed on the ledge, the glass had long since shattered from t heat of the fires so I wouldn't have to break it.

With one last glance at the flaming hell I sprang off the ledge and into the night, the baby swung slightly but my firm jaw kept the bundle safe. I landed with a barely any sound .I sprinted forward, curling my spine in half to get further away from the crumbling building and hungry flames. The sound of fighting were quieting and I took in the figures of hideous living corpses being decapitated, hearts ripped out and incinerated. Gregori saw me with the child and followed me, a distance away in the shelter of the trees I shifted back quickly, uncaring that I was naked in the night and getting wet by the downpour that had been ineffective to the fire. I fumbled with the bundle to find the collar, I needed to get it on now, the pain was growing, radiating out through my body causing my breathing to hitch more than the smoke had. I fumbled with the latch and when it was secured, the pain slowly ebbing, I curled around the baby and just couldn't move as exhaustion took over, Don never let me shift, it took too much out of me.

Gregori's expression was as solid as stone as he approached me with the other people. A woman wirth bright red hair ran forward crying, she reached for the baby and the small child gurgled happily. Good she was safe now.

I closed my eyes tiredly and my vision and mind blacked out. I could hear that feminine voice whisper to me and my heart twinged with unfamiliar feelings. You did good Rika, I could never be more proud of you, but you done right child.

A/N Well what do y'all think? Review and let me know please! XD