Ⲥⲏⲁⲣⲧⲉⲅ 1
"You were cheating!" I heard my best friend whine and saw him crossing his arms over his big, fluffy chest. He was a werefox named Tails Fangclaw. Tails of course for his unique mutation, which gave him an extra tail. As if one amazingly fluffy tail wasn't enough! He just happened to be the lucky child and got a double treatment from the Mother Nature. However, Tails wasn't always this big, bulky werefox. He used to be of an average mobian size, just like me. But we once came across a dangerous looking hedgehog, whose crystalline form keeps haunting our minds ever since the moment we saw him for the first time in our lives. Mainly those toxic snake green eyes, which contrasted against his unusually red scleras. He is very creepy and this guy is actually responsible for Tails' permanent change of appearance. But well, big or small, Tails is still my best friend and nothing will ever change that!
"Nuh-uh, foxy boy, I was playing fair this time," I replied while lifting my hand and bent down all my fingers, except for my index finger, which I then moved from left to right and back multiple times in denial while slowly shaking my head.
"But I was hidden so well!" Tails still opposed me, which I just shrugged at.
"Then be aware of your fluffy tails next time~" I smirked at him and saw him blush in response right before he turned his back towards me.
"M-My turn!" he even stuttered a bit, how adorable!
He started counting from 20 to 0, so I rather quickly speeded off to find some good hiding spot, making sure to not rush too far from where we usually played together. Hide and seek was one of my favourite games and this dark forest was perfect for such game, because there were so many spots to hide in. It was thrilling, adventurous and entertaining. What was not that much entertaining, however, we kinda lived here on our own. My only family got hunted down by a group of rogue vampires and I was lucky with my special speed gift, as I was able to outrun them and save my own life. My adoptive mother, a big owl named Longclaw, wanted me to escape, when I was trying to save her. I was just around 4 years old at that time, so I wasn't strong enough to fight those monsters and hence had no other choice but run far, far away, letting my mother sacrifice herself for me. I was sad and depressed for a long time and just a few months after this incident I came across three werejackals picking up on Tails for his unusual body feature. Feeling infuriated, I bravely stood up to them and tried to fight against them, so they would leave the poor werefox alone. I don't know how, but I somehow managed to kill one of them and seriously injure the second one, whilst the third one rather cowardly ran away, leaving his buddy there to his own fate. I was so enraged, that I was about to strike the final blow in order to kill him as well, but Tails stopped me and told me, that the werejackal is not worth it. Until today I remember the scar I formed across his left eye, which was amber, whilst his other eye had a blue colour. I have never before seen anyone with mismatched eyes, but I must admit, it looks pretty cool. Only if the person possessing such special feature is just as cool...
Anyways, I finally found a good hiding spot behind a huge rock on the very outskirt of the forest, where there was a wide meadow in front of me. I looked up at the dark sky decorated by millions of stars, their various sizes and luminosities complimented the full moon shining so brightly across the whole wide area surrounding me, kissing the surface with its silver, cold light. I loved the full moon nights, but also felt a bit scared due to the wereforms usually being the strongest at such phase. Werejackals were the worst, they were usually very sly and unpredictable and similar to rogue vampires, they just did and took whatever they wanted with no restrains. That made them the most dangerous wereforms out there. Werefoxes or werecats were usually more civilized, Tails being a perfect example. But he became my best friend maybe only thanks to my brave action back then, else, we would rather try to avoid each other, because hybrids, such as me, and wereforms like Tails usually respect each other's boundaries and territory and don't dare to disturb the other party. Werehogs and other hybrids were the best of the wereforms, for me especially, because of my similarity to werehogs. And hybrids, I think I do not need to go into any details, it speeks for itself. Of course, it also depends on the creature's personality and qualities, but overall, they're usually cool with other hybrids, me included.
Such other hybrid I have ever came across in my life was a female hedgecat named Amelia Rose, but I like to call her Amy. Despite her being one of the 'night creatures', she joined a group of mortal hunters in order to help them reduce the number of rogue vampires and other feral 'monsters', who have no restrains and no moral senses. These are very dangerous to both the immortal creatures and mortals. Amy did not tell me much about the job she does, but she always reassures me, that they won't go after me or Tails and that the rogue vampires will become extinct very soon. No offense, but these vampires are actually asking for it, so I really hope, that Amy and the other hunters will succeed and finally get the world rid of those monsters. Mainly because they took my only family away from me, when I was a kid. This trauma is for sure going to always haunt the back of my mind, even if literally so many years passed by since then.
My ears flicked a little upon the rustling noise behind me, which made me put my guard high up and carefully look all around the area I was in while trying my best to remain motionless in the hopefully safe spot. I felt my fur bristling up in anticipation and deep within my chest I could sense an odd tension, as if something bad was supposed to happen. And just a moment after that, I could hear a deep growl, which infallibly belonged to a werejackal. Releasing a quiet gasp, I crouched down to the ground and felt my body tensing up in response to such impulse given by the deep growl, which reached my sensitive eardrums. My heart was now straight pounding in my chest and I felt my mind switching to fight or flight mode. The flight side eventually won and using my enhanced speed I ran across the wide meadow, not even looking back behind me I just focused on the path in front of me and kept running forward. I could hear the heavy footsteps following me and out of desperation I decided to run on all fours, as that was usually a way for me to gain even bigger speed and thus outrun most of the dangerous creatures of the night.
"Come here, you blue bastard! We have an unfinished business to take care of!" I heard his deep voice echoing through the whole area and he even shortly howled! No, no, no, I only prayed, that he wasn't calling out for more of his kind, because if yes, then I am in very big trouble. Probably deadly trouble. Nah, most likely, definitely a deadly trouble! I did not respond to him and just kept running, just like all those years ago, when I was trying to get away from the rogue vampires. Heck, those are now almost no threat to me, as I am able to defeat them with just a small effort put into the battle. But the werejackal? He was at least as twice of my size and his robust body was very durable and hardly beatable, which made him a strong opponent. Especially against someone like me.
"You can keep running, little bastard! But you can't run forever! You'll become exhausted eventually and then I shall enjoy the sweet revenge for my fallen friend!" I heard him growl loudly behind me and I was now sure, that it was the same heterochromic werejackal, whom I scarred those years ago, when I saved Tails' life. As I kept unstoppably running in the high speed, I noticed some robust building in the distance, which gave me hope, that maybe it could become my temporary sanctuary, where I could rest and make some escape plan. There is no way I could defeat the werejackal, I wasn't as strong as him, especially during the full moon. Curse it now! As I approached the building, I could hear his steps becoming more distant, which allowed me to finally stop running and heavily panting I looked over my shoulder to see, where he exactly was. I moved my fluffy, wolf-like tail aside, so I could properly see the area I was now in and saw the werejackal now standing in a fair distance from me and sniffing the air while pressing his big jackal ears to his head. Tilting my head a bit I tried to figure out, what made him stop chasing me so abruptly and sniffing the air as well I caught some strange scent I couldn't quite describe. I have never before smelled a scent like this, it was... weird. It was slightly sweet, but also bitter. It was... alluring, to say the least. To me, anyway, because the werejackal simply turned around and cursing me under his breath he rushed back to the woods.
I let out the long breath I was subconsciously holding in and returning my glance back to the building in front of me I widened my eyes at how huge it was. I felt even smaller now. The gateway, the mesmerizing live fence surrounding it and the noble-looking door and window frames were definitely giving out a mansion vibes. I wonder, who might be the owner of such opulent place like this. They had to be really rich, perhaps even some royalty? Those were just my guesses and my curiosity was rapidly growing to dangerous degrees, which made me snap out of my thoughts and feeling oddly excited to explore this building I simply climbed over the fence and skillfully landed on my feet. Looking around I noticed a big garden full of various flowers and plants, which the owner most likely takes care of here. I continued walking on my two feet, feeling the soft grass tickle my paw pads with each step I made. This place did not seem so bad at all, the only odd fact about it was its location, as it was far from the civilization and yet in a fair distance from the dark forest. Soon enough, I ended up standing at the doorstep of the mansion and carefully glanced at each window and only hoped I would not see someone staring at me out of any of them. So far, I did not notice anyone or anything suspicious, yet... I suddenly got this strange feeling of being watched by someone. I frantically looked all around, but saw nobody in flesh and blood anywhere in this area. I seemed to be completely alone here, but... why do I feel this unease in me? And why is my fur standing up? I could feel a little cool breeze play around with my quills and fur, which brought chills down my spine. Such a sudden atmospheric shift never meant anything good, so I rather decided to keep moving, as I walked by the mansion's wall and looked carefully into each window to catch at least glimpses of the interior. The way it looked so noble and majestic from the outside was just a little degustation compared to the way the rooms looked inside of the building. I could recognize the shapes of the expensive furniture pieces, one room seemed to be a kitchen, another one looked like a living room and- one window I passed by was crack open?! I quickly pressed my head close to the crack and sniffed the air from inside the room. Yuck, it seemed to be a bathroom! I noticed the expensive looking bath tub decorated by multiple soap and shampoo bottles - actually stuff I never needed, since me and Tails usually use what nature provides us with - in the corner, whilst there was some sort of tech piece, which I fully did not understand, in the opposite corner.
Smelling the strong sweet scent I perked my ears up and felt curious about the products resting on the tub. I heard about some of them from Amy, but encountering the real deal was something else entirely. I checked the window properly and carefully pushed it to open it wider, so I could enter this humble and actually pretty cozy bathroom. My paw pads met the cold tiles and I nearly squeaked, when the coldness bit deep to my feet. For a while, I was trying to adjust to the coldness and eventually I succeeded, so I was then able to take a look around the room. The door was luckily fully closed, so I was at least partially sure, that the owner of the mansion won't come here anytime soon. Or at least before they do come over here, I will have little time to quickly hide somewhere, so they wouldn't see me. Heh, you surely ask, then why do I even do this? Well, I am naturally very curious creature and yes, it often got me to some trouble, but hey, we live only once, yeah? Regardless, if we are immortal or not at all. Plus, exploring such places was always really fun and it was worth it for the danger coming along with it. Longclaw used to always say, that my curiosity might get me killed one day, but despite such warning, I never stopped being an explorer, an adventurer. I have such qualities in my blood, it's part of who I am and that won't ever change. Not even now. Besides, this building might also indeed be my sanctuary, when the werejackal did not even dare to cross some sort of invisible border. I guess it was because of the strange scent I myself happened to smell outside the building. The interior was filled with various scents, from the soaps to some sort of meal, I now realised, when I caught a scent of something being cooked.
My stomach, of course, instantly reacted to it and grumbled not exactly in the most silent fashion. I pressed my hand firmly against my belly and tried to quiet it down, so the owner wouldn't potentially hear me.
"Why now..." I whispered to myself and rather approached the bath tub, which had a shape of heart, sort of. And dang, it was so big! Bigger than expected, when I saw it from the outside. It could fit at least four people for sure! My eyes curiously ran across all the bottles of soaps and shampoos and I instantly started wagging my tail upon the excitement rush flowing through me. I did not dare to enter the tub, but I sat down on the edge of it and grabbed the bottle sitting nearest to me in order to examine it. It was light yellow, medium sized bottle with some purple flowers covering the label and the words were saying vanillalavender. Vanilla and lavender? What a strange combination, I thought and shrugging I opened the lid of it to take a sniff. And boy, was I in paradise! Such combination wasn't really that bad, the scent brought a warm feeling to my core and my fur stood up from the comfort it caused me feel.
I felt like taking it with me and sniffing it all night long. Yeah, that amazingly it smelled. Closing the lid I returned the bottle to its original spot and grabbed another one. This one was dark pink, the label was covered by images of strawberry and watermelon, so I really did not need to read the words written over it. Another combination? This owner, whoever it is, must really enjoy experimenting with combinations. Anyways, opening the lid I took a few sniffs and man, this was maybe even better than the former one. The sweet scent brought satisfaction to my core and I felt my tail wagging without my will controlling it. And that was the little mistake I made, because I accidentally pushed some of the other bottles off of the edge and they either fell on the floor or to the huge space of the tub with a loud thuds. I abruptly stood up and froze on spot, whilst my heart was again pounding rapidly in my chest due to the shock flowing through my body and with my eyes widened I hypnotised the door, expecting the possible owner of this mansion to come here at any given moment. My mind was screaming at me to run, to hide somewhere, but my body wouldn't listen! I was frozen, unable to move even an inch of my body and my ears were probably the only body parts, that actually moved upon detecting even the smallest noises coming from all directions. The rustling of the leaves outside, a clock ticking in some other room - which I did not even notice until now - and also faint footsteps, that were coming closer to my location. Crap, crap! Quick! I gotta hide fast! My body finally snapped out of the shock and still gripping the dark pink bottle in my hand I used the secluded small space underneath the tub to squeeze myself there and hopefully not get discovered by the person, who's now coming to see, what happened here. I wrapped my fluffy tail tightly around myself and even hugged it to make sure it won't spoil my hiding spot. I could hear the foosteps abruptly stop right by the door, which then got slowly opened and then I saw the one, whom this mansion most likely belongs to...