78
came off in thick, hot layers, peeling, and I helped it, digging my fingers into it and pulling. It didn’t hurt, not much, when my wings came out of my back, erupting, smacking off waves of blood as I straightened them out, and flapping them around. My claws and teeth came in quickly, inches long, sharp, and jagged. I think one of the men realized what I was doing, transforming, and he turned to stop me, but by then it was too late. I flew on top of him, and my teeth did their work. His nose came off with ease, and I shredded his throat with my talons, digging in, spreading his thin flesh with ease, ripping and tearing. The others came, one with the knife, and he may have cut me, but my exo-skeleton was so thick at this point, they didn’t stand a chance. I got another down, going for his eyes, just like they had done with Stephanie, and they popped when my talons struck them. I was coated with blood, my own, theirs, so hot, so sticky. They were screaming now, and one managed to run away. If there was more than the two, they must have run. By the time my Daddy got home, it all seemed a blur. Susan was scared of me, but I don’t blame her. What I began that night, a thing of claws, wings and fangs, wasn’t natural. She screamed after I untied her, and refused to come near to me. That night, I ran into the dark, and slept in the fields, the dirt sticking to the blood. The transformation reversed that night as I slept, and I awoke the next morning, once again a girl, once again a human. He came in, and I met him in the drive. He seemed confused, but once I showed him the inside, what had happened, what I had done to