2024 Story Collection

Witch & Familiar Mates IV

My future grandson,

I understand that you two are soulmates, a very rare set at that, but if you hurt my granddaughter, I will cut out your eyes, so you can no longer see her beauty, I will cut out your tongue, so you can no longer tell her your love, and I will cut off your fingers, so that you can never feel her soft skin again. I will leave your privates because I want great-grandchildren.

I will take all of those pieces I cut from you and make a nice hardy meal for my dogs. They thank you in advance for the yummy meal.

Love,

Your future grandmother Laverne

"What the hell is this?" Earl asks, a rose in one hand and a note in the other. He looks up at the old lady, but she's gone. A shiver runs down his spine.

He had come to the trailhead because he'd heard a strange noise and standing there was the old woman. She pushed the rose and note into his hands before he could object.

He scratches the back of his neck. He looks back down at the note to re-read it, but it's changed:

14096 N Old Sunset Road

Old Sun City Wyoming

"An address?" he blinks, trying to convince himself that the letter didn't just change. I must've just flipped it over and read the other-side he reasons. He turns the card over to the other side to check, but it's changed. It reads:

See you soon.

"Am I going crazy or did that really just change?" he asks himself.

After about ten minutes of flipping the card over and reading it making sure it doesn't change again. He puts the card in his back pocket.

His stomach was growling from hunger. It had been almost a day since his last meal and his whole body felt it. He walks back down the small, winding animal trail, desperately hungry. The feeling was all too familiar.

When he got back to the meadow, he stripped off his clothes and stashed them in his backpack. He had a plan.

He shifted as he ran through the field. His face, hand and feet shifted first and his body quickly followed and within a moment, he had taken the form of the small black cat he'd named midnight.

He had grown up alone and often hid from his foster parents by shifting into his pet cat, Midnight. Only he didn't have a cat. His family hated him and starved him, saying he wasn't worth the money in food, that it was a waste, but they loved Midnight. His cat got homemade cat food and table scraps. Midnight was loved, cherished. He was just a burden.

So they saw less and less of Earl and more and more of Midnight. They didn't really notice his absence, but he hated it. He hated that he had to become a cat to get their love and attention, but he didn't want that from them. No, all he wanted was not to starve. So he did what he had to do.

He'd left in the middle of the night and changed his phone number the day he turned 18 and never looked back. He hated that he'd played into their hand, but he had no choice. He made a promise to himself that he would never do it again.

Now he makes his way, as quietly as possible down to the small stream and climbs a tree where he can get the best vantage point to wait and watch.

After a while, he sees his prey. A few deer cross below the tree he sits in. He shifts again and jumps. He lets his teeth sink into the deer's neck as he falls and land gently in the mud. The small house cat was now a large panther.

He releases his kill and looks around, the other deer long gone. He shifts back to his human form.

He grabs the knife he stashed by the river and quickly butchers the deer before any other predators come around. He jumps into the water and washes himself clean from the blood.

He then drags the meat back behind him on the hide of the deer. He makes his way back to the meadow where his crude firepit sits. He lights the fire before walking back to get his stuff and put clothes on.

He stokes the fire and then moves the hot ashes to the side and cooks the meat using an old rack from a grill. It does the job.

He eats his fill, then packs the rest away in his bag for the next few days. He was a hunter. It was in the nature of the wild thing that lived inside him. It allowed him to shift. His human side didn't enjoy or relish in it the same way, but he would be lying if he said that being able to hunt and feed himself like this didn't make him any pride.

He inspected the rose in his hand.

He'd need to leave soon. That strange woman that given him this flower could call the police on him or worse, so he makes the decision to go elsewhere for the night.

He makes sure to smother the ashes well before he grabs his things to leave.

He had no idea where he'd go, but he did know he'd be meeting up with Sofia for dinner. It brought a smile to his face.

He was so unlike himself at even the thought of her. She made him feel things he wasn't ready to feel. He didn't know how to put it into words. It was just so different.

He reaches into his pocket to grab out his pocketknife. He wanted to give her some wildflowers for their date. He was far from a romantic, but again, she brought out sides of him he didn't know he had.

He liked it.

He feels the note the old woman gave him in his pocket as well, but ignores it as he pulls out the knife, but the note comes with it.

The note seems to catch in the wind. He lunges forward to grab it but trip on a large rock that lay hidden in the thick patch of wildflowers.

He is falling straight into the ground, the note the only thing to stop his fall. He braces himself for the fall, closing his eyes. He waits for the fall, but when it doesn't come, he opens his eyes. He is sitting on a couch in a living room.

To be continued...

January 24, 2024