From the Ashes (18+)

Chapter 6.

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My feet pounded against the ground, tears poured down my cheeks as I ran through the property garden into the forest beside. The sun had set over the horizon as the pace of my run increased drastically. The world warped around me, trees fading into greens and yellows in my vision while the sunset blared its beautiful colours into my disoriented gaze. This was the first time I had been outside since I'd been reborn. The understatement was that it was overwhelming. The smells, the colours, it was all...suffocating.

"Are you just going to run back to Scotland?!" Daniel's sudden appearance halted me in my tracks, freezing me in place as I struggled to catch my breath. The weight of his words bore down on me like a leaden weight, piercing through the haze of panic and confusion that clouded my mind. Tears poured out of my eyes, my hands clenched around my head, "I can't do this!" I exclaimed, my voice choked with emotion as I sank to my knees, the weight of my despair crushing me from within.

"You just need to learn, Adelaide," Daniel's voice was steady as he watched me crumble into the ground. I didn't want his empathy, I didn't want to hear anything from anyone anymore. But I shook my head, the weight of my doubts pressing down upon me like a suffocating shroud. "No-no, you don't understand! I am crumbling... breaking!" I confessed, the words tumbling from my lips like a desperate plea for understanding.

"I don't want this..." I whispered hoarsely, the truth of my words echoing in the stillness of the forest around me. The human version of myself would've killed this beast that I have become. All I do is cause pain, that's all I am now and all that I will be. I wanted to kill her, I wanted to tear her apart. That isn't me...but it is. It is me. It is who I have become. And then, as if in response to my despair, a crunch of a twig shattered the silence, my head whipping around to confront the source of the disturbance.

A fox stood before me, its eyes gleaming in the fading light of dusk, a silent sentinel of the wilderness. Its eyes watched my form intensely, reading itself to run. Run from the predator. My tongue salivated at the sight of it, fangs growing once more. I hate to admit it, but as I stared at the creature before me, a primal urge stirred within me, the hunger gnawing at the edges of my consciousness with renewed intensity. The battle for control was far from over.

"Don't tell me you're gonna-" Daniel's voice caught in his throat, a gagging sound escaping him as he struggled to find the words to express his horror. Every fibre of my being hummed with anticipation, my senses heightened to a razor's edge as I prepared to pounce upon my unsuspecting prey. The animal regarded me with wary caution, its eyes narrowing as it sensed the danger that lurked within my gaze. Yet even as it retreated a step, I could sense the fear pulsing through its veins, a silent acknowledgement of the predator that stood before it.

I was no longer Adelaide, the lost and broken soul seeking redemption. I was something else entirely, something primal and untamed, a creature driven by the relentless pursuit of survival. The need to feed, no matter the cost. And as the hunger roared to life within me, I knew that I could no longer resist its call. With a swift movement, I lunged forward, my instincts taking over as I gave in. It was an effortless catch, the fox stood no chance. As I snatched the creature with lightning speed, its cries of pain echoed through the forest, a haunting symphony of suffering that pierced the stillness of the night.

With a sickening crack, its limbs broke in my grasp, the sound of bone snapping reverberating through the air like a macabre melody. My teeth sank into its fur with ferocious intensity, the taste of its blood flooding my senses with a nauseating wave of revulsion. It was a taste worse than anything I had ever savoured, thick and putrid on my tongue as I gagged against its fur. But it was also euphoric, like bringing a dying man to water.