The Beast Within

by SL Perrine

  The Beast Within

  Book One

  SL Perrine

  To my wonderful husband, children and family for always having great words of encouragement, support and for pushing me to follow my dreams and keep them going.

  Chapter -1-

  The monster looked like a giant wolf with razor-sharp claws. Christina knew, once she saw the massive horns on its head, this was no ordinary animal. Its fur was black and gray. Its eyes were two spheres of fire set into its head with flames dancing in the iris.

  Men who were camping in the woods hid quickly behind vehicles and tents while Christina and her friend, Tabby, moved into action. The beast shot for them without even a thought to the rest of the crowd. Tabby wasn’t the aggressive type–a hard-ass in her own right–but not the knuckles to the pavement type, like Chris. She had a small frame, and even without heels, Chris towered over her. Tabby’s mousy brown hair, which was currently in two braids, was about four shades lighter than the raven locks of Christina. She looked like a confused schoolgirl with her cutoff jeans, tattered flannel shirt, and ratty sneakers. Some had come to think of her as Chris’s sidekick, but to Chris, she was just her best friend.

  Chris took a minute to adjust the buckles on her black boots, then the two of them took off through the woods. They had been hiding out in those woods for a few weeks and took up with campers along the way. Most of the men in the woods were out on hunting trips–more than usual for that time of year. Chris used her charms to get them a seat around the fire. Her considerable good looks went far around a bunch of middle-aged men. If they got any ideas, other than staring at her chest, she always put them in their place. Besides, the things they hunted were far worse than grown men with a drunken stagger.

  They ran through the woods with the monster almost on top of them. Chris ran up the side of a tree, pushed off, and circled around with a kick. Her foot connected with the beast's shoulder. It flew backwards, giving them time to get a few steps ahead of it. Tabby tripped on an uprooted tree and landed face-first into the wet ground. Pine needles and dirt stuck to her face and hands.

  Chris doubled back as the monster caught up with them. It swiped at Tabby as she tried to regain her footing. It grazed her forearm with a single nail, drawing blood. The monster jumped over them, spun around, and skidded twenty feet before it stopped.

  The beast stood to its full height as it glared at them, and its howl shook the ground. Its mouth was large enough to swallow them whole, with teeth as sharp as ice picks. Tabby saw the flames flicker in the beast's eyes and winced. The girls felt the heat from its nostrils as it exhaled smoke and steam.

  Chris jumped back and pushed Tabby to the side as a massive claw went swinging through the air. It was thrown off balance as her foot struck the beast in its middle, but it still managed to make contact. The impact to her temple made her head feel as if it had been thrown from her shoulders. She flew backwards and saw her glasses go flying away from her. She caught herself–one foot and then the other–and set off in the opposite direction of her friend. Just as she predicted, the beast had followed. Her head was ringing and it was hard to concentrate, but a plan was forming, even as the scenery around her was still nothing but a blur. She shook her head, trying to clear the noise and yelled to Tabby, “Tabby, I can’t see. Find my eyes!”

  Chris could hardly hear herself over the loud growl. She leapt over a three-foot-wide stump in the middle of the clearing and turned to face the monster. The beast halted, which gave her a second to take a quick survey of her surroundings as best she could. The beast thumped its massive paw at the ground like a bull readying himself to pounce on the red cloak. She made out what looked like a small cabin to her left and dove for the little porch just as the beast pounced. It missed her and regained itself rather quickly, using its front paws to stop itself mid-run and turn on a dime.

  “Here… your glasses!” Tabby yelled as she tossed them through the air.

  Chris caught them in one hand, threw them on her face, and grabbed a pitchfork off the porch steps with the other. As she twirled around, the beast lunged for her. She managed to get the pitchfork in front of her and into its neck, driving the enormous animal backwards, into the stump. It thrashed its giant paws and tried freeing itself to no avail. As it opened its mouth to howl, a bright, fiery green light burst out of its eyes and mouth like a grenade. It just as quickly sank back into the head, which sat atop the pitchfork. It was all that remained. The body disappeared into nothingness. The head shrunk as the light dissipated into it, becoming the size of a basketball. Chris sank back in the grass and sighed.

  Tabby found a crate on the small porch and handed it to Chris. “That was close. How’d they find us?”

  “I have no idea”–Chris grabbed the head by a horn and shoved it into the box–“but we need to send this back now. I’m not traveling with a head again.”

  “Does that mean we get to sleep in actual beds tonight? No offense, but the ground is killing me.” Tabby started to bend and twist at the thought of the cold, hard ground.

  “Yes, we get to sleep in an actual bed. Let’s see if we can get a ride.” Chris motioned to the direction of their camp.

  “Do you think any of them wet themselves?” Tabby added with a laugh.

  “Tabby!” Chris exclaimed.

  “It was just a thought.” They laughed their way back to camp. Chris thought of all the big, tough-looking rednecks. She supposed even the biggest of men would cower away from an enemy they didn’t know. Although, leave it to Tabby to make light of even the hairiest of situations. That was one of the things Chris loved about her. She had an uncanny sense of humor and always looked for the brighter side of things. Considering the predicament they’d come to find themselves in, humor was the one thing that kept them going.

  They reached the camp in record time. The men were picking up; getting ready to move on. Chris showed the head to the owner of the blue pick-up and asked for a ride into town. She had realized earlier in the week they weren’t far from her brother’s house. She knew she would be able to dispose of the beast's head there. It only took twenty minutes, riding in the back of the pick-up across bumpy back roads, to get there. She was still amazed at all the modern advances the world had. They didn’t have things like cars and trucks where she was from. She thought back to her brother, glad he’d settled down on this side of the passage. Being close to him was convenient. The hard part would be waking him in the middle of the night.

  Chris gave five large thumps on the door of the small house with the side of her fist and quickly heard footsteps coming from behind it.

  "Jamie, open up!" Chris yelled.

  “Chris?” a voice asked from behind the door.

  “Yeah, it’s me. Open up. I have a head.” Tabby laughed at Chris’s candor as she yelled through the door to her brother.

  The door was yanked open to reveal a tall, thin man behind it. “Only you would wind up at my door with a head at two in the morning,” he chided his sister, as always. “Where the hell have you been? Mom’s been going crazy waiting for you to turn up." He grabbed her jacket and pulled her through the doorway. "Hi, Tabby. I see she dragged you along for the ride again.” The man gave Tabby a look of annoyance. Tabby knew it was only because Chris’s brother didn’t believe in hunting monsters. He’d been the only one in Christina’s family to stop hunting; stop fighting the mystical creatures and settle down.

  Tabby entered the house like a small, scared child. She always felt a little out of place when the two siblings were together, but she felt like he was her family too. “Always,” Tabby said with a grin.

  “Mom can’t track me anymore. I’m eighteen!” Chris almost yelled.

  “And that would be why she’s going crazy.
You can't blame her," Jamie told his sister.

  "I know, but still... I don't need her protection anymore. I can handle this on my own." She raised the box a bit to remind him why they were there.

  "Okay, what you got?” he asked.

  “The usual.” Chris laughed as she took the box to the next room and placed it on a table in the center. It had been carefully and tightly wrapped with rope from camp. Once she removed the bonds, she moved aside so her brother could inspect it. He barely opened the box, lifting it slightly at the corner as if something would slither its way out.

  “I've got to unbury the pit. Come upstairs," he told them as he headed up the nearby staircase.

  Jamie, box in hand, led them into an oddly-shaped room. It was empty, except for a small crate full of large rubber bands, rope, and a box of large nails. The stone walls made the room dark, damp, and a little dirty. He walked to the crate and wrapped one of the large bands around the box. Concrete dust attached to his dark slippers the farther into the room he went.

  “He’s not getting out now. How much time do you think we have here?” he asked the girls.

  “I’d say it’s been about an hour,” Chris said as she moved a tapestry back to reveal large round stone sitting against the far side of the room. Chris grabbed a thick rope hanging from the ceiling and pulled. Her arms went rigid as she pulled with a bit more force than necessary. The rock rolled across the wall, revealing a large opening behind it.

  “That doesn’t give us much time. Here, put him in there.” Jamie pointed to the large hole in the wall.

  As he handed Chris the box, it began to shake. The force of it was so great, Chris threw herself across the room and into the fire pit. She lay across the box, holding it down.

  Tabby looked on in horror. She had never seen one reanimate before. She had never been able to bring herself to watch her friend send them back before either. It was a harmless encounter, really. They could stick the box in the opening and draw the sigil in the stone beyond. The wall would fade away. The green flame from the tra monde–the space between the real world and the world the monsters came from–would reach into the hollow of the wall and suck in the box. However, when a beast reanimates in the middle of the transfer, it causes new problems. One that, at present, would mean a battle in Jamie’s house with his family nearby.

  “No time,” Chris said as the box shook violently under her. “I’m gonna have to go. Let Tabby stay here. I’ll be back,” she told her brother.

  “Sure, no problem,” he agreed.

  “Are you sure you have to go? When will you get back?” Tabby had been standing at the entrance. She moved across the room and leaned next to her friend in the pit.

  “Yeah, I do. I don’t have much time…” Chris looked at the box again.

  “Then here...take this.” Tabby handed Chris her most prized possession; a silver heart-shaped locket. “You have to come back, so you can return that.” Tabby’s chest tightened at the idea of the locket not returning to her, but it was the only way she could ensure her friend would fight tooth and nail to get back. She knew of its importance.

  “You got it.” Chris wrapped her fist tightly around her friend’s necklace as the young man grabbed Tabby’s shoulders to pull her away from his sister. He grabbed the lever on the side of the mantel and pushed it down with one fell swoop. The stone wall in the back of the pit lifted. Christina drew the sigil of luce, the marking of light magic, in the concrete sand on the floor next to the new opening. Tabby saw the box and her friend as flames surrounded them in a flash. Just as if a vacuum had taken them, they were gone. The wall came down with a loud thud. Smoke, sand, and dust flew around the room. The stone Chris had moved from the pit flew back into place. Tabby was thrown backwards, landing on her backside. In an instant, it was over. The tapestry hung properly, the dust settled, and all returned to its original state.

  “I could go for a cup of tea. You want some?” the young man asked as he walked out of the room. “At the very least, we should check that cut on your arm.”

  Chapter -2-

  The closet door. It was coming from the closet door. Renee lowered the volume on her headset so she could hear the noise. She jumped where she sat when the door burst open with a flash of light. As it subsided, she watched her father and older brother step through, into her room.

  “Did you have to use my closet? I’m trying to do homework,” she explained to them.

  Her brother sneered and laughed his way out of her room, entering the doorway next to hers.

  “Sorry, kiddo. We needed the closest exit.” Her father leaned down and kissed her forehead. Renee looked down and noticed the small box in her father’s hand.

  “I thought you were getting rid of that thing. I have friends coming over tonight!” Renee exclaimed.

  “We tried, but your brother got distracted again. We got lost on the way in and couldn’t find an opening.” He sighed, looking at the bedroom door where her brother had disappeared out of moments before.

  She watched as her father wrapped the box with a large band. “Besides, it’s a small one. I’ll stick the phone book on it and it’ll be fine.” He laughed as he left the room.

  The box, wrapped in bands with the markings of luce, sat on the foot of her bed. She picked it up to examine it and green light shone from within. It was no bigger than a pencil box, but she knew what it could become.

  “Hey, you left this thing in here!” She took off her headset as the box jumped. “Fine, I’ll do it myself." She picked up the box and headed for the closet, placing her hand on the sigil of luce etched into the door, and opened it.

  On the other side, she saw her clothes, shoes, and even a few handbags; nothing more than the contents of her closet. The one thing she expected to see wasn’t there; no dark tunnel behind her clothes–just wallpaper. The room shifted a bit as she turned. The box in her hand glowed brighter.

  “Dad!” Renee yelled in a panic.

  “Hey brat, what’s your problem?” Her brother snickered, sticking his head through the doorway.

  “Take a look, lame brain, and you tell me! What did you do, break it?” She jumped when the box did, more violently than before. Her brother saw the bright green light coming from the crack where it would open. He looked from the box, to his sister’s hand, then to the closet full of clothes. Sweat beads formed on his forehead as he realized what was going on.

  “No, I didn’t break it! I mean… I... Ummm... Dad!” Xander mimicked his sister.

  “What's the problem?” Their father came running into the room.

  “I was gonna toss it back myself,” Renee said, motioning to the closet.

  “You know your brother’s training. Why would you…” Then he, too, noticed the green light and the ferocity in which his daughter's hand shook as she clutched the small box. “We should have a couple more hours before that regenerates.” He motioned to the box and looked at the closet. “What’s going on?”

  “None of us can get rid of it right now. The tunnel is gone,” Renee told him, closing the door and reopening it after placing a hand over the sigil. “It’s not here.”

  “Well, that doesn’t make any sense.” He moved past his children and looked for himself. He closed the door and placed his hand in front of the sign of luce before pulling the knob. “Xander… go check the others,” he told his son. Xander ran to the other bedrooms. Renee could hear him tripping over his own feet as he rushed from room to room, returning to Renee’s room.

  “They're all just closets, dad. Does that mean it’s over and we don’t have to do this anymore?” Xander let out a sigh and looked at the box his sister held. She clutched it between both hands, wrapping them around the box as the force from inside attempted to push outward.

  “No Xander, this means trouble. Plus, what do we do with that?” John said to his son, pointing at Renee. "It's no use. That thing is gonna bust out of there. We have to think of something," John stated.

  “I don’t care what y
ou do with it, but I can't hold it anymore.” Renee handed the box to her brother, who fumbled with the handoff, and the box fell to the floor.

  Renee and John shouted at him, but quickly stopped when the box hit the floor and flew open. The green light engulfed the room with a flash and sunk back in on itself. The three of them shielded their eyes from the light and saw the bands had broken. The seal no longer worked and the monster within regenerated. Firelight glowed bright and the flames flickered.

  The three of them poised themselves, ready for a fight; waiting for the beast to come out swinging. Renee threw her long red hair up and out of the way. It had become customary for her to braid it when they went hunting.

  "Get ready!" Renee grabbed a blade off the dresser and handed it to her brother, who was still a novice at slaying beasts, even though he was three years her senior.

  "I got this," he said with a cocky breath, and they all moved back to brace themselves.

  The form became whole and the firelight subsided. They didn't see the monster they expected. John stepped in front of his children as they witnessed the form of the beast changing. Its first form was a tall, wolf-like beast. Standing on two hind legs, it towered over John. The form didn’t stay that way for long.

  The beast itself didn’t seem to know what was going to happen. He tried to attack, but its body betrayed its movements. The beast changed form again. It shrunk down to John’s height. Its back haunches flattened down to the floor, resembling feet more than paws. Its hair, covering the entire length of it, fell to the floor in piles of ash. The hunch of its back straightened so it stood like a man, no longer an animal. The flames in its eyes went out, and they turned blue as ice. The hair on its head was a golden blond, and the skin on its chest glowed with the sigil of luce. It was no longer a beast or a monster. It was a man. He looked blankly at the three of them, braced and armed. He didn’t flinch. He didn’t so much as move. He looked confused.