The return of villainess

"Wake up!" a voice whispered.

Mom? Lisa thought absently, before rolling over and going back to sleep. She was too tired.

She wasn't going to school today.

"Wake up, quick!" the voice insisted.

Wait. That was a man's voice. And her mother hadn't lived with her since she moved out to attend college.

Lisa woke up with a start, disoriented and confused. The air was cold, and she shivered as the chill breeze hit her skin despite the furs.

"Listen" Alec whispered, it was him who had spoken to her earlier. "Get up slowly and don't make a sound."

Now fully awake, Lisa looked around. The area lit up for a second before everything went dark again. The brief flash revealed only a burning campfire and several sleeping bodies, some in rabbit form. She looked up at the sky. It was dark, no stars in sight, but occasionally a lightning flash lit up the cloudy sky and cut through the darkness. Other than that, everything seemed normal to her.

Then she heard the sound. At first, she thought it was thunder, but quickly dismissed the thought.

A clicking noise, like teeth chattering violently, echoed not far away, followed by a whistling sound that sliced through the night, sounding much closer. The noise sent chills down Lisa's spine.

She stared at Alec with questioning eyes. He simply put a finger to his lips and helped her to her feet.

The clicking sound continued, seeming to come from the surrounding forest, but none of the other beast-men seemed to notice. Several huddled on the ground, clearly asleep.

Alec was pale and sweating as he guided her in the only direction where the strange noise wasn't coming from.

Lisa still didn't understand what was going on. Why were they moving? She tried to stop, but Alec just urged her forward with quick steps.

"We have to get out of here" he whispered.

His urgency was enough to make Lisa uneasy.

Then the first scream echoed. Lisa looked back toward the camp and instantly regretted it.

A flash of lightning lit up a nightmarish sight. Grotesque things with thin legs and long bodies, moving on all fours and completely hairless, pounced on the resting rabbit-men.

Screams rang out from the camp, sounds of pain and terror spread so quickly that soon everyone was awake. Lisa stared in disbelief at one of the creatures attacking a rabbit-man.

The male, who'd been startled awake, fought and screamed, but the creature didn't seem to care. It was too busy... eating.

It was devouring him alive.

Lisa felt like she was going to throw up.

Monsters. They were monsters.

How could she forget such a fundamental part of this world? It wasn't just the casual violence of the beast-men that made this place dangerous.

Real monsters lived and hunted in these lands, killing and devouring anything alive.

A bright lightning bolt was followed by thunder crashing right above them, announcing rain, as a cold breeze swept over her body. The grotesque creature lifted its eyes from its now-limp prey and looked straight at her.

Lisa felt her whole body go numb and cold with fear.

"Run!" Alec shouted.

He didn't need to say it twice. Lisa ran, stumbling over herself in the rush. Alec pulled her along, moving swiftly through the dark forest without tripping.

Lisa wasn't so lucky. She never considered herself clumsy, but as she ran, she tripped on every branch and root. Without the campfire's light, the forest was pitch-black, lit only at intervals by flashes of lightning.

Another thunderclap roared, louder now, and Lisa could smell the rain.

What about the other beast-men left at the camp? What happened to them? Alec was a two-stripe male, and even he ran from those creatures, what could the others do? Lisa swallowed hard, feeling like she already knew the answer.

A branch scraped against her left arm, and Lisa groaned, feeling the area burn. It was too dark, and the sporadic lightning flashes weren't enough to light the way. The thick tree branches and dense foliage blocked the little light that managed to filter through. More than once, Lisa ran at full speed only to stop abruptly when a lightning flash revealed a tree right in front of her. If not for Alec, she would've already slammed into one and knocked herself out.

"Hang in there a little longer, female" he said, still with a trace of urgency in his voice.

That's when she heard the clicking of teeth again in the silent night. It sounded close.

"We're being followed" Alec said.

Lisa panicked. She didn't want to be eaten alive by one of those things.

Soon they were changing direction, and Alec led her to a tree slightly taller than the others. Around its base, several tall, thick bushes were tangled together so densely they formed a sort of small dome, or a large, dark burrow. That was where Alec led her.

"Crouch here" he whispered to her. "judging by the sound, I think the monster is alone, I'll lure it away, then come back."

Lisa grabbed him tightly, shaking her head.He was going to leave her alone in this dark place? No, she had always been afraid of the dark, and this place was way too scary when she didn't even know what was nearby, now that she had seen one of those creatures, how was she supposed to stay there, waiting for one to find her?

A whistling sound echoed not far from them.

Alec pushed her down into the bushes until she was crouching under the cover of branches and moved the leaves around her.

"I'll be back. Don't move and don't come out."

Lisa whimpered, scared. Now more than ever, she wished she could speak, to tell him no, that she'd rather risk it with him and a monster than be left alone. Wasn't it him who said the forest was a dangerous place?

But she couldn't talk, and after hiding her deep in the underbrush, Alec turned and ran in the opposite direction.

Lisa felt the fear take over. What if Alec was abandoning her, pretending to keep her safe when really he was leaving her to be a monster's meal? It made sense. Why would he risk himself to save her?

She curled up, trying to seem smaller, motionless and silent. That's when the creature passed. At a terrifying speed, the skinny, ugly, four-legged monster ran about ten meters in front of her, a whistle escaping its mouth as it moved. It was pale, and Lisa almost gagged at the stench of rotting meat wafting from it in the wind.

Everything happened quickly, and in an instant the creature passed by, continuing in the direction Alec had gone without noticing her hidden nearby.

She trembled, her whole body shaking uncontrollably. Her arm throbbed, pulsing with her heartbeat. Almost, if the creature had turned her way, she... Lisa didn't dare finish the thought.

A wet drop landed on her back, then another, and another. Lisa looked up, only for more to fall on her face. She touched it. Water.

It was raining. In seconds, more water poured from the sky, thick, cold drops falling fast. Few hit Lisa, hidden as she was in the bushes beneath a large tree, but the ones that did were cold enough to make her shiver. The scent of rain also grew stronger, and the sound of droplets hitting the ground was loud all around her, that almost made her miss the second creature.

A lightning bolt cracked loudly, closer than the others. The flash blinded her, and for a moment Lisa saw nothing, her ears ringing from the blast. The rain came down harder, the sound of drops cracking on the ground.

Only when her vision cleared did she notice the sound cracking hadn't come from the rain, but another monster. Following the same path as the last, the creature was sniffing the ground.

Lisa shook, her scalp tingling, frozen in place.

As dark as it was, she only saw something white, crouched among the trees, its head tilted, but the foul stench was unmistakable.

Dear God.

Another flash of lightning lit the creature, and Lisa nearly fainted. The thing seemed to be looking in her direction.

She didn't dare breathe out loud. She put her hand over her mouth and closed her eyes.

Go away, go away, go away... she repeated dozens of times in her mind. The smell of rotting meat grew stronger. Lisa opened her eyes.

The creature was right in front of her.

Lisa held her breath. A lightning flash lit up the scene, and she finally saw it up close. The monster had completely black eyes, no irises or pupils. Its body, what she had thought was hairless, had no skin at all, only raw muscle exposed. Straight, clenched teeth like a human's clicked together, making the same sound she'd heard before.

The creature was thin, nearly skeletal, standing on four limbs, huge, sharp claws scraping the ground. It breathed through two deep holes in its face and moved closer to where she was hiding.

Tears fell from her face, and Lisa almost gave herself away with a sob. The creature looked around and finally passed her, continuing on. The rain grew heavier and Lisa hoped the monster would leave sooner. Her arm burned painfully and something thick seemed to be dripping from it. She touched her shoulder and brought the substance to her nose. It smelled like iron.

That's when the creature, now farther away, turned, whistling in her direction, and began running toward her.

She screamed, a guttural, terror-filled sound tore from her mouth as the monster approached.

Lisa ran. One moment she was crouched in the bushes, the next she was scrambling to get out. Instinct took over, and only one thought filled her mind: run.

Lisa felt her body burn and ache. She turned, jumping and darting through the forest. Suddenly everything seemed clearer. Air filled her lungs, and her claws dug into the ground. She burst out from under the tree. Rain fell on her, soaking her skin, but Lisa didn't care, she just knew she had to run.

Behind her, she heard the creature's footsteps, its heavy claws striking the ground almost as loudly as the thunder above. Since when could she hear that well?

Lisa kept running, dodging branches and trees at high speed with wild reflexes. The creature whistled, but it sounded farther away now. She was faster.

She was faster? That thought snapped Lisa out of her focused state. How could she be faster than that monster? She looked around. And why were the roots bigger? How could she see so clearly?

Then Lisa realized. It wasn't the roots that were bigger, she was smaller.

Lisa had transformed. She wasn't human anymore, her claws, her reflexes, her night vision proved one thing: Lisa had transformed. She was a cat now, the same animal the villainess turned into in the book.

The realization made her stumble. The four legs that had been flowing smoothly over the ground tangled awkwardly. Lisa fell. She slid down a slope, scraping herself until she hit the bottom.

She whimpered, the sound coming out like a strange meow. Panic mixed with excitement overwhelmed her. How did she do that?

The sound of heavy claws on the ground behind her caught her attention. The monster was closer now.

Lisa was gasping, cold and exhausted. Rain poured over her, and the ground was muddy and slick. The creature was bigger, how could she outrun it without collapsing?

A thought crossed her mind as she looked at the trees around her. Cats climb trees.

Lisa ran, digging her claws into the nearest tree trunk and tried to climb, only to fail. A whistling sound echoed behind her. Looking back, she saw the monster descending the slope. It was close.

Desperate, Lisa tried again. She focused everything on climbing, and slowly, her claws pulled her up. She was climbing.

Lisa raced upward toward the nearest branch. Finally, soaked, trembling, scratched and covered in mud, she made it up.

Below, the creature had reached the bottom of the slope and ran up to the tree, eyes locked on her.

Heart pounding, Lisa watched it rise on its hind legs, trying to climb. It tried again and again, only to fall each time.

At last, Lisa allowed herself to relax. She had made it. Heart still racing, she sat down, feeling exhausted, a strange euphoria washing over her.

The monster couldn't climb. She was going to survive.

"I think I found a kitty" a man's voice said, nearby.

Lisa turned slowly and saw a completely naked man sitting just above her.

Shit.

Apparently, the monster wasn't her only problem.