Chapter One
Tssssssss! My back collided with a scalding pipe that singed fur and skin on impact. The heat was so intense that it caused flesh to cauterize instantly. I let out a pained roar that would make strongmen quiver in their boots. A mixture of scalded flesh and fur ripped away as I fell forward. The adrenaline pumping through my body dulled the pain entirely. My feline body twisted and righted itself in midair, allowing me to land on my feet.
Not for the first time, and definitely not the last, I was locked in a battle to the death. In front of me stood a creature of nightmares. It hunched over with one hand on the floor to support itself, and its foul stench overpowered even the tiger's nose. This creature lived in the sewers of New York City and had been dragging people off the street for food. The police department had chalked up the disappearances to a serial killer, which wasn't that far from the truth.
Except this killer wasn't human.
Being seven feet tall, seven hundred pounds, and covered in white-and-black striped fur usually made me the scariest thing in the room.
Usually.
I pulled my lips back into a snarl, baring massive feline teeth. A low rumble of a growl emanated from my throat. I kept my eyes locked onto the creature as it stood up to its full seven-foot height and let out a blood-curdling scream. That’s when I noticed two very long and very sharp-looking blades slide out of its elbows. The monster was covered head to tail in hard, interlocking scales that gave it protection like plated armor. At the end of its tail was a nasty spiked club. Each of its fingers ended in dangerous flesh-ripping claws and a disgusting green drool dripped from its teeth.
It locked eyes with me and I felt every muscle in my body tense up and coil for the fight. My tail was held straight back, ready to adjust for every movement I would have to make, and five-inch claws unsheathed from my dinner-plate-sized hands. I had to play this just right. If I mistimed the attack, those elbow blades would rip right into me. So I had to wait for it to make the first move. I was now on the defense and both of us knew it.
The seconds that ticked away felt like hours. Each one of my senses was focused on the monster in front of me, searching for any sign of movement, any indication of where it was going to attack. I knew where I had to strike. It was the soft flesh hidden between the plates of its throat.
It leapt!
Time almost came to a stop for the tiger. There wasn’t any creature on Earth that challenged the big cat and lived. Its reflexes were incredible. The monster’s blades were angled to pierce my sides. I guess it didn’t know that it shouldn’t leave its stomach open like that. I let every bit of feline reflex I had take over. I leapt to meet it in mid-air and performed something a feline would never do. The monster’s blades grazed the thick shaggy fur that covered me from head to toe, and I connected belly to belly with it.
My arms fully extended to grip the creature in a bear hug to keep us close. It wasn’t expecting that, and we rolled across the floor. The cat knew what came next. Its animal instincts fought to take control, but I held them at bay…Mostly. I could feel the arteries in its neck throbbing just beneath its skin, and at this close of a distance those plates of armor couldn’t stop a predator’s teeth from getting between them. I pinned the monster to the ground, saw the vulnerable spots open, and let my teeth sink into the soft flesh. A bitter taste washed into my mouth as blood began to spurt from the now-severed arteries.
The creature was in a full panic now. Its arms flailed like mad, thrashing as it tried flinging me off of it, but my jaws were locked into its flesh and my hands pressed down on the creature’s chest with seven hundred pounds of me on top of it. The armor plating did nothing now. My jaws were clamped shut, crushing what was once its throat. I could feel bones crunch under the massive pressure and my claws pressed down onto its chest. The monster was losing blood, and quickly. With all the muscle I had, I pulled my head back and ripped its throat out. A fountain of blood poured over me as it let out a gurgling death wail. I felt its body go limp and my own relaxed. The monster was dead and I stood over its body letting out a triumphant roar that thundered through the cavernous sewer tunnels.
I stepped off of the corpse and I began to change back to human. The snapping of bone echoed lightly in the air as joints changed direction. My fur washed away as if water were being poured on top of me. Death-dealing claws shrank as nimble fingers began to replace them. I could feel the powerful jaw muscles vanish as human ones took their place. Vicious teeth became flat and dull while my ears rounded out as they slid down to the sides of my head. The cat’s tail shriveled into my spine and I stood upright. I learned a long time ago how to keep my clothes intact while shape-shifting. It’s a massive pain to deal with being naked or your clothes in shreds.
That was my thing. I could change into just about any animal I needed.
Sort of…
The human silhouette stayed. Everything else was negotiable. Fur, feathers, scales, teeth, claws. Useful ability in a city where vampires, werewolves, and nearly every other thing people swear isn’t real actually are.
Except Bigfoot. That’s just ridiculous.
Then suddenly the smell in the sewer hit me in a way that made my stomach turn. Yes, my sense of smell was stronger as a feline, but the tiger didn’t know what disgust was. The tiger wasn’t grossed out because it couldn’t be. I, the human, was. I doubled over and vomited from the stench of sewage and the monster’s blood pooling beneath its body before looking for a manhole cover to climb up out of. I wasn’t worried about the body because there were plenty of harmless creepy crawlies that were scavengers and had no interest in humans. As soon as I was gone, I knew they would be all over the body. People would never even know anything had happened there.
I found a ladder and began my climb to the surface. I hooked an arm around the top rung and pushed the cover up. Luckily it was around one AM and no one was around. Not that people would’ve stopped to look twice. In this city, someone coming out of a manhole in the middle of the night isn’t the strangest thing people have seen. The fresh air hit me and it felt glorious. Clean air. Air that didn’t smell like sewage. I pulled myself up and replaced the manhole cover.
“Now to figure out where I am,” I said to no one.
That was simple enough. It’s really hard to actually get lost in NYC. I had been in that sewer system for a few hours tracking that creature. I almost lost it until it stopped for Lord knows what. The papers would eventually say the killer had moved on, fled, or whatever story they’d write up because the disappearances would stop. Once I situated myself, I began my fairly long walk home.
Home was a small one-bedroom apartment in the city. Keys were something that I really couldn’t bring with me, so I usually left the front door locked and climbed up the fire escape and into the window.
Someone climbing a fire escape in a neighborhood like mine wasn't exactly headline news. People kept to themselves. I wasn't worried about anyone breaking in either. There wasn't much worth stealing besides the laptop I used to track news.
Living here was cheap and I paid the rent yearly as opposed to monthly because it was easier that way. The landlord didn’t care what I did so long as he got his money. I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and made my way toward the bathroom. If I hadn’t been caked in blood, grime, and Lord knows what else, I would have forgone the shower and dropped onto the mattress to pass out then and there, but I needed a shower…Desperately.
My hand turned the hot water handle and it gave way with a creak as the water started to spatter out of the shower head. It took a few seconds before heat actually came through. My shirt came off and fell to the floor. The mirror in front of the sink began to fog up, and I used my hand to wipe it dry. For a moment I almost didn’t recognize the face looking back at me. It wasn’t covered in fur, feathers, or scales. Just normal human skin. There weren’t fierce animal eyes looking back at me. It was a face that I honestly wasn’t used to seeing anymore, almost like looking at a stranger. I stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain closed. The hot water felt like a million bombers attacking my skin all at once, and it felt glorious. The muck and smells from the sewers washed down my body as it went down the drain back to where it came from. The water was turned off and I grabbed the towel off the door to dry off while walking to my bedroom. I grabbed a clean set of clothes out of the broken dresser and quickly threw them on before dropping onto the mattress that lay in the corner of the room.
Looking up at the ceiling, I almost instantly felt the weight of my eyes forcing them closed. I could feel the exhaustion washing over me as reality slipped away and I was pulled into sleep, and I didn’t mind it at all. Sleep. It was something that I treasured because, like most people, I didn’t get a lot of it. I got used to not getting a full night’s sleep a long time ago, and when I did get to sleep, it never truly felt restful. Having to sleep with one eye open will do that to you. It just kind of goes with the territory.
My eyes sprang open when I heard a heavy metallic bang from the living room. They flickered to a golden yellow as I jumped up from my mattress and pressed myself against the wall to try and make myself less visible through the crack in the doorway. I was as quiet as a human could be while trying to get a look as to what made the noise. Best-case scenario, it was a rat that knocked something over, or a standard run-of-the-mill burglar. Another option was something that went bump in the night; that would be a little more difficult to handle. The last thing I wanted right now was a fight. I just wanted to sleep.
The changes came quickly. White-and-black striped fur raced across my skin as muscle packed onto my frame. The room brightened as the tiger's senses took over. Pointed ears climbed my head.
I could hear whoever had made the mistake of coming into my apartment breathing. A few seconds later I stood seven feet tall and seven hundred pounds of very annoyed cat. Ready to strike.
With the changes complete, I could now be completely silent as I moved, freezing completely to become invisible to the human eye in the dark.
I took in a few quick breaths to catch the scent again. It was definitely human. So it was just some idiot trying to find something to steal. Relief washed over me, but it didn’t last long. I relaxed to let my body change back to human. I didn’t need to kill whoever this was. My hand reached for the doorknob and very noisily pushed it further open to let him know I was home. Thieves generally don’t like confrontation and will run at the slightest indication that there might be one. Only I didn’t hear him run, I didn’t hear him scatter, I didn’t hear anything.
“Listen. Just get out. There’s nothing here that’s worth anything. I’m not even gonna call the cops. Just leave.” If you took a look around the apartment, you would very quickly see that what I said was true. I waited for a response but none came. As if he were waiting for me. “Dude, I really don’t need this. Leave and I won’t hurt you. Honestly, I just want to get some sleep.” I heard the door to the apartment close and I let out a sigh. It was one of exhaustion more than relief. Maybe I should get a dog or something. I had to go to the bathroom so I walked through the hall and glanced into the living room to see the light still on, a note on the table, and my door unlocked. I was half expecting to see “I’m sorry” written on the sheet. I picked it up and read it. A Long Island City intersection had been hastily scribbled across the page.
Woodside Ave. & 58th St. 10 PM tomorrow.
That cross street was in the middle of Queens under the seven train. There was nothing there, nothing important anyway. There was a bagel shop, a school, and that’s about it. Looking over to the clock, I saw that it was four in the morning. I had only been asleep for two hours and I was desperate to sleep. Whatever this was, I had some time to figure out what I was going to do.