004 – Devil May Care

Time to Seal: 07:20

I trotted off the street into one of the narrower side alleys. The sensation of tearing through that hound’s throat, the taste, the sound. I couldn’t get it out of my head. My therapist had told me that I had an unhealthy tendency to bottle up emotions. And I really wanted to just curl up, scream, cry, weep, sleep. But that would disappoint Gabriel, and I could still feel that intense desire to not do that.

[“Where is my mind right now?”]

Gabriel chuckled at the question. “That, too, is a complicated topic. Think of your mind as a spell that’s in control of those shapes. But the connection goes both ways and the body still affects you back, through hormones and the like.”

There were less people outside than I had anticipated at this point. I could smell them, hiding in their homes.

[“Why did the question amuse you?”]

“I’ve had charges with similar classes and abilities before. The earliest I remember this specific question coming up was the fourth day.”

The reply sounded like praise and thus I felt my tail wag. I couldn’t wait for midnight, but right now this stupid shape was my best bet for survival.

I crossed a corner and felt something wrong before I could put my finger, paw, on why. Down the alley there was a man, fiddling with the lock on a metal door. Did he not notice how menacing that building was? I prowled closer. There were pulsing red veins running over the brickwork. No, not veins. It looked like that glyph the demon had cursed me with but stretched out into long, jagged lines of text.

The man wore a parka that had already seen better days, and he smelled of fear, blood, expensive cologne and gunpowder. Now closer, I could see that he was picking the lock. And that he had a shotgun slung over his shoulder. I switched my chat to ‘Local’.

[“Hey, you. Don’t go in there.”]

He ignored me and a moment later pulled the door open with a surprisingly light-hearted “Ha!”.

[“STOP! DON’T!”]

Shouldn’t his guide be telling him about the chat? About profane spaces? He took a step toward the entrance and I tried to shout at him. Which ended up being a bark, given my current shape. Duh.

He whipped around and pulled the gun up to his shoulder. Facing him up front, he looked nothing like I had expected. He was only in his early twenties, his soft-featured face looked like he smiled a lot. Long blonde hair was tied back into a ponytail and he wore a very well-fitting silken shirt and equally well-fitting leather pants.

But also he had the barrel of a shotgun trained at my snout and a wild expression on his face. I figured my best move would be to lie down. I had forgotten I was still covered in that hound’s ichor.

He blinked, lowering the barrel a bit. “You’re just a dog?”

For simplicity’s sake, I nodded. Or tried to. It was rather uncomfortable lying down like this.

“Did you just… nod?”

I nodded again.

“What the hell.”

[“Exactly, my friend. Now please read your goddamn chat.”]

I switched chats to ‘Guides’ again.

[“Why isn’t his guide telling him about his chat?”]

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Gabriel sounded puzzled. “I honestly can’t tell. They should have warned him about this space, too. It is rather obvious.”

I slowly crept closer, sticking low to the ground. Not wanting to give up on this form just yet, I had to resign to simpler communication.

He fully lowered the gun and crouched down. “You don’t mean to harm me, do you?”

Dog people. If those hounds could disguise their true nature, how many people would just happily crouch down, putting their throats into very murderable distance, just because they were hard-wired to like dogs? I couldn’t even blame them. I liked dogs, too.

When he held out his hand for me to smell, I gently bit his sleeve and pulled him away. He straightened and pulled the arm away from me.

“Sorry, boy, but I’m nearly out of shells and I’d like a reserve gun or two. I have no idea where your owners are, but sadly there is an Apocalypse going on, and monsters are roaming the streets.”