An Interesting Begining

Victoria braced against the wall, watching as the thing hunched over Matt.

The thing had been a man when he'd pulled Matt off of her, but he'd changed in a blink. He was now covered in red brown fur, and stood as tall as the man had been. Paws tipped with long black claws gripped Matt's shoulders and a narrow snout full of sharp teeth snarled in Matt's face.

The thing lunged at Matt's neck, biting into it. Its claws tore Matt open from shoulder to belly before it dropped Matt to the ground and crouching over him. The thing bit a chunk out of Matt, throwing his head back to gulp it down.

Matt had grabbed her into the alley as she'd passed by on the street. Catching hold of her braids, he'd pulled her along, dragging her past several buildings and into an alcove, then picking up a rock to slam against the wall beside her head. Muttering about how now she'd pay attention to him. She'd never paid attention to him because he'd never paid attention to her. They'd been locker neighbours who'd never exchanged two words before now.

A man wearing a black bill cap over dyed red hair had appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the rock. He'd thrown it hard enough to chip the bricks on the building opposite and pushed Matt against the wall before changing into something all sharp teeth and claws.

Now Matt lay where he'd been dropped, wheezing. Kicking and hitting out ineffectively, his movements getting slower and weaker.

Victoria's first thought, as she watched frozen, had been werewolf. Skipping past her previous assumption that werewolves weren't real, because real and not real no longer set in her mind. But the colouring, pointed muzzle and the big bushy tail were...wrong for a wolf. But if people could turn into wolves, why couldn't they turn into foxes? She shook her head to switch her focus. Whatever the thing was, she needed to get out of here.

With the thing focused on Matt, Victoria edged away, moving quietly and carefully towards where the alley opened up onto the street.

Matt was still breathing, laboured and raspy, but parts of him were just...gone. Victoria had to force herself to breathe slowly and smoothly as her breath tried to hitch in time with his.

The thing took another bite from Matt's belly and pushed him with its nose so that he rocked on the ground, sitting back to watch like a cat with a mouse, waiting to see if it moved.

Victoria took a step back, and another and had almost reached the corner of the alcove where it opened into the alley, when her shoe slipped on a pebble. It was such a little sound, but the Thing's ears twitched and he raised his head up to look at her.

Eyes flashing orange with reflected light, like a cat in the dark, he rose and took a step towards her.

Victoria gasped, then forced herself to take a deep breath and step away from the wall to face him and curtsied. "Thank you for pulling him off me." He'd been her hero for a few seconds, worth a try to remind him of that, and politeness was sometimes rewarded when characters dealt with monsters in folk tales.

The thing tilted its head and smiled showing more and more sharp teeth. It was terrifying, but it paused its step forward, one paw raised.

They stood there for long seconds, Victoria and the giant, human size fox. She shifted nervously, and then tried to step back a bit, pretending she was just shifting her feet.

The thing grinned wider and took a big step forward and growled "Oh, you're welcome indeed. I haven't had a meal like this in ages."

Victoria stumbled back, eyes wide hearing him speak. His mouth had opened, but more to let the words out rather than shaping them "Yes, thank you. I'm just going to go now," her voice ran out and she finished in a small voice "please"

"Oh, don't go." he said, stepping forward again. "What if I'm still hungry?"

A surge of anger straightened Victoria's spine and she gestured towards what was left of Matt like a game show's assistant presenting a prize.

The thing barked a sharp laugh like a dogs yelp, looked back to glance at Matt who'd stopped moving and audibly breathing, then turned back to her before she could take a step away.

"Cold." There was amused admiration in its voice.

"Well he was going to brain me with a rock!" Victoria retorted "So if it's him or me, I'm voting for him."

"What if gobble him all up," the thing asked, stepping closer "but I'm still hungry?"

"Then I'll get you some burgers." she nodded for emphasis.

The thing tilted his head, no longer grinning, but with a sly smile that fortunately hid his teeth "Don't you think I should be stopped?"

Victoria spread her hands "I haven't seen you kill anyone but Matt, and it would've been self defence if I'd killed him, only I couldn't, and I don't think he'd have left me alone if he'd just been stopped, so I think...I mean...so, I guess you're my hero."

He tilted his head the other way "I'm your hero, so you would promise to bring me food, and would you promise not to tell?" He leaned forward "After all, I ate someone."

Victoria nodded "I'll bring you food and I don't owe Matt anything. As I said his death means I'm saved from being attacked, so I don't have any reason to tell anyone, especially since I...I'm not sure how to tell tell the truth and make anyone believe me."

It tilted its head, taking a small step towards her "I thought humans objected to eating people, on principle." the thing stepped forward again "Hunting down man eaters," another step "putting down animals that have tasted human blood."

She stood her ground, reminded again of a cat playing with its food. As for her concerns about the thing eating Matt...Victoria gestured at the body "waste not want not?"

The thing reared up on its hind legs, its mouth dropped open in a look of shock. It let loose a cackle, then began laughing, deep and long, until it could only gasp, leaning up against the wall.

Victoria took another breath "I promise to bring food back here, and not bring the police." she stepped back "Please, please let me go."

The thing, chortling, weakly waved a paw in a gesture she took as waving her away. Victoria backed away to the entrance of the ally, forcing herself not to run, not to give him any reason to give chase.

Once out on the street she ran.

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Victoria stood shifting her weight from foot to foot at the mouth of the alley holding three take away bags, peering into the shadows.

"Hello?" She called out.

There was a scuffling sound, and a man came round the corner of the alcove.

He was about her height with a black cloth mask and bill cap, wearing a loose red hoodie.

Red hair peaked out from under his hat, just like the hair the thing had had before he'd changed.

He stopped and stared at her. His eyes still glowed in the dim light outside the ally. Without the panic of before, Victoria noticed his eyes had slit pupils rimmed with orange with the iris gradating to yellow. She watched as his eyes darkened to brown, almost black, becoming human.

"You!" his voice was softer than the thing's had been, but recognizably its voice. he cleared his throat, then spoke again in a harsh whisper, belatedly trying to disguise his voice "you came back?"

Victoria nodded curtly "I promised. And I didn't like the idea of you still being hungry."

He went still "I'm full. I just wanted to scare you." he shrugged "It's hard to be nice when I'm like that."

"Yes, well. I was actually too terrified to break my promise. So I'm just going to leave these here." Victoria reached out to put down two of the bags just inside the alley.

Keeping the littlest bag for herself, she turned to walk away.

"What's in that bag?"

Victoria turned back to look at him, still moving away from the mouth of the alley.

"Comfort fries. You said I could go. Goodbye." She bobbed a curtsy, turned and hurried away.

The thing smiled to himself as he walked forward to pick up the bags. Looking inside, he saw a dozen wrapped burgers, smelling a mix of beef, chicken and cheese.

Shifting the bags to one hand, he patted the pocket where he'd put the contents of Matt's wallet and cell phone, which the thing had unlocked using the dead man's face. It was going to be a bit of work to dig out what information Matt had had on this girl, but he thought she was going to be well worth getting to know.

The thing's smile stretched into an enormous grin, his mouth opening nearly from ear to ear under his mask. He gave her a few minutes head start, then left the alley to follow.