The Infamous Beast

by T Shadow

  “Guys… not to sound abrupt, but I think you should answer her…” the little tiger murmurs beneath her hood.

  It’s only the stupidest one of us that answers back with a whisper, “Why would we do that? She’s clearly crazy!”

  “I think you should hear her out, Landy.”

  “It’s Landon!” Rose colours his cheeks as he whisper-shouts.

  The hoodie clad tiger shifter rolls her eyes at his child like behaviour. You would never believe that Landon was once one of the highest ranking soldiers in the Lord’s Guard, would you, not with that petty mouth. The only honorable thing to do right now would be to answer Remi’s strange as fuck question. Which means I have to be the one to take one for the team. I fucking hate this team.

  “Why would y-you ask the beast R-Rem?”

  Positive reinforcements, I’ve used the term of endearment card. Establish a nickname, create boundaries, answer the fucking question you crazy, beautiful creature.

  “Well, Kid, I ask the beasts because…” Spinning in a flurry of copper locks and coat tails, she dramatically stops in front of Landon, her nose millimeters from his, “The beasts do not lie!”

  I feel my face draining of colour at the exact same time that Landon’s does, Finn’s eyes go wide from the revelation, and Remington... well, Remington looks like someone kicked the cat again.

  “How do you know that?”

  “What a great question Remington, how about I show you!”

  Pulling back as she stands in the center of the room, I watch paralysed as I see the skin on Remi’s face start to ripple with nervous energy and agitation. Almost like when one piece of thread is ripped from a voodoo doll, it’s like she’s literally coming apart at the seams.

  Closing my eyes so I don’t have to witness the horrific transformation, I heard the endless cracking of bones and the tearing of flesh as she transforms into her unknown creature. The first shift you experience feels like forever, and this… this feels the same way. Only when the horrific sounds stop do I open my eyes and look back to where she stood. Expecting a wolf or something as equally as normal, I’m shocked when I see the creature there that I least expect.

  In front of me, a meter or so away from my face, is a fully grown, white iridescent Drakaina. My jaw hangs open, my eyes scanning every aspect of her whilst the others do the same. Mika looks up at this beast as if she’s a lifelong hero, and Zachariah looks at the creature with some sort of hesitation, and us guys… We’re staring at her like we can’t believe our eyes.

  It’s only when she opens her maw do we get the shock of our lives.

  “I’m the worst kind of monster…

  Because

  I’m

  in

  your

  head.”

  A sharp, burning pain flashes through my brain and across my temples before I plummet to the ground in an anti-climatic fashion. The world fades to black, and I’m sure I catch the sound of three other bodies hitting the floor before I inevitably pass out.

  It isn’t the first time I’d seen Remi’s beast and I doubt it will be the last, but every time I see that large ferocious beast, I look up at her in wonder.

  When I first met her all those years ago, I never thought that she would be a legendary Drakaina, let alone one on the run. Okay, so she never actually said that she was on the run, but everyone who comes here is on the run, so it wasn’t too hard to work it out.

  I wouldn’t say that she confided in me, because that’s not her style although I can assume that she’s been the same snarky dragon her entire life. No, the way that I found out, is that I quite literally hounded her for months. I wasn’t new here myself, but the only person who was in any way similar to me was Verity, and she isn’t here often.

  She opened up that bookstore Nevermore Than Enough Books, which the locals thought was a weird name for a shop, but not me. Ever since it opened on the first day, I was the first tiger in the door from sunup to sundown, and it never bothered Remi. She did tell me once or twice that it was clearly a shop, and not a ‘try before you buy’ experience, but she never once kicked me out. I think she had a soft spot for me, even back then. Before I told her my story.

  I’m sure she saw herself in me, and without spilling too many details. I came to the conclusion about the rest— she said she was hiding away and that no one could ever know what she was, if they did, it meant certain, inevitable death. And because I always felt dead on the inside, I said, “it must be a secret worth dying for then.”

  That statement stunned her more than I expected it too. I said it fleetingly, jokingly. But she saw right through that.

  But I never saw right through her, past all of her flesh and tissue, right down to the bone, until now. The four dragons coming to town set her off, and it was then that her Drakaina took over. It’s a funny thing— you hear about dragons being the superior race, but no one mentions the deadly side effects of hardly or never shifting. Caging the beast is never a good idea, even if it is in their best interest.

  Paranoid for years prior to this, whilst only being able to shift once a month and never take to the skies, Remi’s Drakaina— whose name I still don’t know— is on the precipice of full on savage. I would know this, because it’s only been a few hours since she’s shifted, allowing the creature to smell fresh air with its own nose, but the beast still lingers on the sidelines.

  It would probably explain why she dismissed Zachariah at the drop of a hat and then proceeded to tie the men to the dining table chairs whilst they were still incapacitated. Where did she even get the ropes and cable-ties from anyway?

  Going all out as usual Remi has tied all the men to separate chairs, and then cable-tied the ropes together so that it’s a little harder to break out of them. It wouldn't have been a piece of cake had they not have been knocked out by her little parlour trick. The sight of her shocked them to the core. It was written across their faces for us all to see. Which is odd, I mean, wouldn’t they have been brought up around female dragons their entire lives? What makes a Drakaina so different? As far as I’m concerned, they’re just female dragons... right?

  Questioning Remi’s creature makes me lose track of what she's actually doing. So far, she’s moved on from being cunning, cold and calculated to pre-pubescent humour. Which is great, right? There’s nothing more pre-pubescent than drawing dicks on people’s faces. Fortunately, she’s chosen the two biggest pompous donkeys to display her artwork. The Alpha of the group, Remington, which is coincidentally funny, and Landon, the one who wishes he was in charge. Both have multiple chodes on their faces. Remi isn’t selective, there's short ones, thick ones, long ones, veiny ones, all drawn with immaculate detail and precision. It’s a wonder why she does what she does, but sometimes you just don’t question the method in the madness.

  As she stands back to survey her masterpiece, I take the chance to check on my best friend. Physically she is fine, no fractured bones or broken skin, but her brain is going to short circuit soon if she doesn’t let that beast live a little. I pull my hood down, letting it rest gently on my shoulders and the action catches her attention. She’s still smiling from the permanent marker dick endeavour, but her eyes look over me from head to toe to check if I’m okay.

  “Nice dicks Remi, a bit childish though don’t you think?”

  I don’t even have the opportunity to finish my sentence before she starts to laugh. It’s not dainty and cute or predatory and sinister, but it’s one of those full belly laughs, the ones where you remember what you did or what made you laugh, and start laughing all over again. To add insult to injury, she grabs her stomach and drops down onto the blood carpet floor with a dramatic flair, laughing without care.

  “Oh gosh! I haven’t done this since I was in the guard! Let’s see if the other two dob them in!”

  “What do you mean, dob them in?”

  “Well when we used to do it, centuries ago, we wouldn’t tell the people who had the dicks. They’d end up walking around like
it all day.”

  Ah, prepubescent bloke humour, got it.

  Because I am not an artist and I don’t have a permanent marker like she does, I do the next best thing. Picking Lucius up off of the chair that he’s still residing on, I look at him in his sleep-plagued eyes and whisper, “now Lucius, I want you to sit on one of the guy’s laps, and growl at them whenever they speak.”

  His ear twitches in response to my own prank, which is good. Me and the fox have an understanding like no other. “Personally, I would sit on the geek’s lap. No, not the book geek, the computer geek.” He tilts his head to the left and looks at me, confused. His expression literally says “uh, why?”

  “Cause he’s scared of you, dummy.” I boop his little wet nose with my index finger and he growls half-heartedly. He follows up his foxy warning with a lick of his chops with his little mlem mlem and that’s when I know that he loves me.

  “Huh, I love how he’s so loving towards you, but treats me like I’m a second rate servant.”

  “That’s because I’m the bringer of food, Remi.”

  “Yep, and you’ll be the reason that he gets fat.”

  “Never!”

  Our banter over Lucius’ well being has gone on forever. I’ve been constantly accused of fattening the animal up for slaughter. But no, I’m just making sure he’s winter ready. There’s nothing wrong with extra fluff.

  Gently placing the overly large vermin on the youngest Dragon’s lap, I survey my handywork. Lucius remains in the same curled up ball that he did on the sofa, but I can see his little paws holding onto the white wash denim jeans for dear life. Paired with his geeky computer shirt, jeans, combat style boots and loose knit cardigan, Leland looks like he fell on a clothing rack and picked up the first items he laid eyes on. But strangely enough, the whole combination looks somewhat good on him, especially with this round, Harry Potter style glasses.

  The others… well, Landon looks one step away from being a classic American jock— the only thing he’s missing is that God awful letterman jacket. Dark denim jeans paired with trainers and a short sleeved v-neck, he looks like the epitome of a lad on the pull. His dirty blonde hair is tousled, but yet still stylish. It beats Lelands ‘I’ve-been-running-my-hands-through-my-hair-repeatedly’ look by a mile.

  That arsehole, the Alpha… He looks as pompous as ever in his tailor made fitted three-piece suit. It’s different to the one he wore to the bar a week or so ago, this one is a royal blue with pinstripes, but he’s also paired the ensemble with silver cufflinks and tie clip, which holds down the outrageously green tie. Seriously, who pairs emerald green with royal blue? What is he trying to be, a fucking peacock? My favourite colour is black, but even I know what is considered a fashion faux pas. I bet he’s one step away from pure old-school traditions, all he’s missing is the antique pocket watch, cane and a top hat.

  Finnegan, our answer to Ireland’s best kept secret is slumped in his armchair with his book balancing precariously on the edge of the side table. Remi opted to leave him on a comfy chair considering he’s been nothing less than gentlemanly. He likes books, check, introduced himself like a normal human being, check, spoke nicely to Mr. Grigori at the supermarket, check and because he wasn’t at all creepy whilst doing it, he earns bonus points. Ding ding ding! We have a winner! His style is a mix between all three— instead of wearing jeans and a t-shirt, he’s wearing trousers with suede Chelsea boots and a button down shirt, smart and casual without looking like he hasn’t slept in a week or he sweats alcohol.

  For all intents and purposes, I think I will refer to them from one to four, Finnegan being one because he’s currently Remi’s favourite, Leland close behind with his contagious cuteness at number two, and Landon and Remington can be joint-fourth, considering they’re both arseholes.

  Spot number three is vacant and we’re currently accepting applications.

  Moving from her curled up spot on the floor, Remi checks the binds for any weaknesses before moving away and sitting in the armchair that Zacariah occupied before this whole debacle. Shifting slightly to make herself comfortable, she fidgets around until she abandons the idea of sitting calmly altogether.

  “I don’t think I can sit still... I’m too nervous.”

  Her pacing demonstrates her nervousness perfectly. It’s too fast paced and random to be considered ‘thoughtful’ pacing. It’s more along the lines of ‘oh-shit-I-fucked-up’ pacing.

  “Maybe you should let your beast out… speaking of beast, you never told me her name.”

  Her pacing stops immediately. It’s unnerving how Remi and her beast are always somewhat present. The ability to switch between them is uncanny.

  “She doesn’t have a name… We share our name.”

  “You share?”

  She splutters, stupefied, “well, yes. Years ago, you and your beast learned to become one, not separate entities.”

  “Oh…”

  “And as one, you are stronger. So yes, as creepy as it is… we’re both Remi.”

  Awwwwkward.

  “So… can I just address you as Thing 1 and Thing 2?”

  I see the flash of humour across Remi’s face before her eyes shift to their eerily white hue, and that humour is replaced with a stone-cold expression. It’s pretty obvious that Remi takes no shit, and neither does the beast.

  “Alright, bad joke. Terrible joke, really. However, if you’re uncomfortable sitting as yourself, why don’t you let our girl Pearl out.”

  Beastie just narrows her eyes at me. “You know, because of your scales. Really cute with that iridescent white… I bet if you went in the sun, at the right angle you’d cast rainbows up the walls like crystals.”

  A twinkle in her eyes is the only indication that I said something considered a compliment. It’s nice to know that I can charm the pants off of a really fucking old dragon. It’s another day that I don’t get eaten or burned to a husk, so I consider it a win-win on my part.

  “Refraction is beautiful when it’s given the chance to show itself. C’mon, let your girl out, she needs it, and you know it.”

  Both Remi and her beast nod at me, which feels… gratifying. Seeing the sense in my suggestion, Remi begins to shift into her beast— a creature so mesmerising that though I have only seen her a few times before, I’m still in awe every time she shifts. She’s the most beautiful thing I have ever come across. Not that I have a crush on my best friend’s inner being, oh no no no…

  Turning my head away so she can shift without prying eyes, I scan the rest of the honeymoon suite. It looks like a Vampire Dominatrix’s wet dream, with red and black coating every possible surface. I’ve never really noticed it before, but the rooms here don’t really shout ‘appealing’ to the guests. Note to self: Tell Z and A to re-do their bedrooms before they attract some right weirdos.

  I feel the change in the air before a slight audible pop sounds from behind me. Turning slowly, I come face to face with that dragon again, who only just manages to squeeze her large frame into this slightly bigger than normal suite. Thank God for open planned rooms. Leaning up ever so slowly, I reach out to rub my hand against her maw, scratching under her chin gently until I hear a pleased grumble.

  “Hey girl,” I whisper, “I know it’s still a cage, but at least you got out. You gotta make Remi let you out more, you could go stay in the cave for a couple of days.” Shaking out of her relaxed state, she eyes me. “Just for a couple of days, I can stay with Lucius, and we’ll bring food. I’ll even bring the portable DVD player, and we can watch TV shows, you and me. Would you like that?” It’s comical as fuck, but she nods her head up and down as much as she can whilst the top of her back is pressed against the ceiling. Her tail on the other hand, is beating gently against the blood red carpet.

  “Okay, TV and dragon time, got it.” Moving her head away from my hand, she turns to look at the guys. They’re all peaceful, considering they’re still unconscious, but they’re in for a shock when they come too.

  “So
, we might be here a while…” I trail off, looking around the room. Remi eyes me from per peripheral, intrigued. “Shall we play a game to pass the time? We could play the ABC game?” I wait for the inevitable nod before I pull the armchair from the door over, and park my arse in it.

  “I’ll go first yeah? Okay. I spy with my little eye, something beginning with…” Looking around the room, I catch my clue. Turning to smile up at the predator above me, I whisper, “A.”

  •°•

  It takes her a while, but Remi eventually guesses “asshole”, and yes okay, it’s not how you’re supposed to play the game, but the Alpha is an asshole, and she said it first, so it counts.

  Playing the ABC game whilst Remi is in dragon stasis is less difficult than you imagine, considering I’m now semi-fluent in knowing the entire alphabet backwards, forwards and sideways. Considering it's now her turn, I run through the alphabet before she nods when I get to a particular letter.

  “Ah! ‘P’ alright then, P… P…” Looking around the room, nothing jumps out at me for being ‘P’, so I clarify, “Is this something in the room, or an insult to one of the guys…” Nodding twice, she indicates that it's about one of the guys. “Right, right, insults beginning with P…” looking down the line of boys, I start listing off insults like they’re groceries on a shopping list and I’m in a supermarket.

  “Prat? Nope, pillock? No you wouldn’t ever say that… What about pansy? Eh, you were around during World War One but you weren’t ever a fan of that homophobic slur.” I look at Leland, “puny? No..” Then Remington, “piece of shit? No that doesn’t count…” Settling on Landon, it hits me, “Ah-ha! Prick!”

  Turning to face Remi, I meet an elated gaze or at least, that’s what I imagine that a dragon would look like if they were elated, regardless, “that’s what it is, isn’t it Remi? Prick ey?” She nods her head up and down like one of those lucky cat ornaments. “Ding ding ding bitches, we have a winner!”

  I’m not sure if the stamping of my feet, the shouting or the grumbling from Remi’s throat is the reason why the boys start stirring, but nonetheless, our prank plan is in full effect. I tap Remi’s arm repeatedly— okay well technically it’s her leg but you know, it’s at the front of her body so is that her arm? I’ve never really had the time to ask if I’m honest— and get into position.