by SL Perrine
The Beast
Within
Author: S.L. Perrine
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Test copyright © 2015 by SHANNON PERRINE
Jacket art copyright © 2015 by SHANNON PERRINE
Illustrations on endpapers, this page, this page copyright © 2015 by SHANNON PERRINE
All rights reserved. Self-published by Author.
ISBN-13: 978-1514663080
ISBN-10: 1514663082
For my husband and my wonderful children.
They are my inspiration.
-1-
The monster looked like a giant wolf, with razor sharp claws. Christina knew, once she saw the massive horns on its head, that this was no ordinary animal. Its fur was black and gray and its eyes looked like two spheres of fire set into its head with flames dancing in the iris.
The men camping in the woods began to hide quickly behind vehicles and tents, while Christina and her friend Tabby moved into action. The beast shot right for them, without even a thought to the rest of the crowd. Tabby was not the aggressive type, a hard ass in her own right, but not the knuckles to the pavement type like Chris. She had a small frame, only five foot three with mousy brown hair, that was currently braided into two. She looked like a confused schoolgirl, with her cutoff jeans, tattered flannel shirt and ratty sneakers. Some had come to think of her as Chris’ sidekick, but to Chris she was just her best friend.
The two took off through the woods. They had been hiding out in these woods for a few weeks and took up with campers along the way for food and warmth. Most of the men in the woods were out on hunting trips, so they were the types to look twice at a couple of young girls traveling alone. Chris used her charms to get them a seat around the fire alright, but as soon as anyone tried to come near them she set them straight. She wasn’t nearly as girlish as she looked.
They ran through the woods with the monster almost on top of them. Chris ran up the side of a tree, pushed off and circled around with a kick, which landed on the beasts shoulder. It flew backwards giving them time to get ahead of it. Tabby tripped over an uprooted tree and landed face first into the wet ground. Chris doubled back just as the monster caught up with them, it swiped at Tabby and drew blood as a single nail grazed across her forearm. The monster jumped over them, spun around and skid to a stop. It shot up three feet in height as it glared at them. With a wide open mouth it howled. Its mouth was large enough to hold a bowling ball; its teeth were pointed like ice picks. Tabby saw the flickering flames in its eyes and winced. The girls felt the heat from its nostrils as it exhaled smoke and steam. Chris jumped back and pushed Tabby to the side just as a massive paw came swinging through the air. The slight contact to her temple made her head feel as if it had been thrown from her shoulders. She flew backwards and saw her glasses go flying away from her. She caught herself, and as one foot and then the other landed on the ground she set off in the opposite direction of her friend. Just as she predicted the beast had followed. Her head was ringing and it was hard to concentrate, but a plan was forming, even as the scenery around her was still nothing but a blur.
“Tabby, I can’t see. Find my eyes, will you?!” She yelled back over the loud growling. She leapt over a three foot wide stump in the middle of the clearing, and turned to face the monster. The beast halted, which gave her a second to take a quick survey of her surroundings, as best she could. The beast started to thump its massive paw at the ground, like a small child in a fit. She made out what looked like a small cabin to her left and dove for the little porch, just as it began to pounce. It missed her, but was able to regain itself rather quickly.
“Here… you’re glasses.” Tabby yelled as she tossed them through the air. Chris caught them with one hand and grabbed a pitch fork off the porch steps with the other. As she twirled around the beast was on top of her, and she managed to get the pitch fork in its neck, and drove it and the carnage backwards into the stump. It thrashed, its giant paws trying to free itself, but it was no use. As it opened its mouth to howl a bright fiery green light burst out of its eyes and mouth like a grenade, and just as quickly sank back into the head. The head sitting atop the pitchfork was all that remained. The body disappeared into nothingness. The head shrunk as the light had dissipated into it.
Tabby found a crate on the small porch and handed it to Chris. “That was close. How’d they find us?”
“I have no idea,” Chris grabbed the head by the horn and shoved it into the box, “but we need to send this back.”
“Does that mean we get to sleep in actual beds tonight? No offense, but the ground is killing me.”
“Yes, we get to sleep in an actual bed. Let’s see if we can get a ride.” Chris motioned to the direction of their camp.
“Do you think any of them wet themselves?” Tabby added with a laugh.
“Tabby!”
“It was just a thought.” They laughed their way back to the camp. Chris thought of all the big tough looking rednecks they had been keeping company with. She supposed even the biggest of men would coward away from an enemy that they did not know. Although, leave it to Tabby to make light of even the hairiest of situations. That was one of the things Chris had loved about her.
They reached the camp in record time. The men were picking up camp getting ready to move on. Chris showed the head to the owner of the blue pick-up and asked for a ride into town. She had realized they weren’t that far from her brother’s house. She knew she would be able to dispose of the beast head there.
Twenty minutes riding in the back of the pick-up across bumpy backroads and they were there. Chris gave five large thumps on the door with the side of her fist, and she heard footsteps coming from behind it.
"Jamie, open up."
“Chris?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Open up, I got a head.”
“Only you would wind up at my door with a head at two in the morning.” He said as he opened the door. “Where the hell have you been? Mom’s been going crazy waiting for you to turn up," He grabbed her jacket and pulled her through the doorway, "Hi Tabby, I see she dragged you along for the ride again.”
Tabby entered the house like a small scared child. She always felt just a little out of place in-doors, but enjoyed the comforts of a home.
“Always.” Tabby said with a grin.
“She can’t track me anymore, I’m eighteen.” Chris almost yelled.
“And that would be why she’s going crazy. You can't blame her."
"I know, but still.... I don't need her protection anymore. I can handle this on my own." She raised the box a bit to remind him why they were there.
"Ok, what you got?”
Chris took the box to the next room and placed it on a table in the center. It had been carefully wrapped tight with rope from camp. She moved aside so her brother could inspect it, once she removed the bonds. He barely opened it; just lifted slightly at the corner, as if something was going to slither its way out.
“I've got to unbury the pit. Come upstairs."
Her brother, box in hand, led them into an oddly shaped room. It was empty except for a small crate full of large rubber bands, rope and a box of large nails. The stone walls made the room dark, damp, and a little dirty.
He walked to the crate and wrapped one of the large bands around the box.
“He’s not getting out now. How much time do you think we have here?”
“I’d say it’s been about an hour.” Chris said as she moved a tapes
try back to reveal a fire place large enough for a person to stand in. The large stone blocking the entrance was on a pulley, so Chris was able to push it aside by herself.
“That doesn’t give us much time. Here put him in there.”
As he handed Chris the box it began to shake. The force of it being so great Chris had thrown herself across the room into the fire pit and laid atop the box.
Tabby looked on in horror, she had never seen one reanimate before. She had never been able to bring herself to watch her friend send them back before either.
“No time.” Chris said as the box shook violently under her. “I’m gonna have to go. Get Tabby home for me?”
“Sure, no problem.” He agreed.
“Are you sure you have to go? When will you get back?” Tabby had been standing at the entrance of the room till now. She leaned down next to her friend in the pit.
“Yeah, I do. I don’t have much time…”
“Then here, take this.” Tabby handed Chris her most prized possession, a silver locket.
“You have to come back, so you can return that.”
“You got it.” Chris wrapped her fist tightly around her friend’s necklace as the young man grabbed Tabby’s shoulders to pull her away from the pit. He grabbed the lever on the side of the mantel and pushed it down with one false swoop. The stone wall in the back of the pit lifted and Tabby saw the box and her friend as flames surrounded them in a flash, and just as if a vacuum had taken them, they were gone. The wall came down with a loud thud, smoke, sand, and dust flew around. The stone that Chris had moved from in front of the pit flew back to place. Tabby was thrown back and landed on all fours. In an instant it was over. The tapestry hung proper, the dust had settled, and all returned to its original state.
“I could go for a cup of tea. You want some?” The young man asked as he walked out of the room. “At the very least we should check that cut on your arm.”
-2-
The closet door, it’s coming from the closet door.
Renee lowered the volume on her headset so she could hear the noise. She jumped when the door burst open with a flash of light. As the light subsided she watched her father and older brother step out of the closet.
“Did you have to use my closet? I’m trying to do homework.” She explained to her dad. Her brother sneered and laughed his way out of her room and enters the doorway next to hers.
“Sorry kiddo we needed the closest exit.” Her dad leaned down and kissed her forehead. Just then Renee noticed the small box in her father’s hand.
“I thought you were getting rid of that thing. I have friends coming over tonight.”
“We tried, but your brother got distracted again. We got lost on the way in and couldn’t find an opening.”
She watched on as her father wrapped the box with a plastic bag and a large rubber band. “Besides, it’s a small one. I’ll stick the phone book on it and it’ll be fine.” He laughed as he left the room.
The box, wrapped in bands with the markings of Luce, was sitting on the foot of her bed. She picked it up to examine it, as the green light started to shine within. It was no bigger than a pencil box, but the contents had the ability to become the size larger than that of a man.
“Hey, you left this thing in here.” She took off her head set as the box started to jump. “Fine, I’ll do it myself. She picked up the box and headed for the closet. She placed her hand on the sign of Luce etched into the door, and then opened it. On the other side she saw her clothes and shoes, and even a few handbags, only the contents of her closet and nothing more. The one thing she expected to see was not there, no dark tunnel behind her clothes, just wallpaper.
“DAD!!”
“Hey brat, what’s your problem?” Her brother snickered as he entered her room.
“Take a look lame brain and you tell me! What did you do, break it?” She jumped as the box did too, now more violently than before. Her brother saw the light, bright green coming from the box. Sweat beads began to form on his forehead as he realized what was going on.
“No, I mean … I... Ummm...DAD!!!”
“What's the problem?” Their father came running into the room.
“I was gonna toss it back myself.” She said motioning to the closet.
“You know your brother’s training, why would you…” Then he too, noticed the green light and the ferocity in which his daughters hand was shaking with the small box clutched in her hand. “We should have a couple more hours before that regenerates.” He motioned to the box.
“Well, none of us can get rid of it right now, the tunnel is gone.”
“Well, that doesn’t make any sense.” He moves past his children and looks for himself. He closed the door and placed his hand in front of the sign of Luce, and pulled the knob.
“Xander, it’s not working. Go check the others.”
Xander runs to the other bedrooms, and returns to Renee’s room. “They're all just closets, dad. Does that mean it’s over, and we don’t have to do this anymore?” Xander lets out a sigh, and looks at his sisters hands. She now has both hands wrapped around the box as the force from inside is pushing outward to get free.
“No Xander, this means trouble. Plus, what do we do with that?”
He motions to Renee. "It's no use. That thing is gonna bust out of there. We have to think of something."
“I don’t care what you do with it, but I can't hold it anymore.” Renee hands the box to her brother who fumbles the handoff and drops the box on the floor. As his father and sister start screaming at him the box falls open and the green light engulfs the room with a flash and sinks back. The three of them shield their eyes from the light and then notice that the bands have broken, the seal no longer working, and the monster within starts to regenerate. Fire light glows bright and the flames begin to grow.
The three of them poise themselves ready for a fight, waiting for the beast to come out swinging.
"Get ready!" Renee grabs a blade off the dresser and hands it to her brother, who is still a novice at slaying beasts even though he's three years her senior.
"I got this." He says with a cocky breath.
They all move back and brace themselves.
However, as the form becomes whole and the fire light subsides they don’t see the monster they expect. John steps out in front of his children as they witness the form of the beast changing. Its first form is a tall wolf-like beast, and then something entirely different. The beast’s hair covering its body falls to the floor in piles of ash. The hunch of its back straightens so that it stands now taller than Xander. The flames in its eyes went out, and they became blue as ice. The hair on its head turned golden blonde, and the skin on its chest glowed with the sign of Luce. This was no longer a beast or monster, this was a man.
“Who the hell are you?” John asks, still standing in front of his family with his arms now outstretched in front of them.
The young man before them is tall, but Renee can see he is also young. Not nearly as scary as the monster he was before.
“Who are you?” John repeats.
“I’ll answer your questions if you can answer mine.” The beast says, ”My name is Ty. Now where the hell am I?”
“Welcome to Earth demon boy.” Xander says as if the threat has gone, and saunters off to his room.
“Wait … What?” Ty asks the others, looking around in confusion.
“Don’t know how else to say this, but the passage is down. The sigil isn’t working, and we couldn’t get back when we tried. Which means you can’t get back.” John starts to explain. Renee tugs at her father just then.
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“Where’s mom?”
-3-
Renee was fifteen when the first monster woke her while she slept. It was a difficult scene to witness as a young girl; watching her mother slay a beast who crawled up from the pits of darkness into her room through a magical portal in the back of her closet. Her mother tried t
o explain to her how these beasts exist, and how they were able to "sense" her because of the family she was born into. When she thinks of that moment now, she vaguely remembers nodding, lying down and going back to sleep.
The next morning her mother was in her room with a strange knife carving the sign of Luce into her closet door, and then into every door in the house. She said it was a sigil of protection for their family. She said that these "beasts" would not be able to sense them as long as they were inside the house. Over the years her mother trained her to protect her family, and said she was born to protect the world from them. Renee was now 16, and still did not know the full meaning of her mother’s words.
As Xander paced around, and John turned to his many books, Renee just stood and watched as Ty moved around her home.
There was speculation that her mother may have gotten out of another door. She had gone off on her own in search of someone. She was always searching for someone.
"We should just kill him." Xander pulled a steak knife from the butcher block and pointed it at Ty.
