Chapter 5 : Monster

*Charlotte*

There was a crazed look in the eye of the creditor as he approached the still-running car, and I wasn’t sure if it was just my imagination, but to me, he looked much like a frothing-at-the-mouth rabid raccoon.

“I’m sorry,” I whimpered, glancing over at Alexander, who only stared at the creditor with a passive look. Even if he could take down the creditor easily, we were completely surrounded by more than twenty thugs, all with weapons.

There was no way he could take them all on.

“Get the fuck out here and face me now, you piece of shit!” The creditor slammed his foot into the grills of the car, and Alexander’s look darkened as he switched the car off, pocketing the keys.

He opened up the doors, seemingly not caring about anything, but I was shaking like a leaf as I followed him, holding tightly onto the car door as the thugs around us closed in, leering as they held guns and baseball bats in their hands.

Alexander didn’t pay them any mind as he stepped forward right up to the creditor, a mocking look in his eyes as he said calmly, “Move out of the way.”

“You arrogant bastard!” The creditor laughed madly, looking far from intimidated. He spread his arms out wide, “Look around you! You’re fucking screwed! Now hand over my property and kneel down begging, and I might just consider letting you go with all your fingers intact. Get me?”

My eyes darted around anxiously and I glanced at the mobile phone sitting on Alexander’s seat. I bit my bottom lip, ducking inside to grab it and pull up the emergency call. I was just about to dial 911 when Alexander glanced at me with a piercing look.

“Sit in the car, lock the doors, and be silent. This will only take a minute,” Alexander said coolly, and I wasn’t sure what he meant. How could he even think of taking on more than twenty armed men with nothing but his fists?

He may be strong but he wasn’t impervious to bullets, was he? But regardless of my thoughts, I only swallowed uncomfortably, nodding as I settled in the seat, holding onto his phone nervously.

I locked the doors like he said, watching all of this from the window.

Once he saw I’d listened to his instructions, he gave me a curt nod and turned back to the creditor.

“I will ask you one more time. Move out of the way,” Alexander said warningly, a power to his voice that hadn’t been there before. Even I, sitting in the car, wanted to follow his directions, but Alexander was talking to madmen with no reason.

They would never back down so easily.

Sure enough, the creditor, raving mad, spewed out, “I even gave you a chance! Oh well! Kill him and take the girl!” He screamed loudly to the surrounding thugs who only moved forward with dark laughs and sneers on their ugly faces.

Alexander simply gave a disappointed sigh, pulling his arms up as he unlocked the cufflinks on his sleeves and began to roll them up one by one to his elbow. Like a gentleman at a dinner party who didn’t want to get his sleeves dirty, he was completely calm and collected.

He didn’t even seem perturbed as the thugs surrounded him, taunting him as they leveled their guns and bats at him.

The creditor grinned, eyes bloodshot as he watched intently for the bloodbath that was sure to come.

I gripped the dashboard in front of me, anxiously watching as I wondered what the fuck I could do to help him. He’d been so kind to me. Coming to my rescue, taking me away from that hell and even buying me food from a place that was clearly beneath him.

And this was how I repaid him?

Letting him be murdered in front of my eyes?

Tears rolled down my cheeks as my heart beat loudly and despite how much I wanted to escape from this life, to leave with Alexander, I wasn’t going to trade his life for mine. The least I could do was save him in return.

I made my decision, putting his phone back on the seat as I reached out to the car hook, ready to give myself up and sacrifice the rest of my dignity and life if it meant letting Alexander go. I gave a bitter smile.

He obviously didn’t belong in this kind of world.

But I did.

Just before I could call out that I gave in, Alexander glanced at me with a warning look. I froze in response. There was a knowing look in his eyes, like he knew what I was going to do, and was warning me to stay still like he had told me.

I pulled my hand back, unsure why, but something inside of me was telling me to trust him, that he wouldn’t lose this fight despite the odds. As I held back, sitting obediently inside, I saw the quirk of his lips turn upward for a second, so quick that I was almost positive I was seeing things.

And I watched as the gun in the nearest hand leveled at his head, finger on the trigger, while another thug reared back with the bat ready to hit. It all happened in slow motion.

I flinched at the loud gunshot, squeezing my eyes shut for a second but there were no sounds of victory from the thugs and I opened my eyes cautiously only to blink in surprise. The thugs and the creditor were still there and the gun had obviously been shot by the smoking muzzle, even the bat had been swung but where Alexander had been standing was now empty.

“What the fuck?” The creditor asked, turning around to search for the missing man. Even I was in shock, wondering what the hell had happened, leaning forward in my scene to get a better view but it was true.

Alexander was gone.

Then I heard the screams.

Thugs loudly shouting in panic, gunshots going off and men running towards the car in a panic. I watched, my hand over my mouth, as something large moved through the night faster than I could track it, the men on the far side going down with cut-off gurgled screams before the next one was down.

“What the fuck is going on?” The creditor was sweating now, turning around in the circle as the few thugs around him stood with their backs to him, weapons readied, but even as I crawled to look out the window, searching in the pitch-black night for whatever it was, there was nothing.

What happened to Alexander? I thought worriedly, but there was still no sign of him. Until I leaned a little too far on the driver's side and the headlights of the car switched from mild to straight brights.

There was Alexander, standing mere feet from then, with a pile of bodies lined up at his feet. There was a calm look to him, like nothing had happened and the creditor and thugs were utterly terrified.

Fifteen or so men had been taken down, lying around the lot in various states of unknown status, and there was Alexander in the middle, not a single speck of dirt or blood on him. He stretched out his arms, his eyes locking onto the creditor with a calm look.

“What the fuck are you?” One of the thugs shouted.

“Never mind that! Shoot him! Now!” The creditor screamed and the thug nearest him spared no time, drawing his pistol and firing. I screamed on instinct, terrified but before the bullet could even shoot, we all watched with wide eyes in disbelief as everything changed in an instant.

Alexander rushed forward with an unimaginable speed, looking almost like he was teleporting straight towards them with how fast he was going, and each time I glanced at him through the headlights, he was different.

His torso expanding, legs and arms growing, and face elongating. My heart stopped in my chest as I saw Alexander morph into something unbelievable; a wild animal, a beast. Clothes stretching and bursting, his whole body exploded with fur. His eyes remained the same blue, but he went from running on two legs to on all fours, hands now paws with fierce claws and mouth now showcasing a full round of sharp teeth.

I’d seen dogs before. Even big ones. But this was nothing like that.

This was a massive, full-breathing wolf.

I was too in shock to make a sound, utterly speechless from what I had just witnessed. I was scared. Who wouldn’t be witnessing a person you were just talking to only minutes ago now shapeshift into a hulking wolf right in front of your eyes?

But it was the creditor and the thugs who were the most terrified, screaming before firing all of their guns towards the creature. I gasped as they unloaded all of their bullets, screaming wildly in the air, but it was no use.

The wolf was a blur of a midnight blue color; the moonlight shining on its thick fur as it dashed on one thug then another, each of them going down before they had the chance to even scream and it took less than a minute before the five remaining thugs were on the ground, and I was sure I didn’t want to see what they looked like right now.

The creditor screamed out for help, running towards the woods like the coward he was, but Alexander, or the wolf or the monster in front of me, wasn’t forgiving. It launched after him and the screams cut off into a quiet stillness.

My heart thumped loudly in my chest, terror in every inch of my body despite the previous words from Alexander.

Stay in the car, lock the doors, and keep silent.

Fuck that, I thought in a panic, pulling open the door and rushing out. I was still trembling and fell to my knees on the pavement, wincing as the skin broke painfully. That was when I saw the bodies surrounding the car, some lying in pools of red and others with faint breaths still in their chests.

I screamed, crawling backward and hitting the metal of the car and that moment was enough as hands grabbed my hair, something cold and metal pressed against my head.

“Fucking come out and try it, you monster! I’ll fucking kill her, I swear to god!” The thug holding me screamed wildly out into the night where there was no sign of the wolf.

Tears slipped from my eyes as slowly, the hulking wolf stepped into the light, teeth dripping with red and eyes narrowed on me and the thug. It was only now that I realized just how large the wolf really was. Towering at least over the height of any of the men around us, it was enough to think he could swallow any human whole.

I whimpered, terrified as the thug trembled behind me, the gun still pressed to my temple.

The wolf huffed, almost like a laugh as it began to shrink, transforming once more, and there stood Alexander, just as calm as before, like nothing had ever happened.

“You monster!” The thug screamed, moving the gun from my head to Alexander and shooting. But despite having caused so much destruction, Alexander didn’t move an inch this time, and I watched as the bullet collided with his shoulder.

He grunted, red pouring from the wound and the thug behind me laughed maniacally at the sight. I, however, was horrified.

No matter what he was. Whether human or monster or wolf, he had come to save me.

With a courage I didn’t know I possessed, I reached out and used all my force to push the thug over onto his back. He cursed and pointed the gun at me but quick as can be, a hand shoved the man’s face into the side of the car and the thug collapsed unconscious.

I breathed heavily, my eyes catching the wound on Alexander’s shoulder.

“I’m so sorry,” I rushed to my feet, “Let me-” But as I turned to face him, it wasn’t the human face of Alexander staring back at me.

A snout full of teeth stared back.

I screamed.