(Content Warning: The Dread of Being Hunted, Threats of Spiritual Destruction and Violence, Grooming of Terror)
The girl's slippered foot caught the edge of a tree root and she went down in a tumble, the forest floor ripping at her pearl colored dressing gown and her pale, gleaming flesh. She tried to come up in a hurry but searing pain shot through her foot and up her leg. She cursed softly, winded by the ordeal. The ankle was twisted, her escape thoroughly foiled. An echoing howl split the air and brought fresh fear flooding through her system. "Nonononono, ohgods, pleaseno!" she babbled as she scooted frantically backward on her bottom through the fallen leaves and wet dirt.
A massive shadowy form appeared slowly from behind a big, gnarly beech tree. At first, it seemed as if the tree had come alive, one of its broad branches snaking downward along the outer edge of the clearing she had fallen into. But as the shadow resolved itself in the pale moonlight, she saw its lupine form and despaired. The canine beast stood at least four feet at the shoulder and its muscle mass was many times that of the largest gray wolf she had ever seen. Those powerful limbs rippled in a casual display of the monster's physical prowess as it gracefully prowled the perimeter of the clearing. Its fur was as black as the river by night and it flowed in the wind like those dark waters flowed through her ancestral lands. It blinked large, amber eyes at her at its snout began to pull back in a dangerous snarl. The girl would think it beautiful were she not paralyzed with terror.
She raised a shaking hand in a cautious and, she hoped, soothing gesture. Pushing down her fear, she tried to speak to the creature. Her terror had dried her mouth and throat, however, so all that came out was a pathetic croak. The enormous wolf made a barking growl that, to her ears, almost sounded like a derisive laugh. She circled in place, matching the wolf's stalking gait almost step for step. She tried again. "Stop...please, just...stop. Elvara...please...I know you're in there." The girl's voice gained strength and confidence as she spoke, "I know you can hear me. I'm your friend, Elvara, you don't have to do this."
The wolf stopped pacing and glared balefully at the pretty girl sitting on the ground, hand still outstretched, and seemed to consider for a moment. The snarl eased a little but the creature's jaw did not otherwise move even as its booming voice filled the clearing. "Ah, Little Morsel, of course I don't have to do this." The great wolf bared its dagger like fangs once more. "I want to."
The girl's eyes grew rounder with every word the wolf seemed to speak. Its words came at her from everywhere, echoing all around her, but it simultaneously seemed as though it was whispering directly into her ears. Her fear descended into bleak dread and a tremor shook her body even as she shook her head in denial of the truth. The creature, this monstrous wolf, was speaking inside her head. Her temples throbbed with the power of it and her vision swam. She clutched at her skull with her hands and the wolf grew quiet, surprise oddly registering across its animal visage.
"You can hear me, little morsel?" the wolf inquired wonderingly. The girl could only stare back, dazed and awestruck. "Oh, how delightful," the wolf went on, "you're a Dreamer. Were I anyone else, tonight would be your lucky night. We are forbidden from feasting on your kind, so rare are those whose minds are open to the otherworldly. But, oh, my wonderful petite tidbit, how sweet your kind are. How marvelous and delectable to the senses. I shall eat you all up and run free through your magnificent visions until your soul...is all...used...up." The immense creature began its predatory pacing once more.
The girl gaped, her mouth opening and closing automatically, the awe and despair flowing through her veins in what she feared might be her final moments. "Nothing to say, my dear?" The wolf taunted, "Before I gobble you up."
To her credit, the girl summoned one last surge of courage. "Elvara, no. You mustn't. I know you. I know you are Human in there, somewhere. I know you don't really want this. You must fight the monster. Fight it and return to me!"
"Oh, but I do want this. The thing you don't understand is that...the monster? That's the Human part of me. This animal form, which inspires such delicious fear in you, is merely my vehicle." The wolf stopped again, deathly still, and stared the terrified girl dead in the eyes. "Did you know," the wolf seemed to sneer, "that a large wolf's average bite is over four hundred pounds of pressure per square inch? That when threatened, they can triple that? Which is almost enough to outright shatter the strongest bone in your dainty little body. The smaller, weaker bones...well, its a trivial thing to smash right through those. Like chewing a handful of popcorn, dear. And just imagine the trauma that such a beast could do to your fleshy bits."
The wolf paused and the girl's breath caught. She tried to shake her head, tried to appeal to her friend...no, to the wolf. It continued, mercilessly, "When your father and his men come to rescue you, finding nothing but the splattered, gory reminder of your passing, they will track my prints. And do you know what they will find? That, in this glorious form, I weigh more than twice what the largest wolf they have ever seen weighed. You're a smart cookie...imagine what that means my jaws can do...to you." The wolf waited a half second. It could smell the fear percolating in the girl, the adrenaline pumping through her body, and the despair welling up in her soul.
Humans always tasted better when they were properly prepared. The wolf's voice boomed out one more time and the girl's whole world spun and condensed down to nothing beyond the dark clearing. "And, by the way, silly girl, you have seriously overestimated the value of our friendship."
For the girl, reason gave way to blind horror. For Elvara, menace gave way to pure joy. The wolf lunged and the girl screamed.