Page 98 of Rescued By the Beast
The witch, upon hearing my offer, pouts, as if she is unimpressed. She approaches slowly, her feet barely touching the ground, as if she were floating. Her contemptuous gaze is like a cold blade.
"Only one?" she asks, a scornful smile on her lips. "When you have so many, isn't that right?"
Irritation grows inside me. How dare she?
"One life for another, wasn't that the deal? Offer what is required?"
"You forgot about balance, it's not just one life, is it? There's the cost of my work..." She says, tilting her head to the side as she faces me. " I do it for three extra lives. This extraction ritual requires a lot of energy. And it's extremely difficult to heal a person completely.
Three?
Each of those extra lives means a part of me. A part that will never come back. A part that I may need, but that I am willing to give up.
For Mark.
After all, if it weren't for him, I would have died in that forest, lost and dying, alone in the darkness.
He saved me, now it's my turn to save him.
But I can't sacrifice all my extra lives and be left with only one...
Of the seven I had, I used one when I was still a child, after my parents abandoned me outside our house when I first transformed, during a snowstorm...
And I spent two lives to survive the Wendigo.
I open my mouth, but before my words come out, Ted tries to intervene, his voice trembling with concern.
"Sandra, no... We can work something out, I can offer my bear essence..." He begins, but I interrupt him, the pain growing in me once again, my body burning, forcing the transformation.
"No!" My voice comes out like a scream. If he does that, he'll cease to be a shapeshifter, it's like amputating his soul. "I'll do it for two extra lives in exchange for Mark's life. One for him and one for you, it's only fair," I say through gritted teeth.
"You bargain, but everything is balance, one life to extract the cold iron, one for my work... Do you accept?"
"Yes! Just save him!"
The witch seems satisfied, her eyes shining with something dark. She smiles and extends her hand, and I accept it to seal the deal.
"Deal."
And before I can fully understand what is happening, everything spins.
I feel a cold current forming in the air around us, the witch's nails dig into my wrist and Ifeelher entering me, feel her energy running through my veins. She raises her other hand, whispering ancient, dark words. Suddenly, the air is filled with an electric tension, and a sharp pain runs through my chest, as if something were tearing me apart inside.
I feel the claws of her magic digging into me, forcing my essence to spill out, to break the barriers that keep it imprisoned. The pain is unbearable, a torment that tears every fibre of my being. My body contorts, and I find myself taking my feline form again, but not entirely. My canines grow, my fur appears, followed by my tail, but I still remain standing. I try to scream, I open my mouth, but the sound is muffled, lost in the sharp silence of the pain that consumes me.
The essence that remains in me begins to be sucked into her, each of my extra lives being torn away, as if they were threads from a fabric that is unravelling.
The witch laughs, her sound echoing through the hut, a cruel laugh. Meanwhile, my body bends, I shrink, completing the transformation, but she does not let me go, the witch's claws tear me inside and out, dug into my front legs, holding my animal form in the air.
The old woman feeds on my essence, her blonde hair fluttering, waving as if propelled by an invisible wind, but I know it is the power flowing from me towards her.
And then, when it's all over, I fall to the ground, weak, unable to move a muscle.
I am close to being an ordinary, vulnerable human. My healing power has never been as strong as that of other supernatural beings, so I have always relied on my extra lives to keep me safe.
Now, I have to be careful. If anything happens to me, I will only have one chance to survive, after which I will live as a mere mortal.
Without the energy to get up, I lie there, like an empty cocoon, meowing softly. I force my head up and see Ted next to Mark, his posture tense and urgent.
