Retribution

Life interfered this week (jury duty and other stuff) and I also put some long needed work in on Kismet so I was crunched for writing time.  This morning I asked for a creature to TF and I'd spend some time in the afternoon writing it.  Well, I picked the one (rhino) and one more (capybara!) and wrote both in about 4 hours.  Here's the rhino story and the capybara will be out tomorrow!  I should have more time to write the next two weeks so wooo!

Min walked quickly down the sidewalk with her purse tight against her hip and her right hand beneath her shawl, holding it closed against her body.

Carved red and gold dragons wound themselves around posts lining the streets.  She glanced up at them, noticing that each were subtly different, whether in length or coloring or in finger details like their manes or long, flowing mustaches.

Sudden laughter made her jump, just before she crossed a busy intersection, weaving in between cars that honked at her.  Laughter turned to loud voices arguing goodnaturedly in Cantonese.  She understood a word here and there - something about a recent game of Mahjong - but the rest was lost to her.

Powerful smells filled the streets and she wondered if it was similar to her grandparent's homeland.  They had immigrated from Guangzhou when they were very young and they still occasionally grumbled about missing the street foods and open markets.

Min shook her head to clear her thoughts.  She focused on the sidewalk in front of her, stepping over occasional trash while glancing up at every storefront she passed.  After a few more blocks, she found it.  Not by the name of the store since she never bothered to learn the script but by the old vials awash in the red glow of the neon light just inside the window.

Her lips firmed and she looked around before walking up the stone steps and into the store.

An old man sat behind the counter with a tall newspaper opened before him.  An unfiltered lit cigarette lay within an ashtray by the register.  Her nose wrinkled at the scent when it seemed to seep into her mouth and the back of her throat - oil and oozing and thick.  The smoke wafting away from it was tinged yellow and it moved slowly with a strange weight.

While the store was narrow, it was completely filled with barely enough space to walk around the counter set in the middle of the small room.

The newspaper rustled when the old man folded the edge.  He opened his mouth but closed it with a loud 'clack' of his teeth snapping together.  His eyes swept over her before he opened his mouth again.

"Can I help you?" he asked in a smooth, cultured voice.

She licked her lips and approached the counter.  The man's bushy eyebrows rose in response.

"I'm looking for powdered horn," she told him in a whisper.  Her eyes darted to the window.

"We don't carry that here," he told her.  "And, ethically, it's terrible that you would ask."

Her eyes narrowed and she turned to look at the door once more before looking back.

"My aunt, Huifen, she shops here and she says you have some," Min persisted.

"I don't know anyone called that," he said, but she'd noticed the spark of recognition at the name.

"Please," she said.  "It's for my boyfriend.  He has such a low libido and I- we're wanting to have a baby.  I don't know what else to do.  We've tried everything else."

"Have you tried not rushing it?" the old man asked.  "Did you go to a doctor?  They can check all kinds of things.  There are other options."

"I don't-!" she licked her lips and calmed herself.  "We don't have money for that.  I- I don't think- I think he can have a baby.  It's just-  He's just-  Please, don't they do something with the horns from animals that pass away?  Or- or- even if alive?  I mean, they grow back, right?"

The old man sighed and completely folded his newspaper to place it on the counter.  He lifted his cigarette with his eyes raised to the ceiling, placing it against his lips to inhale.

"Five hundred dollars," he told her finally, hoping the amount would scare her away.

"Do you take credit cards?" she asked.

He muttered something beneath his breath before placing his cigarette back onto the ashtray.  Without looking at her, he pulled keys from his pocket and slid a panel set low in the counter before him.  Now he looked down at his key, mumbling again until he found the right one.  She stared at the door in the meantime but looked back when she heard a vial crack against the counter.

A tiny vial with white powder within rocked back and forth next to a credit card reader.  She swiped her card and then signed the printed receipt, noticing that the product was listed as "ginseng."

"Feed it to him," the man said.  "In a drink.  Just a little.  It will take thirty minutes before it has any effect.  Sometimes an hour."

"Thank you," she told him, snatching it from the counter and turning to walk away.

"Tell Huifen she's no longer welcome here," the man called out behind her.  "And if I see you or her, I'll call the cops.  I don't know either of you.  Ensure your intentions are pure and keep them that way."

She left, gripping her shawl with the vial clenched tightly in her fist.  Her heart raced nearly as quickly as she did, causing her to miss the carved dragons when they moved around her with glowing red eyes that turned to follow her.  Yellow smoke issued from between sharp, wooden teeth.

---

"You're still seeing him?" Julie asked, rolling her eyes while shaking her head.

"He's my boyfriend," Min said.  She moved her glass back and forth on the table, staring at the murky liquid as if hypnotized.

"He's a playboy, Min," Yi corrected.  "He's not your boyfriend.  He's dating two other girls at least."

"At least," April, seated to Min's left, added.

"He loves me," Min told them, a little more sharply than she expected.  "I know he does."

They were all happy with their boyfriends or, in Yi's case, the girlfriend she saw in secret.  None of them were exceptional, but they said they were happy.  Julie's boyfriend worked as a butcher and the idea of dating someone as poor as that made Min shiver.  Shen was wealthy.  Or, rather, his parents were.  And they were well connected.  Whispers said the connections were unsavory, but all she knew was he drove an expensive car and always dressed in suits.

Min threw her drink back and gagged at the gritty, sandy particulates that filled her mouth.  She swallowed and shook her head and listened to her girlfriends talk, joining in occasionally but otherwise sitting quietly.  After a minute, she pulled out her phone to text Shen.

Have a drink with me, she wrote.  I'll pay.  I just had a really good day at work and I want to celebrate.

She turned her phone over to rejoin her friends but kept staring down at it, eager for his response.

Min scratched near the tip of her nose as discreetly and quickly as she could.  The sensation of her nail against her skin made her gasp and she brought her finger back up to scratch harder, beginning with the edge of her nail before turning to drag her fingertip up and down her slim, short nose.  And then up, scratching a more subtle itch between her eyes.

Dead skin flaked away, swirling and spinning in the dim light.  She grunted, made a fist and rubbed the bridge of her nose with the butt of her palm until she could hear a repetitive clicking noise.  A soft moan escaped her lips and her free hand reached down to grip the edge of her stool while her non-existent ass rubbed back and forth against the flat surface.

"You okay, Min?" April asked.

"Oh!  Oh.  Yes, just an itch, sorry," Min apologized.  She snatched her hand away to place both on her lap and smiling up at her friends.

Her fingers moved, back and forth, long red-painted nails scratching against the inside of her thighs.  It began slowly as just an idle movement that eased the tingling beginning to spread within her body.

Fibers of collagen threaded themselves throughout her skin.  Her perfect, unblemished skin tore before healing immediately and tearing again.  Layers upon layers of the protein formed, starting at her waist.

Min grunted loudly and her eyes widened in response.  She raised her hand to cover her mouth and she coughed to hide the strange noise that had bubbled up from deep within.  When her hand brushed against her nose, she groaned and scratched herself hard, clawing at the horn rooting itself deep beneath her nose.  She bowed her head, clawing higher and higher until her nails scraped the tiny bump of hardened keratin growing over new subcutaneous tissues.  The girl scratched herself hard enough to chip her nails, breaking pieces with every pass.

When she turned to hide what she was doing, she saw him.

Shen sat in a lit booth against the far wall.  A girl sat next to him.  Leaning against him.  Min's hand froze on her face until the itch grew too severe to ignore and she continued to scratch.

"No," she whispered.  "No- I-"

She grunted again when her pants tightened against her body.  She reached down, shocked at the feeling of her belly swelling but a sharp rip made her cry out.  Cool air swirled into the tear in the seat of her pants.  Her ass cheeks bulged against the hole and the tear lengthened.  Her pale skin took on a gray-ish hue as it continued to tear and rebuild itself, stronger and thicker than before with a pebbled texture.

Min fell from her stool with her tiny hand held behind her in a futile effort to hide the enormous gap.  Her panties vanished between her ass cheeks when they continued to grow.  The waistband snapped, forcing her to grab at it to keep her pants up.  She could feel her ass bouncing against her thighs.  The cheeks clapped rhythmically as she ran to the bathroom.

Another girl! she thought to herself.  She knew her friends were right and Shen had never told her they were exclusive, but the sight of him with someone else enraged her.

She lowered her head as she approached the bathroom and her long eyelashes flicked up when she glanced up at the door, seconds before slamming it with her head.  The bump between her eyes pierced the painted wood and she lifted, shoving while pushing and then snapping her head to the side to disengage.

A woman screamed within the bathroom but Min kept her head down and barreled into an empty stall while the other girl ran outside.

"No!" Min yelled, slamming her fists against the back of the toilet.  The porcelain cover shattered, sending fragments raining against the armor plating growing over her body.  Bulging veins stood out on her heavily muscled arms.

He was hers.  Her mate.  Warmth coursed through her body.  She beat her head, pulling her long, silky black hair and then up to her ears, massaging them when pain pulsed in her skull.

Skin folded over the joints of her fingers, gray and lumpy while the bones beneath expanded, layers upon layers forming until they pushed against her delicate fingers.  The rough skin covering her fingers rasped against her ears.  They were folding, pushing away from her skull as the color drained and faded to gray.  The edges rolled together.  She bent her fingers to press two knuckles deep into both ears, groaning with a deep voice as she massaged the tender, itching flesh within.

Buttons popped on her shirt. She moaned and leaned forward, one hand against the wall with her slim breasts bare on her gray chest.  Fat rolls formed on her swollen belly until her spine snapped.  She roared and fell to her knees, cracking the tile floor in the process.

Her thin, three inch long tail swayed behind her as she lowered her head.  She pressed her forehead into the cool wall of the stall to ease the fire burning through her face.  The short horn between her eyes scratched the paint from the walls while the lower horn, curving away from where her nose had flattened on her expanding snout, gouged the surface.

Min reared her head back and then slammed it forward.  The stall broke free and she forced it down to the ground.  Her horns were buried in the metal.  She grunted and pulled.  Thick tendons stood out on her expanding neck, lifting the broken stall.  She roared and tossed her head, slamming the trapped piece of metal against the nearby wall, shattering it before turning and breaking the rest of the stall in front of her.  She lifted and slammed straight down, over and over until her head was freed.

Drool dripped from the pointed tip of her snout.  Her head was swimming.  Dull.  Shrunken down to simpler things.  She stood slowly, lifting one leg to bend before her, bracing herself on it before standing and lifting the other.

Her horns tore into the drop-down ceiling above.  The fat rolls lining her belly and back unrolled and tightened over pure muscle.  When she strode forward, tile fell around her while the metal brackets bent and snapped.  She shoved at the door, snapping it from the hinges and flinging it forward, crashing through three empty tables before coming to a rest against a patron's thigh.

Screams filled the restaurant.  Min's tubular ears bent and twisted while she searched for Shen, finding him still against the back wall, holding the woman behind him.

Min huffed and groaned, her deep voice dropping low enough to growl as she lowered her head.  She stomped her foot, breaking the beams beneath the carpet.  Her tail lashed angrily behind her until she charged.

Patrons too slow to run when she first emerged leapt out of her way when she crashed through tables in a straight line towards Shen.  His date screamed until her eyes rolled back but he lowered himself to the ground to protect her body while closing his eyes and turning his head to look away from the thundering two-legged behemoth.

Voices yelled from his phone where he'd dropped it beside him.  Min ignored it.  Her breath puffed out in a grunt every time her foot crashed into the floor, but as she approached, she slowed and skidded to a stop, breathing heavily while lowering her horn to Shen's chest.  She knelt and bent her head further until she stared into his eyes.

"Shuh- en," she grumbled.  She reached out to grab the woman but Shen slapped at her arm.

"Ah, fuck!" the man yelled, snatching his arm away to hold his broken hand against his chest.  "FUCK!  You broke my fucking hand!"

Min pulled the girl away.  Her own hand completely enveloped the woman's waist but she was as gentle as she could be.  When she was done, she huffed and rubbed her cheek against Shen's face while lowering herself to him.

The doors to the restaurant slammed open.  Voices yelled.  Min turned, startled by the noise to see several men in dark suits with guns drawn.  With Shen hidden beneath her, they opened fire and she roared at the stinging pain erupting over her body.  More men circled around to the side and when the firing stopped, they lunged forward with stun guns, slamming them into her over and over.  She roared and stood but the world spun around her and the men continued to jab her.

"Noooooo," Min groaned when her eyesight narrowed, colors growing dark and then fading to nothing.

Her collapse broke three nearby tables and the men moved around her warily.  They helped Shen to his feet until he snapped at them to help his date.  All but two men held pistols and stun guns pointed at Min.  A few seconds later, an older man entered to survey the wreckage.  He spoke quietly with his men and then moved, tracing a path through the restaurant that led to the bathroom.  When he re-emerged he held the remains of Min's clothing in one hand and a slim, clear vial in the other.

More men entered the building.  They spoke quickly and professionally before calling in for an armored truck.

The old man stood back, letting his men do their work.  He stared at the vial, tipping it one way and then the other while watching the fine white powder move within.  When they loaded Min into the truck, he followed and his mind churned with plans for the strange creature and the mysterious vial.