Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Elizabeth
This creature in front of me is easily the most terrifying thing imaginable.
And Joel isn't afraid at all.
I think the thing's head is bigger than Joel's whole body!
Shift.
Shifter.
They're real.
I think they announced themselves to the world a year or so before I was born. I don't know. Officially, they exist. However, most people (myself included) don't really believe that at all. Nobody I know has ever seen one in real life and even though we see them on television every four or five months, it's still unbelievable.
Except I've seen one now.
I mean, I'm seeing one.
Damn. He's so big. He's so enormous I can't even really… Didn't I call him… On that first night. Predator, right? I remember thinking he was like some sort of a predator about to pounce. I mean, like a lion or a tiger about to jump on a baby deer.
And I was the baby deer.
Well, I'm more like a baby mouse comparted to this giant in front of me. He's not a lion. He's not a tiger. He's a giant black panther, and there's no possible way to describe how terrifying it is to see him. He's like… It feels like if he opens his mouth, Joel can stand on his tongue without squatting down at all. It seems like he could just close his mouth over my upper body and bite it off right at my waist.
I'm looking at a thousand pound killing machine.
I am so fucking frightened that I can't think straight.
But then Joel says, "We're black panthers but that doesn't mean anything. It's something people call any large cat with a black coat. In nature, black panthers are just black leopards or jaguars but can you believe some people call bobcats, lynxes, and pumas black panthers!" He recites part of it like a school assignment but he's internalized a lot of it, too.
"What… what are you?" I ask.
"We're leopards. That's why dad's head is so small."
Small… what in the world? But I think it's right then that I realize how damned huge his body is. I guess proportionately, his head does seem small. Not like a lion or a tiger, that's for sure.
I'm so afraid I can't think clearly but my body seems to act on its own accord. At least my hands and my arms do. I reach out and put my hands on either side of the giant cat's head. It's like I'm taking hold of a huge… well, I don't know what but my hands are totally spread apart.
I pull down, intending to see the back of the beast but on the way, I see the cat's eyes straight on. I immediately start crying.
In relief.
"Oh! Oh, Preston!"
It's him. It's him inside of this body and there's nothing to be afraid about anymore.
He has a shiny black coat, jaws that look like they could tear apart stones, deep green eyes, legs that seem more powerful than anything could possibly be. Everything about Preston's body suggests that he's a predator, a creature so adept at killing that nothing at all can compare to him.
But I have no fear anymore.
I mean, this changes everything but, oddly, instead of making me question my feelings and my commitment to a life with Preston, it has the exact opposite effect. It's like in this instant, while I'm holding onto a creature large enough that it could… well, I hate to keep talking about killing but that's what this thing is, a killing machine.
Except it's also Preston, the most perfect man I know.
And… well, my body is still filled with the same impossible panic but my mind is clear now.
My heart is clear now.
Everything is so damned clear now.