The sickening sounds of his bones cracking and breaking echo around the basement as his body reshapes itself. His clothes now torn and ripped from his transformation.

Black tufts of fur cover his legs, sides, and shoulders, his pale deformed body gaunt with opaque black veins running throughout his arms and torso.

The sight of him turning my stomach, never having seen something so vile before now.

What stands before me is no longer a human form, but not a proper shifter either, more like some kind of mutated creature with some human resemblance.

I flinch as the creature jerks its head toward me, its black abyssal eyes set on me fully now.

Its jaw opens slightly, and I swear it was grinning at me. Every tooth crooked and sharpened to an eerily long tip. The sight itself is horrifying.

He steps forward, and I'm sure the bastard thinks he's playing with me. The dark grin on his face stretches wider as I flinch again.

I sigh. Poor bastard thought I was scared.

Well, his face did make me want to throw up.

He creeps forward as I take a step backward, following me slowly, thinking he's the cat in this cat-and-mouse game.

A low snarl echoes throughout the room.

He watches me intently, an eerie guffaw ringing out as I take another step, relishing in his own delusions.

Honestly, I love it when they underestimate me.

The creature lunges forward, claws elongated, and jaw open wide as he attacks. It takes me all but one second to ignite my power, calling forth my strength.

My runes begin to blaze and burn on my skin. I feel the push of power as it pulses through me to every inch of my body, down through every coursing vein within me.

I feel my power at my fingertips as he reaches for me, his face now inches from my own.

When suddenly, he stops, his putrid breath brushing across my face, as his own freezes, contorted in confusion and then in pain, as the hand around his neck squeezes tighter. My hand.

He splutters, struggling around my iron grip.

He lashes out, his claws reaching for my neck and face, but instantly crack and splinter on impact with my skin.

He howls in pain, a sound so loud and agonizing it makes me smile.

A dark grin spreads across my face as I grip his neck tighter and watch him tremble beneath my fingers. A deranged look in my eyes as I glare into his.

“A pest. A hindrance. A weed…was it?” I give him another squeeze as he struggles beneath my grip.

“The only pest in this Library is the rat in front of me.”

Gregori, or whatever he was now, thrashes against my hold.

I would never let anything that threatened my home, my people, and my family go free.

No, he would pay. I would drain every drop of air from his body for putting my home and people in danger.