178. On Fire

Bridgeport, Starlington/Jones residence
Preset Day...

People always say there's a lesson in every experience. In the days following her father’s funeral Eloise found herself wondering exactly what it was that she was supposed to learn from her loss.

She was so angry with everyone, and everything.

She was angry with her father for leaving her so suddenly when he promised he wouldn’t. Angry with God for taking him away from her at a time when she needed him the most.

Angry with the paramedics for not arriving at the scene on time.

Angry at herself for not spending as much time as she should have with him when she had the chance…

She was generally pissed.

Devon wanted them to attend grief counseling; he thought a professional would help her move forward. He even went as far as booking her first appointment, but she conveniently forgot about it, and the next two.

She took to jogging instead to blow off her steam.  Devon worried for her safety, he offered to come with her once, but she’d pointed out that someone had to be home with Blake. The truth was though as much as she loved Devon and Blake, sometimes, especially now when she was still reeling from her father’s death, she wanted to be alone with her thoughts, alone with her pain.

“Going jogging again?” Devon murmured one evening when she came out of the bathroom in her jogging clothes.

“Yes, I have to,” she replied as she tickled their son.

“El, you don’t have to. You can stay home with me and Blake; we can watch a movie or play some board games. I miss you,” Devon stroked her cheek. The raw emotion in his voice brought tears to her eyes. She knew it was hard on him, and she didn’t mean to push him away, but she just wanted to work through her grief and anger on her own.

“I’ll make it up to you. This weekend, I promise,” she kissed him gently on the lips.

“I’ll hold you to it,” Devon reluctantly released her from his grasp.

“I love you!” She cried over her shoulder as she dashed out of the door.

The feeling of freedom as she sprinted through the deserted roads was inexplicable. Out here she was alive. She could confront her grief and anger without someone intruding on her feelings, trying to tell her how to feel and how to act. She could scream and cry and yell without worrying about Blake and Devon, she hated for them to see her cry.

Over the past few weeks, she’d come up with a route of some sort, but today she decided to try something new. Instead of heading towards Marina field, she took a quick left and approached the bridge. The winding road grew steeper as she made her ascent.

By the time she reached the beach close to Krisis’ old house, she was out of breath. She stopped for a few minutes to stretch her legs and catch her breath before she pressed on again.

 A loud growling sound behind her made her turn. Her eyes grew wide…

He looked like a dog, but he was much, much bigger than any she’d ever seen. But the idea that he could be a wolf was plain ridiculous to her. Wolves didn’t belong in urban areas. It was a rule of nature. Right?

Whatever he was though, he was beautiful.

His black coat shimmered in the moonlight, and the silver grey in his eyes reminded her of diamonds. They looked so cold, but she was drawn to them, if it wasn’t for the menacing growl and the froth dripping at the corners of his mouth she wouldn’t have thought twice about petting him.

The dog inched closer. He looked enraged with his canines barred like that. She had no freaking clue how to calm him down; she had no treat she could appease him with either.

She slowly backed away, trying her damndest not to panic; she’d read somewhere that dogs could smell fear from a mile away, or was it snakes? What did it matter now? She had to get away from him. Fast.

Once the thought crossed her mind, she couldn’t let it go. Her instincts though kicked in right about the same time he jumped for her…

Eloise was sick as a dog when she came back from her evening jog.  At first she thought it was flu, or a simple cold and it would clear up soon. But, when her temperature rose dramatically overnight, Devon panicked and he rushed her to Bridgeport’s medical center the next morning.

Dr. Ross, their family doctor, was baffled. Eloise’s tests results were all clear and if it wasn’t for her sickly complexion and the symptoms of fever she would have thought nothing was wrong with her. She sent them home with bucket loads of antibiotics to treat the dog bite wound, and ordered lots of rest for Eloise.

“Maybe the dog had rabies,” Devon mused as he negotiated the car through the morning traffic.

“If it had rabies I think I’d be going crazy by now, don’t you think?” Eloise groaned in her seat. She felt like Krisis was beating his drums right inside her head, the softest noise made her want to scream; the light hurt her eyes too. Talking was just as uncomfortable. She wanted to slip under the covers and die. Maybe not die as such but just hide until whatever it was that was ailing her passed.

Devon could see she was in pain, but they had to talk about the wedding. They couldn’t keep ignoring it, it was a week away and they had to decide what to do.

“I think we should postpone. I know mom said she’s fine, but it’s too soon. I can’t face the thought of walking down aisle without dad. I’m sorry,” Eloise squeezed his shoulder.

He turned briefly from the road and smiled at her. “It’s okay, I understand, I’ll make the arrangements.”

“Thank you,” Eloise sighed, feeling weighed down by her losses. She had not only lost her father, but she had to let go of her dream too, put it on the back burner for a while at least.

“Hey, look at me; we’ll get married when the time is right. I don’t want you to worry okay?” Devon lifted her chin and tapped her nose. Eloise nodded through her tears; she wondered again how she could have possibly coped over the past two weeks without him. He was her rock.

“Will you be okay on your own? I can take a day off if you want?” Devon asked. They were outside their apartment building now.

“Stop worrying, I’ll be fine,” she assured him.

Devon didn’t look convinced, but he perked up a little when she gave him a quick kiss on the lips before she jumped out of the car…

Inside their apartment a wave of sadness washed over her when she suddenly realized that for the first time in just over two weeks she was alone, Blake was staying with Leigh and Krisis for the weekend since she didn’t want him to catch her bug.

She wasn’t hungry, but she forced herself to sit down and have something to eat, she couldn’t take her medication on an empty stomach.

She’d planned on calling Leigh, just to check on Blake, but she was feeling so weak and fatigued she passed out as soon as her head hit the pillows. And she didn’t wake up until late in the evening when she couldn’t stand the heat pumping in her veins anymore.

She tried to get up, but the room spun in dizzying circles and she collapsed back on the pillows and covered her face with one hand.

“What’s happening to me?” She growled to the empty room as she glanced at her bedside clock, she saw it was just after 6:00pm, she’d slept for eight hours straight.

She tried once again to get on her feet, this time her attempts were somewhat successful.

In the bathroom she managed to prop herself over the basin and she splashed cold water on her face, thinking it would cool her off a little. It didn’t and no matter what she tried, the burning sensation didn’t subside, she was in hell and she wanted to jump out of her skin literally and get rid of the heat.

“Fuck,” she hissed when a sharp pain shot inside her mouth. She could taste blood in her saliva as she ran her tongue tentatively over her gums, feeling, searching.

She almost died from shock when she looked in the mirror and saw fangs where her canine teeth, top and bottom, should have been.

She was still grappling with her shock when her whole body began to splinter.

“No!” She howled as she watched her once beautifully manicured finger nails turn into claws right about the same time her clothes fell in tattered pieces around her.

Her bones came undone and she swayed for a few seconds on her feet before her legs buckled and she dropped to the floor on all fours, panting and growling like a dog.

“I have to get out of here,” she tried to say, but no words came out, only a faint bark filled the empty bathroom.

 It took her all of a second to process what she’d become.

And the realization was unbearable. She hurled herself at the only window in the room, wishing she could put an end to her torment. 

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Thank You So, So, So Very much Fae for the transformation poses. You made shooting this chapter fun and exciting. P.S. you shouldn't have told me you can create poses, now I'll be bugging you all the time.