“Where you going ?”

“Just going to walk around.”

“Don’t fuck up, Mike.”

“I’m not gonna.”

The conductor looked at her colleague dead in the eyes. She didn’t like the smile he was wearing; it was the same he flashed passengers that turned him on and that was hella gross. That guy was so smug, right from the start. Couldn't quite understand why he was the one holding the key to the creature’s cuffs but he always checked his attitude when meeting someone for the first time and people that only met him once thought of him as a good guy ― so those cops probably fell for it. The truth was, he was an asshole. He did the job, so the woman tried not to complain, but having him around was like standing in a room full of sick people and trying not to catch a disease. He just gave the impression to be contagious in the worst way, and the woman would usually avoid him as much as she could.

For her, today wasn’t such a great day.

“I swear I won’t do a thing.”

Mike raised his hands in a half assed attempt to sound sincere, but she wasn’t having it. Still, she decided not to say anything more as she thought that whatever happened to him wasn’t her business. There were very few people in the train, and the creature was in a car from which passengers had been evacuated; its access had also strictly been forbidden and securised. Even if he fucked up, it shouldn’t end in a rampage; and honestly, she kinda wanted him to have a taste of his own medicine. She thought it would do him good to suffer for once, as he didn’t seem to have known hardships in his life or have any empathy for people who did.

“Go get yourself killed if you want, but lock the doors behind you. Don’t put that burden on innocent people.” The woman sighed after a while, turning away from him.

Mike smiled with full teeth behind her.

“Sure thing, ma’am.”

**

The toilet was cramped and old, and the movements of the train rocked it like a kid would a Magic 8 Ball. Inside that small space, the creature had difficulty staying steady on its feet; but its head wouldn’t move an inch, as the creature had subconsciously modified its body to stabilize its line of sight. It couldn’t tear its eyes off the mirror above the sink.

The creature had never seen itself before.

It didn’t know its own face, it had never met its own eyes. And now that it did, something was heating up ― inside. Waves of heat making its guts tremble, sweat moisturizing its palms like lotion. Whatever was coming out of its skin should have just stayed in, because now the light green t-shirt was going a shade deeper as sweat halos appeared on its back and under its armpits. The jeans started to feel uncomfortable as sweat made them itchy, but the creature didn’t lift a finger to relieve the itch.

The creature was in complete panic.

Turns out that fate wasn't as cruel as to leave the creature in such a predicament as a moment later, it heard footsteps closing on the toilet's door. Then someone opened it and the second they did, the creature's line of sight abruptly shifted to their face while a growl escaped its throat.

That was quite an unexpected welcome for Mike, whose pulse suddenly quickened.

As one could have expected, Mike had decided to blatantly ignore the woman's warnings and go satisfy his own curiosity. He couldn’t help but take a second look, you know ? Otherworldly creatures appearing in this world weren't rare but they weren't that common either, and this one even had its own little backstory. He had heard about the deadly blowjob and it was triggering him in all the wrong ways. It was lucky that he had a bit more self control than Pete’s son, or he would have tried it himself. He felt like it was just natural curiosity.

But his smile was crooked when he had reached for the toilet’s door.

Mike had a habit ― of breaking things that would break in the most interesting ways. He liked his lovers a bit unpredictable, so he wouldn’t know when they would pick up the knife to stab him with it. That’s what the woman smelled on him when he rubbed her the wrong way despite not doing anything out of the ordinary ― the very smell left by the consequences of his little psychological tricks.

He took one look at the creature and he fell in love with the idea of breaking it apart.

But when he opened the toilet’s door, doubts suddenly filled its mind. No matter how inoffensive something looked, it wasn't necessarily going to stay inoffensive. And Mike didn't know much about the creature except for the fact that it could change its appearance as it wanted.

Maybe that whole thing was riskier than he thought.

Mike had sadistic tendencies but he didn't always have the courage of his ambitions. One could even say he was very much a coward; he always chose his victims to be people whose physical strength couldn't overpower him as he was not the strongest around. Small physique, distant family, few friends and interest in BDSM ― that's when he struck. The creature was out of his usual scope in many ways.

He didn't want to come to regret it.

Mike lost his breath as he saw the creature coming closer; he quickly made a step back and the creature stepped out of the toilet in a panic. It then turned around and violently closed the door before leaning on it like someone that had just escaped a monster. Except it was the monster, and that was its own reflection that scared it.

Well, that happened, probably.

Mike realized that the creature wasn't bothered by him and slowly relaxed. He got his composure back while the creature was in a daze.

"So you wanted to get out ?"

The sound of his voice succeeded in getting him the attention of the creature, and Mike gulped down like an anxious middle schooler about to ask his crush out. Now that it was looking at him directly while being in such a vulnerable state, he thought that the risk may just be worth it.

"You're hungry ?"

Mike didn't know a lot about taming, but it was his idea that it always started with feeding so he had brought some snacks with him. He took one out of his pocket and showed it to the creature in hope of catching its interest. The creature blinked at the plastic thing the man was handing over, not understanding what kind of cloth it was. Mike realized quickly enough that the creature didn’t understand what it was, and unwrapped the protein bar and bit into it before handing it over again.

This time, the creature took it. It was its instinct to mimic what people were doing, and so it did exactly what he did; biting into the cereal bar before trying to give back to Mike. Mike tried to convince the creature to keep it, but it wouldn’t change its mind, so they continued this weird exchange while Mike tried to figure out an approach.

Taking the cuffs off would be a nice first step, he thought.

It was risky, but it could earn him the creature’s trust instantly - at least, he was naive enough to think so. He played with the key inside his pocket before chickening out and choosing a different approach.

“They called the cops on you, you know ?”

Threat was the next best thing he could think of and that said quite a lot about his usual flirting strategy. Sugar mixed with acid, pretending to care about the other’s fate while reminding them of an upcoming threat ― I side with you, you can trust me. But the creature only blinked at him before starting to observe its surroundings. It wasn’t smart enough to recognize the game the other was playing.

“You should listen to me, if they catch you, you’re going to die.” Mike tried not to let the creature’s indifference deter him. “Hey.” The creature moved away from him, and a bout of impatience made him reach for its arm.

The creature stared back at him, and he instinctively relaxed his grip but he didn’t let go. The thing was, the town where the creature was born wasn't that far away from the capital and he didn't have that much time left to convince the creature of his good feelings - 30 minutes, maybe less. He had wasted a bit of time doing his job, and some more chatting up some chick that wouldn’t give him her number; so now, he was in a hurry.

Kind of a ‘let’s have fun before the end of the world’ energy.

He wouldn’t have another shot with the creature if it left its train, so it wasn’t wrong to say it was a one-shot opportunity.

“Just listen to me, okay ?” He smiled helplessly. “I’m trying to help.”

The creature seemingly gave up the idea of exploring the car train as it focused its attention on the man. Something was expanding into its eyes, but it was still too faint for Mike to see it.

“I don’t think it’s fair for you to end up like that when you did nothing wrong. It’s obvious you were sexually assaulted, and now they’re going to kill you over it when you’re the victim. It’s too much.”

It was bullshit, no one had any plan to kill the creature. Pete’s son wouldn’t probably even sue if he could, and the police wouldn’t kill it on the spot. Staying with the police could be considered one of the safer choices for the creature, as some people would look to make money out of the creature if they were to get their hands on it. Beings sold on the black market rarely appeared again, and their estimated life expectancy wasn’t high.

“That’s why when the train arrives at the station, we need to leave first, okay ? I can hide you from them but you need to do exactly what I tell you to do. You can’t just run around on your own, doing your own thing. If I help you, we’re in it together, so you need to be extra careful or we’re both going to be arrested. Do you understand what I’m telling you ?”

The creature stared at him in silence.

“You don’t want to die, do you ?”

The creature’s submissive look gave the courage to Mike to let go of its arm to grab its face with his two hands. The creature’s hands twitched but it didn’t resist the man. Mike stared straight into its eyes, looking for a trace of fear but the only thing he saw was himself. It was difficult to know if his words were getting to the creature. His guess had been that the creature could understand their words even though it never responded to it, but now he wasn’t so sure; maybe it was worth changing strategy.

He still put on his usual show ― by habit.

“I can help you, but I need you to do something for me.”

Something I would say you consented to afterwards.

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

But I still need you to take the pain of it, because it makes it better for me.

“Okay ?”

His sweat smelled like a mix of adrenaline and lust. He felt the danger closing in on him each second he lost trying to make this monster - who he was now convinced was stupider than he thought - believe in his higher sense of justice. His thumb moved to the corner of the creature’s lips as he wondered how it would feel. His body temperature rose, and he could feel his fingers burn with pent up desire, but he tried to keep his cool.

Words like warm honey flowed out of his mouth while he fancied the feeling of holding the creature captive in his hands. At one point, he became too engrossed in the pursuit of his own pleasure to keep track of the creature’s state of mind. He didn’t see the shadows in the creature’s eyes, nor did he realize that that heat at the tip of his fingers wasn’t only his. Mike thought that a kiss was always nice as he leaned over and kissed the creature’s lips in a gesture that wanted to be tender but turned out awkward.

Showing love to someone that didn’t know what it was ― that was like a magic spell if magic spells could grant you sex. He had made it his signature move, and through the years, it had not failed him. He had mastered the art of pandering to trauma, then reshape it into his own creation so when it all came down, there was only his name left.

He thought of it as a form of legacy.

He was about to back down when the creature opened its mouth, and he lost control before this open invitation. He started plundering the creature’s mouth aggressively, and the shadows moving in the creature’s eyes finally took shape.

Obsession changed the creature’s facial structure as its sense of self suddenly heightened.

The creature took advantage of the other’s closed eyes to break the cuffs and unsuspiciously raise a hand; it firmly grabbed the man’s jaw and ripped his face off its own in a quick motion. Mike felt the sudden pain and frowned, but before he could react to this reversal, the creature’s grip tightened up and it ruthlessly broke its jaw with brute strength. The creature smashed the bone to bits, and something trickled down its spine, the same feeling that Mike couldn’t get enough of a second earlier.

That satisfaction that came with having power over someone.

The creature seemed to understand something as it pushed Mike down and the man fell like a broken doll on the floor. Mike had fainted due to the intense pain, so he never saw what happened next, which was probably lucky as the creature wasn’t stopping. It stepped over the unconscious man so he would lie down between its two feet, and it felt even better. The heat wouldn’t leave the creature alone, and it didn’t know how to cool down. It ran a hand over its crotch, feeling for the first time it was missing something. The jeans under its hands stretched as excess body mass appeared under it while the creature stared at the man’s lips.

Wondering how it would feel.

The creature’s curiosity was overflowing as its facial features became more and more defined. Sharp jaw, thin lips, aquiline nose, eyes a little too close, checks a little too hollow, huge forehead. Light eyebrows and pale blond hair with no curl. Its skin was still too white for it to look healthy but it finally looked human; moreover, it looked female. Its body wanted to change shape too, the creature could feel it, but the creature couldn’t change it right away as it felt its energy depleted ― it just got rid of the cuffs hanging down its wrists as they were bothering it. Constantly changing its body shape had fully exhausted the newborn creature. It didn’t help either that the only thing it had eaten since its birth was half a protein bar.

Its excited mental state faded away as fatigue took over.

The creature walked a few steps, leaving the wounded man behind. It went ahead randomly, looking for something soft to lay down on, until it found the car train totally empty and fell on one of the seats. Its eyes drifted to the scenery outside the train window as its limbs lost their strength and its mind started to wander.

The last thing the creature saw before falling asleep was green hills and cows, and a sky far more beautiful than the one it was born under.