The Chase

With an original image from Midjourney

Image by author, created on Midjourney

I’ve been enjoying going back through old Halloween stories (and old Midjourney experiments. Though I’m no longer using Midjourney, it’s interesting to see how far AI has come.

This is another fun story from 2022. I hope you like it as much as I do!

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Lysandra’s heart drummed a staccato beat as she spotted the werebeast. It was too close and gaining ground fast. She quickened her footsteps. Gasping for breath, she sped through the forest. She wove in and out between the boles of the ancient trees that had sheltered her kind for millennia.

Breathing hard, she ran. She couldn’t let it catch her. Not now. Not when she was so close to safety. Just a little farther. A stich in her side caused her step to falter. She could hear the beast now, its howl of anticipated triumph piercing her ears. In a moment, she would feel its hot breath on her neck.

A thousand feet, maybe more to the marker. She wouldn’t make it. Lysandra shifted, her beast form allowing a burst of speed that brought her to the marker a breath before her mate. She immediately shifted back to human form.

“You cheated,” Farkas growled, also shifting.

“It was only a few yards.”

Farkas’s eyebrow rose. “Prey. Doesn’t. Get. To. Shift.”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing I’m it now,” Lysandra answered. Beginning to shift, she snarled, “Run, prey.”

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I really wanted to turn the old trope of a monster hunting a helpless woman on its head. This Halloween offering does this by delivering a twist. I like that Lysandra isn’t above cheating to win. After Farkas being so pointed in his criticism, do you think he’ll do the same if it looks like she’s going to catch him?