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She took me to a little cottage on the outskirts of town and cleaned me up and clothed me. We didn’t speak for days. She just silently moved around me, doing what needed to be done. On the fifth day, she somehow got me talking. Knowing what I know now, I would have to think it was a spell she cast or the tea she was feeding me. The more tea I drank, the more I wanted to trust her and open up to her… become compliant.

I remember telling her everything about me… about my dad and my brother and why I was kicked out. At this point, I didn’t know she was the dark Queen, but she knew who I was.

I think it was at this moment, she realized what she had, and she started molding me. I could feel it. I could feel myself splitting in two. The Gage that I once was and the one she was turning me into it. The second Gage was dark- evil. Perhaps that’s what turned her on, what excited her.

She grew that Gage and taught him how to fight, how to take out enemies and how to have no remorse.

The dark Queen found the boys who had attacked me weeks before and brought them kneeling before me. I felt it… bubbling inside me of… the rage. The hate. The anger.

I wanted to hurt them. I wanted to kill them.

I remember pacing back and forth in front of them with her standing in the corner, halfway in its shadow, watching. The excitement on her face… I wanted to please her.

I moved to the first boy and removed the knife I had strapped to my leg and walked behind him, pulling his head back and slicing it across his throat. The blood spattered everywhere and pooled onto his shirt. I looked at her and she nodded slowly in satisfaction.

The other three boys were screaming, panicked, trying to get away, but they were bound by magic- invisible ropes keeping them in place.

You did this to me. You came after me and you attacked me.I said to the second boy.

No! No! I’m sorry.

Your apologies mean nothing to me. You can’t go around attacking young children. You almost killed me.

We won’t do it again! I swear! I promise!

I know.I stabbed him in the heart and pulled the blade up with such force that I broke his collarbone. I let out a beastly scream as the blood sprayed all over me and then heard my clothes being shredded as I shifted.

I looked at her for approval and saw her looking at me through her lashes as she took a step out of the shadows with a malicious grin spread across her face.

I watched her flick her wrist and almost immediately, the boys shot upright and started running through the woods.

A chase.

I went for the youngest one first. I knew these woods better than they did. They had been my home for the last several years. I chased him, circling him, taunting him. When he tripped over a log, I pounced, standing over him. I could feel the drool slipping out of my mouth as I stood over him, growling. The look in his eyes was pure terror, but it wasn’t there for long.

I clamped down on his throat and ripped.

I popped my head up and listened for the last one. He was the oldest of their little pack, the instigator. He was the one encouraging the boys to do those things to me. My body still hurt from what they did, although it was probably more the memory than the physical pain. I don’t know if the memory would ever fade.

I found the last boy up in a tree, shivering, clinging onto the trunk for dear life, while the branch strained under his weight. I shifted out of my wolf form and looked up at him.

I can wait here all day for that branch you’re on to break.

He nervously looked down and realized he didn’t have much time left. He quickly tried to shift most of his weight to the trunk and was happy to see the branch rise under the reduced weight.

You’re not strong enough to hold yourself to that trunk for the rest of the night, or even through tomorrow… because that is how long I will wait. I will wait you out and when you fall and break several bones, I will then torture and kill you.

I’m sorry.He was sobbing buckets of tears.It was just a game… we were just having fun.

I can assure you that what you and your friends were doing to me was not a game and it sure as hell wasn’t fun. What kind of fucked up person do you have to be to do those things to someone just a few years younger than you, or to anyone in general?

You’re right. You’re right. We shouldn’t have done those things. It was wrong. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.

I know you are. I hope you’ve learned your lesson.I said, backing away.

Where are you going? Are you going to kill me?He shouted, confused about my one eighty.

I didn’t respond, but continued backing away until he couldn’t see me anymore.