“Sarren?” Thessa asked cautiously. “No Cassany! Don’t!”
“I obey, goddess.” Sarren said quickly moving faster toward Thessa.
“What are you doing?” Thessa fell back as Sarren entered her body. Thessa reared up and thrashed around, trying to fight the spirit of Sarren taking her body over from the inside. It felt as if she were burning from the inside out. A moment later she was looking at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were a milky white and her fingers were long and twisted. Thessa was along for the ride as Sarren used her usurped hands to open the window and move out into the night. Thessa felt every sensation but could do nothing to stop herself. She felt Sarren in her mind, but the consciousness was far away. She could not hear Sarren’s thoughts.
“No Sarren, let me go! I don’t want you to do this.” She screamed into the darkness of her mind. There was no reply.
Thessa was surprised when she felt the back of her hands push off the ground and she began to run on all fours. She could hear herself grunting like some beast. Ahead was the numismatist. She recognized his gait. He turned at the sound of her rushing toward him, and he recoiled. He was not fast enough. Her jagged claws slashed at his throat and she found herself biting down on his neck. He whimpered rather than screamed. She took the pouch from under his belt. A feeling of satisfaction pervaded her senses. In a moment of clarity, Thessa all at once felt a connection with Sarren. She touched the other’s mind. Thessa seized the moment, “No, get out! Thessa cried, and the spirit of Sarren was taken off guard. The ethereal woman exited her body with a jolt. She immediately tried to re-enter, but Thessa blocked her with her dark magic.
“There you are!” Sarren said. “I knew you were in there somewhere. I knew you would eventually use your magic.”
The magic flowing through Thessa was intoxicating. It made her want to give in to it. It made her thirst for more! “This is what it always feels like?”
“Yes, always. Now, go after the others!” Sarren said. “They have what belongs to you! Get your gold back!
Even though Thessa wanted to resist, she just couldn’t. Her power flowed through her. She suddenly wanted to see what this magic could do. “It feels like trying not to eat the last piece of delicious cheese on the tray, but at the same time knowing you are about to devour it anyway, before anyone else can take it.”
“Yes, eat that last piece of cheese, Thessa. Go on, you deserve it. You want it! It’s yours!”
“There is no way they will survive!” Thessa said. “I have been so weak! I should not have let them take my property from me.”
“No, you shouldn’t have, but you are no longer weak, are you!”
“No!”
“With your vengeance on each one of them, this feeling will grow stronger and you will be more and more elated.”
Thessa bounded on all fours toward the inn. With each lope, she felt the wind through her fur. There was no pain, no regret. Each time her hand lifted from the ground, it felt as though she were flying. She could smell the innkeeper. She didn’t know how or why, but she knew his scent and she made her way to him. The man was in the alley with the two others who had violated the sanctity of her room. They were laughing, smoking pipes, and drinking wine. She rounded the final corner with the men in sight. The innkeeper saw her, let out a terrified yelp, and headed for a back alley door. He never made it, Thessa tore out his throat before he had a chance to turn the doorknob.
“What in the two hells is that thing?” One of the men shouted. Thessa rounded on him and he was either too stupid or too dumbfounded to move. She dispatched him with animal precision. The final man did make it into the inn either. Thessa followed him, tearing the door from its hinges. Her sharp hearing picked up stirring in the rooms. The guests were waking up from the commotion. Reluctantly, Thessa bounded to her room and lay panting on the floor. She tried to calm herself. She wanted to go back out and rip the man’s throat, but she knew she would be caught. She tried to breathe. “How do I shut this off?”
Sarren floated into the room beside her. “You have the magic.”
Thessa willed herself to change back, and she did in an instant. All the feelings of what she had done hit her at once, and she both liked it and was disturbed by it. “So, this is how you felt when you murdered Hana’s family?”
“Your mother, yeah sure, only, after you do it a few times, it becomes second nature. Now that you have given in to the darkness of the magic, will you once again try to be the good little Thessa?”
“I… I don’t know.” The adrenaline began to wear off and Thessa’s remorse began to settle in and she felt ashamed. “What have I done?”
“There is no use in feeling bad about your new nature, Thessa. Embrace it.” The apparition floated up to her face, “The curse is just beginning. Now that you have given in, you will hunger for it the longer you try to live without it. Eventually, it will have its way with you.”
Suddenly Thessa became angry, “You forced me! I was going to beat this, and you forced me! You did this against my will!”
“Well, yes. You know, cursed! I told you Cassany would win.” Sarren floated back toward the window.
Thessa once again looked at herself in the mirror. Her gaunt face was covered in blood. She used the washbasin and cleaned herself off. “You had the guise of a man.
