"Enid, what the hell just happened?"
The seriousness in Pup's tone as she asked that question made Enid cringe at her brief lapse of control. Had she been in her wolf form she would have had her ears floppy like those of a puppy when being scolded.
"I'd like to know too," Dora said, "It was only an instant, but for a moment it looked like you were going to jump for Taylor's jugular."
And it was true. Enid realized with dismay that if Wednesday hadn't stopped her that was exactly what would have happened. And all from hearing a last name and the flood of memories it unleashed. And the truth was that they didn't know anything about Taylor, it could all be a fluke, there was nothing to guarantee that she was a monster. But on the other hand...
Almost without realizing it, Enid brought her hand to her face, sliding her fingers over her scars.
"Pup," she said, "Those days you were with us a lot of stories were exchanged, but Wednesday and I never told you everything."
"And what does that have to do with my roommate?" asked Pup.
"When we first met, the day you showed up in Jericho and I carried you in my arms running through the woods, I told you my scars were from fighting a monster."
Theo's eyebrows rose until they almost disappeared under his bangs, "Oh... oooh, I think I get it."
Enid nodded, "Pup. I'm not sure but I think Taylor might be the counterpart of this universe to the person who did this to me."
A strange expression crossed the Addams' face for an instant and her frown and serious expression gave way to a questioning look, "Wait, this is all about Taylor being a Hyde?"
Enid nearly choked on her own saliva in surprise.
"What? Wait, wait a minute...you already knew!?"
Pup smiled. A satisfied grin like that of a cat that had just finished eating a chubby mouse.
"No. But I had my suspicions and you just confirmed it."
"But, but... but how?" the werewolf asked.
"Well, I had been convinced for a while now that Taylor was some kind of supernatural creature, but I wasn't sure exactly what kind," Pup explained, "She has an appetite for raw meat that I've rarely seen outside of family or in lycanthropes, and she tends to occasionally have a look in her eyes as she watches other people as if they were prey, but with me she is always incredibly cordial and does whatever I suggest without argument. She tries to disguise it but she seems to like to please me... If she's a Hyde, that would fit with some of the things I've read about them."
Enid stared at Pup, stunned for a few seconds. The Addams merely smiled and shrugged her shoulders. Enid made an attempt to start to say something but fell silent again. Dora also tensed suddenly, something that did not escape her brother's attention.
"What's wrong?" asked Theo, concerned. Dora was reacting almost the same way Enid had a few minutes earlier. Her claws had extended out of pure reflex.
"The street... it's far, but there's..." the young lycanthrope started to say.
"Screams," Enid finished off. And then they heard it, the screams of people in the street and other panicked noises, cars slamming on their brakes and crashing into each other. And it was getting closer and closer.
Enid felt an unpleasant shiver run up her spine. And then a shadow appeared out of nowhere, blocking the window and darkening the room.
"PUP!" cried Enid, barely an instant before the window and a considerable portion of the wall around it suddenly exploded as a gigantic figure made of shadows burst in, grabbing the Addams with a huge paw full of razor-sharp claws. Dora instinctively lunged at the Shadow Hyde as soon as it made its presence known only to be struck full force by the being's other paw and land on the living room table. Theo began to rub his palms together, preparing a charge of electricity.
Many things happened in that instant. The Shadow Hyde turned and jumped back outside, or at least tried to as a half-transformed Enid Sinclair clung to its torso as Theo's electric shock hit the monster in its head. Wednesday and Taylor re-entered the living room just in time to see the three of them, Pup, Enid and the creature, falling to the street.
Within seconds, multiple thoughts crossed Enid Sinclair's mind. Some clearly driven by the alarm and panic of the moment. Others clearly more absurd, but not without reason.
The first, obviously, was that Pup was being abducted right before her eyes. The monster had appeared out of nowhere and was about to flee, taking the girl with it, and that was something she could not afford. Therefore, Enid tensed her whole body ready to release her own beast. She felt the growth in her muscles, the change in her bones, all the preparations for a complete wolf out.
And she stopped short, in milliseconds, when a thought with a different kind of panic crossed her mind.
I don't have a change of clothes!
Oh.
We didn't bring luggage or resources of any kind! We grabbed the rings and jumped into another dimension without stopping to think about logistics!
Oh shit.
And so, Enid Sinclair's transformation when she grabbed the Shadow Hyde was only partial, sacrificing only her footwear and a minimum of the integrity of her clothing without completely shredding it. Had she transformed fully she might have been able to drag the Shadow Hyde and Pup back inside the apartment, but now all she could do was fall with them, her claws digging into the creature's dark form leaving luminous white marks, like wounds of light.
Wonderful Enid, simply wonderful.
The apartment was on a seventh floor. It was not a skyscraper high but still a more than considerable height for a fall. Maybe because of that or maybe because of her amplified reflexes and senses Enid perceived everything as if it was happening in slow motion. She felt her claws digging into the matter that made up the Shadow Hyde. She watched as Pup repeatedly and unsuccessfully stabbed the monstrous hand that held her with a knife that seemed to have come out of nowhere. That didn't surprise Enid, Pup was a Wednesday Addams after all. The odd thing would have been if she didn't have any bladed weapon on her.
All three fell to the street, spinning in mid-air. Enid managed to shift from the Shadow Hyde's torso to the arm with which it held Pup. The lycanthrope dug her multicolored claws in and pulled, tearing at the creature as if it were made of paper, splattering traces of grayish ectoplasm. The act caused a howl of pain from the Shadow Hyde who reflexively opened its hand freeing Pup, who nearly flew away only to be grabbed by Enid.
Falling both of them separated from the monster, Enid embraced the Addams. Even with only a partial wolf out her body was of larger size. Enid rolled over herself, wrapping her arms around Pup and making sure the young woman was on top of her.
Which was fortunate as they crashed into the roof of a car in an impact of dented metal and exploding glass.
"Oooof," Enid growled. She had felt that hit and was sure that the only thing keeping her whole was her lupine endurance. She lifted her head slightly to check if Pup was conscious, "Pup? Are you okay?"
Pup stood up, sitting down next to Enid and helping her up and out of the wrecked car trying to avoid the glass debris. The Addams appeared to be unharmed though slightly disheveled, her hair in disarray, "Am I okay?" she asked, "I fell on top of you and you're soft Miss Enid, but you are the one who hit her back against a car."
Enid nodded, relieved, looking around. There were multiple vehicles crossed in the middle of the street, one crashed into a lamppost, most likely after trying to dodge the Shadow Hyde when it had run towards the location. Multiple people were still nearby, watching in fear and curiosity.
"Pup, we have to..."
Enid couldn't finish the sentence. A giant shadowy hand grabbed her by the head and flung the lycanthrope through the air upwards towards the opposite side of the street.
Enid flew through a window and ended up crashing into the table where a family was ready to start dinner. A married couple and their teenage daughter looked down at her from their chairs, their faces distorted in fear and surprise. Enid didn't know how much open experience people in Pup's universe had with outcasts and the supernatural, but even back home having a werewolf land on your table after crashing through a fifth-floor window would have made an impression.
"Er... sorry. Bon appetit?"
Of course, they started screaming in terror.
Meanwhile, out on the street. Pup stood firm on her feet in front of the monster made of shadows. Fearlessly, she struck again with her knife with a move that on a flesh-and-blood opponent would have been of surgical, devastating precision. But both the knife and her hand passed through the Shadow Hyde as if it were intangible.
Pup would have sworn that the cracked sound the monster emitted was a laugh.
The creature grabbed her by the shoulders, pinning her down. No matter how hard she struggled, the Shadow Hyde's hands were like unbreakable shackles.
The shadow body of her captor began to change. Pup watched in fascination as the outline of that living shadow began to lose its shape at the torso, as if the Shadow Hyde was dissolving into something different, circular.
A portal, thought Pup, It's becoming a portal of darkness.
And then, suddenly, she found herself free.
Something fell from overhead, crashing into the Shadow Hyde and throwing it with the impact against one of the abandoned cars in the middle of the street. Pup fell to the ground, hitting the asphalt with a startled sound. Still lying on the ground, she opened her eyes to be met with another pair staring at her. Two bloodshot and disproportionately large eyes. And despite everything, she recognized the chestnut color of those irises staring at her with concern.
"Taylor?"
Her only response was a grunt, and Taylor, the Hyde, turned away from Pup, focusing her attention on the shadow creature that had dared to lay its hands on the Addams, with a defiant roar that sent the few onlookers still lingering around the place fleeing in terror.
Behind them, the doorway of the building opened and Wednesday, Dora and Theo rushed out. Wednesday paused for a moment, watching the scene with wide eyes. When they were upstairs, the transformation process was beginning and it was only now that she could clearly see Taylor's Hyde form.
Whether it was due to a case of dimorphism between the sexes, that the Hydes of this universe were slightly different, or the difference between a Hyde with a forced awakening and one with natural development, she couldn't tell, but Taylor's Hyde form was noticeably larger than Tyler's. The creature must have been close to ten feet tall.
But the differences didn't end there... Indeed, she was a Hyde: grayish skin, bulging eyes, sharp teeth, etc. The head was huge and so was the upper torso with comparison to a slimmer waist, with arms much longer than the legs. But where Tyler had presented a gangly appearance, with a hunched gait and powerful but stunted-looking limbs compared to the rest of his body, Taylor's seemed slightly better proportioned, with stronger-looking arms and legs. It reminded Wednesday of the difference between a sickly, malnourished animal and a completely healthy one.
Her hair also stood out. Taylor's brunette curls had spread from her head, wrapping around her neck and extending down to the upper part of her torso and her back, giving her a lion's mane-like appearance. It was oddly appropriate, given her roaring at her opponent.
The Shadow Hyde had gotten up and after shaking its head as if trying to clear it, began to run at Taylor. It struck with one of its claws in a wide arc, attempting to hit squarely at her head.
Taylor stopped the blow dead in its tracks, grabbing the Shadow Hyde's wrist without taking her eyes off it for a second. The shadow creature grunted in surprise at the fact that the other monster seemed to be able to physically touch it, as if its ability to be intangible didn't work.
Just like with Enid, thought Wednesday.
Taylor returned the favor. With a bottom-to-top swipe that would have ripped her opponent open if it hadn't taken a step back at the last second. That didn't stop a line of brilliant white light from forming on the Shadow Hyde's chest along with a howl of pain. This was followed by an exchange of claws, swipes and bites as the two beasts engaged in combat, becoming an almost indistinguishable mass of moving limbs. Wednesday noticed how Taylor seemed to push the Shadow Hyde away from Pup. The Addams and the twins ran alongside her dimensional variant, helping her to her feet.
"Are you all right?", asked Dora, holding the college student.
"Yes, I'm fine, but...," began Pup.
A roar interrupted her. About fifty feet away, whether through bad luck or inexperience, Taylor had fallen backwards to the ground struggling with the Shadow Hyde above her, who was trying to dig its claws into her eyes. Its labor was interrupted by an electric bolt thrown by Theo that struck the shadow creature squarely in the face, causing it to drop Taylor and recoil.
"Nice shot, brother!" exclaimed Dora jubilantly.
Theo nodded, but didn't celebrate his success with the same effusiveness. His brow was furrowed, thoughtfully, as if he had taken note of something. He exchanged a glance with Wednesday, who responded with an almost invisible nod. She had noticed it too.
At that moment, something leapt down from the building across the street, howling like a hellish beast, and the Shadow Hyde suddenly found itself staggering and about to fall on its nose to the ground as Enid Sinclair landed on top of it, positioning herself on its back on top of its shoulders and digging her claws into its throat.
"You threw me against a building and caused me to terrify a family!" the partially transformed she-wolf snarled, "That's very rude!"
The Shadow Hyde responded by reaching back with its arms and grabbing Enid by the torso, yanking hard to pull her off of itself. As it did so, the lycanthrope's claws still sunk into its throat slashed even deeper. With a gurgling howl, the Shadow Hyde hurled Enid at Taylor.
The Hyde dodged the werewolf inceremoniously, leaving Enid to slam into the asphalt, "Son of a b... OOF!"
The Shadow Hyde brought one of its hands to its throat where the wounds inflicted by Enid glowed brightly. Copious traces of gray goo, ectoplasm, poured from between its fingers like blood gushing from a mortal wound. The being turned and began to walk, with a slow, labored pace, as if trying to flee the area.
It couldn't.
Taylor Galpin grabbed it from behind, sinking the claws of her right hand into the wounds caused by Enid and grabbing the Shadow Hyde's head with her other hand, holding it immobile. The being of solid darkness lashed out with its arms and claws, trying to break free, leaving bloody marks on Taylor, but the female Hyde didn't budge and began to pull...
Wednesday, who had run alongside Enid to help her, realized at once what was about to happen.
"Galpin, wait!" she exclaimed, "We have to try to apprehend one...!"
With a triumphant roar, Taylor gave a final, hard tug with her left hand, ripping the Shadow Hyde's head off, spilling remains of ectoplasm all around her.
"...alive," Wednesday finished off, pressing her lips together in disappointment.
Well, nobody said it was going to be easy, right?
NOTES
This chapter was supposed to come out yesterday but I did a last minute rewrite. In the first version Enid failed to catch Pup in the fall and the young Addams hit the roof of the car head on, leading to a rather detailed scene of Enid starting to spiral into despair, insecurity, guilt, angst... immediately interrupted by Pup getting up unharmed.
On the one hand, it seemed a bit mean-spirited to me. On the other, it disrupted the pace of the story a bit too much. Or maybe it's just that I'm a softie and the idea of Pup crashing into a car after a seven-story fall makes me uncomfortable.
Judge for yourselves.
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