Carys held her ground as two of the goons broke away from the group and headed toward her, pulling weapons from the inside of their jackets. She was feeling it now. The anger, the fear. The two emotions were mixing in her bloodstream, convoluting, and she could feel it beginning. She felt her biceps grabbed, saw from her peripheral the guns pointed at her face. And the emotion churned more. Just…a moment. It was building. The click of the pistols was the final straw.
Carys let out a cry. Her transformation, for all of its delightful freakiness, was also painful. She bent over, her hands coming up to knot into the fabric of her shirt as she let out another shout. The hair atop her head began to lift, harden, reflecting the sun even more vibrantly. Where the goons were holding her, they would soon pull back their hands because the same hard hair, sharp as needles, began to extend. Her clothes seemed to melt, become one with her. Her body features smoothed out, became undefined in nature, but left the clarity that she was still a woman. Sprouting down her back, on her legs, even, the same needles were growing, lengthening. Her feet lengthened a bit as well, became more angular in shape. Her fingers also grew longer, and the nails extended, razor sharp.
When it was over, literally only just a matter of seconds, the pretty girl from before was gone. In her place was some sort of half-human, half-porcupine looking creature. Her skin had turned a strange shade of brown-gray, and her skin had been pulled taunt over every muscle, even in her face, stretching out her nose, and pulling the corners of her eyes back somewhat. She wasn’t attractive. Not as far as she was concerned, and her thought on the entire thing was the only one that mattered.
The two henchmen were just standing there, their jaws on the ground. Carys was sure, that if she looked around, everyone would have the same expression. But she didn’t want to see their faces. She didn’t want to see the horror, the disgust. And, she most certainly, for unknown reasons, did not want to see Matthew’s face. It seemed to her that his revulsion to her would be the worst to bear.
She turned her honey eyes – the only part of her that truly remained the same – on one of the henchmen. In a move that was lightening fast, she shot out her arm and grabbed him around the throat. Her other arm grabbed his wrist, tightening, until, with a strangled cry, he dropped the gun he was holding. Behind her, the soft sounds of the other henchmen raising his gun to shoot her fell on her ears. The quills on her back stood up straight, and with a hard exhalation from her, shot out – to only be replaced as quickly as they left her. The henchman let out a shriek as the quills embedded themselves in his chest before he fell over backwards, unmoving.
She turned quickly, holding up the thug by the back of his neck now, she planned to use him as a human shield. She started to move forward. Only half of her face could be seen around the man she was holding. He was kicking his legs. That was all he could do. If he tried to scratch at her hands he would find them pricked full of holes in a matter of seconds. With the one eye visible, she centered on the boss. She still refused to look at Matthew, “Let him leave this alley or I’ll make sure you get a taste too. Like that guy back there. You know, the one that’s dead?”