Beneath the Neon Moon by Theda Black Page B

releases his prey. Zach, it's almost here, I'm almost strong enough."
    "It'll tear you apart," Zach whispered against the hot skin beneath his lips.
    "I don't care. It's you or me, Zach. I'll heal, dammit." Mal pushed Zach gently away from him. He bent, placed both hands spaced apart on the chain and pulled. The length between his hands went taut. His arms trembled. The chain held.
    He changed position and pulled again, shoulders and arm muscles bunched, veins swelling and tracing his arms in sharp relief. One of his hands slipped. The entire length of the chain went tight, the prongs in his ankle digging in, scraping bone. Mal threw his head back and cried out, low and hoarse. Zach put shaking hands on his shoulders. Mal snarled and slung him off. The tip-tilt of his eyes seemed exaggerated, wild, and his cheeks were sharp bone, outlined in the white light from outside.
    Mal wrapped the chain around one of his hands and pulled up with both arms as the blood flowed from his ankle and pooled into his sneaker, slipped over the sides, and still he kept pulling, growling, half-moaning sounds coming from his throat, tears and sweat rolling down his face.
    It made Zach sick. He couldn't look away. Break, please, please break now —
    A weld in the middle broke and the link pulled, one end unfurling, slowly pulling into a line of gleaming metal.
    He was free.
    "Get out of here," Mal said, his voice no longer his own, dark and guttural as if he'd forgotten how to speak. He sank to the ground, hunched over. Zach didn't move. "I said get out of here!" Mal shouted. The shadows were black, pouring over his face. His cheekbones were knives. His hand stretched forward, elongated, then dropped, fingers squirming in beneath the chain links tight against his ankle. He pulled at them, more moaning, growling sounds coming out of his mouth. 
    Zach climbed the stairs, unseeing, hearing Mal's hoarse voice as he cried out. At the top of the stairs Zach stopped, looking back wearily.
    Mal watched him. His eyes had changed, grown larger and lighter. "It's all red, Zach. Rose red." It wasn't Mal but it was. Zach still heard him, trapped behind the facade. "He bit me and the light kept flashing on and off and on, everything red. I couldn't see my blood in all the red, and I thought I was going to die, watching him eat me alive. I can't stay here anymore and feel it. Leave or I'll do it to you. I'll find a way to get to you. Then you'll know what it feels like."
    Zach nodded numbly and turned away, pulling his wallet from his back pocket. He opened it, found the small penknife and unfolded it. He stuck the blade in the jam, feeling for the lock, pressing until he felt the knife slide in more. He pressed the other way, felt the lock go back. He pushed against the door, hands steady. 
    He turned one last time. Mal looked up at him with lowering eyes, head shaking like a lion twitching off flies. He panted, chest rising and falling, fast and shallow. He closed his eyes and screamed, tearing at himself. Zach watched it all. Mal's body broke apart and formed into something else. He lost control as it happened, calling out Zach's name in his torn, raw voice, reaching up towards the stairs and screaming until the sounds leaving his mouth were unrecognizable.
    When it was done Mal stood, raised his head and looked at him once more, wolfen eyes yellow and green, body long and graceful, strong. Larger than any wolf should ever be.
    The cuff still held him, but the bloody, hated chain lay on the ground, dirt sticking to the gore on the links. He'd broken free of it.
    Something passed between them. A warning, the last one. Zach nodded again and opened the door. He didn't look back, just walked through the doorway and fell against the door with his back, closing it. He locked it and sank to the floor.
    It had been like watching Mal die, or something so near as to make no difference. It was who Mal was now, and who he'd be for the rest of his life, dying once every