Shapeshifter

Prompt: A little girl finds a wounded kitten and adopts it, not knowing that it's a deadly shapeshifter that hides from hunters. The shapeshifter sees it as a good way to hide, but after some time, he starts to like the full bowls of food and the warm bed near the fireplace.

Story:

How long has it been? Few months? Few months, wasted away by endlessly getting fed and sleeping. This little girl, Mary, really likes to cuddle me. She has no clue, whatsoever, about who I truly am.

It was my dumbass that I got wounded by that stupid hunter. He landed a shot on me. And the only thing I could copy was a kitten. A defenseless, little kitten. And lo and behold, a little girl comes by to adopt me. How, why, what?!

I could kill her. Yes, I should've done that ages ago. Just my luck. Go and hide in a human's house, they said. Attack from within, they said. But how am I supposed to do that, when I am acting like a wounded kitten?!

Okay, okay. Tonight will be the night that I will eat that little brat and get the heck out of here. Yes, I will make this work. No turning back. I slowly crept up to her room. She's only 4, she can't beat me. I'm over a thousand years old, she just can't.

But something was amiss. When I neared the room, I could hear screams. High-pitched wails followed by the sound of a whip hitting onto flesh. My eyes widened as I realized what was going on.

For months, I've only been sleeping in the living room. And when it was nighttime, I was always outside. So, I was never near her room until tonight. I quickly rushed to her room door. It was ajar, so through that, I saw a horrific scene.

That hunter. The one who had been chasing me a few months back was mercilessly hitting his own daughter. She's only 4! If he claims that I was a monster, then he would be the devil. No, even the devil has manners and loves his family.

I growled as I could not control my emotions anymore. I reverted back into my original form, with three, black, scaly wings upon my back and black horns protruding from my temples. I swung the door open, effectively scaring the hunter and the kid.

I roared and plucked the child away from that abusive man. I carefully held her with one arm and the other was left to torture the man. I took the whip and gave him a taste of his own medicine. But I didn't want the girl to see, so I switched the girl around for her to face behind.

The man begged me to stop. But I won't. Not until I was satisfied. Ah, one thing I should mention. I'm not just a brute-force type of monster. Oh no, that would be boring. I am classified as a Time Monster.

So, as any sane monster would do, I've trapped the man in a Time Pocket, forever reliving the moment that I used his whip to hit him. So, he won't die. As I left the room and closed the door, I reopened the door once more. The man was forever gone.

"Thank you, Mr. Monster," said Mary, hugging my leg.

"You do realize that I could eat you, right?"

"Then you wouldn't have made Daddy disappear, right?"

This brat... Fine. I was starting to like those warm milk bowls by the fire. But now, she doesn't have a parent anymore. Looks like I have to be the one to take care of her. Perhaps, it's not such a bad thing.

"You're right. But there's one thing that you were wrong about," I said, patting her little head.

"And what's that?"

"It's not Mr. Monster. It's Ms Meslander. My name is Ysabeau and I am a girl."