Today, Megan Bostic (author of the forthcoming Never Eighteen) talks a little bit about what her super creature would be. The actual prompt for the guest post was this: Zombies, vampires, werewolves, fairies, mermaids, and other creatures have left a mark on our society. Your mission is to combine a well-known creature with something from our world and develop a super creature. Explain what it is, what its strengths and weaknesses are, and why we should be afraid to sleep at night. Megan even went the extra mile and shows us an image of this creature.

My super creature is a Leopryad. It’s part Leopard, part tree nymph. The legend is, in the time of early man, a hunter came across a pregnant, slumbering leopard. He approached silently, and hit her over the head with a club, then stabbed her. She woke and attacked and killed the hunter. Injured, she crawled into the recess of a nearby tree, where she and her unborn cubs died. Her spirit became one with the tree, creating the Leopryad. Her babies followed suit as saplings.

Now the Leopryads are born from trees, and they become their birth tree’s guardian. They not only live among the trees, but are able to merge with them, essentially becoming part of it. They use this gift as camouflage, and it’s best not to seek them out. They asexually reproduce, so now can be found worldwide, though they prefer to live where there are clear skies and an abundance of trees.

They are peaceful by nature and despise violence; however, they fight to protect the trees from the enemies of nature. They are especially dangerous during the Christmas season.

Leopryads are elusive, and largely nocturnal. They are very agile, and can run at over 40 mph and jump up to 20 feet.

Being carnivores with a voracious appetite, hunting for food is a natural instinct and not considered violence. Like the leopard, they stalk their prey silently, pounce on it at the last minute, and strangle its throat with a quick bite.

Land development has forced the Leopryads to venture into more urban areas to hunt. They will prey on any living creature they come across, however, prefer human flesh to the gamey meat of wild animals. They’ve been known to especially target those they know have violated the trees—whom they kill slowly. Leopards have no reservations about entering houses to feed their need for flesh, so it’s best to keep your doors and windows locked at night.

Mostly mute, Leopryads communicate with one another with body language, facial expressions, and vocalizations. They are one with each other as they are one with nature, and when not hunting or defending the trees, can be found frolicking and dancing together in the deepest realm of the forests.