...STRANGERS IN THE WOODS...
~ KIERA ~
I was never afraid of darkness. However, I vastly underestimated the utter blackness of a night-time forest. It pressed in on me from all sides, like a hand clutched tightly around my body.
'Run, Kiera!'
Dad's voice overwhelmed the constant ringing nearly driving me crazy. His words repeated over and over again. And my body obeyed. The only thing keeping me sane was the pill bottle clutched tightly in my hand.
Everybody ran from something. It could have been monsters or something else entirely; a bully from school, a nasty boss at work, a recurring nightmare, or even their guilty conscience. And me?
I ran to survive.
Every fiber of my being was screaming with awareness; a gush of frigid air, gentle drops of rain, trees barely lit by seldom flashes of lightning, soft rumbling in the distant skies above, and even the things chasing me through the forest. I was aware of everything.
Adrenalin kept me on my feet. Having a mind of their own, my legs expertly carried me over large sticks, fallen trees, and around everything else that got in my way.
'Couldn't he have said something more reassuring? Run? From what exactly? He's never seen them before, so what changed?'
We separated when Reds ambushed us a while back. First, there were three of them, then six, and soon twelve surrounded us. Dad, of course, had cleared a path for me to escape.
'Run, Kiera!'
That was the last thing he said to me. I didn't know where he was, or if he made it out alive. All I knew was that he wanted me to run. To survive. To put as much distance between me and the house as possible. He stayed behind to fight so that I could get away. But... he couldn't stop all of them. Three followed me. I'd been running from them for the past ten minutes and could feel my body reaching its limit.
They were getting closer. Shadows were everywhere, making it hard to see what was blurring past me, but I could tell from stolen glances over my shoulder that they differed from the other Red I had encountered at home.
These were smaller in size and had an extra pair of legs. Their bodies were thinner too, giving them a slinkier appearance. Their six legs were long and slender, resembling a gazelle's more than a fierce beast, and their paws were small too, like a cat's. None of them had horns, but their red eyes and canine skull masks were impossible to ignore.
'Crap. I can't hear anything other than my footsteps. Am I dreaming again? Is this another nightmare?'
I vaulted over a fallen tree. Well, I more like flopped over it. I landed on my butt and felt it sink into a bed of soft moss. I cringed at the cold wet moisture absorbing into my sleeping shorts. I grabbed at small branches around me, pulling myself back up.
'No. They're real. Dad saw them. He touched them. Just because I can't hear them, doesn't mean they don't exist.'
I glanced around, frantically eyeing every minuscule movement within the shadows. The forest had thinned. Trees, shrubs, and underbrush were growing scarce the further away I got from the house.
I couldn't hide anymore, and as I continued moving, I felt like I was running myself to death. My legs, of course, felt like jelly. I wasn't even running anymore. Just wobbling on shaking legs gulping air like a fish out of water. I was exhausted. Five days of constant sleep wasn't exactly kind to my stamina. I was amazed that I was still able to move after the extreme stress my body was under. I felt ridiculous. And let's not forget the wound on my nape. Who knows how much blood I've already lost? But I wanted to survive, so I had no choice but to run.
"Come on, Kiera—move! Just a little further, you're almost there."
The words tore out of me in ragged gasps, but they did nothing. My pep talk failed. My legs burned, my chest heaved, and my body refused to obey. I couldn't run anymore. I couldn't even stagger. My sprint crumbled into a limp shuffle.
"No, no, no! Come on, just—" Tears blurred my vision. "Just a little further. Please!"
I threw a glance over my shoulder, bracing for the Reds to be right behind me, ready to drag me down. But they weren't there. Nothing was. Only the fallen log I'd scrambled over, and the darkening forest swallowing everything behind it.
'I know I told you to disappear, moon, but I didn't think you'd listen…' I thought, cursing my earlier wish.
I wobbled forward, every step a gamble whether my legs would hold or give out beneath me. The world was blurring at the edges, swaying like I was caught inside a fever dream. My lungs burned, dragging in shallow, ragged breaths that refused to steady.
Still. Nothing was behind me. I turned to look ahead.
I slammed into someone solid. For a split second, my body flinched, expecting pain, but instead a pair of arms wrapped around me. The stranger twisted, dragging me with them as we went down together. My knees buckled, and the ground should've broken me, but it didn't. They took the weight of the fall.
We hit the ground hard. The breath whooshed out of me as my body landed across theirs. Their chest rose and fell beneath my cheek, warm, unyielding, the only thing keeping me from collapsing completely into the dirt.
My legs ended up tangled with theirs, and a sharp jab in my ribs made me wince. Was it their hip pressing into me, or mine into them? I couldn't tell anymore. Everything in me was unraveling. It started in my legs with pins and needles, creeped up into my arms and spread across my back, and finally reached my head. I felt weak. Like any second, I would lose consciousness. Then I felt numb, pieces of me slipped away, scattered into the night.
I tried to lift my head, but it lolled uselessly to the side. My vision smeared into shadows, fireflies of light flickering in the corners, and I couldn't focus on the face of the stranger holding me steady.
I was dissolving. I wasn't even here anymore, like I was fading… just like the moon.
I was pulled upright, drawn into the stranger's lap as he sat with me supported against him. My head drooped forward until I forced it up again, sluggishly. A boy. At least, the outline of one. His face was nothing but a blur, a silhouette carved in darkness.
My skull screamed in warning. A sharp, shrill ringing filled my ears, drowning everything else, threatening to split me apart from the inside.
"Ugh—" I groaned, scrunching my face against the pain.
A sound vibrated through his chest beneath my cheek. A chuckle, soft, almost absent.
I blinked up at him, glaring weakly, but it came out more like a desperate squint.
'He's… laughing?'
"Dying already?" His voice was smooth, steady. Not quite deep, not quite light, just unplaceable. Every word trembled faintly through him, brushing against me like a second heartbeat.
The sound made my breath catch. There was no mockery in it. No concern either. Just something I couldn't grasp, as if he was speaking from a place I didn't understand.
His hand shifted, cool fingers sliding into my hair to steady the back of my neck. Keeping my head from lolling uselessly to the side.
Lightning flashed. For a heartbeat, the world turned white. His figure was outlined against the night. He was slender, with thick, shoulder-length hair whipped by the wind, but even then, the light refused to touch his face. It was as though the dark itself held him.
"Sorry," he murmured, voice quiet. "I cannot allow that."
'Allow what? My death? Why not?'
His fingers slid through my tangled curls, hooking gently until he tilted my head back, baring my neck.
"This might hurt," he murmured, calm in a way that sent a shiver down my spine.
Something cold pressed against my skin. Sharp. A needle? But the sensation didn't match. It wasn't a syringe. It wasn't anything I recognized.
"Now," he said, low and steady. "Try not to squirm."
Something slammed into my veins. Fire spread under my skin. My chest seized, lungs locking tight. The burn raced up my throat, searing me from the inside out. Every nerve screamed. My body convulsed in his arms, kicking and writhing, desperate to escape the invasion.
I couldn't scream. The heat stole my voice. My jaw locked open while tears burst hot down my cheeks. My bones felt like they were splintering apart, marrow boiling deep inside of me. My heart hammered so violently it felt like it would tear itself loose.
'What is happening to me? What did he put inside me?'
"Stop it!" The sound tore from my throat.
For one terrifying heartbeat my hands pressed into his chest, and he moved. Not because I was strong, but because he allowed it.
I scrambled to my feet, trembling, stunned that I could even stand at all. My heart pounded in my chest. My hands clenched against my will. I gasped for air, dizzy and unsteady, but unwilling to fall. My chest rose and fell too quick, each inhale a knife dragging down my throat.
He sat there on the ground where I'd shoved him, not bothered in the slightest. One knee bent, an arm draped over it with lazy calm, watching me with the patience of a cat toying with a cornered mouse. And then, slowly, he raised his hand to his mouth.
My stomach dropped.
His tongue slid across his fingers, tasting the smear of red that clung there. Blood. My blood.
I felt bile claw at my throat.
"You know," he said softly, almost conversational, as if nothing about this was strange, "you don't smell like the others…" He tilted his head, his hair falling loose around his shadowed face. "…but you do taste like them."
I couldn't stop shaking. My whole body wanted to fold, to shut down, but something held me together.
"Who are you?" I whispered, my voice shaking.
He chuckled again. The sound was softer than it should have been, but it made the hairs on my neck rise as if he'd dragged claws over my spine.
"Bis Drengr!" His tone sharpened. "Of all the questions, you ask for my identity? Not what I did to you?"
A flash of lightning lit the sky, and for one instant I saw him more clearly. His hair was dark and shoulder-length, his frame lean but strong, his face was still hidden in the interplay of shadow and light. Then the darkness swallowed him again, as if the night itself conspired to keep his features secret.
He rose to his feet, and my throat tightened. My pulse hammered in my ears. I staggered back a step, clutching at my chest. Every nerve in my body screamed that he wasn't normal.
"Who are you?" I asked again, my voice wavering despite my effort to stay steady.
"No one important." He took a step closer, and I instinctively recoiled. "Fine. I'll maintain distance. But we need to leave."
"I'm not going anywhere with you."
"Dre'ys! Are you always this difficult?" His voice was soft, smooth, but it cut through me like ice. A thrill of danger licked at the edge of my senses.
My eyes flicked to the surroundings behind him. We were far from the cabin. The river lay south of us, Vincent's house a ten-minute walk away. But the world felt twisted, alive in some wrong way. The shadows moved with him. Or maybe it was my imagination.
'What did he do to me?'
My body was stronger, moving easier than it should. But my head throbbed, and exhaustion weighed at my bones. I couldn't run far. And even if I tried, I wouldn't escape him, or the Reds. My best chance was the river. Just get there…
"The Reds… Wait, what happened to those things?" I asked, glancing at him, my voice shaky.
"Those things?" He stood still, perfectly still, blending into the shadows like he belonged to them. "Ah, you mean the Fyres. They were in the way, so I got rid of them."
Something about the way he said it made my stomach churn. He didn't sound proud. He didn't sound kind. Just capable. Dangerous. I couldn't tell if he was protecting me or testing me
"You can…" I swallowed hard. "…see them?"
"Right, I'll be taking these." He shoved a small bottle of pills into his pocket with a casual flick. My eyes snapped to my empty hands, panic slicing through me.
'What!? When did he—'
"I just saved your life. Temporarily, anyway. Maeve is clever. He marked you, knowing you'd reject him. Knowing you'd be on borrowed time."
"Who is Maeve?" I asked cautiously, trying to keep my voice steady despite the terror bubbling inside.
"Don't tell me he bit you without introducing himself?" he inquired, crossing his arms. His head leaned to the left, and I could almost feel his skepticism rub off on me.
'–that Daemun just marked our daughter–only he can save you now–Maeve made sure of that.'
I kept hearing Dad's words in the back of my mind.
"That… horned wolf?" I stammered, hand flying to my neck. The wound was numb, almost dead, but I could still feel the thick, sticky warmth of blood between my fingers.
"Slow on the uptake, are you? Yes. That was Maeve," he said, his tone sharp, almost teasing.
"Raven, you shouldn't run off like that," a deeper voice growled behind me.
My heart jumped. I whirled around and saw another boy approach us. He stopped in his tracks when he noticed me. He was bigger than Raven. Taller with a bulkier build. His presence made the air feel heavier, thicker, as if it were pressing down on me. But he was a black mass of shadows just like the other one.
'It's like they're wrapped in darkness. Why can't I see their faces?'
"Hmph," the skinny boy named Raven huffed.
"I see you found her. That was fast," the shadowed figure said, his voice low and resonant.
"She's bleeding all over the place. Of course, it was quick. Any idiot with a nose could find her."
"You didn't tell her, did you?"
"I didn't," Raven replied, uncrossing his arms casually, like this was all routine.
"Daemun should have her scent. They'll be here any minute. But they're not all his. There are others too. From Demicaux, Petraeus, and even some from V'velgrys. They'll come for her."
"They won't try anything. Not with 'him' nearby."
"Daemun? What's that? What are you talking about?" I asked, trying to be part of their conversation.
"Drengr! Do you know anything?" Raven asked. He stared at me, or well, I assumed he did.
"Where she's going she doesn't need to know anything," the other boy muttered.
'Where I'm going? Do they want to take me somewhere? No! I'm not going anywhere unless it's to Vincent.'
I bolted. My legs screamed, muscles trembling like frayed cords, but I forced them to keep moving. I ran ten steps, maybe fifteen, before the bigger boy's hand shot out like a striking snake and yanked me backward. His grip was iron-tight. My wrist ached, bone-deep, a screaming agony that made me gasp, as though it might snap under his strength.
"Let… let go!" I screamed, thrashing, kicking, but he didn't budge. The world tilted with each movement, my vision blurring at the edges. Raven's shadowed form stepped closer, silent and ominous, his presence pressing into me like a physical weight. My pulse hammered, drowning every rational thought. I was trapped between them, sandwiched in a vice I couldn't escape.
"There's no point. You cannot escape us. You're too slow."
"No!" I shrieked, my voice raw and hoarse. "I'm not going anywhere with you. Let go of me! DAD! HELP ME! I'M OVER HERE!" My screams tore through the night, my throat burning with every word.
"You brought this upon yourself. Had you come quietly, I would not have had to resort to this." His hand snapped to my throat. My head tilted back painfully as I choked on his hold, desperate for air.
"Careful, Coda. You might break her," Raven warned, stepping between us. His hand pressed against Coda's arm, a silent barrier.
"Like you're one to talk. I bet you would have sucked her dry if I hadn't shown up," Coda snarled, releasing my throat.
"I considered it, I won't lie, but I changed my mind. She isn't your average Maji," Raven murmured, brushing a strand of hair from my face. His fingers ghosted over my cheek, oddly gentle, even in the chaos.
"She is Kade's daughter. Of course she is not average. Good for us. Means she will make us a lot of money," Coda said, his voice cruel and amused. I could almost feel the smile in it. Without warning, he pushed past Raven and began dragging me forward.
"You're selling me?" I pulled back, digging my heels into the ground, but it made no difference. His strength was too much; I was hauled along with him.
'What's happening?' My thoughts raced in panic.
"You? No. You are of inferior value to us," he said, and the finality in his tone chilled me to the bone.
Lightning tore the sky apart, the roar of thunder shaking the treetops and rattling my bones. The storm arrived. It was right above us. Rain fell from the sky. My chest ached, my pulse thrumming with fear, but something else drew my gaze. Something in the darkness that made the boys at my side suddenly seem small, powerless, even laughable in comparison.
A figure stood in the distance. Watching us. Yellow eyes glowed from the depths of darkness, cutting through the night. Shadows that had clung to Raven and Coda recoiled violently, slithering backward as if burned. The wind bent violently around him, whistling through the trees, bending branches away, and whipping the leaves and drops of rain into a frenzied spiral.
Every instinct in my body screamed that this was danger unlike any I had known. The hairs on my arms stood rigid. My legs trembled, yet I was rooted in place, unable to look away.
"Peek-a-boo. I found you," his voice slithered across the clearing, smooth and almost playful, yet layered with a threat that made my stomach knot. It wasn't a simple greeting. It was a challenge. A warning. A game. And we were already trapped in it.
He stepped forward, and the air itself seemed heavier, thick with tension and some unnamable presence that pressed against my very being. It felt like something cold and dark was prying at my soul, crawling inside of me, trying to wear my very essence like it was trying on a garment. I retched. I never thought I could ever feel so violated.
Dust lifted from the ground, swirling around him, yet never touching his feet. Then I noticed the Reds circling him. They were fluid shadows that moved with him, as if part of him, yet distant enough to remind me they were deadly enough on their own.
He tilted his head, a faint, knowing smile ghosting across his unseen features. Every movement screamed danger, every pause invited terror. And yet… there was amusement in the way he regarded us.
"I don't like this game anymore. It's boring. Isn't any fun if nobody hides. But it's okay. We can play something else. Something more exciting," the stranger said, his voice laced with a strange thrill.
Three long, unnervingly silent strides brought him closer.
Shadows peeled away from his face. His eyes were a beautiful mix of yellow and gold, shifting like molten metal. Thick, low-arching eyebrows made his expression unreadable, and his lean, sharp frame moved with the confidence of a predator. He was dressed all in black, blending into the trees.
"We have no interest in your stupid games, Cain. We are leaving with this girl, even if we must drag her corpse out of this forest," Coda said.
'Wait...Cain? He's Cain? The one Dad mentioned?'
"Ugh, you are so boring! I thought this would be more interesting, but I'm dying to have some fun right now. Eating that wench's crystal ruined my mood. I lost my fucking appetite because of her. Anyway, if we can't play any games, I guess I'll have to get serious. And I despise getting serious."
The Reds began to click. They spread out and surrounded us. Their eyes glowed. Flashes of my recurring nightmare came back to me. Red eyes. So many red eyes.
Coda shoved me back.
Raven grabbed me and moved his head closer to my ear. "I like you, Kiera. But don't get me wrong. You owe me. I saved your life. You best remember that…" he whispered.
"You're no one important, remember?" I whispered back, mocking his earlier words.
"For now, yes." He chuckled and moved his head back. "You will see me again. I promise. Now get out of here. You're running out of time. I told you, didn't I? I saved your life. Temporarily."
I squirmed free of his grip and shoved him away from me. I didn't look back. I just ran towards the river.
Vincent lived upstream. He could save me. Just like he saved me from that thing in that lake...