Ch. 7
“Madling”
Little bat… that is the whatever-ith time he has called me that …Little bat, currently yes, but not really. I grimace at the thought. A nickname. Gross.
I sit in the tree for a while, watching and listening. The rare distance roars and wails, start to sound like soft whispers as the breeze blows through the trees. The moon long passed the mountain range now and the night is coming to an end soon. The fire is a mere glow under the burnt crumbling sticks. Zanir is curled around the edge of the fire circle. His body moving slowly up and down with each sleepy breath. I fly down the tree as quietly as I can. I hear the faint grumble of my stomach and curse at it. I need to find something to eat.
I twist my wing, exhale slightly, and a small bundle of fire falls toward the fire pit to keep the fire going a little longer. Knocking over some of the remaining sticks with a thud. Zanir shifts his arm, but the repetitive moves of his chest stay the same.
Shit. I need to eat like yesterday and fill this life force some or I will be nothing more than a pile of flesh if I keep using my powers.
I land next to where Halfy lays and his golden orange eyes filling the darkness around him, his eyes scan to me. A beast who never truly sleeps while in the forest, in this forest with me. His duty to me knows no limits even when sleep is trying to drag him to slumber. Nyx, I adore him so.
I glance at Zanir and back to Halfy. I grab my satchel that sits next to Halfy, one I have much forgotten about after seeing the breadcrumbs earlier. Such a cunning beast Halfy is.
I will be right back. I promise.
I can sense Halfy’s body tense. His eyes move to Zanir’s sleeping body. Like a predator eying its next meal.
Be nice or… don’t. I smile with a shrug. I will be back soon.
I fly a little ways down the lake’s edge to a part that has an opening past a few pine trees. I see the faint glow of the fire from our camp, close enough to please Halfy and far enough away that I can feel somewhat alone, as much as one can in this forest filled with nightmares and dreams. I land at the edge of the water, moving back and forth across the shoreline. I bury my satchel under some leaves, next to a large rock marked with moss.
I look around, faint wisps dancing across the lake still. Insects chirping in the night. Roars and howls are no longer filling the air, even the whispers have disappeared. I then take a deep breath. The air around me stops flowing, and I feel the invisible shell around me start to form, like a cloud, blocking me from being seen or heard by any lingering eyes or ears. Within my cloud, my shield, my body comes back to life.
My arms expand from the wings they once filled. My legs are stretching out fully. My toes running through the sand beneath my feet. My eyes adjusting back to their normal vision, my world growing darker than before. My hair falls across my back. A few pieces falling into my face and along my chest. A shiver runs through me. Another deep breath. I slowly allow my mental doors to open, and the walls fall into the blackness of my mind. Rumbles and sounds fill the void within.
Well, hello Lady Mihaela… it has been awfully dull in here without you…the others are never quiet, and honestly they aren’t as fun as you are… It purrs through my mind. It stops and remains silent for a moment. The silence makes bumps appear on my arms and a shiver caress my spine. I refuse to speak, to indulge in his blasé demeanor as if we are friends. Like we will EVER be friends. Then it purrs through clenched teeth it sounds like, clenched fangs. “You almost let me through… your door started to crumble ….with the vampire…”
I snarl. You are not in control. Remember that. Claws drag across my mind.
Oh, Lady Mihaela. I am aware I am not in control. You seem to forget…or you can’t remember that you are the one in control…always…
I hiss, I am not in the mood for your stupid mind games, Kiza. I feel nauseous suddenly, whether that is from saying his name or the clawing of my stomach. We both need to fill what I lost, but remember who the true beast is.
I feel a roar inside. See, Lady Mihaela…this is why you are more fun…
Through my shell, my shield, the world becomes still, the faint wisps along the lake disappearing, and even the moonlight seems to retreat to the mountains, like they know. They know what I am about to become. They know what I truly am…a long-discarded beast hidden behind my true form’s skin. Laying in wait, to pounce and take over me completely.
I feel my body change, again. I feel my bones snapping and reforming. Growing. I feel the claws taking the place of my delicate fingers. Digging into the sand beneath me. Fangs filling the smirk that once laid on my face. I feel hard plates like spikes rising across my back. At the tips, they start to fade like faint wisps, like shreds, with a plum-colored darkness. My body is no more than a shadow in the night, the shape is visible, but fades into nothing at the edges, much like how humans describe spirits or ghosts. My ears are coming to a point, ready to listen to the smallest of noises. Black fur with a purple hue, much like my true form’s hair, covers me. Black swirls of tattooed like markings run across my new form. The bond that holds us together. Unfortunately. A bond I was born with. A different bond, a divided bond, not like the one I have with Halfy. The only thing that remains me, my true self, my violet, lavender eyes. My shell, my shield, collapses. The world starts to fill all my senses, the smells, the sounds, the taste, all come flooding through.
Where to, Lady Mihaela? The beast purrs inside of my skull.
To hunt. I raise my new formed head, large and powerful. Smells fill my nostrils with each breath. There is a scent.
Different from Halfy, the trees, the lake, and even Zanir. I can smell him even from this distance, earthiness, pine, purifying lake water, faint mint, dried sweat, old blood from the marks from trees, but no power stings this nose from him, only my own power. There is a different smell, delicious, and an exciting scent. Prey filling my powerful nose. Instinct, drive, knocking against me. I follow the smell, the scent.
Moving slowly through the trees, movements silent. Deeper back into the forest. This is pure, calculated, in my room, my escape doesn’t even compare to this. The smell is getting stronger. I stop and scan the area.
My eyes fall upon a deer halted behind some trees. Straight and frozen. My body begins to crouch getting lower to the ground, never breaking my stare from the buck that is now scanning the area. I remain still, breathing steady. The deer is a decent sized buck with a nice pair of antlers resting on his head. A meal any scout would be proud to hunt. Probably would feed a good number of the people back at the castle, or at least one haunting creature such as myself...
The buck leans down to the ground and without a second thought, my body is moving. My paws running, closing in. The edges of my body, my form, fading into a blur. Before the buck has a chance to even realize what is going on, I am biting into its neck. I feel my fangs piercing through its hide. The tearing through layers of skin, tendons, muscles. Blood is now dripping down the edges of my mouth. Snarls leaving my lips with each forceful taste. The neck cracks. The buck becomes feathery.
Moments pass, and there is nothing left, but a pile of bones and the antlers that once laid upon the buck’s head. It’s meat, it’s soul, it’s entity filling some of the space, the force, that was taken from me when I used my powers against Zanir. Full and mostly filled. My body is shaking and panting with each breath. This is thrilling, exhilarating even. Just being free outside the castle walls to do as I please, to fly, to hunt, to exist.
Until next time, Lady Mihaela. Kiza purrs echo through me.
He knows I won’t let him out for long, and I only did because I need him for the life force to be accepted back into my body. MY BODY. I slam my mental doors close, and walls shoot up. Only a distant claw runs along the outside, I snarl at the feeling.
My form remains, but the animalistic beast, the instinct, the drive, silent for now. I raise my head to the sky, clouds moving above, and moonlight fading. The smell of sweat, mint, lake water and earth fill my nose. Blood is still dripping down my face, my fangs, and as I turn toward the smell, the warm red blood flies off me unto the ground below. I scan the area as I move through it, silently moving past trees and rocks. I pass a tree and it looks strange, like it is not supposed to be there. Unlike the others, covered with moss at the top rather than the base, no autumn falling leaves on its branches. I narrow my eyes and then suddenly a different smell pings my nose, tangy and strong.
I freeze and lower myself to the ground. My focus breaking from the strange tree to the owner of this new smell. The smell nearly makes my eyes water. In the distance I can see what looks like an older woman, with long disheveled hair, long fingers facing in all directions, claws at the tips of those fingers. Her face is wrong. Everything is facing the wrong way. Her mouth is crooked and looks like it is about to melt off her face. A glowing light, fire like substance, drips from her lips. Her clothes were nothing more than thin torn pieces of fabric covering her sunken skeleton underneath. I watch this creature float above the ground, moving toward something. My eyes follow in the direction of her path and in the distance, I see the dim glow of a fire…our fire.
Ch. 7
“Madling”
Little bat… that is the whatever-ith time he has called me that …Little bat, currently yes, but not really. I grimace at the thought. A nickname. Gross.
I sit in the tree for a while, watching and listening. The rare distance roars and wails, start to sound like soft whispers as the breeze blows through the trees. The moon long passed the mountain range now and the night is coming to an end soon. The fire is a mere glow under the burnt crumbling sticks. Zanir is curled around the edge of the fire circle. His body moving slowly up and down with each sleepy breath. I fly down the tree as quietly as I can. I hear the faint grumble of my stomach and curse at it. I need to find something to eat.
I twist my wing, exhale slightly, and a small bundle of fire falls toward the fire pit to keep the fire going a little longer. Knocking over some of the remaining sticks with a thud. Zanir shifts his arm, but the repetitive moves of his chest stay the same.
Shit. I need to eat like yesterday and fill this life force some or I will be nothing more than a pile of flesh if I keep using my powers.
I land next to where Halfy lays and his golden orange eyes filling the darkness around him, his eyes scan to me. A beast who never truly sleeps while in the forest, in this forest with me. His duty to me knows no limits even when sleep is trying to drag him to slumber. Nyx, I adore him so.
I glance at Zanir and back to Halfy. I grab my satchel that sits next to Halfy, one I have much forgotten about after seeing the breadcrumbs earlier. Such a cunning beast Halfy is.
I will be right back. I promise.
I can sense Halfy’s body tense. His eyes move to Zanir’s sleeping body. Like a predator eying its next meal.
Be nice or… don’t. I smile with a shrug. I will be back soon.
I fly a little ways down the lake’s edge to a part that has an opening past a few pine trees. I see the faint glow of the fire from our camp, close enough to please Halfy and far enough away that I can feel somewhat alone, as much as one can in this forest filled with nightmares and dreams. I land at the edge of the water, moving back and forth across the shoreline. I bury my satchel under some leaves, next to a large rock marked with moss.
I look around, faint wisps dancing across the lake still. Insects chirping in the night. Roars and howls are no longer filling the air, even the whispers have disappeared. I then take a deep breath. The air around me stops flowing, and I feel the invisible shell around me start to form, like a cloud, blocking me from being seen or heard by any lingering eyes or ears. Within my cloud, my shield, my body comes back to life.
My arms expand from the wings they once filled. My legs are stretching out fully. My toes running through the sand beneath my feet. My eyes adjusting back to their normal vision, my world growing darker than before. My hair falls across my back. A few pieces falling into my face and along my chest. A shiver runs through me. Another deep breath. I slowly allow my mental doors to open, and the walls fall into the blackness of my mind. Rumbles and sounds fill the void within.
Well, hello Lady Mihaela… it has been awfully dull in here without you…the others are never quiet, and honestly they aren’t as fun as you are… It purrs through my mind. It stops and remains silent for a moment. The silence makes bumps appear on my arms and a shiver caress my spine. I refuse to speak, to indulge in his blasé demeanor as if we are friends. Like we will EVER be friends. Then it purrs through clenched teeth it sounds like, clenched fangs. “You almost let me through… your door started to crumble ….with the vampire…”
I snarl. You are not in control. Remember that. Claws drag across my mind.
Oh, Lady Mihaela. I am aware I am not in control. You seem to forget…or you can’t remember that you are the one in control…always…
I hiss, I am not in the mood for your stupid mind games, Kiza. I feel nauseous suddenly, whether that is from saying his name or the clawing of my stomach. We both need to fill what I lost, but remember who the true beast is.
I feel a roar inside. See, Lady Mihaela…this is why you are more fun…
Through my shell, my shield, the world becomes still, the faint wisps along the lake disappearing, and even the moonlight seems to retreat to the mountains, like they know. They know what I am about to become. They know what I truly am…a long-discarded beast hidden behind my true form’s skin. Laying in wait, to pounce and take over me completely.
I feel my body change, again. I feel my bones snapping and reforming. Growing. I feel the claws taking the place of my delicate fingers. Digging into the sand beneath me. Fangs filling the smirk that once laid on my face. I feel hard plates like spikes rising across my back. At the tips, they start to fade like faint wisps, like shreds, with a plum-colored darkness. My body is no more than a shadow in the night, the shape is visible, but fades into nothing at the edges, much like how humans describe spirits or ghosts. My ears are coming to a point, ready to listen to the smallest of noises. Black fur with a purple hue, much like my true form’s hair, covers me. Black swirls of tattooed like markings run across my new form. The bond that holds us together. Unfortunately. A bond I was born with. A different bond, a divided bond, not like the one I have with Halfy. The only thing that remains me, my true self, my violet, lavender eyes. My shell, my shield, collapses. The world starts to fill all my senses, the smells, the sounds, the taste, all come flooding through.
Where to, Lady Mihaela? The beast purrs inside of my skull.
To hunt. I raise my new formed head, large and powerful. Smells fill my nostrils with each breath. There is a scent.
Different from Halfy, the trees, the lake, and even Zanir. I can smell him even from this distance, earthiness, pine, purifying lake water, faint mint, dried sweat, old blood from the marks from trees, but no power stings this nose from him, only my own power. There is a different smell, delicious, and an exciting scent. Prey filling my powerful nose. Instinct, drive, knocking against me. I follow the smell, the scent.
Moving slowly through the trees, movements silent. Deeper back into the forest. This is pure, calculated, in my room, my escape doesn’t even compare to this. The smell is getting stronger. I stop and scan the area.
My eyes fall upon a deer halted behind some trees. Straight and frozen. My body begins to crouch getting lower to the ground, never breaking my stare from the buck that is now scanning the area. I remain still, breathing steady. The deer is a decent sized buck with a nice pair of antlers resting on his head. A meal any scout would be proud to hunt. Probably would feed a good number of the people back at the castle, or at least one haunting creature such as myself...
The buck leans down to the ground and without a second thought, my body is moving. My paws running, closing in. The edges of my body, my form, fading into a blur. Before the buck has a chance to even realize what is going on, I am biting into its neck. I feel my fangs piercing through its hide. The tearing through layers of skin, tendons, muscles. Blood is now dripping down the edges of my mouth. Snarls leaving my lips with each forceful taste. The neck cracks. The buck becomes feathery.
Moments pass, and there is nothing left, but a pile of bones and the antlers that once laid upon the buck’s head. It’s meat, it’s soul, it’s entity filling some of the space, the force, that was taken from me when I used my powers against Zanir. Full and mostly filled. My body is shaking and panting with each breath. This is thrilling, exhilarating even. Just being free outside the castle walls to do as I please, to fly, to hunt, to exist.
Until next time, Lady Mihaela. Kiza purrs echo through me.
He knows I won’t let him out for long, and I only did because I need him for the life force to be accepted back into my body. MY BODY. I slam my mental doors close, and walls shoot up. Only a distant claw runs along the outside, I snarl at the feeling.
My form remains, but the animalistic beast, the instinct, the drive, silent for now. I raise my head to the sky, clouds moving above, and moonlight fading. The smell of sweat, mint, lake water and earth fill my nose. Blood is still dripping down my face, my fangs, and as I turn toward the smell, the warm red blood flies off me unto the ground below. I scan the area as I move through it, silently moving past trees and rocks. I pass a tree and it looks strange, like it is not supposed to be there. Unlike the others, covered with moss at the top rather than the base, no autumn falling leaves on its branches. I narrow my eyes and then suddenly a different smell pings my nose, tangy and strong.
I freeze and lower myself to the ground. My focus breaking from the strange tree to the owner of this new smell. The smell nearly makes my eyes water. In the distance I can see what looks like an older woman, with long disheveled hair, long fingers facing in all directions, claws at the tips of those fingers. Her face is wrong. Everything is facing the wrong way. Her mouth is crooked and looks like it is about to melt off her face. A glowing light, fire like substance, drips from her lips. Her clothes were nothing more than thin torn pieces of fabric covering her sunken skeleton underneath. I watch this creature float above the ground, moving toward something. My eyes follow in the direction of her path and in the distance, I see the dim glow of a fire…our fire.
