The girl gazed into the forest's edge, her green eyes like two emerald gems. A phantasm danced before her, darting between the trees, running, giggling with glee. A cherub with auburn hair and black eyes, identical to the brother not long lost. She stared for a moment, stony-faced, until the the haunting memories faded. The girl turned and glanced at the dying sunslight in the west, over the village's roofs and the chapel's steeple. The two smaller suns still remained above the horizon, creating a reddish-pink twilight that illuminated the hillsides and stone walls of the village. Pushing back brunette hair from her face, she hastily went back to her planting. It was unorthodox to continue farm work into the night, but ever since― she devoted all her time to it, becoming part of the earth, even working barefoot to feel the soil beneath her feet.
Caelen was young, barely of marriageable age. She should have been too young to work the fields, especially with the approaching darkness. No one inquired as to why she spent all her time outside, tending to her family's garden and crops. They all hid behind the village walls, and anyone who passed Caelen's property outside the gates dared not look her in the eye. Her family hadn't fled like the others, not after the first disappearance, not after the loss of her dear brother.
Little Owen...she thought as she patted dirt around a seedling. The sky was turning azure in color, and the first stars had already appeared. The world around her began to take on a blue tone, all colors meshing into one. A sound broke out into the evening night, penetrating every bone in the girl's body. It was long and mournful, jarring her nerves. It echoed through the forest and across the hills, and when it stopped, there was only a deadly silence. Yet Caelen continued picking off the wilted flowers, her jaw set and her face like stone.
Her expression never changed. She hadn't shed a single tear or smiled in months. A constant weight was upon her shoulders, but it wasn't the same fear that gripped all of the settlements in the colony. It was a heavy dread that repressed her emotions. She rarely spoke or displayed signs of living, which only added to her parents' grief over the loss of their younger child. A child lost to the forest and to the wolf monsters.
And now, as the deep howl faded, Caelen slowly stood. Lifting her simple linen skirt and stepping out of the flowery bushes, she looked again to the eastern forest. Her imagination ran wild as she envisioned creatures of the night grabbing her brother, imprisoning him in their giant claws. The dread that slumped her shoulders and sunk her stomach into her feet battered her mind.
The village had only found one of those said to be missing. She recalled when they found the local merchant at the river's shore, his tormented face, and his neck torn nearly in half. Despite the horror, all of them wondered the same thing. Why would the wolves prey only on the human folk? Not a single sheep had been gutted or stolen. No, it couldn't simply be wolves. They were monsters, and according to history, the first settlers of New Ghelinfal fought back beasts in droves. After years of peace, why now?
A tiny movement in the trees shook Caelen from her thoughts. From the instant she had seen it, it was thin and black, darting from the forest. It vanished more quickly than it had appeared. Then another howl ripped through the night. Hulking, dark forms approached from edge of the wood. Her bodice began to feel too tight as her breathing increased and her feet ached to move. All of her body screamed for some chance to flee before she could be seen, but something was pulling at her, something was making her stay like a statue in the garden. It was clouding her ability to think. She watched in horror as three forms came closer and closer. Caelen twitched, her body fighting against some force that kept her glued to the spot.
The figures were clearer now. They seemed covered in fur, with triangular ears at the top of their heads. Wolves, she thought. Wolves that stood like men on two legs. Wolves with hands. Caelen blinked as one turned to another and pointed with one finger at her. It raised its snout to the air and released a howl that made the hair on her neck stand on end. A moment later another howl pierced the night air, coming from farther off in the distance. Adrenaline and fear shot painfully through her body. They were almost upon her, walking urgently on their strange legs. Dread continued to weigh her down, and she began to feel intoxicated by the alien and strange feeling that her body so desperately fought against.
The monsters stopped in front of her, seeming surprised she hadn't run away. Two had gray and off-white patterning while the third seemed to have reddish-brown fur. She barely noticed their loincloths and the odd ornaments adorning their bodies that varied from painted leather to feathers. One of the grays stepped forward slightly, inspecting Caelen with amber eyes. He, she decided, as it had no feminine shaping whatsoever, loomed over her with lowered brown brows and ears pointed forward. Her breath caught in her throat as he sniffed her, and a fleeting hope crossed her mind that the wolf men would devour her alone and not her loved ones. That hope seemed empty as the image of the torn throat reappeared in her mind. The gray leaned back, and to Caelen's disbelief, opened his mouth and spoke to the other two. Words formed harshly around sharp animal teeth, and they rumbled to each other like creaking trees or grating rocks. A sensation pulled at her abdomen, it was separate from the fear that made her quake. She heard their strange language, picking out sounds like “nen bhetla” and “ylvart.” The mixture of feelings became unbearable and she convulsed in pain as waves of it hit her. Something was wrenching at the back of her mind, hooking itself around her very essence. The three wolf men turned and watched her in alarm. It was that alien feeling tugging at her. Now it was telling her to move. Her body fought again and failed. Caelen could feel the sensation of dirt moving under her feet, of wind passing against her face and through her hair and clothes.
She didn't know where she was going, only that it was away from the house and away from the creatures. More howls followed from behind her, ringing through her ears like a chorus singing of her coming doom. Again and again she saw the merchant, bloodied and half-soaked in the river...her bare feet took her at a blinding pace across an empty field. The howling of the beasts behind her seemed more threatening than ever before, a macabre song for the hunt. Her heart wanted to explode from her chest, her lungs collapse, and her muscles give way, but her whole being was suddenly consumed with running in the direction she was headed, away from the village, across the field open to the cobalt sky. Finally her body gave out from under her, and Caelen stumbled to the ground.
When she looked up, a dark and thin shape blocked her view. A hand reached down and firmly grabbed her arm to pull her up. She seemed in a trance, her thoughts turning over in her head like molasses. It was a man, a man in elegant, dark clothes with a little embroidered symbol on his cloak. He placed her upright and looked down at her. In the dim light he seemed extraordinarily pale with dark hair and dark eyes.
“Poor girl. Are you all right?” the voice was as soft as a petal.
Uncertainly, Caelen dumbly glanced behind her. All she saw was the empty night. Why weren't the monsters chasing their prey?
“Who...are you?” she asked quietly. The alien feeling was permeating all through her, making her shake and her skin tingle in fear. He flashed a smile only for an instant, but it was enough to make her notice.
“Call me Antraen's Legacy, if you must.” The pale man brushed some of Caelen's hair behind her shoulder, exposing her neck. His hand was deathly cold. The intense urge to flee returned to the girl, and again she was paralyzed. As slow as she felt, a thought gripped her mind that made her face run cold. Every missing person must have run. Not from fear, but from some wild impulse. She remembered watching as Owen ran into the forest that night, calling out his name, and searching a mile for him in every direction. An overwhelming feeling settled in her as she recalled how far the merchant was found from his home.
“I...you...” she stuttered weakly, staring at the man's eyes. The dark, calm irises she had seen a moment before were fading, turning to an icy blue, even grayish white. Her knees wobbled but her paralysis prevented her from any further movement.
Caelen saw it like an observer above her own body. The man, paler than the moon, snatching her neck and biting into her shoulder. The scream she emitted sounded distant to her own ears. Blood was leaving her arteries, her entire life and memory funneling out through the open wound. The pain was both tremendous and exquisite.
Monster. She alone knew the true source of fear, locked in the murderer's arms. It was unbearable to feel her very life essence leave her body, until, finally, she was released. She gasped and clawed at the ground, her body screaming in pain and weakness. Blackness darted in front of her eyes and warm blood still welled from her neck. Her heart felt weak, with little to pump through her veins.
“Will I die?” she heard herself whisper.
“Oh, no. You'll live forever,” the vampire responded over the chorus of wolf howls.
*~~~~~~~~*
Dhardian
nen bhetla – this girl
ylvart – not evil
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