by M A Roth
Nicolas looked at me, his face no longer stone. He was really and truly pissed.
My heart rate picked up at seeing him. I moved towards the ledge again, panic taking over.
He closed the door behind him and leaned against it, yet his eyes never left me.
“I’ll jump,” I said, not sure if he could hear my voice over the wind or my pounding heart. My hair whipped across my face, obscuring my vision. With a trembling hand, I tried to push it back.
A crashing sound came from behind the steel door that Nicolas was still leaning against. “What the hell was that?” I asked.
His eyes grew angrier.
My fear was choking me. Standing on a ledge, the wind beating me, knowing I had nowhere to go, was more terrifying than anything I had experienced.
The door shock again, and I watched as Nicolas removed his black gloves, placing his hands on the door. Almost immediately, it started to freeze over, the ice racing quicker than I could see. “You need to calm down,” he said in a snarl, putting his gloves back on.
I wasn’t sure if I’d heard him right. My mind was frantic; I nearly wanted to jump to have this moment in time finally end. “Calm down?” I questioned. I looked over the ledge again. I swallowed and tried to fight the dizziness. I didn’t know what to do.
The door shook furiously, drawing my attention away from the serious drop. I watched as cracks started to appear in the thick layer of ice that had recently formed. Nicolas backed away while drawing two long blades that seemed to just appear in his hands. He moved closer to me as the ice started to smash into the rooftop, sliding across the wet surface. The door opened, one of the hinges giving way, and it hung loosely as the dead entered.
The smell of decay was the first thing to hit me, and I gagged on the smell. Their skin was rotting, and bits fell off as they walked towards us with purpose.
“You really need to calm down.” Nicolas’s words tore my gaze from the dead.
“Calm down? Are you fucking serious?” I almost choked on the rotten air.
“You created them. They will only go away if you calm down and let your fear go.” He had reached me now, and I stood firmly on the ledge.
My breathing sounded raspy to my ears. Had I created them with my fear? I closed my eyes and tried to slow my beating heart, but when I opened them again, they were almost beside us.
I could see Nicolas tense. “They are not real, Abigail.” He bit out every word.
I wanted to scream at him; they look bloody real to me! I moved away from the ledge, hoping it would calm me, and stood beside Nicolas. One of the dead took another step towards us. I studied it. It was definitely a woman or was once upon a time. It was hard to tell with so much skin missing. The hair hung loosely, clumps missing from the scalp. Her eyes were black, dead. But she shuffled towards us, almost like a zombie. Her skin wasn’t white, but red as if she had laid out in the sun too long.
I repeated in my head, this isn’t real, hoping to calm myself.
Nicolas’s sword moved so quickly that the women’s head hit the ground before I could process anymore.
That looked real to me. My panic and fear came back in droves.
Nicolas swore under his breath as more dead moved through the door. “It’s time to go.” That was the only warning I got before he turned, wrapping his arms around me, and flung both of us over the ledge.
CHAPTER SIX
I screamed the whole way down, and my throat wouldn’t stop releasing the terror—even though my brain tried to tell me I wasn’t falling anymore.
A black gloved hand clamped over my mouth roughly. It didn’t stop my screams; it only muffled them. “Stop,” Nicolas ordered. His voice was right beside my ear, and it was enough to make me come out of my terror.
I stopped and pushed him away from me, trying to calm my frantic heart. My hands were wet. I looked down at the white carpet of snow that I now sat on. The snow was slowly melting under my hands. Looking around, I could see we were surrounded by large trees. Their branches bowed, weighed down by the heavy snow. It would have seemed beautiful, but Nicolas stared daggers at me as he stood up.
“Where am I? How did we get here?” I asked, my throat burning. I rubbed it, trying to ease the pain.
He didn’t answer but started to walk away. I stood, testing my legs, hoping they could hold me up. They shook, and my whole body followed. I took an experimental step and didn’t land on my face. Looking back up, I came eye to eye with Nicolas. I hadn’t even heard him move, or felt his presence. His face was stone as he stared me down; I flinched at his hard gaze, but still stood my ground on shaky legs.
“Stay beside me, and don’t wander off. Can you manage that?”
I wanted to spit in his face, but I didn’t have a death wish. I nodded, afraid that if I spoke, I would get myself killed with my mouth. He swung away, and I followed him, hating myself with every step I took. If only I hadn’t attacked him in the alleyway, maybe Zee would have stopped him. If only I hadn’t gone into the crazy lady’s house and got Cathy almost brainwashed. If only: the two saddest words in the world.
I let out a groan as I trudged through the snow, following Mr. Personality of the Year. He gave me a cold stare over his shoulder before he turned away. I gave his back the finger. It was the best I could do for now. But my anger and frustration were starting to rise. I knew my body didn’t just shake from the cold; I needed a drink and badly. I gave a humorless laugh at the thought of getting a drink in Hell if that was even really where I was.
Nicolas’s steps had grown slower, and I was nearly beside him. I slowed my pace, not wanting to be too close. He stopped completely, and moved close to a tree, wrapping his fur coat around himself before sitting on the snow-laced ground. He closed his eyes, leaning his head against the tree, not saying a word. Was he for real?
I stood shaking in my flimsy clothes and rubbed my arms, trying to fight the cold off. “What are you doing?” I asked through thin lips.
One of his eyes opened. “What does it look like?” he asked, before shutting it again.
I took a deep breath, trying to control my anger. “It looks like you’re taking a nap while I freeze to death in this forest. I don’t know what you took me for, only to let me die like this.”
He cut me off, raising one gloved finger to his lips in a ‘quiet’ gesture.
“You’re an asshole,” I said, but found myself pinned on the ground with Nicolas over me.
“Don’t confuse my quietness with patience.” I gulped at the anger burning in his eyes. No-one must have spoken to him like this before. He seemed furious, and I could see the deadly glint in his eye. Yet I knew he wouldn’t kill me; he clearly needed me.
But being held down and knowing I was helpless made me understand that there were worse things than death. “Get off me,” I said in a whisper, trying to control the panic that was surfacing again. My hands balled into fists at my side. I could feel my eyes fill with burning tears of frustration.
He didn’t release me straight away, and I lay still, keeping my mouth shut. One tear slid free, and I watched him follow the trail down my check until it disappeared under my neck. Only then did he stand up and move back to the tree he had rested at a moment ago. I swiped angrily at my eyes, lying still while I cursed my shitty life. I lay only for a few more minutes before I found the strength to stand.
As I stood, my body trembled. I threw a glance at Nicolas. It looked like he was asleep. Great, just great, I thought.
Darkness had fallen over the forest in the last few moments. The trees long branches looked like skeletal hands stretching out to touch me. No stars shone; only the moon filtered a small amount of light through the trees. I shivered before moving towards Nicolas. With the light touching one side of his face, he looked almost handsome, his features softer.
I looked away and moved to the left of him, leaning against a tree a few feet away. I pulled my knees to my chest, trying to give myself some form of warmth and comfort, but it did
n’t come.
My eyes started to feel heavy, and they closed slowly, but the snap of a twig had me wide awake. I searched the forest, but couldn’t see anything.
Nicolas was as still as stone. Was he dead? Could I really get so lucky? Disappointment filled me as I noticed his chest rise slightly. I looked away, letting out a heavy breath before trying to sleep again. The snow had melted under me, soaking my trousers. How the hell was I supposed to sleep?
I froze, not even blinking my eyes. Something had moved to my left, out of sight behind a tree. I glanced at Nicolas. He was still asleep.
The sound of a child’s laughter had me following the shadow from behind the tree. I couldn’t get a good look at the child, but it laughed again. The noise seemed to fill the forest. I found myself smiling. I could still see the shadow of the child as it moved from tree to tree.
I stood and stepped deeper into the tree line. The laughter was filling me with a sense of joy; I needed to find the child.
“Come find me!” The little voice had me moving quicker through the trees. No matter how fast I ran, the child was always a step ahead of me. But I was getting closer. My glee had me smiling.
I halted. The child was gone and so was my sense of joy, it was like a fog lifting, and I swallowed, looking around me. I wouldn’t know how to find my way back to Nicolas even if I tried. Whatever led me out here wanted me lost. Usually, right before you got smacked over the back of the head, a branch would break; you would have a moment of pure oh shit. Well not for me. My oh shit moment came when I woke up.
CHAPTER SEVEN
I lay in a dark cave, the only light burning from a small fire to my left. My hands were tied behind my back, my feet bound, and I was lying face down on the floor. I could see the moon from the opening of the cave.
“It’s awake,” the child’s voice said. The same voice I had followed through the forest. But it didn’t fill me with joy; no, now I just felt anger, and along with it, a massive headache.
Legs appeared in my vision, and they weren’t child’s limbs. I tilted my head back as the man bent down. His skin was an unnatural gray. The color had washed out of his eyes, making them look as gray as his skin. He smiled, and I held my breath. It was rotten, along with his teeth. A few strands of hair stuck to his head. He moved in closer and sniffed me.
“What is it?” I glanced at the child. He was a mini version of the man, and for some reason, it was twice as disturbing.
The man leaned away from me. “I don’t know.” He didn’t sound happy that he didn’t know what I was, but it would buy me some time to get out of here.
“I’m hungry,” the child said, moving towards my legs.
I instantly wriggled away. A large foot clamped down on my back. Pain ignited along my spine.
“What are ya?” The man stepped off my back, and I looked sideways at the child. I valued my legs too much. It was standing still, staring at me with a hunger suggesting that if its father gave it the go-ahead, it would eat me. Its teeth were so sharp, I could see how they would tear flesh.
I forced the image out of my head and tried to push the fear aside. “I’m a locky,” I said, praying to God it didn’t really exist. When the man didn’t start chewing on me, I took it as a sign that he had never heard of a locky. My mind raced, trying to think of how I could prevent them from eating me. “If you eat me, you will die.” I paused. “My body is full of poison.” I glanced from him to the child. I needed to keep an eye on it. I could have sworn the thing was drooling.
“You’re a liar.” my words had agitated the man, angry that his meal wasn’t edible.
“I’m telling the truth,” I said, staring up at him, trying to force as much sincerity into my words.
The man started to pace, rubbing his long gravy fingers over his face. “How do I know you are telling the truth?” The words were snarled with frustration and hunger. I could see it in its eyes.
“You don’t, but you don’t have a choice. If you eat me, you die,” I said.
“What if we just try one small piece? We would know then,” the child said with desperation.
No, no, no, my mind screamed. The boy moved towards me, and I wriggled away, only to be stopped again by a foot on my back.
“No,” the man’s voice boomed throughout the cave.
“But I don’t mind. Let me try. If she is poisonous, you will be all right.”
I glanced at the desperate child. The mad little bastard. Why couldn’t he be afraid? But the man said no again. Now even I felt confused. If the man had let the child try me, he would know I wasn’t poisoned. But before I could try and think of why he wouldn’t let the child taste me, he moved towards the boy with lightning speed.
The sound of a snap and a thump had me looking behind me. The child lay lifeless on the floor. The man had his back to me; he knelt down and started to tear into the child’s flesh.
Vomit poured from my mouth. I lifted my face as far back as I could, trying to get away from my own sick.
But the sound of tearing flesh and the gnawing had me bringing everything up, again and again. The man hadn’t stopped eating. I don’t think he even paused.
The only thing that raced through my mind was that I needed to get out while it was busy. I was only ten feet away from the entrance, but shimming your way out of a cave with a man-eater behind you was nearly impossible. Each tear of flesh had me going still, wondering when would be the last before his attention would be on me.
I glanced back at the beast; he was still busy eating. I swallowed the sick and wriggled a bit more, an inch at a time. Tears had started to run from my eyes, and I blinked them away. It was fear that was making me cry. I swallowed again and kept moving forward. I was nearly there. My chin sat outside the cave, and I hiccupped on a cry. I kept moving, not glancing back; I knew if I stopped, I would die. Even against the cold of the night, sweat ran down my face, stinging my eyes. My neck ached from holding my head up.
My face slammed into the ground as a foot pushed down on my back. “And where are you going?”
I held my breath and stayed frozen. Maybe if I didn’t move, it would go. Foolish thoughts, but I was afraid to even blink. I couldn’t. I wanted to freeze time. I didn’t want to have to live through him eating me. His foot moved from my back, and I was being dragged back into the cave by my legs.
A scream tore from my throat. The sound of my own screams made me scream more. My legs were slammed down, and the man leaned in close. “Shut up.”
I stopped, and my heart sank. Blood coated its face, the front of its chest, and I knew I was dead. “I can’t eat you, but I can think of something else.” His eyes held a different hunger, and I found myself shaking my head.
Eat me, just eat me. I wanted to scream. I wasn’t sure which was worse. I refused to die; I swallowed my horror and panic. “Go ahead. But you will die.”
The man sprang away from me like a monkey slamming its fists on the ground in a rage. “Liar!” Its howls pierced my calm, and panic clawed at me again. Its wide gray eyes shone with madness. “Liar,” he spat, and I couldn’t even answer the only thing I could do was shake my head in denial. “Liar,” he said again, moving closer, his word coming out with a puff of cold air.
It was the smallest shimmer of hope. I watched the puffs get larger each time he said ‘liar.’ He was also getting closer to me. But the cold that had entered the cave had me shaking so badly that the man stopped, his head tilted sideways. He was listening. I couldn’t hear anything over the chattering of my teeth.
But I saw the shift in the air, the slight blur beside the man’s head. Nicolas appeared, his sword held high. He swiped down in an arc, and his sword went clean through the man’s neck. A thin red line appeared before he fell to his knees, his head hitting the ground before his body. Bile burnt my throat.
But Nicolas didn’t stop. His sword seemed to dissolve, and then he was untying me, not saying one word.
We left the cave. It was still dark outside, so I j
ust watched Nicolas’s back, following him while glancing around me, looking for gray-skinned men-eaters. I couldn’t stop shaking. I wasn’t sure if it was the cold or shock. Either way, Nicolas didn’t seem to care. He hadn’t said a word, hadn’t even asked me if I was okay.
But he had saved my life, and I would always be grateful for that. “What was that thing?” I whispered, not sure if he had heard me.
“Comedenti Demon. Nasty things. They don’t fare well in the cold; I didn’t think there was any alive.”
I found myself nodding to his back. “It ate the child.” I could feel my stomach lift.
“It eats the mother once she gives birth. So I’m not surprised it ate the child.” Nicolas stopped, and he looked at me for the first time, his eyes scanning my face. “But I don’t understand why it didn’t eat you.”
“I told him I was full of poison. He couldn’t risk it.”
Nicolas didn’t say anything, but I thought I could see something in his eyes, something like approval.
We kept walking through most of the night. I didn’t complain; I was too afraid to stop anyway. But eventually, we did stop beside a small stream, where I washed the sick from the side of my face. I had sick in my hair, too. I tried to brush it out as best I could, but my hands trembled too much.
“We have to rest,” Nicolas spoke behind me. I knew he was right, but fear of the Comedenti Demon had me wishing we could just keep walking.
“Don’t leave my side this time.” His words had me swinging around.
“Leave your side. Are you fucking serious? A child lured me away. Maybe you should try and stay awake and watch guard over your prisoner, because, I don’t know, maybe man-eaters or Comedenti Demons could kill her.” I was breathing pretty heavily with anger and fear. I just wanted out of this place.
My words had no effect on Nicolas. Once again, he sat down, leaning against a large tree trunk. Wrapping his fur coat around himself, he closed his eyes. I moved to the tree beside him and sat down on the snow-laced ground again. It was a little bit of déjà vu. I found myself praying, asking God for help. If I was to die, I wanted it to be quick—not by being eaten, raped, tortured or the multitude of ways that could happen, especially here in Hell.
