Chapter Twelve
I t has been three days now since Orobas interrupted our bonding to announce that the Creatori had been spotted.
We keep finding ourselves close. Seemingly right behind the beast. Following its body count. I saw a clip on the human television, when we passed through a gas station that had been a feasting ground for the beast. It had said there was a ‘cultist serial killer on the loose’ in this area.
If only that were true.
I am glad that the humans are blissfully unaware of the monster that stalks them. Their lives are far too short to be spent in a fear of that magnitude.
There have been thirty-one bodies left in the Creatori’s wake. Eleven of those were human. And more than half of the magickals were simply killed. The other half faired far worse, and had their essence consumed by the beast.
Its masters– or perhaps followers– are now long dead. So what is driving the beast? Why does it hunt this way? And what is its purpose?
We break for a snack and drink as I continue to weave my way through my thoughts. Hoping to find some sense in the madness. We are always just late enough to be unable to help.
I rub a hand down my face. Frustration is an emotion that has been thrumming through our entire party.
We should be closer than this by now.
I take a drink of my water, when a juvenile rabbit catches my eye. It is far enough away from our group so as not to be frightened by us, but is aware of our presence. It hops along sniffing the ground. Probably looking for food.
I continue to watch, enraptured by the simplicity of nature, when another movement catches my eye. I glance up and see a hawk resting on a branch above the rabbit. Watching. Waiting.
The rabbit finds a berry and relaxes as he begins to nibble away at his meal.
The hawk continues to watch.
Just as the rabbit finishes off the remaining portion of berry, the hawk swoops down and snatches it up in its claws. It happens so fast that the rabbit doesn’t even get a chance to scream in response, caught completely unaware by the lurking danger that was always just out of reach.
My heart thumps wildly in my chest.
No.
This entire time, we were under this false pretense that we were the hawk stalking our prey.
We were wrong. We were so very, terribly wrong.
We are the rabbit.
We are the prey .
It has been playing a game with us the entire time. And we have been playing the game completely wrong.
I open my mouth, ready to voice my fears, when my entire body erupts in goosebumps. Magick flutters across my skin.
Foul magick.
The others in my group have gone still and quiet. They too sense the danger that is closing in on us.
I meet Forsythia’s gaze. Her eyes are hard and focused. She nods to me once as she slowly unfurls her hands. No doubt preparing spells in each one.
Orobas has his daggers in each hand at his sides, and Blake feigns a stretch as he grips the hilt of his dual blades.
The forest becomes disturbingly quiet. No rustling of leaves, or chirps of birds. Nothing.
We wait. Ready for the strike we know is coming.
We hear no footsteps marking the beast’s approach, but we hear it’s chuffing. A strange sort of laughter. A humorless, terrifying sound.
This creature has been toying with us. Playing with us in a way that left us oblivious to its intentions. Herding us into position.
And we fell for it all.
The Creatori has been playing with its food, and now it means to eat.