Chapter Seven
Neith
The trees are bigger, a lot bigger, these are rivaling redwoods in their size, and as I crane my head backward to look up, I realize that some of them are even bigger. There were definitely no redwoods in the forest surrounding the guy's house, and although these trees are similar in height, that is where their similarities end, there are ones that have a similar shape to oaks, birches, and elm trees, but all with that insane height.
That’s not the only difference, it is night still here, which I am grateful for because it means that I have shadows to hide in, although it does mean that other creatures have shadows to hide in too. As I was saying, it’s night here, or dark, I know nothing about this place that I have ended up in, it could be nighttime here all the time. Through a break in the trees above me, though, I can see two moons, one red and one blue.
They are really pretty, and although I want to study them closer, I know that I can’t right now. I have more important things to focus on, like finding out where the fuck I am and why I am here.
Lowering my gaze, I find Flinotive watching me curiously and wringing his hands nervously. He should be fucking nervous.
“Take me back,” I demand, my voice a growl. I wish I had a weapon of some kind. Any will do.
Flinotive shakes his head, “I can’t. I am sorry. You must complete the task.”
I take a threatening step toward him, but he just disappears, reappearing a few feet away.
“Take me home,” I demand again, my fists clenching as my panic starts to rise.
“I am sorry. I can’t, even if I wanted to, you are here now, you must complete the task if you wish to get back home.” He explains.
Unfortunately, I hear nothing but truth in his words, and my shoulders slump. For fuck sake, why is it always me that gets myself into these situations?
“There is no other way out?” I ask, just to clarify, he shakes his head. Resigning myself to the situation that I find myself in, I ask, “What’s the task?”
The imp grins his unsettling smile once again, “It’s quite simple deary, there is a door that leads back to the forest, it will only be open for the next three hours, find your way back.”
He disappears in a flash of glittering magic, and this time, he doesn’t reappear anywhere else.
“Son of a bitch,” I growl, and then yell at the trees in case the imp is still nearby, “that’s it?”
A rustling in the trees next to me makes me realize that I need to keep my voice down. I am in unfamiliar territory with absolutely no information. I don’t know what could kill me here, hell, everything could fucking kill me here. I can’t stay where I am, the imp said that I had three hours, which concerns me because it is such a long time, and they are unlikely to make it easy for me since this is supposed to be some kind of test. To me, that means that it isn’t just going to be a simple case of getting to the gate, not that I thought it would be anyway, since I am simply not that lucky. No, this so-called test is going to throw other things at me, too, and knowing my luck, they are going to be deadly.
A test for what I have no fucking idea, but right now, I couldn’t give a fuck. It’s a test that I need to pass, if I don’t then I am going to end up in this realm permanently. The guys will never know what happened to me and most likely assume that I ran off or something as equally ridiculous. I will probably get eaten in this realm, I may have a supernatural side, but it doesn’t really give me many advantages apart from the dying and coming back to life, that is a pretty big fucking advantage, but who the fuck knows if that works here, and I am once again faced with the fact that I have died recently and I can’t die again so soon, I have a feeling that if I do, it will be permanent.
I undo the giant jacket that I am wearing as I walk in what I am hoping is in the right direction. It is considerably warmer here than it was in the forest near the guys, so I have definitely moved location. Not that I was really questioning that, the completely foreign flora and fauna that surrounds me proves that easily enough.
Shit.
I could smack myself; I may not have many advantages in my supernatural armory, but I do have a few tricks up my sleeves, one of which is that I can find things. It’s how I found the guy's house, my gift kicked online, and it showed me a freaking map to the place. The problem is, it is very temperamental. I have asked it to work for me many times over the years, and it has just refused, not even an inkling of an idea of where the thing that I am searching for is. It did work to find the guys though, and that was a life-or-death situation, I could argue that this is very definitely a life-or-death situation too, so maybe it will work again.
As I take breath, of the sweet-smelling air, keeping my senses alert and on my surroundings, it occurs to me that this is probably what everyone else considers magic. It’s just that mine rarely works and if it does work it rarely works as it should. It does make me wonder why I just assumed I wasn’t a supernatural because of some tests and didn’t take into account the things that I can do that humans can’t and that would be considered magic.
“Come on,” I mutter aloud. I just need help to find the doorway back to the forest and the guys.
A mental map glows to life in my mind, and for a moment, a split second, I think that I can see hundreds of doors all spread out over a vast area, and area bigger than I can truly comprehend, but it disappears, and I am left wondering if I imagined it. The map changes, and I see the path that will lead me to the door that I need to escape.
Fuck, it is so far away from where I am, and I now know why the imp gave me three hours; even with that amount of time, I think I am going to push it to get there.
I kick the pace up into a run, the map is still in my mind, ready to call on should I need it, but when it comes to things like this, my memory is pretty fucking awesome, and I shouldn’t have to look at it again.
Whoever’s jacket I am wearing, billows behind me as I run, and as much as I wish that I could take it off, I can’t risk leaving it here and some sort of nasty locking onto the scent and somehow finding the guys back at the house. That would not be good. I keep running, keeping my breath even, and tapping into the side of me that I use when I go on a job.
Now that I know that I am a supernatural, it occurs to me that I have been tapping into it for as long as I can remember. Or, well, at least since after Evander left. I wonder if the timing is significant. I definitely tested as a human in the test for the magical academy, and I know that they had the real deal. Now that I know that the humans didn’t though, it makes me wonder if I would test positive as a supernatural now on the real test and if it would be able to tell me what I am.
My foot squelches down into something soft and I am almost too terrified to glance down and see what it is that I have stepped in, I have to though.
“What the hell,” I mutter as my boot seems to be covered in some sort of purple goo. It wouldn’t normally make me pause, but something makes me stare at it for longer than I usually would, considering it’s something that I have stepped in. I am damn grateful that I did as the goo starts to eat through my boot, and I begin to panic. If it’s eating through my boot that quickly I dread to think what it will do to my foot. Images of the melting corpses from earlier flash through my mind. No thank you.
I stop and bend down, desperately trying to get the boot off without it touching my skin. I manage it just in time and throw it to the floor to get rid of it quickly. Of course, in true me fashion, some of the goo on my boot splashes up and lands on my foot, I wait for the pain, wait to yell, but it has absolutely no effect on my skin whatsoever.
Huh.
Maybe it’s inorganic material that it eats, man made things? I know that I can’t continue with one boot, and as risky as it is to go barefoot in an unknown place, it will slow me down considerably if I have to carry on with only one boot. I also don’t want to carry it, which means I get to test my theory about the goop only eating man made things. Look how that worked out.
“You realize that you are trying to trick yourself . I know that you really just want to play with the goop,” my inner voice points out, and I ignore her.
I take off my other boot and sock and drop them into the puddle of goo, being entirely consumed by the goop clearly speeds up the process because my boot and sock have been entirely consumed within thirty seconds. My gaze falls to the jacket, it really is massive and slowing me down, and I briefly contemplate throwing it into the goo just to get rid of it. The problem is, it might be one of the guy's favorite jackets, and I would feel fucking awful if I was the one who ruined it, so despite the fact that it would make my life easier, I keep the jacket on.
I want to drop more things in the puddle and see what happens, but I have three hours to get to the door, and I don’t have time to drop things in puddles.
Damn it.
I wriggle my toes cautiously on the ground, testing to see just how much this is going to hurt my feet. I spend most of my time barefoot, and that includes walking outside, so my feet are hardier than most, but I am not entirely immune.
Thankfully, the floor is relatively soft, and I should be okay so long as it stays this way. A fizz of magic has me tensing, and I see a set of numbers appear just in front of me, they aren’t very big, maybe half the size of my finger, but they are glowing. It only takes me a moment to realize that they are counting down and that I only have two and a half hours remaining to get to the gate.
Where the fuck did that first thirty minutes go?
There is no time to dwell on it now, and I once again set off running, following the mental map in my mind. I jump over tree roots and move through the giant trees with an ease that quite honestly shocks the shit out of me. I’m not going to question it though, if I do I risk it suddenly not working for me.
I really fucking wish I had a weapon with me. Something tells me that Betty would do next to no good here. I usually carry a knife or something on me, but I can’t find anything in the usual places on my outfit, and that is curious in itself because I know I brought some with me when we left the house to go and check out the distress call from those agents.
A growl has my head snapping to the left, and I honestly don’t know what the fuck I am looking at. I guess the most similar creature I can compare it to is a person, but it's not, and it is nothing like the imps or any of the supernatural creatures that I have ever seen before. Its arms are nearly as long as its body, and its long, sharp, clawed hands are nearly dragging on the floor; it runs with its legs bent, but its knees are bending backward and not forward as normal knees do. It is also such a deep black that if it hadn’t growled, there would have been absolutely no chance that I would have seen it, as it blends into its surroundings seamlessly.
Its head is relatively human-shaped, but that is where the similarities end. The creature's mouth stretches from one side of its bald head to the other and is filled with razor-sharp teeth; it opens its mouth, snapping it in my direction and allowing me to see that it has more than one row of those deadly-looking teeth. It has a mouth full of them. And horns, the fucking thing has two twisted and deformed-looking horns protruding from the sides of its head, just above where the flaps for what I am assuming ears are.
Just as I think that I have got a grasp on what the thing is, I see a fucking tail. Covered in deadly spikes. Fantastic, that’s just what I fucking need. I glare at the still glowing little timer.
“This is your fucking fault,” I blame, just because I am mostly freaking out, and I need something to take it out on.
My words anger the creature, and it leaps for me, I barely manage to dive out of the way in time and my hair whips around me in the wind that it creates. Shit. I run as fast as I fucking can, but I can feel it moments behind me, and I know that there is no way that I can outrun it to the door. My mental map is already showing me that I am too far away, the creature is moving too quickly.
I am going to have to fight, my problem is I don’t have a fucking weapon. How am I supposed to fight against this creature with no weapon?
I carry on running.
I don’t get very far, though, as weight knocks into me from behind and sends me flying through the air. I am grateful for the giant jacket, despite the extra bulk that it means I have been carrying around because it means that I have a somewhat soft landing as I hit the ground and roll, narrowly missing the claws as they strike the ground where I just was.
It comes after me quickly, and all I can do is roll on the floor, avoiding each strike. There isn’t enough time between attacks for me to get up, and the creature is frantic in its desire to end me. I manage to sit up, launching myself backward as he strikes the floor again. While its claws are stuck in the ground, I strike out with my foot, hoping that I can do enough damage to slow it down.
That may have been the case if it weren’t for the fact that I was barefoot. It hisses; all I have exceeded in doing is pissing it the fuck off.
Great.
I am getting really fucking desperate. I’m going to die. There is no way out of this. Just as I resign myself to my fate, something glinting to the left of me catches my eye. I risk a glance and grin as I see a sword just lying there; I will question that at some point, I am sure, but for now. I am absolutely over the fucking moon.
I roll closer to the sword, grabbing the hilt and ignoring the buzz of magic that kisses my palm and travels up my arm. I love swords, they have always been my weapon of choice, although they are entirely impractical for dealing with humans, and so I never replaced the one that I lost.
I swing in an arc, severing the arm that was coming for me, and grimace as blood splatters my face and clothes.
The creature screams in pain, but losing an arm doesn’t seem to slow it down in the slightest, and it swings its other arm toward me, intent on maiming and killing me. I roll backward, sword still in hand, and manage to spring up to my feet. I have more of an advantage on my feet than I do on my back, on the ground.
The sword feels at home in my hand, and thankfully in this situation, the fact that I haven’t fought with a blade for a couple of years makes no difference to the outcome, it doesn’t require skill, I just need to kill it.
I have no idea what this creature is, I have never seen or heard of one before, and hell, I don’t even know where the fuck I am, but a good rule of thumb is to cut off the head.
Since the creature has no arms now, it is coming for me with its giant mouth. I don’t waste any time, I don’t know how long it has been trying to eat me, but I know that I have to get to the door quickly. As it lunges for me, I swing my sword again, hoping that whoever left this here didn’t do so because it was blunt and no good anymore. The blade sings through the air, making me smile as it slices through the creature's neck like it’s fucking butter. Oh, I like this sword a lot.
The head falls to the floor with a heavy thud, the body quickly following after it, I kick the head as far away from the body as I can, and then do the same with the severed arms, just in case it can put itself back together. I have read about creatures that can do that.
There is no time for rest, I take off at a sprint, following the mental map and glancing at the glowing countdown clock that is still floating next to me.
Shit, I have ten minutes. That’s it. There is a good chance that I am not going to make it, but I refuse to stay here and be eaten by one of those things. That just seems really fucking painful.
I don’t dare let go of this sword, it has saved my life now, and that means that we are officially bonded, and it’s mine. It’s coming back to the guys with me, besides if I see that bloody imp there when I get back, I am going to need the fucking sword with me.
Finally, the door comes into sight. The only reason that I know that it is what I’m looking for is because my mental map is telling me, there is no physical door there, it’s more like a vague shimmer in the air, kind of like heat rising off asphalt in the summer. I can see it, but it’s still too far away for my liking, and I put on an extra burst of speed.
I am not alone.
Once again, I am being tracked and chased. Glancing to my left, I almost stop in my tracks, this time the beast looks like a giant dog, dark purple and black fur covers it entirely, huge, pointed ears are pinned back against its head and its muzzle pulled back in a deadly snarl. It probably reaches my shoulder in height, and it looks like it is built to fight, corded muscle, and powerfully bounding after me.