When the Forest Goes Quiet
Kate folded her arms in around herself. Breath clouding in front as the shadows between the trees grew longer. She checked over her shoulders. Still out of sight.
But Lucien was there.
Running off had briefly flashed across her mind, but that would be fooli—
A hand clasped over her mouth, muffling her squeal. Not just a hand, a handkerchief.
The smell. As if someone had poured alcohol into her nose.
No, no, no. Not again.
She threw her head back. Unlike Lucien, the person behind her did not see it coming.
Blood spurted across her neck. The hand released her. Her nostrils flared, sucking in the fresh air. Eyes watering.
“Hija de puta!” The man screamed behind her. Spanish?
A foot connected with her back, harshly pushing her to the snow. She collapsed. Ice biting in her cheeks. Pressing against the tiny healing scabs.
Kate didn’t waste a second, pushing up on trembling hands and feet. Only to slip down again, ice thick beneath her boots. She turned on her bottom to face them.
Three figures surrounded her. All shrouded in camouflaged winter jackets, hats over their heads, cloths shielding their faces. Nothing to see but their cold, empty eyes.
The injured one kept shouting while holding onto his bleeding nose. Another man slapped him across the cheek. A raspy voice shot out. “Shut up! That howling will attract attention. I said quick and quiet!”
Kate clawed over the ice, fighting to get a grip. The tallest one approached her. There was no emotion on his face, no glee, no malice. Only a grim determination lining his eyes.
She scooted backwards. Desperate to keep space from them.
He was on her in a flash. Hands pushing her into the ground. Legs straddling hers, his weight grating down on her. “Get off me!” She pushed his hands away from her neck, only to receive a harsh slap to the face. She kicked out, thrashing in the snow. “What do you want from me?!”
Her blood ran as cold as the floor she was writhing on. A gun. He had a gun on his hip. She threw her weight forward, hand grasping for the hilt. Another slap had her seeing stars, rattling her teeth.
His weight pinned her down completely, straddling her abdomen.
She froze. The gun forgotten.
Icy raw fingers locked around her throat. Silhouette encompassing her in the rapidly fading light.
Barely a scratch.
“Don’t even try to scream. No one will hear you.”
That’s where he was wrong.
Lucien. Where is he?
Maybe her big mouth had finally paid off. And he’d left her to her own devices.
“Lucien! Help me!”
She screamed and screamed until the man’s hands pressed down on her throat. The forest darkening around her. She clawed at her neck. Her voice turning into the squeaking of a rat. A rat caught in a corner.
No air, there was no air.
“Just pass out already.” The voice grumbled above her. No space for mercy, no space.
She kicked out with her legs only to meet air.
Do something, Kate!
There was nothing she could do. Everything became… darker.
I’m sorry for this. Memories were colliding with each other, and she couldn′t tell which was the present or part of the past.
Air. Her lungs strained against the freezing cold. The weight lifted off her struggling body. Coughing and gasping she heard the sounds of a scuffle.
Another shadow. A hand landed on her shoulders and her body shied away from the touch. Words… someone was talking to her. The touch disappeared. A second, five, ten. Gradually her senses returned.
“Katherine. Look at me.” The deep voice caressed her panic.
He came. He came.
The thought kept rushing through her mind. Slowly, she turned, searching for the familiar green eyes. They didn’t disappoint with the anger swirling in them. His hand flexed as if wanting to reach out. But he held back.
“It’s alright, sweetheart. It’s alright.” He sat on his haunches next to her. Close but not quite touching.
The pressure had lifted, but the ghost-like fingers were still pressing on her neck. She reached out, wincing as she touched it.
“That’s going to be tender for a while.” He murmured.
Lucien pushed up to his full height. Turning away. Her heart skipped a beat. “Don’t.” Even that hurt to utter. Scraping past her raw throat. She hadn’t even realized she’d moved until he glanced down to where her fingers had grabbed his wrist.
“Don’t worry. I’m not leaving.” He smiled but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’m just gonna have a conversation with these dudes.”
A conversation…
Did he just take on three men?
She untangled her fingers, leaving behind red marks on his wrist.
And saw three able-bodied men, writhing on the floor.
“I can’t help myself but wonder.” Lucien bent down next to his victim. Muttering in the man’s ears. “What were you going to do with a woman by herself? Is it textbook abuse of your power or… something more?”
She could have been… could have. There was no finishing that thought. He’d been there.
Had brought down three men. His breathing still as steady as always. No signs of injury on his end. Nothing but a quiet fury in his confident stride.
Kate watched in silence. She could see and hear. But nothing more.
Lucien grabbed the man’s fingers and twisted them harshly. The man howled.
Kate flinched on instinct. And yet, there was no voice telling her to stop Lucien.
“There is a killer within you. I felt it crawling underneath that skin of yours.” She folded in on herself. It wasn’t true. Couldn’t be true. But as the thought raced through her mind. It collided with… They deserved it.
“An answer would be good. Right about… now.” The man mewled like a kitten. Muttering a string of sorries.
Were these the men that would have made her life a living hell? One clutched onto his nose, bleeding profusely while one arm lay limp against his side. The tallest one, who’d attacked her lay unconscious or perhaps worse.
Lucien went on, unperturbed by the man’s cries for mercy. “About an inch or so left here, pal, until your arm will be useless for many, many months. If it ever gets back together that is.”
His calm chilled her to the bone. Those very fingers, not fifteen minutes ago, had pulled her against him. But he’d done this before. Every move so easy.
He wasn’t only a killer. He clearly knew how to inflict pain. How to… get someone to talk. How to torture.
And yet, he saved me.
Lucien’s focus whisked to her. Lingering on the paleness of her face to scan for injuries. His voice deepened. “Guess there are worse psychopaths out here.” With a nonchalant twist, the man’s arm snapped.
Kate’s hands pressed against her ears. Drowning out the screams. But her eyes were glued to the scene. Lucien, the statue of calm… experience. And the man squirming on the ground like a snake whose head had just been cut off.
Lucien’s lips moved and she dropped her hands in her lap to listen.
“—hear about it you know. Women going missing. You wouldn’t happen to be tied to those things hmm?
” He grasped onto the man’s other arm. “What were you going to do with her?” There was no rise in his voice, utterly composed.
“Remember you’ve got an arm left. For about ten seconds still. ”
“Alright, alright.” Tears, those were tears running down the face of Lucien’s victim. “Traficantes, somos traficantes.”
Traficantes. That sounded an awful lot like… “Traffickers.” Lucien answered it for her. He whipped out his phone. It rang but once before someone picked up.
“Hombreee. Que tal?” A male’s high-pitched voice. So at odds with Lucien’s deep rumble. The joy in it didn’t fit… Not when her mind was reeling from the attack.
Lucien answered in Spanish? “Bien, hermano! Tengo un pequeno… problema.” He glanced at Kate. “Are you in the area?”
The words… they rolled off his tongue like a true native.
“Yes, of course! What you got for me?” The man on the other end of the phone asked.
Lucien regarded the ‘men’ in front of him. “Three problems, traffickers.”
“Say no more! I’ll be there. Care to join in on the fun?” The man’s tone only grew in enthusiasm.
Lucien laughed. “I wish hombre. I’ve other matters to attend to. I’ll leave them in a red shack. Send you the location in five.” The man still clutching his nose got up on his haunches, his able hand reaching for the knife by his side.
With a sigh, Lucien strode over, kicking the legs out from under him. “Sit down.”
“Other matters.” The Spanish man scoffed. “A woman you mean.”
“None of your business hermano.” Lucien rolled his eyes at Kate.
The voice laughed hoarsely before Lucien disconnected the line with a click.
She couldn’t drag her focus away from the men. All incapacitated. Why am I even fooling myself?
Slow footsteps crunched over snow. Noise.
He made noise on purpose. The men disappeared from her view behind Lucien’s broad back.
Kate felt snow dig into her as she backed away slightly.
Lucien’s eyes narrowed on her, taking in her feeble state of mind.
“I’ll take care of these three.” He pointed with a thumb behind him.
“Then we’ll get out of here. Head home.” Home.
She shivered uncontrollably and nodded her head fiercely. Anything to feel a hint of warmth again, to have Ghost by her side. Lucien shrugged off his jacket before carefully arranging it around her shoulders.
Her eyes closed and she groaned as the heavy warmth surrounded her. It smelled faintly of sandalwood, just like the man in front of her. She tugged it closer around her, huddling in the snugness. She felt how her senses slowly trickled back into her limbs.
“Thank you.”
Her captor merely nodded before standing up to take care of business.
She had cussed him out, made a fool out of him. And still… he saved her life. Again. He’d been right on one thing.
There was worse out here. Way worse.
But she knew now. In every one of their altercations he’d held back. Lucien could have so easily hurt her.
And he still might, at some point. She would keep her eyes open, keep fighting. But at least she wasn’t in a car heading for wherever to be abused by men who couldn’t control the twisted, sick darkness within them.
A psychopath with morals indeed.