Chapter 14
CHAPTER
—Ethalyn—
“I thought for sure that these woods were a one-hour-trip thing,” Eve muttered bitterly.
“That’s the thing about maps, Eve. They are miniature drawings of the world,” Ashley sneered at her, as she walked with her hands behind her head, relaxed despite the whispers lingering around us.
“I’m pretty sure we should’ve been out by now, regardless,” I added, making us all tense.
“Well, the name is fitting—Whispering Woods,” Eve snorted.
“Do you think there’s more to it?” Faelin asked curiously. “The whispers, I mean. What if it’s a trick to steal us away?”
“I bet there are a lot of temptation demons lingering in the shadows,” I returned. “There’s no other explanation really.”
“How long have we been walking?” Eve grunted again. “Minutes? Hours?”
“Hard to tell, the light hasn’t really shifted at all since we entered,” I said, glancing up.
The sky wasn’t even visible, the dark fog kept it from us.
Faelin swirled her hands in the air, and created a strong wind upwards, but nothing happened. The fog was too thick for her magic to sweep away.
“Worth a shot,” she muttered.
“Kill,” the voices whispered around us over and over again, like a low echo that never really went away.
“Is it just me, or are they getting ruder?” Ashley arched a brow at me.
“Perhaps we stick to no killing,” Eve suggested, but her grip around her rifle tightened all the same. “If it wants us to kill, we don’t.”
“Wait,” Faelin said, the fear in her voice brought us all to a stop. “I don’t see the other group anymore!”
She pointed towards the left and sure enough, the fog had become thicker, their silhouettes disappearing completely.
“Shit,” I breathed out. “When did that happen?”
I opened my mouth to shout, but Ashley shoved her hand over my mouth. “Don’t… that’s probably what they want, for us to panic.”
I nodded slowly as she removed her hand again.
“It can’t have been long, I saw them a moment ago,” Eve confirmed. “They’ll probably try to reach us once they notice, too. Or should we try heading left?”
I pressed my lips together. “I… I don’t know, what if we stray and…”
“Get lost? Oh, I think we’re already there,” Ashley chuckled without amusement.
“Shit… Shit… Shit…” I murmured again and again, the panic slowly taking over.
“Wait,” Faelin gasped. “Look!”
All our heads turned as we saw a shadow in the fog, the shape of a human, growing more opaque by the second. My hand slid down to my holster, grabbing a firm hold of my gun’s grip.
“Be ready,” I urged the girls and felt how they tensed at my words.
The shape sprinting right at us became clearer, it was… Malakai?
He stopped a few feet away, panting. “There you are!”
“Yes.” It was the only word I was able to form.
“Where are the others?” Eve barked accusingly.
“The fog, it split us apart… Couldn’t find them.”
“So you left without searching for them?” I asked confused.
His eyes shone in the fog as they settled on me. “I needed to find you.”
“But the others—” I started but was cut off as he took a few quick steps towards me and flung his arms around me. His embrace was rough, tight and made me worry about what the voices had told him to make him like this. Had it been desire or fear that had affected him?
“Malakai—”
He took a deep breath at my neck, as if breathing in my smell. “It’s okay, everything’s fine now, my dear.”
I froze.
I counted inside my head.
One.
Two.
Three.
My hand steadied around my gun, before I swiftly pulled the trigger and shot him in the chest.
He grunted loudly, throwing himself backwards. His hand clutched at the wound, which sizzled angrily.
“What are you doing?” Eve shouted.
I released the breath I had been holding onto while triggering the gun, before I took a deep inhale, lifted it and aimed at him again.
“Um, Ethalyn? We said to not listen to the voices, NOT kill, remember?” Ashley tried stepping up beside me. “Are you okay? Talk to us?”
“Where are the others?” I asked, ignoring Ashley and Eve.
Ashley stilled, but I felt her intense stare digging into me as if she was trying to decide whether to act or listen, considering whether I had gone mad or not.
“You think I hurt them?” he asked, looking wounded.
I cocked the gun and he lifted his hands in surrender, his face telling me he felt betrayed.
“What the hell is happening?” Faelin asked behind me. “I thought you were certain we could trust him!?”
“More incoming,” Eve informed, her voice steady again, as more silhouettes appeared in the fog.
I saw him turn and look, I fired my gun again, getting him in the temple this time. His body stumbled in return, and then slowly it fell to the ground.
“Are you insane!?” Ashley shouted. “In the head!?”
About then, the other figures came into view: Lionel, Nate, Jaden and Caleb. As soon as they saw the body they stopped and stared wide-eyed at it.
“Where is he?” I asked, my voice shaking.
Lionel met my eyes, and the emotion inside of them was hard to read, yet felt familiar…
It was that same look he had whenever he realised a storm was coming, trying to decide whether to act quickly or take cover.
A few seconds passed with silence. My body began trembling from a mixture of uncertainty and anxiousness.
The Malakai I had shot had been a fake, a shapeshifter of some sort, I was sure of it.
But seeing them look at me like that, with Malakai missing. The way it didn’t die immediately from one shot…
I was sure of it…
But—
No, I had to be right, that was what my gut was telling me. It was no coincidence that the fog had separated us.
Right?
“I was worried for nothing, I see,” I heard off to the side and my head turned quickly.
Relief washed over me as I saw Malakai, my eyes burning as he waited a second too long, making me doubt myself.
“Idiot,” I muttered low, all broken with no edge.
“How… how did you know it was a fake?” Ashley stammered confused.
“Well,” I said awkwardly, my hand holding the gun still trembling. “It called me ‘my dear’.”
“What!?” They all echoed while Malakai burst into maddening laughter.
“How can you be laughing right now? That could’ve been you,” Nate said horrified.
My cheeks burned. I felt stupid, but it was part of the truth.
There was also the fact that he had no clear reason for abandoning the rest of the boys, and that he tried to soothe me as if they were already dead.
Malakai had clearly said, he would know if I was in trouble, which I wasn’t.
And considering that, he wouldn’t have abandoned the rest of the team only because the fog had separated us, or he would’ve risked my trust and fury.
The real Malakai knew me better than that.
“That was… actually impressive,” Eve said dumbfounded.
“Did Eve Miller actually praise Ethalyn just now?” Ashley was as surprised as the rest of us.
“Impressive? She straight up shot her boyfriend because he called her another nickname!?” Nate was paler than normal, shaking his head at us. “If anything, she’s insane!”
“One less demon either way,” Caleb shrugged and Jaden elbowed him to shut up.
“I’m honored,” Malakai smirked devilishly at me.
“That I’d shoot you for trying new nicknames?” I muttered embarrassed.
“No,” he chuckled and stepped close enough to invade my personal space. “That you pay such attention to me that you fired your gun without hesitation, kitten.”
Flames licked my knuckles, and I gave him a defiant stare.
“Interesting,” Lionel’s voice interrupted. I turned and saw him hunched down by the fake’s body, inspecting it.
“What?” I asked.
Lionel rose to his feet and scratched his head as if he was about to solve a puzzle. His free hand stretched out towards Nate. “Can I borrow your gun?”
“Why?” Nate looked conflicted, but he held his gun out to him. Lionel grabbed it smoothly and turned. My eyes widened when I saw him aiming for Malakai and shot him instantly.
“Lionel!” I shouted accusingly.
“Guess I had that coming,” Malakai snarled through the hissing sound of the quartz biting into his shoulder.
“Can we stop shooting each other!?” Nate’s voice was raised, slightly panicked.
“Show me the wound,” Lionel said flatly and gave the gun back to Nate, before stepping closer to us.
“Straight to the point?” Malakai huffed, digging his fingers into his shoulder and pulling the quartz out. It sizzled between his fingers before he released it, letting it hit the ground.
“I had to confirm something,” Lionel said without flinching. “The fake had mixed blood—black ichor and red. But you bleed only red. Why?”
“What can I say? I’m one of a kind,” Malakai finished smoothly, voice lazy as ever.
“Could it be because the demon had fed recently?” Eve asked, looking down at the body.
“At least we confirmed that they’re after Ethalyn, not Malakai,” Lionel said firmly, glancing over at me with a worried expression before turning away.
“Great, so we just need to shoot everyone we see to check their blood?” Nate scoffed. “Who’s next?”
“Because shooting ourselves in the foot sounds like a solid idea?” Ashley argued back.
The argument spun off while I grabbed Malakai’s wrist before he could slip away. “Let me see.”
He smiled down at me, all mischievous. “You get all touchy when I’m wounded.”
I tightened my grip. “You’re lucky I like you enough to not set you on fire.”
“Oh, I’d survive,” he murmured. “But you’d feel guilty.” His eyes shifted, lingering on my face as if he already saw it.
“Don’t look at me with those eyes,” I snapped, averting my gaze.
“What eyes?” he said amused.
“Are you… okay?” I asked, feeling the heat gathering at my cheeks. “You know… how often do you need to… eat when you’re wounded?”
He went quiet, but I felt his persistent staring.
“What I mean is… do you need to… eat?”
Why did asking him something so normal for his nature make me feel so embarrassed?
His head tilted closer, his breath hitting against my neck and I felt my skin prickle.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” he teased, drawling a moment longer before he stepped back.
His eyes glowed slightly in the dim light, as if waiting for me to ask him for it rather than him needing it.
I hated it.
Before I could fire back, Lionel’s voice cut through. “Enough, we need to move. The fog’s thickening, and fast.”
Malakai’s smirk widened like he’d been caught stealing sweets.
“Let’s go, kitten,” he said, brushing past me, his shoulder grazing mine just enough to show it was deliberate.
I exhaled sharply and followed, the warmth he left behind quickly swallowed by the cold.
The forest closed around us like a death sentence, trunks blackened with age, roots coiled underfoot, mist clinging to every breath.
Ashley clicked her tongue. “I hate this place.”
“Why?” Nate muttered sarcastically. “What’s not to like about a haunted forest? It’s cool, totally fine.”
Caleb’s hand shifted close to his gun. “Keep chatter low. They say sound draws them in.”
“Guess you’re doomed, then,” Malakai said taunting.
Caleb simply glared back.