Kiss of Winter

Splice had vanished, and gone deeper into the woods by now. Since the commotion died down, there was nothing interesting to see. What would be the point of standing around when soon, men would charge into the woods with their guns? A small nasty thought came to his mind. Nexus wouldn't have a clue. He would be too far into the woods hunting for his deer, and not even realize there was a demon hunt. He rolled his eyes, but kept moving. He'd figure it out on his own.

---

When the fool returned, he dragged a large, animal skin sack on a small, make shift sled back to his tree. When he was tired of the effort, and his arm ached, he let go of the little rope, and sat down in the snow. While he was catching his breath, he noticed the look on her face. A bad feeling choked his insides, and he looked around instinctively. Hunters? Was she in trouble, and were they coming after her? After him? Did they find out? "Oh no," he said simply. "What happened?"
 
He looked tired when she found him there sitting on the ground with his kill. Then worry crossed his face when he realized she was there, and something must be wrong.

"At the village a house caught on fire in the town square. The men are having a meeting. Everyone thinks it's a demon who did it. I think they are going to go demon hunting tonight, but I know it wasn't you. You don't have power over fire...do you?"

She didn't quite know why she was warning him except for the weird friendship that started to form. She twisted the bracelet he gave her around her wrist in a nervous movement. She should not be out here if she is caught she will probably be killed, but could she make it home in time to miss the mob that is sure to come out to the woods soon.

"I have to go soon, I'm not sure I will miss the mob even as of right now."
 
Nexus snarled, and then stood up. "Splice," he said flatly. "My brother has the power over fire. I'm guessing he went down there to burn the house to spite me today." He gathered what he could of the bag, and hauled it up into his tree house as quickly as possible, and then froze the sled, covering it with snow to hide it. "I'm going to have to run for a while. My house is hard to see from the ground, so I'll freeze what meat I gathered, and ditch for a few days or a week or so, until the danger passes. You staying back here is even more dangerous now, especially if I know my brother is active."

He passed into his house, froze the bits of meat, and then covered all of his possessions the best he could under a blanket. He didn't own many material things. There wasn't a point. The only thing he forgot to cover was his diary. If anyone climbed the tree and found it, it would be obvious. He stood for a moment, paused as if to get it, and then shifted and left the little wooden hut. 'Leave it. It's not like any of them are going to go up there,' he said, and then reached the ground. "Take care of yourself," he said, and then dashed off into the woods.
 
As he left her standing alone under the tree she stared after him for a moment, and before she turned around to go home she whispered "Good luck to you, hopefully we meet again."

So it was his brother who has control over fire who caused all of this. Why? What was the point of causing trouble for his brother? Do demons hate humans that much, and just use them as play things. Is that what Nexus doing to her using her as some plaything because he was bored? She did not believe so, and would not until he gave some type of sign of using her.

She turned around, going the opposite direction of Nexus, and went home. Luckily the hunting party was not out yet and she got back to her house with out anyone seeing her. Letting out a sigh of relief she reached to open the door. "Where were you? I was looking for you." Darrian was there standing just off to the side of her house. Had he seen her come out of the woods?
 
((OOC: Sorry I vanished so long... I wasn't feeling too good yesterday.))

He dashed in as far as he could, and hoped that it was too far for any of the hunters to go. He dared not fly to gain ground faster, and when he slunk between tree to tree, watching for any spying eyes, he felt a little more secure as he went. Very little people were found back here, and his brother often scoffed during demon hunts when he'd take such precautions on hiding. Usually, the joke was that he was cowardly, or paranoid.

But Safria was a perfect example of why his precaution wasn't just paranoia. She'd slipped into the woods alone, and surprised him. If she'd been a hunter, and awake, he could have been dead that instant with a perfectly aimed bullet, and he would have had no time to react.

Splice caught up to him. "I see your friend came to warn you. Strange, the last I heard, humans kill our kind," he said in thickly accented sarcasm. Nexus paused mid-step, and came out to see him face to face.

"You started that fire," he said flatly. It wasn't a question so much as an accusation.

"Yes, yes I did, and I enjoyed every moment. Let me guess, you felt sorry for them?" His brother tipped his head, crossed his arms, and gave Nexus the most degrading grin he could. "You do not understand what we are, do you? We're killers. We raise hell here because that's what's in our blood: chaos. You try your damndest to be the shining example of an 'exception,' Nexus, but you look nothing but a fool. Straighten up, and be what you are."

"I refuse. Not if it means turning out like you."
 
"Darrian how are you? Why were you looking for me?" Answering a question with a question always works right? Then he did something uncharacteristic of Darrian. He put his hand on the door she was trying to open to make sure she could not run away from his question. He never seemed so tall to her before. "I was looking for you because I was worried. When your dad pulled you away from the meeting you looked so angry I was worried you would do something stupid. Now, Safria where were you?" She didn't answer, just looked at him trying to think of something good to tell him, but he would know if she lied, he always did.

"You were in the woods weren't you?! Safria it's dangerous out there! Don't you remember what happened to your brother? They killed him." She flinched at the words, as if they caused her physical pain.

"Darrian I know that, but they are not all evil! They aren't if the were we would all be dead already since I know that some of them had made visits to the village! I could have died at the hand of a demon many times, and was not killed. Yes, some are evil but not all." She looked him in the eyes the whole time she spoke this, letting him know that this is what she truly believes, and that she is not afraid. Also, praying that he would try to understand.
 
The rush came swiftly. Nexus stood high in his tree, and heard the dogs yowl and bark clear off into the woods. But they were coming closer. And a few of them were closing in. The best part about dogs was that they couldn't climb trees. The bad side was that their owners could. Worse, they didn't need to. Guns. He kept a sharp lookout, twitching his long ears at every sound and vibration he picked up. Sooner or later, he would have to ditch, and go even deeper. This time they didn't seem content with just checking their normal borders. 'Splice, I'm going to kill you,' he said bitterly.

His brother had already run off, presumably to even tease the animals. He had hardly a fear. He was glad too, and hoped he'd be caught. After all, he was the one who started the fire. Inside his head, he raged. 'This. This is why they hate us. This is why they think we're a menace, and dangerous. If not for those like him, some of us could actually live out our immortal days in peace. It's not like those humans live long enough to put up with us for any amount of time,' he thought, and then rethought again... He'd stung himself the moment he said that. Humans led short life spans, and that included Safria, and she wasn't all that bad. He scolded himself, and took the sting for a moment. 'And that,' he continued to himself, 'is the thought process that pushes Splice to do what he does. Ugh,' he was disgusted.

When he caught the scent of Jake on the wind, he knew it was time to move, and move fast. The man knew his face, and he didn't want to be recognized. As if the man had heard his thoughts, he heard him bellow into the trees, "Where are you demons? I know you're out there, and I will find you. Look what you've done to our village, you monsters!"
 
Darrian stopped and considered this for a moment actually trying to listen to her. He was probably the only person in this world that would listen to her, and actually try to understand. "Say for a moment I buy into all this not all are evil stuff. What would it do besides get us in trouble with the town?"

"It would save lives, possibly, demons and humans lives a like. We wouldn't hunt them, and maybe they wouldn't torment us. Though we know that it probably won't happen as peacefully as that."

"Safria it probably wont happen at all. Too much has happened too many people have died for people to just forgive them."

"That means more people will die, but I get it there are just evil murderous demons out there. I wonder why it all started, was it because of the never ending winter?"

"Who cares Safria?" Darrian said getting annoyed from the look on his face he didn't like the whole trying to get along with demons idea, but he was listening. "Safria you go inside and stay there, do not leave that house. I have to go help they will wonder where I am to begin with, I was supposed to catch up to them awhile ago."

"Do me a favor, please, Darrian? The demon who never hurt me please don't hurt him, please don't let him be hurt. Please."

He thought about it and said "If you stop being so reckless and going into the woods without a weapon, I will. You have to do this I will try to prevent anything from happening to him. Only because he never did anything to you."

She rushed over to him and gave him a huge hug. "Thank you he is a jester blue, black, and silver."
 
The Red Evil stood out on a limb in clear view. He wanted a fight, and he was bored, and was going to give it to them. "Over here, you ugly son of a bitch!" He did a twirl on the limb, and a backbend. "I betcha you can't touch me!" He danced then off onto a different tree's branch, and disappeared.

Jake stared after, enraged. "Hey! Come back here you beast!" He turned to his allies, the other being Steve, and growled. "Get ready. This time I won't shoot improperly," he said into his ear. Steve stared dumbstruck after him. Was the fire really this demon's fault? He looked like it, with his red and white, and fiery eyes. But then what did that make the blue one? "I suppose you're after revenge, since I shot the Blue One in the arm? Was he your brother, demon?"

Splice danced to the edge of the limb, and looked down at them. "You think I care what injury you gave that simpleton? My brother wouldn't harm a firefly if it flew into his palm. Yes, I was the one who started the fire." He lifted his palm, and allowed a fiery ball to form. "And it wasn't out of any vengeance at all. I just like raising hell." He hurled it then at the group of humans, who sputtered, and dodged away, some yelling. Steve stared in disbelief.

"Jake, did you hear that?" He whispered as low as he could, but made sure Jake could hear. "He said the blue one wouldn't do anything to us... Remember what he said that day? 'Let me go, and I'll let you live.' He was defending himself, that's all."

Jake smacked his friend, hard, across the skull. "Shut up, you. They're demons. All of them are capable of murder and hate," he spat. "Pick your side, Steve, or I'll choose it for you."
 
Just waiting there in the village was torture. The men still were not back and it has been hours since they started this hunt. They never stayed out this long. The men usually came back by now. Her patients was running thin. She had never been the type to just wait around for something to happen, but what could she possibly do? Plus she promised she would not go into the woods without a weapon, and right now she wasn't sure a knife could cut it as a weapon.

---

Darrian ran to catch up to the rest of the men. He had to help bring down the demon that attacked his village. But he did agree with Safria now that he thought about it. There is no use in killing a demon who refuses to harm us. So if Safria says that this jester was okay he guessed he would believe her. Safria was never known to be rash in her decisions about people. It's just hard to believe that a demon could be a decent person. He would just have to wait and see because one way or another he was meeting this demon he refused to let Safria continue talking to him if he was evil, and somehow blinded her.
 
((OOC: Whoa! Sorry, I was waiting for you. ._. I didn't realize it was my turn.))

Nexus huddled into a tree branch for a time, but then got tired of waiting. He flew out a little ways, back to where he'd come from, to see if the humans had left. He sniffed the air to see if Safria had shown her self too, but when he didn't catch her scent, he relaxed a little.

Jake had been busy with his brother somewhere, so he wasn't sure if he was still there. Splice was known to dodge and disappear whenever danger came out, but only after he'd made a scene, and made himself look as obnoxious as possible.

Then a thought occurred to him. He slipped by, and looked down. If Jake was Safria's father, and one day he found out about him, he could quite possibly make her come after him herself. As a show that she wasn't a traitor to her village...

He shivered, and hoped that would never come to pass.
 
Safria left the house with her mother to go to the village center to wait with the other women because as her mother said 'it will make the time waiting for them go quicker if they are all together.' She really didn't know if it would make the time pass quicker all she knew was that keeping her promise not to go to the woods proved to be very difficult. She was afraid that something bad would happen. After what seemed like an eternity but, was actually only two or three hours some of the men returned. She went to see if her father was back or if Darrian was. She also wanted to know if any demons were killed. Her dad and Darrian were not back. The men had apparently split up to look for the demons. She also found out that in that group of men there were no demons killed.

Everyone went to their homes after that the women now wanting to be at home with their husbands and sons, and the other women whose husbands and sons weren't back yet just wanting to wait at home for the return of their loved ones. Safria silently prayed that no one human or demon would be injured this night. She also vowed to herself that she was going to get a weapon because she could no longer sit on the sidelines of this life anymore.

-----


Darrian had never caught up to the other men, but he did not turn around because he wanted to find this jester for himself. When he saw the demon fly out, the demon must not have noticed Darrian. Granted he was downwind from the blue and silver demon. He ran to the demon gun ready, but not pointing at the demon, yet. "So you're the one that Safria has become so attached to."
 
Nexus jumped, startled, and whipped his head around. All four, long prongs around his face flew out in a fan, and jingled in the freezing air. He stared blankly at him, and crouched on his tree branch, looking down at the gun in his hand carefully. His black pupils turned into very fine slits, and he held back a snarl. This human could be a threat, especially since he knew of him and Safria.

"Attached....? I wouldn't call it that, so much as a friendly understanding... Who are you?"

Attached? What did he mean? He understood they were friends, but if she'd told someone else about him, then he obviously mattered a little more than he thought. 'I just hope she doesn't tell the wrong person,' he thought swallowing down his nervousness. 'One wrong move, and I could die. This one here, with the gun, is a perfect example.'
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back