Kiss of Winter

He awoke to her first scream, but slowly. He had heard it in his own dreams, and was pretty sure it wasn't real, until he looked up and saw her staring at him, hand over her mouth. He gawked for a moment, completely forgetting when he'd brought her up, and when his memory returned to him, he shook his stiff neck.

"Ah, you're awake I see. You realize the woods are dangerous, yes?"
 
He talked to her as if this were a normal everyday thing. The woods scary of course they were, but for some reason she could not deny her need to be in the woods that offered so much more then the boring village life. Now she might die for that desire, but if he was gonna kill her wouldn't he have done it already?

"Of course the woods are dangerous. I never doubted that." At her woods she clung onto the trunk of the tree as if the tree itself could save her from her stupid mistake of going out in the woods in the dead of night, alone.
 
He quirked a painted eyebrow at her. "Yet here you are. You're the only human I've known to come out here without at least a partner. And without a weapon. I have a nasty brother around here who likes to stir up trouble, and you'd know him if you saw him. I recommend steering clear of certain areas."

Why was he warning her? Her father shot him. For some reason, without the threat, he didn't feel the need to. It was the only tie... the only thing that stilled his teeth and claws. He reached into a small chest, which was coated with ice all along the inside like a small makeshift freezer. He pulled out something to chew, and then stuck it between his teeth, flashing her all six on the upper part of his mouth. Two on either side of each canine.

"It's toward sunrise now. If you don't return home, your parents are going to wonder where you are."
 
She watched him carefully, who knows he might attack at any minute. Though instead he tells her not to wander alone. A demon tells this to her. Why would he care if she was stupid enough to wander alone. Especially since her father was the one who shot him. When he went to his freezer, she noticed how the movements of his wounded arm pain him as he moved, and pulled out a piece of raw meat to suck on she made a face that must taste disgusting, and she blurted out.

"Why don't you cook your meat? Also my parents won't be getting up for awhile as it is considering they had to much to drink, and on top of that I do not know how to get down."

Then she did something that shocked them both she reach out and touched his wounded arm as if she was going to make it better. As soon as she realized what she did she pulled away so fast she hit her head on the trunk of the tree.
 
((OOC: XD LOL!))

He gawked at her for a moment, mid-chew, and then took it out of his mouth and looked at it. "My stomach can't handle food the way yours can. Anything I eat must be meat, and raw," he grinned awkwardly, and popped it in his mouth to just swallow. How strange that must have looked from a human's perspective... "And getting you down's simple. I'd merely fly you down the way I flew you up," he said.

He inspected his arm then, where he was bleeding, and realized how much it ached. He hadn't pressed any ice against it for a while. He made a little ice ball on his palm, and then flattened it into a disk, and held it there. Some of the green blood oozed out, and he winced. He needed to change the bandage too, and he'd completely forgotten. Another anomaly. How weird was green blood? He chuckled a little that she hit her head, but was careful not to make it too obvious. "Watch that. I've hit my head on it so many times, I'm surprised I don't have a dent in my forehead."

He ripped out a cloth, and then slowly un-bandaged his wound, careful to hide it from her. When it was off, he ran some water over it, pulling it from the air around him, and then cleansed it. It stung, and he clenched his teeth. "The bullet's still there," he growled. "Damn."
 
Weird...raw meat, demons have to eat raw meat. Well I guess if I look at it from his perspective the humans could be the weird ones needing to cook meat, plus it does take a lot more time in food preparation. So he would fly me back down, I am still confused as to why I am still breathing and he is just going to let me go?

He removed the bandage though she could not see what the wound looked like because he hid it from her taking care of his wound himself. He was wincing from the pain, he must be in more pain then he lets on.

Even though she was a bit resentful that he found some joy in her hitting her head, yes she did notice his slight chuckle, she moved towards him slowly when he talked of the bullet still being in his arm.

"If you want I can help you get the bullet out of your arm. Then would you really take me back down so I could go home?"
 
The wound dripped a little, and a blot of green blood hit the little wooden floor. He groaned. "Ugh, if you want to... You don't have to, really. I can do it, it just hurts." He looked once more at it and then decided he would likely cringe and vomit if he had to do it himself. The thought of the pain made him queasy. "On second thought..." He held out his arm. "I'll take you down so you can go home then as well. Especially since daylight is approaching so fast. Um... You also might want to take this to wash your hands after ward." He took a bowl that rested on top of his little freezer and then pulled water from the air, letting it collect inside.

This was the hard part. He grabbed a stick from a tree branch, and stuck it between his teeth. Then he took a thick rope, and tied it around his arm so that it went numb. "Perfect," he said with the stick in his mouth, "now I won't feel much. Go ahead." He turned his head to the side, and bit down.
 
Taking his dagger that was by his side she knelt down next to him. She got the dagger because it would probably be easier to get the bullet out with that then just sticking her fingers in the wound. Once he was ready she put his are on her lap holding it there while she dug the bullet out of his skin, hardly noticing the green blood that spilled down the front of her pants while she held his arm there. After what seemed like forever, though in reality it was probably only a minute at most, she got the bullet out of his arm. Letting the bullet roll to the ground she cut part of the bottom of her shirt off and wrapped it around the wound as a make shift bandage. Smiling at him she said.

"That wasn't so bad. I bet you feel better now."

For some reason in this instant here she did not feel threatened or scared just happy, happy that she helped this demon get better. Something that she was taught not to do her whole life.
 
He hissed, and chomped on the stick as hard as he could while she dug it out. It hurt, but the rope definitely helped. When she'd finished, and wrapped it back up, he untied the rope with relief, and clamped down on it with his other hand. "Ahh... Thank you. It's nice not to feel something sharp and hot against the wound..." He rubbed it a little, considering it was still pretty sore, and then forced a coated layer of ice over top of it, to relieve the heat and swelling.

Silver bullets were horrible. He hoped it would heal quickly enough.

In a moment, he caught her smile, and froze, slightly shocked and partially pleased. She seemed even less inclined to kill him now. Especially if she just removed the bullet from his arm. He smiled back, and then stood. "I can get you out of here now, if you like. The trip to the ground is pretty far, so I recommend you close your eyes."
 
Her smile faded at the prospect of going all the way to the ground that was a long way down. If he just let her fall she would surely die, but if he kept her alive this long she didn't think he would kill her now. Slowly she got to her feet and walked to where he was standing and looked down. Big mistake she felt the blood rush from her face, and she took a step back. That was too far down.

Then she steeled herself took a deep breath looked at him, not down, held out her hand as if that is how he was going to get her down holding her hand, and then closed her eyes, waiting.
 
He tipped his head at her. "That's not going to work, dear," he said slowly. "I can't give you the ability to float just by touching your hand." He picked her up then, princess style, and then made the dive, without giving her time to actually think about the experience. Because of the way he held her, he hoped she couldn't turn her head to look down. He floated relatively slowly, since a flat drop would probably make her sick, and when he landed, let her go. "I hope that doesn't stain," he said, and looked down at her pants. His green blood was pretty much everywhere, not just her hands. Cleaning up wouldn't have done a thing anyway. Worse, her father. "And I really hope your father doesn't notice that it's my blood..."

That made him cringe. He hadn't quite thought of that. If her father discovered all of this, he would surely come after him. Strangely, that didn't quite sound right. Would she tell him about it anyway? A demon hunt was the last thing he wanted in his little quiet circle of trees. Even if they couldn't climb up his tree to his little hut, chopping it wouldn't be that hard to do. Worse, if his brother discovered this. Dragging another nastier demon into this was even worse, and knowing Splice's curiosity, he would investigate without a second thought.
 
When she had her feet back on solid ground she was surprised she didn't fall over considering she never expected him to pick her up. At his comment about her father noticing the blood she looked down, and saw that he was right she was a mess. Her pants were covered in his green blood, and she knew if her father knew about this not only would he lock her up for the rest of her life he would also hunt down the demon till he was dead. He didn't seem evil or even that mean for a demon, and she didn't want him dead. Was she just being naive thinking this? Would the demon come and kill them later on? That made no sense. Perhaps she could ask him another time right now did not seem appropriate to her.

"I will change when I get home and wash them right away. I don't want my father to find out that would probably be bad. If it does stain I guess i will have to get a new pair."

At the last comment she frowned a little thinking that they probably did not have enough money to buy her another pair of pants.

"Well I guess I better head home."

As she was walking she thought of something suddenly the demon must have a name and not be known as demon, and she wanted to know his name. She turned around and walked back towards him.

"Before I go may I ask your name?"
 
The fool grimaced at the thought of her father finding out, and then puckered his lips. "I don't believe I quite know yours either. I'm Nexus," he said, and bowed dramatically, letting his bells jingle, and crossing his ankles. He had totally let go of his fear now. There was no point in this human killing him. Her father, definitely. But not her. So far, she hadn't shown him any sign of danger, and that pleased him. She was the first human to come to the woods, and make friends with a demon. That had to be record history.

Forgetting something, he twisted his silver wrist-bangles, and pulled out the bracelet again. "Are you sure you don't want this?" He held it out to her, just in case. The little trinket was pretty, and he was sure she'd wanted it the day before. He liked her, in a strange way. She wasn't nasty, and she seemed to understand him a little bit, even if on a basic level. 'Who knows,' he thought to himself. 'Maybe she could be a friend. It certainly better than sitting up there all day staring at tree bark.'
 
Laughing a little at his dramatic bow she smiled at him. as he mentioned the bracelet and pulled it off his wrist she stared at it she had wanted so badly, and yes she did still want it. The question is should she take it. Would it be rude to accept something like the bracelet?

"My name is Safria." Giving him a little curtsy to play along with the bow. Her eyes caught the bracelet again. "I think I will keep the bracelet. Thank you for it." She smiled at Nexus wondering why she felt so comfortable with a demon, something that she should be terrified of. Instead she felt a kind of weird friendship growing, but she could not figure out how this strange new friendship would work.

"I will see you later." She said that with out even thinking as she was walking away to go back to her village. Twisting the bracelet around her wrist she walked back to her house, and prayed her parents were still asleep.
 
After she left, he kind of hovered in the cold by himself, and looked around. Pine trees were the only things that seemed to have life back here. The occasional squirrel would poke its head out of a tiny tree hole, and skitter across the snow. He took a walk between the trees to think.

He'd met a human girl, who didn't want to kill him, introduced herself, took the bullet out of his arm, and still had the gall to come back here alone without a weapon. She wasn't like any other human to have gone back there, ever. "I will see you later?" That almost sounded like she'd definitely be back. He considered that a moment. If she was back here alone, and fell asleep under the tree, she clearly liked it back here. Peaceful enough to sleep.

That made him cringe. This place wasn't nearly as peaceful as she perceived it. He took a trip around a specific tree, and froze in his tracks. His red, white, and gold twin twisted around the other side of it, and almost bumped him in the chest. "Playing with your food again, Nexus?"

"She's not food," he said. His heart fell a little bit. Clearly his brother had noticed her.

"Sure. With less and less food, how do you plan to stay alive? Most of the deer and such are gone now. You were lucky to find the pretty buck you did, until her father shot you and, and took it. You like to dance on the edge of cliffs, don't you?"
 
She walked back to her house, and got there just as the sun was coming up over the horizon. She paused just outside the door to her house and prayed both of her parents were still asleep. Then she walked into whatever fate had in store for her. Her parents were still asleep so she rushed to grab a pair of clean pants and changed into them before either of them woke up. Then she hid the pants with the blood on them outside the door just behind the wood pile. She would have to clean them later. She went back inside and laid down on her bed, and went to sleep. It would have made her parents suspicious if they found her up first, considering she never gets up first.

Then the day started just like any other normal day. Doing the chores and making things to sell in the market. When afternoon hit she had some freedom to do what she wanted for a few hours. When her parents weren't around she went to the wood pile a took the pants the had blood on them, and put them into a bag so she could take them with her. She went to the outskirts of the village and built a small fire to melt the snow so she would have water to wash her pants out. She brought soap along too, so hopefully the blood would come out.

Just as she was finishing Darrian came up and sat beside her. "You okay for yesterday? You seemed really freaked."

"Yea I'm okay it was just a long, confusing day." That was when she noticed she had on the bracelet, and if Darrian saw it he would surely ask how she got it. So she pulled her long sleeves down further to hide the bracelet.

"Shall we get a drink or two at the tavern?" Darrian asked getting to his feet and helped her up.

"Sure that sounds great."
 
Splice taunted Nexus about it all day. It was really annoying to have to justify understanding a human. "She wasn't dangerous, alright? I think if she was, she'd have killed me in a heartbeat, considering the deer incident," he said sharply. "Now leave me alone. I'm not in the mood for your deranged, psychopathic thought processes today."

"Oh? And what are you in the mood for? Talking to her again? Oh let me guess, a nice trip through town square to rant and rave at a damn stone fountain! Sounds like fun," his red twin mocked. When Nexus looked over at him confused, he continued. "Yes, yes I was there, I saw that little tantrum you through. You're lucky no other human was awake to shoot you. If I were one of them, I most certainly would have. Now grow up, and realize what you are: you're a monster, and you eat flesh. Humans have the best tendency to fill your stomach, not some already-starving, skinny deer."

"I don't want to, simple as that," Nexus continued. "And I won't, simply because I'll keep my stomach full." He got up, and strode off to find another animal large enough to butcher, and ad to his little freezer. He didn't need much, but his supply was running out. It was why the last deer was so vital, and now that it was stripped, his stash only minimally grew. It was time to hunt again. And he hoped, his brother wouldn't follow.
 
As the day went on becoming closer to night fall, she felt more and more pull to go to the woods she wanted to talk to Nexus again. She also wanted that freedom that the woods gave her, and through that freedom some peacefulness. All she knew is that her whole life had been repetitive, and almost boring. Now that was changing she could feel it. The question is was it a good change or was it a bad one. She felt that if people knew about her befriending Nexus they would might exile her, or even kill her. That or keep her locked up all her life where she would almost wish they would kill her instead.

Se enjoyed spending time with Darrian he was kind to her, and a great friend to have. So when they spent time together the time just seemed to fly by. Soon it was time to part again. Before she walked away he said. "let me walk you home it's getting a bit late, and we don't want you to run into any trouble."

"You don't need to walk me home I'll be fine, and me run into trouble I would never do that." Saying that with a sarcastic smile considering how much trouble she already caused this week.

"Insist you let me walk you home."

"Okay I'll let you walk me home if your that worried."

"With a girl who does not think before she acts I have reason to worry." He said smiling at her. Safria rolled her eyes at that comment, and they started walking to her house, which stood on the edge of the village.
 
While Nexus was out hunting, Splice decided he wanted to know what was so special about this human girl. He crept to the edge of the forest, and peeked out, noticing that someone was walking her home. He eyed the two, and when nothing spectacular happened, walked back into the forest in an exasperated sigh. 'Stupid brother,' he thought bitterly, and flicked a flame on the edge of his clawed finger. He stared at it in wonder for a while, and when he became bored, he extinguished it. 'I think it's time I paid that village a visit,' he thought, and grinned a horrible, nasty grin.

He walked out into the center of town, past her house, and looked around. The fountain was the first thing he tisked at, and then then looked to the first house on his left. 'That one,' he smiled, and hurled a large fireball at it.

Instantly, the building blew up in a mix of smoke and fire, and the thatched roof exploded. The other surrounding buildings were too far apart to catch fire, but he wa satisfied enough that he'd done one small bit of damage, and he excused himself to hide in the woods and watch from afar. The people on the inside screamed, and dragged their children out, watching the flames lick the walls. They cried, and the man wanted his gun. After the situation was heard in the street, other people came out of their homes, and gasped in panic, running to their aid with buckets of water from the nearby fountain, and from their wells.

He smiled in satisfaction. 'That brother,' he thought, 'is what a demon is truly like.'
 
Rushing out the door to see what all the commotion was about Safria ran to the town square, as she got there she saw the burning building and grabbed a bucket to go help put out the fire. Luckily the fire went out before too much damage was done. The damage that was done could be fixed in a few days, and someone would take the family in for those few days. How did the fire start anyways it's freezing out and no one would build a big fire inside. Does this mean that some sort of demon did this? If so Safria's question from earlier today where whether or not the change she felt coming would be good or bad seemed to be answered, it would be bad. They called a town meeting to discuss what to do, and every male was to go.

Safria tried to go to the meeting but her dad caught her. "Safria you go home now. This is no place for a girl you go home now." Angry Safria left the area but she did not go home no she went to find answers. She went to Nexus's tree to wait for him.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back