Chapter Text
No, no, no please-
Feet hammering on the pavement, blood pounding in your ears, and the icy tang of November’s air stinging your lungs overwhelm your senses. Futilely, you wave your hand, hoping with every ounce of your being that maybe-just maybe-the bus would stop and you’d have a safe journey home.
Of course not. The orange backlights vanish as the bus rounds the nearby corner, leaving you standing in front of the artificial glow from the advert behind you. Whistling branches and crackling leaves fill your ears, your body slumping against the bench. You pull your phone out; six percent and it’s quarter past eleven; no more buses and you weren’t going to waste the little battery you had left hunting for a cab.
Taking in a deep breath, you start walking the same way the bus had been driving. It was a short walk-you’d taken it plenty of times before, though that was usually when it wasn’t the ninth circle of hell outside. Within minutes, your nose is frozen from the bitter wind. Every step along the sidewalk only adds to the cavalcade of emotions swirling through your head.
Fucking bus driver saw me; I know he did.
Ugh see you shouldn’t have spent those five minutes tidying up.
You could’ve just told your boss you had to leave but nooooo gotta be some goody-two-shoes don’t you? Not like they’re even gonna notice what you do anyway.
Drivel hits your mouth, making your lip curl in disgust, your brow furrowing even more as another brutal wind rams into your face, the whistling leaving you momentarily deaf. The ground grows uneven, the sidewalk trailing away to grass littered with dead leaves. A few crunch under your boots, but most are soggy from the earlier rain. You pause, weighing your options: save time and risk going through the desolate woods or take an extra fifteen or so minutes and enjoy some lovely frostbite on your fingers? The woods stare back at you, crooked shadows stretching over the barely visible elephant path. Your street was at the end of it-mere minutes away from a warm bed. Yet the imposing outlines of the barren trees and untamed undergrowth allow anxious snakes to curl around your stomach: what was in there? Nothing ever happened there, but you for sure didn’t want to be the first idiot who thought walking in the woods at night by yourself was a good idea.
Exhaustion tugs at your muscles, the tantalizing lure of sleep dulling your nerves enough for you to accept the risk. The streetlights fade, the only light being that from the waxing moon above. The clouds rush through the air, occasionally blocking the silvery glow only to breeze past it, each eager to get to their destination. A random bird squawks, a fluttering of wings following its call. Your nerves tense, fists diving into your pocket, tightly clutching your keys between your fingers, and eyes darting about. All you hear are your own footsteps, dreading any change to the comforting monotony.
Your blood runs cold at a pained shout, a loud cry following and locking you in place. Run, what’re you standing there for? You’re only five minutes away, why are you just waiting there? Did you really want to find out where that noise came from?
Run
And run you did. Colors blurred into a bluish mess, tears filling your eyes from what you couldn’t tell: the wind? Dust? Fear?
Blood pounded in your ears only being silenced by a loud thud. Growling echoes from your left and you venture a look, seeing nothing through the stinging tears. Every breath felt like a risk, every movement an alarm, and every second bringing you closer to freedom or damnation. Where was it?! What was it?! Were you just psyching yourself out over a dog? No, no dog made a sound like that; no animal you knew of could make a sound like that.
You dare to step back without looking, your eyes darting wildly around the woods to try and find the elephant path again. But there was nothing familiar, just a cavalcade of twisting trees, dead leaves, and prickly brambles that pierced through your socks, scraping at the sensitive skin.
Cold bark pierces your back, your hands flying back to grip the thick tree. You stifle your breathing, watching little puffs form and disappear in front of you. Loud silence permeates the air. Was this it? Were you really to die out here all alone? Would anyone come looking for you if you did? Was your legacy going to be the idiot who got killed in the woods?
Branches groan from above, your eyes flashing up to meet a brooding figure. Its face barely visible, encompassed in shadows. Through it sits a pair of eyes, each a hellish blue like the hottest part of a flame. They glow brighter than the moon, staring at you with something unreadable, something entirely inhuman, beckoning you to stay there, waiting for it to seep its wicked light inside you and corrupt your soul.
It grinned; animals didn’t grin. At the first glint of its fangs from its own malicious light, you ran. Adrenaline carried you, immediately drugging every nerve and putting every bit of power into bolting through the woods.
Wind sounds from behind you, an unnatural, fiendish exhale, the polar opposite to Mother Nature’s hearty breaths. How close was it? Was it still in the trees? Just barely out of your eyesight so you’d die when you least expected it? You risk a momentary pause, whirling around to try and find those eyes, but you’re met with nothing but darkness broken only by faint moonlight.
Glancing down, you watch your shadow elongate, instinct guiding your attention behind you to see a faint purple glow in the distance. Salvation! Immediately, you turn to it, your eyes suddenly growing heavy once you focus in on that ethereal glow. Fatigue bleeds into every muscle, your adrenaline fading quickly without the previous threat visible. Your ankles start to ache, the fabric from your socks growing damp and sticking to your numb skin, while pain quickly fills your arm, the muscle throbbing; yet you press on. Each step drains your energy, the light growing brighter, coaxing you. Was this the light they always talked about? You’d always imagined it’d be white but the purple was so much more alluring; no wonder some people couldn’t fight it.
Black rings surround your vision, your feet dragging through the damp foliage until the world spins, your pant leg tugging at a set of exceptionally sharp brambles as you slam into the ground with a resounding thud. You pry open your eyes; the growling’s back. Heavy footsteps march towards you, yet your blind peripherals leave the being’s identity anonymous. Whatever it was, it was panting loudly, only being drowned out by its slog through the dead flora.
With your remaining strength, you turn your head, squinting to get an answer. A figure moved towards you as if one of the trees had sprung to life. Through the expanding darkness, you make out its glowing eyes. Amongst them sits something inviting, calming your nerves. It leans in; they meet yours, widening immediately before its tenebrous frame recoils. Something lands on your back, your remaining vision darkening to a warped purple before joining the void of unconsciousness.
…
Wood. Scratchy, hard wood.
Crackling, popping, the herbal scent of a fresh fire.
Warmth; both natural and artificial.
You don’t even register your own groaning for a second, the rest of your senses struggling to catch up with your surroundings.
You didn’t have wood floors.
Or a fireplace.
Exhaustion glues your eyes shut, curiosity begging for them to open to see where on earth you were. Behind your eyelids, a purple light flashes, reigniting some of your memory.
There’s something on top of you, oddly soft albeit reeking of old material.
A creak. Fear enters the battle, shoving both your exhaustion and curiosity aside and wrenching your eyes open.
It’s quite dark, the shadows only stifled by a little black lamp sat on a table and the fire sizzling to your left. Peering down, you find the source of the acrid smell: a long, grey blanket that extends far past your feet. Even with the dim lighting, you could notice a few stains on the fabric amongst the holes. A particularly long hole catches your eye, looking as if someone had deliberately cut it out with a knife.
Aching pain sears up through your ankle, a whimper escaping. Instinctively, you grab it, feeling a rough fabric tightly wrapped around the swollen joint. Through the glow of the fire, you see the ivory bandages peeking out from your pant leg.
Another creak.
You look around, whipping your head around the unfamiliar territory to find the source. Taking a deep breath, you look behind you.
Those blue eyes are watching you, their owner still engulfed in darkness from its corner. You stagger back, the heat of the fire licking at your still numb skin, slowly nursing your nerves back from its frozen slumber. The eyes blink, the figure seeming to close in on itself.
“Who the hell-what the hell are you?!”
It sighs.
It closes its eyes.
It takes a step forward.
“Stay the hell away from me!”
It listens.
Warm light bleeds towards it, melting away the shadows and revealing more of its face. Disheveled hair hung to its shoulders, waves of sienna gently mingling with the scraggly beard upon its face. It held its lips together tightly as if hiding something in its mouth, its wide eyes only adding to your speculation.
The fire gave a loud pop, breaking your stare at the creature. The wood creaks again, your heart pounding in your ears as you push yourself back, wincing at the pain in your ankle. Upon turning around, your eyes meet its gaze again.
They look human.
Concerningly human.
Were they wearing a white shirt? And black pants?
Glancing down, you see they’re on their palms, black claws adorning the tips of their long, thick fingers.
“Who-who are you?”
Their eyes widen again, their long body recoiling at the question, threatening to return to the shadows. You raise a hand, cocking your head to the left while letting your eyes run over their lanky frame: sinewy muscle made up most of their arms, the fire reflecting off the faint dusting of sandy hair across their skin, of which adorn a few purple bruises and fading scars.
Concern tugs at your thoughts, prompting you to lower your hand to the floor. Their eyes were still on you, slowly but surely pulling the words that had been stirring around inside your head.
“Can you talk?”
“Of course I can talk.”
You jump back at their voice; low and warm, albeit a bit scratchy like an engine that hadn’t been used in a while. They clear their throat, taking in a long sigh before rearing up onto their hind-or rather only-legs. Now at their full height, they towered above you, even if you were standing. Yet their scrawny frame sets a few of your nerves at ease, only for a few of them to reignite at the fire’s reflection off its claws.
“What the hell are you?”
“I…I don’t really know. I guess human?”
Were they joking with you?
They take a long stride towards you, your body instinctively jumping back as you tightly grip at the wooden floors. They kneel down, the light from the fire and lamp giving a much clearer view of their face. Most of it was covered by the aforementioned beard, every strand begging for moisture much like their skin; there was a circular scar adorning their right cheek, setting it apart from the few wrinkles on their forehead, all of which seeming invisible compared to the bags under their eyes. With them closer to you, they were unmistakably human, but something nagged at your stomach at the uncanny eyes that were looking down at the floor.
“Were…were you watching me?”
They blushed, eyes darting around the room.
“I-uh…yeah…you took a bad fall out there and I wanted to make sure you were alright and well…not much else to look at around here.” They gestured about the cabin. “I mean, the spiders are alright.”
You scoff, their expression lightening as they smile for a second, making your nerves turn erratic at the quick sight of elongated canines sitting in their mouth. At your reaction, they close their mouth again, the smile still tugging at the corners of their lips.
“Is your ankle okay?”
You shake your head.
“I tried my best with the bandages! But they’re kinda old; don’t really get the chance to go shopping much.” He laughs, “Sorry if they’re not wrapped properly. I haven’t done that in…a while.”
You bring your hand down to your ankle, venturing a glance away from him as you pull up your pant leg. The bandages were haphazardly wrapped around your throbbing ankle, a few crimson spots around the center now visible.
“It’s the brambles outside. I try to clear them up, but they’re pretty hard to get rid of. Not exactly a fan of thorns slicing my hands to be honest.”
“Why did you save me? What…What do you want from me?” You close your legs, bringing your knees up towards your chest.
“Well, I saved you ‘cause you were hurt. I wasn’t just gonna leave you out there to freeze to death. As for want-” He sighs, sucking in his bottom lip, the tips of his fangs peeking out from behind, “I don’t really know. Nothing?” He pauses, getting back down onto the floor a few feet away from you. His eyes look around the room, the fire dancing off his eyes like sparks above an ocean. Concern laces his stare, the ardent flames deepening the lines.
“Are you sure you’re alright?”
You tentatively roll your ankle around. It aches, a sharp pain shooting up your calf but nothing a bit of ibuprofen would help.
“I think so. Could…Can I-”
“Leave?” His face fell, his mouth slightly parted from silent words.
You nod and he brings his knees up to his chest, laying his head atop his forearm. He moved his eyes away from you, staring at the opposing wall. His jaw twitched before he nodded, yet you stayed seated.
“I…I could stay for a bit if you want?”
A light briefly appeared in his eyes only to fade away into solemn shadows. He shook his head. “Don’t. You don’t wanna be here. Hell, I don’t wanna be here.”
“Well…Why are-”
“I’ll give you five guesses; the first four don’t count.” He replied, curling his lip up to show off a set of fangs.
Instinct causes you to flinch back, a grimace forming on his face before his head falls to his knees, hair cascading down across his forearms.
“Look, I don’t need you to be around here if it decides to come back, alright? I…I did what I could to stave it off for now but you should get home; it’s late.”
“Oh sure, that’ll be easy to do.” You roll your eyes. “Big fucking monster abducts me, treats my ankle, and tells me to leave?”
A shadow passes over his eyes, his frame going rigid while his jaw twitches, those fangs sneaking out from behind his lips.
“Please…Just go. If you can walk, you can go.”
Curiosity kept up the fight, shoving away logic and self-preservation. What the hell was he? This was no cryptid who’d rip your heart out and leave your body to rot or some spirit that would suck the soul out of you until you were nothing left but a hollow shell. But even the most haggard person doesn’t have black claws or fangs, let alone the strength to easily carry you back to their den or to leap from tree to tree like an agile panther.
Suddenly, he reaches out and grabs your hand, turning it over to expose your palm. Before you can pull away, he tightens his grip, the oddly comforting warmth from his skin seeping into your freezing fingertips. A purple glow begins emanating from his fingers, filling your hand with its light before dying out in mere seconds. He pulls away, your hand feeling no different than moments ago.
“What the hell was that!?”
“I’m claiming you.”
“Claiming?!”
“Look…it just means you’ll…” he pauses again, closing his eyes, “you’ll be able to find this place. It’s a connection thing, almost like a GPS.” He takes in a deep breath, bringing his hand up to push his hair back. “I think-I do need your help, actually; it’s not anything hard or too weird, okay? Besides, you said you didn’t want to leave. Now you can find your way back.”
He opens them, looking directly at you with desperation covering every bit of his gaze. “Please…Please just help me. I’ll explain it but I just need help. I-I know I’m not really giving you a good reason to but-” his face falls, shadows sucking away at whatever glow had been there, “-you’re the first person I’ve had here in years and I just…just need this one thing from you.”
His lip quivers as he shuts his eyes. “I don’t…I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
The wind whistles outside, the fire stuttering for a second before resuming its fervent blaze. You glance down at your ankle, the blanket sitting next to you, loosely draped over your right knee.
“How would I have to help you?”
Light-a hope finally igniting in those eyes that add a radiance to his face that beats out the fire behind you. He moves closer to you, now mere inches away from the tattered blanket. Your nerves jerk-what the hell was he and why did you want to help him so bad?
“I just need some of your blood-not a lot of it! Just like, a few drops once a day. Less than what I took earlier from your ankle.”
Your face screws up. “What.”
“I took a bit of your blood earlier; a little bit was on my hand so I just…licked it.”
“You…had some of my blood earlier?”
“Yeah…”
“Why…?”
“Look, this’ll sound crazy-”
“And all of this already isn’t?”
“Okay yeah but…” he pushes his hair back again, grabbing a bit of it and scrunching it between his fingers. “I’ve this…curse,” he holds up his free hand, giving you a clear view of the thick, black claws where his nails should be, “where I need…human blood to stay sane. Animal blood only does so much, but human blood does so much more.”
“So, you want me to give you my blood so you don’t kill people?”
“I wouldn’t kill them! I’d just…need to get their blood.”
“By maiming them.”
“Probably…”
Silence permeated the air like a poisonous fog. He began fiddling with the hem of his shirt, keeping his gaze firmly on the floor. Every inch of his face was filled with fear; was he seriously afraid of you?
“Just…just don’t tell anyone, please?”
“I didn’t say yes.”
“I mean…you can’t really say no now. I claimed you so, if I get weaker, so do you.” Your lip curls as your eyes widen. “I’m sorry I didn’t know what you’d say! I didn’t-I couldn’t risk- it’ll really help me out, okay?” He reaches out and lays his hand on yours, his palm easily dwarfing them. “Please…I’m so tired of it…”
This was a creature you were talking to. How on earth could you trust anything it was saying? It could easily kill you once you said yes. Hell, it could fucking posess you after it did that thing to your hand. What if you said yes to it? What then? Were you just supposed to live there like a prisoner and feed it blood like some sick juice dispenser? Oh God what would it do if you told it no? The sheer size of it told you enough about your odds, the claws and fangs only adding to its favorable odds if you rejected it.
But he didn’t do anything to you when he saved you; he helped you and made sure you lived, that you were able to contemplate what on earth you were going to say back to him. He could’ve very easily killed you, or worse. Yet he was just sitting there, eyes huge with agony as if your response really did dictate life or death.
“Okay.”
The shadows went up in flames, a smile finally forming wide enough to show off the rows of fangs. He leans in, wrapping his arms around your body and enveloping you in a sudden-yet welcome-warmth. Your head hit his chest, the rapid beating of his heart thumping against your ear, creating an almost soothing rhythm that allows your hands to rest on his thighs.
“Thank you thank you thank you!” He blurts, his cheeks pushing against your forehead in what felt like an even wider grin. Something spreads through your own chest; were you actually happy about helping this thing? From the little bubbles of joy in your stomach to the smile on your own face, it seemed so.
Through the window, the sun starts to rise-had it really been a whole night? He pulls away and you immediately grab your phone, only to be met with a black screen and a dead battery symbol.
“I have to go. I’ve got work at noon and can’t really show up looking like…this.” You gesture to the dirt stained clothes and your tousled hair. “Also I’d really like an ibuprofen and I don’t think you’ve got that here.”
“Oh, okay then.” He stands up-good Lord he was tall. “Will I see you tonight?”
You bite your left cheek, wincing as you chew the soft flesh. He begins playing with the hem of his tattered shirt, grumbling as his claws poke a few holes into the frail fabric. You exhale a laugh through your nose, seeing him perk up at the sound and give a small smile.
“Yeah, yeah you will.”