DIANA'S POV
I don't know which one is more terrifying. The furious wolves who were about to eat us for dinner, or the creepy thin shirtless men with hands covered with blood who we bumped into in their seemingly hunting grounds. As soon as we tumbled down in the exact spot where they were cutting their bounty of meat into pieces, the wolves lost interest in chasing us. They just run off at the sight of the men skinning their hunt effortlessly. With heightening fear from a different level and nonstop trembling, Kate could hardly breath as we face a group of four bloody men holding machetes.
"I know you!", the tallest one had a kind of deep voice that'll stiffen even your bruised body. He looked at me, eyes sparkling with lights from the bonfire. While he looked slightly familiar, I am certain that this is the first time I met him.
"Do.. you.. do you know this guy?", Kate whispered, panting heavily. Blood drips from the side of her head. Her blonde hair that was fixed in a nice bun became all loose and tangly. Gasping for air as well, I could only shake my head side to side in response.
"We were supposed to meet. But, there was this wild fire that burned half of the forest.. and uhh.. you disappeared along with the thick smoke and blazing fire..", his sunken eyes and depressed cheeks didn't match his friendly tone. It was mixing oil with water. It was rather uncanny. "I'm Randall, Roman's father", he said as he wipe his bloody hands on his already bloody denim jeans. "And these are my friends, Otto, Maurice and Leo..", Randall looked around as if checking the surroundings. "Did you come here unaccompanied?".
I thought it wasn't safe to be honest at that point. He didn't even asked what happened to us, looking like shit with all the dirt and scratches on our faces. So, I decided to lie. "No, Roman is with us", I said quickly. These men doesn't look very trustworthy, given a thought Randall is Roman's father. After all, Kristia had told me that Roman is a product of a forceful and grievous fault from Randall's mischievous acts towards Roman's mother.
"Is that so? Wh-where is he then?", he replied with a breathy laugh.
"He's.. he's just right behind us", Kate ride in with my little white lie like she understood the situation.
"Ahh.. alright. So where are you headed to? This place is not something people would just.. go to.", he asked.
"I'm.. We're just uhh..", I stuttered unsure what to say.
"Sight seeing!", Kate caught up on me. "Yes. Roman is trying to tour us around. Let us see the falls. Yeah… But umm.. these wolves caught a glimpse of us while we were straying away from the group. We're glad we found you guys. Heh.", Kate forced a terrible smile, as she squeeze my hand.
"At this time of the night? Heh. Righhht. Wolves. They don't usually come here. Something about the forest here scares them.", Leo grimly said with his eyes wide as the moon for an eerie stare. "But that don't mean we don't have something nice around here, right huh?", he glanced at one of his friends, looking amused.
"Okay", I sharply sighed. "Looks like we interrupted you all from something. We'll go ahead. We wouldn't want Roman to get worried", I said, turning back.
"Nahhh… Stay", Randall said that stilled us. "I would like to see my son anyway".
"We can keep you company until Roman comes around, if that's okay", the man with the longest face whose name is Otto said.
I understand that the wolf attack is one of the many dangers we'll face in this place, and yet, I wasn't expecting werewolves at all. The sanctuary these guys offer didn't seem safe at all. "Ahh.. Alright", squeezing Kate's hand back.
"Alright, shall we go? Roman can catch up, I'm sure", Randall said, as they lead the way.
Kate and I followed the four men walking ahead like they know exactly where to go. Their steps were huge but slow, like allowing us to match their pace. Then I thought to myself, these men are nothing like the wolf men from the clans of Roman and Scott. Most wolves that I met were muscular and very well toned. As for these four, they are slender, and taller, giving off a very frightening vibe.
They led us deeper into the woods. Carving the paths to make it easier for us to walk into. The trees thickened until the stars could barely touch the ground. Suddenly, they all stopped, turning to us with their eerie smiles gone and eyes glowing faintly in the dark.
"We can wait for Roman here", the guy I thought named Maurice said who had a very long silky black hair. I think they have figured out that Roman isn't really here. They walked slowly towards us, as we back away. "What's the matter? Scared?", he asked.
"I'm not afraid of you", I reached for the revolver that I kept inside my jacket. Kate stayed right behind me, clutching my arm, not straying from the seeping beam of the moonlight.
"It's been a while since we had... women here", Leo uttered, rolling his thick tongue on his lip.
"My son wouldn't mind sharing his Luna, I believe", Randall had his eyes on us, flickering in something dirty.
It was then I held him at gunpoint, not hesitations to shoot if any of them comes too close. "Stay back! Don't you come near us!", I warned. I heard Kate gasp, staying close to me.
They grinned. Laughed haughtily at my threat as if it was empty. That's when I shoot once point blank, which erased the annoyingly arrogant taunts on their faces. "Take one more step, I'll put a bullet between your eyes".
They stood before us like narrow trees in the dark. Entertaining themselves with our fearful stance. "I'll take the blonde first. Then, taste every bit of my son's Luna", Randall smirked, then lunged at us with his long arms. I was about to shoot but then, he stopped midair along with a sharp crackle. A violent crack split through the forest, with a purple light exploding around my body half a second. Randall hit the ground growling in pain, smoke curling from his arm. The werewolves were as surprised as we were. But, the answer we were seeking curdled in Randall's tongue who seemed very alarmed. "They're protected by the lythari elves", he figured.
I took the marbles from my pocket and saw the purple one glowing in a very bright light. "I warned you, stay the fuck back!".
"Those aren't going to last in a few days", Randall said quietly. "When it does, the forest will remember your scent. And I'll come for you", they all backed away slowly until they were gone.
Kate rested her head on my shoulder with her hand on her chest. "That was… insane!! Diana, we should leave!! This place isn't what I thought would be", Kate sighed heavily, as he body tremble.
"Kate calm down! We're fine! See, we're safe.", I told her. Yet, my hand with the gun is still pointing at where the werewolves walked into.
"Diana", she faced me with those eyes that have already known fear, lowering my rigid arm. "These men are dangerous. I should not have agreed with you going here".
"I have to do this..", I hushed. "With or without your help, I will still look for my father", I gathered courage in the moist air, as I turn back.
Kate snatched my arm, giving me a piercing stare, pressing her lips into a fine line. "Fine. You have 5 hours to find your dad", she said, with a bit of regret in every word. "or 2. We'll leave as soon as we get a glimpse of those guys again", she negotiated, holding my hand.
I handed the three marbles to Kate, making her feel safe in the midst of more dangers we'll ever encounter. "Here. I told you, these things would help us", her face lit up a little keeping those round tiny things with her.
Kate and I only followed where there's moonlight. It no longer mattered where our feet is taking us. We strayed away from the darker sides of the forest. We chose easy treks with less climbing. As we get lost farther, we could feel eyes watching us. Whispers in dark were becoming normal. Every shadow that moves made us flinch. Every twig that snapped sounded like teeth. The snakes tangled on the branches, monkeys hanging on trees, and even gators chilling on the swamps didn't bother us, for something much more dangerous with all of them combined.
The dark continued to play tricks, with trees looking like hunched figures, and roots like claws from the dirt. Breaking our nerves, testing our spirits. Kate insisted on walking nonstop, and sometimes, initiated all the running despite imploring her to have a break and catch some breath.
For what seemed like forever, every breath started to burn my lungs. My legs hurt from walking that I could barely feel them anymore. My throat dried, and my hands are too clammy. "Let's... let's rest for a while Kate", I told her, with hands on my knees. While I'm starting to feel hopeless to get to where I yearn to be, maybe I should at least slow down.
Kate may have felt the same way, she collapsed on the ground leaning back on her palms. "Yea, good idea", she easily agreed.
As we catch on our breaths, we heard crunching of leaves under heavy boots crashing through the bush. It was fast, but clumsy. Almost hurried. Kate and I calmed our breaths, almost frozen with our eyes going round. A lantern beam sliced through the trees wildly. Instead of veering from the light, I decided to follow it. "What are you doing? Let's get out of here", Kate frowned.
I didn't listen to her. I listened to my guts.
"Werewolves don't use light to see", I said. As we go nearer, a man bursted into view wearing a white coat stained with dirt, a brown satchel right in his underarm, and a lantern in his hand. Looking closely, he had messy dark hair, round glasses... looking more annoyed than afraid being alone in this kind of forest.
"Bloody hell!!", he snapped as the lamp slipped from his hands at our sudden appearance. Glass shattered across the ground, and the darkness immediately swallowed our spot. "Aye!! Do you have an idea how difficult it is to find a lamp oil these days?", he picked the broken lamp, and tried to light it up again with a match from his side pocket.
As soon as the light returned in the dark, I stared at the man digging the words to say. ".... Daniel Woodsworth?".