His Fading Humanity

Chapter 34: You Can't Run

For several moments, he stood still. Completely in focus on the figure, and didn't dare to venture too close.

Were his eyes deceiving him?

His wolf slowly walked forward, cautiously sniffing the area around the figure.

Closer and closer he drew until he finally could make out what - or who, it was.

A girl lay in the shadows.

Her hair was ragged, strewn about, and stringy with the volume of water that drenched the strands. Her eyes were open in death, her skin pale and akin to ice. Blue veins pressed against the surface of her thin skin, and were littered across her forehead, the tops of her hands, and the length of her arms.

A torn, raggedy white dress she wore, and it flowed down the length of her legs. Her feet were bare, revealing blackened toes.

Perhaps the most startling feature was her mouth. Her jaw was slackened, so it gaped wide open. But where there was supposed to be a tongue and teeth, was nothing. Just a gaping, black hole.

A furry, black leg of a spider seemed to be sticking out of it. Kyros took a step back, bothered by the scene before him. 

"Candie?" He thought in disbelief. This woman looked like Candie.

There's no way.

And then she moved.

Her head turned towards him, ever so slightly.

His breath caught in his throat, and the presence of his wolf caused his fur to rise on end.

A flash of lightning shattered the sky above, and he noticed that the brief flash sparkled in her eyes. Small droplets of rain splashed onto her cheeks, running down her face and dripping off the curve of her jaw.

Laughter tore through the forest, and the sound heightened his senses. It was drowned out from the rain and thunder, but it was ever so present like a haunting wraith that hung in the shadows.

His head shot up and looked around the forest frantically. His wolf growled viciously inside of his human soul, and his eyes darkened yet emanated a strange glow. They searched for the source of the sound.

But his eyes met with nothing.

His eyes drifted back to the ground, where the girl was laying.

But she was no longer there.

Erratic heartbeats thrummed in his chest, and he started to breathe rapidly. He turned around and saw the dark shadow of what appeared to be the girl hiding behind a tree. The eyes of the being were alit with a red glow.

"You're not Candie." His thoughts sounded loudly in his mind.

His wolf was on edge, growling viciously. An eerie silence ensued, and his adrenaline pulsed inside of him. The primal urge to fight was latching onto his instincts. Fight and kill.

When the lightning lit up the sky again, the place that once held the shadow of the girl was gone.

Out of the darkness, another figure appeared. This time, he recognized the person. 

It was Reuben.

A smile stretched his lips.

Something was off about him. His eyes were dark, very dark. Cold and void.

"Welcome, my king." He mocked and even bowed before him.

Kyro's lips pulled into a snarl, his wolf not liking the disrespect and the fact that Reuben was not behaving in a familiar way.