Faen's Child

Chapter 13

[Chapter 13]

Ashe’s P.O.V

I was running through a forest, through bushes after bushes, trees after trees. My thundering heart pounded, and the many twigs and leaves crackled beneath me as I stepped on them, my bare feet slapping against the forest floor. I tried my best to call my power, trying to send for Noel, for Dru, for anyone. My power rushed to me, a familiar touch in a foreign situation. But I felt no one. No one was near. No one could save me.

I tripped on a root, sprawling forward as I did so. The leaf litter met my face, filling my cheeks and mouth with dirt and dead bugs. I tried to scream, but could not because in the next second, a strong grip on my neck pulled me up, squeezing hard. I struggled with all my might, trying to break free, but all I could do wan only to wiggle my limbs. It struck me suddenly that I looked like a desperate cockroach, trying to escape, but failing terribly.

The horrible thought brought tears into my eyes. I was going to die just like this. All that hard work I put in to learn my elements…

 Wait. My elements.

With renewed strength brought on by determination, I fixed a quick image in my mind, trusting my element. I may not have friends here to help me, but I had my elements.

Wind howled, and I heard the whisper of its name as it brushed by me. It barreled into my captor like a solid wall, freeing me as my captor flew back. My legs connected with the floor, and I began running again, not looking back. I needed to get out of here.

I pulled my wits to me, and did the one thing I could think of. I summoned fire to my will, and I set the nearest tree on fire. Sarah would kill me for harming more trees; for destroying the source of her element. But I had to do it. I was desperate.

The heat picked up as the fire spread from one tree to another, the crackling of the flames as it fed off the wood masking the sound of the twigs breaking underneath my feet. My feet were sore and bleeding, and so were my knees –where I had scraped them when I fell. But I knew I had to get out of here.

There was a whisper of wind, and I could not react this time. Something flew through the air and hit me on my back, forcing me to go rolling on the forest floor. Disorientation stopped me from getting up in time, but the person who had flown into me caught his grips faster than I could. Again, I was lifted off my feet. This time, however, I was facing the man who seemed to possess such impossible speed and strength.

I recognized him immediately. He was the man on the train. He was the guy in my nightmare after I fainted. I remembered what he had done to me in my previous nightmare, and stifled a shiver. I had to show him that I wasn’t scared. I didn’t want to let him smell my fear.

“My princess… why are you running? You don’t have to be afraid of me. I won’t harm you… well, at least not after I have turned you.” He said in his same deep, threatening voice. His fangs were all out, ready to attack.

“What do you want from me? I am just a nobody!” I screamed, hoping and praying that someone would hear me. Where was I anyway? Where was this place? How had I gotten up to be like this? The last I knew, I had been sleeping peacefully in my bed, dozing off.

“Choose what you will, Princess. Nothing changes the fact that you are a Faen’s child. You are the child of the dark; a gift of the night! Join us by your will, Ashe, or I will turn you forcibly.”

“What do you mean? What ‘Faen’s child’? What ‘child of the dark’? What are you talking about? You’ve gotten the wrong Faen!” I cried. What was he going on about?

We had learnt about the fight between Faen and vampires, but it had always stayed in this textbooks. This… this was real. This vampire was real. But why wasn’t he killing me? Vampires and Faens killed each other. Very little vampires changed Faens over to their side anymore. Most of them just wanted us dead.