Hunters

twleve

“Interesting plan.”

“I try to keep up with shows, but it doesn’t exactly work for me. I don’t watch a lot of TV usually. I blame the damn cast for making me such a lazy couch potato for the last couple of weeks.”

He laughed and kissed the top of my head. I shoved his arms away and strode off towards the front door, then pulled on my boots and jacket. Nick hurried to get his own gear on while I stepped out into the snow laden yard and biting cold of the air. I leaned against the oak tree in the middle of yard and burrowed my chin into my jacket while my eyes took in the snowy scene around me.

I crawled up the tree and perched in the branches, nestling into the small hollow I’d found. Nick came walking out, his eyes immediately jumping to the tree and up to me. “I wanted to get some fresh air. Plus, I haven’t climbed a tree in a long time.”

“Was it necessary to just suddenly leave?”

“Just talking about me being lazy made me feel the need to get outside.”

He laughed and scaled the tree until he was balanced on the branches, his face inches from mine. I shivered in my jacket and burrowed closer to the tree, tucking my chin into the collar of my jacket. A shrill shriek split my eardrums as he was about to reply, and I clamped my hands over my ears. Nick leaned into me so that he would keep his balance while he covered his own ears.

I glimpsed a black mass drifting over the snow toward our tree when I peeked out from under Nick’s arm. It solidified at the base of the tree and I found myself staring down at a man who was watching us with a curious gleam in his eyes. Bursting into the black cloud again, he wound his way up the tree and came to rest by our sides. Right before my face, he changed back into the man and sat staring at me with black orbs for eyes.

“Carius?”

“Hello Nick, it’s been too long.”

I shifted away from the newcomer and widened my eyes, glancing back and forth between the two men. Carius had black shoulder length hair that matched the dark void of his eyes. He wore a black turtleneck sweater, black jeans and black sneakers. His skin was so black that he looked like he was made of shadows.

“Is this the famous Willow that you’ve lost multiple times? She’s a pretty one.”

“Thank you for coming, but did you really have to announce your appearance? You know we can’t understand your language and that to us it’s similar to glass breaking screams.”

Carius shrugged and I got the feeling that he had shifted his gaze to Nick, but I couldn’t really tell since his eyes were just black orbs in his eye sockets. I sat very still and stared at my house, angry that this man seemed to scare me when no monster could. I refused to meet either set of eyes and curled into a ball, bracing myself on the trunk of the tree. Nick’s hand rested on my forearm as if to make sure that I wouldn’t fall. I frowned and glared at it, but when he didn’t move it from my arm, I shrugged it off.

“Why did you call me here, Nick?”

“I need help with securing the area. Willow has been taking time off to heal and there are too many Keres here now. You were the only person I could think of that knew how to deal with corrupted Keres.”

“Wait, they’re corrupted? They aren’t just-”

“Will someone please tell me what the hell a Kere is?”

“The Keres are commonly thought of as the warriors of the Fates and usually hovering around battlefields so that they can collect the souls of the deceased warriors. However, corrupt Keres deviate from the norm. They start killing people to drink their blood and take their souls down to the Underworld. Lately, corrupted Keres have been hanging out around here and your parents and I can’t control it.”