Ditching the Demons

Why Taking a Shortcut Through the Woods is a Bad Idea

But what she said was neither cool or witty, "What? Do I owe you something?"

"No darling, it is I who owes you," he said in a smooth voice while taking her hands in his own.

Myra was automatically offended that this stranger had suddenly engaged physical contact with her. She became even more troubled when she noticed that his face was growing closer to hers. She cursed her feet for still being unable to move.

"Stay away from her Dru!" yelled a new voice.

The fox-man-creature turned his head to the left, where the voice came from. Myra followed suit and looked in that direction also. Just barely coming into view was a young man with wispy black hair and red eyes. He wore dark clothing that had many straps and buckles which shined when they caught the light of the cloud muted moon. Myra also observed, with an inward moan, that she could see little fangs poking out of from his mouth.

Great, another freak.

"He didn't hurt you, did he, Myra?" asked the new man while laying a hand on her shoulder. Myra was not distracted enough by his show of concern to ignore the fact that he was even quicker to engage in physical contact than the other strange person.

The red eyed man turned his head to face the fox man. "I mean it, Dru. Step away from her, now."

"Oh, c'mon Meris" The fox man said. "I don't need her for very long."

Myra was automatically disturbed by his comment, but then thought it over and decided that she may be taking what he said in the wrong context. Maybe he only needs me so I can open a jar of pickles for him. His hands do look kind of dainty.

"Liar!" The red-eyed man's outburst caused the fox-man to drop Myra's hands. "Ever since she released us, the only thing you've been able to talk about is how you are going to seduce her and take advantage of whatever powers she might have."

The fox-man had a guilty look on his face, but quickly recovered. "What about you, Meris?" he laughed at the other man. "What about you, saying all that stuff about: 'Myra is so beautiful' and 'Myra is so nice. I wonder if she'd let me date her?'"

"I never said that!" screamed the red-eyed man.

While the two strange men were distracted by their argument, Myra discovered that her feet were working again. And as honored as she was to have two fine looking males fighting over her, she decided that it was a perfect time to leave.

⌘⌘⌘

Phew! Finally, those freaks are out of sight. Now, to just make a bee-line for home and enjoy my ice cr...Whoops!

(SPLAT)

Myra groaned when she realized that she had tripped over a log of some sort. Why is it that every time I think of ice cream, a piece of tree fouls me up?

She grew even more upset when she realized that the log she had tripped over was now moving and shifting beneath her. Oh crap! Oh crap! What if it's some cranky woodland creature that I woke up by tripping over and is now going to claw my eyes out? Or worse, what if it's another frea—

"Woman," a deep voice growled. "Get your fat legs off of me. I'm losing circulation to my feet."

Hm... seems to be a combination of the two.

Rolling off of the person, Myra scrambled to her feet. It was harder to see this person, being as they were in a rather dense part of the forest, but his short orange-tinted golden hair and bright amethyst eyes were hard to miss.

At least this one looks normal, she thought. Wait a minute, purple eyes? She crinkled her nose. That isn't natural, is it?

Concluding that there must be some sort of freak convention in the woods that night, and that she really needed to stop staring into this man's eyes (because they were actually kind of entrancing), Myra pulled her eyes away. This is not the time to stand her gawking, I need to...

"Just run on home you stupid little girl. Before Meris and Dru realize you're no longer under the snag-spell."

Inside her head, Myra was growling. That's the second time this guy has interrupted my thoughts, stolen the next one, and then converted it into an insult. Wait. Did he say something about a spell? Does that mean these guys know how to do magic? Eeep! I knew something creepy was going on in here after dark. And mom said that those eerie lights were just swamp ga—

"What is your problem, woman! Can't you keep your brain quiet for two seconds?" The man yelled as he placed a hand over his face and massaged his temples with his thumb and middle finger. "The last thing I need right now is an annoying wench rambling on incessantly and making my headache worse!"

"I knew it!" Myra squealed, as he winced. "You can read my mind can't you."

"No, I cannot. You are just incredibly predictable." He sighed and removed his hand from his face, laying it on his propped-up knee. "And your head leaks out an awful high pitched scraping noise when you think so loudly."

"I'm sorry." Myra whispered while lowering her eyes. Heck, the 'incessant rambling' of my mind even annoys me sometimes, I can't imagine how hard it must be for him if it sounds as bad as he says. And he probably hears it all the time, from random people he passes on the street, to the cows in the field thinking, 'yum, grass.' Oh great, I'm doing it again. Hush brain! Hush! Just bleepin—

"Shut up already!"

A flash of white appeared and the fox-man was suddenly kneeling next to the man Myra tripped over.

"Sam? Are you alright?" He asked. The other man gave him a grunt in response. "I'm sorry that we were gone for so long. It's just... I came across Myra and was about to ask her for her help when Meris showed up and started yelling at me, and then she disappeared and..."

"It's alright, Dru." He said using a voice more gentle than Myra thought he was capable. "As much as I would prefer not to get a human involved in this situation, you and Meris seem to have your hearts set. So I will allow it."

"Really?"

"Really?"

"Aaak!" Myra jumped about a foot into the air, because that second 'Really?' came from a voice that was so close behind her that she could feel the person's breath on her neck as he spoke. Turning around, she found herself face-to-face with the red-eyed man. He gave her an adorable grin.

How does he make fangs look so cute?

"So, you'll help us, won't you?" he pleaded with hands clasped and huge shimmering eyes.

"I...er..." Myra wasn't sure what she was supposed to say in such a scenario. She was all for helping people, but she had no idea who these guys were, how dangerous they were, or what exactly they wanted. "A-at the risk of sounding biased... I think I need to know exactly what's going on before I agree to anything." She inwardly congratulated herself for not sounding too petrified.

"Very well," stated Sam with clenched teeth. "I will...attempt... to explain the situation in a way that you can understand."

I have come to the conclusion that this guy doesn't know how to talk to me without including some sort of insult.