Briar Rose - Taekook

Chapter 11

The man turned, and I almost screamed.

It was Taehyung.

But it wasn't the Taehyung I knew.

His whole face was covered with a mask made of smooth liquid silver that seemed to dissolve into his skin at the edges, almost as if it was molding into him. His dark raven hair flew in the harsh wind, wreathing his face like a cloud. Hidden underneath his thick cloak, wings on his back folded against his frame, black feathers covering the strong muscles underneath. His fiery red eyes which I had grown to love glowed menacingly through the mask. It wasn't the eyes filled with love and compassion that I was used to seeing; these eyes just wanted to kill. They watched the destruction and fire over the water with surprising calm. I couldn't see a single shred of humanity in them; only death and destruction.

"Jungkook." He murmured my name, and I flinched like I had been hit. His voice was like a scythe, harsh and grating, the silver blade of his words slicing through the air. It felt like he was cutting me open with amusement and watching me bleed. My Taehyung wouldn't speak that way. His voice was calming and deep, full of adoration. This person was someone different. My hand instinctively went to my dagger.

Quicker than I could blink, the man struck. A flash of copper and silver lighting out of an empty sky. In the time it took me to gasp, he had kicked my knife away and shoved my face into the sandy ground.

"Tut-tut," he whispered, pinning my writhing body down with one knee. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. It will only hurt you more in the end."

"You... you're not real." I said, getting sand into my mouth in the process. "This is a dream. I"ll wake up sooner or later. None of this is real!"

"How can you be so sure?" The man asked, and I froze. "Because I'm pretty sure this is real." He pulls a short scimitar from his belt, and holds it to my face so I can see it. "I wonder what it could do to such a pretty face?" He inches it towards my cheek, and a scream erupts from me, lonely in the still summer night.

Immediately, a gloved hand covers my mouth, making me choke on my screams. "Silence," he hissed, bringing his face dangerously close to mine. "No one will be able to hear you. All the cities in a twenty mile radius are burned down. It's a waste of your efforts to try." He laughed, and I felt tears prick at the corner of my eyes. Was this how I was going to die?

"W─who are you?" I asked, trying to wriggle out of my captors hold. He simply tightened his grip on my arms, until I thought my bones were going to crack. "You're not Taehyung. What do you want with me?"

"Oh, there are many things I want with you," the man promised. "But you're right. This is only a dream. A very real one at that, but alas, still a dream. How else would I have been able to appear to you in your soulmate's form?" Seeing the look of surprise on my face, he laughed loudly, pressing my face harder into the sand.

"What, did you really think that I was Taehyung? Tell me Jungkook, would your dear little boyfriend be holding a knife to your throat while watching you scream? Would he threaten to scar your beautiful face? Ha! Even he isn't that cruel." The man paused. "Actually, I might have to take that back. 300 years ago, he would have killed you without a second thought. But now..." he studied me as if he was wondering which part of me to sever first. "Now the good old times are gone. In his own pathetic little way, he loves you too much to do such a thing. Well, no matter. The monster inside of him will take control soon enough. It's only a matter of time."

"Monster?" I spat, trying to get rid of the grit in my mouth. "What did you do to him? Who even are you?" With a start, I remembered what Taehyung had told me in the reading room. I killed people I shouldn't have. Anyone who tried to stop me ended up dead. I became a monster. Was that what this man was referring to?