No winners
~
Erisa
~
The arrow freed from the bow and struck into the heart of the tree trunk, a crack drifting through the woodland.
Birds scattered out of their nests and took flight into the wind, chirping as their wings flapped away.
Drawing another arrow, Erisa stood straighter with an open stance and brought her focus to the tree trunk. She had been out every day for the past few weeks, same time, with the sun at the degree of rising above the tree line and into the clouds.
This time of day brought her a sense of ease she couldn't exactly place.
Breathing through her nose, eyes aligned with her target, she drew back her string, readying for the shot when a ding quaked through the woods like church bells.
Erisa jumped, fear passing through her and the arrow flew without her recalling the release, shooting past the tree and into the bushes.
Groaning miserably, she placed her bow and arrows on the ground with jitteriness shooting through her fingers tips as she marched away.
Erisa reached for her phone and Cole's name flashed on the screen. Her heart galloped, the tingling in her fingers heightening and she opened the message:
Cole: You want to go to a carnival tonight, Moonbeam? I'll win you a toy. ;)
Erisa's face fell, once filled with the joy of shooting arrows, now ruined by this ridiculous attempt at flirting.
Weeks have passed without a word from him, no message or call, not like before when there were continuous pursuits of communication. Erisa wondered how often she was on Cole's mind, a tinkering thought or a spiral of obsessiveness that overruled him.
Erisa: Do you have a good aim?
Cole didn't wait and responded quickly as she sent the message.
Cole: Come and find out. I'll pick you up at six.
Erisa grunted, dabbling her fingers across the screen at a rapid rate and wondered how on earth going to a carnival with an unhinged Alpha would play out.
Erisa: I'll meet you there, my dad and brother won't like a random guy coming by the house. Send the details.
It was bad enough he wanted to win her teddy bear, Erisa wasn't about to hand over her address ... that would be signing her life away
Cole: Sure thing. We're going to go on a merry-go-round.
A laugh peeled out of Erisa, slightly peeved by the nerve he had, but she didn't bother with the lunatic again. She would have the entire night to spend with him, feeding him blissful lies and whispering sweet nothings to him. And then, that would be it.
After tonight, Cole will be taken into the Fenris pack with no stones left unturned and Erisa wouldn't have to see him again.
____
The map they used drove them to a landscape of fields dotted with various rides, sprinkled with booming and vivid lights that could be seen distances away.
Many cars were parked on the dirt and even more, people scattered to the entrance of the carnival, walking through the gates of the clownery and festive place.
"Is Cole a kid or something?" Cadence demanded rhetorically, frustration in her tone. "A carnival, of all fucking places."
Erisa wouldn't deny, there were child-like traits the deadly Alpha possessed. Take immaturity and easily tempted for example, he was like a child with a toy he didn't want taken off him.
"Maybe he'll kidnap me here." Erisa tried to joke but was met with a harsh slap on the shoulder by the Larren hunter.
Cadence hissed viciously, "He won't get the chance. Erisa, just do what you need to do and we'll take care of the rest."
Erisa nodded stiffly, rubbing her cold hands together to cause friction as a biting iciness injected into her skin, giving her the shudders.
"A lot of people here," Cadence murmured, scanning her eyes across the place. "You'll have to lead him away, Erisa, don't wanna cause a scene."
From the look of things, the population of people and bright lights, Erisa would find that task difficult. She would have to lead him to the outskirts of the carnival where darkness could drape over them and they could have ... privacy.
"Frankie, do you have the tranquilliser?" Cadence asked the older man.
Frankie parked the vehicle closer to the gates in the far north of the place, where they were closest to the forest with not many people around them.
He fiddled with his glasses on his crooked nose and nodded, pulling the tranquilliser gun out of his inner jacket pocket. "I'll try and get him at a distance if I can."
They were set.
Erisa would lead the Alpha into her arms, Cadence and Rexton's job was to watch over her and Frankie had to knock him out.
Lycus, Accalia and Tala were preparing his cage for when he arrived at the Fenris pack. Once they were done, they would let Cadence know that it was time to lock Cole down.
This was a drastic and dangerous move to make on the chessboard, but they would keep moving forward, not back. Cole and Zenith had made their mark.
The hunters would go after the Thrax pack for their frequent attacks and bite marks they left on the skin of humans.
The Canus pack were left to Lycus Fenris, where war could finally unfold if Cole still wished. His only wish should to be freed from his future chains and cage.
Erisa wouldn't be there to see it.
"Cadence, what is that circular shape going round and round?" Rexton's soft voice swept through the car.
Erisa never imagined these circumstances for Cadence, not someone as hard and brutal as her.
Throughout their lives, Erisa had never once seen Cadence unveil such tongue-tied and palpable emotions towards anyone. She had never been in love or even had the faintest crush on another. She hardly spoke of such topics and if anything, Erisa doubted she even felt emotional ties like many other people did.
Love for Cadence was claiming death for others to ensure the life of her loved ones, not the sweet as honey or flesh against flesh kind of acts that centred around erotica or affection.
It was never in the cards for the Larren hunter.
Erisa hid her smile, finding it all amusing, the pushing and pulling Rexton and Cadence did with each other.
A being said to be the bane of evil and hell had such longing for a mere human that didn't even bat an eye at him. He had begged for Cadence's forgiveness, committed to her in ways where she only used him, and Rexton still tried.
Erisa had never seen anything like it — she knew worst monsters and they had not a drop of supernatural blood in them.
"Er — that's a Ferris wheel, hybrid." Cadence replied bluntly.
"Can we go on it together?" The hybrid asked innocently.
Cadence's annoyed sigh set Erisa off into laughter and yet again, a hand slapped at her shoulder.
"We can't, Rexton." Cadence snapped his name like it was poison and continued, "We have a job to do."
"But we would have the best view to see Erisa from the Ferris wheel," Rexton argued back, the softness still staying the same.
"I'll pay for the tickets." Erisa piped up with a sly smile and a hand clapped on her shoulder again, leaving a sting in its wake.
"You better shut your mouth, Jaeger, and we have your senses for a reason, hybrid!" Cadence yelled and Erisa laughed harder, turning around in her seat to see the blazing look on her friend's face.
Cadence promptly checked her phone, a frown forming on her face and said, "It's time. Erisa, you go first and we'll follow behind you. All of our scents are covered, so we should be safe. Erisa, entertain him for a bit, to him, this is a date and then lead him to us where we'll tranquillise him. Everyone got it?"
Rexton nodded at Cadence, peeking a glance her way that wasn't returned.
Frankie gently cupped Erisa's shoulder, wishing her luck and Cadence did the same, patting her face gently before releasing her.
Erisa was out the door, hooking her late father's jacket tighter over her tense shoulders and strolled to the gates that had a creepy clown statue hooked on the top of the metal, its robotic arms encouraging people to step through into the place of tomfoolery and mischief.
Crowds swarmed around her, screams shattering through as rollercoasters took people on a thrill ride and Erisa hardly had the view to look behind to see if her friend and the hybrid tailing behind her.
Ignoring the knots in her stomach, Erisa whipped her phone out and pressed on the contact she didn't particularly want to speak to.
"Hello, Moonbeam." Cole's voice chimed through the device, leaving an eerie ring in Erisa's ear.
Erisa scanned the area, trying to find the Alpha through the sea of people. "I'm here. Are you?"
"Want to play a game?"
Erisa rolled her eyes, wishing he would drop dead and revelled in the fact that his passing would soon occur.
"What are you, twelve?" Erisa retorted with a tease in her voice.
Cole's lustful chuckle drilled through the phone and he said, "I'm twenty-two, but you're never too old for games."
Erisa cleared her throat, trying to sound as sweet as she could. "There's plenty of games here ..."
"Why play them when you can be a master of your own game?"
There was an underlying message to that and it sent a ripple of fear along Erisa's spine.
"You think you'll win your game?" Erisa countered, staying in midst of people that offered a shield of protection from the puppeteer wanting to pull the strings.
"Hide and seek?" Cole crooned.
Erisa had the urge to look over her shoulder, his voice prowled such an insistence of being by her side. "And if I find you?"
"I'm good at tracking," Cole murmured huskily and sounds brushed through the phone. He was on the move, heading somewhere Erisa wouldn't know. "Good luck finding me."
Erisa couldn't bite her tongue, "I can hunt you down."
"A girl as pretty as you, Erin, I'd gladly let you." Cole complimented with unrestrained desire painting his tone.
It left Erisa bitter and cold, hating her false name and hating Cole even more. "Start hiding then."
"No, I'll start seeking."
The line went dead.
The drowned-out laughter and screams became louder and clearer, ripping Erisa out of Cole's voice and unsettling thoughts that came to life in their conversation.
Erisa didn't tuck her phone away and start hiding, in the crowd of people she stood in, there was a semblance of protection here.
Erisa: Larren, the sick weirdo wants to play and seek. Watch over me.
Cadence: Rexton has ur scent we'll go wherever you go.
Relief pooled in Erisa's head, making her feel more steady on the ground and she placed her phone in her pocket.
Tick, tock.
Weaving through the bodies of people, Erisa breathed a little easier and went to the ticket machine to buy what was needed to ... hide.
There were many rides to use, rows of games to play and plenty of food trucks to send anyone into a food coma, but what move would Cole make in seeking out his prey?
How would the prey let the predator get to her?
Erisa wasn't particularly in the mood for games, but she had to be, she had to act as clueless and easy as Cole assumed.
Erisa found herself standing outside of a haunted house pillared with creepy figures and imagery that would send a young child running into the arms of their parents.
It settled no sense of fear into her, just plain disappointment of being set up to do this in the first place.
"Would you like to get scared, girl?" A clowned man with a striped outfit crooned creepily to Erisa.
Erisa's lip curled with distaste and passed a ticket to the man.
The worker bowed dramatically with a lazy wave of the hand and shot back up, urging her through the mouth of madness. "Go in, dear. Good luck getting back out."
Erisa stepped inside and was met with green glowing strips of paint that brightened everything in sight.
Ignoring the screams and shouts of others in front of her, Erisa passed the glowing hallway and came to a set up of hanging ghosts and ghouls, floating like angels of death.
A hand latched around her shoulder and she flung back, smashing into a wall as a scream peeled out of her.
The gangly and costumed figure that touched her fed back into the darkness and didn't return, doing their deed in the haunted manor and waiting for their next victim.
I want Cadence here, Erisa plead to the back of her mind and came close to messaging her.
But her deep breathing pulled her back to the quest, vanquishing away all the crippling fears that masked as demons and she pushed away from the wall, moving along to the next part of the game.
Other visitors scattered around the place, friends connecting to the hip in dodging and hiding at everything that came at every corner and wall.
Erisa stalked slowly and mindfully into a room of flashing lights as bodies jumped out to scare and trap her with fear from the darkness they emerged out of.
Ignoring anything that thought posed a threat, Erisa awaited the true meaning of dread.
She could almost sense him, the Alpha taking in her every step as if they were his own. Not a long or dull moment dragged out in the haunted mansion as a shallowed gust of air swept over her head as though it was a breath of utter relief.
A hand snaked around her slim waist, tucking her away into a dark corner of the room and a breath inflamed with victory whispered chillingly into her ear, "Found you."