Just a little something for being patient. ;)
Also, check out the awesome new trailer for the story on the side!! :))
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"FASTER! MOVE FASTER, HEATHER!" Frost bellowed over his shoulder at me, practically gripping me by the arm to keep me at pace with him. Suddenly, I felt the urge to stop. We were heading towards the forest. He was taking me into the forest. Panicking, I tried to abruptly come to a halt in his powerful grasp, and ended up tumbling clumsily down the hill in my backyard.
CRACK
My ankle gave out and I fell, letting out a wail. Frost fell to the ground as well ahead of me, but to my utter horror, he had fallen because something had attacked him. There was a wet noise, a crack, and then whatever had jumped onto Frost was gone.
Something breathed on my neck from behind, then lifted me up and attempted to throw me over their shoulder. But I spun around and kicked out at the last second with the ankle that I had hurt, nailing the shadow wherever I could and beating on them with my fists. Whatever it was, it was not shaped like a human, and it was barely effected by my blow.
The shadowy monster grew at least twice its size and howled into my face, it's breath putrid and hitting me so hard that I fell back onto the ground.
"Frost!" I shrieked, letting out a wail and grabbing my ankle. I had fallen awkwardly on it again, and this time, I was positive that I had broken it.
CRACK
The monster's head was at a strange angle now and it fell into a heap of its own lumpiness. I could make out Frost's silhouette where it had once stood. Strong, large, and deadly still like a predator.
It was then I spotted the grouping of shadows rapidly coming towards us. Frost immediately lifted me up into his arms and inhumanly dashed into the forest, his legs eating up the distance with immense speed, faster than my mind could process. I looped my arms around his neck tightly, afraid he would somehow drop me and I would be left as a little snack for whatever was following us.
Could it be, however, that whatever--whoever were following us were the good guys?
"Don't look at anything darker than the sky amongst the trees, or in the bushes," Frost said to me, "they'll put you in a trance the moment you lock eyes with them!"
My stomach turned as I took in one final look of the menacing trees above, before shutting my eyes and pressing my face against Frost's shirt. "This is worse than my first roller coaster! My only roller coaster, might I add!"
"Better than being captured! Hold onto me tighter, Heather! You're sweat is making you slippery!"
"I'm sorry that I'm not a freaking psycho that cracks monster's necks with one try! I'm a little nervous, here!"
"If I drop you, you're dead!"
Frost would regret ever telling me that once he saw the moon-shaped nail marks in his neck.
I was quiet now, too terrified to speak my hectic thoughts, and anxiously waiting for my own virtual horror film to end. There were things chasing us that I hadn't even known existed -- not to mention, a mythical creature who I had, on the whim, decided to trust over the other guys.
My mother would have been so proud.
Now we were airborne. It was only momentarily, but I knew that Frost had leaped a great distance -- maybe over a stream -- and my stomach clenched greatly as if we wouldn't end up on the ground again.
"Where are we going?!" I shouted at him. "I don't think we're losing them!"
"We will! I'm going to need you to hold your breath when I tell you to!" Suddenly, Frost set me down and threw out his hands to the darkness behind us. A blinding white light protruded from his hands, lighting up the trees and momentarily revealing the amorphous shapes that were following us. Beginning from Frost's feet, a sheet of ice darted out towards the monsters, engulfing their bodies and freezing them entirely in a glowing blue crystal-like shell. Screeches and howls came from the monsters that had me wincing and screaming as well, they were so high pitched and painful.
With his hands still emitting his power, Frost turned over his shoulder and shouted, "Hold your breath!"
Fear tightened my chest."What?!"
"You are my princess," he whispered. Frost then leaned towards me and pressed a kiss on my lips. His lips were so soft that for a moment, I had forgotten where we were. "But you're going to hate me. Hold your breath," I heard him say again, and then Frost shoved himself hard against me, making me stumble back until my foot slipped off an edge of some sorts and I falling off of a drop that was practically endless. The initial shock of the freezing water knocked the air out of me.
I sunk rapidly to the bottom of the body of water, my ankle, at this point, completely useless, and my lungs screaming for oxygen. I could feel the slight current above me, but was unable to break through to the surface, my only working foot getting caught between two rocks as I tried to kick up from the bottom.
My fear got the best of me. The last diminutive amount of oxygen in my lungs left in a single bubble, and I was left clawing at my foot and reaching with my other hand towards anything that could help give me leverage and lift me up towards the surface. Opening my eyes underwater and battling with consciousness, I was able to see a shadow plummeted towards me through the water like a torpedo.
They removed the rock with ease and kicked off the bottom of the ground with me in their arms. As we broke the water, a shower of water crashed against my head as I gasped for air. A waterfall.
Suddenly, I was yanked towards a body. My hands felt sturdy male shoulders, someone who could clearly touch the bottom of the body of water, and I instinctually latched onto them for dear life.
"Heather, it's me," Frost said softly at my ear. His muscular arms curled around me and I let his hands cradle me against him. "We're in neutral territory right now. Within and around the sacred waterfall of Tel'Sindavathar, The Shadow Alliance, they wouldn't dare kill us. This waterfall is the soul of their religion."
"But--but you used your powers on them. Y-y-you killed most of them," I stuttered, my lips trembling with the cold, "They were in p-p-pain."
"I did it to protect you," he muttered after a moment. "Just forget it. It's done, and you're alive. That's all that matters. We have to get your wet clothes off or... you'll freeze."
Frost started to move with me in the water, then lifted me up onto dry land, carrying me until we came to a rock. At this point, I was shivering unbelievably, drenched, and my ankle was throbbing menacingly. A breeze picked up, I started to nervously slip of my pants. I was aware of every sound in the woods now, paranoid and absolutely vulnerable, but I was far too cold to keep my clothes on. I slipped my shirt over my head, thankful I was wearing a sports bra, and gasped lightly when my pants got stuck on my ankle, which was at least twice the size that it had been before.
Frost came to my side and gripped my ankle. At first, it was painful as hell, and I reached out to grab his arm, but he gentle held me back, murmuring foreign words under his breath. The pain in my ankle disappeared completely.
I didn't bother thanking him for healing me.
"You k-k-killed them, and you pushed me from the c-cliff not knowing if I would hit a r-rock," I whispered, shrinking back from him until I sunk into a soft bed of moss, "y-y-you killed them. Just l-like that--"
"Well, they would have killed us first if we fought back! They wouldn't have thought twice, and there's no way in hell I wouldn't fight for you!" Frost snapped, then stood up and put a significant amount of distance between us. His shadowy figure lingered along the moon-lit water, and he reached up and ran a hand down his face. "You'll learn, Heather," he said softer, slightly turning his head away from the water towards me, "you'll quickly learn how easy it is to die in the woods, and how hard it really is to live. Especially when you're not at the top of the food chain."
"I want to go home, Frost," I said, shutting my eyes. I had a family, parents that loved their only daughter. Friends that expected me to come to school on Monday. And I had a feeling that I was far from home, and that Frost wasn't planning on taking me back.
"It wouldn't be wise for you to go home now," Frost said, confirming my assumption, "not when there could be others that know where you live. Not... not when I have you where I want you."
Panic rose in my chest. "What do you mean I shouldn't go home?" When I opened my eyes, Frost was no longer by the water. "Frost?" I asked, straining to see through the darkness. "I want to go home, Frost!"
Just then, I felt Frost standing at my side, his shadowy hand hovering in front of my face. "Come, we'll make a fire and you'll sleep. When you wake up, we'll discuss what our options are."
"We can make up as many options as we want, it doesn't seem like I'm the one making the final decision!"
The air grew colder around me. I shivered. "Enough. Take my hand and come with me to build a fire, or I'll lift you up and carry you," the Gypsy growled. "You'll freeze to death like this by the water, and you know it."
Pushing aside his hand, I stood up and jabbed a finger in the black nightly air where I figured his face would be. "I'd rather freeze to death then be chased by those -- those things again! I'm going home, damnit! And don't even think about following me, or I'll--I'll do something!!"
Pushing aside his hand and crossing my arms over my chest, I stood up, chose a direction, and started to briskly walk away from him. Immediately, I knew the bastard was following me, turned, and swung out with my fist, hitting air.
"Heather."
Startled, I turned towards the direction of his voice and swung again. "You stupid fairy! Stop following me!"
"Fairy?" There was amusement in his voice. That made me furious. "Fairy's are much smaller than I."
"I don't care! Leave me alone!"
"It's a shame you can't see me in the dark, I can see you very well, and you look beautiful. Especially half-naked." Now his stupid perfect voice was beside me. I kicked out, feeling a slight pull in my thigh and cried out.
"So close," Frost mocked at my left. I dove towards the sound and slipped over a moist wooden log, landing hard on my face. "Ouch, that looked painful. You definitely need some help getting up after that one, Feather," he laughed out, then I felt his hand grip me by the upper arm and haul me straight up to my feet.
"Don't call me Feather!" I swatted at the air like a wild animal, praying that I would at least land a single scratch on him.
"You're wearing yourself out, but at least you're starting to sweat," Frost said from directly in front of me. "Definitely sweating. Even between your breasts. How interesting," he said.
"Stop looking at my breasts!"
"I'm not."
"Yes you are!"
His laughter made my fists clench. "You have no proof, you can't even see me."
Carefully, I edged towards him. "I'm going to punch you so hard in your stupid perfect face. If I wasn't wearing a sports bra and you were gawking at me right now, you'd already be dead," I ground out.
"If only."
"AGGHH!" I charged at him, and finally, he let me grab him. But once I had my hands along his muscular arms in the pitch black atmosphere of the forest, I was frozen.
Damn, he was well-developed in the muscle-zone.
"Hello."
"I want to hit you, but I can't," I growled at him, my hands still locked on his muscular biceps. "It's like... Ugh! I want to hit you!"
Frost brought me closer to him and brushed his hand down my spine, the strength and size of his body strangely comforting me in the midst of the giant forest. "Nothing's stopping you," he whispered huskily into my ear. I swear, he slightly nipped my ear somewhere in that sentence that made me shiver violently.
"I... You're....using some sort of spell..." I tilted my neck as he started to kiss me lightly behind the ear, traveling down. I felt my cheeks flush as he playfully bit my throat. "That's what you're...doing..."
"Or maybe you just like me," Frost purred against my throat, slowly licking my throbbing pulse. He yanked me hard against him, possessively holding me in one strong arm against his wet t-shirt. "I definitely like you. I think you are the most beautiful female to ever exist."
"This isn't fair," I said, letting out a small squeal as Frost nibbled at my jaw, a low rumble rattling in his chest and throat. "You're...so....freaking....manipulating...."
"And?" he questioned softly, chuckling as his mouth hovered over mine.
"You're extraordinarily hot."
Frost kissed me on the mouth, sending chills throughout my body that made me shiver so violently, my bare toes curled along the dirt. "I'm actually very cold," he corrected lowly against my mouth, "and now that you've changed your mind about leaving me, we're going to make a fire. And you're going to get all toasty and warm.... Aren't you?"
"I'd like that," I murmured dreamily, my toes still curling from his kiss, my lips begging for more of his gentle touch. "I like to be warm."
Frosts' laughter slowly faded. "That will change, my princess. You will love to be cold, just like I do. You will love the bitterness of frost and ice, even if it takes time," he said darkly. His hair and eyes then started to glow a vibrant white, lively swaying along the darkness and lighting up our surroundings. "I will make sure that you do not need a fire to keep you warm," he added bitterly, his exotic eyes suddenly narrowing into tight slits.
As Frost broke away from me, his hand outstretched towards me, long fingers curling seductively, and a cat-like grin lined his painfully beautiful face. "Now, come to me, my Heather," Frost whispered, those exotic eyes still glowing with power, his voice rich, like a siren's call. "Feel the hold that I have on you, how it does not have to be forced. You are meant to be in my arms."
I started to follow Frost and his glowing hair deeper into the forest, desperately reaching towards him, dragging my feet slightly against the rotted leaves and cool, moist soil. Suddenly, at the snap of a branch, Frost had stopped moving backwards, whipping his head in the direction of the snap of a branch. Many footsteps. Many other snaps.
The gypsy let out a low, menacing hiss.
Frost's hair started to dim, blending into the night until he was invisible, and I started to blink out of what felt like a long, serene stupor, staring into an endless, empty darkness where he once stood.
"Hello?" a woman called out. "Is anyone out here? Hello?"
"I think we're just hearing things, Julia," a man said, his voice so close that I fell back against the tree, my heart pounding in my chest. What would they think, finding me in the middle of the woods, half-naked and drenched in water? What would they think?
"I definitely heard something. I know I did," the woman whispered. Their footsteps momentarily stopped.
"It was probably just the wind, or a deer--"
The beam of a blinding flashlight fell on my face.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Please join my writing page in the external link! (And on my profile!)
Twitter and Instagram: Katrocks247