They walked in silence, ignoring the emerald gardens around them and the hum of the little stream nearby. Kayla strode quickly, putting more distance between her and the ballroom. Cody tried to keep up with her. He was surprised that she could walk so fast in such heels, and thrilled by it at the same time. A few birds in their nests awoke and froze upon seeing the two Lobains, shifted in their human forms, stalk past them. The mothers nestled more closely to their young, and the fathers ruffled their feathers to look larger. Field mice scurried away, sensing the anger in the air. The two approached an arched bridge that crossed over the manmade river of the gardens. Coy fish swam naively under it and toads croaked their nightly songs.
In the ballroom, a fight had broken out. The students roared in anticipation as more and more people became involved. However, Kayla and Cody were oblivious to all this. He rushed forward trying to grab hold of her arm.
"Kayla, wait." He said gently.
She pushed him off. "Leave me alone!" She snapped. "That stupid, stupid engagement! How could my dad ever think this was a good idea!? I hate him, I hate them, I hate everyone in this stupid valley!"
He sighed, "Okay, I get it, you're mad. But, there's no need to take it out on me."
She rolled her eyes as he spoke.
Cody tried to suppress a growl of irritation for the attitude she displayed. But there was no need to ruffle her temper more than it already had been, and he couldn't dare to disrespect her, so he bit his lip instead.
She glanced at him, almost regrettably, "Sorry", she muttered, "I just...I don't know how much of this I can tolerate." She turned to look at the water where the coy fish floated over each other in circles.
He frowned and took a few tentative steps toward her. "It's okay. Let's just get away from here. I'll take you wherever you want to go."
Her eyebrows wove together and her nose scrunched as well. Not for his offer, though there was a suggestiveness in his voice that she didn't appreciate. After all, he came here with Amarie, she saw them grinding with each other while they danced, and then he had the nerve to do the same to her later. He couldn't possibly think that she had forgotten who it was he asked to prom. That she had forgotten the way he'd kissed her so softly, then proceeded to ignore her like she was nothing! She'd still loved him the same through all of that, but she still hadn't forgotten, it still stung and even now, he pretended like those dark moments between them never existed.
But the real reason for his discomfort, was because the gardens had suddenly darkened, with a new ominous silence. Her amber eyes glanced at the treetops, while her nose sniffed the air. There was no scent or sight of anything, yet the eery feeling of being watched scratched the back of her neck. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, especially for a creature of Bermuda.
"Okay", she said hurriedly, getting way too creeped out for comfort, "Let's go."
"Not so fast." A voice grumbled after them. They froze, she thought she knew that voice. A figure emerged from the brush, with a malicious sharp toothed grin.
Kayla bared her teeth defensively, "Kevin? I wasn't aware that you'd returned." Her palms became sweaty. She hadn't smelled him, not even now as he stood before her, he was like a phantom. That wasn't possible, ghosts weren't real, but only ghosts could lack any sort of scent.
He shrugged casually, "It's on a need to know basis."
"What do you want?" Cody dared.
Other silhouettes melted out of the darkness behind Kevin, and Kayla's heart began to race. Not even these people--whoever they were--possessed a scent. They were invisible to her nose, but her eyes and ears perceived them just fine. Heat began to clamber into her ears and fingers, when it became clear that the shadows behind Kevin, were the dreaded hunters. They were armed with heavy nets, guns loaded with silver bullets, and silver machetes strapped to their waists.
A branch snapped. Her and Cody twisted around to see another hunter. He held leashes, tugged by three, very large, Irish Wolfhounds. It was only breed of dog hardy enough to kill Bermuda natives, and so they were traditionally trained to hunt them. They snarled and foamed at the mouth in a frenzy and lust for Lobain blood.
The young Pelisians were surrounded on both sides of the bridge.
"Now," Kevin said, getting straight to business, "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way?"
"Do what?" Inquired Kayla, quickly scanning for a means of escape. Like all living creatures, she contained the very basic fight or flight response. Right now, her instincts begged her for flight, urged her to flee to safety, but she had to calculate it first.
"You can come with us quietly and your boyfriend here can live by keeping his mouth shut." He suggested. "Or you can try to fight, and lose."
"Where do you plan on taking her?" Cody questioned, but there was no boldness in his voice, just undeniable fear. Like Kayla's instincts, he was itching to get away from this danger. But he wouldn't abandon her, he couldn't, she was the heir.
Her heart rose to her throat as Kevin's mouth stretched into a sickening grin. "Different pieces will go to different places."
She had to get out of there. Now.He wouldn't be expecting it, none of them were. Without thinking, she leapt sideways into the coy fish strewn water. She briefly lost her balance and stumbled for a second as Cody jumped after her, but they wasted no time.
They ran for their lives.
"Release the dogs!" A voice cried behind them.
Immediately the snarling and barking began coming closer as the dogs leapt over the bridge with one goal: Catch the prey. It was ironic for Kayla and Cody, to suddenly be the prey. They knew they were born of a strong and majestic species, but they could not survive against three dogs and their weapon bearing masters.
For years, since she was young, she'd heard stories of the hunters and their passionate hate against lobains and all other creatures of Bermuda. She knew the tales of those that had been skinned alive, and sold piece by piece on the black market for who knows what. Others were used as sex slaves, or for brutal, bloody fights to entertain bored rich folk. But, she still felt invincible, it never occurred to her how truly terrifying they were, until this moment that the vicious baying of the hounds cried behind her drawing closer and closer.
And closer.
She quickly lifted her head for the beginnings of a distress howl. If anything, she MUST warn her pack. They had to know that the valley was infiltrated, that none of them were safe. But it was cut short, as the lead dog's paws slammed into her back and pushed her down. She'd known he was behind her, and she twisted in time to stop his jaws by holding his ears. The dog sprayed her with decaying breath and slimy saliva, his large yellow fangs snapped inches away from her pretty face.
Cody skidded to stop ahead of her. His pack's heir was pinned, she desperately needed his help, and his pack desperately needed her to survive. He made move to help her, but down the stream, rocketing towards him were the other dogs. They approached with alarming speed, foam leaking out of their muzzles, eyes tunneled on him. One dog he could handle, but two could kill him. He knew he had to help Kayla, he had enough time to throw the dog on top of her off, but then he wouldn't have the lead like now, and the other dogs would catch up. Biting his lip until he bled, he twisted on his heel and ran the opposite way.
He left her behind.
"Cody!" She screamed helplessly. She didn't want to believe what he had done. He couldn't commit such a crime against the Pelisian pack, but most of all, he had to care about her enough to at least throw the dog off. She had been convinced he did care for her, not only cause her life was essential to the pack, but because she was supposed to be his mate. In a perfect world where she wasn't wrongly engaged, she was supposed to be his. Through all those trips to the summit, the rules she risked breaking for him, he had still run off. She certainly would have stopped for him.
The other two remaining dogs sprinted after him. Their paws threw up sparkling droplets. Despite her shock over his abandonment, she knew he was only afraid, and those dogs could kill him if he were alone. Motivation to save him fueled a new anger, and she snarled at the dog. Her fingernails shifted into sharpened claws that she sunk into the animal's furry head. It yelped and she quickly tossed aside into a rock.
She remembered the howl that had been cut out of her before it could fully take flight. Cody hadn't even finished the distress howl, he must've been too winded to do it! Either that, or maybe just hadn't bothered, bit that wasn't likely. More likely, the dogs got him, and he couldn't. She needed to get to him and warn the pack at the same time. She lifted her head to restart the howl, when a large hand slammed over her delicate red lips, and forced her head underwater. She squirmed to get out of Kevin's grip, but it was no use, and was a foolish attempt, because she lost her oxygen.
When she thought she would drown, he lifted her, choking pathetically. A silver knife stroked her cheek, it's touch burned. Her hair, dress, and make up were ruined. Tonight had just become even more of a disaster than her worst nightmare could have ever imagined.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you like that." He whispered, dragging the knife down her cheek to her neck.
A booming roar exploded through the silent stream, and Kevin was shoved away from her. She fell limply, and managed to shakily lift herself up to see her savior:
Raul.
He had heard her distress howl be cut short from across town at his shack, as he worked with Silvia to clean it out. They were in the process of getting a real house to live in. Upon hearing the cry, Silvia couldn't identify it, but he recognized Kayla's howl anywhere, despite that it had only carried in the air for less than two seconds. The way it ended quickly worried him. He rushed Silvia inside, told her to notify Anthony that something was wrong, and then he raced to the sound's origin. In good time too. She had a knife in her throat when he burst through the bushes, and seeing his younger cousin, beaten and hurt, angered him. Every protective fiber he'd had over her as they grew up awakened, and fear of losing her possessed him. No because her survival was vital to the pack, but because she was his best friend, he loved her, and he couldn't stand the thought of losing her.
As the other hunters caught up, Raul snarled, glancing back at his poor cousin. Part of him wanted to sneer at her, make fun of how she still depended on him, it would make her feel better to know he still had her back. But, this was no time to tease her. One hunter lifted a gun to put a swift end to him, but Kevin stopped it.
"No!" He shouted, "He's mine."
They began circling each other, passing hatred with their eyes. They had both been itching for this fight forever, and they planned to enjoy every second of it.
"Looks like getting to her will be over your dead body." Kevin growled.
Raul only managed a good-natured smile. "Come try it." He taunted.
They charged for each other, only shifting halfway, with partial snouts, lengthened claws and larger bone-crushing fangs. Roars ripped from their throats as they began to tear flesh off of one another, and the scent of blood rushed into Kayla's nostrils.The stream began to turn red. Kayla got up and tried to join the fight, but the hunters grabbed her and began carrying her away. She kicked and screamed, but there was nothing she could do. They hit her across the head with the butt of a gun.
The force of it made her vision blur, and her ears rang, but she could still see enough of the fight. As they dragged her away, they forced her to watch the tide turn against Raul. Tears began to spill out of her, and horror consumed what she witnessed. She couldn't save him. She could only wail one last time for him over the sound of his pityful yelps.
"RAUL!"
Then her world went dark.