Branches snapped ahead. I looked a bit skeptical, but the two boys didn't seem to back down and quietly listen. A dark shape, humanoid but distorted, emerged from the shadows. Its eyes glowed faintly red—familiar yet wrong. It hissed low, as if tasting the air.
"What is that" you whispered.
Hendery didn't answer. His jaw clenched. "No. Cerius, quickly get ready for a run, I'll handle this."
The creature stepped forward, revealing fangs much longer than Hendery's nor Cerius. Its skin was ashen, cracked like old porcelain, and its presence sent a pulse of unease through my body. It was different than any normal vampire I've seen. Whatever it is, it was different from any normal vampires—hell it was eve different than the boys.
"Cerius, go run back and tell the others," Hendery said firmly, stepping in front of both you and Cerius. "Allora is staying with me."
Cerius scoffed, "What? You said if something, to go grab her. Hendery, I am not going to go get nagged by Marco and Jullian doesn't know she is here."
The creature took another step, and I could feel something deep in my bones — fear is certainty. But a sense of familiarity, and I couldn't help to step to stand beside Hendery.
"Do I… know you?" I asked the creature. Cerius and Hendery staying silent, a bit surprise because I asked 'it'. My voice was trembling in fear, but I know I had to get to know whatever it was it front of us.
The creature paused then smiled. "Oh, child. You knew me before your rebirth. Before you were claimed."
Cerius and Hendery both stiffened.
"She was marked?" Cerius snapped.
The creature tilted its head. "How could you interact with fools like these lowly creatures. Mundane turned into our kind, how could a soul centuries old could be in this place. The King of vampires would not be please to see his queen be in these place. Tell me, has she found the sword of blood?"
My blood turned cold, what is this? The queen? The King? Knife of Blood
"That's impossible," Hendery said tightly. "Allora is only looked for because the councils are looking for her being a half-human. There is no such things as the vampire king, he's a only a myth."
"A myth? Truly you are a careless one," the creature whispered, stepping back into the shadows, "The king is already reborn into this world and is looking for his wife. Until we meet again my queen, we will bring you to our master and you will bring him the sword of blood, it is your destiny." And then, with a gust of unnatural wind, it vanished.
I stood there frozen, not knowing what to do, "What did it mean by marked?"
Hendery turned toward me slowly. His eyes darkened. "Please tell me that it isn't Jullian."
Cerius looks at Hendery, "Hendery, we need to tell Marcus about this. This is serious."
Hendery ran to me, shaking my shoulders in an attempt to ask for the truth, "Allora, you choose Jullian for a reason right? Because he is going to be your protector, he's not going to kill us?"
"Hendery, she doesn't know." Cerius quietly said, gripping his friends arms in attempt to pry him off, "We don't know what is going on and you can't just pinpoint it towards Allora, that thing could just be messing with us because of the councils, and marked? Hendery, Allora is not even a full vampire, she hardly being a pact by Jullian."
I stood there, the cold sinking into my bones deeper than the forest ever could. Hendery's grip was tight, not in pain, but in desperation. His eyes searched mine like he was begging for a different answer, one he could survive hearing. Hendery pulled back, his hands dropping like they were burned. He took a step away from me, running a hand through his hair.
Cerius kept his hand on Hendery's arm for a moment longer before letting go. "She's not marked at all, and of course it's not Jullian. If she was marked, right now? Jullian would go berserk for even being a inch with her."
"But if she's marked," Hendery said, his voice quiet now, controlled, "it means Jullian did more than protect her. It means he claimed her. Before she turned."
I blinked, the word claimed slicing into my thoughts like a shard of glass. "Is that even possible? We did the pact right? Not some marking process, he didn't bite me or anything."
Cerius sighed, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Right, you didn't. The fact that Jullian is also not ripping both out throats also mean that he didn't. We don't know what gibberish thing that low life was talking about and it's not real."
"We find Marcus first," Cerius said. "He'll know what to do."
"And Jullian?" I repeated, more insistently this time.
Hendery looked at me, eyes unreadable. "Let's hope that all of this is just some gibberish shit, and if not, then we'll be in big trouble."
The forest grew darker as we moved—too fast for comfort, too slow for safety. Hendery led us with tense urgency, not speaking again, not even glancing back. Cerius kept close beside me, his usual snark drained into a sharp, wary silence.
As we went back, we were greet with a worried looking Marcus, "What happened, I can sense a strong aura from both of you."
Hendery said tightly. "We have a problem."
Marcus's gaze shifted to me. "What's going on? Allora do you need to go inside? Let's get you back to Jullian first, he keep on searching for you."
My stomach twisted. I knew that Marcus knew that something is wrong, so I had to nod my head to them and thanked them before coming inside the house to find Jullian.
"Marcus," I called him. He looks at me and he chuckles before coming close and pats my head slowly.
"You don't have to worry about anything Allora, we're going to help you either way, we — I'll make sure nothing is going to happened to you, I promise you that, "That was what he said to me, and I believed him.