Faeries of Delusia

Chapter Four

“Here we are.” Demitra exclaimed, coming to an abrupt halt. I lingered slightly in front of her but then backed up to read her expression.

“What’s wrong?”

She looked at me, her head slightly tilted to one side. “You’re a human.” she stated.

Just figuring this out? “Yeah, so?” I shot back.

“How in the world did you end up here?” she asked. Obviously Trista left her clueless with no insight on why I was even here.

“Trista.” I said.

Demitra rolled her eyes. “That girl is always getting into trouble.”

“Really?” I asked. Demitra only nodded.

“Anyway, here we are. This is Vampire Forest.”

“I don’t like the sound of that.” I muttered helplessly.

“I don’t like the sound of that for you either. Humans never last here.”

“Everyone has been telling me that . . .”

“I set up someone to meet you at the end of the forest. You’re the only human so they won’t miss you. The only thing you have to do is decide who is lying to you and who isn’t.”

I was dumbstruck. She wasn’t going with me? “You’re staying here?” I gasped.

“I can’t go with you.” she replied, daring not to look into my eyes.

“What do you mean by ’lying’?” Who would lie to me? And about what?

“You’ll find out. Remember, never trust a Faerie.” With that, she took off.

“Wait!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “Aren’t you going to fly me out of here?”

I remembered what she had said before. We need magic to fly out of here. Is that what this quest was about? Finding magic? I had NO idea what magic looked like! And why couldn’t Demitra come with me? Was she afraid? I sure was . . .

I took a step into the darkness and a sudden cold chill raced down my spine. I took in shaky deep breaths, attempting to calm my nerves. I failed.

I decided to close my eyes as I walked so I wouldn’t see anything. I wasn’t sure how big this forest was, but I knew I couldn’t see the light at the end, if there even was any light. Vampire Forest. That meant vampires are bound to be somewhere in here. How foolish! Sending a human into a forest like this. I knew I was going to die when I began to hear mysterious noises echoing through the trees. They were soft at first but grew louder. I began to pick up the pace of my walking. Walking turned into jogging. Jogging turned into running. Running for my life!

My eyes were still closed as I practically flew past the trees and bushes, hoping there wouldn’t be a random tree in the middle of the path. Obviously there was something in the middle of the path after I smacked into it, falling backwards on my bottom. I dared to open my eyes, even though I was scared to death. If I saw a tree I was going to laugh at myself. But standing in front of me wasn’t a tree. It was a person. Obviously not a person but a vampire. He was tall and pale with black hair. Black everything. Just like Demitra.

“You’re the human everyone is talking about?” he nearly spat in disgust. “You are what all the commotion is about?”

“Is—is that an insult?” My voice was shaky and it was obvious even for me. I had to clench my teeth together to keep them from chattering aloud.

“Of course not, little girl.” He bent down and smiled straight at me. His sharp teeth glistened in the moonlight that made its way into the forest through a few openings in the treetops. “I’m just curious as to why you are in this forest, you know, alone?” He stood up straight and his smile grew wider. Almost unnaturally wider, like a demon. I began to crawl backwards crab style.

“No, no. Nothing to be afraid of here. It’s only Vampire Forest, and you’re only a human with blood flowing through your veins.”

“Exactly.” I struggled to say as I stood up. I was a bit wobbly because all of the blood draining from my face. I could feel it. I probably looked almost as pale as this guy. “So I am leaving now. I am on a quest for magic.” As I said the last sentence, I regretted it tremendously. I shouldn’t tell strangers what my plans were! He might kill me right here and now.

“Magic?” he scoffed. “Everything in this land is magic.”

“Except me.” I murmured, walking past him, not daring to look back.

“I wouldn’t doubt it if you were.” I heard him nearly whisper. I paused in place, rethinking over what he meant. Suddenly I could feel his cold breath running down the back of my neck.

He then nearly had his lips to my neck, I could feel the points of his teeth on my skin.

“Get away from me.” I demanded firmly, not shifting position, not moving my gaze from straight ahead. His teeth pressed harder against my neck. I was becoming irritated and so terrified I could fall over unconscious.

“I said get away from me!” I spun around and pushed him away, my hand pounding against his chest. Then, like a bolt of lightning, he burst into sparks, then fire rose up over his body and he was simmered to ashes. The fire only lasted a few seconds until a small Faerie dressed in black and dark purple rose from the ashes, floating right in front of my face. This faerie wasn’t like Trista at all. It looked dead. It was pale like the previous vampire and had dark eye makeup on. It fluttered in place for a few seconds as I examined it.

“Well done.” the Faerie told me in a low, dark voice before it shot up through the trees, a few leaves falling down over the ashes.

I stared at the ashes for a few minutes. I had done this? I wasn’t magical, so what just happened? I replayed what the tiny Faerie told me. Well done? It was like I had just been put to a test. Obviously I succeeded in whatever I did well in.

I continued to walk through the forest, now more freaked out than ever. I kept my eyes open, hoping I wouldn’t run into any vampire/Faerie beings. I kept my eye open for whoever I was supposed to meet up with, though.

“Hey, over here!” I heard someone yell from a distance. I scanned the perimeter for whoever the voice belonged to.

It was a girl dressed in black, just like the rest of the vampires. She was waving to me and smiling. I hope I didn’t look like dinner to her.

“Are you the person I’m supposed to meet up with?”

“Yeah, Demitra sent you to me.” she said, her smile penetrating my being. “Right this way.” she said and grabbed my wrist and pulled me in the direction I had just come from.

“Shouldn’t we go the other way?” I suggested.

“No, of course not. It leads to a dead end.” Her tone wasn’t convincing, though.

She began to run, I was being dragged behind her. “Whoa, slow down!”

“No!” she yelled back at me. I almost lost my breath when I heard her voice, it wasn’t bright and bouncy like it had been previously. It was dark and demeaning, almost like a growl.

I tried to struggle out of her grip. “Let go of me!” I screamed.

I slipped through her grip and ran the other way without thinking twice. She skid a little before turning around to chase after me. “Hey wait, I don’t like fast food!”

This was the girl Demitra hired to help me? Was she insane!

I could hardly breathe but I wasn’t about to give up now. But this vampire was too fast for me and she yanked the back of my hair and I was in her clutches again. I pulled away but she still had a hold of my hair. Right then, I didn’t care if I lost my hair, I was going to get away!

From behind me I suddenly heard something fly through the air, like a bug fluttering its wings. The grip the vampire had on my hair loosened and struggled free. I began to run but turned around to see what had happened. Once I got a glimpse, I stopped running to get a better look.A wooden stake had been shoved into her chest. From here it was obvious it penetrated her heart. My jaw dropped.

Suddenly a boy dropped down from the trees. He was holding a bow and arrow. Raiden.

I gasped aloud on accident. “You saved me!” I screeched.

“I couldn’t let you come in here alone.” he announced.

I thought for a moment, he was here the whole time and decided to show up now?

“Where were you back there when I was almost eaten!”

Raiden only chuckled. “You can fight your own battles too, you know. Just because you’re human doesn’t mean you don’t obtain any magic of your own.”

That caught me off guard. Me? Having magic? Impossible. I was your average Joe on the streets.

Raiden sighed out. “It’s a good thing you realized that wasn’t the vampire Demitra set up for you to meet.”

“Wait, she wasn’t?” I felt utterly stupid for not knowing. I thought Demitra set this up as a trap for me to be killed. Or maybe she didn’t know this vampire was crazy. Obviously both of my observationswere incorrect.

“Of course not. I thought you knew that. Don’t you remember what Demitra told you?” Raiden asked.

I didn’t understand at first, but then I thought, “The only thing you have to do is decide who is lying to you and who isn’t.”

The vampire knew I was coming and knew I was on a mission apparently. Either vampires are mind readers or she was a stalker.

Raiden shoved his arrow in his backpack. “At least you’re alright.”

“Where’s Toru? Did he follow you here?” I don’t know why the subject of Raiden’s brother came to mind. I just didn’t want him to hurt me, obviously he was after me.

“Don’t worry, he won’t hurt you anymore. I put him in his place.” Raiden assured me.

“You beat him up?”

“Of course not. Violence is never the answer.”

That caused both of us to look at the vampire with the stake through her heart. I raised an eyebrow and smiled at Raiden.

“Uh, well, this was a different kind of situation.”

I laughed.

“Well, I ought to be on my way now.” he exclaimed and crouched down as if to pounce back up into the trees.

“Wait!” I put my hand on his shoulder. That caught him off guard. He looked at me.

“Yes?”

“You’re just gonna leave me here alone, stuck in the middle of Vampire Forest? Why is everyone deserting me!”

Raiden put both of his hands on either of my shoulders to calm me down. I felt a tear slide down my cheek which led me to being embarrassed. Crying in front of a brave elf?

“Nothing is gonna hurt you.” He looked over his shoulder at his bow and arrow tucked away in his backpack. “Trust me.”

I nodded, understanding what he meant. He was going to watch over me, protect me.

“Like I said, you can fight your own battles too. Be careful. And here-,” He pulled out something golden that was shoved in his pocket. “A golden stake. It can be used more than once. Whatever blood is on it will vanish so it isn’t gory. Only use it when you have to. If there are any reports of a serial killing human everyone will point fingers at you and then come after me. I’m the only one that has one of those golden stakes, you hear?” As he explained, I nodded frequently. Only use it when dying.

He stared at me as if about to say something else, his mouth slid open a bit but no words came out. He nodded as a farewell and jumped high up into the trees. The feet he jumped was incredible to me, he was like a spring!

I went to put the golden object in my coat, but then saw the damage that it had so I slid off the jacket and threw it into the woods. It was no longer useful to me, just something to weigh me down.

“Yeah, be careful.” I mimicked sarcastically and sighed. I put the golden stake in my back pocket.