The Things We Fear

The entire area was dark. Although only just after nine, the sun’s rays weren’t strong enough to pierce the thick foliage. They were hurrying through the forest, but they were deep in the woods and the trees were denser this far in. Nature at her finest. Trees twisting together to create their own fences. More than once he had been forced to climb over a too large route. Abigail laughed as she easily jumped them with her vampire abilities.

He was glad he’d chosen the girl. He didn’t know her well, but Theo liked her, and if things between the pair were heading where Marcus thought they were, it would be nice to get to know her better. It was his duty as best friend to vet any and all potential partners. Unfortunately, this reminded him Theo would feel the same, and brought his thoughts back to James.

The kiss in the dark. The kiss in his room. His mate. What was he supposed to do with any of this? There wasn’t anything. At least not right now. He shook his head, hoping the action might banish the thoughts. It was another thing he added to his mental list of things to deal with later. The list had gotten much longer this past week.

A small but strong arm grabbed his before he could go toppling over.

“Easy there,” the sweet voice tinkled.

“Thanks, Abiga-. Sorry, Abby.” for all he referred to her as Abigail in his head, he would respect her wishes out loud.

Even if to him, Abigail sounded more dignified and Abby reminded him of the annoying brat in Brody’s class. Not his name, not his decision, Marcus supposed. Like how some Marcus shortened their name to Marc, and if someone tried that with him, he’d punch them in the arm. She huffed at his slip, but kept directing him.

It was strange to be out in this level of darkness. Marcus kept waiting for his heart rate to speed up, or to start jumping at shadows, but instead, he felt eerily calm. Not the detached calm where his mind had shut down, but the calm which came with realising there were bigger things to be afraid of. He used to be afraid of the things in the dark, now a creature of the night was leading him through the forest. Maybe Cassius had been right all along. Maybe some people simply belonged in the dark.

It wasn’t long before they heard the first shouts. Marcus couldn’t make out the words, but the sound of fear was discernable in any language. There were a few shrieks of terror but so long as there weren’t any blood-curdling screams, Marcus wasn’t too worried. They began to move in the direction of the noise. The pace of the wolves increasing the closer they got. Marcus began to struggle to keep up, but Abigail stayed by his side. He wasn’t sure where Cassius was, didn’t have the increased eyesight to distinguish between the black blobs of trees and the black blobs of people, but as the man had told Marcus to stay close he was assuming he was among the group of bodies a few metres ahead.

When a scream came from much closer, Marcus and Abigail began storming forward. He wasn’t looking at his feet. Trusting his body (and maybe his magic) to keep him safe. Jumping over branches and curving away from vines, soon he was amid the group of bodies circling something on the floor. A torch fire lit over what looked like a small animal.

“Is it dear?”

“Throw the salt.”

When the thing remained motionless, several people were looking around in confusion.

“False alarm. Zoe, you and the wolves head toward the cave, Nick, you and your vampires toward the small water pool. It must still be close by,” Cassius instructed, the others soon following his command.

“Do dear sound like people when they scream?” Abigail asked.

Marcus shrugged. He wasn’t exactly clued up on the local wildlife. He’d ask one of the wolves later.

They followed Cassius; the man holding a torch as he moved effortlessly through the surrounding terrain. The trees moved in response to his magic, swaying away from his touch. Marcus could see the way his shadows mimicked the man, copying the same movements to aid Marcus as he walked a few paces behind. He wasn’t sure why the shadows had decided to copy Cassius or help Marcus, but as they were no longer hissing things at him, he was grateful.

When the cold gust rushed over him, Marcus knew it was here. He was filled with the strangest desire to leave those around him. To leave the safety net of his group and wander alone in the woods. It caused him to consider if the creature had skills they had not considered, if it could feast on fear, could it influence desires?

The Marcus of a few weeks ago would never want to leave the safety of the light. Now a part of him wanted to take the darkened path. Wander where no one had gone before. To embrace all parts of this life. The good and the bad. The light and the dark.

“Marcus,” Abigail shuck him in place.

The dazed fog lifted from is mind.

“It’s near.” He said, spotting they were once again a few metres behind the rest of their group. “Look out,” he shouted, pushing the vampire to the side.

He watched as a branch still caught her side, impaling itself in her torso. Had Marcus not pushed her, it would have gone through her heart. Abigail began swearing up a storm from the floor. He crouched over, trying to protect her from the unseen enemy.

“I think,” she made a weezing noise, “you just saved my life,” she coughed through the blood escaping her mouth.

“Don’t thank me yet. It’s still here, and apparently it doesn’t care about killing us on sight. That branch might still kill you”

“Are you always this much of an optimist? You and Theo must have some funny disagreements.”

“Yeah, I’ll tell you all about them when we get out of here.”

He heard the pounding of feet, raising his hands he prepared to blast whatever came close. He managed to divert the energy blast at last second into a tree when James and the other wolves came into view.

“Do you know how to heal a vampire?”

“Blood. And not from a wolf, or a witch,”

“Got any spare squirrels lying about?”

No one apparently appreciated his attempt to lighten the situation,

“Okay, I see it now. You and Theo have an equally terrible sense of humour.”

“Shut it, shark teeth, or I won’t find you a Bambi to chow down on.”

“Stop it. We don’t have time for this,” Cassius appeared once more. He nodded approvingly at the crispy tree Marcus had hit. “Nick, have some of your people take the girl home and get her fed. The Seimetriuma isn’t playing around. It is a cornered animal and everyone needs to stay on guard. James, you stick to Marcus’ side. Son, before you even think to protest, I will be on your other one. You wanted to play bait, now you’ve hooked your fish. Zoe, I need you and the wolves to try to heard this thing to the clearing up ahead.”

Once again, everyone was moving as they were told. Marcus was somewhat impressed by how cool and collected Cassius remained, despite how things kept veering away from his original plan. He did not like the fact he was about to be sandwiched between the two men he’d spent years avoiding, but Cassius was right, he’d offered to play bait. He could only watch helplessly as Abigail was carted away. Held between four vampires as they tried to gently carry her despite her injuries.

She gave him a salute as she disappeared. He had to laugh. Her and Theo would get along swimmingly. She had the same lame humour as them.

“Keep your eyes peeled, son. This thing avoided several of the easy opportunities (we had hoped to bait it with) trying to get to you. In all likelihood, it will try again.” The man didn’t sound pleased by this fact, more that he begrudgingly accepted the reality of their situation.

They crept quietly through the woods, though Marcus suspected it did not make much difference. This thing could sense them. Could sense him. He was starting to believe the reverse was true.

“Go south-east,” he found himself saying.

Cassius threw him a look, but followed the instruction. Marcus couldn’t have explained how he knew. It was like when you could sense someone wa standing behind you, he just knew in this direction the creature was. They had gotten turned around so many times in the dark he couldn’t have told you how to get back to civilisation, but he knew if they kept heading in this direction, they would find the creature.

He felt as James shuddered beside him. They heard the howls of the wolves.

“It’s up ahead.”

Marcus thought a moment he had spoken aloud, but it was James, interpreting the sounds of his people.

“It’s angry.”

Marcus was starting to worry the people around him were able to read his thoughts. Cassius made the announcement of the creature’s mood. It was probably an intuitive guess, but Marcus purposely thought of the ten best ways to kill a person, just in case. When no one commented, he sighed in relief. Quickly remembering where they were and what they were about to face.

“When we get to it, it is going to attack. Marcus, I need you to stay at the back of the group. We want it to focus on us. The wolves have the salt, but,” he pulled a piece of wood from his jacket. “Keep this on you. I still have the bangle, but this should help keep him at bay for a few moments.”

When they entered the clearing, the temperature became as cold as ice. Marcus held the stick of cedar to his chest, cradling it like the precious cargo it was. He didn’t need to look to see the monster had already honed in on his presence. He almost wanted to ask why the thing was so obsessed with him. Surely, failing twice should make it less inclined to attack him. But people could be very petty, and it wasn’t surprising beings from another dimension might be the same.

Marcus sucked in a sharp breath as James launched forward at the thing. Stared helplessly as the thing shifted form, turning immaterial before returning to corporeal form again, this time with sharp claws, which it used to sliced across the wolf’s chest. Several other people jumped at the thing after, but Marcus’ eyes were glued on the body lying on the floor. His chest was still moving, but with all the blood surrounding the body, Marcus feared it would not be for much longer.

The screams were lost to his mind. He recognised the people around him shouting, but their words meant nothing. Body after body flinging itself in the monsters direction. He found his feet moving forward, stopping before the boy he had loved most of his life. First as a playmate, then as a friend, and finally as a crush. It made sense. If James was his mate, a part of Marcus, the magical part, would have recognised its other piece. Even if Marcus himself couldn’t connect the dots.

The shadows were shouting as the circled around him. The only sound that could peirce his hazy brain. James was dying, his wolf healing was not going to be enought. They were going to lose their mate before they had even had a chance to start. He bent down. Placing his hands over the opened wound. Marcus didn’t know much about magic, but he knew about intent. He knew in spell casting there was no room for doubt. He would not doubt himself. His lack of education. His lack of skill. It meant nothing. He could not afford to doubt himself, or his magic.

He let the sealed door burst open. The place within his gut he had always been aware of, but had shied away from. The part of his body that connected to the ether. To place where pure magic flowed. He ripped the door off it hinges and demanded it heal his other half. Without the wolf, Marcus was as good as dead. He would only ever be half a person if his mate died. The white light danced off his skin, turning golden as it fell onto the cuts and began to weave the skin back together. Marcus couldn’t risk celebrating. He needed to keep all his focus on his wolf.

Marcus didn’t realise he was flying. Not at first. Not until he heard the crunch. The sound of his bones hitting against a boulder. His mind had a few moments of clarity before the pain burst through him. The creature striding towards where he now lay in a heap on the ground. His eyes found James. The boy was struggling to sit up, but he was alive. He would have taken a breath in relief, but his chest ached. There was probably more than one rib broken.

As the creature drew closer, he could hear Cassius shouting something. It sounded like gibberish to his ears, but then maybe creatures from other worlds thought English sounded like nothing more than thrown together and mashed to resemble something with context. There was a semi-circle of salt keeping the creature inside and next to the stone area, but unfortunately, so was Marcus.

He tried to move his limbs, his arms and legs protested. He tired to put pressure on his hands, but his wrists couldn’t take the weight, he could only whimper out how much it had hurt. The snapping sound must have been his wrist. It was his left and as a right-handed person; it wasn’t as bad as if it had been the other, but it still stopped him from sitting up. He needed both arms to help his hurting legs. They weren’t broken, but their was definitely some soft tissue damage from being thrown into stone.

As the beast loomed over him, Marcus realised there would be no third chance. If he died this time, it would be for good. The sharp teeth grinned as they descended on their victim.

In some small part of his mind, he was aware of Cassius entering the circle, dagger in hand. In another place, he saw James there, crawling over to his broken body. But in the moment, all his brain could process was the peace that came with accepting the inevitable. Death wasn’t so bad. It didn’t hurt. He’d like for the pain to end. The shadows hissing all around him seemed funny now, like little children throwing a temper tantrum. Why had he ever been afraid of them?

There were far scarier things in existence than some sneaky shadows. They kept calling to him, even now, as he felt the reaper starting to pull on his soul. It must not have settled back into his body properly after the last time, because it came loose a little too easily. As though the creature pulled on a single thread and it was enough to undo the entire web.

“Don’t. Don’t leave me,” James croaked out.

Marcus wasn’t even sure how he heard it. Maybe it was the last delusions of a dying mind. The last flicker of survival instinct as his life force began to snuff out. He didn’t want to leave James. Didn’t want his mate to suffer without him.

He didn’t want Brody to think he was a liar, when he went down to breakfast tomorrow and Marcus wouldn’t be there.

He didn’t want Theo to have to face this supernatural world without him there to lean on.

He didn’t want his mum and dad to never know the real reason he died.

He didn’t want Cassius to think he still hated him.

“Accept us.” The words were familiar. The same words he’d heard once a week for the past decade. Marcus had refused. Every time they asked. No matter how much they jeered and threatened. He had said no. even when he was terrified of the dark and they kept him on edge all night with their games, he’d refused to give in.

The shadows were nowhere near as scary as this monster.

When asked later, he couldn’t have told anyone what he did. He didn’t give any verbal confirmation. He never spoke a word. But somehow, they had known. The shadows around the clearing all began filtering into his body. It was the first time he could see just normal shadows, with no magical beings trying to get through. They all joined him. His magic. Always his.

It was a disturbing truth. The shadows were him. He was them. They always had been. His rejected magic. His fears. His hopes. Everything he had burried or pushed away, they had leaked out into the world around him. The darkness to the light in his gut. The magic of the ether versus this more human magic. The magic of the earth and balance. It was a part of him. He was as much a part of the dark as he was the light.

He refused to let some spirit from another realm kill him. When he died, it was by something of this earth. He was standing. His body healed. The dagger in his once broken wrist. Marcus didn’t question it. Magic had chosen to save him. He would not reject the great mothers gift again. He thrust the dagger straight into the monster’s torso. He watched impassively as the thing cycled through a myriad of shapes, but the dagger would not leave.

With a thought, he summoned the blessed gold. It wasn’t needed, Marcus knew. Could understand the knowledge held within the shadows. However, he also sensed he shouldn’t tell the others here the truth. There were secrets reserved for only the chosen. It explained why there was such little documented information about destroying the being.

Seimetriuma weren’t killed. They were absorbed.