Stranger Things Have Happened
Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Darksiders, Darksiders ll or any of the characters.
A/N: Be gentle I am still feeling Death out as a character so if he is a bit OCC be gentle.
Lorelei woke up and groaned pitifully as her hip throbbed painfully, hell her whole body was one big throb. She forced her eyes open and looked around to find herself settled in her bed and struggled to remember what had happened the night before. It all came back in a rush. "I must have fell off the roof, hit my head, and got back inside because there is no way that it happened."
She looked down at herself then and nearly puked when she saw black stuff splattered all over her skin, her clothes, and her comforter. "Okay maybe it did happen." She got up and gingerly placed weight on her left hip, satisfied when it held her weight, even if it were still hurting like hell.
She searched her house for any signs that it had all transpired but found no bodies, or blood, or anything to prove that it happened. She actually was concerned maybe her solitude was actually causing her to go crazy. She limped back to her room and set out a change of clothes and headed for the bathroom. She threw the ruined clothes away and stepped into the shower. She sighed as the heat helped seep some of the aching from her muscles.
She wrapped the towel around her and headed back to her room, still wondering if she had a horrible dream last night, something between reality and a nightmare. She stared at the dirtied comforter and tumbled the thoughts over in her head. Was it really black blood she wondered even though she recalled the warmth of it as it splattered over her last night.
She grabbed her comforter and threw it in the washing machine, giving it an extra heavy dose of laundry detergent. Then she returned to her room and sat down on the bed. She removed the towel and looked down at her hip, noticing some suspicious bruising on it and her thigh. She went to the mirror and starred in confusion at the large handprint bruises on her hip and thigh.
She was even more confused as she placed her hand over the bruise on her hip and saw that it rested perfectly in the space that would have been the palm of the hand. "So it wasn't a dream." She shuddered and quickly threw on a black turtle neck and her blue jeans and hiking boots before heading outside.
She checked out the craters from last night but found nothing odd so she went back to her truck and filled out a report about it to be sent in when she sent them in for the month. She laughed to herself thinking that there was nothing natural about those craters but had no proof of what came out of them.
Her head shot up as something in the forest screeched, a sound that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She had never heard anything like that before and hoped she would never hear it again. She would make extra sure to lock her doors at night and keep her rifle inside from now on.
Lorelei sat on the four-wheeler on top of the small bluff over-looking the stream. She had been doing her routine rounds, looking for the poachers that she had been asked to look for. There had been more and more reports from tourists and other park rangers about large animals, sometimes entire herds, slaughtered and ripped to pieces.
It had been a month since the incident at her cabin that Sunday night and she couldn't shake the feeling these poaching's were related although she couldn't tell her bosses that and risk losing her job over it. Hell they probably would throw her in a padded room somewhere.
The bruises had slowly faded but her memory of the incident had not, she recalled it more clearly now than when it had first happened. Truthfully it had given her horrible nightmares, so bad she had to make herself fall asleep. She had found a small herd of elk slaughtered a few days ago and was trying to find what had killed them. However if it was those things then she didn't want to tangle with them but it was her job. Hopefully no tourists ended up on the menu.
Something moved in the bushes and she quickly reached for her rifle on the rack at the front of the four-wheeler. She chambered a round and leveled the gun at the area that the movement had come from. It may have been an animal since it didn't make any of the snarling sounds that the one had that night at her cabin.
The bushes began to rustle again and it was more insistent. She carefully and slowly moved to rest one knee on the seat of the four-wheeler and held the rifle steady. Suddenly a very large and very ill horse stuck its head out of the bushes, giving a sickly neigh. She wasn't sure what to think of the rotting corpse of a horse that was engulfed in green flames and heavy armored tack. She slowly lowered the gun and clicked her tongue at the horse.
It gave a very angry bluster and before she knew it, it was charging straight for her. "Damn it!" She yelped before taking off running, the thing chasing her. She was ducking and dodging around trees to throw the brute off so he had to slow down. Finally she spotted a tree with low hanging branches.
She slung the rifle strap over her shoulder and hit the first branch climbing, climbing she could do. She settled comfortably into the crook of the tree and watched the horse pacing and stomping on the ground below her, raising a general ruckus.
"Oh shut up and go away you damn nag!" She shouted at the thing and it looked up at her as if it understood her. If it did it wasn't pleased with being called a nag and snapped its big exposed teeth at her.
She sat there in the tree hoping that the horse would leave but it was getting dark and she needed to get to her four-wheeler so she could get back home. She hated doing it but actually tried shooting the horse. The bullets passed right through it and it gave her look as if to say 'are you serious'. She sighed and sulkily plopped back against the tree and looked down at the horse with narrow eyes.
Suddenly the horse's ears pricked forward and she heard more rustling in the bushes. It gave a soft nicker and stopped to listen. She swung the rifle back around and chambered another round. Suddenly Death stepped from the bushes and stopped to regard the sight before him.
Despair had been out scouting and had taken too long to return, plus he had found the human vehicle left abandoned on the trail and was concerned that someone had found Despair. So he had gone in search of his horse.
It didn't surprise him to find that his horse had someone run up a tree and was telling him all about it. He was about to chuckle and call the horse off when he communicated to his rider that the human had tried to shoot him. Death's eyes flared red and he looked at the bulky figure in the fork of the tree, all charitable feelings gone.
Lorelei gasped softly when Death had come into the clearing and suppressed the urge to groan, hopefully he would just go away. However she was thinking about jumping when he turned glaring red eyes on her. Before she could even try to run she found herself yanked from the tree by the hood of her forest ranger's jacket.
She twisted in his grasp for a moment before she was dropped roughly to the ground and felt the sting of cold metal kissing the exposed flesh of her throat. His looming figure stood over her in the dying light. "You would dare hurt my horse?" He growled out, his eyes lighting brightly.
She tried to scoot away and the blades pressed harder against her throat. "I am sorry." She croaked out before the tears came unbidden to her eyes and she just knew she was going to die.
He recognized that voice, only most the time he had heard it, it was screeching at the top of its lungs. However she was truly afraid of him and he knew how fearsome he looked as her voice trembled. He removed the scythes from her neck and looked down at her as she opened her eyes to gaze into his once more orange eyes.
He grabbed her beneath her elbow and pulled her to her feet. She wasn't dressed the same as she was before and he hadn't recognized her. She wore a uniform of a light brown shade and a bulky jacket which all looked like it belonged to a man. He motioned for her to follow him and she did so quietly, her hands trembling from her close call. However she shot the horse a dirty look when she retrieved her rifle and followed Death.
The horse decided to let bygones be bygones and gave her shoulder a gentle nudge. Death didn't miss this and glanced over his shoulder to see her reaction. She stumbled forward a half step before turning to the horse and holding her hand out for him to sniff. The horse sniffed her hand and then gave it a nudge before moving after his rider.
She followed Death back to her four-wheeler. He motioned to the machine and then to her, "Go home, there are things out here you don't want to meet in the dark." As much as she wanted to argue the point that it was her job, she decided against it and climbed on the four-wheeler, turned the key, and opened the throttle. The thing sputtered and died. She tried it again.
"Shit, I left it running when your horse chased me, it's out of gas." He raised an eyebrow and she did roll her eyes at him to which he gave what sounded like a growl. "Gas is what makes it run and its out. I have some more in my truck but it's getting dark."
"What is the problem, go get it." She looked at him as if he had just asked her to jump off a cliff. "It is dark and my truck is over five miles through the woods from here." Death sighed, if that was the case the girl would have to stay with him for the night and retrieve the fuel in the morning.
He turned to walk away and she stumbled after him, "Wait you can't just leave me out here!" He sensed the panic in her voice and turned to her. "I wasn't leaving you. I was going to get fire wood so you won't freeze to death tonight. Despair keep watch."
Death returned to find Lorelei still sitting on the four-wheeler and jumping at every twig that snapped. He quickly got a fire going after which she grabbed a bag from her four-wheeler and dug out a canteen and a sandwich wrapped in plastic after she had seated herself next to the fire.
She nibbled on it as she sat staring into the fire. "What are you doing out here anyway human?" She tilted her head at him. "It is my job. There have been animals being killed and it's my job to find the ones doing it." He gave a dark chuckle, "Hope you never do girl."
"Lorelei." She said simply. "What?" He asked, confused. She shook her head and pointed to herself. "My name is Lorelei." He nodded and grew quiet again. She finished eating and put the bag away before laying down and pillowing her head on her hands, gazing into the fire. Death noted the girl wasn't overly talkative and he appreciated that, she spoke when she had something to say.
He watched her from across the fire and he noted that her eyes were much like her hair, a dark golden color, almost amber. The whole made of all its parts made her look like a tawny lioness. She would have had to be nimble and quick to out run Despair even a short distance. She noticed him watching her and returned the gaze evenly.
This intrigued Death even more. She was obviously afraid of him but refused to give in to her fear completely. She appeared to be your average human but yet she possessed a will of iron beneath her fear. Finally she closed her eyes and her breathing evened out and he knew the girl slept, though he dared not. There were truly horrors in this forest.
Her voice startled him as he thought she was asleep, "Why are you here?" He considered it for a moment and saw no harm in answering her question. "The thing that attacked you at your home is a perverted version of a werewolf. They have decided to make their home here and must be eradicated as they are a danger to the balance." She yawned and nodded as if it was a common thing to be told but he supposed it was her sleep muddled brain not processing the information.
Once again she fell asleep and he took the scythes from his belt, resting them across his legs in case he needed them. He watched her deep even breaths, letting them lull his body into relaxing as his mind and senses stayed on high alert.
