Greetings to all my fanfic readers! I come to you with great thanks for your support of my story, for I've worked long and hard to make it such a success! Lol, seriously though, I appreciate you peeps reviewing, it rocks my world! Anyways, here's chapter ten!
It was close to 12 o'clock that morning, and the sun beamed down through the leaves of the trees in the thick forest. Everything was calm and quiet, which seemed eerie. In a large meadow of ferns, the grass grew a foot out of the ground. Face down, fast asleep in the midst of the shrubs, was Leora.
A raven squawked in the distance, and suddenly Leora's head jerked up from the ground. She realized what had awoken her, and relaxed a little. She felt exhausted, not remembering what had happened at all the previous night. She wiped the dirt from the ground off of her face and stood up, brushing herself off.
She moaned in pain, suddenly having a rush of blood to her head, making her head pound. Also, she felt very sick to her stomach, like she had eaten something she shouldn't have, and too much of it too! She touched her hair and realized that the bun had fallen out and left her hair a total mess. But she didn't care, her head wouldn't stop pounding, it hurt terribly!
Leora placed her hands on her face, shutting her eyes. Everything was so bright, all she wanted was to go back to sleep for a hundred years, at least. She finally embraced the sunlight, bringing her hands from her face. But in the middle of this action, she froze. Leora stood there, somewhere in the wilderness, looking down at her hands. Her bloody hands. She was struck with horror, she had no clue how that had happened.
Without thinking, she ran from the meadow and made her way towards the sound of water. Finding a pond, she ran foot-deep into it and crouched down and began washing the blood off. It was red, the darkest of red, redder than her aunt's blood was. She couldn't believe it, she didn't want to. But then, after the ripples in the water ceased, something shocked her even more. She saw the same crimson red blood stained onto her face, right around her rose lips. She screamed into the forest.
In one gigantic flash, she remembered. The night before, she changed, changed into the monster was truly was. She had found someone who was following her, and ripped their insides open, she could still taste the blood from his body. She remembered sinking her teeth into his neck, oh, how she remembered his screams! Wait! Him, she remembered his screams. "Oh my God! Damien!" She knew it, she knew it was him she had killed. They were the only two out there, Wolf and Virginia were miles away. She killed him. 'Murderer' a voice inside her head said. "NOO!!!" She shrieked. She didn't want to believe it, she didn't want to except it. But still it was true, she murdered Prince Damien.
Stopping in his tracks, Wolf swore he heard a noise. Virginia turned around and looked at him, "What is it?" But he disregarded it, "Nothing. It's nothing. Let's keep going, we have to catch up to them. They're just a few miles away, I can feel it." She agreed and they kept moving. "Wolf, I just want you to know how proud I am of you." He looked at his beloved curiously and asked, "What for?" "Well, last night. Even though things did get a little crazy, you still were a lot better than last time. And, you even stayed in the cage! I thought you'd have been able to bust out!"
"Believe me, it WAS hard! But, that's over now my creamy succulent Virginia!" He smiled at her, and she returned it. All of a sudden, they heard a rather unusual noise. They turned around when they heard the sound of a horse neighing. And trotting up to them came Prince Damien's horse. Apparently it had been following them the entire time.
"Goodness me! It's Prince's horse!" Wolf ran over to it and took the reins. He led the horse to Virginia and she stroked it. They looked at each other, than at the horse, and finally, they decided. Wolf helped Virginia up onto the saddle, then he got on after. Taking the reins, he began to move the horse along, but not very fast.
"This is great! Now we don't have to walk all the way!" Virginia exclaimed grabbing Wolf's waist. Wolf grinned and kept riding along. But suddenly, he smelt something that wasn't very good. Kicking the horse, he growled and they went from a trot to a full out gallop. Virginia held onto him tighter and yelled, "What are you doing? Why are you going so fast?"
But he wouldn't acknowledge her, he focused on the trail. They went on for about a mile, then, he suddenly stopped the horse. He jumped off and ran into the woods. Confused, Virginia jumped off and tied the horse up, then went after him. She looked around for him, but didn't see him anywhere. She started to run and didn't stop until she saw Wolf under a large tree. She went up to him and tried to yell without her breath, "What...was...that all about!?!" But he didn't say a word; all he did was stare. Virginia didn't understand until she looked about five feet in front of her. She gasped and fell into Wolf's arms, not bearing to look any longer. She asked him through his shirt, "What did that to him?"
Taking Virginia's sweet face from his coat, he looked into her deep blue eyes and told her, "It was Leora. She killed him. She only ate some of him though, I'm sure he got sick from his blood." They looked at the goblin's gruesome body, and Wolf finished, "Goblins aren't the best food source, their blood is too thick, it'd make anyone sick." Virginia looked at him, "I thought you said she had pills that would keep her from doing something like this, keep her human, like she's always been!"
Wolf took her by the hand and led her back to the horse, "She must've run out. She lied probably because she was scared, she didn't want to be different, be recognized as a monster. Trust me, I know what she's feeling right now." They got back on the horse and kept riding.
'Oh God, how could I? Damien! How could I eat him?' Leora walked through the forest in a panic, she felt like she was mad. She folded her arms and looked down at the ground as she went. All she could think of was him, killing him, eating him! She was now officially a cannibal, just like Hannibal Lector! She murmured things to herself as she went along, not realizing that someone had spotted her.
All of a sudden, Leora felt someone grab her arm. She turned around and as a reflex, she punched her stalker in the stomach and started to run. However, she stopped when she heard a familiar voice, "What'd you do that for?" Leora turned around slowly, as though she was feeling more and more insane. But she wasn't.
There he was, Damien, alive, well, for the most part. He was bent over holding his stomach from the punch. Finally, he caught his breath, coughed, and stood upright. "I've been looking for you for hours! Where did you go last night?" He walked up to her and she looked at him in disbelief. He picked a twig out of her hair and threw it onto the ground. "You don't look too good! I guess that's just a famous look where your from huh? What bizarre styles your culture has! I find it ghastly!" Leora was still trying to accept that he was real, and not a figment of her imagination.
He laughed at her, but, slowly stopped. She looked very pale, and very sick. It seemed as though she hadn't gotten much sleep, and he had never seen her look so fragile. Cutting the stuck-up act, he looked into her eyes, "Are you alright? Leo-" But before he could finish, Leora did something she had never done before.
She leaned in close to Damien, studying his face. He looked at her in awe, completely flabbergasted. She reached out and placed her soft hand gently onto his face. Then, she put her other there also. She felt his skin and gazed at him, finally realizing that he was real, that he was alive. She smiled in relief, and somehow, Damien smiled back. He tried to speak, but stuttered at first, "I-I brought your bag along with me, I didn't know if you'd come back." She looked up at him and said, "Thank you." Realizing how vulnerable she was, Damien told her, "I'll hold onto it for now. Here, we should get you some water, to get your strength back." Leora nodded and Damien led her towards a rushing river nearby.
Leora sat down on a rock and watched the fast-paced water fly by. Damien took the cup from her bag and went to a softer part of the stream and filled it with water. He soon returned and handed her the drink. She took it, and began to drink. He bent down next to her and watched her, feeling very worried about her. He didn't know what happened the night before, but from what she looked like, it wasn't good.
Right before he spoke, they heard, "There she is! Seize her!" Two of the three goblins that had hunted down Leora days ago were running towards them. Having no weapon, Damien looked around, and decided to use Leora's back pack. One of the goblins came up to him and Damien whacked it in the head with the bag. The other one advanced and he kicked him in the chest then turned to Leora, "Go! Get out of he-" but one the goblins had grabbed him from behind and held him as the other hit Damien repeatedly in the stomach. Leora got up, dropping her cup, and ran straight for the one hitting him.
She tackled the creature to the ground and began punching him in the stomach. Damien, still trapped in the goblin's grip, stepped in it's foot and when he was free punched the goblin in the nose. Leora kept punching the goblin over and over, until it coughed up blood, spraying in onto her face. She suddenly stopped, the blood fell upon her lips, and she tasted it. The goblin's blood was exactly like the blood that had fell upon her lips the night before! She had killed one of the goblins! Grinning at the pathetic creature, she head-butted him and he turned dead cold.
Leora got up and wiped the blood off of her face. But as soon as she did, she heard someone yell in pain. Damien's goblin was dominating in the fight, and Damien screamed in pain. He moved back from the goblin, without noticing he was on the edge of the rapids of the river. And with one blow, the goblin punched Damien into the water, and he was pushed along the currents unconscious.
"NO!" Leora screamed. The goblin looked at her and laughed, "Pathetic!" She narrowed her eyes at him, and got into her fighting stance. But the goblin was unimpressed, "You silly girl! Last time you may have been lucky, but your luck has run out!" Leora's eyes glowed red, and she growled, "I beg to differ!" She ran straight for him, and slid right under him, stopping between his legs. She then lifted her knee up and forced it into his groin. He yelped as she stood up and kicked him in the face. Her opponent fell instantly to the ground, and Leora smiled in satisfaction. "Damien!" She suddenly realized and ran along the riverbank.
She ran further and further along, not seeing him anywhere. But then, she spotted him, way ahead of her. She ran as hard as she could, and stopped suddenly. The river led to a gigantic waterfall; Damien was going to die if she didn't save him. There was no way she'd let that happen, not when she thought she'd lost him before. She took a deep breath, and began running for the ledge. She ran and ran and ran, and suddenly stopped, falling down the side of the waterfall. Damien fell just before her, and hit the water of the lake below in an instant. Leora breathed in deep, and plunged into the icy water. They had just landed in the Eighth Kingdom.