"Very well." Sven said.
He walked over to Melinda and scooped her up into his arms.
"Hey! Just what do you think you are doing? Put me down!" Melinda shouted.
Melinda knew she could be emotional sometimes, but she definitely did not need to be carried around every where. She could handle herself. She had become accustomed to the harsh life she lived, with just enough money for food, and even having to go out and find that sometimes.
Sven merely rolled his eyes at her.
"We must not waste time with your methods, human. I must be back before dawn."
Sven then leaped through the slightly open doorway and landed in a super-human run.
He knew teleporting to the surface would be faster, but he wasn't sure how a human body would hold up against his magical energies. Surely her mind would a hard enough time processing the speed at which they were going.
Melinda felt her hair whipping around her face as they hurtled through the corridors leading to the woods.
She felt sick at how fast they were going. This was had to be worse than a roller coaster.
She looked up at Sven's other worldly, yet beautiful face. Melinda found that her breath caught in her chest, now that she got a good look into his eyes.
They were blood red and depthless. What little light was in here from the torches that occasionally adorned the walls was reflected like thousands of orange lights, mingling with the sea of red in his eyes. His pupils were not circular, but rounded slits, much like a cat's.
Suddenly, Sven leaped into the air, startling Melinda from her reverie.
They burst through the very same hole Melinda had fallen in hours before.
As Sven landed, he noticed a heavy blush resting on the girl's cheeks. He supposed it was because she was not used to the speed they had traveled at.
"Are you alright?" he asked her.
"Uhm…yes. I'm fine." Melinda blushed even harder when she realized that Sven was referring to her redness. She had never been that infatuated with anything, like she had been with Sven's eyes. She wondered if it was because they were so strange, or if they were really that appealing to her.
She had no more time to think on the subject though, because Sven then leaped high into the sturdy branches of a tree.
"Agh!" Melinda cried in surprise.
Sven went still…"Hush." he commanded her.
Melinda didn't really appreciate his tone of voice, or the way he commanded her, but did as he said. She could tell him off later.
Sven closed his eyes and searched for an older human's life force in the immediate area.
To the south, he thought. I also sense animalistic beasts nearby. This cannot be good.
Sven leapt from branch to branch, tree to tree, as silently as if he were standing still.
Melinda wanted to protest, but kept quiet, for his leaps were not particularly jarring, just unnaturally long.
Sven continued to head in the direction of the human. Finally, they came upon a clearing.
A middle aged man stood on the western end of the tree line. He had an old lantern with him.
"Melinda! Melinda, where are you?" he was yelling.
Fool. Sven thought. Surely he knew how dangerous the forest could be at night.
Melinda's heart leaped at the sound and sight of her father. He's ok! She thought excitedly.
"Papa!" She called to him, without thinking.
At that the man's head snapped up to look in the direction of his daughter's voice.
In the next moment, all hell broke loose.
One of the wolves Sven had picked up on leaped out from darkness and tackled the man.
"PAPA!" Melinda screamed.
Sven swore under his breath and leapt down from his perch. When he hit the ground, he dropped Melinda, leapt over her, and kicked out at the wolf, now chewing on the man's arm.
The beast flew away with a whimper, taking part of Melinda's father's arm with it.
Melinda got up and ran to her father.
She gasped. It was much worse than she had thought. When the wolf had leaped onto her father, it had dug its claws deep into his neck and lower back, and a good portion of his upper arm was missing.
She fell to her knees, sobbing. She gently turned her dear father over, seeing that he had also broken his nose when he had fallen.
"Oh, Papa…I am so sorry…" Melinda choked out between sobs.
Sven would have gone to help, but he had more pressing matters to attend to.
Melinda's father had unknowingly let the wolves surround him.
Sven could sense three more males. If he got rid of those, the rest of the pack would flee.
He leaped into the air, drawing his sword at the same time. He came down, silently gliding through the trees and positioned his sword with the blade down, and held out in front of him. He burst through the last layer of branches and learned that his calculations had been correct. A very large wolf, what Sven assumed was the alpha male was positioned right under his blade.
The creature did not even have time to look up before the blade sliced through its spine and came out through its stomach, killing it instantly.
Sven then concentrated on the other two males, which had worked their way to him, and were now circling hungrily.
He closed his eyes and tapped into his powers.
His body began to glow an eerie red, and he spread his arms, hands open, with his palms facing the wolves.
The red glow left the rest of his body, and swirled down to only his hands, as he focused his energy there.
The two wolves stopped circling when their bodies began to glow red as well.
The glow intensified, until with a disgusting squelching sound, the wolves' bodies ripped apart.
Sven pulled his blade out of the alpha male, and wiped it on what little of the beast's fur that wasn't covered in blood.
He could feel the other members of the pack withdrawing now. They wouldn't bother him again tonight.
He rushed back to the clearing to find Melinda crying softly over her father's broken and bloody body.
Sven could not pick up on the man's life force any longer.
"He's dead." Sven said softly.
Melinda couldn't speak, for she was sobbing too hard. Her chest hurt. Everything was tight and constricted.
Her father, her beloved father, who had given up everything to raise her, was gone.
She thought back to the look on her father's face when she had left the house earlier that day. She had never told him she was sorry. She hadn't been able to tell him how much she really loved him. She hadn't been able to say goodbye.
And now, she never would.