In the Shadows of the Woods, Part 1

Summary: A group of college students go out to a secluded and hidden lake in the forest. One of them spies a large house near the lake, and takes a group to check it out. Soon screams fill the forest, so the rest of the group investigate. Arriving at the house they see something lurking in the shadows . . .

Warning: The following one-shot is rated M for language and gore.

AN: This is a bit different. I was going for a horror movie vibe with this. So if you're ok with a rated R horror movie, you would be ok with this.

The sound of diesel engines filled the quiet woods. Three jeeps jumped over a ridge and rode out onto a thin sandy beach besides a lake. The engines stopped, but their sound was replaced with shouting and laughing as a group of college students poured out of the vehicles. They rushed over to the lake. The lake was beautiful with clear blue water.

"Oh my god," said one of the girls as she brought up her smartphone to take photos. "This is so amazing! How did you know about this place?"

One of the young men who had been driving the lead Jeep walked over. "Saw it during one of my flying lessons," he said confidently and with a bit of swagger. "I was just making some circles. I saw a flash of blue and had to double back to check it out. It was super easy to miss."

"I can't wait to share these pics on my Instagram," the girl said. "God, there is no service out here."

The kids started unpacking the Jeeps. They had brought coolers and bags of snacks as well as chairs and towels to relax on. A few of the boys collected sticks and logs and started up a small bonfire on the beach. The girls stripped off their clothes to reveal sexy bikinis underneath. Some of the boys stripped off their shirts and rushed into the lake. While others sat down at the fire and drank beer.

The day wore on as the youths enjoyed their time at the lake. In the afternoon, they all sat together on the beach.

"Yo bro," one of the boys said. "I saw a house on the other side of the lake. You sure this ain't private property?"

"What? Naw man. This is all like national forest or preservation land or some shit. Ain't nobody livin' out here. 'Cept maybe some logging camps."

"This wasn't some logging camp," the first boy said. "It was this huge house tucked in over there."

He pointed to the hillside on the other side of the lake. The other youths all peered at it. There didn't appear to be anything over there. Just more of the same thick forest that surrounded the lake.

"Reese, you're so full of shit," one of the girls teased.

"Probably just drunk," one of the boys joked.

"I'll fucking prove it!" Reese marched back to the lake. A few others followed him while the rest continued to relax on the shore. A short while later the group returned and Reese looked smug.

"Well, was there a house?" one of the boys asked.

"Yeah, there was. A huge house, just like Reese said."

"I wonder who built it all the way out here."

"Maybe it's like one of those old abandoned hospitals. Like a place they sent the insane."

"Oh god, can you not, Jayden?" one of the girls complained.

"Let's go check it out!"

"I don't want to go hiking into some rotten down house," a girl said.

"I think it sounds cool. I'm in," said a different girl.

"Sweet. Mia's in. Anyone else?"

Ten minutes later, one of the Jeeps, loaded up with four of the youths, drove back up over the small ridge into the forest. The group on the beach heard the Jeep power through the forest around the lake. The engine sound grew distant as the forest and distance muted the sound. The other youths continued their afternoon until a scream coming from across the lake silenced them all.

They were all quiet as they looked at each other.

"Probably Aiden pulling some stupid shit," one of the girls muttered.

But then the scream came again. And again. And then it was joined by a second scream.

These weren't the fake screams one might make for a joke. These screams sent hair standing on end and goosebumps running down arms. The youths on the beach were quiet and still. They exchanged glances with one another as the screams continued. Blood curdling screams.

Desperate screams.

And then there was a new noise. A loud distinctive growl. The screams were suddenly cut short, and silence stretched across the lake.

"What the fuck was that?" someone asked.

"That didn't sound like a joke to me, man."

"What if they ran into some cougar?"

Suddenly they were all talking at once.

"We've got to go over there," one of the boys suggested.

"And do what? What if it is a cougar? We don't have no guns!" another boy shouted.

"And just leave Aiden and them over there? What if they're hurt? Or worse!"

It was soon agreed upon that one of the Jeeps would go to the other side of the lake.

"Oh no," one of the girls said. "You're not leaving us here with some deranged cougar on the loose. What if the rest of their pack shows up?"

"Cougars don't hunt in packs, Sophia," another girl said.

"Aren't they also known as mountain lions?" Sophia argued.

"Which is not the same as real lions!"

So it was decided they would all go together. The Jeeps were loaded back up with the coolers and towels. The youths climbed in and they set off into the forest. It was easy to get around the lake. The path the previous Jeep had made was clear. However, they were soon surprised to find themselves turning onto a well kept gravel road. They followed it as it wound through the hillside.

Blue flashed through the trees as the lake came in and out of view. The bright sun was blocked by the tall leafy trees, and the further along they went, the darker it seemed to get. That was when they noticed the clouds coming in. The warm sun was gone. So when they pulled up to a large house tucked amongst the tall trees, everything was washed in a gray light.

They found the other Jeep parked near the house. All the boys got out of the vehicles and examined it.

"Nothing here," one said. "No claw marks."

"Guess we go look in the house," another suggested.

"You sure?" asked one of the girls from the Jeep. "Those screams . . . They didn't sound like they were coming from inside. We heard it so clearly."

They all looked into the dark forest surrounding them.

"What is that?" one of the girls gasped. She pointed into the forest; everyone followed her gaze. She jumped out of the Jeep and ran towards the spot with the boys following behind her. They stopped right as the trees grew thick.

"What the fuck is that?" one of the boys said.

"Is that a hand? A fucking hand?"

It was. It was clearly a severed human hand. It ended in shredded skin and muscle and blood. The girl put her hands up to her mouth. She started to sob. One of the boys wrapped his arms around her.

"Let's go back to the Jeep," he whispered to her and started to lead her away.

"Fuckin' cougars," one of the other boys said.

"Who do you think that belongs to?" another one asked. "I don't think that's Mia's. Doesn't look like a girl hand."

"Not dark enough for Malik. Either Aiden's or Tyler's, I'd guess."

"Should we grab it?"

"What? Ew, bro! No! Leave it there."

A strong wind blew through the trees. The group grew quiet as the trees around them shook. Leaves rained down on them. Twigs snapped from the force of the wind. It grew suddenly colder. The girl being escorted by the boy back to the Jeep had only made it halfway back. They stopped as they looked up at the trees.

They were all quiet, so they all heard it. The growling and hissing. It started off low. Perhaps it was just part of the wind and the trees. But then it was too low, too wet, too guttural for the wind. And as the wind died down, the growling became more apparent. Everyone looked around wildly to locate the source. They all eyed the dark shadows of the woods.

"Let's get out of here," one girl in the Jeep cried. "Go get the police or something."

And then the shadows in the woods moved. Just beyond the first row of trees, the darkness was moving. Whatever it was, it was huge, and the shape was hard to distinguish. It was larger than the Jeeps- no, wait, much larger. Was it one-story high? Two-stories?

Then it faded away into the trees. When the group heard the sounds of snapping twigs and movement behind them, some of the girls in the Jeep screamed. They all turned around. Stumbling out of the trees from the opposite direction was Mia.

Beautiful Mia with the perfect curls she had painstakingly done that morning. Beautiful Mia who was limping out of the trees. Her arm hung loosely by her side. Her skin now far too pale and littered with cuts. A large gash ran across her throat and chest. Skin hung loosely off her body.

The girls in the Jeep screamed her name and jumped out to rush to her aid. Mia's mouth moved. She waved her good arm at them. But no sound came out except for a horrid wet wheezy sound. The girls from the Jeep came to a halt as the shadows behind Mia quickly grew.

The screams and shouts of the group were too late. Mia never even had a chance to turn around before some kind of dark tentacle wrapped around her. She was pulled back into the woods with only the sound of snapping branches and the shouts and screams of the others. What they saw next varied between them. Some saw a dark beast with fur and fangs and long claws. Others saw a large serpent with glistening black scales and leathery wings. A few saw a feathery creature with multiple heads and many burning eyes. Whatever they saw, it only lasted a moment before it and Mia were gone.

Fear swept through the group. The girls jumped out of the Jeep and rushed to the boys who were running towards the girls.

"What the fuck was that? What the fuck was that?" someone was saying over and over again.

"We've got to go," someone else was saying through their sharp breaths.

Branches snapping over head silenced them. Most of them saw the shadow above them and ducked, but one girl did not. It was Sophia. Large talons grabbed her and dragged her up into the large branches. Her screams were loud and clear, but they were suddenly cut short. The group stood in shock. They heard something falling through the branches followed by the sound of something solid hitting the ground.

They watched as it rolled towards them and screams erupted as they saw Sophia's head. Her eyes and mouth still wide, frozen forever in the terror of her last moments. The group went to move back to the Jeeps but the monster was that way. Eyes of all sizes and numbers seemed to be watching them. There was hissing and growling just inside the trees. It was waiting for them to come closer. To go to the Jeeps. So they turned and ran the other way. Towards the house.

They ran up the steps of the porch and found the door thankfully unlocked. They piled in and slammed the door shut. There were mutters of curses, people taking deep breaths, and if one listened carefully you could hear the sound of pounding hearts.

"What was that thing?" someone hissed. Their voice on edge as if at any moment they would break into sobs.

"A monster."

"A monster? Monsters aren't real!"

"Well that thing was real!"

"They're dead! Oh god! They're dead!"

"What are we going to do?"

"We need to find a weapon," one of the boys said. "Something to defend ourselves with. Then run for the Jeeps and get the hell out of here."

No one said anything, but there were nods. They ventured through the small foyer and came into a large sitting room. Floor-to-ceiling windows covered two of the four walls, giving a large and impressive view of the forest and the lake beyond.

"What is this place?" someone asked, their voice cracking.

"What the fuck?"

The room was torn apart. What must have been nice comfortable furniture at some point was tipped over and ripped apart. Stuffing was coming out. The wood was splintered. Some of the windows had been cracked while two were broken. There were scuff and claw marks littering the floor and walls. Debris was thrown about from the torn up furniture and cloth. Glass was strewn beneath the windows.

And everywhere there was blood. Blood was sprayed and dripped. There were drag marks of blood. And amongst that blood were bloody body parts. There were bloody entrails and chunks of muscles and bones.

"We have to get out of here," one of the girls whispered.

One of the boys walked over to a turned over table. He pressed his foot against it and started to pull on the leg.

"Dude, that is not going to help," one of the boys said to him.

"I'm not going out there with nothing," the boy said as he finally pulled the leg free of the table.

"I want to go home," another boy whined.

The floor creaked and everyone quieted and tensed up. They huddled together as they listened to something moving in the room next to them. The soft sounds were growing closer. Someone pushed the boy holding the table leg in front of the group. He held the leg up ready to smash whatever was coming.

A baby toddled into the room. He wore a light blue onesie with white polka dots on it. He had blond fluffy hair and big bright blue eyes. His feet were bare but were stained with blood. He looked at the youths. His eyes lingered on them for only a short moment before he looked around at the room.

"Dada?" he asked. "Dada?"

Someone took in a sharp breath. The boy with the leg lowered it. One of the girls walked forward.

"What are you doing?" someone asked her.

"Hey there," the girl said as she slowly walked up to the baby and kneeled down in front of him. The baby looked up at the girl. She bent over and picked the baby up. The baby wrapped it's knees and arms around her and calmly sat in her arms.

"What are you doing, Kara?" another girl asked. "You can't just pick up some random baby!"

"I'm not just going to leave this baby here!" Kara softly hissed back as she walked back over to the group. The rest looked skeptically at the baby.

"Why is there a baby here?"

"What if his parents were eaten by that monster?" Kara argued. The baby looked at her. "Don't worry, little guy. We'll get you to safety."

"Dada!" the baby said loudly. He wiggled in Kara's grasp as he tried to turn around. The room suddenly grew colder. The youths started to shiver. They wouldn't have been surprised if they started to see their breath.

Suddenly there was a low growling sound along with the sound of something hissing - or perhaps it was a clicking noise. They heard the sound of something moving. Something with scales? No, was it something wet and slimy? Perhaps furry?

Something slowly slithered out from the same door the baby had come from. A snake? No, a tentacle. It was black and oozing, and it was soon joined by another, then another. The tip of the tentacle raised up. The boy with the leg raised it up. The baby twisted in Kara's hold.

"Dada!" the baby called out.

The tentacles seemed to zero in on the baby. They all became alert. The tip of the tentacles opened up to reveal mouths filled with sharp teeth that dripped with black ooze that pooled on the floor. They hissed as they started to slither forward.

"Carson!" someone shouted as the boy with the table leg stepped forward. He swung the leg at the closest tentacle. It landed with a solid and wet sounding thunk. All the tentacles hissed in pain as the one hit was sent flying back a few feet.

"Yeah!" Carson yelled.

Slits opened up in the tentacles to reveal eyes. Yellow eyes with blood red rings around the outside. The black slits narrowed on Carson. A tentacle rushed at him, and he bashed it to the side with his makeshift bat. But the movement left him open. A tentacle dashed forward. Its mouth open. Its teeth sank into Carson's leg. He shouted. He almost dropped the bat, but managed to swing it around at the tentacle biting his leg.

But the hit was too weak. He wasn't able to knock the tentacle off. A second tentacle attacked and then a third. A fourth. They started to tear him apart. The rest of the youths didn't stay to see what happened. They turned and ran back to the small foyer towards the door. There was the sound of claws scraping against the wooden floor behind. A deep growl. The baby in Kara's arms whimpered.

"Dada," he muttered softly. His hands reaching around Kara's neck and grabbing at the air.

A high pitched scream tore through the room. It was cut off by the sound of teeth and a crunching noise. The others didn't even pause as they stumbled through the door on to the porch. There was only six of them now plus the baby. They all ran across the porch and down the steps. Their course set for the Jeeps. They could make it. The monster was behind them. In the house.

So they thought.

They were not expecting a large beast with three sets of black wings to descend upon them from the trees above. For it to grab a girl in each of its large talons. One girl was killed instantly as the talon pierced her chest. She was quickly tossed aside. The now free talon pierced into the other girl. She was ripped in two. Her body falling to pieces on the ground.

The other four had made it to the Jeeps. Kara had gotten into the passenger side with the baby. One of the boys had jumped into the driver's seat and was turning the engine on. A girl and a boy were climbing into the back seat, but the girl never made it. They never really saw it. She never even managed to get a sound out except for a startled gasp. She was simply gone in a second. Only a dark blur to mark the passage of the monster.

The driver yanked the gear shift into drive and slammed his foot down on the gas pedal. The car sped forward. He turned the car around and zoomed down the gravel road. Away from the house. Away from the monster. Away from their friends. Their dead friends. What had been a day of fun and swimming and beers was now a day of blood and tears and horror.

The baby squirmed in Kara's lap. He was getting restless.

"Dada," the baby whined. He continued to babble. "Dada go go! Dada. Mama. Go go. Rara bahbah. Dada! Dada! Go go! Dada!"

"Can't you shut him up?" the driver hissed.

"Shhh. Shhh," Kara said as she bounced the baby on her knee. "It's going to be ok, baby."

The baby's face was starting to twist and turn red. "Dada! Dada!" the baby cried.

"Shut him up!" the driver barked.

"I'm trying!" Kara said.

The baby did not stop. In fact he was getting more and more upset. He was now screaming. "Dada! Dada! Dada!"

Kara turned in her seat to look at the boy in the back. "Davis, help me," she pleaded.

"I, uh . . ." Davis muttered. Perhaps there was a blanket to wrap the baby in? Perhaps there was a beach towel to use? He bent over to rifle through the floor of the vehicle.

Kara turned back around. The baby was wailing now.

"Shut him the fuck up!" the driver shouted.

"He's just a baby!" Kara shouted back. "A scared little baby!"

"Which we should have left back at that house to let that monster eat!"

Whatever retort Kara had died on her lips. Her attention drawn to the baby in her lap. The baby was growing hotter. His eyes were starting to glow a bright white. The same bright light was pouring out of his mouth.

"Dada! Dada!" the baby screamed, but the voice was no longer that of a baby. It sounded distorted, as if there were ten babies screaming at the same time.

The light grew brighter and brighter. Small little light tentacles started to grow out of the baby's back. Then they would shift and be wings and then back to tentacles. Eyes had opened on the baby's cheeks and the side of his head. Glowing white eyes that were too painful to look at.

Kara went still as blood started to pour out of her nose and ears. Then out of her mouth and eyes. The driver had been watching this all in silent horror. He pulled the Jeep over to the side of the forested road. The baby continued to scream, but no longer was it human. The sound clawed into the brain and dragged across it like nails on a chalkboard. The skin on Kara's face had started to melt off as if it were wax and the baby a flame.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck," the driver muttered. He was trying to find the door handle to get out, but he couldn't look away from the glowing monstrosity next to him.

The Jeep violently shook as something large and heavy landed on top of it. There was a loud and angry roar. The air around them seemed to cool considerably. Large claws jabbed through the canvas roof and ripped it open. A huge black monster with rows and rows of teeth and several sets of eyes and black oozing tentacles and three large sets of wings and scales and fur stared into the opened vehicle.

It looked first at Kara, or what was once Kara. The front of her had melted away. Leaving only half of her head and backside of her body a dripping bloody mess in the seat. The driver had looked too long at the baby. His face was dripping in blood that was coming out of his eye sockets, nose, and mouth. His eyes had popped out of his head and rested against his cheeks.

The glowing baby raised its human looking little arms up to the black monster. "Dada! Dada!"

Black tentacles reached down into the Jeep and wrapped around the baby and gently pulled it out. The monster cradled the child to its chest. The crying and wailing was calming down as the monster rocked the baby in its arms. A small white glowing tentacle wrapped around a large black one.

It was the last thing Davis saw before the monster took off into the sky. Davis crawled out of the Jeep and stumbled into the woods. He tripped and fell into the damp dirt. He looked behind him at the Jeep. From this angle he couldn't see Kara and could only see the back of the driver. He crept back to the Jeep and peered at the two passengers. He could barely stand looking at their remains as he threw up all over the side of the Jeep and road.

And then he ran.

What else was he going to do? Stay with the Jeep? There was no way he was going to be able to move the other two. They had melted into the Jeep itself. He wasn't going back the way they came. That was the direction the monster had gone. So the only way to go was down the gravel road.

Dusk was settling in and the forest was growing dark quick. Fatigue was starting to plague him, but his fear and adrenaline pushed him on. Through the dark woods he saw lights flickering up on a small hill. He paused. His body heaved from the deep breaths he was taking. It took him a minute just to realize the lights were from a small house.

Without a second thought, he was scrambling up the hill through the bushes. He suffered lots of small cuts and bruises, but he felt none of the pain. He kept going until he was at the wooden door of the cabin. He banged against the door.

"Help!" he shouted, but his voice was so weak. His throat dry. "Help! Help me!"

Davis heard the sound of the lock being undone. He took a step back as the door swung open. A man stood on the other side. A normal looking man with a beard and brown jacket. He was holding a rifle loosely in his hands. The two stood there for a long moment, before the man placed the rifle down.

"Come in," the man said.

Davis meekly nodded his head and stumbled into the cabin. He heard the door shut. Heard the lock. He collapsed onto the floor. The man was soon there. He helped Davis into a chair at a small wooden table. He got Davis a cup of water, which Davis sloppily and hastily drank. It was a long time before Davis finally got his breathing under control, but he was still on edge. His eyes kept darting to the window and the dark beyond them. Night had fallen, and he could see nothing outside the windows.

"Now then," the man said calmly. "Care to tell me what has happened?"

Davis started out slow, but soon the words were almost tripping over each other to get out of him. He told this stranger everything. About the lake and the house and the monster and the baby and his friends and their deaths. And once everything was said, he cried. His body shook with sobs. The man got a blanket and draped it across Davis' shoulders. Then he brought out a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.

"Here, son, drink up," the man said as he pushed a whiskey glass across the table to Davis. Davis grabbed it and drank the entire glass in one go.

"How can you be so calm?" Davis asked. "There's a fucking monster out there!"

"Yes, I know," the man said as he refilled Davis' glass.

"You know- know?"

"What you ran into was Vader. Darth Vader. An unholy horror. Some call it a demon. Others might call it a wonderterror. But monster also works." Davis noticed the smooth accent coming from the man. It sounded European.

"I . . . don't . . . what? You know about this thing?"

The man took a long sip of his glass.

"There once was an order of men," the man said slowly as he stroked his auburn beard. "It was rumored they had been around since the dawn of civilization. Their current organization was hundreds of years old. Dating back to medieval times. They had been established by the church. A holy order of knights known as the Jedi. Their purpose was to protect humanity from evil."

The man paused as he took another sip of his whiskey.

"This order continued into the modern age. It was a secret order, and their numbers were a few hundred strong all across the globe. Fourteen years ago one of the senior knights discovered a boy. He had a human mother. He himself looked human, but he was not. He was a son of Satan. But that may not be the right description. He was something else. Something more. Something from beyond. A child of the Great Old Ones. Wherever this child originated from, it is beyond our mortal comprehension.

"And the order knew this. They took the child in. They should have killed him, but they were too curious. They wanted to know more of what lay beyond their reality. The order had been able to tap into the small rifts of this world and draw power from the beyond. They called it the Force. Magic. And this boy seemed to be made from it.

"And he was just a boy. A boy who they could raise as one of them. To think like them. To dress like them. To do what they wanted him to do. A weapon. A tool. However, there were other organizations who knew of this truth of the world. One of them was the Sith. And unlike the Jedi Order who sought to protect humanity, the Sith sought to dominate it. They also used the Force, but for their own selfish means. And they wanted the boy.

"This demonic order tried to tempt the boy. They sent many dark servants to tempt him. Darth Maul. Darth Tyrannus. Ventress. Savage. They all failed. The order's training had prevailed. The boy couldn't be swayed away from the ones who had raised him. At least that's what the order thought. But it was not the darkness that won the boy over. It wasn't the holy order either. In the end, it was love."

The man sighed. He looked off into the distance. Then he took another deep sip of his whiskey, finishing the glass off. Davis finished his off as well. He was feeling the buzz of the alcohol.

The man continued his story, "It was the love of a human woman that caused the boy to abandon the order he had called home. The order had forbidden the boy from attachments. From things like marriage, but it had happened behind their backs anyway. The boy married in secret. His human wife got pregnant, and then she grew sick. She was a human carrying the spawn of the devil. Carrying reality made flesh. Fearing for his wife and unborn child, the boy revealed his secret to his family. The order was horrified and angry. They decided the wife and the child needed to die.

"Of course the boy did not take this well. He turned to the Sith for help instead. And they gave sweet promises they could cure the wife and baby. All for the price of killing everyone in the Jedi Order. And the boy agreed. He slayed them all including the women and children. But the Sith had lied. They had no idea on how to save the wife and baby, so the boy killed almost all the Sith too in his rage. In the end, it was all for nothing. The wife survived and gave birth."

"The baby!" Davis shouted. "That was the monster's baby!"

All that time the baby had been crying for its dada, it had been crying for the monster. He recalled the small little tentacle wrapping around a large black one. Like a baby's hand wrapping around a single finger of their parent.

The man nodded. "Yes. The boy, long since a man, moved out to these woods with his family. To be left alone. To live away from everyone else."

"Wait but . . . but how do you know all of this? Why are you . . . Why are you living out here too?" Davis asked.

The man smiled sadly. "I am almost all that remains of the Jedi Order. I am a Jedi Knight. I live out here to watch Vader."

"And he lets you? Live out here? So close to him? Why hasn't he killed you yet?"

The man pulled out a necklace that had been tucked into his shirt. A light blue crystal hung on a silver chain.

"This is a kyber crystal," the man said. "With the right spells using the Force, it creates a protective ward. As long as I wear this, Vader cannot harm me."

Davis gaped and eyed the crystal.

The man chuckled. "I know what you are thinking," he said as he tucked the necklace back into his shirt. "And luckily for you, I have an extra one to spare."

The man stood up and walked over to a small chest on the floor. He pulled out a small cloth pouch. He carried it over and placed it on the table in front of Davis. Davis quickly snatched it up and opened it. A necklace fell into his hands. It was a crystal, the same as the man's, but this one was green. He quickly pulled the leather cord over his head and let the crystal sit on his chest.

The man clapped Davis on the back. "You should sleep," he said. "In the morning I'll drive you back to town."

"But . . . wait I should . . ."

"Trust me, you don't want to be out in these woods after dark. Even with that crystal."

Obi-Wan Kenobi returned to his cabin home in the early afternoon. He had left at dawn to take the young man back into town. Despite the alcohol and sleep, Davis had remembered his encounter with Vader. The youth was Force sensitive. Two years ago, Obi-Wan would have put his name forward to the Order as a possible recruit. But the Order was gone.

Obi-Wan placed his shopping bags on the counter of his small kitchen. He pulled a brown package out from under his elbow and used a knife to open it up. He took out a small canister of tea. He opened it up and took a deep whiff of it. He smiled as he placed the tea down and filled his tea pot with water.

"Care for a cup?" Obi-Wan asked.

"No," hissed the deep dark shadows that had collected in a corner of the cabin. Obi-Wan set the kettle on the stove. "Why did you give that fool a warded crystal?" the shadows hissed again.

"Why did you attack his friends?" Obi-Wan said as he started to unpack the groceries he had picked up while in town.

"You know why! I am protecting my family."

"Was there really no other way to do that besides killing them, Anakin?" Obi-Wan asked. For the first time he turned and fully looked at the shadowy mass. It looked more man-shaped now. "Or was there another reason?"

The shadows stirred. Shadow tentacles grew from the man-shaped shadow and started to crawl along the walls, floor, and ceiling towards Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan was unphased.

"What other reason would there be?" Anakin asked.

"You were hungry?" Obi-Wan said nonchalantly. He kept his tone even and normal. Conversational. "Ever since that incident with the Tusken gang and you tasted human blood for the first time, I know you crave it."

The shadows stirred angrily, but did nothing else.

"The first group to show up at my house was taking pictures. They had connected to my wifi and had posted them up on Instagram. I couldn't let those pictures be seen. Palpatine is still out there."

"And in a seat of power," Obi-Wan said a bit bitterly. "And whose fault is that?"

He gave a pointed look at the shadows. The tentacles were gone. Though Obi-Wan knew the reason Anakin hadn't killed Palpatine was because he wore a protective warded kyber crystal.

"And really, Anakin, you don't have a password for your wifi?" Obi-Wan asked as he walked over to the stove and picked up the boiling kettle.

"I do now," Anakin said clearly sulking. "Didn't see much need of it before."

"And murder was your best option? You didn't think of just taking their phones and deleting the pictures?"

"I was angry."

Obi-Wan paused and looked directly at the shadows. He raised a single eyebrow.

"And hungry," Anakin admitted.

"A dangerous combination for you," Obi-Wan said as he poured the hot tea into a mug. "At least tell me you didn't introduce the twins to human blood."

"No."

Obi-Wan sighed. At least there was that.

"You know," the shadows said. The voice was right next Obi-Wan's ear. "Eventually that boy will slip up. He'll take that necklace off. It was a fool's errand giving it to him, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan took a sip of his hot tea. He didn't want to admit to Vader that he hadn't known the boy was Force Sensitive. He had assumed the boy would forget about what had happened. His memory would be foggy or perhaps he would start to go insane. But he hadn't. Davis had remembered. He wanted to go to the police, but Obi-Wan had convinced him to go home first. Collect his thoughts before doing anything.

"I couldn't ignore him," Obi-Wan said.

Anakin huffed. "Always on that blasted high horse of yours," he muttered. "You haven't saved him. You've just delayed the inevitable. For when he does take that necklace off, I'll be there."

Obi-Wan took another sip of his tea. "Just like you wait for me to take mine off?" Obi-Wan whispered. He knew Anakin had heard him, but the other didn't respond. After a long moment, Obi-Wan glanced around his cabin. The shadows were gone.

The doorbell rang, and Davis Newberg jumped. He checked through the peephole of his apartment door. Two people stood on the other side. A man and a woman. Davis unlocked the three locks on his door and opened it a crack.

"Davis Newberg?" the woman asked. She smiled as she looked at him.

"Who are you?" he asked.

The woman fished into her dripping wet jacket. It was raining outside. She pulled out a badge.

"I'm Sarah Coleman from KWOX News, Channel 9," she said. "We talked on the phone earlier today?"

The man next to her also pulled out his press badge.

"Yes- yes," Davis stuttered. "Come in."

He opened the door just enough to let them in. The man had step in sideways. His black case bumping against the door and wall. He cursed softly.

"Where can we set up?" Sarah asked as she started unbuttoning her jacket. She looked around Davis' small studio apartment.

"Anywhere you can find room is fine," Davis said softly.

The man didn't get out of his wet jacket like his coworker. He just set his case down and opened it up to reveal a camera and tripod. At once he started to set it up. He was quiet and kept his head down. He wore a soaked baseball cap pulled low over his face.

Sarah had draped her wet jacket on the back of the chair. She was now walking around the studio looking at the walls. Posted all over the walls were hand written notes, pictures, texts printed from the internet, photocopies from books, and magazine clippings.

"This is quite extensive," Sarah said slowly.

"Yes well, I had to prove it's all real, ya know?" Davis said.

Sarah nodded. She pulled out a makeup compact from her purse. She dabbed on some fresh foundation and then pulled out some lip gloss. She eyed the cameraman who was just finishing setting up the camera. Then he started to pull out another tripod for the light. Lastly, Sarah pulled a small comb through her brown curly hair.

"Alright let's start from the beginning," Sarah said placing her purse down. "We'll start with each of the missing college students. Mia Nguyen, Malik Jackson, Reese Nelthorpe, Sophia-"

"I know their names," Davis snapped.

Sarah smiled sadly and nodded. "So let's start with them," she said.

Davis eyed the camera. "Are we recording this yet?"

"No, not yet. Think of this as a warm up or a preliminary interview," Sarah said warmly. "They were college classmates of yours, and now they haven't been seen now in almost six weeks. Yet-"

"No one fucking cares," Davis shouted. "Not their families. Their friends. The school. The police. Fuck. I've been to them all. They're dead! They're not missing! Not on some backpack trip to Europe finding themselves. Not off spending time with their crazy aunt in Florida or got offered an internship or teaching English in Taiwan. They're dead. There are no records of them after the fifteenth. No more posts on social media. No texts. No calls. Nothin'. 'Cause they're dead. Murdered by a monster! And no one fuckin' believes me!"

Davis walked over to the wall and pointed at the papers posted up there.

"I've looked into every excuse I've been given for each of them," Davis said. "There is no record of them ever going to these places and doing these things. Of course there isn't. They never did these things. But I just don't understand. There is this conspiracy out there. I don't know if it's the monster or some mystical religious cult or the fuckin' government. But someone is covering this up. Eleven people are dead! And no one cares or even seems to have noticed!"

"Religious cult?" the cameraman asked.

"Yeah!" Davis said running to a different spot on his wall near a window. "They were called the Jedi Order. You can find traces of them dating back to the twelfth century. But it's so hard to find stuff about them because you can't find records that talk about them directly. Only indirect sources like sales records or personal journals of people meeting with the knights of the Order."

"So you think this was like a cult thing?" the man asked folding his arms across his chest.

"No! Maybe!" Davis said. "This man I met in the woods said the cult was destroyed by the monster! But I don't know if I can trust what he said."

"Ok," Sarah said. "Let's have a seat. You sit there where the light can hit you."

Davis sat down, but he was on edge. Sarah nodded to the cameraman who took his spot behind the camera. Sarah sat down next to Davis. "Ok," she said. "Let's start from the beginning."

Davis told her what had happened. What he had seen. Every now and then Sarah would glance over at the camera. She would look . . . annoyed. There was a tightness growing inside of Davis. Did she think he was crazy? Like everyone else thought he was?

"So this man in the woods gave you some sort of crystal?" Sarah asked as Davis finished up retelling the events.

"Yeah, said it was some protective charm or something," Davis said.

"Can I see it?"

Davis hesitated. Then slowly pulled out the crystal on the leather cord.

"Oh wow," Sarah said as she leaned over to get a better look. "I've never seen anything like that. What kind of crystal is that?"

"I've taken it to jewelers. Posted about it online. No one seems to know what it is," Davis said.

"It seems to be glowing faintly," Sarah said softly. "Can I touch it?"

She looked up at him with her brown eyes. Davis blushed as he realized how pretty she was. She was the perfect type to be a reporter.

"Sure- sure," he muttered. "Just be careful."

Sarah smiled. She gently placed her well manicured fingertips against the crystal. Then she sighed.

"I'm sorry," she said softly.

"What?" Davis asked.

Sarah grabbed the crystal and yanked on the cord. Her other hand flashed out. Davis saw a flash of a small knife and felt the cord break.

"What! Stop!" Davis jumped up, but so did Sarah. She quickly backed away from Davis holding the necklace. "The fuck?" Davis shouted. "Give that back!"

"She won't," came a deep, dark voice that instantly chilled Davis to his core. He looked beyond Sarah. His apartment had disappeared. All there was were shadows. Deep dark shadows that slithered and stirred. Shadows that had golden eyes opening up from them. Shadows that wrapped around Sarah.

"Fu- fuck," Davis said as he started to back away. His eyes wide.

The cameraman materialized out of the shadows. Sarah handed him the necklace. The man took it and closed his fist around it. Light flooded out between his fingers. First it was green, then white and lastly it faded to red.

"Better," the man said as he opened his hand to reveal the red crystal. His voice pleased. Sarah took the the crystal back.

"I'll be waiting outside. Don't take too long," she said as she kissed the man's cheek. She grabbed her purse and her jacket and paused. She gave Davis one last look. A very sad look. A sorry look. Then she turned and walked out the door shutting it behind her.

"Finally alone," the cameraman said.

Davis became very aware of the man's eyes. The were yellow with a red bleeding rim around them. The monster smiled showing off pointed teeth. Davis screamed as the monster lurched forward.

The sky had turned completely black and the rain had stopped. A group of people had gathered behind a police barricade as they watched the small three-story apartment building burn up in flames. Emergency vehicle lights flashed all around as firefighters worked to get the blaze under control.

Amidst the group was a couple. A tall man and a small woman. He wore a baseball cap and had his arms wrapped around the woman as they watched the blaze. No one noticed when suddenly they simply weren't there any more. Everyone was too focused on the fire ahead of them.

The next day the investigation would begin into what had caused the fire as well as to find any bodies. As firefighters carefully walked through the blackened building, they came to what seemed to be the point of origin of the fire. The fire seemed to have started in one of the small studio apartments.

Inside they found a blackened and charred body sitting in a chair. All signs pointed to that this body was the start of the fire. Yet, despite how long and how hot the fire had gotten, the body was still relatively whole. It should have burnt up and crumbled into ash. It was impossible for it to be in this state. A fireman leaned in close to get a better look.

And that was when the eyes of the body opened. Bloodshot eyes. Then the body shuddered as it took in a breath. That was when the screaming started. A horrible wheezy scream that would haunt the firemen and first responders for the rest of their lives. They were all completely baffled how this person had survived the fire. The smoke inhalation alone should have killed them. If not, then the fourth degree burns covering his entire body should have.

He didn't live long. Davis Newberg died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. He continued screaming until finally his body gave out.

AN: Get ready for part 2 which will tell this fic from Vader's POV. Or also known as Vader's Very Bad No Good Day.