23, Human, obviously. I've been called moody and tempestuous but hey, loosing pretty much your entire family in one night at the hands of a blood sucking monster will do that to a person.
What did you do, idiot? he thought when he saw Summyr walk away, the wind ruffling her hair that shone in the distance. Knowing her temper, he should have just shut up and followed her to the van. Anyway, too late now. She was gone. He could walk a few more blocks and look for somewhere to buy the materials needed for the stitches. When he took a few steps he saw a van stopping in front of him, the redhead in the driver’s seat. Thank you he thought as opened the door and sat in the passenger seat
“I promise I’ll clean up all the mess later” he said, trying not to stain the car seat with blood. “Thanks for coming back and I’m sorry, I’m just not in the best situation in the world right now. I think it was some kind of shapeshifter”
She slammed the door after him, rolling her eyes, there were plenty of blood stains on the seats already from misadventures with...
She flinched, clenched her hand, took a breath and calmed herself down as best she could before walking back over to the drivers side and getting in. She looked at him, “don’t worry about the seat and tell me about the shifter later,” She said, “you get to choose where I stitch you up. Fun, huh? My place, an alley or a motel room, unless you can think of somewhere closer and cleaner.”
She didn’t expect him to have it together well enough to reason it all out and in truth it didn’t really matter where he chose. Summyr knew she craved control, most hunters did it was a lack of control that made them the way they were.
Lucius had met Summyr a few years ago on one of his trips to North Carolina. He had discovered her sister Autymn’s YouTube channel and quickly emailed her when he found out about his trip. He had recently discovered that they were in Cresthill, and it was somewhat of a relief, he had been worried when Autymn disappeared from youtube. They hunted together a few times, Summyr was always quite cold and liked her space, so he was used to teasing, and he often retaliated. The man closed his eyes for a few minutes, his eyebrows furrowed “I’m in pain ok? I want less fucking talk and more fucking action. Can you do it or it’s hard during your PMS?”
He looked around, she said it wasn’t far away and it was the best option he had at the moment “It will need stitches, can you do it or will you shake like a pinscher?”
She blinked, stunned “P.M.S huh?” she said slowly, annunciating every word. “Maybe I’ll just leave you to bleed out in the middle of the street, hm? I mean, since my PMS is just so, so, bad and you clearly don’t have any faith in my ability to do a clean stitch.” A part of her really meant it, she was highly intolerant to people claiming she was incapable of doing anything for any reason, let alone for being in her body.
She walked away from him, down the street to her van, she got into the drivers side. Just drive away Summyr, she thought, this town is full of bleeding hearts, someone will help him. “Ugh,” she moaned, rolling her eyes, driving the van the half a block to meet him. She got out and threw open the side door, pointing to the opening, she glared at him, “get in the damn van, fucker.”
He was walking down the main avenue, his shirt tied to his leg like a tourniquet, blood dripping on the floor as he walked. He had been injured a few minutes ago during his hunt, the scratches were deep and occupied his entire thigh. Lucius leaned against the wall for a few minutes, his vision slowly darkening, a small blood puddle forming on the floor. He catch a glimpse of a silhouette “I’m fine” he said, his voice shaking trying to hide the pain, his hair dripping with sweat
-
For once, she came upon a familiar face while she wasn’t on active duty for the sisterhood, the sisters, the hemlocks, whatever the fuck they felt like calling themselves. She saw him walking ahead of her, she saw the red droplets that speckled the ground and decided against her better judgement to get closer. “Oh yeah, you sure do look fine to me. Yep.Totally accurate assessment of the situation Blackthorn.”
She looked down at his leg, “so, are you going to be a stubborn stoic ass or are you going to let me help you. My van isn’t far from here,” it was parked down the street and it was well equipped.
His car was no closer to being fixed, which meant he was nowhere near ready to leave this town – at least without his dad murdering him in his sleep. However, his curiosity had been twisted by the strange events that had occurred during his time here, the panicked outcries of the town’s residents of monsters in the night, creatures lurking in the shadows, and a war that Frederick was sure he’d never really understood. Although, it made him think about the night that caused him to crash, and inevitably, brought him to Cresthill to be trapped in this prison. The animal, or person, he’d seen on the road.. he couldn’t fathom which of the two it was. It was a mixture, or perhaps the dark playing tricks on his mind.
The male wandered into the road as soon as dusk had fallen, the same road he’d begun his journey on. He could see the sign that welcomed him into Cresthill in the near distance, and he noticed the debris left over from his vehicle.
“Fuck this place,” he muttered, before he heard a rustling. Spinning around quick on his feet, he scanned the forest edge at the side of the road and tried to pinpoint the source of the noise. Before he could come to his senses enough to realise he should leave this area, something on all fours began to appear out of the darkness. It didn’t look.. normal.
With a few steps backward towards the town and it’s safety, Freddie tried to figure out an exit plan in his head. Perhaps if he stayed calm, everything would be okay. Unfortunately, once the creature began to growl, the male was picking up his pace and turned to run away, screaming for an escape, some help, anything.
-
Summyr couldn’t avoid the hunt, now that she was a full fledged Hemlock but she could keep to herself. Her arrow knocked, bow drawn, she waited up in a tree near the sign that welcomed folks into Cresthill. She watched the sunset, setting the sky on fire, a clear night it would seem, she had a preference for that. Watching the sunset, alone with her thoughts, the breeze against the skin on her left arm, the one with her new tattoo felt too powerful, she found herself fixated on it.
Summyr never dreamed of getting a tattoo, she didn’t like that she had one but the rules were the rules and it was a small price to pay for the help. That said, the tattoo was fairly small, even if she thought it looked ugly on her. Had it been up to her, she would have chosen the back of her neck.
She heard voices bellow and saw the disgraced, stranded rich kid wandering about. She rolled her eyes, doing and saying nothing. How was she supposed to explain to him why she was up in the tree with her bow? No, it was better to wait and let him leave without even knowing she was there.
Fate, it seemed, had other plans.
Darkness of night fell and out of the woods came a werewolf, or so it appeared, large and half turned. It wasn’t a full moon so it was strange to see an attack...but perhaps that was because it was in control, maybe there was a goal in this attack, a goal to turn him and add him to their ranks.
She saw him run but not fast enough, the werewolf pounced at him and Summyr fired her arrow, right through the wolf’s back. They fell to the earth with a thud. Summyr fired a second and a third for good measure, each arrowhead silver coated. Her position was revealed and she couldn’t leave the arrows. Hanging the bow back on her back, she swung down from the tree and walked over to retrieved her ammo.
She pulled one of her arrows free from the body,”Go home and wash the blood off kid and then forget any of this ever happened,” she said to him, “got it?”
Side step. Side step. parry. duck.Side step. Parry.
The moon hung above, illuminating the forest with cold, silver blue light. It was beautiful but it was soon to be splashed with blood.
With each sword strike she stumbled backward, this unseelie fae had no intention of going quietly which was just as well to Summyr, the last thing she wanted was an easy kill.She stabbed her blade at the fae’s chest but he parried and slashed. She fell back into a roll, back onto her feet, eyes hardly ever leaving her mark. “You’re getting tired human,”said the fae with a smirk.
“Nah,” said Summyr, “I”M JUST GETTING STARTED!” She lunged low, elbowing them square in the stomach. They fell to the ground, there was a crunching of leaves. This was it, they were vulnerable, all it would take, all it would take…Eyes wide, face pale, she plunged her sword down at the creature but her blade met the earth instead of the fae, as they rolled away just in time.
Stupid! You stupid stupid bitch, you hesitated!
She grimaced and went after the fae, now on their feet, they looked nervous now. Summyr scowled. She ran and sliced her blade down on the fae, steel met steel once more as they blocked. She struck again, harder, forcing them down on their knees, she struck again and again and again.
God, god it felt so wrong. Why did it feel so wrong? Frustrated tears streamed down her cheeks, if she stopped now, the sisterhood would never help her free her sisters.
Suddenly, the unseelie fae dropped their blade, the world seemed to slow, the fae closed their eyes and Summyr’s only got wider as her blade met flesh, his shoulder, slicing down, through it, severing it completely.The arm dropped to the forest floor, spraying blood on her, drenching her own arm with the pitch colour. The fae dropped to the forest floor, bleeding out. Summyr looked down at her bloody hands and then at the creature.
“Why?” she got out between laboured breaths, “why did you give up? Why didn’t you fight?”
“You have no right to questions human,” the spat out, “leave me to die in peace.”
Summyr flinched and took a step back, but she couldn’t leave, she needed to stay, she needed his head, his was the last. She sat down on the grass, pulling her knees up to her chest.Why did she want so badly to beg for forgiveness?
“I thought I told you to leave human,” the fae snapped.
She shook her head, “I can’t.” she said.
“Why not?” he demanded.
She didn’t want to tell him she needed to cut off his head, it made her sick to her stomach to even think it. “It just isn’t the way.”
She turned her head to see anger fade to sheer hopelessness and fear. The air left her lungs, the creature was hoping to run away, to escape with their life while she left the body. They closed their eyes and they began to sob.
She bit her bottom lip to stifle her own sobs as she waited for the sound to quiet and then stop altogether. She waited awhile longer and turned to see the body, breathless, lifeless on the ground.
She got to her feet, legs shaking, she raised her blade and struck down against the fae’s neck.
chop.
There was a little spray of blood, mostly it was a clean cut. She picked up a discarded bag from the ground near her and gently rolled the head into it. Number five…five heads. With that final strike she was a full fledged sister and she’d never felt so lonely.
She looked down at her arms, her body, a mess with blood. Deciding she needed to clean up, she wandered toward a river nearby and started to strip, first her shirt, then her pants, she dunked them in the flowing water and pulled them back out, using them as a rag to wash off her arms and her face.
The moon lit up the water just enough that she could see her reflection, she turned away from it. God she was hideous, scarier looking than any monster she’d faced.Scarier than Vyrnal, scarier than Tymmy. Summyr had to press on though, for those sweet faces, though more and more she was less convinced she’d follow them in the afterlife.
She got up and walked away from the river, through the woods in her bra and underwear, clothes crumpled in her arms, bag swinging by her side as she made her way to her van.She opened the side, put on a pair of sweatpants and took out her cell phone and dialing a number.
The phone rang three times before they answered. “Summyr,” they said, “good news I hope.”
“Yeah,” she said, “it’s done. I got five.”
“It took too long,” they said.
“It took as long as it took!” she snapped, “you never gave me a deadline.”
“I didn’t think I would have to.”
“I passed your test now help me,” she growled.
“I will, you earned that much at least. I’ll come by your house tomorrow at noon, be prepared for that.” The Sisterhood officer hung up and Summyr was once again, completely alone.
Stumbling towards the lake, Franklin noticed a mop of red hair and nothing else. “Autymn, Autymn, Autymn, Deacon is probably looking for you. He needs some cuddles.” He said, walking up to the woman, placing a hand on her back. He didn’t even notice that the woman’s voice was different than the red head dating his cousin at first.
Getting a look at the woman’s face, he let out a laugh. “Oh! You’re not Autymn…. you’re… You’re grumpy! The hunter who burns vampires in the woods.” He laughed, putting a hand on her shoulder again. “Maybe you should get the one that killed my Father. I bet one of the Windham fuckers wanted revenge.” He slurred. “But they killed the wrong Marsh. Hunter killed Katya, not Dad.”
x
She felt a hand on her back and turned sharply. She gripped the stone until her knuckles went white. Oh right, she thought, this motherfucker. Her her shoulder went his hand, babbling about his father, “the last thing I’m going to do is kill anything on behalf of a Marsh,” she sneered, “now get your hand off my shoulder before I remove it from your wrist.”
Her lips twitched into a snarl, “oh, and while you’re at it, keep my sister’s name out of your damn mouth.”
Echo Lake was a good place to practice magic, it was peaceful and the view was incredible, the sweet sound of birds conveyed peace.
He was sitting under a tree trunk that was on the ground, his spell book in his hands, he took a pen out of his pocket and drew the rune on his arm that he would need. He stared at the water again, imagining it moving, and slowly there were small undulations that grew bigger and bigger as he concentrated.
His attention was stolen when he heard a female voice coming around. He opened his eyes, closing the book and taking a cigarette out of his suit pocket.
“It would be if I was actually watching you, which was not exactly the case. But I can go somewhere else if it makes you more comfortable”
She turned towards the voice, tossing the skipping stone, up and down it went in her hand. “You can do whatever you want,” she rolled her eyes. She spotted the book, “odd time to be reading, odd place, most people would want a bit of light.”
she tossed her stone, one, two, plop.
She scowled, “seriously, are you trying to advertise you’re not human or something?” she snapped, more frustrated by her failed toss than at him.
Zachary hadn’t intended to come across as creepy, but his campervan’s location for the next few nights wasn’t far from where the redhead had positioned herself to skim stones, and the sound had roused his suspicion. He had to make sure he wasn’t going to be at risk of being caught, as he was 90% certain he shouldn’t be pitching up near the lake. But he’d assumed a couple of nights wouldn’t hurt.
“If I say I’m not a creep, does that make you think that I’m almost certainly a creep?” He joked, allowing himself to walk closer to the edge of the water now that he had been spotted. “Mind if I join you?”
“It helps I guess,” she mumbled, she didn’t know this guy and for all she knew, he was human. “You can do whatever you want, I don’t own the lake, just don’t mess up the water with a bunch of ripples.”
With the full moon behind him, Berkeley was feeling better than he had been. It always came with mood swings and muscle aches, and it took a decent bit of time to actually get over it. Still, he was pretty much back to his normal self, and decided to take the risk of swimming in the lake. It wasn’t smart, especially by himself, but that’s also what made it fun.
He stopped as he saw someone through the dark, illuminated by the moonlight. The young man stood and watched as they tossed a rock across the surface of the water. A smile tugged at the corners of his lips. He’d always wanted to be able to skip rocks, but never could figure out how, especially with his left hand.
“Oh, sorry! I was watching you do the whole… skippy rock thing. I never could do it, even when I had my dominant hand.” He grinned and approached casually, slinging his towel bag over his shoulder as he did. “Do you mind if I swim? I don’t to disrupt your rock throwing though. In movies it usually means you’re doing it to think or escape from stuff, so maybe that’s what you’re doing, and I’m not here to bother.”
Summyr turned and saw perhaps the least intimidating person in town approaching her. The young man who was known first as a happy chatterbox and second as the one without a second arm, it wasn’t his second signifier that made him unthreatening. His disposition was so different from her own and it pissed her off.
She shrugged, tossing the stone up and down, “it’s a free country, do what you want,” she said before she tossed another stone.
“Eh, it was kind of something I always ended up doing in high school, I can be very quiet when I want to me.”Jessica chuckled as she walked closer to her. “But in all seriousness I’m sorry for not speaking up, won’t happen again. I was just watching you skip rocks, I can never get them to go further than one.”She said as she walked up to the bank of the lake and looked over it. “Think you can teach me how to get it more than one? You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
x
She listened to the woman’s explanation, stone faced. Summyr wondered if she was a supernatural, if she could be that final head she needed. Truth be told, even if she was, Summyr had no will to fight anyone in that moment, not physically at least. “It’s fine,” she said, “and I think I’ll pass, I’m a pretty shitty teacher. Bad communicator.”
She tossed her next stone
One, two, three, plop.
She glanced back at the brunette, “if you wanted to watch me and see if you can figure it out that way, I won’t stop you.”
Echo lake, it really did echo. Not in sound, although she imagined the space perfectly capable of carrying noise, like a bandshell or an auditorium...but no, it was more like it echoed in feeling. Picking up a smooth stone from the shore, she turned it over and over in her hand. Something about the water and the warm Summer breeze made her loneliness fester and rot inside her, the hole in her chest growing each time she saw a little firefly flicker from the corner of her eye in the darkness of night. She threw the stone and watched it skip across the water.
On, two, three, four, plop!
“You know,” she said, “it’s rude to watch people and not say anything, actually, creepy would be a better word for it.” She picked up another stone, inspecting it to see if it would be good for skipping...
“What? Because you’re too drunk or because you’re physically stuck to the ground?” Frederick sarcastically replied, as he patted the wet patches on his designer suit dry. He was irritated, but something about Summyr seemed to make him forget about being the egotistical narcissist he was known to be. Maybe she was some sort of mythical creature that could induce a certain power over him.
His eyes wandered from his own attire to hers, secretly admiring the dress she wore and how well she donned it. He was so enticed, he almost missed her question. “Well, I have to make an appearance at these things.” Maybe back home, but nobody in Cresthill would even notice if he was here or not. “Besides, free booze and everyone not looking like they’re homeless.”
She rolled her eyes, “no, Jackass, I’m here to meet someone,” she snapped, “and it’s important, even if it isn’t fun so I’m staying.” It wasn’t his fault she was irritated but he usually did or said nothing to ease those feelings either. Kind was not a word she would use to describe Fred, kinder than expected? Sure, but kindness and calmness didn’t come naturally to him like they did to Vyrnal. She’d spotted her sister across the ballroom, she was as poised in death as she was in life...
She shook her head to pull herself out of her reverie, “anyway, I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself now that everyone is dressed to your standards.”
When she pushed him away, Frederick composed himself too – trying to not let her see his own vulnerabilities. That perhaps he had a heart. “Yeah, I’ll do whatever you want.” He agreed without thinking about his choice of words. Shooting her a glance, he wondered if he should leave her by herself, but figured she’d be strong enough to deal with whatever it was on her own. “I’ll ask who I can, but I can’t promise you we’ll find her today.” He was blunt with his honesty. He had to be though. “Just don’t worry if nothing turns up. We’ll find something, a clue or whatever, eventually.” We.
They weren’t going to find her, she knew that in her heart, she was just setting him off on busy work, a task he could complete so he could feel he at least tried. She just nodded, “yeah, sure, I’l...see you around I guess,” she said, walking off away from him, down a street that veered off towards the forest.
After the adrenaline went down he could see how strange it all seemed. He had killed someone of his own kind to protect someone who kill his species.
At first sight Summyr looked like a warrior, but looking deeper she was just a girl, confused, hurt, with all her insecurities and a life full of possibilities, and it seemed wrong for him to let it all end by a selfish choice.
The arrow pointed at him no longer intimidated him, he stood up, relaxing his body. He was still staring at her, his eyes fixed on hers, after a while in silence he finally spoke
“I know what they do and who they hunt, but this war is not mine, at least not tonight. It’s way bigger than us. I know you are a great warrior, but you would have no chance”
He didn’t expect a thank you and didn’t even want her to, and every time he looked at her he was sure he had made the right choice.
“You are full of energy, full of life, you have many choices and paths to follow and I would not let you die, I wish someone had chosen the same for me. I am not your enemy tonight”
She wouldn’t stand a chance, huh? “Oh wow, a vampire underestimating a human, I’m sure that’s going to work out just fine for you,” she sneered, rolling her eyes. She wanted to loose that arrow right through his chest but he’d saved her and now she couldn’t and it pissed her off.
She lowered the bow, not because she felt safe, simply because she knew she couldn’t actually use it against him. “I’m not going to kill you tonight,” she said, “just tonight. The next time I see you? You won’t be so lucky...or I won’t, I guess it doesn’t really matter.”
She walked past him to the body of the unseelie fae she killed, hooking her bow behind her on her back, she set about unsheathing one of her daggers and decapitating the creature. It was hard somehow, harder than it had been before. The task itself was doable but it made her sick to her stomach.
It was a dream, she knew it had to be because snow covered the ground and her sister was there, Tymmy but...her face...it kept wavering, shifting glitching, not into anything in particular, it was just like her file had been damaged or corrupted. The taller redhead wrapped her arms around Summyr but she could barely feel them. She closed her eyes, when she opened them, Autymn was gone.
The weight on her chest was becoming unbearable, had it always been this difficult to breath? She wasn’t sure but she could just swear there was something wrong with her, that she needed a doctor. She stood at a street corner, on her way to the gym, staring off into space, when she felt him take her hand. She glanced up to see who it was and looked away, leaving their hands joined a moment before pulling away.
