Was this going to consume my whole body?
My heart throbbed as I cowered over to a tree trunk, slumping against the rough bark. The pain was too much. Tears stained my cheeks as I toppled over, seeing the world fade out as I hit the dirt.
***
A loud, dull roar blasted through the nightly air, and I shuddered awake to realize it was a foghorn from the nearby lighthouse. I clumsily climbed back up to my feet, aches rifling through my entire body. The light…
I looked down, seeing the pattern on my hand had at last reached my elbow and thankfully stopped.
The light had faded, revealing metallic black ink resting in its place. My entire arm was now covered with a massive tattoo! The pain too had subsided, but a faint red glow remained over a small section of the skin. It was a symbol that looked like an upside-down Y. My vision swayed woozily as I knelt down to grab my jacket. Barely managing to make it down to the nearby clearing, I stumbled out onto a bridge to what looked like a reservoir. The only manmade lights I could see were streetlights resting on the other side of the lake. By the sickening wave of nausea rolling over me, I knew I wouldn’t have been able to climb all the way back up the steep hill to the shopping center, so I headed across the bridge.
Halfway, I froze.
“I see you.” The words echoed with a lingering hiss, carrying themselves to me in the chilling wind.
“I see you.”
Whirling around in every direction, I didn’t see another soul in sight. Whether this was a sick prank or something worse, I wasn’t about to wait around to find out. My feet pounded across the wooden planks of the dock as I took off across the harbor. Making it safely to the other side of the waterfront, I raced toward the upcoming street.
Warehouses and ramshackle residents came into view, and I could faintly make out the distant city lights radiating from the downtown. My legs were propelling me so rapidly that I feared tripping, given the dampened conditions, but fear only urged me faster.
“I…see…you.”
I trampled to a halt as a large dark mass walked onto the road at the end of the block in front of me. Snarling white teeth showed from the black mass of fur, and I staggered back at the sight of blazing yellow eyes. It was a wolf! The beast lowered its head, emitting a low snarl as the hair on its back stiffened along with its straightedge tail. A revolting odor hit me in the face, making me gag at what reeked of rotting eggs.
Just as I pivoted my foot back a step, the animal barked, springing forward. An ear aching scream erupted from my lungs as I darted down the garbage cluttered alley right beside me, coming to a large chain link fence. If I managed to climb it just enough, I’d be safe. My feet gained traction at the bottom of the barrier as I ran up the fence, gripping my fingers into the steel wire diamond patterned openings. The gate shuddered as the animal ran at it, yapping and snapping up at me. Frantically scaling to the top, I was just about to heave my weight over to the other side when something grabbed a hold of my calves, wrenching me downward. I expected to feel the stabbing of sharp teeth tearing into my skin, but the force felt more like…hands.
I tried maintaining my clutch on the top bar, but when I was met with another solid yank, my fingers lost grip and I fell backward. Landing in an accumulation of garbage bags, I tried rolling out of the mass, preparing to see the wolf. Instead, a brawny masculine figure looked down at me. The chilling winds rushing off the waterfront coursed through the air, causing the ends of his long, black trench coat to sweep around him. Bare-chested and donning leather riding gloves, the stranger removed the hood shading his face, revealing long blonde locks of bone straight hair.
“Well, well, well. Look what we have here,” he cooed, standing over me. “A newbie.”
I brought up my leg, preparing to hit him in the groin, when he ever so swiftly caught a hold of my foot before I could execute my attack. He thrust all his weight down on me, pinning every limb under his own.
“Don’t struggle, sweetheart. I promise, you tell me what I want to know, and I’ll do this fast. You’ll barely feel a thing,” he hummed almost tenderly, running his nose alongside my face with ease. “Where is your Maker?”
“My w-what?”
“Who turned you?”
“I…I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I choked out as tears rushed down my cheeks. “I have credit cards and money on me. You can have them! Please, just don’t hurt me.”
“Ignorance isn’t going to get you anywhere,” he suddenly snarled, an animalistic growl emanating from the back of his throat.
His grip around my wrists tightened, and I whimpered out another plea as he brought his gaze to meet mine. His once brown eyes suddenly smoldered into a radiating gold before casting an unnatural, iridescent shade of yellow across the entirety of his irises.