Graphic violence ahead in this chapter- shooting, killing etc.
I gaped, stepping out into the porch, trying to find some path that led away from this house. But the woods surrounded from one end to another, and endless darkness ahead due to the thick woods. The house was caged, hidden within the woods.
"Why would you leave?" An incredulous voice asked from behind, once again I did not bother to look which of the two men it was.
"I have a life to get back to. My company needs me." I didn't know why I even bothered to explain to these men. I had my own life to lead. I had the right to make my own decisions, I refuse to stay here imprisoned by this ridiculous nonsense. I had one mission, and one mission alone. I wasn't going to put everything I loved in danger, even for the man that came from my dreams.
The woods eventually stop into an old town or main roads, right?
Believing what I know, I walked towards the woods.
"Those woods can be dangerous, if you don't know your way through them." A deep voice rumbled, speeding the beating of my heart. A very appealing sound that called onto me.
"Stupid Toothless!" I grumbled, walking into the woods. The laughs erupted from either Austin or Alec -most likely Austin- didn't take my interest. Calling him that was childish of me, a woman of my age shouldn't be acting in such away. But from the years of having to built myself up, I deserved to have perhaps a little bit of childishness in my life.
Mother gave me her moments, but it wasn't enough, I was always treated like an outsider. Some actually had the privilege of having a proper loving and caring childhood, but I didn't.
Keeping my gaze ahead into the thick woods, I walked straight, ready to get back to my company.
I fought the urge to look back, and lock my eyes with the oceanic wilderness of the seafoam eyes, one last time. Whoever this man was, he definitely engraved himself into my mind, making it almost impossible to pass any other thought. But I won't let him keep me here. A man of his age believed in dragons, creatures from storybooks told to children on sleepless nights.
"He needs to grow up." I muttered, walking past trees after trees.
I cringed, feeling myself step onto something wet and moist, "Ew!" I screeched. Looking at my feet, I noticed I was bare feet covered in dirt. Being completely determined to simply get away from Tristan, I didn't even check to see if I was wearing any footwear.
Balling my fists, I let out a scream of frustration and face-palmed. Frustration built in my veins, wanting me to punch and kick every tree in sight.
Calling him every name under the sun, I turned back towards his house and shouted, "TRISTAN SLADE! GIVE ME BACK MY JIMMY CHOOS!" Knowing I won't receive any answer, I whined as I continued walking forward, "He has my Jimmy Choos."
I shivered as the cold air erupted goosebumps on my skin. I had underestimated the thickness of these dark woods. Large trees grew tall, reaching to the skies, trying to hide any bit of sky or sunlight it possibly could. The bright sun had failed to have its rays penetrate through the dense canopy the trees made.
A range of reactions rushed through my body with every step I took. I either cringed at the dirt my feet touched and hissed as a fallen branch or stone dug into my soft flesh.
How much more further do I have to suffer this?
The smell of acorns and leaves was starting to suffocate me.
"Ow!" I hissed in pain as something sharp plunged itself into my feet. Balancing myself against a tree, I lifted my feet again, an activity I seemed to do every minute that passed, "I'm going to get myself a spa day, after I get out of here." I grumbled, seeing a thorn digging into my bare flesh. I never liked things cutting my skin.
I gulped, wrapping my two fingers around the damn thing and tried to pull it out, "It hurts! Ow!"
Why did this happen to me?
I know, whether I pulled it out fast or slowly it was going to hurt, like a damn bandage on your skin. I whined, closing my eyes and pulled it out. My stomach clenched itself and I balled my hands into fists at how harshly it burned me, "Oh, you little-" I threw it away, feeling the cold air hit against the wound.
A small drop of blood ran down, mixing in with the dirt, before the red colour hid within the bits of soil that covered my feet.
Tristan's words mockingly rang in my head again.
"Is this what he meant?" I muttered, trying to stand on my feet again, but the sudden pain that rushed through my feet as it hit the ground made me lift it up again in a sudden reflex, causing me to lose balance and fall backwards, right into a spider's web.
I screamed as the sticky web stuck on my face and hair, "Get off! Get off!"
Struggling to stand on my feet, I scolded myself, "Hey! Jisoo Kim, what's wrong with you?! You run a multi-billion company! You can't get past these stupid woods?!" I can't believe what I have come to be. I stood strong and tall within the business world, I should be able to do the same here! I was both disgusted and frustrated with myself, but it only powered me on get out of this damn woods!
I cringed, trying to peel off every bit of the sticky web from my hair.
What is this?
I groaned, running a hand over my face. So this is what my life has come to, "Stupid dirt! Stupid trees!" At this point, I didn't know what nonsense came out from my mouth. I just kept talking, wanting my voice to dominate over the eerie sounds of the winds blowing against the trees.
Wiping my face with the back of my hand, a low light shimmered brightly against my eyes, almost blinding me. Shielding my eyes, I moved away a little and tried to blink multiple times to adjust to the bright light it shone with. Blinking I tried to get rid of the tears that soaked my sensitive eyes, and the blurriness that invaded my vision.
Once the blurriness faded away, I was met with floating feathers of light. I frowned, wondering if they were fireflies, but they floated softly onto the ground like feathers. Like delicate dancers that coupled with the wind, they floated around me, like red-seeded dandelions- the Taraxacum Erythrospermum. I gulped, reaching forward and touched the soft-looking threads of feather.
As my fingertips met with a bright feather, the bright white shine was suddenly changed into soft blues, shining its bright hues towards me. I gasped, stepping back only to touch more of these feathers.
I had landed onto a nest of them.
Maybe it's a chemical reaction..
I tried to convince myself, but as the soft blues turned to soft pinks, I knew it wasn't a chemical reaction. It's only influence to change colour was either the air or my touch, but the air seemed to do little to no effect on them, it was my touch that influenced the colour change.
I gasped, shaking my head, it can't be real. Both mesmerised and fearful, I backed myself against a tree, "What..?" I found myself whispering, as I slightly shaked in fear.
Its beauty struck me, but the sightings it gave scared me.
My attention suddenly shifted hearing the breaking of the silence as a small piece of branch broke under the influence of someone's, or something's weight. The sound paranoid me, but I trusted myself enough to know that couldn't have been out of the blue. I frowned, trying to listen carefully, it can't have been my mind playing tricks. And there it was again, the crunching sound of a fallen branch breaking.
I tried to stand straight, trying to identify which direction it had come from, but as expected the silence dominated through, only raising my suspicions.
I stood there, holding my breath and standing still, trying to listen for that light crunching sound again.
Confusion washed over my face, not hearing anything again. Sure, it was the woods, it could have been some animal or bird, but after seeing those feathers, I knew there was something out there.
I sighed, shaking my head, starting to walk again, trying not to apply too much pressure on my wounded feet.
But I heard it again, my head quickly whipped around trying to spot whatever it was.
Maybe Tristan was following me?
But my thoughts were quickly cut off as the sound of the crunch took my attention again.
However, everything seemed to freeze for the next few moments, before I felt something sharp hit my side, piercing through my skin painfully. I screamed, seeing black spots start to invade my vision as it started burning, painfully.
A pain so sharp it made me lose my balance, everything seemed to be in a blur as I fell backwards. My body and hearing seemed to go numb as I hit the ground. I heard a voice, perhaps a shout.. or maybe multiple.
I groaned in pain, trying to move. I heard someone moving towards me. A pair of dark eyes caught my sight. Somewhere in between the paranoia and numbness, I managed to jerk myself up away from the figure approaching me. A few muted words reached me, but I kept trying to jerk myself further away as the figure got closer and closer.
But it seemed my body drowned in pain because of the weapon, an arrow that pierced through my skin, stuck in place, slowing down my movements.
Just as I slightly sat myself up on my elbows, the figure lowered next me. The roaring and shouting of others muted in my years, as I tried to make up the entire face of the man beside me.
I blinked repeatedly, trying to clear the blurriness in my eyes, and once I did, deep dark-eyes I have seen seen before, stared into my soul, sending an instant shock to my heart.
I let out a shaky breath as he spoke, "Dear, sweet, Jisoo.." he chuckled.
"H-How..?" I frowned, both shocked and disgustingly revived at seeing a familiar face, because it unfortunately had to be Antonio Venturi's face.
"It pains me to hurt you like this." He said, brushing a hand dangerously close to the arrow, "But certain things must be done, sweet Jisoo." He looked down, somewhat trying to hide the smirk appearing on his face.
My ears heard his words as they finally cleared out, letting me hear the cries of pain and angry shouts that surrounded the woods. The cries, sounds of swords and arrows shooting and cutting through the air dominated over the once silent woods.
As much as I wanted to look at their direction, I fought the urge and glared straight into the Venturi's dark eyes, "How are you here, Venturi?"
"There're secrets buried in every family, sweet Jisoo." His smirk grew, only to have me to fight the urge of having shivers run down my spine.
"Secrets?"
"You'll know soon enough. So bad to see you on the opposing side, though." He chuckled, shaking his head as he stood up, "Means more pain is necessary."
"What side?!" I snapped, gritting my teeth, glaring at him with as much energy as I could possibly muster in my pained state.
His eyes seemed to run a darker shade, "The dragons' side." He muttered, his personal hate spilling to life as he mentioned them.
I scoffed, forcing out laughs, "You're insane!"
"I thought the same at first."
I was about to reply to him when I saw a taller figure, coming fast as the winds, from behind Antonio, and swiftly grabbed him.
I narrowed my eyes, only to gasp at the deep oceanic wilderness that I had locked my gaze with, staring straight at me, before travelling down to the arrow that stuck to the side of my leg. In that moment, growl or roar..an actual growl or roar, or something in between erupted from Tristan's chest as he pushed Antonio to the ground.
I frowned, seeing the hate flare in their eyes as they stared at each other before commencing into a fight. I watched, unsure of what to do as they threw punches at each other. Tristan had it worse, he had to block the sharp arrows that Antonio tried to stab him with, Tristan was weaponless. After every punch he blocked, Antonio would try and stab him ...a clever distraction.
My heart raced as a figure ran up towards me, "Are you alright?"
I almost sighed in relief seeing it was only Alec, though I was unsure whether to trust him or not, I knew if he wanted to harm me, he would have already done it, "Define 'alright' Alec." I muttered, feeling annoyed at his choice of words.
"Tristan warned you." He scowled at me, maybe for not listening; for choosing to disobey his boss' orders. I rolled my eyes in response. I had my reasons.
Alec's eyes locked with the arrow stuck onto the side of my leg, on my thigh, just before the side of the knee joint. His hand reached out in instinct, probably to pull the sharp object out, but I reacted fast, "Don't!" I snapped, slapping his hand away.
"I need to pull it out, Jisoo. It could be poisoned." He stressed his words, trying to make me understand. But I have watched enough movies to understand, you never pull it out, at least not until you get to the hospital.
"No, I need to be taken to the hospital first!" I exclaimed, causing him to look at me incredulously for a second or two.
"There's isn't time for that. You-"
Alec was suddenly cut off by something that slashed through the air and stuck itself straight onto the tree behind us. Alec and I both watched the object -an arrow- bouncing frantically as it met and stuck itself into the bark of the tree.
"Sh*t!" I heard Alec curse. Before I even had a chance to turn around to face him, he was already up on his feet and racing towards the direction of where the arrow came from. My eyes widened as I saw him right straight towards the shooter, who already had another arrow locked in place ready to shoot ..aiming for Alec's chest.
I sat there, frozen, not knowing what to do or say as the arrow was released. I snapped my eyes shut as hearing it swiftly cut through the air, before it suddenly stopped, being caught into something.
Letting out a shaky breath, I slowly opened my eyes, preparing myself to see his body lying on the ground, with the arrow plunged into his chest.
However, I was met with a different sight, Alec standing straight, with the arrow wrapped around his hand as he glared at the shooter. How did he…?
He held the arrow tightly in his grip as he approached the shooter. Shock grasped my body in a tight grip, just like Alec had the arrow, causing it hard for any logical thought to pass my mind. I just watched Alec walking straight up to the shooter, grab him roughly by the shoulder and I swear I heard a sound, much like the cracking of the fallen branches, making me shiver.
I shook my head, before I horrifyingly witnessed Alec stab the arrow straight into the shooter's chest, right onto his heart.
I stood, gaping at Alec, a man I thought was quite calm and collected, maybe even brooding, but watching him do something so horrific.. I knew I had read him wrong.
Keeping myself flesh against the tree behind me, I watched the sickening sight of the shooter's chest drawing out blood, before collapsing on his knees and landing face flat on the ground, lifeless.
Alec quickly spun on his feet and grabbed another shooter that approached him. Grabbing onto the shooter's neck, I gulped watching him tighten his grip, before slamming the shooter against a tree. I whimpered, covering my ears as I heard the sickening crack of the spine snapping in two.
I blinked, shocked and horrified at the strengths Alec displayed. I have seen people fight either in movies or in random streets at night, something in school I witnessed boys fighting, but Alec fought with a strange ferocity... a supernatural ferocity.
Pulling away and allowing the dead body fall onto the ground like trash, Alec moved onto his next opponent.
"Today is just not your day, is it?" I heard a chuckle from behind me. In the state of fear and shock it took me a second to register in the words and address the blonde-man from before.. Austin, looking down at the arrow stuck onto my flesh still.
"H-How did he..?" Words flew from my mouth, mumbled and jumbled, and I didn't even know if he understood my words.
"Tristan told you." He said. It was only then something like a deep red caught my eyes. Austin's hands were covered completely in a deep liquid shaded red.
"Oh my God." I mumbled, imagining horrific scenes of how he possibly had his hand covered in that much blood. His face was an emotionless mask, but I saw something burn deep in his light blue eyes, a fire ..an honourable fire, one that said he didn't mind the killing, in fact he enjoyed it, for the sake of being honourable, and fight for what he treasured, just like Alec.
The growl or a roar that came from deep in the woods made me tear away from Austin.
It sounded familiar enough because I heard it mere minutes ago.. only this time it was louder... more powerful..
Tristan...