The lands are covered with grass, bushes, trees and strange eyes that stare behind the covers of the forest shade. Creaking sounds are heard as if the trees are communicating and the path which Samuel leads them through begin to look unclear.
Rachael trust him nonetheless, if anybody should know a thing about surviving in this strange world it has to be the sphinx with access to world knowledge as they called it.
Rachael can hear hisses and slithering movements around them but Samuel doesn't seem to care much about it.
Right now she wishes she could have his confidence but she knows she can't especially after she just survived a jaguar scare. They are on a particular woody path with a lot of dead branches stretching across the ground. The steps become hops and the songs of the breaking twigs get louder.
Rachael's feet begin to hurt and her breath get heavy, she pauses to catch her breath.
Samuel looks around as she leans against a tree, "God, I need water" she says, "Don't worry, we will get some at the harbor," he says as he walks around, watching with great alert and silent growls.
Rachael looks down the path and sees how narrow it is, leaves stick out from both sides so close to the road that it would touch the face.
"Samuel, can you use your wings? Please, we don't have to go through that," she says. "We do. The space here is too small to spread my wings at full span. Beyond that narrow road is a wider road that leads to the end of this place.
We take a few more steps we will see a lighthouse, then we are in Green Harbor. We will find Amanda and Elma there," Samuel says as his face begins to turn into a strange frown much like that of a cub ready to pounce on a rival.
His eyes shine brightly and fangs become visible behind his lips, "Miss McQueen, you should better that running. We have company," Samuel says.
The sounds of wind breaking against their thin wings are plain and clear in his ears, his quick vision picks them coming from the dark like nightmares.
Rachael can pick out strange figures from the darkness that is behind them.
"Was it always this dark?" she wonders but Samuel's voice echoes into her mind and she makes a haste to flee.
A winged vampire flies through the air, charging fast at the sphinx. It's mouth stretched to jaws end like a snake and a skin has pale as the dead. Gleams of the sun's reflection, its grace peering through the small and shapeless holes of the shady forest gives shape to the creature in the dark.
It's red eyes appear before Samuel in a flash and its sturdy long legs kick him in the chest. Samuel falls a few feet away, stumbling before getting a grip on the earth, and he stares at the vampire as it parades itself in the dark covers of the forest ceiling like a bat.
Samuel roars and the vampire charges again, swiftly and sturdily with strong legs, it grabs and raises the sphinx above the ground and smacks him against a tree.
"This is where you die." the vampire says in a crackle while Samuel spits and coughs. He taste a soppy and metallic flavor against his lip as he rises to his feet.
He spits the blood and stares at the winged vampire, "You are going to die," he says and the vampire lets out a deafening cry before charging towards Samuel who dives out of the way.
With the miss the vampire loses its balance and Samuel charges toward it, wrapping his arms around its throat while its wings flap with all the strength in his body.
It rises and begins to hit his assailant against the trees until he finally falls off and onto the ground.
Samuel roars deeply with edges of his mouth slightly extended and his face becomes hairy.
He jumps from tree to tree with growls and thick claws that hold him against the trees as he attempts to give chase. Samuel breaks a branch and jumps towards the winged vampire who is in mid air but it dodges.
Samuel turns his waist with all the strength he can muster, he swings the branch with might and smacks the head of the vampire.
The two creatures land hard against the ground but Samuel is quick to recover, he gradually increases in size and his clothes soon becomes tight against his body.
Little horns come out of his forehead and his claws grow longer as he runs toward the dazed vampire.
The vampire begins to regain his senses and his eyes widen at the sight of the incoming beast. It growls and exposes a long pair of fangs and small sharp-edged molars.
It releases a battle cry as it prepares to face the sphinx but a stubborn young woman would not let it be.
Rachael stabs Nightmare into the back of the winged vampire, sending it into a well of pain and anguish as it screams and scratches its claws against the floor and its pale skin erupt into the air as smoke and ash.
The vampire lights up in flame and his lights spread through the forest for a brief moment before it dies against the wind and the ashes that now remained.
Samuel stops as she looks at him and he realizes that this is the second time she is seeing him in this form. His pointy ears flicker as he assesses Rachael.
Her heart beats calmly but he can tell it is not without effort. He shouldn't be surprised after all the last time he was much scarier and his claws were busier.
His fur gradually disappears into his body and his claws retract into his hands; his clothes becomes loose as his body return to a their initial size.
"I told you to run," he says.
"I couldn't leave you behind," she says, "Are you crazy? You are a human in a dangerous world. You have to be careful," "I'm not that useless Sammy," she says.
Samuel looks at her and scoffs, he pulls out a canteen from his jacket and sips from it; "You are like a stubborn puppy. You don't like to obey the command but you want the treats anyway," he says.
"I am not a fucking dog," she says with a serious tone as she walks to the ashes to pick up the dagger.
"You know, you don't always have to leave the weapon in there once you stab the heart," Samuel says as his eyes watch her and his tongue wet his lips.
"A thank you would be nice you know," she says but he rolls his eyes, "We don't have time for this. Let's go, Gabriel could pass through the threshold of the living and the dead at any moment. Come on we have to move," Samuel urges her.
"Once we go to the clearing we will fly to the harbor," he says.
Rachael didn't say anything about his beastly look but he knows she was afraid and his heart now beats with bother as he wonders if that is what she truly sees.
Rachael stares at him with a strange gaze, "Why is your breath fogging? You've got cold breath" she says and he immediately begins to feel a cold grip around him.
A force he had never known before and a fear that he has never felt. His heart dances to the music that is fear and sweat drips from his cold skin like he has a fever.
He feels the roughness of cold chains around his wrists and his body begins to shiver, "Sammy, are you alright?" Rachael runs to his aid as he falls one knee.
Grunting as he struggles to maintain his consciousness.
An image of his brother flashes in his eyes and his voice echo in his ears; "Sammy,".