"Achilles, Achilles wake up." she whispered and shook him awake. "What is it?" he asked with a dazed look as he had just woken up. "Are there wild animals here?" she asked. "Cos I can hear growls."
Achilles sat up and looked at her. "You hear growls?" "It's very discreet but I still hear it." "Oh no!" he exclaimed and immediately stood up. "Why? What wrong?" She asked, beginning to panick.
"Just stay here and I'll be back." "No!" She grabbed his hand and stood up. "You can't leave me here. I'm coming with." He looked at her for a while and then agreed. He grabbed her hand and entered deeper into the forest.
"Where are we going exactly?" She asked. "Nowhere in particular. Just trying to find something." "Trying to find a wild animal to kill us both?" "Can you please stop talking." he shut her up. She lifted her eyebrow and pursed her lips. "Ok fine."
They continued walking in silence. They stopped after she told him that she heard another subtle growl. He let go of her hand and looked around a little.
She, on the underhand, wandered off to a near by tree that had a weird symbol on it. She was curious and so she touched it.
"Achilles what is this-" She turned around and the emptiness cut her off. He wasn't there.
"Achilles? Achilles where are you?" she yelled, panic evident in her voice. She was so scared.
"Achilles?!" She yelled even louder but he didn't answer. Tears began to pool in her eyes. She tried her best to fight it but she couldn't. She was just too scared. She was about to call his name again when she heard a bush ruffle.
She turned around almost immediately. "Hello? Who's there?" She asked as if whoever was there would respond. "I said who's there?!" She yelled this time.
A man then emerged from behind a thick bush. She was kinda relieved but still had her guard up. He was tall, had long black hair and only wore ripped shorts. He was fairly masculine.
"Who are you?" she asked calmly. "The name's Helix," he said. "Ever heard of Prince... or should I say King Achilles?" He asked. "What is it to you?" she countered with confidence but she was dying on the inside. "Tsk!" he smirked devilishly and walked towards her. "Just a reminder to an old friend." he said. She didn't understand him. Did he know Achilles or something? In her head, she was trying to figure out what he meant but then, she felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck. He had sunk his claws into her neck.
She let out a blood curdling scream that broke the stillness of the forest. The more she screamed, the deeper he sunk his claws. He was aiming for something. He wanted to make sure they were deep enough.
He let go when he heard Achilles call her name. He quickly fled into the darkness of the night. Her body slumped down to the ground with blood dripping from her neck and dyeing her clothes red.
Achilles rushed to her when he saw her on the floor. He really shouldn't have left her on her own. He should have protected her but he didn't. Instead, he walked off deeper into the forest and now someone or something had hurt her and it was all his fault.
. . .
"What happened to her Achilles?" Zale asked Achilles who was pacing back and forth in his large study. "For the last time Zale, I'm not sure. I just wandered off and I think I left her behind. I heard her scream so I rushed back and that's when I found her bleeding from her neck." He explained.
"Did you look at the wounds?" Zale asked again. "They looked like someone dug their finger nails into her neck so I brought her here immediately." "Wait... did you say finger nails?" "Yeah like claws or something-" Achilles stopped and looked at Zale for a second. They were thinking the same thing. Achilles shook his head. "No. No way!" he said. "What do you mean 'no'?" Zale furrowed his brows. "It can't be. It simply can't." Achilles kept on denying it. "I think we both know what kind of 'things' do that." "And we both know that those 'things' don't let people go." "Unless..." They looked at each other one more time. "Lykaon Lycans." They both said in unison. "I still think that's so repetitive." Achilles said. "Achilles, this is not the time to joke around. This is serious." Zale rebuked. Achilles cleared his throat and got serious again.
"Let's go check."
They both agreed and went to Kristen in his room. She was still unconscious but the maids had taken care of her wounds and changed her clothes. They slowly approached her. She was laying on the bed looking really peaceful.
Zale reached out and touched her shoulder and turned her to her side so he could have a better look. He slowly took off the bandage wrapped around her neck and froze when he saw the wounds. Achilles noticed and asked, "Why? What's wrong? Is it bad?" "It's gone." he replied.
"What?! Gone?!" Achilles yelled.
"It's gone. The wounds have disappeared." Achilles leaned over to see for himself and he was equally astounded.
"We were right." Zale announced. Achilles began to take steps back as he couldn't believe what was happening. With the amount of blood that was oozing out before, there's no way the wound would heal in a matter of hours.
He began to shed tears. Prince Achilles, the man who never cried even at his grandfather's funeral. The man who never knew how to express his emotions was crying. It was a sight for sore eyes.
"This is all my fault! This is all my fault!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "If I hadn't left her, none of this would have happened! I'm so stupid!" he continued to yell. He didn't know how to process sadness so he diverted it to anger.