Wara stared wide eyed at the frantic behaviour of the three and clutched the child to her chest.
She wondered what it was that made them so afraid and dared to venture outside to see what "it" was.
Her eyes widened to find a horrifying creature screeching loudly into the air.
It looked like it's skin had been peeled off and roasted and then slapped back on. It's head was bloody and had no nose. It only had two holes in between the sucken beady red eyes and thin jagged lips. Those lips peeled back in a snarl to reveal long sharp fangs.
It leaned back to screech again and Wara noticed how webbed the arms were. There were long claws at the tips of the fingers that resembled talons and the feet were like the haunted creatures Wara often saw in the village's forest.
There were long jagged lines on the ribs of the creature but Wara did not bother to even think or ponder on what those were.
All that was on her mind was that she has to get Zola to safety. An idea came to light in her mind and she muttered a quick spell. She did not realise she had said the spell wrong but the child had disappeared from her arms and was "safe"
She turned to the creature with a hardened expression and her eyes began to glow purple. Reaching out, the air rippled around her hand and she pushed her palm forward slightly.
The creature suddenly began to scream in pain. The noise was ear splitting and there was a tear. A sudden breeze hits Wara's face as she had closed her eyes. She opened her eyes to find that the jagged lines on the creature's body were wings. Thin bloody skin like wings. In the place where the lines had been was thick black blood, oozing out in heaps.
As more blood poured out, the creature seemed to have a crazed hungry expression and snarled, angrier than before.
Wara then came to the realisation that, as the creature lost blood, it somehow got hungry.
Another crazy idea hit her and picking up a sharp rock close to her without loosing eye contact with the creature, she cut her palm.
Immediately she began to bleed, the creature let out a pained scream and dashed for her. She had no time to even breathe and it had already clutched her arm, sucking greedily at her blood.
Before she could even move, the creature let out another scream but instead of hearing the ear splitting noise, she heard Sica's voice.
"Please stop!" He begged before the creature latched it's mouth on to her hand. It pierced her with its fangs and immediately dark thoughts that were not her own plagued her senses.
She saw images of the people the blood sucker had fed on and felt its guilt as it tore their screaming bodies apart. She felt the fight between the man and creature that possessed his body.
No sooner than that happened did the creature fling himself from Wara. Sickening cracks and pops filled the air as the creature melted back into man.
Wara did not notice since her mind was still overwhelmed with the images she had seen. She snapped back to reality when she heard a groan and found Sica's body looking mangled and bloody.
For some reason, the sight upsetted her bowels and without warning, she bent over and released the contents of her stomach.
Heaving heavily, she refused to look at the man whose skin was still trying to melt back to look favorable upon the eyes.
Yhra rushed out to find Wara still heaving and Sica stark naked and soaked in his own blood.
She ran to help up Sica who tried to stand on his own but wobbled as if his legs were not his own. He turned a dazed expression to Wara who stared at him blankly and muttered a weak "Thank you " before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he passed out.
Wara stood motionless, the screams and wails of terrified people plaguing her endlessly. Her mind was split into two even as Yhra had advised they retire for the night.
As she laid on the shawl, trying to block out the gruesome images and traumatising screams, a million things lay on mind and she forgot the most important thing of all.
The child in her care.
***
Zola woke up cold, terrified and hungry.
He looked around for Wara but found he was in a dark room and was laying on a slightly damp floor
"Nya?" He called out, scared as she shivered slightly.
"Nya!" He shouted this time, his voice echoing back. He pulled his knees to his chest as he sat up, hoping for an answer. When he recieved none, he wrapped his arms around his legs.
As he began to sob, a latch unlocked and someone walked into the room.
"Hello dear one. I don't think she's coming for you " the voice was dark and sinister and something about it was familiar but the boy could not put his hand on it.
"Who are you?" He asked bravely. Raising his chin to try and catch a glimpse of the face.
A chuckle rang out from the person and chills ran down the child's back. "don't you remember me Khari? I'm your very good friend. Oh wait! We haven't met yet."
The child did not understand a thing of what had been said but he was scared and he wished he had never woken up.
Where was Wara?