A loud bang sounded through the cabin, followed closely by a hard crash. I jumped off my cot and ran into the kitchen as fast as my feet would take me. The kitchen was only five steps away, but it felt like forever before I busted through the archway.
I arrived just in time to see an older male holding my mother to the ground with her hands behind her back. The priest standing in the doorway with his hands folded in front of him. His lips curled into a smile as he watched the scene. Two other males I recognized as hunters in the village stood inside the kitchen at opposite walls. They were staring down at my mother, but their eyes shot up at me as I entered the room. My mother made a soft yelp of pain as the man holding her tightened a rope around her wrists.
I have always had one rule growing up. Don't go around starting fights or hurting people. I have never broken this rule... not once in my life did I break this rule. But at that moment I saw red. The room went dark and my vision narrowed. Before I knew what I was doing, I charged at the male holding my mother. I reached him in less than a split second, gripping his shoulders tight enough for my fingers to dig into his skin, I threw him across the room. He crashed through the wall on the opposite side, leaving a huge oval-shaped hole in the wooden planks.
"GET HER!" The priest screamed at the other men. Anger and fear flashed on his face as he pointed in my direction.
Both of the two men jumped toward me as quickly as their human legs could take them. My head spun into a daze with the anger. My limbs felt like they were moving on their own. My hand flew up just as one of the men threw a punch toward my head. His fist landed in my palm and my fingers wrapped around it. He tried to pull his hand away, but it felt like squirrels squirming in my hand. In one fluid motion, I pulled him hard toward me. Gripping the collar of his shirt in my other hand, I spun him around and threw him into the second male.
They fell to the ground; the second male hit his head against the hardwood panelling of the ground and was motionless against the floor. The first male stood up slowly with a clear injury in his leg. I couldn't care less at this moment as my gaze locked on the priest. My mother's voice rang out behind me, but I couldn't hear the words as I stocked toward him. My hands balled into fists at my side as I stepped closer to him. He looked at the male who was struggling to stand. Yelling something at him as he backed closer to the door behind him.
Run. I thought, I want you to run. The thought never left my lips, but I could feel my mouth curling up into an evil grin. He stared at me, pure fear glazing his features as he turned his tail and ran. I dropped to the ground with one hand gripping the floor before I launched myself after him. People ran from me in all directions, but my eyes stayed locked on the priest. My gaze narrowed as I caught up to him and tackled him to the ground. He grabbed both my arms with his weak hands and noodle-like arms. He was far too weak to hold me off as I reached for his throat.
My fingers had curled around his dainty neck and squeezed. Tighter and tighter I squeezed. I felt the need to snap his neck right there and then. He hurt her... He hurt her... He hurt her. How dare he hurt her... How dare he. His face turned purple as he clawed at my hands. Blood trickled down the back of my hands, but I couldn't feel any pain. How dare he... How dare he... My thoughts rang out.
My head suddenly jerked to the right as I fell off the priest. Landing on my side, I gazed up at the first male holding a wooden club in both his hands. Then nothing... I couldn't move my limbs. I couldn't open my mouth... The darkness crept in within seconds and I could finally hear my mother screaming my name.
........
I woke to my whole body aching with extreme pain. My nerves felt like they were on fire as I lifted my head. It was dark, really dark. I took a moment to search my surroundings. I was sitting on a hard rocky floor with my arms stretched out above my head. I tried to move my hands, to bring my arms down, that was until I heard the sound. The clanking of shackles and chains. I looked up to see my hands chained tightly to a sturdy rock wall behind me. There was no room to move my hands or even adjust my arms. My eyes went wide with horror as I saw a trail of dried blood trailing down my arms. I felt the crust of the dry on my forehead and face.
"No... no... no," I said as I slowly pulled myself to my feet.
I regretted that action instantly as my head pounded and I fell to my knees. Letting out a yelp as my knees connected with the stone. I heard an amused chuckle sound from the other end of the room, but it was too dark to see past my feet. My breaths came out heavy as I tried to gain my composure. What have I done? Did I kill someone? Where did all this blood come from? questions flooded my brain as I gave the chain a light tug.
"That won't work." A male voice sounded softly beside me.
"Who there?" I asked as I brought my face closer to my hands.
Little puncture wounds crossed my palm in almost a straight line. I recognized them as wounds from my nails pressing into my palm. I had done that before when I was angry. But these seemed different like they were sharpened. A light shuffle came from beside me as the male sat up and moved slightly closer to me. I could barely see him in the dark and pushed my closer an inch to see him. He did the same with his head. We were close to each other but not close enough to be able to touch.
"You, beautiful can call me Alaric." He said in the same soft tone.
His hair was long enough to reach past his shoulders. It looked dishevelled like he had been down here a long time. His face was dirty and his clothes were ripped, clearly from a fight. His hands were chained above his head same as mine, only he had a little more slack in his chains. I lifted the corners of his mouth revealing his two sharp canine teeth. I gasped but didn't move away.
"Looks like you had a fun night." He said while examining the dried blood covering my body.
"It doesn't feel all that fun right now," I replied.
What am I doing? Shouldn't I be afraid? I grew up in the village; he is one of the creatures we were taught to be afraid of. A creature half my blood poses the same DNA. They are cold-blooded killers. Then again, I shook my head as the memories of the night before came flooding back. The male chuckled and leaned his back against the wall.
"It never feels like fun after losing." He said with a slight hint of sympathy.
There is no way he was feeling bad for me right now. Not when he looked so much worse than I. We went silent, and a door opened from above us, letting in the light from the day. It lit up a stone staircase and the entire room. Bodies of males and females alike were chained to walls all around the stone room. Ten, no twelve I said to myself in my mind as I counted them. Some looked as if they'd been down here for a couple of days, while others looked like they'd been down here a few months.
Two voices I recognized all too well sounded from the door above. I watched their shadows as the two men walked down the steps. The footsteps echoed through the stone room as they strolled right up to me.
"Oh, good, the little demon is finally awake." The priest said in a rough voice.
"Sir," I said, completely ignoring the priest and looking straight at the chief of the village.
"Shut up!" The priest yelled, his voice sounding even rougher than before.
He stepped forward and kicked me in the side of my head. My head hit the stone wall behind me and I had to sit there motionless for a few moments. The ringing in my ears took longer to disappear than usual. My head dangled as fresh blood dripped from my head.
"You are lucky to be alive you little brat." The priest yelled again.
"Enough." Was the only word the chief said before the priest backed away from me.
"Wait outside for me." He said to the priest in his usual gentle tone.
I couldn't see or hear the priest leave, but I knew he was gone from the shift in the room. The chief stepped closer to me and kneeled an arm's length away. He brushed the hair off my face but I jerked away from him.
"Duvessa, don't be like that." He said softly.
"What did they do with my mother?" I asked, anger rising in my tone.
"Duvessa listen... a young girl from the village was attacked yesterday. Her injuries were severe, she described her attacker and it sounded quite similar to you." He said in a cold voice.
"You honestly think I would do that... twenty-five years in this village, and I have never attacked or harmed anyone here," I said, clearly angry now.
"I know." He went to say more but I cut him off.
"Then why? Why, the second someone gets attacked, my door gets busted down, and my mother attacked and tied up like livestock? What has she ever done to you? to the village?" My voice had raised with every question.
He shook his head before standing and taking a few steps back. He stared down at me for a long moment, considering something.
"You attacked four men... Two of which are dead, one will never walk right again, and well, you heard the priest's voice... I'm sorry, Duvessa, but you are more like the demons that surround you down here than you are human." He said, walking up the stairs.
"What did you do to my mother!?" Yelled at his back before he disappeared.
I put all my effort into slowing my heart rate. I could hear anything over the thud of its beats. I wanted to hear them up there. I wanted to hear what they were saying to each other just outside that door. I counted my breaths until my heart rate slowed just enough.
"Add her to the hunt." I heard the chief say before the doors were closed again.