“-DO NOT REMOVE HER HEAD!!!” I heard a familiar voice shouting. “Stop that! Tell them to stop! Professor!-”

My head swam, I felt heavy but at the same time light, like my legs were not touching the ground. I couldn’t feel my arms or my legs. All I could feel was a dull pain in multiple places on my body.

“Vince?” my voice came out jagged, like talking through iron blades in my throat. I tried to open my eyes, but all I could see was red.

“Fey!?” he sounded panicked, far away, but I could feel the dread in his trembling tone.

There were other voices, whispers, murmurs, some louder, but I couldn’t focus enough to understand them. All I could hear was Vince calling out my name in sobbing whispers. And then I felt a cold touch, light as a feather, but as heavy as the sin of murder.

“You should hafe known better, Little One, as to cry tears of blood out in zee open like zis,” Albrecht’s voice dripped with honey, but it made me sick.

“You cannot do this!” Vince screamed and, finally, I saw him struggling against a bunch of people holding him pressed to the ground.

I barely managed to look at the bastard of a man standing beside me, when I realized I was tied down with heavy chains, circulation to my limbs cut off by the pressure. The ancient tree I was chained to felt as strained as I was. There was a crowd of hunters, weapons ready to shoot, to pierce, to cut. There was another man behind Albrecht with a broad axe resting on his shoulder.

“Behead me,” I stuttered out, “and you’re all dead.”

“Do not threaten us,” Vertig stepped closer and took out the control device for Vince’s torture.

“That is not a threat. It’s a warning,” I growled out.

There was more noise, more shouting. All the people in the space around me were ready to go. At some point, I started to laugh. It was just so funny to me how most of them, before this, had these expressions like the world was ending because they would need to go out and hunt some real targets. And now, when an actual monster was in front of them, chained to a damn tree, they all felt on top of the world, able to move mountains, to kill the beast, to slay the dragon of their tale.

While others were taunted by me, the rest withdrew to the back. I scared them, and I knew it.

“Look,” I said, and cleared my throat to get rid of the jagged feeling, “Add me to the fray for the hunt tomorrow, if you want. Release me, if you may. Just don’t kill me for crying blood. I’ve done much worse to deserve death, yet it never came for me. Collar me, if that will make you feel safer. But I came here to win a stupid trophy, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

The silence was deafening.

“You want to get supernaturals to hunt for you. Let me show you how it’s done. You cannot kill me, anyways,” I sneered at him.

“Bring me a collar,” came Albrecht’s booming voice. One of the assistant instructors ran to the shed near the canteen and came back with one of the collars I had seen being used at Huntig.

“You asked for it yourself,” the man said as he put the choking collar on me.

I glared at him, he just smiled and turned to others.

“Zis ist zee example of zee most dangerous predator in zis world, ladies and gentlemen. Tonight, vee vill not be killing it. Vee vill decide it’s fate tomorrow ven zee vining team is announced.” Everyone cheered, safe for my team and Vince.

“Now, let’s leafe it here alone. Tomorrow evening you have an important task, so get plenty of rest. And best of luck to you all.”

The crowd began to thin out, some of them coming up to me and spitting in my face, some avoiding me by a large margin, braver ones dared to come up and smile at me, promising me the sweet embrace of death. I answered with a smile, told them I would welcome it. Death was an old friend; heard much about her, never actually met.

Vince was released and he basically bolted right up to me and crushed me in a hug, as much as the chains would allow. He was apologizing and still crying, and some more apologies and some words I couldn’t decipher due to his sniffling and hiccuping. I let him sputter as much as he needed without stopping him, I wouldn’t have succeeded anyway.

“You’re dis-disgracing yourself,” came a rough yet sweet voice. Wann was standing behind the crying boy, arms wound on his chest, eyes stern. “Stop already, seriously.”

“Are you alright?” came Dark’s weak voice.

“As much as I can be. Though, without blood, this will be tough to heal.”

“They left guards around you, I don’t think that’s an option now,” supplied Miller.

“I wasn’t asking for it. Nor would I take it, were you give it to me.” I smiled, wouldn’t say, I succeeded, but it didn’t matter then. “Hey, Vince, do you think you could let go now? I’m soaking you with blood.”

He refused to let go, but he fell to his knees and sobbed harder.

“Goddammit, Bloomer, man up,” Wann berated and tried to drag him away.

“Leave him be,” I commanded. “Let him cry if he wants. If he needs to cry, let him cry.

“Crying got us in this mess, in the first place,” Wann hissed but released the other boy. “Bloomer, she’s fine. You need to go, we need to go, too.”

“N-no...”

“Vince, it’s going to be fine. I still can’t die, and I don’t think they will try to behead me or kill me in any other way. Albrecht needs me alive, after all.”

“I- I don’t want you-” he hiccuped. Took a deep breath and pushed it out in shudders. “You suffered enough...”

“So did you. I don’t like seeing you cry. It breaks my heart, so please?”

He took another shaky breath and looked at me with puffy bloodshot eyes. His face was stained with red, from my blood, from the tears he spilled for me.

“I’m strong. I’m safe. I’m invincible. Right?”

The boy stood up on wobbly legs, clutching at my hands, at the chains holding me down. He looked into my eyes, to gauge out the truth, the real feelings I felt while repeating the mantra he came up with. He uttered it after me, mimicking me, falling in tandem, catching up, and breathing together with me.

“The moon is still full,” he muttered, exhaling deeply. “I can’t do it without you.”

“Hey, you were doing it without me for three years, you can deal with it now. It’s the third night, you’re strong enough. I know. I believe in you. All you need to do is believe in yourself, too.”

His eyes flared with adoration, with strength, those pale blue orbs lighted as the moon itself and I knew he found power in him to believe me, and to believe in himself.

“Okay.”

He let go of my arms and moved away backward, not daring to turn his back to me. After a while he paused. Looked at the assistant’s quarters, then back at me. He looked over Wann and the rest of the team and stalked back to me. Except, he came up to Wann.

“Can I stay with you all tonight?” he sounded defeated, but not as weak as he sounded before.

Wann, in turn, was astounded. I was expecting him to lash out and shoo Vince away, only he looked at the others, and nodded.

“You go on ahead. I’ll be right there. Someone get up the watchtower for tonight. We might get some company.”

Vince quipped his approval and offered himself for the task, when Wann agreed, the four of them started walking away. Wann lingered, looking at their retreating backs. Only after he couldn’t see them anymore in the dark, he looked at me.

“This wasn’t s-supposed to happen,” he admitted weakly. “All I wanted was to hear you say it was your f-fault. We would have won. Gone back home. And you would have left.”

“Vince-”

“I would have dealt with that. Now I can’t do anything. Vertig thinks I’m in league with you. He- He thinks I like you,” he said with contempt in his voice. “I don’t like you.”

“I know.”

“Do not- do not inter-interrupt me.” There was a long pause before he spoke again. “We will win tomorrow.”

He started heading back to the base.

“Wann.” He looked back. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but, please, look after him.”

Wann walked away without any answer.

The night fell clear and chilly. The sky had no clouds covering the stars and the moon, already waning, but still bright and round, shone undisturbed upon the ground. The pale light caressed my face.

North was behind me, so it was a solace I wouldn’t get my face burned off by the morning sun, only my left side would suffer.

The wind rose, carrying the piles of snow, laying them however it pleased. A chill grabbed at my wounded body and I felt it freeze me from inside. Along with my mask and goggles, they tore away the coat. I was completely defenseless against the biting cold of the winter winds.

The wounds made by arrows and knives were starting to close, although, without an intake of blood it left me hungry and tired, and sore all over. The thirst, left after healing, was immeasurable, and I kept on sniffing air, trying to catch a whiff of the smell that lingered around the area, mostly Wann’s smell enticed me to break out, but I had to stay put.

If I broke out then, the others wouldn't trust me, I’d become too much of a menace, after all, humans fear those which are stronger than them, differs from them.

In the far end, I heard the murmurs of the creatures confined in that wooden box. They weren’t being loud, but I knew for what to listen, and I heard them, loud and clear.

Although, before they were roused by the bell, they had not uttered a single sound. Now, however, they howled and roared, they tried to claw their way out of the confinement. An echo of a single bang pierced the otherwise silent space and the murmur of the beasts stopped.

As I strained to listen, light movement a couple of meters behind me startled me. A tall figure was approaching me carefully, step by step, trying not to rouse too much sound, but the crunching of the snow gave him away quite eagerly. I closed my eyes in waiting, I didn’t want to see. And was also hoping for the man to go away if he thought I was sleeping or unconscious.

The presence stopped right before me and breathed his foul breath onto my face. I felt his hands grab my breast and squeeze. I growled and gnarled my fangs at him. The man let out a scream and backed off, falling over his own feet and landing on his ass.

“Who’s there?” came a voice of one of the guards stood to look after me.

“Just because I’m tied up doesn’t mean I can’t bite your head off,” I snarled and growled louder.

The man crawled on his back, then turned over and ran off as soon as he stood up firm on the ground. At first, all of them thought of me as someone defenseless and powerless due to my build and my youthful face; but the moment I unveil my true being, the power that dwells inside, they run away scampering like children. I would have laughed if I had enough energy to.

The guard came over and looked around. He did not dare come close to me, avoiding me by a large margin. I wanted to ask him to give me his jacket since it was too cold for me to focus on sleep, but I was exhausted. So I stood there battling the cold and the sleepiness, not letting either to take favor.

I was left ignored by the guards, who were probably thinking of either finishing me off, if I caused too much trouble, or just forgetting me in favor of getting some sleep. I wasn’t really blaming them for it, I would have given anything for a warm place and an opportunity to get some rest.

In the end, sleep won me over and I passed out, damned be cold and the light snowfall that started a few hours later.

I was awoken by the cold seeping through my ankles. There was snow in my boots. Actually, the snow was drifted around my knees. I could tell by the feeling, or its lack thereof, that my legs were dead – the blood flow was cut off by the chains and the snow. My hands were doing better, but they were frozen solid and blue, in some places – blackened by the frost.

The sun had not yet risen, but I could see the dawn drawing closer by the pale light in the far distance. I looked around trying to gauge out the position of the guards, but as I thought last night, no one was actually keeping an eye on me.

I had half a thought of trying to get free, but thought against it and just gave in to the chains. I had time. I had all the time in the world. Vince, however, did not have time, not enough, at least.

I had to think of a way to get the control device from Vertig, so we could just leave the place and never look back. Which, when I better thought of it, had been made impossible when my identity was revealed to around a hundred hunters from all over the world. Even if I managed to escape with Vince in tow, they would set on a hunt, now they knew how I looked, and it wasn’t just one greedy insane bastard.

“Fey,” Vince was able to take me by surprise. “There are no guards?”

“My guess, they went to sleep, because I was tied up, and they thought I wouldn’t be able to get out,” I surmised. “How was your night?”

He looked at me as if hesitating to tell. He blushed for some reason. I would have blamed it on the cold, but the wind was still and the chill was not as biting as the night before.

“What happened?” I looked at him suspiciously, eyes squinted, but sharply peering at him.

“No-nothing,” he stuttered out.

“Vince.”

“The full moon wasn’t as strong as before, but it still gave me trouble,” he mumbled, looking to the side, fingers brushing at his neck. “I might have howled loud enough for the other Moon Walkers to respond. Then there was this loud bang. Oh God, I hope no one was shot...”

“Vince. Focus.”

“Wann heard me howl.” He didn’t dare lift his eyes to look at me. His downcast face blushed even more, eyebrows furrowed so hard I thought it would leave permanent wrinkles.

“And? What did he do?”

“He climbed up to the watch post. Then he checked for fangs and claws and after asked me why I was howling...”

“And?”

“I said I had a bad dream and I was screaming, not howling. I don’t think he believed me, though.”

“Well, he’s stupider than you give him credit, so maybe he did?”

“He’s not stupid, Fey. You know, I could train to get over my physical inadequacy, he can’t do anything to change the way his brain functions.”

“I was talking about his inability to comprehend that not everything which is not human, wants to kill him.”

“But, he’s changing. Before you came, he would have just launched his sword at me and I would have lost my head in three seconds. Now… Now he actually checked.”

I looked at him in wonder. His eyes sparkled with life and hope. He seemed different from the Vince who left me here last night. It looked like he gained something during the night we were apart.

“Are you… falling for Wann?”

He looked at me like a deer caught in headlights. I saw his ears and neck tint crimson, and he himself started sputtering and denying it as if I said the biggest nonsense he has ever heard. I was not an expert, but I could swear I did the same thing when Victoria accused me of loving her.

“But Vince, he’s a hunter.”

“So am I,” he argued. “And I don’t want to kill innocents.”

“That’s not the point I’m trying to make here,” I said exasperated. “He’s the kind of guy who shoots first, asks questions later. And he hates supernaturals. What do you think he will do, if he knows you were bitten?”

“Fey, I’m not trying to get him to like me. He never would, even if I was not bitten. Let’s just not talk about this anymore.”

He focused on looking over at my wounds and my frozen limbs. His face scrunched up into a frown, worry lines deep on his forehead. His touch was light but so pleasantly warm, I wanted to move towards it, but the chains held me firm without any room for movement. The boy grasped my frostbitten hands and held them for a while; I felt the warmth flow back to my fingers, my palms. It was only a moment, a fleeting notion before it was gone again when the guards dragged him away from me.

We were too distracted to notice the commotion outside. The teams were gathering at the stage to hear the last task properly, to get the news about me, too, probably.

Everyone who passed me showed enough contempt to dye a soul black. And all I had done was cry tears of blood. I tried to ignore the stares, the sneers, and the mockery from around me, but it was tough when the hot blood flowing through their veins called at me, enticed me to move, to get out, to bite down and to drink it. I had to bite down on my own lip to quench the thirst. It didn’t help much, but at least I knew I shouldn’t move.

Vince was still trying to get back to me when Michail came over and dragged him away reprimanding the boy to fix his conduct or else. Wann stood beside me, blocking a bit of the morning sun, preventing it from reaching my face. He stood there proud and silent. I could smell the rest standing close by, as well.

“You good?” Wann asked.

“No. I won’t be able to move properly without blood,” I muttered. “My limbs are frozen. I can’t really feel them.”

He used the opportunity when Albrecht climbed up the stage and started talking about today. Wann used his dagger to cut at his arm and drew it close to me. I looked at him dubiously, but after a moment I gave in and licked up whatever blood I could reach at the distance he was holding his bleeding arm at.

The blood washed away the pain, the soreness in my throat eased, the warm fluid gave life to my whole body and I felt content. I felt my fingers moving slightly; it was hard to do anything else due to the intense strain of the chains.

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Wann moved his arm, and bound the cut with a clean cloth; he came prepared. It was surprising to see him disobeying orders and helping me, more so, planning to do it in advance.

I heard my name being called out loudly, and every pair of eyes turned to stare at me. It felt like the fires burning me from underneath, from all around me. The scorching heat of their gazes made me squirm in my own skin. But once the bastard started talking again, the heat dissolved, the gazes turned away and I had enough space to breathe again.

“Zee judges had not yet decided how to act in zis case, vat to do viz… her,” he hesitated on calling me it. “Hovever, vee still have time to decide. Vee vill be releasing the beasts in an hour. You, hovever, vill depart in four hours time. Vee need to give the prey some time to hide, now, don’t vee?” he smiled as if he cracked some major joke. “So in one hour, please all assemble at zee dining hall vere vee all together vill be vaiting for zee time to pass. Everyone should hafe equal ground to start zee hunt from.”

“What about her?” asked someone from the crowd.

Once again every gaze was turned to me, Albrecht, too, spared some thought. He hummed while scrutinizing me while pondering on it he lightly tapped his chin. In then stepped Vertig, he whispered something to Albrecht’s ear and the man seemed to have been mighty amused. He nodded to Vertig and turned back to the microphone. Vertig stood there still, looking at me.

“Herr Vertig here, proposed vee let her loose togezer viz zee beasts and add her to zee count of spoils for today’s task.”

There was a loud murmur rousing from the crowd. I could hear Vince calling out objections, but he was not heard. Wann, in turn, looked strangely amused. It caught me by surprise when he opened his mouth to speak.

“Don’t you think it a bad idea to let her loose?” he said. “What if she kills every last one of them? And wins it by herself?”

Some of the other hunters thought it wise and started to protest against it. I, on the other hand, was not in agreement, Wann knew I wouldn't do that.

“That’s quite alright,” called Vertig and put his hand in his pocket. “We have a device to assure she behaves herself.”

Everyone in tandem agreed that the collar on my neck is a reassurance of my good behavior, but it wasn’t it. Wann was smirking. I understood, then, he was trying to scope out the remote control to the thing inside Vince’s chest. Vince was right, after all, the guy was smarter than I gave him credit for.

“But how will you know she did not kill them?” came Miller’s voice. “How will you know who killed what, at all?”

“Everysing vill be explained during zee four hour vait, do not rush,” answered Albrecht and removed himself from the stage.

No one specified what the participants should be doing for that one hour before they release the prey to run wild.

I had a thought regarding this whole plan that the creatures would just run away, but after a while, I gathered that the fence was here for a reason more than just to keep wild animals out.

Michail dragged Vince away and I didn’t see him after. Wann, however, with the others lingered by me. This time, we were being watched, so there was no more blood for me. But I already had enough.

“Stick to the plan and go for the Creations.”

“We know,” Wann grumbled.

“They don’t have a smell. They have light feet, so follow shallow prints with no scent. They usually stick together, so it should be easy.”

“Why is it okay to kill those, but not the others?” asked Dark.

“Creations are mindless beasts, they don’t think, they only have one thing they want and that is blood. They usually hunt for their master. Better trained Creations will drag the victim away from public places and kill it for its master to take the blood. The rest is left for them to take.”

“So, they listen to their master?” summarized Rodd.

“Yes. But right now there are no masters here. So they will go for the kill.”

“What about Wendigos?” asked Miller. “Are they the same?”

“No,” I sighed. “Do your textbooks have nothing in it? They are vicious, but they are not mindless. In the kid’s books, they are sometimes referred to as Bigfoot or something. They only attack if provoked. Otherwise, they’re pretty docile.”

“No way,” disbelief was painted all over Rodd’s face. “Bigfoot is real.”

“No, it’s not,” I really wanted to roll my eyes, but I controlled myself. “That’s not the point. Point is, they might all be a bit angry at the moment, what with being captured and probably not fed for days. So all of them might want to eat you.”

“So how do we know, which ones are good, and which ones are bad?” asked Dark.

“Their eyes. If you see fear, let them be.”

A guard interrupted us by coming over and shooing everyone away. I shouted after them to better go and grab some weapons to kill with. I knew Huntig specialized in sword fighting, and none of them, safe for Wann, carried theirs with them at all times.

I was left alone, well, the guards were there to keep me company, but I didn’t want to talk to them. It was getting boring waiting for the hour to pass.

The sun was climbing higher and higher, blazing brighter and hotter. The left side of my face was smoking, I could smell myself burning slowly. I could feel the skin go sore and dry. Since the area around the main camp was almost cleared out from trees, there was no option of shade in the position I was standing chained to a tree. Finally, when I could feel my eye losing the ability to see, the commotion of everyone coming back lead me to expect this torture to end soon.

All participants gathered and filed into the dining hall. The assistant instructors, except Vince, had gone away a while ago, probably to release the prey. Some, however, went the other way. They turned to the east and after a while, I could hear a static noise abuzz around. It was so strong I thought I was a bug in the zapper lamp.

When everyone was inside, Vertig came out and trotted straight to me. He was sneering, all satisfied with everything. He was followed by a couple of assistant instructors.

“I expect of you to know, what is best for you and Bloomer. Don’t get caught. And if you help them win, I will make sure you come back home with us.”

When it was clear he was done talking, the other men reluctantly unchained me. Losing the support, I stumbled to the ground. I barely managed to catch myself on my hands before falling face-first in the trampled snow. Vertig laughed and walked away, the two following him readily.

My legs were tingling, muscles cramping, but the life and feeling was finally returning into them. My arms were not much better than my feet, but the previous blood intake and the ability to stop the healing willingly helped a lot in making them heal faster when I was finally free of the shackles.

After five or so minutes, my limbs were moving properly again, even though I could still feel the tingles all over them. The open wounds made by weapons were already closed, so I could preserve some energy for later.

When I was able to stand without stumbling, I dashed right to the direction of the wooden prison the others were held. At around halfway point, I passed the men who were releasing the beasts for the hunt. I ignored them and ran faster. The closer I got to the box, the louder the static buzz became. It was bugging me to no end, but I had no time to wonder what it was exactly.

When I was near enough to see the construction, I noticed the four Creations going the other way. As if they were chasing something. I ignored them at the moment and ran right up to the box. It was disassembled, wooden plates laying on the snow in one pile, as if there was no construction before. I could see most of the prints going in one way, following the path those Creations took.

Before I could give chase after them, I was stopped by a weak sound of panting and labored breathing. I looked around the trampled up area and froze in place when I saw it.

On the frozen ground, trembling and wheezing were four tiny bodies of different colors. Their miniature hands and feet were shackled by iron ringlets, their transparent rainbow-colored wings were chipped and bound together to prevent them from flying. Their thin necks were collared, just like mine was, only the scale was ten times smaller.

They were barely alive. And they radiated fear and sorrow. My heart squeezed and I started to shake out of anger, out of rage.

The audacity of those hunters was pushing this world into ruin and they didn’t even realize it. No one, not even the fiercest of Cold Walkers, would have thought of shackling Pixies – the most docile, peaceful and serenest of all creatures to ever venture this earth. Despite the fact they once stuffed me into an iron box and flung me into the ocean, they never deserved this kind of treatment.

I fell to my knees and scooped the blue one up into my palms, they fit snuggly, with their legs dangling a little. They were weak, barely breathing, the usually over-driven heart was nearly stopped. When they felt my touch, they opened their eyes and stared at me for a while. I saw fear, contempt, and anger mixed together, but I still wanted to help.

I took off the binding of their wings. It wasn’t easy to take off the iron shackles considering the size of their arms was like my pinky finger. I apologized for causing them pain and broke the shackles off.

Once the iron was off them, they sprung off my palm and landed near the others. I sat there with my hands held out in defense and assurance I meant no harm.

The blue Pixie hissed at me, but after seeing the state of their friends, they moved, giving me permission to remove the shackles from the rest of them. Carefully, I removed the burden from the rest of the shimmering miniature creatures. All of them collectively ran from me the moment the iron was off.

“You’re still in trouble, if you keep wearing the collars,” I warned. “Just let me help,” I pleaded.

The red Pixie looked at the others, measured their state and then inspected the collars on each of them. The green and purple Pixies were hiding behind the blue one, staring at me like I was trying to eat them.

“I mean no harm. They will hurt you if you stay. But you can’t leave with the collars on.”

“Your hands are soiled,” spoke the red Pixie. “You will stain us.”

“I already touched you enough while removing the iron. If you want to die, then, whatever,” I was getting exasperated.

“Halt,” they demanded. “If you swear to remove it without a touch, you may help us.”

“I swear. I only need to touch the collar. But I apologize, if I touch you by accident, you’re too small...”

“What insolence,” the red Pixie hissed. “Tell us how and we will achieve the removal on our own.”

“You need to tear it off really fast and toss it really far because it explodes,” I explained.

The red Pixie looked at me perplexed, then looked back at the others and fell silent for a moment. The blue Pixie nodded and fluttered a bit closer to the red.

“You may help us. We will forgive you for your insolence, in case you touch us,” they said.

“Thank you,” I smiled despite the fact I had to thank them for letting me help them. Sometimes Pixies were the worst enemy with the fact alone you had to be courteous to them at all times. They also had no gender, despite looking very much like little girls. But try to refer to them by a ‘she’ and you might find yourself being politely accused of disrespect.

The blue Pixie stepped up first. While still having an accusing stare in their eyes, they trusted me enough to put my fingers around their neck. I tried not to touch their skin, but it was hard. In the end, I used my nails to grip the collar tightly enough to tear it off. But instead of throwing it away, I bunched it in my palm and let the minuscule explosion tear the skin of my palm. It was just a scratch to me, compared to what it would have done to them.

When the red Pixie saw me hurting myself for them, their face changed. They looked at me with bulging eyes full of newfound respect.

They stepped up closer without hesitation and even ignored the way my fingers brushed her cheek by accident. I smiled apologetically and repeated the action with their collar, not letting it make a sound, but dulling it with my palm. The green and purple Pixies were still dubious, but the red one encouraged them. I was extra careful not to touch them.

When I finished removing all four collars, the red Pixie did the unimaginable and landed on my knee. Taking my bleeding hand with their small palms they inspected the wounds with painstaking interest.

“We may have misjudged you before, Beast of Sin. You are much kinder than we deemed you. We will let our Mother know about your deed. We thank you for your kindness and your assistance. Farewell, Eagle of Dawn,” with these words, all four of them spread their colorful wings and flew away.

If I said, I had no questions, I would be lying, but I had no time to try deciphering all these names they called me. What was even an Eagle of Dawn?

With the Pixies gone, there were four targets less to hunt, which made my team’s chances a bit better.

Before I went after the rest of the targets, I smeared my blood all over the snow, and some trees and some other places, to lure out the Creations. I was gambling, but it was better than to let them devour the others in case the Moon Walkers and the Wendigos were inexperienced or, even worse, children.

Tracking them was quite easy given the fact they trampled untouched snow. Near the edge of the fence, however, the tracks split in two. The tracks on the left were only three-fingered, which meant Wendigos went left; they had feet like hooves, but there was one additional callus in the middle. I felt like I knew why the Creations followed Moon Walkers – Wendigo’s blood smelled like vomit.

The moment I got near the fence I felt the noise of the crackling static intensify. I wanted to make sure no one jumped over the fence and got shocked. Literally. They electrified the fence. That’s where the static was coming from, that’s how they were sure no one left the area. My hands were tingling again, the open wound was now stinking of burned meat. That would leave a scar until my next limb loss.

Ignoring the pain I ran after the prints turning right. They went along the fence and right by the corner of the area half of the prints disappeared. The other half turned back to the starting point, by the looks of the tracks they left behind.

By smelling the air I managed to find the Moon Walkers – they were hiding in the trees above. Creations were very similar to what humans liked to call zombies. Despite looking almost like regular humans, they mostly were brainless creatures moving by the instinct to eat, they had no proper motor skills, so it was obvious they wouldn’t be able to climb trees. And only in this spot, well, at least close by, the trees had branches low enough for climbing.

What surprised me the most was a pair of hazel eyes staring back at me, the face those eyes belonged to was incredibly young, the girl was at most ten years old. She had voluminous dark curly hair tied in two bushy buns. Her chocolate skin was bruised and smeared with dust and dirt. And everything in her body language and expression screamed of immense fear.

Right beside her, a boy a bit older than her, was glaring daggers at me with dark and deep eyes, daring me to try and do something funny. Once again, just like with the Pixies, I exposed my palms to show them I meant no harm. But the boy refused to let up on his sour expression and scrutinizing gaze.

I noticed movement in the nearby trees; two others, a man and a woman, jumped down and pushed their way past me, running the other way, away from the corner and from the spot where the box was no more. I tried stopping them, but they refused to listen and just bolted off without looking back.

“Seriously? I’m trying to help you!”

“How can we be sure you’re not a hunter?” asked the boy.

I turned my head, exposing my neck. They saw the collar and the boy notably deflated. He said something to the girl in a language I couldn’t understand, and she started descending the tree branch by branch. In a mid-step, one of the supporting branches crunched and she fell with a shout. I was in a perfect position to catch her and stop the fall. I held her close to me, trying to gently support her small body.

“Hi,” I tried for a smile when she looked at me with those big bright eyes.

“Let her go,” said the boy, already on the ground, claws at the ready. He was almost as tall as Vince was and it irked me.

I ducked to the ground to give the little one easier way to the ground. While she was climbing out of my arms I noticed nasty scars by the hairline. I assumed it was from trying to take off the collar.

I stayed in the position on my knees, letting them know I really meant no ill. I lifted my arms in the air in surrender.

“We have about three more hours before they let the hunters out,” I said.

“How do you know?” demanded the boy.

“I was with them until a while ago,” I explained. “I was the one to ring the bell yesterday.”

“I knew it, you are a hunter.” The boy grabbed the girl and pushed her behind him, shielding the child.

“True,” I agreed. “For a while, I was. But last night I cried blood, exposed myself, they wanted to behead me.”

Before the boy could react, the little one stepped forward and wrapped her arms around my neck. To say the least, I was surprised more than the boy was. I awkwardly patted her back and gently tried to push her away.

“Thank you,” she said. “I’m Kaya. What’s your name?”

“F-fang...” I stuttered, utterly confused. “A friend calls me Fey,” I added.

“K, come here,” said the boy. “We still don’t know if we should trust her.”

“But she’s hurt. Look,” she showed him my palms.

“It’s fine. It will heal soon. But we need to move. There are Wendigos on the loose, and those Creations might come back soon. We need to find a place to hide, too.”

“Terrence, she’s nice. Let’s go with her.”

The boy started nagging the girl in that strange language and the girl just giggled at it. She talked back at him. Then turned to me.

“He don’t like his name very much,” she explained.

“That’s not what I meant,” he grumbled back.

“Okay,” I interrupted. “I don’t like saying names either, so it’s fine. But for now, we really need to go. I have an idea, but you need to trust me.”

“Fine,” he agreed but didn’t let Kaya, K, come closer to me.

I decided to head to the camp, and hide in the watchtower. The tree had enough space to house the three of us, and it was sturdy enough to bear the burden.

While heading to the base, I kept watch of the ground and possible tracks. There were a bunch of older tracks left by us and the other hunters, but no Wendigo or Creation went this way, so it was safe to say we were in the clear, at least for a while, until the actual hunt began.

At first, both of them were quiet, occasionally talking between themselves in their language. I decided they were from one of the South African tribes. Lupin’s clan was based in Europe, no one really knew where it originated, but it spread like wildfire throughout the continent, and then contaminated the other continents, too. The only continent without Moon Walker sightings was Australia.

“Hey,” the boy called for me, “where are we going? And when we be there?”

“Just straight ahead, maybe five more minutes. It’s a base I and my team set up for the convention.”

“If you a hunter, why the collar?” he asked.

“I’m not really human. They found out, kicked me out the team and made me into one of the targets.”

“What are you?”

“An abomination,” I tried for a joke. They didn’t laugh. “I’m what some call the Immortal. I don’t know if you heard-”

“What?” the boy stopped in his tracks, he dragged the girl behind him again and stood in a position at the ready to attack.

I had forgotten sometimes the reaction is not of fascination or wonder, but of mistrust and caution. They probably heard the legends of my senseless self, after I lose my head, literally.

“If I wanted to hurt you, I would not have waited so long. Believe me, you would know, if I meant harm. You’d be dead by now.”

My words did not appease the boy, just the opposite, he tensed up more and I saw his nails elongating and turning into claws of about three centimeters long. Those were lethal weapons, for mortals and someone more fragile than me.

“Terrence, you stupid. Stop it,” the little one said and pushed the boy aside. “She’s good, I know. Let’s go.”

Despite the boy trying to stop her, the little one grasped my hand and smiled up to me. Her tiny fingers were warm, running higher than normal, just like Vince lately. I smiled back and started walking again. The boy was grumbling behind us but didn’t try to drag her away or attack me. I guess, the way she treated me made him see I meant no harm.

Soon we reached our base. I took my sleeping bag out of the burrow and gave it to the boy. They weren’t cold probably, but I wanted to be safe. I also found my old coat and pulled it on. It didn’t matter it was tattered, it still was warmer than no coat on.

“It will be safer up there,” I pointed the watchtower. “It won’t be very comfortable, but it’s better than being on the low ground.”

“Will the hunters not find us?” asked the boy.

“My team should find us. I need to talk to them, anyway.”

“What? No. It too dangerous.” T looked around, in search for the approaching danger, ready to run if need be.

“They’re not like the other hunters. They - at least, most of them - know the difference between good and bad, and you guys are still considered good in their books.”

“You make no sense. Hunters not care. They just kill.”

“Yes. Most of them do. But it’s changing. I somehow managed to change their views. Not by a huge margin, but now they will ask first, shoot later.”

“Why?”

“I guess, they saw me and realized, not every monster is as monstrous as they believed. And not every hunter is as righteous as they claim to be.”

“You mean those who put us there. They came to our village, killed most. Took us. Small part ran away.”

“Ma said run,” the girl teared up. She grabbed the sleeping bag tighter, holding it closer, like a shield.

“They killed our family. And for what? For sport?” the boy demanded.

“Yes,” I confirmed. “For sport. And for the idea that the world belongs to them. I admit they all are idiots. There are some exceptions, but only when they realize it’s not just black or white. Those who I managed to convince of this, saw the truth. Thus, they will not kill needlessly. And they will help you. Now get up there and stay quiet. I need to go do something.”

The boy was still doubtful, but the girl made him climb the tree anyways. When they both were up and huddled under the sleeping bag, I went into the woods and scoped out the cameras which were able to see into our camp. I located five of them and disposed of them without giving myself away, or at least trying not to show myself. While doing so, I strained my ears for unpleasant sounds, like screams of pain, but couldn’t hear any. I hoped Vertig was not torturing Vince in some distant corner of the main campsite.

I triple checked the area for the cameras, when found none facing the base, I returned to the two children. They were talking quietly between them, the girl was crying, but the boy was being incredibly patient and gentle with her, at least what I could tell from the soft whispers of the language I did not recognize. In a way, the boy reminded me of Vince. And I wanted to get to him and free him of every misfortune I brought into his life by showing up.

I made myself noted by them so they wouldn’t startle when I got up to the tree. They saw me climbing and made some more room at the platform we made in a hurry and with minimal supplies. However, I did not sit next to them, I opted for a branch a bit above their heads. It gave me less visibility, but it was easier on them that way.

“How old is you, Fey?” asked the girl.

I looked at her, actually trying to count. After a while, I gave up.

“I… don’t really know. First time I died, I was sixteen, so my body’s stuck that way. But I lived more than three thousand years now,” I answered.

The girl gaped at me like a fish out of the bowl. The boy, however, was showing more interest than I expected.

“How old are you two?” I asked before they could comment.

“I is seven. Terrence is like you.”

“Oh? Is he now?” it was amusing, for some reason.

“I’m sixteen, don’t take it wrong,” he mumbled, looking away.

A growling noise escaped the boy’s stomach and I realized they must have been famished. They must have been locked up there before we came for the convention, so that made for about six days in confinement. I doubted the German hunters had the decency to feed them.

“Unfortunately, all the food is at the main camp and it’s teeming with hunters right now,” I informed them. “Although, I think I saw some protein bars in Wann’s bag...”

“What is wan?” asked the girl.

“Not a wan, Wann – he’s a hunter from my team. Complex individual, if you ask me.”

I jumped down from the watch post, crawled inside the burrow and ransacked Wann’s bags for some food. I was right as I found at least five pieces of protein bars, they had some berries and chocolate in them. Strange tastes for Wann, but who I was to judge.

I came back up and gave a bit of food I could find to them. T devoured two at once while helping the little one take off the wrapper of her own candy. He wanted to give the last one to the girl too, but I told him to eat it.

“But she’s a child,” he protested.

“But you are bigger and heavier. If danger arrives, she will be much easier to carry than you. So eat up.”

My reasoning seemed plausible to him so he reluctantly ate the last bar. Though it seemed like the girl didn’t really want her second bar either. She was munching on it slowly, not really swallowing the bites.

“Is he your big brother?” I asked just to distract her from the thoughts getting in the way of her eating.

The girl smiled and nodded vigorously, taking a bigger bite and chewing it hastily so she could talk about him some more.

“Yes. He the best brother. Ma said I be good girl-” she started crying. On my defense, I never knew where the mines of human emotions lay.

The boy tried to calm her down, but it wasn’t working much. He was as lost as I was; though, I could understand at least the feeling of losing someone dear to you. But the crying was driving me crazy. After a while, however, he managed to calm her down and she was snoozing lightly in his arms.