As darkness descended, the creature let off another long, spine tingling shriek. It sounded closer, but it was difficult to tell just how far away it was. Victoria was beside herself with fear and struggled in vain against her bonds.

“We have to run!” she pleaded. “We cannot face that thing!”

Leryn roughly resecured Victoria’s gag before looking up at the sky. “We will be fine if we stay quiet. The canopy is thick, and I believe it is searching for us from above the trees.”

Tears of fear streamed down Victoria’s face as she shook her head emphatically. This was playing out almost exactly the way it did the night her initial companions died. Why wouldn’t these fools listen to her? She had only escaped death that night because they had happened to camp close to the fringes of a village. While the beast slaughtered her companions, she had made a run for it, and even then, she had only reached the lone shed standing on the edge of a field by the skin of her teeth.

Night descended quickly in these woods and soon, it was pitch dark. Victoria sat against a tree with a hands bound and began to sob quietly. She jumped when she felt something touch her shoulder and quickly realized it was Leryn.

“If I remove the gag, will you cease with your hysterics?” he whispered into her ear.

She nodded, and as he pulled the cloth out of her mouth, another shriek split the air. It was definitely closer this time. They both froze and their eyes groped out into the darkness, searching for any sign of the creature, but they couldn’t even see the branches of the trees less than five feet away.

“It doesn’t use sight to track us,” she began in a rush. “My spells don’t work on it and its feathers are tough enough to deflect most attacks.”

“What is this Night Stalker?”

“A servant of the Pantheon, a magical creature used to maintain order in these lands,” Victoria whispered quickly. “It hunts people who stray out of doors after dark, even in the towns and cities.”

Leryn grunted. “That is trouble for us. It will probably take us hours to get back to town in this dark.”

“You don’t know the half of it…” Victoria began and fell silent when she caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of her eye.

A chill went down her spine when she saw what resembled an owl gliding silently between the trees in the distance. Its feathers chest emitted a faint light that illuminated its surroundings in an eerie glow, and there was something uncanny about the way it seemed to float silently in between the trees. Victoria froze in terror. It was here.

“That doesn’t look so dangerous,” Leryn remarked.

“Free me, quickly,” Victoria hissed.

The creature glided slowly towards them and as it drew nearer, Leryn’s eyes widened in shock when he saw just how large the creature was. Its wingspan was twice as wide as he was tall, and the creature's main body was as tall as a child. It flew up and perched on a nearby branch, securing itself with talons that were as long as a man’s hand.

It had perched facing away from. Slowly, it turned its head all the way back like an owl would and revealed its most unsettling feature. Set in its owl like head was a face that was a gross facsimile of a man’s. Its eyes were all black and far too large for its head as it stared at them unblinkingly. It stared at them for what felt like an eternity before it broke into an unnaturally broad smile that spanned the entire width of its face.

Then, it bared its teeth. They were all fangs the length of dining knives that seemed to glow with a malevolent bluish light of their own.

“Release me, damn you!” Victoria roared.

As Leryn cut the bonds securing her wrists, the creature shrieked. It was so loud and high pitched that it made them wince, causing them to lose sight of it temporarily. When they looked back. It had gone.

Without warning, Leryn’s bulk smashed into Victoria, knocking her to the ground. The wind flew out of her lungs. It was as though she had been hit by a buffalo. Then came the sound of splintering wood. Then came a loud, low groan, followed by a crash as the tree she had been sitting against fell to the ground.

Leryn scrambled to his feet with his weapon drawn. Blood trickled from an ugly gash down his left arm. “Are you alright?”

“I’ll manage,” she began as she picked herself up, all the while searching their surroundings for signs of the malign creature.

A high pitch sound filled the air that resembled a baiting, hissing laugh. Then, the creature flew into view again. It circled at a distance, seemingly mocking them with its cry. Its unblinking eyes were locked onto its prey.

“It’s toying with us,” Leryn grunted. “Are you able to help, or will you cower there and leave me to handle this thing alone?”

“I can help,” Victoria said indignantly. “Although I don’t know any way to harm it.”

“Can’t you use your vile magic on it?”

“It doesn’t seem to work on these creatures,” she replied.

“I suppose that makes sense,” Leryn snorted. “Using your evil magic on that evil thing would be like trying to burn a fire.”

“I might not be able to control it directly,” Victoria said. “But I could if I had some blood.”

“Doesn’t that thing have blood?” Leryn demanded.

“It might, but my magic doesn’t work on it!” she hissed, fighting the urge to scream it into his ear. “Are you deaf?”

“Like burning a fire,” Leryn repeated.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“You’re not being helpful,” Victoria scowled. “Wait, where did you hide the body?”

“What body?”

“The one that was wearing that vest this morning!” Victoria snapped.

Leryn cocked his head at the darkness to their right. Victoria cursed. She couldn’t see a thing. All the same, she began an incantation. She was partway through when the creature shrieked before shooting like an arrow towards her. Leryn was ready, though, and planted his enormous bulk between them. There was a dull thud as the creature impacted against his sword. His muscles bulging, the huge man hurled the bird creature off to the side. The creature flapped its wings and closed its talons, shattering his sword between them before flying off.

Victoria finished the incantation and reached out, seeking the body. Nothing. Her power wasn’t as effective on the dead as it was on the living.

“Where is that blasted corpse!?” she cried.

“Ten feet to the right of where I’m standing!” Leryn shot back without taking his eyes off the bird, which had started circling again, clutching his sword in both hands. It had been reduced to just its hilt and less than two inches of jagged steel.

Victoria dove to the ground and used her hands to grope around in the undergrowth.

“What do you need that for, anyway?” Leryn demanded as the creature began to cackle again.

“I need blood to rebuild your sword,” she replied.

“Why not use your own?” Leryn demanded.

“Because I’d be dead if I lost that much, you idiot,” she snapped as her hands touched something soft in the undergrowth.

Moving quickly, she hitched up her skirt to draw the dagger she kept strapped against her thigh and used it to slice the body open. Now that the blood was physically in her hand, she was able to manipulate it.

“Swing your sword like it isn’t broken!” Victoria cried.

The creature shrieked as Victoria leapt to her feet and used her power to manipulate the blood out of the corpse. Defying gravity, it streamed out of the corpse and arced towards Leryn’s shattered sword where it coalesced into a huge blade that was almost as long as an average man was tall. Leryn let off a roar of defiance as he swung at the creature with all his might as it hurtled towards him. The blade sliced through the creature’s armoured hide and obsidian talons like a hot knife through butter, cutting the foul thing clean in two.

“It worked!” Victoria gasped in surprise as she gaped at the two halves of the creature’s still glowing body.

Leryn examined the blood blade in his hands with distaste. “May the Gods forgive me for using this foul thing.”

“I think you meant to say, ‘You’re welcome,’” Victoria scowled. She released her control, turning the blade back into liquid blood. It sounded like someone was using a watering can as the blood fell to the ground.

“Why didn’t your compatriots use this spell?” Leryn asked, eyeing Victoria suspiciously.

“Would you have used that blade if you saw it before you swung?” she asked back.

“No,” Leryn admitted.

“Then we’d both be dead.”

The hulking man nodded reluctantly and took a deep breath. “So, is that it? Are these woods safe to move around after dark now?”

Before Victoria could reply, they heard a shriek in the distance. “No, I don’t think they are. Let’s get back to town before that thing gets here.”

“For once, I agree with you.”

Leryn plucked a glowing feather from the creature’s body and used it to light their way until they reached the road. Once they’d found their bearings, he discarded the feather and rubbed the fingers he’d used to hold it against his vest.

“Oh, you won’t catch anything from holding it,” Victoria snapped as they began running in the direction of town.

“How many of these blasted things are there?” he demanded, ignoring her jibe.

Victoria shrugged, holding up the long skirts of her dress as she ran. “Those creatures kill anyone outside after dark, so I wasn’t really able to go count them!”

Soon, the lights of the village came into view. The creature screeched overhead. It was closer now. Much closer.

“It’s going to be tight,” Victoria panted and glanced at Leryn. The huge man was struggling. Small wonder, he had been chained up for days, and probably not been fed much if at all. It was amazing he had made it this far.

“Will there be sentries?” he asked. His face was drawn, and he was beginning to drag his feet.

Victoria raised an eyebrow. “No one’s out after dark with those things around, remember?”

“So uncouth,” Leryn grunted and lowered his head before increasing his pace. Victoria attempted to do the same but stumbled on the hem of her skirt.

“Be careful,” Leryn gasped as he grabbed her arm, preventing her from falling on her face.

“You try running wearing this!” Victoria gasped.

Leryn glanced over his shoulder and his eyes widened. “I’ll need that sword again.”

“Unless you’re carrying that body with you, it won’t be possible,” Victoria replied.

The hulking man tackled Victoria, carrying them both off the road and headfirst into a ditch just as a luminescent, winged beast swooped down. Its talons sliced through the air, missing Victoria’s head by inches. Adrenaline pumped through their veins, and they scarcely felt the scrapes and bruises they’d suffered from their fall as they scrambled to their feet.

The creature let off a baiting, hissing laugh as it circled around for another attack. Then, Victoria tasted blood. She had bitten her tongue in the fall, and it was now bleeding.

“I can give you two inches,” she said, her speech impaired by her swollen tongue.

The large man looked down and her and frowned. “Excuse me?”

“I can add two inches to your blade, but you will probably have to help me the rest of the way to that building there,” she cocked her head at a darkened two storey building on the edge of town. “Do you think you can do that?”

Leryn watched as the creature circled for another attack and nodded grimly. “Well, let’s see.”

With difficulty, Victoria completed the incantation and manipulated the blood out of her body using the wound in her tongue and used it to extend the blade of Leryn’s shattered sword, forming a blade that was four inches long in total. Feeling dizzy from the loss of blood, she swayed unsteadily on her feet. Her vision became blurry, and she could barely see the glowing figure as it shot towards them.

Leryn prepared his sword for a thrust through the creature’s chest, which was the only way he could think to deliver a mortal blow with so short a blade. As the creature drew nearer, it extended its claws, and the man realized that his gambit could never work. At the last instant, he twisted his body out of the way and swiped at the creature with his weapon, severing one of the creature’s toes. The beast let off a hideous screech of pain that made Leryn’s head feel like bursting as it shot up into the sky.

Unable to hold on any longer, Victoria fell as her consciousness slipped. However, Leryn had been prepared and scooped her up before she hit the ground. With blood pouring from his ears, he ran towards the building Victoria had pointed out with her in his arms. The creature screeched indignantly, but neither could hear. It continued to climb over its quarry and then seemed to hang in the air for a moment before plummeting to the ground like a cannonball.

Leryn was oblivious to this. For the first time, he’d turned his back to the enemy and ran. He was running for his life. His legs protested, but he drove them forward, demanding more speed from them. It was partly due to terror and partly because he knew there was no way for them to defeat this creature. The girl had risked her life, and all he could do was buy them this small opening. All he could do now was to get them both to safety so they could live to fight another day.

He drew nearer to the building and saw no door. He didn’t have time to force one open anyway and threw himself through the nearest window. He felt a sharp pain in his back as the creature’s talons dug in as he burst through the window. His fall was broken by a cupboard on the other side that splintered under his immense weight. The beast shrieked in frustration as it pulled out of its dive.

Leryn groaned and checked on Victoria. She was still unconscious in his arms, but his huge body had protected her from the broken glass and splintered wood. He then looked out the window. The creature was either unwilling or unable to enter the room and had begun circling overhead. He breathed a sigh of relief and gently set her down. Then, he heard footsteps coming from above.

“Who goes there?”