I wake up groaning, spitting blood and phlegm, and scramble to get off the floor in the pitch black of my room.
The hot fluid running down the sides of my face tells me my ears are bleeding. My headâs aching like it got stomped on repeatedly, and Iâm so dizzy I canât seem to focus on anything.
The air is deathly cold, and I scrape my hands around the dusty wooden floor to get my bearings.
I have no idea whatâs happened, why thereâs no light anymore, or why Iâm so messed up, dazed, and confused, and my body aches badly.
The air is filled with noises so terrifying I freeze in utter fear as they filter through, and I pick them apart, stilled as I listen and try to make sense of what they are, my heart gripped in icy terror.
Thereâs screaming, howling, wails of despair, and sobbing. Something else, too, a weird, almost chatter-like taunting noise that I swear is precisely how I would imagine the devil would sound laughing.
It sends the fear of God through me, and I shudder violently, pulling myself up to huddle on my ass, aware I can move again, even if a little slow and with great effort.
My limbs are insanely heavy, and Iâm hazy and not fully here.
Thereâs a metallic stench in the air so intense it makes me gag, completely vile in its density, and although I donât know whatâs going on, my internal instincts are warning me to be very, very afraid.
I shiver and curl up into a ball, trying to be small as childhood instincts take over, swallowing down the urge to cry and struggle not to gasp as much because itâs making me lightheaded.
I screw up my eyes to get them to adjust to the pitch blackness faster and try to make out all the forms and shapes of my room. My sight adjusts quickly and lets me see some of my surroundings.
A sudden thud, thud, thud, piques my attention like a sixth sense and softly echoes my way, my stomach turning with fear-induced nausea as I zone into it.
I hold my breath and freeze, as still as a statue, as I tune in, trying to focus all my effort on what it is.
Itâs less imposing than the rest of the noises, sort of dull, heavy, and foreboding, but itâs slicing through and pulling my painful hearing toward it, demanding attention.
I can feel it getting closer, almost like each thud syncs with my heartbeat, and my pain drops to my stomach with every bang of its harsh noise.
I tremble inside with extreme terror, knowing that itâs coming my way.
The overwhelming stench of something familiar wafts over as I focus my energy, and it distracts me from listening.
I know the smell. Itâs not metallic; itâs a scent. A wolf scent, familiar⦠someone I know.
Instinct makes me push back, despite the world tilting and swaying around me, and I slide backward under the nearest bed.
I scramble flat again and use my palms and all the strength I can muster to force myself into the shadows of my only protection.
I inhale sharply, and that scent forms a picture in my mind of the face it belongs to, so clear now itâs almost upon me.
Itâs Vankaâs. Itâs her smell, her scentâstrong as though sheâs afraid or in wolf form. I donât know.
I claw and pull myself under, breaking nails painfully in the process as I scramble in panic. Somethingâs telling me to hide.
The sheets Vanka leaves hanging over with her refusal to make her bed conceal me, and, for once, Iâm glad of her untidiness.
Thankfully, her bed is always a mess, leaving chaos around it, and I curl into my own body to fit in one corner.
I peer out, gut telling me I should be quiet and stay hidden. I hold my breath and cover my mouth with my hand as tears roll silently down my cheeks.
Fear is trying to consume me, making me shake so badly Iâm sure itâll give me away.
My door is still open, and as I become accustomed to the dark, my nocturnal eyes coming out to play for the first time since my turning, I make out something passing the open space.
I inhale quickly to quiet myself into stillness, heart bursting through my chest, pounding my ribs erratically as tears drench my hand and wrist.
Something tall and dark swaggers in the space out there, imposing and blurry as I adjust, but it pauses and stops right outside.
Itâs almost like it senses me, and I recoil some more, trying to make myself as small as I can. Iâm so scared.
It pivots slowly to peer my way, and everything in me turns to ice as a terrified feint drains me of all blood.
I close my eyes, screw them shut tight, and clench my fists, trying to become completely cut off and invisible as best I can, praying to the Fates that they donât see me.
Whatever it is, I know itâs not a friend. Itâs not one of us.
âHere, puppy, puppy⦠where are you hiding? I know thereâs at least one more up hereâ¦â
The bloodcurdling words make me scrunch up my face to combat hysterical tears, the voice alien to me, almost satanic, low, and husky, with a heavy accent in its depths.
Itâs foreign, yet I donât know what. I donât know this voice.
The scent is nothing Iâve ever encountered before and dampens over the one I vaguely recognize. Itâs not Vanka, but I can smell her close, which only confuses my fear-addled brain.
The sadistic laugh that follows his bold verbal turns my insides to mush, and I physically weaken with an icy wave as whatever, or whoever it is, steps inside the room with me.
âI can hear your heart beating, little one⦠Bumpity, bumpity, bump, bump, bump. Youâre scared. Why donât you come out and play like your friends are doing? I want to play with you, too.â
He laughs again, a sound that curls my toes and sends shivers across my scalp and down my spine so that I shudder uncontrollably.
Itâs the sound of someone truly deranged and evil, and I almost lose control and freak out, tightening myself stiff and holding my breath to keep myself together.
I cover my mouth again, tighter, as the urge to break into a sobbing cry hits me harder, and I shake, holding my breath and praying to God he leaves me alone.
I donât know who he is. Iâm so disoriented, and the smell overpowering my senses has me trying hard not to gag while keeping my focus on this stranger.
I can taste something foul in the air, hitting my tongue, invading my lungs, awful and cloying. Itâs so metallic and potent that it makes my eyes sting and water with its toxicity.
Heâs not one of us. I donât know what he is, but his intentions arenât good. I can almost taste his desire for blood, and it renders me completely uselessâfrozen and terrified.
He ventures in farther from the doorway, dragging something heavy along behind him that identifies the thud, thud I heard coming my way.
I choke on instant bile as it rises in my throat and almost suffocates me in the process. My heart is near imploding as my body convulses at the sight of the lifeless and headless body heâs dragging behind him.
Gagging on my vomit, I canât block out her scent. Waves of panic, hysteria, and the crumbling of my mental state wash over me as I identify what and who he has with him.
There is no mistaking who has fallen foul to whatever this is. I canât unsee or blot it out no matter how much I try to turn away, wash it out of my eyes and mind with snotty tears.
Itâs Vanka. Sheâs dead! Sheâs right there, feet in front of me, dragged by this monster and used as a toy for his sick, twisted game.
âI know where you are, puppy. Why donât you come out and do me a favor? I donât want to have to drag you out from under there. Itâs no fun if I have to do that.â Thereâs a sneer of venomous hatred in his voice.
I imagine the way his face curls into a sadistic grin, glaring my way through the darkness, enjoying every moment of this.
He drops her lifeless form on the floor with a dull thud, her body splaying her arms out in a star shape, and I recoil, tears blurring my vision as I try to make myself as small as I can back here, whimpering internally.
I donât know what to do. Iâm petrified, and if Vanka was no match for this thing, then Iâm not either. I donât know how to fight; Iâve never had to.
Iâm not a warrior or even aggressive. Iâm nothing, a reject from a farmerâs family who is worth nothing to no one.
I bite on my lip, fear paralyzing me, when suddenly, the entire bed is ripped from above me, the gust of the action throwing my hair around my face.
He sends it crashing into the other wall effortlessly, displaying strength much like ours.
I gasp and react defensively with a shuddering splaying of arms over my head as it flies and lands over on top of mine.
I hear the crashing, splintering noise of a wooden bed as it crumbles and shatters into chaos, and Iâm left exposed, fully accessible prey huddled in the smallest of corners.
He comes at me with a flash of speed that I see as if in slow motion, and I gasp in horror, choking up and immobile for a second.
~âMove, Alora⦠move!â~ Some strong inner voice hits me as I chant to myself, trying so hard to make my body work with me, to command it somehow, but nothing is happening.
Itâs like my brain is in slow motion and my limbs in hibernation. I shake my head, try to dislodge this overwhelming dizziness and focus on doing something. Anythingâ¦