Chapter Sixteen

Something was following us, again, but this time they weren't human.

As we were minding our own business, moonbathing, while my brother rolled around in the snow, only stopping to ask for a scratch on the back, I spot in the corner of my vision a white blur pass.

"Brother." Hunthor says, low so only I could hear him. I just nod while his new tail flickered, impassive. I lick my upper fangs.

"Let's see what it is. Can you hold on for a few seconds?"

"Sure thing."

He didn't had the ability to go stealth anymore, making his strength by attacking from far away, casting spells, while I usually or defended him, or stayed hidden until the prey charged at him and I jumped on it.

One more reason for me to go alone and check. We were trying to hunt new things to increase our abilities, but I would always use appraisal first.

I reached close to a group of five white creatures… And they looked very weird. They had dinosaur like bodies, with longs legs and tiny arms, but their heads… they didn't have eyes, not even a real head, only a big neck that ended up in a huge mouth full of teeth putted in a circular way.

They clicked and clacked, using their talons and claws to communicate, as I used appraisal on them:

Stalkers: Blind creatures with a high sense of smell, they are commonly known for hunting on packs. Their name comes from the fact that, once spotting their prey, they never let it go.

Good thing they didn't find us yet… right?

Of course that, as I was thinking that, out of nowhere they sprinted in the middle of the woods, right where I had left my brother.

Shit.

They caught our smell.

I sprinted quicker in the woods, reaching my brother before them. He strained his ears, and without a word started running with me.

Between breaths I quickly explained the situation.

"There are five- of them that I know of- two level 12 and the other three level 17. In this –open- space we are easy prey, we need a closed- in place so you can attract their- attention while I sneak at them."

He just nods, already feeling his SP lowering.

The trees pass hastily as we dash and dodge our way between them, going farther and farther away from the hunters. But the stalker thing… bothered me. It would be troublesome if they kept chasing us, what's worst, they could have more of them awaiting for us.

Not good, hum.

The trees started to lessen and more and more snow came to view, stretching on the horizon. A slight mist covers the field, until no trees could be seen, only the bare land and some… silhouettes?

It was difficult to see but they looked like rocks or something but as we couldn't afford to stop we gamble our way towards them.

Gravestones.

Lots of them, laying around to be punished by the weather. A grunt made me look to a humanoid shape to our left, moving slowly through the rocky path.

Oh god, it smelled awful.

We didn't slow down as we passed it but I could get a good look nonetheless. An undead, the eyeball hung on his face as his skinny body tried to turn around to follow us.

Icky, disgusting.

With this open space he could see some stalkers keeping their distance but circling around us to close in, as well as many slow silhouettes dragging themselves, mixing with the tall gravestones.

Click clack behind us. Shit they are fast.

We hooped around the undead, as it got harder and harder to avoid them. I was faster than my brother and had more stamina, but it didn't mean they would wait it out; that's why I slowed down enough to attack them.

I used Fire Ball and none of them hit, but I was just trying to distract them as my brother went ahead. One of them jumped high and would have landed right on top of me if I didn't merge with my shadow.

Then we arrived at a castle.

Ugh, it was that type with long towers and arcs everywhere, the type only evil people live in, *snickers*. It stood tall against the moonlight, as its windows shone a reddish light, casting an eerie image of an enormous beast lying in wait.

The click clack sounded to close between the grunts of the undead that slowly turned their hands up, trying to reach us.

I jumped up some falling structures, getting a better view of the stalkers moving in. There seemed to be someone inside the castle, and until I'm told otherwise I will label him as an enemy, so the front door wasn't an option…

We circle around quickly, finding a hatch almost buried in the snow, probably for been fairly used as a path formed on the mud. My paws touched something stinky and fifth, and when I looked down and tock a sniff it was easy to recognize.

Blood.

Fresh blood.

Of course, it would never be tomato sauce or something, even more close to an eerie castle.

We didn't have time to ponder as one of the stalkers jumped up on a stone wall beside us, ready to pounce as we pushed wide the little opening off the hatch and closed it behind us.

It was pitch black, and any foul smell from before was much worst down here. They banged on the wood of the hatch, but were unable to understand how to open it, so we slowly made our way through the dark stone tunnel.

The ground and wall were very uneven, making holes between the stones and slowing even more our advance. My brother suppressed the best he could his fire, but his tail was still dazzling a bit.

There were metal bars letting in to what seems like…cells? They were small, following the corridor we were walking in. Urgh, the people here must have frozen to death if they were kept in this conditions, some cells even hade tiny windows that let snow fall in, showing the outside in a mocking way.

My brother looked at me, his ears low, feeling the odd aura around. I manipulated our shadows so our talons wouldn't make a sound, until we reached some spiral stairs that led upstairs.

We arrived at the upper part and inside the castle, pushing open massive wooden doors. There was a red old carpet going all around the place as the victorian windows were framed by ragged red curtains.

As our paws passed, taking of some dust, I could see that one day they had golden drawings sewed on them. Must have been quite a sight to behold, with the tall windows and arced celling.

We heard broken glass up front, and exchanging looks we trot silently, arriving at an open big space with a balcony above, and a pair of stairs circling around in symmetry.

Two of the stalkers were shaking the glass off of them, making marks on the wooden floor with their talons. Perfect, only three of them in, easy to take out with all this shadows and hiding spots.

But then I sensed a presence, a dark and strong one, and angry.

"Such little insects making a mess of my floor! But no trouble, no, you will be fitting new subjects."

Someone spoke from above, clicking its tongue in annoyance. A cane followed his steps, as he gradually descended the stairs, unaffected by the growling of the creatures below. He was wearing a long hooded cape, letting visible only long grey fingers.

But when he stopped in front of the creatures, I could catch a glimpse of his face.

~~~~

Wayy, I'm not stuck anymore! Is terrible when you have many ideas but haven't thought on what happens in the page you are in, sigh.

What you guys think of the story until now?

And yeah, ML is not here yet, but I want to develop their relationship before anything happens, not just sex, you know? Like in Picked up by the Protagonist of a tormented! MC novel, or The founder of diabolism (which no one ever heard of right? Pff) so if you are looking for a quicky, you won't have it here hehe.