Chapter 73 CHAPTER 73

Chapter 73 CHAPTER 73
My Nike sneakers slapped the earth in a steady rhythm. Each strike sent a dull jolt up through my shins and into my knees.

“Why am I wearing these shoes? I haven’t worn these in months.” I murmured to myself staring at me feet. 

The damp ground gave slightly under me, carrying the sharp scent of wet earth.

The trees stood tall in the black big forest.

“I can see,” I must be dreaming, this has to be a dream. I can see everything, and 
somehow my legs refuse to obey my mind. 

I am running endlessly unaware of what waits for me where ever my feet are taking me to.

My breath came in short, hard pulls that made my chest heavy. My pulse hammered behind my ears. 

I tried to dig my heels down, to lock my knees, to force the motion of my body to break but nothing was happening. 

Why isn’t everything working? I could feel frustration turning into panic, tears I was barely holding back. My chest hurt, my vision blurred and I am all alone in a forest.

“First it was my eyes now it’s my eyes, you would swear I am in someone else’s body.” I said to myself in ragged breaths. “I am one thing not working away from going mad.”

You would think that since I am running uncontrollably I would shut my mouth and preserve some energy but no, I keep speaking out loud.

Nothing is changing, my body still refused to stop. It’s as if my body has it’s own mind or has been commanded differently. 

The jog stayed locked, relentless, carrying me forward through the narrow path.

A figure stepped into the path ahead.

Black clothes moved long sleeves and a black skirt that brushed the ground without catching on anything mud.

A cloth of the same deep black covered her hair, its edges stitched with thin silver thread that caught the moonlight and flashed. 

She looks young with smooth looking beautiful skin. She stood perfectly still while my body kept driving toward her.

Cold fingers closed around my upper arms before I could say anything, the grip firm and strong. 

My weight pitched forward; my toes dug into the soft earth and the runaway momentum stopped so hard my breath punched out of me in one sharp sound. 

Her hands did not loosen the grip on me. My chest rose and fell, I stared at her.

“Who are you and what am I doing here?”Her mouth tilted. A soft giggle slipped out from her, adorably so. 

She spun once in place, the black cloth flaring around her legs, then stopped facing me again.

“I’m the Moon Goddess,” she said, and the giggle returned, lighter this time. She turned in another small circle, arms out, as if feeling the night air with her hands.

My eyes stayed level. My jaw set hard enough that the muscles along it ached. 

She giggled again, shyly this time, the sound of someone amused and in disbelief.

“If you are my guardian,” I said, voice flat, “I am surely fucked.” Who would play such a painful trick and give me a guardian who barely contains her excitement upon seeing me.

Her face changed without warning, the brightness disappeared. Her eyes dark, almost black went still and scary. The playful curve of her mouth straightened into a hard line. 

My weight shifted backward on instinct. One heel sank into the soft ground. The shift from laughter to that quiet had been faster than a blink. Whoever I was staring at one second ago, is no longer in control. 

“I apologize for Enna’s excitement,” she spoke in a different tone, stern. Her voice was lower, each word spoken carefully. “We rarely have any visitors around here.”

My brows drew together. I studied her face and her body, studying her more trying to make sense of this encounter. 

And she stared back at me with the same intensity. The realisation settled without words. More than one presence moved behind those eyes. Whoever she is, she has multiple personality disorder.

I drew a slower breath. The bad taste in my mouth had faded; now the air held only the clean air of the dream forest.

“I appreciate the company,” I said. “But I need to know how to stop the Hollow Man. He’s been hunting me. Every night. Every time I close my eyes he is closer and funny enough I feel his presence even though his not around.”

She tilted her head a fraction. The silver thread on the edge of her head-cloth caught the light again.

“You will not be able to defeat him.” The words landed flat. I opened my mouth opened to answer her.

A tremor ran through her body, her body visibly shook for one minute. Her shoulders jerked once, then again. 

Her head tipped to the side as if something inside had yanked it. The fingers still closed around my arms tightened, then loosened, then tightened again. 

Her eyes flickered dark to brighter, brighter to dark like two people fighting for the same pair of windows. “I wanna speak to her.” she angrily hissed while staring down at her feet.

A low sound escaped her throat, half laugh, half snarl. I watched the struggle play out across her face and understood: the two of them were tearing at each other from the inside.

Then one voice broke free, higher, sharper, the same bright tone that had giggled earlier. I think I like you better, Enna.

“She’s lying, Ayla. You can do this. You just need to stab him with a Vampire hunter’s knife.”

My pulse kicked harder against the skin of my throat. “Where am I supposed to get one of those?”

The woman Enna smiled, quick and fierce. One hand released my arm. It disappeared into the folds of her black skirt and came back holding a knife. 

The blade was short, ancestral, the metal sharp enough that the moon-light ran along its edge .

The handle of the knife looked old, wrapped in worn leather that still held the faint scent of oil and iron.

She closed the remaining distance between us without, I drew in a breath.

Both her hands came up one still gripping my arm, the other pressing the knife into my palm until my fingers curled around the handle. 

Then she caught my face between her palms, forcing my eyes to meet hers. Her gaze locked on mine, unblinking.

Pain lanced through my eyes, sudden pain. A cry tore out of my throat before I could stop it. Tears or something thicker welled and spilled. 

She lifted her thumbs and drew them carefully across my lower lids, she closed her eyes and started speaking words in a foreign langauge.

The pain came in sharp waves, each pulse matching the frantic beat under my skin.

The forest around us began to dissolve into something sharper the smell of my own sheets. My body jerked once, hard.

Alex’s hands were on my shoulders, shaking me. His voice cut through the last threads of the dream, low and urgent. 

I blinked against the real dark of the room. My right hand was still closed tight around the knife. 

The ancestral blade rested against my palm, solid and cold, the leather wrap rough under my fingers. 

Blood trickled from the corners of my eyes and slid down my cheeks. The pain flared once more, then settled into a dull throb.

I stared at the weapon in my hand while Alex’s fingers dug into my shoulders, finally progress.