Nightside: Possession of Light

Chapter 3- Body

It was 2:00pm when we got back to the den and it was buzzing with activity. Which was nothing unusual, but the frantic atmosphere and undercurrent of fear was new.

   Wolf and I exchanged curious looks. Everyone seemed to be heading out back. We pushed our way through, most of the people quickly moving out of our path, to the back garden.

   We reached the back of the den. Everyone was crowded at the bottom of the garden looking up, right above us. Fate saw us and came over,

   “Shadow. Wolf. I’m so glad you’re safe!” his face was pale and creased with worry. Fate was gentle by nature, so always worried about us even though we were the ones that protected everyone and we were the ones strong enough to go out and hunt. But he was well respected by everyone because despite his gentle, soft manner he had brought up two of the best Hunters.

   Fate looked anxious and kept shuffling around, trying to block our view. I followed everyone’s gaze behind me, my eyes travelled up until I found it.

   It was dark but every light in the den was on and the moon shone full and high so it wasn’t hard to see. Plus our enhanced vision meant we could see every detail better than most of the others.

   She was held up by her wrists, nailed into the wall above her head. Blood covered her arms in a red river, it glistened in the moon, still wet- it had been less than 15 minutes since her death I concluded. It was a hot night.

   Her eyes were wide open, dead and cold but not blank; they still held the echo of her painful and violent torture. Her blond hair fell over her shoulders, blood dripped down her legs and bare feet from the jagged hole in her stomach. It was difficult to see past the blood and bits of flesh and meat but the rip in her stomach seemed strangely empty, like all her insides had been taken out.

   There was no doubt, this could only have been done by a Darksider. Anger flared in me and I heard Wolf growl deep in his throat. He still did that when he was pissed off or felt threatened.

    I turned to Fate, in some ways I knew he didn’t want us to see that; he knew we were Hunters, understood what that meant, but he still tried to protect us from it, protect us from ourselves.

   “Where were all the Hunters?” I demanded. We were supposed to protect everyone.

   Fate shook his head, “No one was in, everyone has been on duty. You two are the first to be back here in hours.”

   “What!?” I knew it wasn’t his fault but he was the closest, so the first one I took my anger out on. “There were no hunters at all?”

   He shook his head in answer. There were always some Hunters that stayed and protected the den. “Ok, get everyone inside.”

   Fate nodded and went off, careful not to look at the body. I turned to Wolf as I took out my phone, “Check the place.”

   I called Day first, “Get to the den, now.”

   “Aw but Shadow…” he whined but before he could finish the sentence I hung up.

   Blood next. I told her the same thing and she complied without argument.

   I looked up at the body trying to figure it out.

   “From God we were made and to God we return.” I prayed quietly as I thought. Why would a Darksider do this? What did they get out of this? But I was betting this was some kind of twisted message.

   Wolf came back, expression as impassive as mine, “They came through the forest and it looks like she was dragged from the same direction too.”

   “Would you be able to track it?”

   He considered it for a second, “Maybe, but I don’t know how far it’ll get us. This forest is so big, the trail would run cold half way.” Wolf was our best tracker, due to his Wolf upbringing, so I trusted his judgment.

   Just then Day came, “Oh shit!!” he looked up at the body, his face shocked but then soon after, like any good hunter, he got himself under control. “Someone cudda warned me!” He glared at me.

   I gave him an evil smile, “I thought you might appreciate the first hand experience.”

    “Haha! So NOT funny!” that made me smile even more and he scowled.

   He was about to say more when the body made a terrible sound like flesh tearing and the body fell heavily to the ground, inches away from Day.

   Day jamp away and swore viscously, Wolf and I laughed at his horror. It wasn’t funny, we all knew that but we had strange ways of dealing with things.

   “Who did this?” He asked when we’d all sobered up again.

   “Darksiders.” I hissed, my voice harsh as ice.

   “But what would they want with a Healer?”

   “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.” I answered darkly.