Venom (Book I) ✓

Chapter Eight

It was strange, Ruby thought, how quickly they had settled into a pattern. Ulric seemed to know exactly where they needed to go, so he led her through the trees expertly. Sometimes they were able to follow narrow trails of packed earth, sometimes they found themselves clambering over fallen trees and poisonous plants. The former tended to appeal more to Ruby, though Ulric seemed especially keen on the latter.

The walk each day was taxing. Ruby's body, while healthy, was not accustomed to this sort of work, and every time they stopped she discovered a new ache, some in muscles she didn't even know she had. By the third day of bodily abuse she was finding it hard to believe that she was capable of going on.

But go on she did.

Ulric didn't talk much during their walks. When he did it was to discuss where to stop and where to find water. He did not otherwise discuss the forest he inhabited, though it became apparent by the third day without incident that he knew it exceptionally well. 

At night, though, in the flickering firelight, Ulric seemed to change. He unfolded and opened up. His face, brooding and dark by day, seemed to transform and he told stories and asked her questions and laughed openly. His voice low and his eyes alight, he spoke to Ruby as if he had known her his whole life. Of course, certain topics were never breached out of unspoken agreement. Ruby did not ask about his clearly inhuman features, and Ulric did not ask about the venom slowly killing her. Otherwise, they imparted information with reckless abandon.

The third evening was much like the first two. Ulric built a fire in a small clearing with deft hands and they settled into its warmth as the light around them died. Ruby watched silently as he skinned a rabbit that had all but thrown itself at them during their walk. His face was creased with concentration and his hands were steady.

"It won't take long to cook." He assured her, catching her eye and misinterpreting her furrowed brow. "It's thin."

She shook her head, drawing her cloak closer around her to ward off the night's chill. "Who are they?"

Ulric turned to find the two misty forms that had been following them faithfully. They pulsed in and out of being, their faces placid and uninterested. He shrugged and turned back to his rabbit.

"Nobody." He answered her, flicking blood off of the blade of his knife. "Not anymore."

"What happened to them?" She asked, her gaze riveted on the silvery mist.

"They died."

There was a moment of silence as Ruby blinked, absorbing this bit of information. Horror flushed across her cheeks and down her neck, and she turned back to him wide eyed, "How?"

"Why not ask them?"

Ruby glanced back to them, and shook her head, recalling how many times she had tried to hold a conversation with one of the misty forms. "They don't respond to me."

"Right, I forgot." He said, pausing for a moment in his task.

"So there is a reason they only answer you?"

"Mhm," He hummed, setting back in on the rabbit, "Because only I can see them."

Ruby scowled, determining that she was very much not amused by his answer. "Very funny." She snapped, crossing her arms in annoyance.

"I'm not joking. You're the only other person I've ever met who could even see them."

"Yes, I'm sure."

"That's alright, don't believe me, but you've been able to see a lot more than most other people I've come across."

Ruby turned her face away from him, fighting valiantly against the inevitable. Ultimately she lost, and it was with an irritated huff that she finally asked, "Like what?"

He grinned over his rabbit, laughter glittering in his eyes. "Me."

"Ha, ha." She deadpanned, her face burning with the realization that she had fallen for his little joke.

"Also not a joke. Come on, I would have hoped you had figured it out by now." He continued, pressing his skinned rabbit onto a sharpened stick, "Believe it or not Red, I'm not a human."

Something about his playful tone opened up the door just enough for her to answer sarcastically, "You don't say."

"And part of my being inhuman is my ability to only be seen when and how it pleases me."

Ruby watched dully as he dangled their dinner of the fire to cook. His vivid eyes remained riveted on the flames where they licked at their dinner, his lips set into a slight curve. The scars twisting across his skin were turned gruesome and frightening in the flickering light of the little campfire. She realized that his claim was unlikely at best, like something out of a children's story. Still, it was his first reference to his heritage and she feared that if she expressed her doubt he would once more shut her out.

Finally, she nodded, "Okay, prove it."

His gaze flickered up to catch hers, the luminescent green of them burning through her. "Well, as I stated earlier," He started, his voice a slow drawl, "it doesn't work on you."

"Fine, so how does it work?" She conceded, working to hide her annoyance at being spoken to like a child.

"Magic."

Ruby loosed a laugh, but when his face didn't demonstrate any amusement she stopped abruptly.

"Don't believe in magic?" He asked, quirking a brow at her.

"How could I?"

"So why do you think your people fear this forest?"

"Because it's dangerous."

"We haven't met anything dangerous."

"Without you--"

"You would have gotten terribly lost. You wouldn't know the secret of hunting or finding water. You would starve."

"So you're telling me that we are afraid because the forest is big?"

"Not at all. I'm saying that there is magic here, magic that your people fear, because it attacks humans."

"Attacks, huh?"

"It attacks their minds. It muddles them and confuses them and if they stay here long enough, it drives them insane."

"There is one major fault in your claim sir." Ruby stated, a smile quirking her lips.

"Which is?"

"I am human."

"And?"

"And the only thing that's attacked me is the rabbit you're currently burning."

Ulric jerked the meat from the flames, cursing fluently as he batted at the flames now consuming their dinner.

"Next time I'll cook." She stated, her voice light and faintly amused despite the roiling in her mind. 

He only scowled at her over his charred meal, completely unaware of the effect his words had on her. Of one thing she was entirely certain; she would not be sleeping tonight, and the inevitable hunger now staring them in the face would play only a small role in her insomnia.