Venom (Book I) ✓

Chapter Nine

Ruby was awoken by a strange wailing sort of sound. She opened her eyes and furrowed her brow. Above her, hints of a steely sky were visible, the sun still hidden somewhere beneath her. She was curled in the knot of a tree, the rough bark scraping uncomfortably against her back and legs and the few strips of exposed skin unfortunate enough to come in contact with the unforgiving surface of her makeshift bed.

It took her a moment to realize what had woken her, and she found herself darting into a sitting position, bracing herself against the broad trunk. The ground was a good fifteen feet below her, but from her vantage point she could make out a thick mist curling around the remnants of the previous night's campfire.

"Ulric?" She called softly, turning in search of his familiar form.

The night before, she was fairly certain, he had settled on a limb a few feet above her. She squinted through the hazy pre-dawn light, looking for his shadowy figure, but above her there was only a raven, blinking down at her darkly.

An icy finger of panic rose in her throat, choking her, and she clumsily started down from her precarious perch. The smallest branches caught and tore at her clothes and their larger counterparts ravaged her hands and cheeks. By the time she reached the ground blood ran in little rivulets down her neck and she was shivering as the thick, heavy mist twisted around her. Too late, she realized that her cloak was still up in the tree, as she had used it as a pillow the night before.

"Ulric?" She called, hugging herself tightly as if she could protect herself from the mist. "Ulric, is this normal?"

The fog swirled around her, reaching forward as if in response to her voice. It was thick and chilled and when it caressed her cheek she shivered against its dampness.

"Are you frightened child?"

Ruby whirled to try and find the voice among the shifting mist. It seemed to have come from everywhere at once, and the mist was so thick that she could scarcely see the tree she had just descended from.

A high, tinkling laugh echoed from somewhere among the silvery white.

"Hello?" She called, turning more slowly now and fighting to see through the mess.

"You do have a voice! Oh, how lucky!"

She stopped turning abruptly, feeling incredibly dizzy and completely lost in the fog. For a moment she merely swayed in place, pressing her eyes closed to fight off her sudden nausea.

"Oh, I've frightened you. I'm sorry."

"Where are you?" She asked, her voice a low growl. It surprised her in its aggression toward the strange disembodied voice.

"Oh, is that why you're frightened? You need only have said as much."

She opened her eyes curiously, just as a figure stepped forward from among the mist. The creature could have been female for its narrow frame and fluid, languid motions, but it could also have been male for the same qualities. The only thing she felt entirely certain of was that whatever it was it was certainly not human. Its skin was the color of the mist, so pale that the creature looked surreal, as if she could walk straight through it. Its face, though, caught and held her eye and she found herself pinned by its gaze like a butterfly on a board.

The creature was more beautiful than anything she had ever seen. Wide, silver eyes pierced her, their irises defined by the faint way they glittered and gleamed in the sparse light. Bowed lips parted then in a smile that dimpled the creature's cheeks and revealed teeth so starkly white that it almost hurt to look at it.

"What is your name little human?" It asked her, a slender hand plucking absent-mindedly at its waist-length hair. It floated around the creature, its silky, silvery tendrils drifting and reacting to the mist as if weightless.