Accidental Time Traveler-InutaishoxOC

5. Aftermath

Inutaisho slowed as he drew closer to their quarry. The scent of blood and death permeated the air, a fragrant perfume of horror and despair. A flock of birds erupted from the trees screeching a warning as they fled.

He cocked his head, listening for the sounds of human heartbeats or breathing amid the usual sounds of the forest.

Silence greeted him. Disturbing in its absoluteness.

Layla looked up at him, concern brimming in her green eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I do not know." He lowered her to her feet, holding her steady until she rediscovered her balance. "Wait here. I will scout ahead."

Inutaisho did not wait to see if she obeyed, an urgent wrongness propelling him forward. Not far ahead he came across a massacre. The village women lay among the bandits. All of them had their throats ripped out, their faces twisted in grimaces of fear. He picked through the bandits' corpses until he found a suitable weapon. He tucked the sword through his obi.

Tilting his head up, he scented the air, catching a whiff of a demon. Of the bandits' horses, there was no sign.

Carrion birds circled overhead, waiting for an opportunity to feast on the corpses. Inutaisho could make no sense of the death spread before him. The demon had killed these mortals but had not eaten them.

The bushes rustled behind him, and Layla emerged, pale and wan.

"Shit." She came up beside Inutaisho, eyes widening. "What did this?"

Inutaisho sent her a mildly reproachful look. "I told you to remain behind. The situation is still dangerous."

"And what if the bandits had friends lurking nearby?" She shook her head and then winced from the motion. "No, it's safer with you."

Inutaisho felt a flicker of annoyance over being disobeyed but did not press the matter. He wove through the bodies, scenting the air. The demon's scent was fading fast. "Whatever did this is gone."

Layla's stomach lurched at all the carnage, almost worse than the massacre at the old fort. Blood sprayed the ground around the corpses like a twisted post-modern painting. A gleam of spine peered out of one man's mauled throat.

She slapped a hand over her mouth. "I'm going to be sick."

Turning away, Layla hobbled for the nearest bush and hurled. Why? Why did this stuff keep happening?

As a history professor she possessed a general notion of what life was like pre-industrialized society. Pouring over ancient books and parchment scrolls had ill-prepared her for the reality.

Layla's shoulders hunched in sorrow. It made her ache for her own time where she could hail a cab or walk down the street without fear of being killed by a monster. Though the other women abandoned her, they did not deserve such a gruesome end.

Fur brushed gently against her cheek as Inutaisho knelt behind her, resting a large warm hand against her back. "Do you need a drink of water? There's a stream nearby."

"What I need is a damned time machine." She muttered, staring down at the pool of vomit on the ground.

At the rank smell, her stomach cramped again.

"I know not about time machines, but I understand your distress. You must come from an era far less dangerous than this one." Inutaisho rubbed soothing circles along her back until she finished being sick. "You should not have followed me here."

Wiping her mouth, Layla eased back on her haunches, releasing a shaky breath. "Alright, lesson learned." She peered up into his golden eyes, her smile tight with suppressed emotion. "Where's that stream again? I think I can use a drink after all."