Creatures in the Dark

Chapter Nine

After their intimate moment, Nightmare and Stephan left the pond and began to head back to Ace's house.  Stephan held onto Nightmare's hand as she lead the way out of the forest. His face had a cute red tint to it as he focused on their intertwined hands. Stephan felt like he was on top of the world, all the horrible things that had happened had left his mind for the first time. 

Nightmare glanced back at the human boy and chuckled at the lovestruck smile that was displayed on his face. She knew it was a bad idea to fall in love, especially with a boy so crucial to their plan. She knew what was planned for the boy and the chances of his survival slowly decreased as more information arose.  At least she could enjoy this time with him before their world would truly begin to fall apart.  

One of them would die in the end, after all, that was the cycle of Nightmare's love life. She would make sure that this time, she would be the one bleeding to death. Their love was destined to collapse under the pressure of the world they live in.  

Nightmare tucked her thoughts away and tried to just enjoy the moment. She knew it was unlikely that they would ever have a time like this again. 

The duo managed to make it back to Ace's house unnoticed. Upon entering, the two noticed something was off. It was much too silent for there being four others in the home. Nightmare moved first. She silently crept through the house and peeked into the living room. She quickly relaxed once she found the reason why it was so quiet. She glanced back at Stephan with a small smile and placed a finger over her lips, signaling him to stay quiet. 

Stephan peered around the corner and had to hold back a chuckle at the sight. Silver, UnKnown, and Ace were all cuddled up in Yael's arms on the couch. The show on the tv was still playing, but one of them must have muted it before they fell asleep.  

Yael cracked his eyes open and looked over at the two of them standing in the entrance. "You look comfortable." Nightmare said softly, trying not to wake the other tree. "Yea, I honestly don't know how this happened, but I figured we could all use something like this..." 

There it is again, Stephan thought. He began to notice that they all talked like something horrible was going to happen. The nagging feeling of anxiety began to crawl up his spine as he began to think about all the things that could happen. 

Yael took notice of Stephan's sudden change and sighed. He looked at Nightmare and nodded his head towards Stephan then towards UnKnown. Nightmare frowned at what he was implying. She knew they would have to explain it to Stephan eventually, but she wished it didn't have to be now. Nightmare gave a nod back at the white-haired male. Yael shifted and gently shook the three curled up against him in an attempt to wake them. It didn't take much for Ace to wake up and get off the couch. Uk wasn't far behind Ace, while Silver groaned and refused to wake up. 

Yael lifted the boy and laid him on the couch since he was not needed in the conversation. Ace gave Stephan a look that quickened the spread of his anxiety. "Stephan, sit down on the floor. We have some things we must tell you about." Stephan numbly nodded and took a seat on the floor in front of the couch. Ace sat across from him with Yael at her side. UnKnown sighed and sat on the other side of Ace while Nightmare sat next to Stephan. 

"So..." Stephan started, but Ace cut him off with a simple look. 

"Stephan, I haven't been very honest with you." Ace started, "I've told you many lies throughout our entire friendship." Stephan felt a pang in his heart. It hurt to know his best friend was lying to him. "I have my reasons, so please hear me out." She paused, waiting for some sort of cue from Stephan to continue. He just nodded, wanting her to continue.