BLOOD BOUNDED - THE SHADE - English - Castlevania Lords of Shadow (fanfic) PII

Chapter 40

Surprises come in many forms. Marie thought, watching Gabriel's whip fly over the branches with great mastery. Her senses could barely follow what was happening as chaos fell upon them.

"Quick, Marie" she heard her sister "let's put the next barrier, now!"

She forced herself to react. She ran to her sister's side and forced herself to pay attention. Julia moved quickly, fingers and tools rapidly assembling the symbol and...

A scream was heard behind them. The flames covered the branches that had been thrown on them.

"It's done!" she shouted "Come, Gabriel, this way!"

But he seemed not to listen. He was locked in his own combat, snarling in a frenzied dance of erratic, blood-splattered crashes.

Before she could pray it wasn't him, Marie yelled:

"Come on, Gabriel!"

Jumping back, he narrowly dodged a branch that nearly ripped his shirt, picked up his whip, and ducked under some that tried to catch him, throwing himself toward them:

"Move!"

The girls turned and ran, he was right behind, the creature's extensions hot on his heels. The tunnel became increasingly difficult to cross, narrow and slippery. Before she knew it, Marie was clinging to Gabriel's arm, who seemed to be holding fast and steady when everything else around her, including herself, was unsteady.

The screeches and cracks were terrifying.

Do not look back! Do not look back!

"There is the trunk!" Shouted her sister. "Ahead!"

"There is a platform, we must jump!"

Jump?

The arm she was clinging to suddenly released her, only to grab her around the waist, and before she knew it, light swallowed everything, and the ground disappeared.

It took her a moment to blink before she could open her eyes and gasp.

What might once have been a simple damp passageway had become an abyss of twigs coiled into a thick shifting mass, stretching from the dark bottom to the top and across the walls like a sharp spider's web, clinging to large holes.

The next moment she had to take cover, as they reached the nearby branches and Gabriel had to dodge them. At some point she had started to hold on to his torso and she could see Julia doing the same, but she couldn't think much more. She also had to move if she didn't want to get hit.

Time had suddenly become faster than her senses.

"Gabriel, the root!" Julia exclaimed.

"Take cover!" He cried.

She couldn't do more than close her eyes again and raise a low prayer. He felt something on her shoulder, but it was so fleeting that she immediately forgot it. Just when she thought her feet would reach some surface, it immediately disappeared so she stopped trying.

Small and powerless, she was beginning to wonder if she really wasn't just being a burden. Literally one, could even say.

"Marie!" Gabriel's voice made her open her eyes. She managed to see the silhouette of his face in a gloom even darker than before. "Are you okay, Marie?"

"Um... yes" she managed to stammer.

"Oh my God!" her sister looked out, scared "it's too much blood!"

Huh? blood?

Seeing herself, she gasped heavily.

Her white dress, from her shoulder, to her side, was drenched in dark red.