The Grey of Morn (DoumaxOC)

Two: Marechi

Yuuma's mouth widened with a silent scream.

Chiyo's heart dropped to her gut.

The thing, the demon, rumbled from low in the brush, those wolf gold eyes winking with predatory hunger.

Even from here she could smell the stench of blood wafting off it.

It hadn't just escaped, it'd been here all along, lurking in the woods they'd been trekking through with victim after victim.

It's been waiting for us.

Yuuma's hold on her arm tightened to a bone bruising grip ,her breaths coming out in nothing but wheezing gasps.

Chiyo began to shake, all the while placing a steady hand on her friend's shoulder.

She wanted to tell Yuuma to calm down, to breathe, to not panic. It was vital they didn't, because a single uncoordinated move could have them strewn across the leaf mold like the slayers in the glen.

But how could she, when she couldn't do any of those things herself?

She didn't know, so she only held onto Yuuma, with as much terror as the other woman held onto her.

When those malicious orbs blinked out of sight, Chiyo's blood ran cold.

She abandoned caution, slowly turning her trembling face towards Yuuma's.

The numbness in her lips only allowed her one word.

"Run."

They went flying through the trees, gasping and heaving, their feet falling over wet earth, leaves kicked up, branches snapping and raking at their skin.

Something snagged Chiyo's pantleg, and she went tumbling with a tear of fabric and a laceration of the hip.

Her panic surged.

Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm, she begged herself.

But she couldn't, not with her heart roaring in her ears, not with her veins spiked with a primitive terror.

There was a steady snarl from the thicket behind them.

Yuuma's face went white as death.

Death.

Chiyo was going to be just that if she didn't get up.

Wheezing in painful gasps, she clawed herself to her feet, dirt stinging beneath her nails, but not as much as the stinging in her knee. Something hot and burning beginning to wet the skin there.

Yuuma yanked her to her feet,"don't falter dammit! We need to get back to the village!"

"I can smell youuuuu…"

The two women seized up.

A voice, high and keening, spoke to them from the thicket.

A devil from hell.

"I can smell you marechiiii…"

Chiyo's bulging eyes caught Yuuma's, her bloodied knee still stinging, her gnashed hip starting to soak into her uniform.

Marechi?

They ran.

Down the forest path, through the black trees, blue shadows leaving them blind and sobbing in the dark.

They could hear the mocking laughter of the demon, often followed with an animalistic growl.

And every now and then: a string of gruesome words from that unholy mouth.