Blood

Chapter Six: The chase and the confrontation

I sprinted through the forest, my transformed body propelling me forward with supernatural speed. The wind rushed past me, and my senses heightened as I gained on Emily. But I wasn't the only one chasing her. A dark, shadowy creature emerged from the trees, its eyes glowing like embers. Its twisted limbs seemed to stretch on forever. I regained control of my limbs momentarily and used the last bit of speed left in me to reach for Emily. I'm usually really fast so as this creature is moving faster, it's really weird.

I pushed myself harder, my feet pounding the earth. The creature closed in on Emily, its jaws open wide, revealing razor-sharp teeth. Emily tripped over in the bushes, you know, the way those people in horror movies trip over nothing. It would've been really hilarious if she was not about to die. Her fear-fueled screams echoed through the forest. The creature stood over the fallen Emily and stretched it's hands to attack her. I swooped in, blocking the creature's attack with my arm. The force of the blow sent shockwaves through the air, causing nearby trees to shudder. The beast and I stayed like that for a few seconds as if sizing each other up with the speed of light.

The creature's body seemed to shift and writhe like a living shadow, with tendrils of darkness snaking around its limbs. We clashed, our blows shaking the forest floor. Trees splintered, branches shattered, and leaves scattered everywhere. I felt my strength waning, but I refused to yield. With a feral snarl, I launched myself at the creature, my fists flying in a blur of motion.
I punched the creature everywhere I could with the speed of light but the creature seemed to replicate the speed I possessed and even had more so it blocked all my attacks with ease. This was frustrating. I couldn't land a single blow but the creature was landing blow after blow on me. It lifted me off the ground and hit me on a tree, shattering the tree entirely.
The creature dodged my attack and counter attacked by slashing my chest. The claw marks were big and blood seeped through the injuries but a little claw mark on my chest wasn't going to stop me.

Adrenaline flowed through my body, allowing me to keep fighting inspite of the injury. Suddenly we saw flashes of light in the background. Humans were close by. The monster detached from me and ran off, disappearing into the shadows.

It was at this moment that I started feeling the pain from my multiple wounds.
"Why am I still not healing yet?" I wondered, my mind foggy with pain.

Emily approached me cautiously, fear still etched on her face. "I need to get you to a hospital," she said, her voice trembling.

"No...no hospitals," I replied, my voice barely above a whisper. "Too risky. Take me home."

As Emily helped me to my feet, I transformed back into my human form, my body weakened by the fight so it could not afford to stay in a form that needed so much power to maintain. I leaned on Emily, my vision blurring and before I knew it,everywhere went dark.

When I woke up, I was in my room, Emily sitting beside me. She was asleep. She must have been watching over me for a long time.

I stood up, looking at my chest. It was bandaged. I knew mom would've been the one to have done this. I walked out of the room silenty,trying my best not to wake Emily. I found Ava watching movies in the living room. "So you have the heart to watch movies even when I'm dying?" I teased. "Where's Mom and dad?"

"I knew you would be fine." Ava shrugged. "Mom and dad left the house a while ago. They said they had a score to settle."
"Score to settle?" I inquired. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Beats me."
"How come Emily's still here?" I asked further. "They didn't kill her or clear her memories of me? She knows more than she's supposed to"
"They tried to wipe her memory. Even their combined strength couldn't have an effect on her mind." Ava replied. "She's definitely not your average type of human."

My curiosity was piqued. "What do you mean? Is she somehow like us?"

Ava smiled mischievously. "The only one who can give you that information is the girl herself."

"I guess it's time I explained everything to her." I sighed. "Since we can't wipe her memory, we could as well just tell her what's going on. Maybe she'll keep our secret."

"What secret?" Emily was awake now and was standing by door looking at us.

"There's something about me, my family that we've never told any human before." I started. "But you might end up not being a human so..."
"What do you mean by I might end up not being a human?"
"Damn, you suck at explaining things." Ava teased. "You're confusing her. Start from the top. Tell her about us before asking about her. That's how conversations work, and please do your explanations upstairs, you're cutting into my movie time."
"You're unbelievable." I said before leading Emily back into my room.
"So what did you want to tell me?"
"Me, My family..." I started, unsure of how to tell her. "We're not humans."