Demon Puppet

Chapter 8

"Really," Hero mumbles as he shuffles behind me. "Is this absolutely necessary?"

I glance over my shoulder and gulp, seeing the wolves that surrounded him, never taking their eyes off him. Kris snorts and gently takes my elbow, pulling me forward again. Hero growls, and I huff and tug my elbow away from the alpha.

"You're doing that on purpose," I whisper.

"Definitely."

"Please don't," I murmur, glancing over my shoulder again. Hero's eyes meet mine, and he grimaces at me, obviously displeased. I quickly look away and turn back to Kris. "You've seen him fight before... It's even worse when he is pissed off."

"If you think that I am afraid of the imitator, you are mistaken," Kris harrumphs, running his fingers through his hair and looking down at me. His gaze softens, and he steps aside, allowing the others to pass us by. "Noelle, I won't pretend that you and I were friends, but I made an oath to your uncle years ago. An oath that I would protect you from Hero."

"You made that oath a century ago," I protest.

His lip curls. "Unlike the creature that you travel with, we wolves have a sense of honor. My word is law, and my pack will obey what I command." He slowly looks away. "I will not allow myself to fail again."

"Fail again?" I frown. "What do you mean, 'fail again'?"

"You're still alive," he says quietly. "I am sorry to say that your extended lifespan is a failure on my part. You were supposed to stay human. You were supposed to live, and die, in the prison—not as an imitator like him, but as a human being."

"Like my uncle," I exhale. "I...I was supposed to die. But I didn't. I'm still alive after one hundred years—which means Hero must be telling the truth."

"He is most definitely telling the truth about you not being human," Kris mutters, his brow furrowing at having to agree with Hero. "All of us knew that you weren't human. But..."

"But...you made an oath," I sigh.

"We weren't the only ones to swear oaths to protect you," he says quietly. "Leo also swore the same oath, but your uncle never trusted him much anyway. And, of course...Hongbin."

I stay quiet for a moment, hesitating. "Kris...who else made it out of the prison? I've seen N, and now all of you..."

"Do you even know where he is leading you?" Kris asks instead, avoiding my question and facing me with an intense expression. "Where have you been trying to go for the past century? Does he keep promising to take you 'home', but you still have no idea where 'home' is? Don't you ever wonder if he is lying to you?"

I hesitate, glancing in the direction that the pack had taken Hero. Kris folds his arms across his chest, waiting, though I could tell that he already knew the answer. I did not want to acknowledge it—I did not want to share my doubts. If Kris knew, then Hero undoubtedly would find out.

"You shouldn't pretend," the alpha finally says. "Can you imagine what he will do to you when he finds out that you have been doubting him? That you don't trust him?" He gently but firmly grips my shoulder, turning me back towards him and forcing me to gaze at his face. "Let us end this, Noelle. Let us fulfill our oaths. Let us protect you."

I open my mouth to speak, but no words come out. I lower my eyes to the ground and try to push his questions to the back of my mind where they would never appear again.

"Who else escaped the prison?" I repeat.

"N, the vampire, as you said," Kris nods. "The two monsters that abandoned us—Draco and some other whats-his-face—also escaped, but..." He chuckles darkly. "The pack did not take abandonment lightly. We tracked them down easily."

"Why?"

He smiles drily, a feral gleam in his eyes. "After we escaped, we were quite...hungry."

I shudder, pretending not to imagine the pack descending on Draco and Seungri in a flurry of fur and blood and teeth. "So it was just you and the vampires who escaped," I say softly.

"No," he says, shaking his head. "Leo also escaped, but from what I have heard, he is injured. His wounds from the battle against Hero never fully healed. He cannot fly."

I hold my breath for a moment. My heart sank to my stomach, filling me with dread. I swallow a lump in my throat and nod slowly. "So...Doll-eyes..."

He shrugs. "Him, I have no idea about. It depends on where his doll is. If his doll is still in the rubble, then so is he. But if someone found his doll, he could be anywhere."

I close my eyes tightly, trying to shut out the nightmares I had of Hongbin's screams and pleas for me not to abandon him.

"You regret leaving us behind," Kris says matter-of-factly, leaning away from me and taking a step back. "You regret what happened to the immortals. You regret going with him—with Hero."

"Every day," I whisper.

"Then why stay with him?" He peers at me intensely. "Why do you continue to stay with him if you are afraid of him, if you do not trust him, if you regret ever leaving with him to begin with?"

"I don't know!" I snap. "I..." I falter, unable to look at him again. "I don't know. Some part of me...it's like some part of me can't leave him. Some part of me telling me that I belong with him. That I belong to him."

"But you are afraid that he is lying to you."

"Why would he lie?"

"Why, indeed," Kris echoes quietly. "Why would your uncle lie? Why would Hero lie? Why does anyone lie?" He straightens. "It's because they have something to gain. I don't know what Hero hopes to gain by fooling you and leading you on some wild goose chase to a world that cannot be found—a world of imitators just like him—but if I were you, I would try to find out."

"And what if he isn't lying?" I say defensively. "What if he is telling the truth?"

"If you thought he was telling the truth, you wouldn't feel this way," he growls back. "You have been with him for one hundred years, yet you still don't trust him."

"I—" I cut myself off, blushing furiously. He was right, and we both knew it.

"Well..." He leans away from me and turns his back, facing the direction of the den. "Make your decision and let me know where your loyalties lie. You may make it out of the forest alive, but Hero will not. Not if I have anything to do with it."