Twisted Choices

Chapter 36

Hero agreed.

It sure took him a while to, as he tried to keep himself straight-faced. But no, he turned redder than he had ever before and he hid his face behind his hands before answering Noah. The spider was patient for an answer, but was clearly nervous and flustered too. He sighed, "When?"

Noah scratched the back of his head anxiously, "Well, we could go now, I guess. O-Only if you want to, though!"

Hero just smiled softly, "Then lead the way."

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It was still dark, but Hero could tell that the sun would rise soon. It was extremely late for spiders, nocturnal creatures, to be out and he was a little concerned. Sure, Noah could adapt to it because of his human side but he really did not want it to have to come to that. They had made it to upper ground, and Noah had a hand placed on his back, gently weaving them through trees and greenery.

The spider was still purring, albeit a little softer. Hero encouraged him a little more, pressing up against him again. He ducked his head to tuck it under Noah's chin, and he could feel the rumbling of Noah's throat against his head. Living in the clan made Hero more accepting to spider traditions and greetings. If a spider was feeling down he would praise them up and make them feel proud of themselves. Angry spiders just needed a quick show of dominance to help them calm down, so Hero had sparred some and let them win. Pride and superiority were everything to spiders. Cave spiders were oddly affectionate as well so he had a few pups cuddle against his stomach. Noah was puzzled why his human friend had spider babies all over him.

Hero stopped when the familiar smell of spider had grown faint. Noah halted as well, patiently waiting for Hero to be ready to move again. The white-eyed man just looked around and took note of the trees and greenery. He turned to Noah with a worried look, "Why here? You told me that after this border is vampire territory."

Noah looked calm despite warning Hero multiple times about vampires. Noah was almost done teaching Hero about the the entire territory until he came to vampires. Hero did not believe him at first until they saw a passing one feeding on a doe. They stayed in their territory, and all they got was a snarl of warning. Vampires were extremely territorial and could take down any creature by draining their blood. Vampires were made purely of blood and inheritance, so there was no way any victim could turn into one unless they were both consenting. Vampire magic and all that bullshit.

Noah just smiled, in that way Hero hated. You know, that... 'I feel like I know what I'm doing but I truly don't' smile? Yeah. That. Hero does not like that. He sees that way too much on Noah's face for his comfort. The spider just rubbed his nose in Hero's hair, a soothing action,  and laughed, "Don't worry, Princess. You have me around."

Hero rolled his eyes and scoffed, "I can defend myself thank you very much."

The spider just hummed and said seriously, "Really though, you'll be fine. Vampires don't really like coming to the borders, they treat us like a disease or something."

Hero purred and sighed, "Alright then. We have to be careful though."

Slowly, the two stepped into vampire territory. The cave scent of spiders disappeared and was replaced with a copper smelling scent, blood. Hero was still paranoid so he wrapped his hands around Noah's wrist. He made sure they were touching at all times so Hero could teleport them away if they see trouble. Noah was sniffing around, twisting and turning corners. He seemed really eager to bring Hero to the place. The two had almost tripped over a root at least twice.

After getting out of the dense forest, Hero could see a plain grass in between a few trees ahead of them. It did not seem very big, but Noah had brightened up once he saw it. He ran forward with Hero at his side and burst past the trees.