Half Breed

Chapter 3

The trees surrounding the two loomed up, deathly looking and sinister. Arm like branches bending down as if tired of being held up for years, or as if they were ready to snatch whomever came too close. There weren't any real leaves to be had, except for under the feet of those who dared to walk these lands. 

    Here moved two who did dare. Over logs and fallen trees, crunching leaves and clumps of moss they came to tread through. 

    Morning creatures still darted around them if the pair came within too close of range. 

    Riminya came to busy herself counting how many gold finches she could find in the trees. She was at two. They hadn't been walking long, the sun was just scraping above the horizon. It slightly illuminated their surroundings through low hanging clouds that cast occasional shadows over the land. 

    Dikoni walked dutifully to where he wanted. He seemed to know exactly where he was going. Riminya had asked earlier, to which he'd replied, "We're going to a clearing where I can transform and I'll take us the rest of the way. I would've transformed back at home, but I didn't want anyone seeing."

    She then continued to tease him about being self-conscious. Which he denied with a laugh. 

Vegeir paced around his room, thinking over everything he'd thought up. Back and forth, back and forth. Soon, he was certain, he'd make a rut in the floor. Finally he stopped and brought his hands to his temples, pressing hard on them. 

    He'd been pacing like this all night. Sleep never came to take him away, so here he was still. The sun peering though his windows and threatening another exhausted day. He'd been dressed, ready to leave for hours now, but he couldn't. 

    Riminya's image flashed before his eyes. The color in her eyes swimming and twisting, unlike anything he'd seen before. In daydreams, she stood with those black wings ready, glowing, her hands pinning him to the ground. Her horns inhumanly beautiful and terrifying. Her elongated teeth ready to puncture his throat and . . . those eyes. . . watching the life drain from him. Staring intently, with joy behind her irises, as his dark orbs dulled and his hands became cold, his body going limp. Hearing her haunting laughter as he felt his body go numb in reality. 

    She was the reason he hadn't been able to sleep. Dark circles became incredibly noticeable under his eyes and he came to mope around instead of walking with purpose. Some might even say he wasn't always thinking clearly. 

    A curse suddenly left his lips and he stormed out of his room, slamming doors as he went out of the house. Through the dying grass and leaves crunching like bones underneath him, determination surged though him like a poison. A new evil in his mind drove him to summon his golden wings once out in the yard. They unfurled with grace but quick enough to be blurred when they moved. Now that he stood still he took a slow breath, and with a heavy beat, he was gone. All one motion. 

    He soared over the trees, the cold of his knives pressed against his abdomen sent shivers down his spine. His tanned arms stretched out and welcomed the rush of air. His lungs took it in gladly, and for a short second, he almost forgot why he was in the air. 

    The half-angel brought himself back into reality and began scanning the ground underneath him. 

     I will find her, he thought, and I will kill her. End this suffering. 

Dikoni came to move slower through the forest as the sun rose. It wasn't fatigue that was nagging at him. The thoughts on what he was about to put this girl through. . . it could make her happier than she is now. . . or it could hurt her.