Demon Puppet

Chapter 16

"Hero!" I scream, the wind whistling in my ears as I chase after him. "Hero, stop!"

I'm going to end this once and for all, he snarls, his voice loud enough to make me whimper. I barely glimpse his red hair ahead of me, and I put on a burst of speed, praying that I reach the stone before he does.

I could hear the Imitators behind us as we caught their attention, and my heart sank. Everyone will know... Even if I get there first, I could never keep that many away from the doll...

Even now you want to protect him! Hero howls, his voice a blend of hurt and fury. His anger floods my mind, dying my vision blazing red. His own mental walls weaken, and I see the stone through his eyes.

"Hero, don't!" I cry, leaping forward and tackling him. The two of us tumble through the trees, rolling past the stone. Hero roars furiously and scrambles to get off me as we slam into the forest floor. I dig my claws into the freshly upturned earth and thunder after him. I feel my canines elongate, and dark, curving marks appear on the surface of my skin like tattoos climbing up my arms and legs.

I blindly leap forward again and try to wrap my arms and legs around Hero, pinning his limbs to his sides. He shakes me off easily, his eyes blazing red as he turns and snarls at me, crouching until his fingertips touch the ground. His own claws are long and he bares his teeth at me.

"Enough of this!" He spits, lisping as his fangs lengthen and gleam. "You lied to me, Noelle. You lied to your family, your race! I gave you a century to learn, a century to remember us, to remember me—but you chose to think only of them! The creatures you babysat, the creatures who brainwashed you and manipulated you and made you think of yourself as inferior!"

"I was one of them!" I cry, tears filling my eyes. "Even over a hundred years, you never told me anything! You never gave me a choice! I was either this or that—did you think I wanted that life? The life of a Warden?"

"You can't choose what you are, Noelle!" He snarls, lunging forward. I yelp as he grabs my wrist, wrenching me forward and holding my arm out. "Look! You have the marks. You have the abilities. You are one of us! You are just like me!"

I pull away, and he rushes towards the stone again. I lunge, my claws barely reaching his heel, fighting for that extra inch and trying to sever his tendon. He roars and turns defensively, shoving me away and pinning me to the ground.

"Would you really choose to be one of them?" He hissed, sounding more hurt than angry. "You would choose to be one of them over being with your own kind? You were meant to be one of us, you were meant to be with us, with your family--with me, with your mate!"

I manage to shove him away from me again, this time scrambling for the stone myself. I quickly snatch the doll out from its hiding place and clutch it against my chest. I feel a pair of wings sprout from my shoulder blades, and I take off, pushing a huge gust of air against the ground and hurling myself into the sky. I see Lee and Sunmi on the ground below and I feel them pushing against my mind, trying to see what's going on.

I twist back and forth, trying to gain a higher vantage point. Where is Hero?

As quickly as the thought enters my mind, I see him tear up from the ground with his own pair of wings. He circles me, easily closing the distance between us, diving and scraping at my arms. "Give me the doll, Noelle!" He roars, his eyes blazing. "Let me end this, please! I don't want to hurt you!"

"NOELLE!"

A sudden, familiar scream pierces the air. I whirl towards the ground--and I see him. Doll-eyes darts between the trees, his eyes locked on me. Hero lets out an animalistic shriek and the other Imitators quickly turn. My eyes widen as I see them all heading in Doll-eyes' direction, their fangs and claws growing, the marks spreading quickly across their skin like battle paint.