Lonely Boy (B×B)

Chapter 3 - Stranger

××Stormy××

"Fallow, stop breathing on me," I groaned, rolling onto my side in an attempt to escape, trapping my own arm under me as I did so. The breathing only followed me as I moved. I flailed my free arm out and seemed to miss each time, hitting only air and then the cool rocky ground.

I cracked my eyes open a tad to try and find where I needed to aim my hand; what I saw instead had my eyes snapping open. I sleepily grabbed for the knife on my belt and swung it upwards, my movements slower than I wished due to me just now waking up.

"Hey, no need for violence," The tall man said casually as he jumped back with a grace I did not possess. He brushed off the fact that I was blatantly threatening him with a sharp object.

"Who are you?" I screeched as I rushed backwards on my behind. I bumped into Fallows furry as I did. Why didn't he alert me when this man approached?

"My name is Niton," The man said as he smirked and leaned against the wall of the cave. His dark clothes blended in with the grey rock and shadows. Niton held a pale hand out towards me in greeting.

I glared harshly at the hand extended out before moving the glare to his face. He dropped his hand with a shrug and a smirk.

"What is yours?" He asked after I only continued to glare. My mind was still trying to catch up and anger was the only emotion I could exert.

"That's none of your business," I barked, pushing back further into Fallow. He brought his head up and gently let his head land on my shoulder, watching the scene unfold. Why was he so calm?

"Quite rude to ask my name and not offer your own," Niton said, stepping closer. I growled in warning and tightened my grip on my knife causing his smirk to reappear.

I stood slowly, keeping my eyes trained on the stranger. The tall man only widened his smirk before stepping back and out of the cave. He wasn't rushing. He wasn't even slightly concerned with the knife in my grasp.

I followed behind him carefully, watching in silence as he pulled a black, intricately designed knife from the air. He flipped it around his fingers a few times before his head snapped upwards, his eyes watching my startled jump.

He looked back down after seeing my fright and crouched down. The man ran his fingers across the ground before bringing them up to his nose. Just the action brought the smell of fresh soil to my own. Bits of dirt clung the to his fingertips.

Niton brushed the bits off the ends of his fingers with little care. He seemed to shrug slightly before stabbing the knife downwards, into the ground before repeating the action, taking in the scent on the blade of the knife.

"What are you doing?" I questioned carefully as I silently reached down to pick up my bag. Fallow now stood beside me, ready to run if needed.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Niton chuckled, his dark eyes side glancing at me. His gaze made me extremely uncomfortable but he was doing something strange. Something strange in the forest connected to the one I lived in. The forest my family and friends lived in.

I couldn't just let it go and forget about it. At least not with a good conscience.

"I would." I challenged.

"What?" Niton's eyes met mine.

"I would like to know." Not backing down.

Niton raised a brow before standing, letting the knife in his hand disappear like ash in the wind.

"I'm looking for blood." As Niton spoke, he turned his back to me and looked up at the sun just beginning to show over the dense trees.

"Blood?" My eyes glanced at the ground and to the scenery around me. There was no sign of a fight, no sign of blood anywhere. The footprints on the ground all looked to be from calm walking. No scrapes across the ground, no sign of a struggle. The low hanging branches on the trees were intact, no sign of breakage.

"Demon blood." My eyes snapped to meet his, already boring into my own and seeming to look right through me.

My mind flashed back to the stories Mom and Dad had told me and my brothers. Stories of evil and darkness and demons. Specifically a red demon that had escaped into the middle realm and attacked the King of Fairies Forest.

I remember the look in my moms eyes as he described the devastation that befell the creatures living in the forest at the time. I was alive when it happened as was my brother Finch but neither of us remember anything about it before the stories we were told. We were too young.

"You are looking for demon blood?" My voice wavered for a moment. Unsure if I was safe with this man, Niton, at all. The crack in my confidence seemed to spur him on.

"That is what I said." Niton's tone was harsh. He had turned away, hiding his expression from me but I doubted it was anything I wanted to see.

With Nitons back turned, it wasn't hard to mount Fallow. I had learned how to do it silently and Fallow could feel the situation out enough to know not to make any noises as I climbed on. He could feel the emotions coursing through the air.

It was only when Fallow turned and used part of the rock wall to boost us into the sky did Niton turn around, the sound of his hooves scraping against solid rock alerting him to our ascent.

Niton merely looked on with a neutral expression as we climbed higher in the sky and away from him. It surprised me. I expected him to have some sort of shock on his face from me leaving suddenly but I saw nothing in his expression.

"That was weird," I said softly. Fallow grunted in response, understanding the word weird and being able to place it with the tension surrounding the conversation on the ground.

"Hopefully that's the last we see of him."