She flew up the stairs and grabbed from the closet one of her leather straps that contained three daggers. Not bothering to strap it on, she leaped back down the stairs in two strides, then straight to the front door. She hesitated for a moment with her hand on the knob, afraid of what she might find. The chirping sounds just outside were now accompanied by a flapping noise. Jade threw open the door and her eyes fell upon a scene that only happens in nightmares.
Ben was standing on the stone walkway, staring up into the night sky with a blank look on his face. The sky was filled with bat-like creatures flapping along, all making that horrible high-pitched chirping sound. None of them even seemed to notice the old man, who was staring up at them in what appeared to be a trance-like state.
“Ben!” she screamed. “Get back inside, please!” Then one of the dark creatures finally noticed the old man and flew back around, heading straight for him. Jade was at full speed in a heartbeat, running toward her best friend as fast as he could. Time slowed to a crawl. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears as everything seemed to move in slow motion. Daggers flashed in her hand, arms pumped up and down, every footstep smashed down hard into the walkway, trying to propel a body that was already at top speed even faster.
The leathery creature was mere feet away from its prey when its body jolted once, then twice, gliding right past Ben, just catching him in the neck with the tip of its tail before crashing into the ground just behind him. With two daggers buried deep in its side, it flopped around, trying to scramble back to its feet. Jade grabbed Ben’s arm with both of hers and began running back to the house, dragging the poor old man along the stone.
The dark creature stood up and pulled both daggers from its side with clawed, yet human-like hands. Jade threw Ben through the doorway and, with his hand still clutching his neck, he fell to the floor face first. She entered the doorway and whirled around to see the creature flying right toward the door. She slammed it and placed her back against the wood as a brace, only to feel the thud as door and creature collided. The nightmarish beast let out a long, angry screech, then, losing interest for some reason, it took flight, following the others. The dark creatures clearly had an agenda.
There was total silence now. Jade, not yet confident of the situation, kept her back tightly pressed against the door while eyeing Ben, who was still on the floor, holding his neck. Then he rolled over, and to her horror she could see his face was turning purple. She abandoned the door and pounced down onto the floor next to him as he started to convulse violently. “Father! Ben!” she screamed as she tried to hold him down by his shoulders. He began thrashing about in all directions as white foam began oozing from his mouth, then...nothing. Eyes and mouth both wide open in a silent scream, he just lay there.
Jade just sat there for a moment, showing no emotion at all. Her eyes locked on the only friend she had ever had. She slowly stood up and backed away, never taking her eyes from him. An unnatural silence filled the room as the wall was the only thing that stopped her retreat. Clenched fists slowly made their way to the top of her head as she bent low and began to tremble. Her world had been taken from her...again. An unearthly primal scream filled the house, a scream that could only be produced by a broken soul.
*
It was a beautiful morning, with birds singing and not a cloud in the sky. There was a gentle breeze coming from the north that gave the leaves in the trees a slight rattle as a few came fluttering down. A rabbit peeked out from the rock he was hiding behind just to get spooked by nothing and return to his safe hiding spot once again. Squirrels danced about on a nearby tree branch, enjoying the day with not a care in the world. There was no sign that anything evil had ever happened here.
On a nearby hill sat a young girl kneeling by a pile of rocks with a makeshift wooden headstone. With her hands clasped over her heart she mumbled words of peace to her lost friend, a friend she would never forget—a father she would never forget. She lifted her head to the sky with dry, emotionless eyes and silently mouthed the words “I hate you.”
Chapter 6
Bright red carpet with gold trim covered the dining hall floor. A large green banner with a single yellow star at its center graced the wall over the fireplace. Elaborate silk tapestries well over ten feet long hung from all four walls, each with fancy white-laced borders, displaying epic battle scenes from a time long ago. Mostly they were fictitious images relating to the famed Undead War, renderings of human knights facing insurmountable odds, surrounded by crytons swarming over the brave knights with their huge claws and sharp, pointed teeth. At least, that was how they were portrayed here.