Siren of the Lake

Chapter 7: Them

Damon pushed his hand down on her arms, forcing her to stay down. Adelaide winced at the pressure.

“Don't lie," Damon sputtered, faintly baring his teeth.

“I'm not lying," Adelaide replied, remaining still. A twig nearby snapped, capturing Adelaide's attention instantaneously and Damon loosened his grip lightly. Her eyes dashed around the area, looking for any sight of danger. “Look," she continued while still surveying the forest. “They probably already know something's gone wrong and soon enough, they'll know I've fled. I need to go, now. And if you're smart, you will too."

“Who are 'they'?" Damon asked, still not convinced by her antics.

Adelaide groaned. “We don't have time for this!"

“Who are 'they'?!" he repeated, placing weight back onto her arms.

She grimaced. “All you need to know is they're powerful—and because I didn't capture you, they'll hunt me down and kill me…and then you."

“I'm sure I can handle myself," Damon replied. “We train all of our lives for these types of things. For creatures like you."

“No amount of training is good against them. Please, you need to understand."

“I've heard enough," Damon said, pulling out his dagger. He placed the tip of the blade directly at her throat, and her lower body writhed.

Just then, something whizzed by Damon's head, nicking his ear and landing in the ground right beside Adelaide's body. Mere inches from her face stood a long arrow with a feathered tail. Damon looked around, scanning the trees and listening intently. Nothing. Where the h*ll did this come from? Damon felt liquid running down to his earlobe and reached up to the top half of his ear. When he moved his hand down, he saw red blood covering the tips of his fingers.

“What the f—"

A sudden jolt of pain in his ribs brought his attention back to the present, as he felt a pair of feet launching him backwards. The stinging in his lower half mixed with the aching from his open laceration was anything but pleasant. And when he found to courage to sit up and regain himself, Adelaide frame was vanishing deeper into the woods.

“F*ck!" he shouted, slowly standing on his feet while gripping his wound. The blood continued to drip down his jaw, pooling around his chin prior to making its way to the ground. Damon picked up his dagger, which had flown out of his hand after the arrow pierced his ear and took a deep breath before chasing after her.

As the night dredged on, the woods turned into a distinct shade of black, and Damon sharpened his vision. He exchanged his run over time to a steady walk, aware of any noise he might be making—not only to not scare off Adelaide, but also anyone else who might be nearby.

At this point, Damon wasn't sure what he believed. He understood that he couldn't trust a siren: they were manipulative beings, and it was more than likely that Adelaide had made up her story in order to escape, which clearly was working out for her. On the other hand, a random arrow did fly out of the sky and almost kill them both, and that was either an accident or entirely on purpose. Either way he needed to find out and somehow, she had all of the answers.

The sound of woodland animals scurrying into their homes or perched on branches filled the forest, bringing with it a small sense of eeriness. Instead of setting his gaze in front of him, Damon's eyes were paying the most attention to the soil at his feet, using his training to track Adelaide's location. She might be fast, but she lacked the ability to hide her path.

Eventually the dirt stopped and when Damon looked up, he noticed he had reached the end of the forest. Ahead of him was an entirely open space full of grassy plains and hills attached to a giant mountain. A dead end. Damon sauntered closer to the rocks and looked around for anything that Adelaide had left behind. Where could she have possibly gone? There was no way she climbed up. It was way too steep.

He took a step back, trying to get a better view of the mountain when he heard a soft clink to his right. Damon peeked his head out and not far off, hidden under a veil of vines, was a small opening to a cave. Wearily watching his foot placement, Damon followed the sound into the cavern, taking small steps. The further he got inside, he noticed a light of some sort glowing off the rocks.

Pressing forward, Damon followed the light around a corner and that's when he saw Adelaide; her back was turned from him and she was stuffing items into a bag—food, clothing, anything she could grab.

“What're you doing?" he asked, keeping a good amount of distance between them.

Adelaide jumped, readying herself to fight.

“Whoa—" Damon said, raising his hands in surrender. “It's just me."

Adelaide kept her stance, not lowering her defences. “So? You still want to kill me."

Damon kept his hands high. “I do—but you also saw that arrow hit me. And it clearly wasn't you that launched it."

Her eyes flickered towards the dried blood on Damon's chin, and she slowly let down her guard. “You believe me?"

“No. But you're scared of something," Damon said, pointing to her bag that was almost overflowing with items. “That mixed with the attack—either someone is after you, or me, and betting that I'm not the siren, it's most likely you. So, it's probably wise that you tell me everything."

“Why?" Adelaide asked defensively. “There's no point wasting my breath on someone who won't listen."

“Who knows? Maybe if you tell me who it is hunting you, I can team up with them and take you down," Damon smirked.

Adelaide's face kept still, but her eyes narrowed at his remark. She turned her back to him again and kept packing. “If you really want to kill me, take the shot now. Otherwise, I need to focus on getting far away from here."

Damon looked at the cave around him. The walls were stockpiled with supplies, everything ranging from water canteens to shoes and blankets. It was as if she knew this would happen—like this day was coming. And for his own sake, he needed to find out why.