Mansion in the Forest

We Don't Eat Monsters!

With heart beating frantically, Lexi pulled out her sword, kicked the monster to roll it over then she knelt down.

"Jazen!" She cried out, wiping the blood on Jazen's face.

"I'm fine." Jazen chuckled as she helped herself to sit up and turned to the monster. "I killed it before you." She told Lexi.

"What?"

"Look." Jazen pointed at the blade pierced at the monster's chest, that is also the reason why she had some blood on her body that Lexi thought the monster wounded her.

"Okay, she's fine now, get up and help us here!" Blake growled while he's stopping the monster to bite his arm using a cutter bough.

Trevor saw him struggling so he did a round kick, sending the monster away from Blake.

"You're welcome." Trevor smiled at him before pulling him up from the ground and tapped his shoulder.

"How many monsters are there?" Siena asked, catching her own breath as she was walking backwards, then she stumbled to Iris' back. Now they were back to back against each other with four monsters surrounding them. They only have a katana and a blade that is longer than Siena's arm.

"I don't know, but are you okay?" Iris asked, not daring to look behind or the monsters might take that as an opportunity to attack.

"I'm still good." Siena replied. "Just got this small bruise." She added, twisting her arm around to have a look at the stinging part where the monster successfully scratched her.

"Shit." Iris cursed when she had a glimpse of Siena's bruise.

"All good there?" Denver asked the two girls while he's on top of the tree, three monsters underneath him and he's stopping them from climbing using a blade, swinging around the tree.

"Yeah." Iris replied, but only audible on her and Siena since they were close to each other.

One by one, the monsters fell down, then Lexi appeared in front of the two after the last monster dropped on the ground while Jazen covered her up using her guns. "I'm running out of bullets, we have to get Herlie!"

"Let's go." Lexi tells them and she look for a way to get behind the waterfall.

"Don't leave me here!" Denver yelled from the tree.

"I got you." Chantelle said and she shot the monsters with an arrow and they fell back. Denver jumped off the tree and landed on his feet perfectly like he's some superhero who came out from nowhere.

"Thanks Hawkeye." He teased but just received a cutesy smile from Chantelle.

"We have to find a way to get there." Lexi said as everyone still continues to fight the monsters, but they are all surrounding Lexi so she could focus on her plan. "There!" She yelled, pointing at the narrow path where they could walk and get behind the waterfall.

"One wrong move and you're gonna die, is that the only way?" Iris asked when she saw where Lexi was pointing at.

"The water, can you swim though?" Lexi retorted.

"Yes, but it's hard to fight these monsters at the water."

"Then we have no choice." Lexi said and she lead the way towards the narrow path. "It's slippery, be careful guys. Watch your step." She reminds them.

It's hard for the ones in front to follow Lexi because the monsters are still running after them and once they walk to that path, there's a hundred percent that they will slip and drown on the water.

"Why don't you just go? We'll take care of here!" Blake said, leaping from time to time to avoid the monster's attack.

"Right, just take Herlie then come out!" Denver said.

"Okay then." Lexi agreed and she continued her way, Jazen followed her while Trevor grabbed a torch and he ran to the narrow path, slowly and carefully.

Lexi got safe behind the waterfall and it was so loud in the cave because of the falling water, but she could still hear the kid's scream, calling for her name and asking for help.

By the time Jazen and Trevor got inside and with the torch he was holding, they got a vision of Herlie, and there were five monsters in front of the kid, as if covering and protecting her.

"Lexi!" Herlie cried, her voice echoed inside the whole cave.

"I'm here, don't worry, we're going to save you!" Lexi yelled back and she turned to Jazen and nodded her head.

"Okay Herlie, listen to me. I want you to lay on the ground and cover your ears."

"Please, I'm scared." The kid cried.

"It's okay, you'll be fine." Jazen told her before she stepped in front of the two and she made sure that Herlie was already lying down on the ground before she pulled the trigger of her rifle, shooting the monsters.

The gunshots echoed until outside of the cave but not too loud since the rushing water was still dominating. The cave was filled with dust, but the three didn't let their guard down. They waited until the dust disappear but while they were waiting, a monster suddenly leaped off towards Lexi, luckily she got some quick reflexes, she dabbed her swords to blocked the attack, slides her sword's down along with her body and Jazen switched her rifle to her shotgun and shoot the monster, who just squirmed but immediately pick up itself together then jumped back to where he came out.

"You.." They heard a gargling voice behind the dust that they were confused as to why it's not disappearing. "You killed our queen and now want to take away our princess."

"They can talk?" Trevor asked amusedly.

"It's not like Herlie would say those things, right?" Jazen remarked.

"Why do you humans want to do these things to us?" The monster asked.

Lexi could feel the pain and struggle in his voice, and somehow felt sorry for them but they had no choice. It's either they will die in that forest, or live at peace, away from everyone who treats them as enemies; away from everything and start a new life, forget their past and their miserable experience at the mansion in the middle of the forest.

"Look, we don't want to do this either but we have to." Lexi said, her voice was calm.

"We don't want war with humans, we want peace." The dust finally disappeared and there were only two monsters alive, the three were all dead after covering the other two.

So Lexi concluded that these two are in a higher position than those three who were dead.

"Then why did you kill our friends?" Trevor asked snarkily.

"Because they are with you." The monster lifted his hand and pointed at the certain teenager. Trevor and Jazen turned to Lexi with confused eyes. "You, the daughter of that guy who killed the King and took the Queen."

"Father Sitrus?" Trevor asked

"I don't know his name."

"Too bad, you guys should know the name of your nemesis." Jazen scoffed mockingly.

The monster growled at her but looked at Lexi again. "We killed him, but we can't find his daughter."

"What have I to do with my father's sin?" Lexi chuckled bitterly.

"The sin of the parent has never been the sin of the child!" Trevor yelled at them, he was so upset that Father Sitrus made and still is, Lexi's life miserable.

"We have to kill her and everything that is close to her, that's when we can have our vengeance for our King and Queen."

"And you think I will let you do that? b***h, you wish." Jazen tells them as she filled her shotgun with a new and last set of slugs.

"Listen, whatever my father did, then I apologize on his behalf, but I want you to rest assured that your princess will be safe with us." Lexi said sincerely.

"How can we trust you if you already killed half of my troops?"

"What do you mean half? We already killed them all." Blake said as they finally arrived at the cave, their bodies covered with a lot of blood, mixed with their blood from their wounds and all of the monsters they killed.

"Do you really think that there are only 30 monsters in this world?" The monster chuckled and it came out frightening but since the teenagers have the advantage, then they don't have to feel terrified at him but to what he's trying to tell them.

They already killed a lot but that seems the only ones who volunteered to find their queen and their princess, so that means, there are more outside the forest, hiding somewhere.

"We are half the number of humans."

"Ok what the hell? So you mean to tell us, there are a lot of monsters out there? But our government thought that you were the only ones?" Denver asked in disbelief.

"No, they know that there are a lot of monsters around."

"He's right, that explains Sakura, right? She's one of their kind." Jisu said, telling them that there are really more monsters out there.

"Sakura, the traitor of our clan, she was the one who told people where her mother was hiding." The monster's eyes darkened, too dark that they couldn't see anything in it but black and anger.

"Why did she do that to her own mother?" Lexi asked bemused.

"Because the Queen didn't give her the crown, but to her other daughter that's still inside her womb at that time."

"Wow, I didn't know that monster could have some drama in their clan." Iris snorted.

"We are living like humans too, we eat, we sleep, but the difference is, we eat humans."

"That's awful! We don't eat monsters!" Denver sneered at the monster, earning a laugh from everyone even from Herlie, who was scared hiding behind the rock. "It's true!"

"That's why he said the difference, you dumbass." Jazen hissed at him.

"Oh okay." Denver laughed awkwardly while scratching the back of his head.

"Okay, let's just finish this conversation, even if you explain everything to us and tell us how it became our fault why we ended up killing each other here, we still need to kill you and take back Herlie." Lexi said and she took the shotgun from Jazen and pointed it at the monster.

"We are not afraid to die." The monster said and he moved forward in front of Lexi. "Promise me one thing." He added, looking at the teenagers. "You'll take care of our princess."

"We will, don't worry." Lexi assured them. "Thank you." She said before pulling the trigger of the shotgun.

Jisu quickly runs to Herlie and takes her out from the dark. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yes, thank you so much." Herlie cried and she hugged Jisu tightly and she wept hard just like how a ten year old kid would cry because of fear.

"Shh, you're safe. Hush now." Jisu consoles her, stroking her jet-black shoulder length hair.

"Now that we got Herlie, it's time for us to leave this place." Trevor said and they all smiled all ears, there was excitement and fear at the thought of finally getting out of the forest.

Excitement because it's been almost a month since they will see other humans like them and all the things that weren't in the forest, their family also.

Fear because they know that the fight is still not over. There are more things they need to take care of, like the government who were just waiting for Sakura's signal and they'll execute them since their plan of feeding the teenagers to the monsters failed. Sakura, who was just waiting for Lexi to surrender her sister then will let the government kill them after she takes Herlie.

But since the teenagers already come up with the plan, their life depends on that.

Will they succeed to get Sakura's side to help them escape the government, or will they die once they take a step outside of the forest? No one knows, but one thing is for sure.

Jazen wants her first kiss to happen before they get out.

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