CHAPTER 192: HELP ME...

[ Old World - Greater woods...continued ]

A prickle started at the base of Autumn’s neck...the same cold twist of dread she had felt in those half remembered nightmares, the ones that always ended with a scream she never heard herself make.

"I know this feeling," she whispered. "It’s just like those dreams... Kieran, I..."

Kieran grabbed her shoulders and pulled her close, his grip tightening. " Autumn, don’t talk... stay close. I don’t like the feeling of it... "

Autumn nodded, pressing herself against his side, her heart drumming too loud.

But they couldn’t spot anything...couldn’t understand what was happening...it seemed like it pressed in from all sides, shifting like breath.

Another low hum echoed around them...barely audible, like the distant vibration of a cello’s string...it pulsed through the mist... and pressed around their bodies.

Autumn’s breath hitched.

"Kieran... something is moving in." She grabbed Kieran’s hand tighter, her fingers fidgeting with his, hoping to grab onto him even tighter. She was scared... She was just trying hard not to show that.

He didn’t respond with words, only pushed her gently behind him and crouched lower, his eyes glowing faintly in the white fog, scanning...Muscles coiled, breath controlled...his wolf was on the edge, ready to leap out any moment....

And then...a sickening crack cut the air, sharp as a whip. Kieran spun to the side just in time to see an entire , thick, old tree explode!

"What the..."

"That came from behind us," Autumn breathed, clutching his sleeve now as well.

The mist thickened, almost immediately.

Then Velor’s voice cut through, half laughing, half yelling from somewhere to the right.

"This must be it! This... this has to be the gate! We need the exit...It’s here!We need to get out....!"

A low grunt followed, then the clink of something metallic being wedged into the earth. "Move, you damned thing!"

"Velor?" Kieran shouted. "What the hell are you doing?"

Autumn turned, straining to see.

"ALPHA VELOR! Don’t touch anything!I...I have a feeling we are on sacred grounds...don’t disturb anything or the consequences could be terrible!"

But the fog absorbed her voice like cotton absorbs water. The only answer was Velor’s increasingly menacing voice.

"Open for me!" he shouted. "I know you are guarding something...can’t hide from me...no...just get me out of this damned mist...for fuck’s sake..." Something was definitely wrong with him... But they didn’t have time for that!

Autumn and Kieran heard another loud clang.

Then a hiss... a deep, low rumble that vibrated in the ground beneath their feet.

The mist responded exactly opposite .

It thickened, twisted. It slithered.

Something moved just ahead of Kieran and Autumn...between them and Velor. Something big... and damn,it even felt wrong.

" Fuck!!" Kieran cursed. "Autumn!He triggered something worse than what was circling us...we have to move...motherfucker, what did you stab?!" No Response came from Velor. Autumn held onto Kieran as he tried to pull her even closer... At this point, it was safe to conclude that even the Blackmoon Alpha was a bit nervous...

And why would he not be... his instincts told him the threat was too powerful, too evil, too near... but all his other senses failed him... he was at the mercy of this vicious creature... more importantly, he had Autumn and the babies to protect... It was a tough situation...

Suddenly a violent pulse surged from the east and the ground between Kieran and Autumn erupted.

Another tree split in half, bark flying, roots twisting upward like fingers...hands...reaching for the sky. The earth moaned, the sky above darkened...despite it still being a little past midday.

"Kieran!" Autumn screamed, just as the ground beneath her feet gave way.

He lunged for her...but it was too late.

A sharp line tore through the land, and a gaping trench formed between them. It too was filled with swirling mist so thick it might have been alive.

"No!" Kieran bellowed. "Autumn!!!!Fuck! AUTUMN..."

"I am okay!I am okay...I think..." she cried out from the other side, visible only as a blurred figure behind the thickening fog. "I am right here, Kieran...but I can’t see you, but I am right here!I can hear you alright.Can you hear me? "

"Yes! Yes, I can hear you...Don’t move! I will find a way across!"

But as he circled the trench, trying to find an edge or some narrowing gap to leap over, the mist began to shift again.

Not drift away, or flow...but shift...literally. As though guided by something... playing in an invisible orchestra...

Autumn tried to remain on the spot like Kieran had instructed...but then she stepped back instinctively...upon hearing something behind her.

The soft crunch of leaves... but not from her own boots.

"Kieran... I think someone is here..." Her voice trembled as she tried to whisper in his head... but even their mind links seemed a little glitchy. Her words came through like from a broken radio... Kieran however managed to understand what she said.

His heart dropped.

"Autumn, listen to me. Don’t talk to anyone. Don’t follow any voice that isn’t mine, you hear me?"

A pause.

Then Autumn whispered..."How would I know it’s you?"

Suddenly, the ground beneath them lurched again. A heartbeat later, it split open in several other places...

This gave Kieran the perfect opening and he leapt following Autumn’s voice, measuring a rough distance...

And his hands found her arms... he smiled... about to pull her close... Secure her against his chest when...

The mossy soil crumbled under Autumn’s feet again.

Kieran barely caught her by the wrist but a wave of unnatural wind surged between them, and she slipped again... "Kieran!"

She screamed his name, her fingers desperately clawing for his, but her body was pulled sideways, the mist spiraling around her like a mouth.

She hit the lower grounds hard...took another hit somewhere else...and then rolled over the soft mud...too cold... probably wet as well.

"KEIRAN!"

She scrambled to her feet. "Kieran, I am here! I can hear you...I...I fell again...!"

"Autumn,stay...I am coming,baby...just stay where you are...!" After a pause... " Are you hurt? " His voice echoed strangely, too far all of a sudden,as if bent by the space.

"No! I am fine... I guess.. Dunno... Kieran, why is your voice coming from a distance? Where did you go? I am scared!!! What the hell is happening?!"

Shit!

" Don’t panic, Autumn. I am exactly where I was... This is some kind of illusion... don’t worry... we will figure it out... can you... can you point to the direction my voice is coming from at least? "

"I am trying! I don’t know which way..." Autumn turned.

Every direction was the same. Grey. Cold. Shifting.

"Alright! Probably not.Just don’t panic. Just stay calm...stay where you are. I am coming to you," said Kieran while panicking himself.

He tried to figure his way towards Autumn...but the air... the very atmosphere... was no longer just mist. It shimmered now, like heat waves, but without warmth.

Autumn shifted on her feet...feeling very very uneasy...

She was having this strange feeling that something was watching her.

Then she heard footsteps.

But not Kieran’s.Velor’s? Not quite so.

It was soft...like bare feet. Dragging. Like someone was walking without knees. Or flesh.

"K..Kieran?Do you still hear me???" Her voice cracked...chill running down her spine..."There is something else here..."

Autumn spun in place, arms out, trying to feel her way backward...but her boots squelched in mud.

"Kieran?" she called again, louder now. "Kieran! Please...say something!"

Only silence returned.

Then... a voice.

But it wasn’t his.

"...Autumn..."It came from her left...no, behind her...no, it moved.

She turned in a circle, breath quickening. "No... no, no..."

"Autumn..." the voice called again, soft and too close.

The pitch was off. It sounded like Kieran...but only the way a voice might sound in a dream. Or a nightmare.

Then it added, "I found you...Pretty little thing!"

She froze.

Kieran would never say it like that.

She backed away, barely breathing. Her hands trembled. Her body screamed to run...but her instincts told her to stay still. Stay quiet.

Then something brushed past her.

Fast.

Like a ripple in the fog.

She whirled around...and saw it.

For a brief second, just at the edge of her vision.

A figure.Not a solid one. A smear of shadow. Long limbs, too long. Head tilted unnaturally. No eyes.

It slithered sideways across the air itself and then vanished into the haze.

Autumn gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth.

A cold breath tickled the back of her neck.

"KIERAN!" she screamed.

Somewhere far away, she thought she heard his voice answering. But it was distant... muffled... like he was calling from beneath a lake.

The sound of dragging returned...closer now. Closer than it should have been.

And then... "Autumn, come with me..." the voice said again. It was trying to be gentle. Loving. Convincing. " You have no idea what you are... what powers you hold. I promise I will help you unleash them all... "

Autumn turned slowly.

This time, she saw something clearly.

A silhouette stood in the fog.It had Kieran’s shape. His height. Even the same broad shoulders.

But his eyes were wrong.

Glowing... too wide... and not glowing the way a wolf’s did.

Its mouth moved.

But the lips didn’t match the words.

"Come. Come with me...don’t say no..."

Autumn took one step back, then another.The thing tilted its head.

And smiled.

Not with warmth. But with hunger.

She turned and ran.

Branches scratched at her face as she bolted through the mist, blindly. Her breath came in ragged sobs.

Behind her...the thing followed.

Not running.

Gliding.

She could hear it. She could feel it.

The chill in her bones thickened.

Then...BOOM...something cracked through the canopy above her.

A blackened tree limb hit the earth inches from her feet, sending up a splash of mud.

She skidded, fell to her knees.

"PLEASE! PLEASE!!!Somebody help me...."

" Fear not, sweet pea! Daddy’s here! Are you alright, baby? "

She turned her head... almost disbelieving...

And saw her father!!!