"I'm taking her back," Viktor growled, "To the camp."

"But you kissed her."

"Yes!" he clenched through his teeth, "Sometimes, brothers kiss their sisters goodnight."

"You aren't her brother, are you?"

"Of course, I am!"

If I had my true power, I'd have let my flames devour him by now, Viktor thought bitterly.

Elaine's body shifted slightly in his hold. The demon hoped she wasn't waking up with the brat still around. Mason's chubby face scrunched up.

"I don't believe you," Mason mumbled, "You're creepy."

"I can't help that, can I? I was only trying to rescue her from this scary forest and bring her back. I don't know why she came all the way out here on her own."

"Wake her up, then."

"Let's make a deal," Viktor began, "The rest of the villagers wouldn't be too happy if they caught us out here in the middle of the night-"

"Well, I guess you might be right."

"Right about what?" a sleepy voice asked.

Viktor cursed under his breath. Mason ran under his legs and toward Elaine. The child was clutching onto her with fear.

"Mason, what's wrong?" Elaine asked.

"Your brother tried to hurt me."

"Viktor, did you attack him? He's just a child," Elaine said with growing anger. Mason cuddled closer to her chest hiding his face from the predatory being. Elaine ignored Viktor's scowl. "Mason, tell me what happened."

She stood up and set the sniffling faery on the tree branch in front of her.

"I f-followed him here. Then, I saw him do something to you and it didn't make sense for a brother to do that. He wanted to make a deal with me, but you woke up and he tried to hurt me!"

Viktor shifted his livid stare from the child to Elaine. He didn't kill the little faery when he had the chance and it disturbed him.

Elaine's face was red.

"What did he do?" she asked quickly in a whisper.

"I saw him try to help you get down from the tree. He was trying to help you. Elaine, why are you all the way out here in the woods, anyway?" the child asked with worry.

"I am not sure, but we better get back to the campsite. Come on!" she answered shortly while grabbing Mason's hand.

She didn't want to see Viktor's reaction. She couldn't help sneaking a peek up at him. Surprisingly, he seemed at ease. Mason picked up the lantern Viktor brought and followed Elaine.

Viktor scowled and considered departing from their group and just finding Colt himself. However, as she flew off with the child, she also took her sweet intoxicating scent with her. On a subconscious level, it was the very thing that coerced him into finding her out in the woods in the first place.

The demon knew nothing of it, though, but sensed something was off. None of the other faeries he encountered smelled like anything.

***

When Elaine and Mason arrived back at the camp, Viktor was still straggling behind. He appeared ticked off. Elaine was starting to think he always looked that way. She thought he was annoyed that he had to come look for her. Well, she knew she didn't ask him to. She thought she would have found her own way back.

"Your brother is weird," Mason said.

Viktor landed next to them.

"Aren't all brothers?" Elaine laughed off.

"Your brother is a different kind of weird," Mason whispered.

The faery child didn't elaborate with the domineering man standing next to him now.

Viktor spoke lightly, "Look at the two of you. Quite close now, aren't you? I came to save you, Elaine, now you're giving me the cold shoulder."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Mason. Goodnight," Elaine said. She watched the little faery walk toward his own tent. Mason gave her a wave. As soon as he disappeared, Viktor dropped his smile and so did Elaine. She went inside the tent ahead of him and hung the lantern up. "What really happened while I was asleep? Why I was out there?" she demanded.

She was growing tired of being forced into her situation and all the tricks and lies.

Viktor followed her inside and shut the tent behind him. Then, he sat on the ground.

"You heard the brat. I was only trying to get you back here. I thought you were trying to run away."

"That doesn't explain why you scared him half to death. He was about to cry!" Elaine shot back.

Elaine didn't care if she made Viktor mad anymore. She felt abandoned by her friends and was starting to think she truly was on her own.

Viktor clenched his jaw speaking in a low tone, "And? The brat just wanted attention and he got it."

"Oh, so you were jealous?"

"No," Viktor chuckled. "I simply haven't had a good kill in a while. This faery body is wearing me down," he complained while laying across from her.

"I wonder if there will ever be a day when you actually tell the truth."

Viktor propped his head up by an elbow. "The brat is keeping tabs on both of us. There's some truth for you. If I knew any better, I'd say he's no child at all. He's a little too sharp for his age. Don't you think?"

"His name is Mason. Not all children are stupid. He probably just senses you are a bad person and he isn't wrong."

Viktor gave no response to that. Elaine laid down and made sure she was as far away from him as possible.

Suddenly, his body was over hers. He was practically suffocating her under his weight.

Elaine tried to shove him off, but he brought a finger to his lips. Her eyes widened when she saw someone walking outside of their tent. Their silhouette went from the back of the tent toward the front. A long arm with intricate tattoos passed through the tent and Viktor looked up at it. Elaine heard a foreign woman's voice say something, but she didn't understand the words being chanted.

Before Elaine knew it, the tent was on fire and they were trapped inside.

"Get off me!" she yelled at Viktor.

The growing flames were licking away the fabric of the tent and blocking the path of escape.

"Get off of me!" Elaine repeated, "Now!"

His face was set in a firm frown as he peered down at her not really minding the heat or soft feeling of her beneath him. A faraway look grew on his face as he became docile smelling her peculiar scent.

Elaine was wondering if he didn't mind dying because he would simply just return to hell. She didn't know why else he looked so calm all of the sudden.

As each second passed, the air was getting more unbearably hot. There was so much smoke from the burning flames that she could barely see Viktor anymore. His body weight wasn't helping her case, either.

"Please! We need to...get out of here!" she wheezed under his weight, "Get out!"

Then, she felt his arms circle around her and underneath her back as a really weird sensation prickled up her arms. Her heart fluttered. Suddenly, they were standing on the coals of the dying fire pit.

"You transported us here!" Elaine breathed out in amazement, "How?"

"Silence," Viktor warned. He dropped his arms from around her as a slow grin formed on his face. "A witch is around. Regardless, it seems my powers have returned," he said while stepping off the fire pit.

"Didn't all the witches die in hell?"

"If they didn't, it doesn't matter," Viktor dismissed, "A witch poses no threat to my kind."

Elaine didn't think that was entirely true. It felt like their escape was a narrow one. The last of the tent burned down in the distance. A few faeries had gathered around it and tried to stomp out the last of the fire. Apparently, no one saw them transport through the fire which was probably a good thing.

"What are you staring at?" Viktor asked.

"The tent. We almost died in there. Doesn't that bother you? There's someone around here who wants us dead."

"So? What else is new?" Viktor said. A dark look crossed his face as he took in her lingering fear. "You don't even know what real fear feels like."

Someone approached and the two became quiet.

"What are you bickering about? Come help clean up the mess!" an old faery yelled, "It belongs to you! That's what happens when you leave a lit lantern in your tent unattended!"

Apparently, no other tents were burned. No one noticed the witch enter the camp and the witch was nowhere in sight now.

After cleaning up what remained of the tent, the rest of the early morning went by fast as they packed up the entire camp and continued on their way. They had begun walking again. Elaine wasn't sure how far they had walked, but it was a lot colder there than it was where they had come from.

"We're being followed again," Viktor announced beside her, "This time it won't go unnoticed by the others."

"What do you mean? Who is following us?"

He shrugged. "All I know is that the herd is about to thin out."

Elaine followed Viktor's gaze. Above, stood a pack of werewolves scampering around a cluster of boulders. There was a rather large black one leading them in their growling. They snarled lowly and snapped their jaws. Everyone in front of Elaine had stopped moving. If anything, Elaine thought they needed to keep moving.

Viktor was already floating above her expectantly. Everyone else was already flying away. In a hurry, she willed her wings to unfurl. Out of habit, she automatically leaped off the ground.

However, she fell down on her butt.

"Hurry up!" Viktor grimaced.

"I am," Elaine huffed while trying to release her wings again, "Something isn't right! They won't unfurl!"

Viktor drifted down to the ground and she cowered away from him.

"What's the matter?" he questioned in a surprisingly concerned voice.

"I think they're...gone."

"How could that be?"

"I...I don't know," Elaine frowned.

"We don't have time for this," Viktor grumbled while pulling her against him, "Come on. Let's go."

There is no way I'm going to let him carry me! He isn't even good at flying with his new wings yet, Elaine thought with dread.

"No," she argued, "What if the others see?"

"We're not going with them."

"Let me go, Viktor. You promised me you wouldn't do this!"

I never promised you anything, Elaine tensed up hearing him speak in her mind in his demonic tone.

"If you want to go back with the others, go yourself," Viktor muttered while releasing his hold on her.

Elaine screamed as she rapidly fell.

Down, down, down she went as she plummeted into the canopy of trees getting violently scraped up and scratched. Somewhere below, the rock hard ground waited to crush her bones and arteries upon impact.

🦋