Ira

I ran.

I didn't need to wait around to see what they wanted; I already knew; They were here for me.

I had only a second to be grateful I was alone because who knew what they would have done to River or the others. Then my second was over and I heard the clammer of feet and cursing as they took pursuit.

Adrenalin fueling my escape I dashed around the corner and between two trailers hoping to shake them but stumbled when I saw the fencing blocking my exit. Panic had me looking over my shoulder only to find the three of them closing in. The mean-looking one and the tallest of the bunch smiled triumphantly and slowed to a saunter as they drew in for the kill. Desperate I spun around thinking I might be able to climb the fence, but it wavered, flickering like a mirage.

Hope sprung to life and letting instinct drive me I ran toward the dead end, bracing for impact, only to fly right through.

An illusion.

Emerging from the small ally I searched for an escape or maybe somewhere I could hide. I could see the school's back entrance just across the parking lot and dashed toward it.

No. Not there, too many casualties.

To the trees.

Without thinking I swerved and headed past the school into the forest that stood guard behind the track field. Too late I realized how bad an idea It was as I crashed through a bush and stumbled over a hidden root. Branches caught on my torn dress, and I could barely see in the dark, the only light coming from the school which quickly grew dimmer the deeper into the woods I went. I could still hear my pursuers crashing through the under bush behind me, But I didn't dare look back. There were too many roots and branches, and not enough light.

I knew there was a trail back here somewhere. The cross-country kids used it all the time, if only I could find it I could-

Too late I saw the fence and this time it was real. With no time to stop I threw myself at it the chain-link wall and tried to climb over. my ruined dress got tangled up with my legs making it difficult to get a proper foothold, but I managed to make it to the top. Swinging one leg over the top, A surge of relief washed over me.

"Not this time" A nasal voice hissed and something sharp grabbed my ankle.

Teeth digging into his throat.

I shrieked in panic and kicked out, trying to get free, but the flash of death left me disorientated and I lost my balance. Then again in pain when the sharp ridges atop the fence caught the inner part off my thigh as I was pulled off, tearing at flesh.

I landed on my back, hitting the ground so hard that all the air was knocked out of me. Gasping for breath, I watched in horror as the mage surrounded me.

If they had once been men, they were no longer. Their distorted figures mutated into a terrifying image of what they had once been. The closest had fingers so long and sharp they dragged along the ground, leaving dirty gouges in the grass. As I watched he grinned and raised them to lick at the dark smear along their length with a black tongue that hung past his waist and left his open mouth panting like a hellish dog.

He made a guttural sound as he tasted the blood.

My blood.

One of the others chuckled making me whip my head in his direction. Once a fat man his whole body was densely covered in what looked like thorny spikes and twisted in so many knots there was no making sense of what was what. When he took a step closer, I instinctively scramble back and unintentionally closer to the third. A thousand needles stabbed my scalp as I was pulled up by a fist full of hair and thrown several feet. my shoulder hit the tree first and popped out of place when the rest of me followed. My head bashed into rough bark that stripped the side of my face. But before I could lose consciousness a hand was in my hair again, holding me up as the last mage got right in my face.

Thin hair did little to cover the knobby horns jutting out of his skull at odd angles like a broken crown and he was so close to the one rooted where his left eyebrow should have been poked into my cheek. He was so pale he nearly glowed in the dark, but it was his sunken eyes that blazed with hatred.

"Do you see?" He hissed, his acrid breath washing over me "Do you see what she's done to me because of you."

I tried to tell him I had no idea what he meant but before I could speak, he backhanded me across the face. I tasted blood and the added tension on my scalp had tears springing to my eyes.

"Please" I whimpered, cringing away when I saw his hand raised for another slap.

I felt the gust of wind, but the blow never landed.

A sharp SHUNK-THUD rang loud in my ear and for a second the world was silent. Then mage's face twisted into something ugly, and he let out a high-pitched sound that might have been a scream but sounded more like an animal than any human being. Confused I stared at the knife protruding from his hand, its handle still vibrating from the force of it striking the wood barely six inches from my head. Then he jerked forward his face smashing into the hilt of the weapon embedded in his hand. Suddenly free, gravity took me down and I rolled to the side to avoid being crushed by his weight. Dizzily I looked around, but it was getting hard to focus on anything.

A dark shape dropped from the trees, landing on Spike-head. He crumpled, going down without a fight but Scissor-hands was quick to respond to this new threat. He lunged hands extended as if they were swords toward the newcomer's exposed back. I almost called out a warning but just before he could be skewered, he twisted around, revealing a face I'd hoped to never see again.

Uriel.

And there was something in those wild dark eyes that scared me more than the absent recognition. They glinted like a cat's and a feral hunger gazed back at me from their depths so strong he looked one step from falling off the edge of sanity.

Real fear twisted in my gut now.

This was no man, this was a predator, and we all were as good as dead.

The mage having regained his balance swung around slashing at Uriel's neck, drawing his focus away from me and back to the more immediate threat of decapitation. He ducked and the mage didn't wait to attack again, but Uriel was already rolling out of the way and back on his feet. Each time he stabbed, slashed, and cut at him, Uriel managed to shift out of the way, his movements as liquid as water as they danced around each other.

I needed to get away while he was still distracted so, very carefully, I used the tree behind me to pull myself up. My leg still radiated agony and I had to bite down a scream as I put pressure on it but there was no time to waste. Gritting my teeth, I took a limping step away from the fighting mage and felt blood gush from the wound in my leg as my shoulder throbbed. I only made it three more feet before my foot snagged on a root, making my leg buckle and give out. I went down and using my good arm to brace myself, I managed not to land on my face. Rolling to my side I tried to find anything that might help me stand up but even the closes tree was too far away.

Nervously, I glanced at the mage.

How much longer before one of them decided they'd had enough and ended it? How long before they came for me?

The answer it turned out was not long at all.

As he stepped aside to avoid having his entrails cut out, Uriel's hand suddenly shot out to grab at the dangerous appendages aimed for his gut and yank the other mage sideways. Using his sudden change in momentum against him, Uriel flipped the mage around, away from him, and still holding his knife-like fingers, brought his knee up hard against the back of his distended joints. They shattered like glass and the mage shrieked. Holding the brittle stubs that bled a dark oozing substance, he turned back toward Uriel with murder in his eyes.

Again, he lunged and again missed. But Uriel it seemed was done with playing games and he stepped out of the way just in time to avoid the attack, making the mage stumble forward and sink his fingers into the ground where Uriel had been. Before he could dislodge them, Uriel's foot landed, snapping his remaining fingers in half.

This time the sound he made was more guttural but still sent a shudder down my spine. The mage stumbled back as if to escape, or maybe just in shock, but Uriel grabbed the slimy tongue dangling out of his mouth and used it to drag him forward, going for the kill.

He didn't hesitate.

Like an animal, he sank his teeth into the mages jugular and tore out his esophagus. Horrified, I tried to crawl away uncaring of my direction along as it was away.

Big mistake.

I barely made it two feet when he pounced, his solid weight knocking the breath out of me. Then I was being slammed into rough bark and long fingers pressed into my throat, keeping me upright as I struggled to get in air.

My gasp turned into a sob, and he snarled; his lips peeled back in a vicious show of teeth, blood coating his lower jaw. His face was so close that I could see the feral thing inside his eyes. They glinted with the reflected light of my own that, I haven't realized until this moment, were as bright as any moon. Then he leaned in and inhaled a long slow breath. A low growl rumbled so low next to my ear that I could feel it vibrate against my skin.

I heard the gunshot before I felt the bullet and just as the pain registered, he released me so suddenly I slumped against the tree holding me up. Whirling on the shooter, he snarled again, this time with fury, and stalked toward his attacker.

A predator going in for the kill.

The mage still pinned the tree by Uriel's dagger pulled the trigger a second time and Uriel jerked with the impact but didn't stop.

The gun went off again. And again, until six dark spots were blossoming across his back. But there was something strange about the blood that dripped down his arms to stain the grass with a slick carpet behind him. It glimmered, glinting in the dim lights filtering through the trees, its strange shine mesmerizing to my oxygen-deprived brain, and blood loss clouded my vision.

A wet sound pulled my focus back to the Mage and nausea rolled my stomach when I saw the way he had griped the other by his throat and lifted him clear off the ground with the same unforgiving hand that had held me captive just moments before. His fingers dug in like claws, taring skin and sending blood gushed down his forearm to drip from his elbow and pool in the dirt at his feet.

A short twist of his wrist and the mage's head was left bent at an entirely wrong angle.

"I need to get out of here" was a distant I thought as I watched him drop the lifeless body like a child discarding a broken toy.

The mage with the skin of thorns began to stir but before he could recover Uriel was there, kneeling beside him and slamming his head back down into a root so hard his palm went right through the twisted face to meet wood. Uriel hissed and shuddered, his eyes closing for just a moment before he snapped them back open and whipped his head around to aim his bloody grin at me.

Darkness closed in as he approached, and all I could see was the animal trapped in a man's body.