When midnight came, Aloin was in a tree at Lac De Grand-Lieu.

The breezy air at night chilled to her spine, the tiny hairs on her hands rising slightly. The scent in the air was of dew and earth.

Aloin slapped her own cheek. She raised it to her eyes, and clicked her tongue at the sight of a mosquito splattered with blood on her palm.

She cursed in French.
From one of the trees in Loire-Atlantique, the lake glimmered with light, as if shimmery sparkles floated right above it. Tall buildings stretched high up to the sky, their boards and billboards glowing in the dark. A few karaoke centres and bars still had a lively vibe to it, loud music echoing all over the area. Street lamps shone, bugs surrounding them like mad.

She glanced at her watch.
The hour hand to the middle of 12 and 1, the minute hand a little at 6, making it's way to 7.

She let out a sigh and leaned back, her right hand through her golden hair, tied into a curly, high ponytail to her shoulders.

"I have school tomorrow..." she whispered to herself.
A mosquito landed on her exposed shoulder. She slapped it, then flicked the dead mosquito away.

Trees had many insects that were active at night, like the chirping crickets right beside her feet, locked between the branches. As much as she hated it, it was the perfect spot.
"It's my fault I didn't listen to mom," she grunted. "Should've worn some insect repellent."

She spotted two smart alecks climbing in through the gates. They faced the Lake, and sat on the ground together, side by side. Shifting slightly, Aloin could make out their figures. One girl, one boy.
Sweet couple on a date at 12 something by breaking in to see a damn lake. How sweet.

She ignored them as they, as most called it, "make out" shamelessly.
Minutes passed with her swatting and slapping bugs away, when all the lights at Lac De Grand-Lieu turned off abruptly.
Not a single sound was made.
Except for a gasp, probably from the couple.

Her bracelet of purple gems glowed.
She checked the watch with the help of the light.
Hour hand at 1. Minute hand precisely at the gap between two numbers of 12.

"Right on time."
She waited, the bracelet glowing brighter. She heard panicked whispers, and made out some pieces of "Victor, I told you illegal dates in here is stupid. Haven't you heard the news recently?"

Yes. Scold him only when things go wrong. Alright. You were having fun snogging him just now.

A footstep.
But not of a human's.

It clickety-clacked on the ground, like the sound of tapping shoes on a wooden floor.

A glowing white figure appeared from nowhere quite far from her, standing on four. Its light shone on a Do not litter sign nearby. The leaves of the bush under the sign looked mystical, magic.

The couple was gushing in panic, whispering curses and names to each other, and went quiet as the figure came nearer.

Aloin reached for another branch, higher from the ground, and climbed up.
A neigh.
She squinted. Her bracelet around her wrists pounded.

The figure had flowing, silky-looking white mane and tail. On its back was a saddle, fluffy and fancy like a velvet cushion. Bottles of water and food-like fast foods and friend chicken, somehow- filled in the pockets of the saddle. Its eyes changed from red, to blue, to green, to brown.

It was a horse.
A very beautiful one.

"Cheval Mallet?" she gasped quietly.

The horse trotted up to the couple, their faces visibly pale, thanks to the horse's glow. Their eyes widened, their mouths hung open.

"Is this... the thing that took the boy in the news?" the girl muttered. "Babe, I'm scared."

"Hold on," he stepped forward, arms thrown to his sides, a protective act to his girlfriend. How sweet. "I'll check it out."
"Be careful!"

Aloin frowned.
Her fingers fumbled to the side of her small, glittery silver belt around her waist.

The man neared the horse, the latter staying still at one place, head held high.
"Oh God, I've seen you in a book before," he whispered. "You're real?"

Aloin have seen a Brownie cleaning her whole house at night since she was 7. A Cheval Mallet was nothing. Normal human beings couldn't see these creatures. But once they got too close, they would.

The Cheval Mallet snorted. The colour of its eyes changed.
He reached out, his fingers slowly brushing its mane. It drew closer to him as he stroked its neck.

"Oh, Lord," Aloin whispered under her breath, reaching to a branch nearer to the stony, bricked pathway of Lac De Grand-Lieu. "How much more stupid can you be?"

"Babe," the lady called. "Are you alright?"
"More than alright," he said, not loud enough.

The horse knelt down before him and gestured to the saddle on its back. He laughed. "I've always wanted a pony ride. My mom couldn't afford to pay for even one when I was little."

If you've actually read about Cheval Mallet, you'd be smart enough to step away.

His girlfriend panicked. "Babe, where are you?"
He mounted atop the horse.

Aloin sighed. She slipped her fingers into the coils of her belt, plucking out a neatly-coiled, barely visible bullwhip in her hands.

The horse trotted on, getting nearer to her tree. The lady was already sobbing frantically. The man, on the other hand had a giddy grin on his face.

"Oh, I'm a little thirsty," he said, patting the horse's neck. "May I please have one if the drinks in your saddle there?"

It snorted, and nodded like how horses nod.
As he drank joyfully, the sobbing lady already climbed the gates and ran out, back to the safe streets.

See? Now that's a smart thing to do. Don't make my job harder.

Aloin uncoiled her whip, tightening her grip on the hilt.
The man dropped his drink, the bottle floating with white mists back to the saddle. He yawned, and stretched. "I'm sleepy," he leaned down, face buried in the horse's mane. "Wake me up later."

The creature's pace turned faster. From an elegant trot to a fast gallop.
Aloin kept her left hand in a grip to a branch, while her right hand held the bullwhip. Her left shoe pressed against a branch, the right hanging in midair. She'd look like someone from an action movie.

She waited.
The horse came, zooming past.
She leapt.

Her whip barely slashed its face, her landing imperfect as her foot slipped from its saddle. Her left hand quickly gripped the hem of the dazed man's shirt.

Cheval Mallet snorted. And it sounded furious.
She stepped on the man's foot to keep hanging, and slashed the whip on the magic horse.

"Stop, now!"
It rammed against a tree sideways.

She grunted, quickly putting the whip through the loops of the stirrup (the iron part where people put feet on when riding on a saddle). She grabbed the tip of the whip, when the horse crashed its side to a tree, she swung down, slid under it's stomach, in between its legs, and swung to the other side of the horse. The side that wasn't rammed into a tree.

"I demand you!" she shouted, slashing her whip again.
It stopped in its tracks. She jostled forward. It galloped again, and threw her by force off it's back.

"Merde," she cursed, as she flew off it. "Merde, merde, merde."
She crashed into a bush.

"I will kill you, Cheval Mallet," she hissed, thorns scratching her skin. She walked out, scratching the red marks on her arms and plucking leaves and twigs from her hair. "I swear it."

A horse was much faster than a human. She couldn't chase it. She wouldn't make it. Before she could even catch up, it'd successfully take the man away and he'd never return again. Nothing about Cheval Mallet ever told of where it would go, or how it took care of its victims.

The legends of Cheval Mallet was so brief, that there wasn't a single clue about where it came from at all-

Oh.

She chuckled to herself.
She took her whip, lying down beside her on the ground, and took off in a quick sprint, colourful curse words at the tip of her tongue.

But she didn't go forward.
Didn't follow the horse.
She went backwards.
To the start.
With the dim purple light of her bracelet as her only source of light.

She went back to the tree she was on, and ran some more.
"I'm pretty sure it appeared," she scanned around, recognising the board about no littering, and stopped. "Here."

She saw the bush under it, and dive right in. The remaining leaves in her hair matched the ones she hid in. Not a full disguise, but good enough.

More waiting for Aloin.
Only, this time, she didn't mind it.
It only took a few minutes for the dim bracelet to glow brighter.

Her left hand slipped to the left side of her belt. She picked out another whip, similar to the one already in her right grip.

And it came.
It trotted on the pathway, neighing happily as if it already won.
Oh, not yet.

She peeked from the gaps of the bush, the glow from the creature landing on her skin. Her skin, with that glow, was fully white.
But it didn't see her.
Or at least, she hoped it didn't see her.

She waited.
The second hand of her watch ticked softly.
She peered down at it. Only a few seconds before 2.00, the hour hand nearing to 2, the minute hand only a slight more to reach a precise 12.

Tick. Tick. Tick.
5 seconds.
She looked out with a sigh, her bracelet pounding and tightening around her wrist.

5.
4.
3.

The sound of its hooves buzzed in her ears.

2.

She knelt, ready to launch.
1.

Aloin leapt put of the bush, whips immediately in contact with its rear legs, too near to her hiding spot.

It yelped--like how horses yelp-- and rose up on its hind legs. A slight mark was visible among it's glowing flawless white skin. If there was one disadvantage at having flawless skin, it was that, one mark, and everyone could see it.

She stood up fast, and slashed on its chest, hurriedly running away from being stomped on. She used both her whips, slamming them against its hind legs. It raised, aiming to kick her. She slid down, coming under its belly, slashed, and slid out, enough time and speed to whip its hindquarters in the process.

She knelt up when it reacted to the pain, pulling the man off and shoving him into her hiding bush.
With both her whips extended, and twisted, they coiled around its neck.

It fought back, shoving her aside, and rammed her back against a tree. She let out a groan, and fell to a sitting position. It raised its legs, coming down, she leapt aside.
The horse charged up to her again. She dodged aside slightly, her blue eyes looking around.
There was that scent of dew.
Stronger than before.

She turned her head.
The lake.
Of course.

Twisting her wrists, she pulled hard. It neighed loudly and shoved her again. She reached to its neck in the process, pulling back the tip of one of her whips from it.

She pulled back, again groaning as her back crashed to a wooden surface.  Her grip tightened. She pulled.

The left whip.
The left whip uncoiled. She slid off from getting stomped, and wrapped it around the Cheval Mallet's right rear leg.

It let out a roar.
Like a mix between a neigh and a roar.
She swore she didn't ever wish to hear that ever again.

She pulled.
Harder than she ever did before.
The horse refused. She locked her step on a tree stem, and pulled more.
She twisted the whips.

It weakened.
She dragged it to the front of the bench the couple was making out on earlier.

"Listen, and tell this to your friends, Cheval Mallet," she hissed, twisting the coil more. "I'm Aloin Génial, the Voir of Loire-Atlantique. And I can defeat you, with only a push. Get in my way, and I'll strike you down, just like that former Queen Bee at school."

It snorted.
She climbed atop the bench, hands releasing the hilt of the whips to grip the bench seat. She raised herself, and slammed her shoes to its body.

It lost control.
And fell into the lake.

She saw it struggling in the water. She saw it looking at her with those colourful eyes in a pitiful way. She looked away, and walked off. After a few steps, the neighs stopped and no water splashed. The lights turned back on. She sighed.

"Now let's just hope that guy isn't awake-"
"Who the hell are you, and where am I?"

"Merde," she mumbled under her breath, then gave a dull look at the blinking man. "You left your girlfriend for a horse. It was trying to make you never come back. I'm Aloin. I saved your life. Let us never speak of this again."

"But, how did you--"
"It came out every night for a victim. So it must've come from and go to the very same location every night. It must have a hidden location to appear out of thin air. I figured it out, and drowned it. And you better keep this a secret."

"So... The boy in the news-"

"If you tell anyone about this, they'd probably think of you as a lunatic."

He blinked. "Where's my girlfriend?"
"Outside."

He rushed off, clumsily falling down on the other side as he climbed up the gate. Aloin followed behind slowly, a yawn escaping her mouth.

"Well, that's done."
Her bracelet glowed, like it was disagreeing.

"Merde," she lashed to her own bracelet. "There's more? Now?"

It glew in the brightest shade it ever had, that she had to close her eyes and look away. "Alright, alright. I won't curse at you anymore, just-ugh-"

It had violet-purple mists growing out of it, and formed a letter.

V.
"Voir?" she raised an eyebrow. "Like the clothing brand Voir, or the fighting-creatures Voir like me?"

It gave out a light too bright again.

"Alright, alright. It's my kind of Voir. I get it. I mean, there's some possibility you'd like the brand, it'd match your colour--no, don't glow more."

It puffed to purple smokes, surrounding her at first, then firming a floating symbol right in front of her eyes.

"Well, that'd look good as a jewelry, I'm sure--no, don't glow like that again."

If a smoke could give a signal that it was sighing, it just did.
Do not ask.

Then it exploded into tiny lavender fireworks, zoomed like lightning, and formed a letter.

Y.
Then another.
S.

"Oh," she gasped, as it dissasipated. "Oh."