-EDITED CHAPTER-

______________________

Another cover posted above! Check it out! ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑

______________________                                                        

CHAPTER 5

"If you must walk in someone's shadow make sure it's your own"

― Rasheed Ogunlaru 

______________________

WHEN SHE OPENED her eyes she found herself staring at a mud caked wall, with green vines growing on top of it. Spiders crawled on the surface, making Helene sit up right in a sudden bolt.

Where was she?

Quickly standing up, Helene blinked her eyes trying to adjust to the darkness. There were loud careless footsteps walking towards her cell, making Helene's blood freeze. The whole place was peculiar and strange. As she waited for the footsteps to approach her, she looked around.

Helene stood in a cell with its metal bars and rusty lock. Across from her was a open cave with a roof of rocks and mud dipping low. On a small worn out table made out of wood sat a lantern, lighting up the room enough for Helene to see the details and start planning an escape.

Just as she was about to call out for someone, she froze.

A tall man stood before her wearing a clean ironed suit with his hair nicely gelled and styled. His nose was pointy and his mouth was a thin line of amusement as if he smiled too much. When she looked at his eyes, they twinkled as if he was so happy to see her and began glowing red. "Well, hello. Who do we have here?" he purred, sliding his fork tongue over his leather lips, making Helene pause.

Wait? Fork tongue?

"You're a Creature." Helene said and immediately regretted it.

He clicked his tongue, "tsk tsk tsk. Quick thinking. I like it."

"I don't like you by the way," she muttered, rocking back on her heels, trying to act casual. Her hands were sweating and her body was numb, making her feel anything but casual.

The Creature waved his hand as if dismissing her comment. "Now. Answer my question. Who are you?"

Helene managed an eye roll and a sarcastic response, "Why don't you take a guess?"

Taking her sarcastic reply very seriously, he replied, "A very highly trained Scar with powers." Then he tapped his chin dramatically. "That was rather easy."

Helene watched him from the corner of her eye. "You're not as dumb as I thought. So, who are you?"

He seemed important, as if he was high in his rank. But she wanted his name.

He smirked, ruffling his black hair with his hand, making him look dangerously handsome close to the light. "Call me Asmodeus."

"Nice to make an acquaintance. Now please let me go." Moving a few steps forward, Helene gripped the bars of her cell.

Asmodeus shook his head. "Enough of these games." Suddenly his face was very serious again. He walked closer to her until their faces were mere millimetres away. Helene planted her feet and tried her best not to take a step back, something she should have done.

Helene swallowed. "What do you want?"

"You're scared." He noticed, blinking.

She said nothing.

"What do you want?" He asked instead. "What are you doing in my home?"

Helene pretended to look around a great deal, before she coughed a laugh. "This hole is your home? Where do you even sleep? On mud beds?"

He ignored her. "You have a habit of dodging questions sent your way."

She let a small noise of annoyance from her mouth. "And you ask way too many goddamn questions."

When he didn't reply, Helene sighed in defeat. "If I answer your question, will you let me out?"

"Maybe." He grinned.

Completely defeated, Helene muttered, "I kind of got lost while searching for somebody and fell into this hole. I swear I had no idea that this even existed. Since when do Creatures live underground in muddy holes?"

Ignoring her latest question, he watched her silently as if trying to pick up any lies. Finally, satisfied with her answer, he stepped away. "I've got work to do. Try not to miss me too much."

Helene lurched forward. "You motherfucker, let me out! Where the hell are you going without me? I thought we were friends!"

Her desperate attempt to get free made him laugh. "Have fun. I will come check on you in a few days. Maybe years. Ah, time does fly by rather quickly when you have lived for centuries."

And with that, he disappeared.

Hot anger bubbled under her skin. She curled her fingers, ready to strangle him, her hands itching to slap him across the face. Swearing at him under her breath, she kicked the cell bars with her right foot and grunted at the sharp pain that tore through her. Nothing happened. Helene tried forcing fire to her hands to melt the bars, but her powers never responded.

"What's the freaking use of my powers if I can't even use them?" She growled, letting out a loose breath. The bars were created to keep powers inside. The cave had suddenly become very cold, and she watched as her breath came out in white puffs. She shivered.

After what felt like hours of waiting and pacing around in her cell, Helene sat down. The ground was hard and freezing. It was like when Asmodeus had entered, he had brought in the fire with him. And when he had left, he had taken it all out with him as well. She couldn't feel her fingers which had become slightly blue with the cold. Her toes were long gone and her body was numb, close to shutting down. She was just about to curl up and use all the body heat she could use when he returned.

"I-I'm going t-t-to call y-you B-Bob." Helene shivered, slowly curling into a ball.

"Whoops. I forgot you were human." He flicked his fingers and warmth flooded in. "And Bob? Are you sure that is even a name?"

Ignoring him, Helene stood up, trying to get as much warmth as she could inside of her. "Well first of all Bob, I am not human. I am a Scar. And second, you haven't been a really nice friend lately. Maybe you could make it up to me by letting me out?"

Without replying, he watched her from a distance. "I'm going to be gone for a few days. I'll have someone else to watch you. Be a good girl for me, eh?"

Helene shot him a death glare. "Good girl my ass. You have me locked up in a damn cell!"

"I don't exactly know you."

"That's not an excuse! Do you do that to all your guests?"

"Sure."

Since the conversation was getting nowhere, Helene gave up. Instead, she tried to pry some information out of him.

"So, tell me. What do you do here?"

Asmodeus looked at her with an amused expression. "You might as well give up. I am not going to tell you anything."

Grumbling, she looked away, waiting for him to leave. When he didn't budge, Helene looked at him from the corner of her eyes and snapped, "What do you want?"

"You've been here for five hours," he offered.

"Oh, please." Helene gave him a flat look. "That helped me so much."

He shrugged and began to walk away, his feet making not a single sound. The last time she had met him, he had been walking so noisily before.

As soon as Asmodeus walked out, another man entered. He wore dark blue armor, and a grave expression on his crusted face. His blond hair was streaked with light brown and a bit of white, shining pale under the yellow light from the lantern. Helene didn't give him a second look.

Creatures as everyone knew had the ability to shape shift into any human form they pleased, as long as they had something that belonged to the person they wanted to change into. But when they wanted, they could change to their real form, the one with the black leather skin, and sharp claws in a matter of seconds. And this creature who looked a lot like a man was no different.

Hoping he was extra stupid or just gullible, Helene smiled seductively at him, "Hello. What's your name?"

He looked at her, leaning against the wall and grunted, "Theo."

"Hm. Theo. Nice name." She looked at him from under her eyelashes, "My name is Helene."

He smirked, "Pretty name for a pretty girl."

Helene mentally puked. Walking closer to him so only the bar separated them, Helene leaned in. "I have an idea. Why don't you come inside and we can get to know each other a bit better?"

"With a lot of touching and licking, I'm up for it. What do you say?"

"Of course," she purred, and then licked her lips, waiting for her prey. Completely undone, Theo flipped the keys out of his jeans pocket and searched for the one for her cell. Picking out a dirt caked brown one, he stuck it in to the lock of the door, making excitement burst into Helene's chest. With a few grunts and heaves, he pushed the door opened and swung it close behind him, dropping the keys on the dirt and grinning at Helene as if he was going to eat her whole. Helene danced closer to him.

As she leaned in, she positioned herself so she cradled his head. Then, coming closer to his ear, she whispered, "Think twice before you act, babe."

Then with blinding speed, she brought his head down to her knee, hearing the satisfying crack of his skull. Victorious, she quickly dropped Theo, who landed on the ground with a thud. Theo was back at her again, growling viciously. He was on all four, moving towards her like an animal. Like a creature, Helene thought. His eyes were glowing orbs of red, his face twisted into an animalistic snarl.

With a roar, he lunged. Only years of Scar training kept her alive as she ducked and sent a flying kick his way. It barely deterred him as he pounced on her again. Rolling away, Helene got to her feet. She was breathing hard, looking around frantically for something to use. From the corner of her eye, she saw a glint and she grabbed for it. The keys. Theo came at her again, but Helene was ready.

Dodging his blow, Helene raced for the metal door. She ripped it open, slamming it behind her. Theo howled as he landed face first on the door with a loud crunch. He got back up, scrambling for the handle, but Helene was quicker. Finding the right key, she jabbed it into the keyhole, twisting it savagely and heard a satisfying click. She had locked the door, with Theo inside.

She backed away from the cell as Theo's cries followed her. The only escape back to the village was inside the cave and from the ceiling. Rock climbing was not one of Helene's strong suits and besides, she doubted that Theo would be willing to let her try out her skills without ripping her apart for locking him inside the cell in the first place.

Helene pocketed the keys in case she could use them to unlock other doors. The only other way was out through the gloomy tunnels ahead. With one last glance at poor Theo, Helene set out, her footsteps echoing in the chambers. As she passed the rickety table, Helene grabbed the lantern off it, leaving Theo with just darkness.

She plunged forward, lamp out in front of her. The light was a soft glow against the walls of the cave. She could see the shadows of writing on the walls, ancient dialects and drawings that made no sense. She traced a delicate hand over them, letting out a small screech as her hand bumped something warm and furry. Shining the lantern, she saw a winged creature hanging . A bat.

She shone the lantern upwards and could make out black masses. Hundreds and hundreds of bats hung from the rocky ceiling, their beady eyes fixed on her. If Helene was not afraid of waking whatever creature lived down there, she would have screamed so loud that the people on mars would have heard her. She stepped back, her feet kicking back stones.

One bat caught her movements and fluttered his wings, making the other bats rise from their sleeping spots. Helene took another step back as more bats joined, swarming around her so she could see nothing but flutter of wings and blackness. They screeched on top of their lungs, and extended their claws flying straight towards her. Helene tried to duck, but the swarm was faster then she had anticipated. They jerked left straight into her direction, clawing her skin.

Helene pushed the lantern forward, hoping to scare them away by the light. Their screeching got louder with their frantic flapping. She cursed under her breath as she tried to escape the cloud of bats. With quick gasps of air and stumbling back, Helene found a small hole out. She quickly began to run, the keys from her pocket falling down with a loud jingle followed by the thud of the lantern. The noise diverted the bats from her for a second, giving her enough time to dash behind a boulder of rocks and catch her breath. She bent down, wheezing for breath.

Helene stayed where she was behind the boulder, waiting for the noises of flapping to ease. Once she could hardly hear them, she shot from her spot on the ground and darted towards the opposite way from the bats. Looking back once, she turned the right corner and stopped when she saw a shadow move ahead. Closing her eyes briefly, Helene readied herself, brushing a soft hand over one of her cuts delivered by the hundreds of bats. Then as calmly as possible, she made her way forward and towards the guard.

As silent as a cat, she pounced from behind, elbowing the guard's head and slamming it with all her might at the sharp rock edge. There was a sickening crunch and then a crack, indicating that the skull was broken. Letting go of the body, she stepped back, taking off two of his daggers and slipping them onto her own. Glancing around once more, she headed down the tunnel with no idea where she was heading towards. At least she would end up somewhere.

Her whole body stung by the many cuts on her skin, bleeding from many places. Ignoring the pain, she began to run trying to get out of the tunnels as fast as she could.

Just as she was about to run past a tunnel mouth, she came to a sudden halt. Light poured down from the top, as if it was open. Helene jogged towards the light, hoping it was an exit. Just as she stopped in front of the open and gaping hole, waiting and beckoning her to climb out, she heard many thundering footsteps headed her way. Immediately she knew who they were.

Panic began to bubble in her stomach, making it churn nervously. She was so close to getting out of there, she couldn't stop and fight, giving up her only chance to get out.

Thinking fast, she looked at the gaping hole and began to climb, reaching for the top. Just as her hands made contact with wet grass, a hand clamped down on her ankle trying to pull her down. Biting down a scream, Helene kicked and squirmed, hoping to lessen the hold but the holder had a iron tight grip and refused to let go. Using her left hand she looked down, grasping a knife hilt and stabbed the hand. It let go, screaming on top of its lungs.

Not looking back, Helene pulled her weight with shaky arms over the edge, trying to keep her feet out of reach from the Creatures. The open gaping mouth of the hole scratched her belly, making it wet with blood but she refused to look at her wound.

With another mighty pull, Helene made it out the hole. When she looked back down the Creatures were swarming the bottom, trying to climb over each other to get to her. As fast as she could, she stood up and began to run in an unknown direction. She didn't care where she was going at the moment, and all she knew was that she was getting away. Her foot slipped on the sleek mud, causing her to fall with splash, making the dirty water splatter everywhere. Drenched in sweat, blood and dirt, Helene stood up again and ran for her life as fast as her tired feet could go.

Panting heavily, Helene leaned against a tree to catch her breath. She was about to sit down for a while but heard a familiar howl of anger and resentment. In a blink of an eye, Helene was on her feet once again and running through the green forest as Theo's yells echoed after her.

___________________________________________

VOTE

COMMENT

SHARE

AcTiOn. YuMmY. 

edit: I am disappointed at myself for being so weird.