The Half-Breed

The night is motionless! The wind that had beaten with such violence in the ice-locked mountains to the east had fallen at about sunset to an uneasy murmuring in the dark pines that filled the twisting vale of Lamarck.

By midnight, even that had ceased: the snowy branches hung motionless from one end of the vale to the other, slowly furring with sleet in the cold.

A woman's breath, barely visible in the soulless tinge of the few remote and haughty stars, hangs like a diamond cloud above her face. She's also frozen in white hoarfrost to her lips.  

In the deep, freezing, piercing cold, none of the supernatural creatures was present, not even the strongest species among the dark-walking creatures, Lycans. The silence ran from cliff to lightness, an almost tangible property in the frozen and desolated world.

Yet, beneath those dark, huge, and freezing trees, something stirred.  

Marvel was sure of it. She knew her eyes weren't deceiving her. She was sure that whatever was lurking around the shadow was a dangerous creature. Yet, she decided to get closer.  

She is a leader. A warrior. A fighter. She couldn't turn back, at least not yet. If she does that, how will the pack look at her? They will call her a coward. 

“Coward,” she whispered inwardly. She hates that name. The sound of it alone pissed her.

She glanced behind her again for the sign of the unseen creature, but she found none.

How many times had she been doing this? She couldn't guess. She was sure that this was not the seventh time. Fear is taking the best part of her body.

She could feel the word “Coward” creeping into her body, taking control of her soul, and spreading all over her body. It was creeping along her spine and prickling at the nape of her neck like tiny teeth.  

She zoomed in with her vampire vision again. She used this to check her surroundings for strange things. Nevertheless, she saw nothing. The only thing her red vampire eyes could catch was the thin sheen of starlight. It was frosting the unmarked snow.

As she ventured deeper into the forest, she looked back, deeper into the darkness of the tree. She could feel her vampire vision zooming, and scanning the whole snowy mountain and forest altogether. Yet, there's nothing there.

She stood some fifty feet from the forest's edge. She could see her shadow, which was a misty blur on the old broken snow around her feet. Her breath is now becoming a tiny smear of steam against the darkness. However, she didn't turn back.

Even though she was wrapped in the thickness of her buffalo hide coat. Nonetheless, she shivered as the coldness of the night came into contact with her body.  

Was it even the shiver of cold? She thought. 

It's not entirely cold. It's a shiver of fear. She feared and panicked about the wild creatures out there that she hadn't seen, but she had seen their brutality.  

She knew it would be warmer in the camp. Yet, she didn't attempt it. 

Marvel could sense it. Even from afar, she was sure that it was perfect under the tent. The shelter there would be a more damning sight. It would be more reasonable than standing in the open and listening to the ice crystallize in her lungs.

Regardless, neither hope of heaven nor fear of hell would have induced her to seek the shelter of the tent.

The ferocious blowing wind touched her face, and she could feel the impact on her body. It was like clammy water seeking a hand. It took all her strength not to spin back. That's because she had one thing in mind, she wanted to face the unseen foe. Moreover, she had been warned not to run.

She is doing this for her territory. She wasn't doing this for the middle land but for Lamarck. Running back would mean her death because she's in the open ground of a still mountain night.  

The cloaking spell that covered her was the only hope she had now. She depends on it, and on her skills to divert all evil and attention. If they fail, then that's the end for her. She was sure that her vampire speed wouldn't help her. None of the night-walking creatures could think of outrunning the dark beast of Lamarck. Not even the strongest one, the Lycans.

‘This is stupid.’ She told herself. ‘This is indeed a bad idea.’

What if Hodesh is wrong? What if she is still suffering from the trauma of losing her husband to the beast of Lamarck? Or worse, what if she was lying? What if she did this just to lure her out? What if Hodesh is doing this because she couldn't protect her husband from the beast of Lamarck? 

All these questions clouded her mind, and she could feel them in her head, giving her a headache.

The spell that Hodesh gave her was to hide her scent from the beast. It's also to make her invisible. Yet, Marvel was doubtful of that. What if it doesn't work against the dark beast of Lamarck? What if all this is a trap?

The unbearable terror returned. It was as if some vast, murky bug was creeping slowly behind her. That made her spin back again.

She pierced her eyes through the dark, yet snowy, evil mountain. She allowed her vampire eyes to survey all her surroundings, starting from her current position to where she had come. Still, she couldn't see anything.

There's no movement in the stark white emptiness of the snow-covered meadow. The same goes for her vampire's ears. They couldn't hear anything. The only sounds that filled them were the hissing of her breath and the racing of her heart.

She had spent thousands of years with the elderly, training and enhancing her vitality. If it was against another foe, Marvel was confident she would win. But against the dark beast of Lamarck, all her skills were useless. The wait in terror for an unknown danger is different.