What the hell? What the actual fuck?

The human is looking at Ezi, and now me, eyes wide. Her gaze finds my lashing tail and she presses against the trunk of the thick tree where she's decided to sit and cry. I can feel her fear flooding her mind. Hear her heart pounding, smell her sweat. Disgusting little creature. How dare she see us?

"Woah, woah, woah! Cyn. Hey. Calm down. Cyn, please." Ezi is still squatting, turning his upper body to face me and waving his arms in a rather helpless gesture.

The human's eyes dart between the other Spirit and I. There are twigs and leaves in her ponytail and sticking out of the bottom of her toque, little scratches on her hands. She's in rough shape, alright. Must've been out here for some time. Days, maybe. I quiet down, though I continue to glare at this strange creature.

"Wh-what's going on?" Her voice is hardly more than a whisper, each syllable drenched in terror. "What are you both?"

"A monster. A big, scary one," I say dryly.

Ezi faces the girl again, giving her one of his warm smiles that never touches his eyes. "Don't mind Cyn, we just aren't used to being seen by people."

Her eyes go wider, if that was even possible. I wonder if they'll pop out of her skull. That would be a laugh. "Subtle. Nice. We shouldn't even be talking to her, let's just go home," I say, irritated.

"Oh. Okay. Come along, human," Ezi says, grabbing the girl's hand. She tries to pull away, but Ezi's smile widens as she struggles futilely. Her mind too clouded with panic to even form words. I almost feel bad for her.

"Nope! No way, not a chance in hell, Ezi! We are not bringing a human to the Valley!" I step towards him, towering over Ezi who has yet to stand.

"Cyn, have you ever found a human who could clearly see and hear us? It's unheard of these days. We have to show her to Mother. Maybe this is a sign-"

"A sign of what?" I snap. "That shit is going to get better 'cause one damn kid can see us? Get real!"

"Even if it doesn't, we have to report to Mother. You know that as well as I do. And bringing the human to her is the easiest way." He's still smiling, speaking calmly. Somehow that's more irritating. And even worse, I know he's right. I know we have to bring her back.

It's likely Mother already knows we've found her and we'll be in trouble if we abandon the mortal. I growl softly, crossing my arms. Ezi must take my silence as affirmation because he stands up, pulling the girl up along with him.

She's still shaking like a leaf, but she tries speaking again. "Please, who are you two? What are you two? Where are you taking me?"

"Well, I'm Ezi. The grouch is Cynthia-"

"Hey!"

"-and we're Spirits."

The human seems to relax slightly, her eyes lighting up with curiosity. "Spirits? Like, ghosts?"

Ezi chuckles softly. "No, no. We're not ghosts. Well, not really. I think. Wait, Cyn, are we ghosts?"

"You're not sure...?" the girl asks, looking at me now.

"We're not damn ghosts," I say shortly.

"Anyway, what's your name?" Ezi asks, still grinning. He hasn't lost that fake smile for a second.

She takes a few moments to speak. Too long. I narrow my eye. "Amanda... Amanda Green is my name," she finally decides.

"Let's just go already, Ezi," I say, not wanting to deal with this anymore.

"You're not even going to ask if I want to come with you?" the human asks. Despite everything, I grudgingly admire her courage. Then again, it's not like she can sense auras. She has no idea who - and what - she's dealing with.

"Oh." Ezi looks surprised. "Would you like to come with us?"

The human takes a moment to think. Again. Probably weighing her options. She glances at my snake-like tail and Ezi's cold, always moving eyes. I sense her resignation.

"Doesn't seem like I have a choice." Her voice trembles, but I sense less fear now than I did before and she's no longer crying. I'm not fond of this situation, but I can't help but be curious as well.

"We may as well go home immediately. Ezi, don't forget to grab your spear," I remind him.

"Right." He nods, letting go of the girl to retrieve his weapon from behind the bushes. The human screams when Ezi picks it up, lifting it into the air.

"Why do you have something like that!? How can you even carry it? It's bigger than you are!" I can only feel amazement coming from the girl now. Ezi, on the other hand, is bewildered.

"In case we get attacked, naturally," Ezi says calmly. "And I'm stronger than I look, Amanda."

The human's head whips towards me, and I shrug. "Sorry, kid. I don't carry weapons. Don't need to."

"You don't get attacked?"

"No, she does," Ezi speaks before I can get a word in. "She just punches things."

I roll my eye, not bothering to dignify that statement with a proper response. I feel the human turning to me, the same amazement she felt for Ezi flooding my senses.

Stop it, you should fear me, I almost say.

"So," Ezi starts softly. I'm shocked by how talkative he is today, but this must be a novel situation for him. "Why are you out here?"

"Oh. I. Um. I ran away from home. I've been out here three nights."

I look over her again, now noticing the backpack she carries. I smell food in there, so at least she ran away prepared, and there's plenty of fresh water from the lake nearby. I feel a pang of sympathy, but I try to push it down. She's human. It's best we just show her to Mother right away, then I can go to bed and ignore this stupid situation.

I perk up when I realize we may not be able to leave as soon as I wish. Life Spirits are coming our way. I turn to Ezi. "Just to let you know, we're about to be attacked. Ten Wolf Spirits."

"Huh. Alright. Amanda, you're going to hide in a tree now," Ezi decides.

"Wait, what?" She looks from Ezi back to me, then to Ezi again. The human starts shaking. "Wolves are coming for us?"

"Yes, and they're Spirits like Cyn and I. So, I would suggest doing as I say if you don't feel like being mauled to death!" He says this as if it's the best news he's had in years. He really needs to learn when to cut the damn grin out, it's spooky if you're not used to him.

The human is stiff with fear but manages to move her body when Ezi cups one hand for her to use as a step into the tree. The human touches his shoulder, gasping. Must not be used to touching ethereal beings. Ezi's expression mirrors her own. The two gaze at each other a moment, but several barks can be heard now, and Ezi unceremoniously lifts his hand up, vaulting the human into the air. She screams but grabs onto a branch and drags herself up.

I stare at Ezi. "You just threw a mortal into a tree!"

"I'm aware."

"You can't just toss little kids into trees! They're fragile!"

"Oh, like you can talk about handling things delicately!" he retorts, then gets cut off when a Wolf Spirit bursts out of the bushes and pounces on him from behind, yellow blood spurting out of his neck as fangs dig into him. His face is slammed into the dirt, but I waste no time in kicking the beast in the head, its body flying into a tree. It yelps in pain, then slowly slides down in an almost comical way. The Wolf gets back onto its feet, shaking its head and snarling at me.

By now, the other nine have surrounded us. Ezi stands back up, holding his spear at the ready. He doesn't look even remotely fazed.

"You guard the girl!" I order. "I'll play offense!"

"'Play'? You're horrifying."

I grin at him as I charge. I use the darkness around me to form massive claws, almost like a second pair of hands encasing my own. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ezi leap into the tree. No wolves go after him, all focused on me.

I can sense their fear and confusion. Guess word of my existence still hasn't traveled far among their ranks. How could it, when I never leave survivors?

One idiot goes right for my face, making me cackle. I grab it out of the air, digging my claws into its throat and pinning it down. I quickly jab a couple fingers into the eyes, shivering from the feeling of touching the back of its eye sockets.

It whines pathetically. Writhing a little as bright red blood soaks its fur. Slipping down its face like morbid tears.

The sights. The sounds. The sensations. They make me tremble! A laugh rips itself out of me against my will, and I turn my head as another comes nearer. Still crouched over the one crying blood, I wrap my tail around the new attacker like a noose. I toss it away, to be dealt with later. Assuming it survives the impact its skull just had with that trunk.

That crunch! So satisfying! The spray of blood! They finally seem to clue in that going one by one is a horrible idea, so four jump me from all different sides.

I only manage to claw the face of one, feeling its jaws clamp down on my shoulders and leg. A couple more join in as my other leg gets bit and my tail is tugged.

I scream out in pain, but it turns into a cackle soon enough. Damn idiots! For each jaw gripping my body, I form a spike emerging from my skin. I watch as four heads are impaled, the life fading from their eyes. The emotions that once filled their hearts dissipating to the winds. Their blood soaks me, dripping down my skin. Like a lovely, thick, warm rain. Even the smell is too delectable!

I feel the one that was tugging on my tail let go, and slowly back up. A whine of terror rising from its throat. It turns to run, but I'm faster. I grab it by the tail, just for irony's sake, and drag it closer. I lift a leg and stomp down, feeling its spine break just above the hips. The Wolf Spirit's back legs slump down uselessly.

I form a dagger in my hand, roll it over on its back. And stab its chest. Again. And again. And again! I laugh as I do so, as I get covered in even more gore.

Another one dead, which makes eight. Where are the last two? I can sense them around, but they seem to be running to throw me off. I stand and gasp. Crap, I didn't notice how badly I've been hurt! Looking down, I see that my shoulders and legs are covered in both red and black blood.

Better make this quick then. I growl as I whip my head back and forth, trying to gauge where they are. Wolves are fast runners and good at staying quiet when needed.

I catch the movement of a white figure and lock onto it. Oh, Ezi. It's only Ezi. I had forgotten he was here. That human girl is in his arms, spear on his back. He must have felt the safety of the tree, thinking the fight is over.

That's when I realize where the two remaining Wolves are. "Shit!" I run up to the Light and human, neither of which have noticed the enemies right behind them. I shove Ezi's shoulder to get them out of the way, reaching out my other hand to touch one of the Wolves' foreheads.

The second we make contact, pure black spikes penetrate it from the inside out. I make sure to hit the vitals. Normally, I would play around more, but I can't risk any harm coming to Ezi.

Too close to its friend, the other Wolf takes a nasty blow to the side but is otherwise unhurt. I instinctively look towards the sound of a scream.

The girl. Obviously. I'm momentarily distracted, just long enough for the speedy Spirit to make a break for it without my noticing in time to catch up.

Oh, you have got to be kidding! I glare at the human, growling and snarling viciously. "What the hell was that for?"

Both she and Ezi lay on the forest floor after I shoved them, which is probably a good thing as the girl faints. Ezi still has his arms wrapped around her and his eyes go a little wider at the sight, tilting his head. He shakes her gently. "Huh? Guess she fell asleep."

I sigh and relax my shoulders. I'm still angry, but there's no point in taking it out on Ezi. He was probably too busy comforting the human to be counting how many I had killed.

"She passed out. It's something their kind does when they get too scared." Coming down from my high of killing, I return to my matter-of-fact tone. The blood starts fading away, both mine and the others'. It makes me sigh, already missing the warmth of it. I always feel... sad when it's over. I stare at my bloody hands. How many times have they been dirtied now?

"Scared?" Ezi asks, locking his eyes with mine. They're hardly visible through thick bangs, but those bright yellow eyes of his are penetrating, almost hard to look at. And it's not because of his nystagmus - a symptom of albinism that makes his eyes constantly shift around - but because they're so sorrowful despite that stupid grin of his. It's as if the upper and lower halves of his face belong to two completely different Spirits. Though he doesn't usually wear that fake grin when it's just the two of us. "Is she scared of you?"

I turn away from him, starting to walk towards a better place to form a portal. It's more difficult to form one getting into the Valley than out of it. So few places in the mortal realm are suitable for magic these days. We're too close to a human city now, we'll need to go back towards where we came from.

The lake. The lake is closer and will make a fine place to portal out of here.

"Of course she's scared of me," I finally mutter. "I did warn her I'm a monster, right?"