Fear brewed. Rosa quickly locked the car and huddled down into her chair, her grip around the dagger tightening. Keeping low, she scanned around the car. She didn’t catch sight of anything however, then again she couldn’t see anything anyway. The street they’d found themselves on had extremely sparse lighting directed only near the construction site as a result, darkness consumed anything more than a few metres away from the car. Something could currently be watching her and she wouldn’t be the wiser. Especially to her right, there was a tree line where you couldn’t see anything past their shadowed trunks. Rosa tried to get control of her breathing but it was no use, it grew erratic as her paranoia flourished. The louder the silence grew the further her fright festered. She crouched down even further to the point where only her back was on the car seat. She couldn’t stay here, her fear fuelled mind decided, she was just a lamb waiting for slaughter here. Rosa removed the dagger’s sheath and brandished its blade. She steadily raised herself up to where she could see out the car’s windows. Again there was nothing. She continued to carefully scan around. Her gaze found its way to the back of car where it came to a halt. Her eyes locked onto the darkness and the shadows of trees and shrubbery playing at its edges. This felt familiar. Suddenly her mouth went dry and something overcame her body. Before Rosa realised what was happening she’d unlocked the vehicle and dived across the driver’s seat and out the car. She rolled as she hit the ground and launched herself into a full force sprint towards the construction site. She charged her way inside and instantly spun holding out her dagger towards the entrance, waiting for some kind of monster to walk through.
Nothing came in.
Slowly Rosa lowered the blade. Something heavy powerfully dropped down behind her. Instantly Rosa spun around. She was greeted with the ferocious eyes of a Direhound. She pointed the dagger at the monster and a guttural growl escaped from its frothing maw. The monster slowly began to stalk forward, its gaze locked onto to her every movement searching for an opening around her dagger.
Well at least she knew it wasn’t outside stalking her.
‘Oh god, I’m going to die because I gaslighted myself’.
The memory of her hiding under the stairs flashed in her eyes, she remembered the helplessness she felt. No she couldn’t die, not here, not yet.
“Mierda” Rosa muttered as she slowly backed away, never lowering her blade. The bestiary pages she realised, Louie told her they’d explain everything she needed. She felt her fear began to waver, in fact she sensed something new burning inside her soul. Rage.
Rosa stopped retreating back and stood her ground, she couldn’t risk triggering the monster’s predatory instincts. She’d only carefully step back when the Direhound approached, constantly making sure to stand her ground. The bestiary described them as quite simple creatures, stating they have the potential to be dangerous however, possess a low level of intellect and are driven only by their murderous nature. Rosa could take advantage of that. Soon the Direhound began to grow restless and its movements grew impatient, just likes its pages said it would. It pounced, its jaws open aiming directly for her throat. However, Rosa predicted its behaviour. She managed to move even before the monster, ducking under its bite and thrusting the dagger deep into the creatures neck. Despite the thick muscle and fur the knife tore through it all with ease, Rosa felt like she was stabbing into water. She quickly put all her weight upon the blade, the stab wound wouldn’t be enough, she needed to slice open the monster’s throat. Faster than she could react the Direhound started to back away. Damn, she was too late. The monster recoiled back with such force Rosa was lifted off her feet, luckily the knife slid out before the Direhound could throw her. She landed back on the ground and practically jumped away, narrowly avoiding five razor sharp claws. Blood leaked from the stab wound however, the beast was seemingly unharmed, all she’d accomplished was making the monster furious. Rosa bit her lip, she’d wasted her one opportunity, even if the Direhound wasn’t very intelligent she doubted it would let her do that again. The beast charged, in a panic Rosa held up the knife praying it would just run into it and die. Suddenly she felt something grab the back of her cloak.
Rosa was dragged away, leaving the Direhound to maul empty air. She turned to see Louie.
“The fuck happened to you not hunting?” he questioned.
The monster snarled at them and pounced. Before Rosa could even process the situation, she was lifted onto Louie’s shoulder and he sprang across the room. He placed her down on the ground before drawing his sword. Without hesitation, he charged directly at the beast with inhuman speed. The Direhound attempted to tear him apart but Louie weaved between slashes with ease. Rosa stared amazed, she couldn’t believe what she was witnessing. The Direhound couldn’t hit him no matter how many times its swung its claws or snapped its jaws. Louie made the monster look like child play, he practically danced around it with an unnerving sadistic smile, his sword majestically spinning and twirling through the air like it was an extension of his own arm. The Direhound roared as it wound back its arm however, in a silver flash the arm was suddenly severed from its body. Before the beast could even register the pain Louie’s sword tore through the air separating the Direhound’s head from its body. Rosa watched breathlessly as the monster’s limp body slammed into the ground.
Slowly she stood as Louie gave his sword a fast swipe in the air removing all blood from its blade.
“That was amazing” Rosa stated as she sheathed his weapon.
He turned and gave her the expression he’d been using all day, a mix between amusement and confusion. Maybe she should give it a name? Amusion possibly?
She felt her cheeks flush slightly. “I just meant the way you fought … it was very refined”. She winced at her own comment. What the hell was she saying?
Louie chuckled. “Thanks”, he glanced down at the dagger in her hand, “I saw the wound you put in its neck and combined with the fact that you didn’t lose the blade, not bad at kid”.
Rosa felt a small smile grow on her face and Louie walked away and pulled out his phone. She wandered over to the corpse. Even with its humongous frame and weaponry, it looked so pathetic now. She stared into its lifeless eyes that desired to end moments ago and felt nothing. Her eyes found the small wound in the side of its neck. She’d almost done it. All on her own, she’d threw aside her terror and acted, almost killing the monster on her own. Rosa felt a strange sensation in her chest, was she proud?
“Come on Rosa we’re done here” Louie announced.
Rosa quickly nodded and stood. “Thanks for saving by the way” Rosa said, she then offered the dagger back to him.
“Keep it” Louie said, “I’ll need to get you a proper sheath for it though, can’t have you constantly sticking in it your pants”.
“What do we do now?” Rosa asked.
“We go home and get some sleep” Louie said.
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