THE THINGS THAT HEARD ME
1804 Words
“Run.”
Kael's hand was still wrapped around mine when the darkness beneath the altar blinked.
For one second, I couldn't move. I stood in the middle of the silver lit chamber, staring at the pale curve disappearing beneath the altar while every instinct in my body screamed at me to get away. The stone beneath my boots trembled. Dust drifted from the ceiling, and somewhere below us came a deep, wet sound that made my stomach turn.
Then the altar pulsed.
The silver light exploded outward.
Kael yanked me toward the doorway.
“Move!”
This time, I didn't argue.
Mira was already running.
We stumbled through the chamber entrance as another violent tremor shook the walls. I nearly fell, but Kael's grip tightened around my hand and steadied me.
“Faster.”
“I am going as fast as I can.”
“You're slowing down.”
“I noticed.”
He glanced at me.
Even in the chaos, there was something almost familiar about the way he looked at me. Not just concern. Recognition.
Then the passage behind us groaned.
A section of the ceiling collapsed.
Stone crashed onto the floor where we'd been standing seconds earlier.
Mira looked back.
“Oh, that's encouraging.”
“Keep moving,” Kael said.
“I was planning to!”
We ran.
The narrow passage seemed different now. The symbols carved into the walls were glowing, their silver light crawling across the stone in thin lines. Some of them flickered as we passed, almost as though they were following us.
I tried not to look.
I failed.
The crescent beneath my collar was burning again.
Not painfully this time.
It felt hot and alive, almost like another heartbeat beneath my skin.
I pressed my free hand against it.
“What did I do?”
Kael didn't answer.
I looked at him.
“What did I do?”
His eyes remained fixed on the passage ahead.
“You opened something.”
“I gathered that.”
“I don't know what.”
That stopped me for half a step.
Kael looked back.
“I mean it, Aurelia. I don't know what you woke.”
The honesty in his voice frightened me more than his usual silence.
He wasn't hiding an answer.
He genuinely didn't have one.
Another tremor struck.
Mira grabbed my shoulder and pushed me forward.
“Questions later. Staying alive first.”
I nodded.
The stairs appeared ahead.
Kael reached them first and climbed quickly. Mira followed, then me.
Halfway up, a sound rolled through the passage.
A low howl.
I stopped.
Kael turned immediately.
“What?”
I listened.
Nothing.
Then another howl came from somewhere above us.
Closer.
Mira's face tightened.
“That didn't come from underground.”
No.
It hadn't.
Something was outside.
Something had heard us.
Or heard something else.
The silver light suddenly brightened around me.
I looked down.
The glow beneath my collar was leaking through the fabric.
Kael saw it.
His expression hardened.
“Cover it.”
“With what?”
“Your jacket.”
“I don't have a jacket.”
He pulled off his own and held it toward me.
I stared at him.
“You're giving me your jacket?”
“Take it.”
“Won't you be cold?”
“I'll survive.”
I took it.
The fabric was still warm from his body.
I slipped it over my shoulders, pulling it closed around me.
The scent of smoke and pine clung to the material.
For some reason, that unsettled me more than the howls.
I tightened my grip around the jacket.
“Thank you.”
His gaze lingered on me for a moment.
“Stay close.”
There was no command in it this time.
At least, not entirely.
I followed him up the remaining stairs.
We emerged into the ruined apartment just as another section of the floor collapsed behind us.
Mira hurried toward the broken entrance.
“Please tell me we're leaving now.”
“We are,” Kael said.
I stepped through the doorway.
Then stopped.
Blackhaven was glowing.
A pale silver light spread across the ruins, shining through the rain and reflecting off broken windows, flooded streets and twisted pieces of metal. It wasn't bright enough to turn night into day, but it was far too strong to be moonlight.
There was no Moon.
There hadn't been one for five years.
My throat tightened.
“That's coming from the chamber.”
Kael stood beside me.
“Yes.”
The light moved across the rooftops.
A pulse traveled through the city.
Then another.
Far away, something answered.
A howl.
Then another.
Mira stepped outside.
“How many?”
Kael listened.
His expression changed.
“Too many.”
I heard them then.
Not one creature.
Not two.
Dozens.
Howls echoed between the ruined buildings, overlapping until Blackhaven seemed filled with voices.
My stomach dropped.
“They're coming here.”
Kael looked at me.
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
He didn't answer.
I already knew.
His eyes had gone to the silver glow beneath my collar.
The creatures weren't coming toward the ruins.
They were coming toward me.
A shape moved at the end of the street.
Then another.
Mira pulled her pistol from beneath her coat.
“Tell me those are people.”
“They aren't,” Kael said.
The first creature stepped into the silver light.
It looked like a wolf at first.
Then it raised its head.
Its body was too thin, its limbs too long, and pale veins pulsed beneath its blackened skin. Its eyes reflected the silver glow like polished glass.
Lunar sickness.
But this one was different from the infected wolf we'd seen earlier.
It wasn't wandering.
It was looking directly at me.
Its lips pulled back.
I took a step backward.
It followed.
Kael moved in front of me.
The creature snarled.
Three more shapes emerged behind it.
Then five.
Then more.
“Oh,” Mira whispered.
I swallowed.
“They're not attacking.”
Kael glanced at her.
“What?”
“They're waiting.”
The first creature lowered itself.
Then it lunged.
Kael moved before I could react.
He shifted in a blur of black fur and muscle, hitting the creature hard enough to send it crashing into a ruined storefront.
Mira fired.
The gunshot cracked through the street.
One of the creatures dropped.
The others barely noticed.
They kept coming.
My heart hammered.
“Kael!”
He turned.
Two creatures were already moving around him.
Toward me.
I ran.
I didn't think.
I just moved.
My boots splashed through a flooded section of pavement as I cut between two collapsed buildings. Behind me came the sound of claws striking concrete.
“Aurelia!” Kael shouted.
I kept running.
Something snapped at my shoulder.
I ducked.
Teeth closed on empty air.
I stumbled forward and slammed my palm against a wall to keep myself upright.
The crescent burned.
The creature stopped.
It stared at me.
I stared back.
For one strange second, neither of us moved.
Then the silver mark beneath my skin flared.
The creature recoiled.
Not from fear.
Recognition.
My blood went cold.
“What are you?”
It lunged again.
A black shape crashed into it.
Kael.
He drove the creature into the pavement, his claws tearing through its shoulder.
“Get behind me.”
I backed away.
He looked over his shoulder.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
His eyes searched my face anyway.
I almost told him to stop.
Instead, I heard Mira shouting from somewhere behind us.
“There's more coming!”
Kael looked toward the street.
The silver light had spread farther now.
It was reaching across Blackhaven, slipping through alleys and broken buildings.
Everywhere it touched, something moved.
Shapes emerged from the darkness.
My chest tightened.
“How many are there?”
Kael didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
Mira reached us, breathing hard.
“We can't stay here.”
“No,” Kael said.
I looked around.
The main road was blocked by debris. Behind us, the creatures were closing in. To our left stood a row of abandoned shops. To our right, a narrow alley disappeared between two buildings.
I pointed.
“That way.”
Kael looked at the alley.
“It's a dead end.”
“There has to be another exit.”
“You don't know that.”
“Neither do you.”
His gaze met mine.
For a moment, I expected him to argue.
Instead, he nodded.
“Fine. We take it.”
Mira stared at him.
“You actually listened to her?”
Kael's eyes stayed on me.
“She was right.”
Something warm flickered in my chest that had nothing to do with the crescent.
I ignored it.
We ran.
Mira followed close behind us, firing whenever something came too near. Kael stayed between me and the creatures whenever the alley widened enough for them to attack.
I kept expecting him to grab me and drag me somewhere safe.
He didn't.
He let me run beside him.
He let me choose the direction.
That small act of trust felt strangely significant.
Then the crescent burned again.
I stumbled.
Kael caught my arm.
“What's wrong?”
I looked back.
The creatures had stopped.
Every single one.
They stood at the mouth of the alley, staring at me.
None of them moved toward Kael.
None of them moved toward Mira.
They were watching me.
Waiting.
My breath caught.
“They're following me.”
Kael's grip tightened around my arm.
“I know.”
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“Since when?”
“Since the first one ignored me to reach you.”
I stared at him.
The creatures began moving again.
Slowly at first.
Then faster.
Mira raised her gun.
“We need to go.”
I looked ahead.
The alley opened into darkness.
I couldn't see what waited beyond it.
Behind us, claws scraped against stone.
Kael released my arm.
Then he held out his hand.
“Come with me.”
I stared at it.
Five years ago, I had survived by trusting no one.
Yet tonight, the world beneath Blackhaven had awakened because of me. Monsters were pouring through the ruins because of me. And the one person who seemed to understand even part of what was happening was standing in front of me, offering me his hand instead of forcing me to take it.
I placed my hand in his.
His fingers closed around mine.
“Don't let go,” he said.
“I wasn't planning to.”
We ran into the darkness.
Behind us, the creatures surged into the alley.
And this time, they weren't searching for me.
They were chasing me.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD