Blood Moon Rising

•Chapter 3•

The next time Seraphine woke up, the stranger was gone. With a sigh, he heaved himself up and with shaky and limp steps he stumbled towards the little palms near the beach, flopping down under it to catch his breath when the sound of coughs and groans startled him. With curiosity taking the best of him, he followed the trail of sounds and spotted lots of people on the other side of the beach.

He looked around frantically for a pair of raven head and a blondie but nearly collapsed when he couldn't spot his friends. There were around 20 other passengers who had survived but among them he couldn't spot his friends. Maybe they're on the other side. I shouldn't jump to conclusions too soon.

"Oh thank the Almighty, Another one has survived! What's your name, dear?" an old woman with an empathetic smile sitting beside a man lying asked him. Seraphine crouched down near the old couple as he replied, "I'm Seraphine. Also..." he trailed off as his eyes roamed around the people, "...have you seen a raven haired guy with lots of tattoos a blonde one with him?"

He expectedly looked at the woman for an answer but instead she started babbling, "I-I don't know! I don't even know where we are!" she stared at him in confusion as she started mumbling incoherent sentences while she bended over the head of her husband, trying to wake him up.

Seraphine sighed, this old woman wouldn't be of any help to him. He walked towards the crowd of groaning passengers. Lots of people were around his age; in their twenties while there were some old people too who had survived the disastrous storm. Almost everyone was deeply traumatized, a bunch of females were crying while some were just staring at the ground in silence. He tried to look for his friends but they weren't there.

Where are you guys...

Seraphine was still walking around in search of his friends when he heard someone use his nickname. "Sera! I swear to god if you had died in there I'll bring you back just to smack you in the head!" a familiar high pitched sound resounded near him. That's Vikter's voice... "I really hope he's okay..." and that's Nino...My friends!

With frantic steps towards the source, Seraphine almost cried in joy when he spotted his friends. Nino who was currently hunched over and weeping while Vikter was still shouting and hitting the sand in frustration. With a smile he started running towards them but stopped to shout back, "GUYS!" he roared in excitement which caused the other two to abruptly halt their actions, "I'm here! safe and sound and yeah, alive." His friends turned around and saw Seraphine running towards them with a big smile on his face. Forgetting about his aching and sore muscles, Seraphine kept on running until he crashed into the two and the trio once again reunited and hugged.

With a snort Vikter pulled himself away from the group hug as he lightly smacked Seraphine's head. "You look like s**t my friend but yeah I'm glad that you're alive." Nino rolled his eyes at him as he ruffled Seraphine's hair and smiled warmly at him. "We're really glad that you're okay because we last saw you drowning when the ship got crashed by a huge wave. After that, Vikter had dived in to secure a life jacket on you, we also held onto your hand but got separated and-" Nino was still ranting when he abruptly got cut off by Vikter's, "God stop already. What matters is that Sera is fine and in one piece." Seraphine chuckled as he saw his best friends get into another argument.

With a quick look around them, Seraphine took in their surroundings. "By the way guys, did you save the others too?" he asked as he spotted a few damaged boats discarded at one side and a few life jackets too. "No but I remember someone pulling me out of the sea. I collapsed after that but I do remember someone...he was tall and he had cool hair." Vikter grinned as the trio now started walking towards the group of passengers. Seraphine wondered as he got even more confused, "Say if you guys didn't then, who gathered all these people here?" he voiced his thoughts out loud. Who was strong enough to help all these people?

"I don't know but- hey! Look over there! It's him!" Vikter suddenly pointed towards the direction of a man pulling someone out from the sea and gently laying him on the sand as others rushed to help him. "That's the guy who helped me too. He seems to have been here before us, he also knows the Island more than us." Vikter whispered as the guy spotted them and started walking in their direction.

Seraphine stared at the guy who returned the action and stared back at him. The petite raven head seemed to have gotten stuck in a deadlock as he met the other guy's dark orbs that held him in place.

"Oh, another newcomer? What's your name, son?" an elderly woman walked towards them as she spotted the approaching man. Finally, I can look away. Seraphine thought as the woman came near them. She didn't seem to have come in contact with him before. The guy stopped a few steps infront of Seraphine and the latter just now noticed how tall and muscular he was. He had a strong, threatening aura that seemed to weaken whoever stood infront of him. Maybe I'm just thinking too much...

He heard him softly reply, "My name's Rhain."

He introduced himself simply; not giving too much information except for the fact that he was also stranded here on this island, longer than them and also very familiar with it.

He appeared friendly and trustworthy but he made Seraphine's skin crawl.

But seeing everyone's relieved expressions upon hearing that Rhain would help them in getting adjusted to the Island life diverted Seraphine from his thoughts as he wandered back to reality. They were stranded on an Island and only this guy knew it well than them. He had to trust him for now despite his heart ushering him to run away as far as his feet can take him.

The group soon left towards the jungle as Rhain claimed to know a spot that had a fresh water fountain. Seraphine stayed at the back of the group as the others followed Rhain's lead. The wounded were helped and recovered by him who was currently at the top of the chain. Seraphine was looking around everything from the back with Vikter and Nino. His skin prickled when he caught Rhain's intense stare on him.

There was something about him that didn't feel right at all. But what? He couldn't put a finger to it yet.

°°°

Cries of relief and sobs of happiness were heard when they reached the sprinkling fountain in the middle of the jungle, a natural lake around a waterfall. Many people dived straight in when they saw the heavenly, crystal clear liquid infront of them.

Seraphine kept his pace slow as he spotted Rhain at the side watching everyone with a gentle smile tugging at his lips as he looked at the relieved ones. Seraphine looked away as he thought back on the guy. He had helped him back there at the shore too. He had held him and stopped him from moving around too fast. Rather than listening to his heart he should listen to his mind and work with the guy if he wanted to go back home.

"As much as I like you staring openly at me like that, I'd rather prefer you drink a bit water and clean up, little one." Seraphine blinked as he realized that these words were obviously directed at him because he actually did keep staring at the male shamelessly. He looked back at the male just to find his sultry eyes pinning him down. With a brave step over the slippery stones, Seraphine inched closer as he replied, "Why are you sharing your source of water with us? shouldn't you be hunting us away?"

With an amused face, Rhain raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms over his chest, "Why wouldn't I help? it's been a while since I last met humans." he stated plainly as he now gazed at the people who were now washing their faces and cleaning up. "I don't trust you at all. You could be a cannibal trying to eat us all as soon as we fall asleep." Seraphine vivaciously retorted as he stepped even closer, Vikter and Nino had already dived into the lake he also didn't want them to overhear his conversation with this guy. But to his dismay, Rhain just looked at him and once again replied calmly, "Why would a cannibal save people rather than watch them die by drowning?". Seraphine found himself caught off guard. He's right.

Rhain did save the most of them...He could've left them to die but he didn't.

Maybe I am just overthinking everything.

Meanwhile, Rhain stared at Seraphine as he saw him walk towards the fountain and wash his face. Dark ebony hair sprawled across his forehead were now pushed back as he let the water clean his face up. How adorable. He tracked every movement of his, from the way he washed sand away from his hair to the soft smile dancing on his lips as he drank it. Everyone else appeared to Rhain as a blur as he had his gaze fixated only on a specific raven head. But with a sigh he got off from the tree he was leaning against and walked towards the group announcing, "If you're all done. Let's look around for food." With a domineering attitude and tone he guided everyone back at the beach as few left to bring back wood for a fire.

Seraphine was the only one who followed Rhain. Even though everyone had started admiring Rhain and his abilities, Seraphine still didn't budge. He had too many questions and this alone time with him would get him answers for all his queries regarding the suspicious male.

Rhain was just moving around the jungle when Seraphine ran upto him and asked, "If you've been here before us, then why didn't you try to escape? How long have you been here?" he started throwing questions his way but didn't get an answer as Rhain was pushing around a few swinging vines as he walked more deeper into the jungle. Seraphine also kept following him, not stopping at all. "You sure have alot to ask, but let me clear one thing out." Rhain suddenly halted in his tracks which made Seraphine stop too. With a puzzled expression he suddenly felt himself pinned against the tree to his right. Wait, when did he even move? Seraphine thought as his heartbeat sped up. He was tightly pressed against the bark of a tree by Rhain who stared deeply into his eyes, unrelenting in looking away. "You'll be safe only if you follow me." every vowel he let out felt too intimate to Seraphine. Maybe it was the close proximity between the two or the fact that he was currently entrapped between the latter's strong muscular hold. "See? you don't even realize yourself why." With furrowed brows Seraphine looked towards where the man had pointed.

Colour left Seraphine's face as he saw a huge snake hissing towards their direction. It looked angry and hungry.

"Oh gods, what do we do now?" he cried as he looked back at the too calm and composed Rhain. "We do nothing." Rhain calmly spoke as he now turned around and faced the snake hanging from the tree vine. "Just don't make a sound and do as I say." Seraphine nodded and whispered, "Okay." to which Rhain turned around and smirked at him, "Good. Be a nice obedient little boy and close your eyes."

Without putting too much thought to what the other had said, he closed his eyes and only heard the sound of the animal hissing and of something...he opened his eyes and at that exact moment blood splashed on his face.

Did he just kill such a poisonous animal with his own bare hands? Can a human do that?

He stood there with eyes as wide as saucers as he took in the sight of Rhain standing infront of a hanging, limp and dead snake.

The man looked back at him and gave a wolfish smile as he licked his lips, "Oops. You saw me kill it."

No. The way he's smiling and looking at me. Something's wrong.

But what?