Death’s Embrace

Stay Still

{Amara’s POV}

As I came to, my body felt light, lighter than it ever had. I looked around me frantically, he was gone.. Kade.. he was just gone. I pulled my knees to my chest, taking in a deep breath, when a pungent smell caught my attention. I sat up quickly, gagging as the scent of decay filled my senses.

“Poor thing.. I don’t think she realizes she’s gone..” I heard a high pitched voice whisper.

I looked around me, trying to find the owner of the voice, when a deeper, stronger voice caught my attention. “Strange.. Can she.. hear us?”

“Yes I hear you! Come out! Why are you hiding?” I asked, turning once more only to find me.. my body.. lying on the floor, surrounded by runes written out in my own blood. Candles had burned out around me.. leaving wax melted into the long black tendrils of my hair. My pale green eyes were now nearly white, as they laid open staring up at the ceiling. “No.. no, no, no!” I whimpered, backing away, suddenly finding myself slamming into a rock hard chest. “This isn’t real.. that isn’t.. it’s not me.. it can’t be..”

“Hey..” his voice called softly. “Hey, don’t look..” the deep voice cooed, turning me to face them. A tall, bulky, muscular man stood before me. His hair was dark blue, his skin pale, almost grey, but his eyes are what truly drew me in. A pale blue color that seemed to pierce right through me. “Don’t look at that.. keep your eyes on mine, breathe.. focus on me..” he said softly.

I looked up at him, before shaking him off and rushing over to my body. I dropped to my knees, and sobbed. “No.. no..” I whimpered, I forced my hand to go back into my body, holding the hand of my cold, corpse. The hand to my surprise began to move, so I did the only thing I could think of. I dipped my finger into my blood, and slowly began to etch out the name of my killer. Pain shot through me, practically overtaking all of my senses. Each letter felt like a hot branding iron across all of my skin. “I won’t let him win!” I cried out, finishing out the last letter, before pulling back with a cry. I fell back, my body suddenly feeling heavy again, my hands were shaky and though I knew I was no longer alive, I felt my heart pounding heavily in my chest.

“What did you do?” The man from before asked, dropping to his knees beside me, and lifting me up in his arms. “You’re shaking.. and even weaker than before!” He snapped, was he angry? “You won’t be able to cross over like this.. and I can’t leave you here..” he sighed, holding me tightly against his chest as he stood. “It can’t be helped.. I’ll have to take you back with me..”

“Your brothers won’t be happy about this.” The voice from earlier said, before a small creature appeared before me. Short in stature, completely blue, with pointed ears, it was only about four inches tall. It was a tiny man, with short blue hair, pale blue eyes, and even blue skin. He wore a blue button up shirt, and blue pants, and had wings like a bat as he flew in front of us, staring at me.

I couldn’t help the curiosity rising up in me. “What on earth are you?” I asked, reaching my hand out and gently petting his hair.

A sound similar to a purr erupted from him, before the man holding me stiffened and looked down at me. “Please don’t touch him..” he whimpered, as he readjusted me in his arms.

“She can see me too?” The small creature replied before climbing onto my arm and staring up at me. “You shouldn’t be able to see me.. though.. you shouldn’t be able to see Zorin either..” it said.

“Zorin?” I whispered, looking up to the man that was holding me. “Is that.. you?” I asked, as my vision began to darken and blur around the edges.

“Zeldryx.. what’s happening to her?” He asked, staring down at me.

The small voice chimed in again. “I believe she’s going to faint.. though, I’m unsure how.. normal souls usually don’t react this way.. something’s wrong with her.. we’d have to get her home, and have Evander and Evryn help me look over her to find out what’s really wrong.” The small creature replied to him, his voice getting further and further away as I struggled to keep my eyes open.

“Z-Zorin..” I whimpered, as my eyes fluttered, before finally staying closed.

“Stay with me.. don’t worry, I’ve got you now.” His voice was calm, sweet, something that in the moment soothed me as I drifted once again into nothingness.

When I woke next I could hear what sounded like rain on a window, and as I looked around I could see Zorin was still carrying me, we were walking down a long hallway, as heavy rain beat against windows on both sides of us.

“Stay still.. and stay silent until I get you into my room.. I’m not sure what my brothers would do if they found a human soul here.. but not all of them are as nice as me.” He said, pulling me closer to his chest. “Zeldryx.. go get Evander and Evryn.. tell them the bare minimum and bring them to my room immediately!”

“You got it boss!” The creature said, smirking before twisting around and disappearing into thin air.

I gasped before covering my mouth, looking up to the man holding me in his arms. He looked down at me and sighed, before long we made it to a blue door at the end of the hall, and he opened it quickly rushing us inside before closing it behind us.