“Taya Ethelyn.” The voice was more bestial than human as it growled her name. The words had been intelligible but possessed a subtle difference unrelated to its monstrous tone.
“H-how do you know me?” She felt the tremors of fear start deep within her core. A terror which was stilled suddenly by a calmer, more powerful, part of herself. The same part that had allowed her to survive the shared, and unwitnessed, transgressions of those seeking to alleviate their boredom within Mirage Lake.
“You will come with us,” he ordered, bending to wrap his claws around her throat. The pressure of his grasp pushed her upward against the tree as he forced her to stand. She pressed herself back against the bark, shrinking away with her eyes squeezed tightly closed.
Whatever touched her, as the fireligh
