“Pacifist?” Caspian spat in offense. Everyone ignored him.
“What I’ll do to you will be worse than anything anyone else could accomplish,” I told Ben, their pathetic leader.
“Why is that? It’s not you that I’m after. It’s the girl you’re inside and I don’t wish to hurt her.”
“The girl I’m inside, I like the sound of that,” I said with a smile. He stared at me, waiting for a response. I backed off and sighed.
“Okay, you want me to tell you why I’m going to tear your soul to shreds? I’m new to this whole caring about others thing. You see, the girl—Ava—” I sucked a breath in between my teeth, “I’m in fucking love. Me and her. We’re forever. I cherish the clutch of her insides.” I barked out a laugh.
“Oh shut up,” Caspian spat at me.
“It’s true,” I told him. “It has to be love, right? I mean I justlovemaking her cry.” I walked over to Caspian with a smile. “Love making herchokeon me. You thinkyoumake her scream, pretty boy?” I broke off with a laugh. Caspian lunged at me, baring sharp teeth but then pulled up short, hiding his teeth behind his lips.
“Fuck,” he hissed under his breath in frustration. He didn’t know what to do. Couldn’t attack me or he’d be attacking Ava.
“Poor baby,” I said, lifting my shackled hands to playfully slap the side of his cheek. He jerked his head to the side. Someone snatched my shackle and clipped on a chain that was already attached to Caspian and Mothman.
The group was collecting around Ben, listening to his game plan again. Mothman, Caspian, and I turned to look and listen.
“He’s up the mountain. Our cameras lost sight of him last night but we know where he was headed. Without food, he’ll be weak and moving slowly. We’re taking guns but they’re a last resort. Use his friends as leverage and if necessary, bait.”
“Fun,” I mumbled to the other guys. “When do we plan to escape?” They eyed me silently and I sighed. We started into the forest, our captors pulling our chain. Mothman was at the head, Caspian in the center, and me the caboose.
There were about fifteen members of the cult, all of them with bags of salt strapped to their belts and guns in their holsters. They weren’t a terribly formidable-looking group, the only thing going for them was numbers, weapons, and threats. I sized each one up, determining the weakest links. Ben wasn’t a very large man but leaders didn’t have to be, they had the force of their followers.
The temperature was frigid as if it were early winter instead of the tail end of summer. If I were human, I’d be freezing in this dress. The cult members had fleece jackets on, their noses rosy red. I didn’t feel the cold like they did. Cold was fine. Frozen was fine and the way the temperature kept dropping it might well get to that state.
The temperature was unnatural. The cause was the beast in the mountains. The thing they had created wandering out in the woods. This group really stacked the odds against themselves. It was only a matter of time before they were all dead. The tricky part would be making sure none ofusdied in the process.
Then again, what did I care if a few of Ava’s men didn’t make it? She’d still have me.
A lash of pain seared up the center of my chest.
“They matter,” Ava snapped in my head, angry and hurt.
“Fuck, okay,” I grumbled under my breath, lifting a hand to rub at my chest. The chain jangled as I did. That hurt but I was proud she was learning a thing or two.
We took a well-worn hiking path that had a steady incline. The forest looked half-dead, all the plant life in variations of browns and grays.
Brandon wasn’t really a wendigo. I knew that much. He was some bastardized version Ben had cooked up with redneck magic. He’d used the blood of the other monsters and Ava to help him. My good assumption was Brandon was some strange combination of greed, monster, man, and animal.
“What do you mean?” Ava asked me, having listened to my thoughts. I smiled. I liked the company she offered. Who wouldn’t want a voice in their head? Much better than the never-ending silence.
“He clearly needs flesh to prosper and that animal meat didn’t seem to sustain him. He’ll need human flesh soon enough,” I spoke to her in our head instead of aloud.
“What?” She asked in shock.
“Oh yes. Didn’t you see the way he was salivating over each one of you?” She went quiet and I decided to bother our captors. Sowing discord, creating tension, putting people’s nerves on edge… That would all be helpful, or at least wouldn’t hurt. I'd play the jester to learn what I could from the personalities here. The truth was, I wasn’t really that funny, and in the end, not funny at all. But then, it's hard to laugh when you're exhaling for the last time.
“Cold?” I asked one of them. He looked at me and fear flashed in his eyes as he saw my black eyes. Humans hadneverliked me. Seemed it was instinct to hate witches. The man shuffled a little further away, choosing to not respond.
“Do humans really feel repulsed by us?” Ava asked, coming out of her silence.
“Sure,” I said.
“I haven’t noticed that.”
“You’re surrounded by monsters, not humans,” I countered inside our head. I could sense her frown. Perhaps she was right. Maybe it was never about being a witch and more about being me.
