Love's Destruction

There! Her gaze locked upon a sack perched on a post. She didn't know what it was, but her instinct drove her forward to grab the sack as quickly as possible.

Right as her hand grasped ahold of it, her surroundings changed. She felt herself falling...and falling...and falling into darkness...until...her backside landed on a dirt path.

Shaken, Lina did her best to stand. Grabbing onto a nearby tree trunk for support, she recognized her surroundings instantly. She was on the dirt path that led into the forest. The forest hiding behind the king's castle.

What am I doing here? Lina thought. Am I supposed to follow the path?

Just as those thoughts crossed her mind, a creature jumped out from a nearby bush and dashed into the trees behind Lina. Her thoughts already jumbled, Lina had only seen a blur and could have sworn it had been a pigment of her imagination.

Her instinct was telling her to follow the creature, but before her body could follow the command, rainclouds moved in. Her world once again turned dark, the only stark difference from before was that she wasn't falling.

Silence.

And then, the skies opened, and rain pounded down. Lina quickly found herself wet and confused. What was going on?

And then, footsteps pounded. It was near...thumping and splashing...it was running. Towards what? Lina thought. Me or the forest?

And suddenly, a medium-sized, white beast appeared. By then Lina had hidden behind the tree that she had used for support, the sack going unnoticed in her hand.

The one that bit me! Lina stared questioningly at it. Rain glued the fur to the dog's skin, emphasizing its hollow bones. Ribs were prominent and its hollow cheek gave it a starved look. It sniffed the air and then the ground. It had caught a scent, her scent.

The creature stopped in its track, corners of its mouth twitching at finding a threat.

Lina's breath caught. Stepping backwards to escape it, the dog sensed her movement and just like the blur that had flashed by her from before this creature moved just as swiftly and lunged at her thigh.

Its jaw crunched down just as darkness once again enveloped her.

She was laying down, the sack within arm's reach. She was lying down on something wet.

Jerking into a sitting position, Lina stared in horror as she realized that the liquid was blood.

"Hello, love," Lina's head jerked towards the voice.

"Who's there?" Lina cried out.

"You've got something of mine there, darling." It was a foreign voice, deep and male.

Shuffling to her feet, Lina noticed the sack and bent to retrieve it. Within a few inches from reaching it, a shadow flew out and jerked it from her grasp the content flying out.

Her attention was solely focused on his face at first.

A jagged scar ran from his left cheekbone down to his chin only to hide behind the mask that covered his entire right side of the face. His visible eye was a sickly yellow and the beaded, black pupil trapped her in his venomous glare. It was only broken by the loud thud of the object that had fallen out of the bag.

Her attention drew to the object and when she recognized it, her eyes rounded in horror and her mouth opened on a silent scream.

Laughter....Someone was laughing. Lina couldn't find herself to look at the mysterious man. She knew he was the one laughing, especially when she sunk to her knees and felt his hand on her shoulder. His hand shook which in turn shook her from his laughter.

All she could do, Lina felt, was kneel and return the wide-eye stare of the head that had fallen from the sack. All she could do was stare at the bodiless head and weep. Weep at the head of her mother.

Lina screamed. Jerking awake in her fevered state, her eyes were a yellowish hue and her skin slick with sweat.

From her dark, dank corner Lina heard a door creak open. Her eyes immediately burned as they sought the light that the opened doorway allowed inside the dungeon.

A hunched figure, a man, took up the space of the open doorway grumbling inaudibly.

With the beaded, black eyes still imprinted in her mind, Lina scooted away from the approaching man; she found that her leg restricted her movements. "Here—" The harsh, gruff voice did little to calm her riled up state.

"Stop!" Lina screeched hysterically, images of her nightmares flooded back.

Lina screamed, scrambling to get to her feet.

Instantly, the man was by her side.

"Dammit woman!" The man cursed, trying to restrain the woman from injuring herself further in her hysteria. "I'm not here to hurt you!"

"Joel!" Another voice called out, seemingly more calming but still held an air of authority. "I was trying to help!" Joel raged, tossing Lina to the floor and exiting the mildew infested room.

Lina whimpered, too terrified to move or utter a cry of pain. Her tumble to the ground had opened the wound on her thigh; her leg was no longer numb.

Ivan was aware of her the moment he stepped off of Tyrrden territory and onto his own land. His wolf growled as he scented his mate; the scent was nowhere near flowery or fruity, but rather it was a sweet, calming hint of cinnamon.

Unknowingly, Ivan had growled audibly; his beta, Rueben, glanced at him with raised brows.

"Something wrong, alpha?"

"Mate." It was all Ivan muttered before he shifted into a beautiful silver wolf and sprinted off.

Rueben smirked, amused. Nearly a thousand years and he finally finds his mate. What were the chances?

"Stop!" Lina found herself screaming the same word, her breathing getting heavier.

She could have sworn that her mind was playing tricks with her. The figure who had driven out the man, Joel, was now appearing everywhere in the room.

"W-who are you?" Lina grunted, fighting to stay awake.

"Mmm?" The infuriating man murmured.

Lina could have sworn she felt the repulsive man stroking her cheek before it dipped down and lightly touched her wound. She would have convinced herself that she was just imagining things had the man not forced pressure.

Lina screeched, the pain was beyond agonizing.

"Who the fuck are you?!" Lina gasped, trying to buck the pressure off.

"Mmm, is that all I get for rescuing your sorry ass?" The man sneered, shoving his small finger even farther into her wound until another scream ripped out of her chest.

Satisfied with his work, the man quickly withdrew his pinky and made a show of wandering around the dark room.

"You know," the man started after wandering in a circle, "you made it quite easy for me."

Seconds ticked as Lina waited for him to explain, her harsh breathing was the only audible noise.

"You'd think the stupid curse that comes with the forest would have set you back some, but you had to come in and bring two big guys with you."

"What the hell are you trying to get at?!" The man tsked; in less than a second, he had grasped Lina about the neck and propped her up against the wall.

"I've pissed off a really friendly vampire and I need your help, kitty." The man explained. "You see, I don't get to bring Ivan or Rueben or anyone else into this if I give them you. A life for a life."

Cold crept up Lina's back as she tried to struggle for air, her dangling legs kicking in wild abandonment.

"The full moon isn't far away," He went on, releasing Lina to fall in a crumpled mess, "you were just an intruder. I could say you brought this on by breaching into our territory and when you became a little too pushy I had to take care of matters."

Once again wandering the room, the man was too deeply engrossed in his scheming.

"Vampire?" Lina spat, her vision started to darken. "If I-I—"

Yet again, the man's phenomenal speed had him in front of her in mere milliseconds, pulling at her hair until she was sitting upright.

Clamping her teeth down on her lips, Lina didn't give him the satisfaction of letting him rip a third scream from her.

"Listen—"

The man didn't get any more words out as a jaw clamped around his neck. A sickening sound of flesh tearing apart and bones snapping flooded the air.

"Well shit, Alpha, this one is gonna be trouble," Reuben said, both confused and intrigued.

Lina didn't hear anything further as the darkness finally chose to consume her.