Chronicles of Eden - Act IV (11 page)

“They’re dead… they’re all dead!”

“How can that be, what could have wiped the whole village out?” Daniel asked looking around quickly, seeing nothing but darkened buildings all the way down the street with no sign of anyone among them. Triska eyed over the dead bodies in the home before running back over to her friends.

“I don’t get it,” she said shaking her head. “There’s no blood or wounds at all, it’s like they all just dropped dead.”

Alyssa looked over to Lucky as the horse trotted over to her, the animal grunting softly as she reached out and slowly brushed the horse’s nose to soothe him.

“You knew something wasn’t right here too, didn’t you, boy?” she asked softly with concern, then looked around the area carefully and shook her head. “Something’s really wrong here, that much is for certain. We should go, like right now.”

“We can’t go,” Triska reminded her. “Our caravan is still broken thanks to you. We’re stuck here, remember?”

“Great,” Daniel mused worriedly. “Stuck in a village full of dead people. Don’t suppose this could get any worse, right?”

After that comment a girl’s loud scream was heard behind them, the group looking towards where they had ridden into town from as the scream echoed out again.

“Hold that thought, Daniel,” Triska said dryly as she reached for her sword, grabbing the handle as Alyssa peered into the darkness with a sharp eye. Lucky slowly shifted back into his normal form and grunted softly as the group heard another scream, this time sounding closer.

“Someone’s still alive in this town,” Triska said carefully.

Daniel watched the darkness closely then looked up and to the side as he heard something landing on the roof of a nearby building.

“What the hell are you guys doing?” Falla called down to them with disbelief. The girls looked up to seeing the butterfly girl holding onto a chimney and looking down at them while waving towards the burning bakery.

“I thought you were trying to get help, not burn the village down!”

“Falla?” Triska called up to her. “What are you doing here?”

“Running for my life, that’s what!” Falla cried out as she pointed in front of them.

The group looked to seeing Specca and Squeak sprinting towards them, with the ant girl leading the stumbling nixie by the hand as they were running as fast as they could along the dirt road. Squeak had her pickaxe slung behind her as she quickly ran while Specca screamed again as she tried to keep her balance from running so fast. Squeak looked behind her into the darkness and squeaked something loudly as they raced over towards their friends, the two girls seeming to be scared to death while Falla ducked down and hid behind the chimney.

“What the, Specca? Squeak?” Triska said with confusion.

“Daniel!” Specca cried out as she raced over and clung to Daniel with fright, the boy holding her with surprise as Squeak dropped down to a knee next to them while breathing and squeaking heavily.

“What are you three doing here?” Alyssa asked. “And why were you screaming like that?”

“Specca, what’s wrong?” Daniel asked with concern.

Specca whimpered and held onto him while trying to catch her breath before quickly darting behind him and pointing towards the dark road with sheer terror.

“They’re coming!”

The group looked to seeing two figures walking out from the darkness side by side, with the silhouettes then slowly being illuminated by the lampposts to show Jovian and Jacqueline smiling coldly at everyone.

“Jovian? Jacqueline?” Triska asked carefully.

“Okay, what’s going on here?” Alyssa asked looking around at everyone.

“They’re not human! They’re monsters!” Falla called down to them. Daniel, Triska, and Alyssa jumped and looked at the twins with surprise as the two girls giggled in unison.

“What?” Triska asked as she gripped her sword’s handle.

“They’re not human!” Specca screamed out as she clung to Daniel for dear life. “They’re the flesh-eating monsters we were worried about, they tried to eat us just now; they’re trying to eat us alive!”

“What do you mean they tried to eat you? What’s going on here?” Daniel asked as Squeak quickly got up and brought her pickaxe out from behind her, squeaking while pointing to the twins with a glare.

“Look at their eyes!” Falla called down to them. “That’s what they were hiding behind their masks, they’re not normal at all!"

The group watched as the sisters walked closer to them, and as they drew nearer could see the strange colors the two monsters had in their eyes. Triska whipped out her sword with a swift swing as Jovian and Jacqueline looked to the burning bakery with their multicolored eyes.

“Oh my, what do we have here?” Jovian mused as they turned their focus back to the group.

“That’s not how you ask people for help you know,” Jacqueline laughed.

“Alright, what is going on here?” Triska demanded. “What’s this about you two trying to eat our friends? And what’s with those eyes, what the hell are you two?”

“Oh, no no no no,” Jovian replied while shaking her head. “We’re not trying to eat them.”

“Yeah, we’re
going
to eat them, along with all of you as well,” Jacqueline said before they started laughing together with wicked smiles on their faces.

Daniel and Alyssa looked at the two with surprise while Triska narrowed her eyes at the twisted sisters.

“I don’t believe this,” Triska cursed. “You two are those damned monsters that slaughtered all those lycans? The same ones that killed Emily’s parents? What the hell have you been doing traveling with us this whole time?”

The sisters finished laughing and looked at the group with amused smiles while resting a hand on a hip each.

“Why else?” Jovian replied. “We wanted to help find that poor little girl and the missing butterfly monster of course.”

“Yeah,” Jacqueline said before licking her lips slowly. “The more we had to scream in agony while we feasted on their flesh, the better.”

Jovian chuckled then glanced up to Falla, with the butterfly girl watching her nervously from behind the chimney.

“Though honestly it’s been rather unpleasant having to wait this long,” Jovian mentioned tiredly. “We had hoped to find those two missing girls by now, but I suppose Falla ruining our little secret came at a good time. We’re both plenty hungry, no need to wait any longer.”

“Falla?” Daniel asked glancing up to the butterfly girl.

“She remembered what Emily said about hearing her family’s killers,” Specca explained from behind him. “How there were two that always spoke in unison, just like they do. They attacked us when she exposed who they were.”

Triska and Alyssa looked to her then back to the twins while keeping on guard along with Squeak.

“So let me get this straight,” Alyssa asked carefully. “You two are monsters that tried to eat my friends?”

Jovian and Jacqueline giggled and nodded. Alyssa narrowed her eyes as she held a hand out towards Triska, her focuser crystal glowing softly as did her eyes.

“Okay, then you two are our friends no longer,” she stated before swinging her hand towards the twins, causing Triska’s sword to fly out of her grip and fly through the air towards Jovian. The blade struck through her gut and pierced out behind her with a slick crunch, the girl stumbling back a few steps as she grunted while hanging her head low. Triska looked at her empty hands then to Alyssa with annoyance.

“Hey, I could have handled killing her myself you know.”

“No, you couldn’t have,” Specca said shaking her head.

Triska looked to her with frustration and clenched her fists.

“What? What do you mean I couldn’t, you think I don’t know how to use my own sword?”

Specca whimpered and pointed towards the twins.

“No, I mean you couldn’t have killed her like that. Look!”

Triska blinked then looked over to see Jovian still standing with the sword going through her stomach, the raven haired girl slowly looking up to Alyssa with a wicked smile while Jacqueline merely smirked at the witch. Alyssa stared at Jovian with bewilderment while Squeak shook her head nervously and squeaked something.

“What? But… how is she still standing?” Triska said with disbelief as Jovian grabbed the sword and yanked it out of her, the wound in her gut slowly healing while blood dripped down her clothing.

“They can’t die! They can’t die!” Specca cried out.

“What do you mean they can’t die?” Daniel asked nervously.

“I mean they can’t die!” Specca explained while grabbing his shirt from behind. “Squeak struck her pickaxe right through Jacqueline’s skull while Falla cracked open Jovian’s head with a rock, and they just got back up again!”

“That’s not… possible,” Triska said while slowly shaking her head.

Alyssa stared at Jovian with shock as the raven haired girl held the sword up and tilted it slightly while eyeing it with a dark smile. Jovian then slowly looked to Alyssa and gently shook a finger at her, with the witch’s jaw dropping a bit as she saw that the monster was perfectly unharmed.

“That wasn’t very nice,” Jovian mocked with a twitch of her eyebrow. “You made me bleed on my beautiful clothes.”

“No way,” Alyssa breathed out.

Jovian laughed then started walking towards Alyssa, holding the bloody blade in one hand as she casually wiped some of it around on the steel with a few fingers.

“Now then,” she said coldly. “I’ve been itching to peel you apart slowly. I just love it when little girls scream as I feast upon their ripe flesh. I want to hear you scream loudly for me, witch, so badly.”

With that she quickly dashed towards Alyssa with a dark smile on her face. Jacqueline laughed and ran towards Triska as the teen stared at the twins with shock still, stunned that her own blade going through Jovian’s stomach had absolutely no effect on the girl. Alyssa gasped then swung her hand to the side, causing the sword to suddenly strike down into the ground off to the side. Jovian jerked over with the blade before quickly swiping it back up through the dirt and continuing her charge, having recovered almost instantly from the witch’s magical pull. She ran over and swung her sword towards Alyssa before Squeak darted over and struck her pickaxe through Jovian’s chest, the end piercing out of her back with a crunch as the ant girl followed through with her swing. Squeak squeaked loudly and spun the raven haired girl around in the air before stopping and throwing the monster over into a window. As Jovian crashed through the glass into a darkened building and the sword dropped to the ground with a clatter Jacqueline raced over and tackled Triska to the ground, pinning the teen’s hands down with great force while Triska struggled to kick about underneath her. Jacqueline laughed and tried to bite down on Triska’s neck, with the human bashing her head forward and knocking the blonde back with a bloody nose. Jacqueline giggled and twitched her nose as it crackled and reformed from being broken then looked down at Triska with a creepy smile.

“I like it when my food has some fire in them, the feistier the better. Now scream for me!” she yelled out before lunging down to bite at Triska’s breasts. Before she could sink her teeth into the girl’s flesh Daniel raced over and tackled Jacqueline off of Triska, the two rolling around on the ground before stopping with Daniel lying on the dirt and holding Jacqueline from behind around her waist. The blonde thrashed around before Daniel swung her over him onto the ground and tried to hold her down.

“How could you, we trusted you!” Daniel yelled out before Jacqueline kicked behind her right between his legs, the boy yelling out with a painful groan as he felt her attack connecting in the most painful way he deemed to be possible. As he coughed and strained not to cry Jacqueline quickly spun around and grabbed him, dragging him onto his feet while smiling wickedly at the other girls.

“Daniel!” Triska cried out as she saw the boy being held by his neck and shoulder while Jacqueline stood behind him. Specca covered her mouth with a gasp while Squeak glared at the blonde girl with anger as she saw the monster holding Daniel forcibly.

“Let him go right now or else I’ll hack you into goddamned pieces!” Triska yelled out as she tensed up.

“Ha, oh really now?” Jacqueline taunted. “And how do you plan on doing that?”

Alyssa glared at Jacqueline as she waved her hand to the side, casting Triska’s sword into a spin over into the teen’s hands. Triska gripped her blade tightly as she felt her anger growing even more from seeing Daniel being held like this.

“You are
so
dead,” she hissed.

Squeak nodded with a firm squeak as she kept her pickaxe held tightly in both hands, her eyes glaring at the blonde girl with anger as she bared her teeth slightly. Jacqueline laughed and held Daniel close to her while keeping one hand tightly on his shoulder while the other went around his chest, grabbing his shirt while she glanced around at the girls with a coy smile on her face.

“Something wrong, ladies? What’s with those dreadful looks on your faces? Oh, is this making you mad?” she teased before applying pressure to Daniel’s shoulder, causing him to flinch in pain as he tried to grab her other hand and pry it off, not having any luck as her strength was far greater than he anticipated.

“How dare you harm him, you wretched, vile, despicable…” Specca cursed as she trembled with anger.

Alyssa glared at Jacqueline then glanced over to seeing Jovian opening the door to the building she had been thrown into and walking out, the raven haired girl now holding a longsword in one hand as she smiled coldly at the girls.

“Look what I found in there,” she taunted. “Not to mention lots of dead humans. Did you murder innocent people here, women and children even, just for the fun of it?”

Jacqueline laughed then looked around at the girls with smirk on her face.

“Oh, is that true?” she laughed. “Have we been traveling with murderers this whole time?”

“We never killed anyone, they were dead when we got here,” Daniel strained out while behind held by the monster.

“What are they talking about? Who’s dead?” Specca asked carefully.

Triska glanced to her then back at Jacqueline with fury as she kept her blade held at the ready to charge with.