BLOOD LEGACIES
Chapter 471: Cabin In The Woods {2}

Chapter 471: Cabin In The Woods {2}

Was I dreaming? Did Dace really not come here last night? I woke up on the bed alone, and any trace of him being here was all gone. The level of disappointment that flooded through me made me solemn. He never came, did he? When we embraced last night I thought it was real, but I guess my mind was only playing tricks on me.

But when I got to the living room I reevaluated everything, there was chopped wood next to the fire and I knew I did not chop any wood or even lift an ax at all. And on the table was breakfast waiting for me to devour.

I sighed as a smile found my lips, I looked around hoping I would see him but I turned up with nothing. At least I knew he came here, at least I knew that night wasn’t a dream. But why did he leave? Why didn’t he stay?

I hope this doesn’t become something recurring because now it seemed like he was trying to avoid me. So I waited but I only got antsy. I decided to go for a hike.

I fixed the tie on my boots, grabbed a few things in my bag, and stepped out into the woods. I won’t wander too far, I just need some air, or else I will lose my mind if I spend another day alone in that house.

The woods aren’t as scary as I thought they would be, the highlights, the tall trees, and the various sounds of wings flapping were palliative. I wasn’t scared because I knew Dace was somewhere around here. I don’t know how far long but something about him most likely being nearby in his lion form gave me comfort I never knew I had.

I wandered far and maybe at this point I knew where I was going, the paths looked familiar and the closer I got the darker it got and it was already close to sunset when I got to the abandoned house.

I gulped when I came to a stop and my eyes scanned the place. I don’t think anyone came back here, the grass had grown around the place and it wasn’t cared for anymore, it looked like the very description of a haunted house. And this one was my worst nightmare.

I took a deep breath and walked into the entrance, the door broke off the hinges, I couldn’t get further in because there was a block from one of the growing trees sprouting inside. I just stood at the entrance looking back at a memory I always wished to forget but right now I embraced it.

There is no need to run away from the truth anymore, for the past five years I thought running away from the truth was the solution to my trauma. And now with the way everything has led to me I wish I embraced it sooner. I wish I was the one who got to tell Dace the truth. I wish he didn’t find out from Hayden like that.

I moved further in, squeezing myself through until I was at what was once the kitchen, where everything went down, there was a black marking on the floor and I knew what that was, even though completely faded I could still see Dace’s blood. I sighed, closing my eyes as everything played through in my head. But this time I am not shaken or afraid about it. I embrace every beat of the chaos and allow it to free me. Free me from my fears, my shackles and then I opened my eyes, my magic blossoming as everything levitated from the ground. Floating around with a foggy glimpse of green or maybe it was just the hue of my eyes as it glowed. I stepped to the middle as I watched everything suspended in the air. I turned around and they followed me too.

It was phenomenal and it gave me some control.

"You’re remarkable as always"

I gasped, startled and everything floating dropped to the ground in a loud crash and I spun to the intruder.

A weak smile found his lips. "I thought I might find you here"

"What are you doing here?!" I demand with venom laced in my tone.

"I-"

I didn’t let him speak as I stretched my hand forward and the invisible force pushed him out of the house. I inhaled sharply as I stepped out with my boots making loud noises.

"You have some nerves, Owen Sherman!" I shouted. Watching as he struggled to get up but I didn’t let him. I conjured a spell in my head and bent the air wrapping around him, and the force threw him across the place. I did it again until I suspended him in the air with him struggling to breathe.

"E-Emma... please listen to me" he begs.

I huffed. "So now you remember me, it seems like the blessing is officially broken. So you remember me, Sherman?"

He still struggles but speaks. "Of course I do," He gritted.

"Then what are your famous words?!" I moved him until he was pinned to the tree, tightly.

"Emma please!"

"You don’t fucking get to say those words to me!" I roared. "I trusted you, Owen, you were my friend and at my darkest moment I came to you and you lied to my face and sent me to my death!"

He’s choking now, unable to breathe his face turning purple. And then it dawns on me, I am triggering Dace’s bloodlust again, if I don’t stop then he will... I gasped as I released the spell and he dropped to the ground, coughing, and wheezing as he held his throat.

My body shook as I took a step back and then I turned to leave.

"Emma"

I came to a halt but I didn’t turn. The thunderstruck in the clouds.

"I know nothing I say will ever change what I did" he began in a faint voice, his voice sounding scratchy. "I just want you to know something"

I slowly turned to face him, he was leaning against the tree, rasping for breath, his sad maroon eyes pinning me down, and I saw the emotions swirling in them.

But they mean nothing to me. They don’t affect me as much as the hate I have for him right now. It boils through me and weakens me too because I knew in my heart that death was too good for him. He spent five years not remembering the horror he conjured in my life and now he lives to know every piece of it.

"I never meant to hurt you, Emma" he began as tears streamed down his cheeks and the rain dropped, from droplets it poured heavily and then we were soaked in less than a minute.

"I let my decision get the better of me, I took it too far and I know and you suffered because of it, all these years all alone. I am sorry"

"Sorry?" I walked to him slowly. "Sorry won’t change the fact that you destroyed the only happiness I had. Sorry will change the fact you made me destroy something pure and powerful with Dace. You ruined everything without lifting a finger, you used me because of your silly notion!"

He rises abruptly. "I know Emma, I know, and trust me when I say I didn’t know it would be like this"

"What were you expecting, Owen? That there was no consequence to your actions? That after making me break our bond I would be on my merry way?!"

"Em-"

"I should kill you for what you did!" I roared and he went stiff. "And I will the next time you cross my path again," I said as I turned on my heels and left.

~

The rain got heavier as I walked back to the cabin. I was shivering by the time I got there and flashes of the cold dark water ran through my head. In urgency I stripped from my wet clothes, eager to get to something warm before I lost my mind. I shivered uncontrollably, my teeth chattering as I walked into the bathroom.

But my legs felt like ice, and I held onto the wall to support my movement, and down the shower seemed too far away. I broke in tears and I mentally told myself to move, and not give up.

"Don’t fear it Emma, don’t let it control you" I said breathing uncontrollably, but no matter what I did it kept flashing in my head. The scene, as I fall over the cliff and then into the water, sinking as my blood clouds around me. How cold I was and alone, it was suffocating and I couldn’t breathe.

I don’t want to go back there again, but right now I am there, I’m drowning.

"Go away, please go away" I sobbed but it was too late, I was drowning and my life would be taken, I would be alone again. Cold, lifeless as I drive deep into the unknown to a point of no return.