Fractures: Rewritten Chapters

When The Hunter Becomes the Hunted

First published on August 11th, 2021

Point of View: Ciara
Warning: Swearing ahead

I watched the beast escape into the trees. Well that was easy. Didn't have to fight to the death this time. I put away my karambits and dusted my hands. Kane is still glaring at the trees with his cleaver in his hands. He's always so gosh darn cautious. I scoffed in my head.

Hearing a rustle in the woods, I looked away for one second, and disaster struck.

A guy, probably around my age, wearing a blue hoodie, jumped out of nowhere and tackled Kane into the snow. I jumped in surprise. Clearly this was the guy that hellhound attacked, but I wasn't expecting him to return to the scene of the crime. After all, who wouldn't run for their lives after almost dying to a beast? I was at a loss of words.

Completely ignoring me, the guy looked into the woods and shouted, "Run, Stella! Get out of here! Go!" I narrowed my eyes towards where he's looking, and caught a glimpse of the blue eyes of the hellhound. A flurry of rustling and paw steps ensued, telling me that the beast has fled. 

I was almost going to run into the woods after it when I remembered Kane. I glanced at the commotion behind me. Kane is having a surprisingly lot of trouble fighting the little guy. I caught his eyes and jerked my head towards the trees. He nodded before yanking his attacker off his back.

I darted into the trees as a fist fight broke out between the two males. Seeing the broken branches left in the wake of the fleeing beast, I picked up my speed. Stella? That's that thing's name? So it was transformed not too long ago? Also, the hell is that guy's problem? We just saved him from being potentially mauled to death by that thing, and he wants to save it? "How ridiculous." I shook my head as I hurried through the trees.

I know for a fact that I can't possibly catch up to a hellhound running at top speed. But as long as I can find its tracks, I won't lose it.

-A bit later-

I stared at the snow in front of me while twirling one of my karambits in my left hand. The tracks had stopped abruptly. I peered at them. The beast seemed to have backed up and placed its foot in the old tracks to make it seem like it dissipated. I retraced my steps and examined the snow closely. The paw prints branched off beside a tree and headed into a bush, so I followed them.

The tracks led me into a clearing where...it seemed like the beast went crazy and ran in circles of many different sizes. The tracks overlapped and ran through each other, stopping abruptly in places and skidding in others. What's the creepiest is that the beast seemed to have vanished. There is no tracks leading out of the clearing.

I gawked at the mess of paw prints in the clearing. I've seen hares running through their own tracks to confuse their predators, but hellhounds don't, shouldn't, do this. They are war machines hardwired to kill. They don't have the intelligence to do something like this.

I circled around the clearing carefully, trying not to tread on any of the paw prints. What the hell is going on? I squinted at one set paw prints. Looks like it jumped into the bush over here- It didn't occur to me that this was a trap until I saw the blue eyes of the hellhound.

Before I could react, it seized me, shook me around, reared up and tossed me high into the air. I shrieked despite myself as my life flashed in front of my eyes. I've only felt this panicked twice in my life before: once on the blood washed steps of my family's cabin, and another in that blackstone bastion. Nonono I don't want to die-

Sharp green pine needles broke my fall. I opened my eyes and found myself on a branch of a pine tree. Wait, I'm not dead? I glanced around. I'm on one of the higher branches of the tree and the hound is nowhere to be found.

I let out a small sigh of relief before checking for injuries. Nothing other than a few small tears on the front of my sweater. Was the beast deliberately trying not to hurt me? I frowned. Why the hell would it do that? I fell for its trap like an idiot. It should kill me for my foolishness.

I reached for my karambits and found them not on my belt. That's fine. I will just teleport, and if the hound is there, I'll just beat the shit out of it. I have the element of surprise. I reached out my hand, concentrating hard, waiting to feel the familiar pulse that proceeds every teleportation. There was nothing. What? I tried again. Still nothing.

Dread began to seep into my mind as I realized that my karambits have been disabled, somehow. In the few months I've had them, I have found out many different ways to use them, but none of those methods managed to disable them. Somehow, someway, this beast managed to disable them. My stomach twisted nervously as I realized this hellhound is unlike any of the others I've seen.

The underbrush rustled as the beast emerged. Mustering up all of my courage and hatred into my voice, I called to the beast, "What the hell did you do to my karambits?"

The beast held my gaze and did nothing. I couldn't help but notice that it has defined irises, unlike the blazing soulless eyes the others have, and there's a intelligent glint in them and makes it different from the others.

It stared at me for a few more moments before sticking its tongue out at me and trotting away under the branches, leaving me stuck in a tree, unarmed, and extremely offended. I swear I have never felt this mocked by a beast. Okay, this is definitely a different hellhound than the usual. Let's be more careful from now on.

I waited until I could no longer hear its thundering paw steps before slowly making my way down the tree, trying not to get my sweater caught on any branches. Look, I only have this one sweater, let's not give it more loose threads than it already has, okay? Besides, after this encounter, I'm not sure if I want to follow the hound anymore.

The snow cruches under my feet as I landed. Next step, find my karambits. Cautiously, I parted the bushes the beast re-emerged from and stepped through. In front of me sat a ditch filled with snow mixed with clumps of dirt and pine needles. I grimaced before reaching down and digging with my bare hands.

After an eternity of digging I finally unearthed my blue blades. I picked them up. They felt like two sticks of ice and were covered in some clear slimy stuff. Ewwww. Hellhound drool.

"Ciara!" A familiar voice rang through the trees. I looked up to see him hurrying my way with the guy in the blue hoodie. Kane's left cheek is red while the other guy has some bandages on his left bicep. So I guess they sorted out their differences? That was quick.

"What the hell happened here?" Kane asked, his voice betraying his concern.

I sighed before telling him a brief recount of what happened up until this moment. Afterwards, Kane quickly introduced me to the other guy, Rain. I couldn't help but notice that he's carrying one gigantic sword on his back. That sword is probably 5 feet long, and made out of a shiny black material that looks like obsidian. It probably weighs a ton, and he's just walking around like it's nothing! I couldn't help but get impressed.

While Kane went to examine the tracks, I managed to flick most of the saliva off of my blades but some remained stubbornly on my hands. Kane had his back to me, this is a golden opportunity. I stalked up to him, giving him more details about the attack while discreetly wiping my hand on his back. Unfortunately, he noticed.

"Did you just wipe hound boogers on me?! Stop that!" I got a light smack on the head for my shenanigans, as usual. I could practically hear Rain rolling his eyes behind us at our silliness.

"She headed that way." he pointed under the trees in a southwest direction.

"And then that's where we're headed." Kane replied, yanking me along him behind Rain. I was extremely confused. Wait, what is happening? Did they make deal without telling me?

I lowered my voice, "Since when are we going with him?"

"I'll tell you in a bit." Kane hissed back.

"Okay then." I shrugged before following behind him into the woods.

Author's notes:
Sorry, this was slightly rushed. Apologies for some choppy transitions. Next chapter will be back to Stella and covers the end of Falling, which means normal Stella! Woohoo! Well...kinda, you'll see.