LUCIEN'S POV.
I had not imagined it would bother me as much as that to be worried sick about Adria. She was but a human and I had heard so many cases of humans who died from ailments.
I gave another long sigh as I poured water from a jug into my glass. Adria was sick, so her friends told me. That was the reason she had been absent from school, and also the reason I had not seen her for days. I really hoped she would be fine. All of me really wanted to pay a visit but it wasn't professional of a professor to visit a sick student. It was something that would arouse suspicions.
Another sigh escaped my lips and I drank the water in the glass in one go, then dropped it a little too hard, making a crack appear in the cup. Then I left the kitchen and went to my living room. I lay down on the couch and closed my eyes. Just a few days and I already missed her as bad as that.
And there had still been the unsolved issue of her fear—she was still scared I was going to do something to her, which I wasn't going to do. Just then, a call intruded on my thoughts, and I reached out my hand to the table on where it had lain all day long, and took it.
It was my Beta. I picked the call, and held it to my ear, closing my eyes once more.
"Yeah, what's it?" I asked him tiredly.
"Are you busy right now? At school?" He asked, and I raised my hand to my forehead, rubbing it.
"No. I'm at home, and yeah I'm busy."
"Busy? There's something really urgent happening."
"Yeah, I was busy trying to sleep, just tell me what the urgent stuff is about." I said, sitting up, and I heard him give a light chuckle.
"The Royal Soothsayer says she needs to see you urgently." He informed me and I closed my eyes.
"Are you sure it's really urgent?" I asked, because if the Soothsayer said I had to see her, then it meant I had to leave for the Kingdom as fast as I could and I wasn't sure I would make it back in time for my next class.
"She was restless when she asked me. She said she had to see you urgently. I didn't even need her words to know if it was really urgent or not. I could tell she was troubled about it." He explained and I got off my sofa.
"I'll be there soon." I told him, and ended the call. I climbed up the stairs to my room, and put on my coat.
I drove towards the forest as fast as I could, not wanting to waste any time I had. The Soothsayer wanting to see me urgently made me feel a little anxious because if she wanted to see me, then it meant she had seen something and I was sure it was not going to be something happy.
When I got to the edge of the forest, I parked my car there, and walked into the forest, walking as fast as I could. The smell of wet leaves filled my nostrils as I walked past, crunching twigs under my foot and hearing the sound of them snapping, mix with the sounds of the animals and insects calling to each other in the forest.
Then as I walked further into the dark cluster of thick trees and old, bent branches, I noticed something. I felt a presence, but I didn't stop. I didn't want whatever or whoever it was to notice that I had noticed it.
I kept on walking and keeping the same pace as well as I could, moving deeper and deeper into the forest with every step. The oddest thing about it was that I couldn't sense what it was. I couldn't tell if it was vampire or wolf and heck, I knew it wasn't human. If it was vampires using the Purus flower then it wasn't supposed to have a scent, but this one did—dark, dirty and disgusting.
It began to follow me deep into the forest and when I was sure there was no way it could escape, nor would any human suddenly wander of discover it, I stopped, and the creature, whatever it was, stopped.
I turned around slowly, and looked around, but saw nothing.
"Come out." I said, like I was a little bored.
It was quite odd because all the years in which I had walked through the forest, I had never seen any harmful creature. It was always peaceful. I never had to fight, nor did I ever to have blood staining my clothes, but it seemed like I would have to do both that day.
"I said come out. I am quite busy." I snapped, looking all around. Silence greeted me in reply, but I could still feel its heavy presence around me, and its scent was also present in the air and lingering on my nose.
Where had the creature suddenly sprouted from? Why was it there?
Seeing that it gave no reply, I began to walk away, trying to deceive it that I was leaving.
"I don't deal with cowards." I said to myself loudly as I trudged on the dry leaves, and then I felt it rushing and coming to me with full intensity.
I turned, and only managed to dodge in time. The creature was very fast. So fast that it was a blur when it went past, crashing into a tree. But even the three did nothing to weaken it, it turned around immediately and came back for me.
I ducked low, springing myself to my feet in a forward roll and brought out my claws snarling. The creature didn't stop moving. It kept on going around very fast and trying to hit me with speed on its side.
Then it managed a blow to my face, and I was forced a few feet into the ground, landing hard and coughing as my back hit a tree.
My coughs contained for what seemed like ages and with the sting of the blow on my face, I looked up at the creature which had its back turned to me. It turned the side of its face to me and it looked grey and scabby. It looked like it was rotting. Something about the wary way the creature used its peripheral view to watch me told me it was self-conscious when it came to its face and after what seemed like it trying to muster enough courage, it turned slowly.
And my eyes fell on its face.
Gosh.