He looked so small and out of place. The confident and care-free air was gone, replaced by someone who was young, helpless. He looked like a frightened child. Evelyn wanted to run to him, to hold him and protect him from these crazed barbarians. But her attention was drawn away from him as the dancers shouted in unison, before abruptly halting their movements. It was unnerving how impeccable their timing was. Each and every one of them stopped at the exact same millisecond. The drumming stopped. All was quiet and still, every shard of attention focused on the two figures in the middle of the clearing.
Blake began to chant. His deep voice wound its way through the humidity, growing in volume. The words sounded harsh and almost crude. It wasn’t a language that Evelyn recognized. The chanting rose in volume as more voices joined Blake‘s. The air seemed to thrum with the sound. Every hair on Evelyn’s skin stood on end and her body shook with tremors of fear. But she didn’t move. The chanting grew in intensity until the air felt like it was charged with electricity. She caught sight of movement from Adrian. He was slowly raising his arm towards Blake.
As the chanting reached the crescendo Blake raised his knife and brought it slashing down. Evelyn’s shocked cry was drowned out by the chanters as they all shouted out once again. A long gash marred the skin of Adrian’s arm. Blood welled up in the cut and slowly dripped to the earth below. The others fell silent as they watched him.
Evelyn’s eyes were torn away from the oozing gash on her sweetheart’s arm as the blood on the ground did something unordinary. It began to bubble and froth like it was boiling hot. The frothing grew more violent as more blood dripped to the soil. And as she watched she thought she saw something rise from the blood. A faint shadow. At first she thought that it was her eyes playing tricks, but it seemed to grow more defined the longer she watched until she could see the vague outline of a smoky figure hovering above the frothing pool of blood.
The quiet was interrupted by a cry from Adrian. Evelyn’s eyes snapped back to his face. It was contorted with pain. His eyes had rolled into the back of his head and his mouth was open in a silent scream. Suddenly he fell to the ground, his body writhing in spasms. The ghostly figure reached what looked like a smoky arm towards him. And everyone just looked on…
‘NO! ADRIAN!’ Evelyn screamed without thinking as she jumped from her hiding place. The shadowy figure disappeared instantly. Adrian’s violent writhing ceased and he lay still on the ground, his chest heaving in pants. Slowly, every face in the clearing turned towards her. She saw the same look in every pair of eyes; insanity. Her instincts finally broke through her panic to shriek at her. RUN!!! This time, Evelyn obeyed.
She whipped around and flew back the way she had come, paying the snagging undergrowth no heed. All she knew was that she was in danger, and she had to get out. Every second she expected to hear the pounding of feet behind her, or the grasping of hands closing over her limbs to pull her back, but they didn’t come. She broke through the trees, threw herself into her Gemini and stepped hard on the gas. She didn’t breath again before she had left Adrian’s house far behind her.
As the sounds of Evelyn’s frenzied flight receded, Blake stretched out a hand to help Adrian from the ground. He could clearly read the pleading in the other boy’s face as he climbed to his feet. Blake sighed.
‘You know what must happen now.’
Adrian shook his head desperately, his eyebrows drawn together, his eyes wide and fearful.
‘There is no question about it. You know the rules. And you must be the one to enforce this rule, seeing as it is your fault that she was here. You should have ended it long ago, but you clung on when I told you to do so. It is your selfishness that brought this about,’ Blake declared. Adrian winced.
‘N… no, I wont do it. I can’t,’ he said. Blake glared at him.
‘You would endanger your brothers?’ he asked, his knifeless hand gesturing to the men surrounding them. Adrian shook his head in disbelief.
‘Not her. Please, not her,’ he begged. He was unaware that the shadow he had raised form the ground had materialised behind him. It was now drifting towards him, arms spread wide, as though to embrace him. Blake watched it grimly.
‘If you wont, then they will,’ he said and Adrian turned just as the arms closed around him and the smoky figure seeped into his flesh. He fell to the ground once again, his body wreaked with spasms. His blood-curdling screams echoed through the motionless trees as they stood on in silence.
