The Spirit Killer

She could hear voices whispering faintly as she began to come too. Her vision was still shrouded underneath whatever was over her head. 

“I’m not sure that she’s the angel…”

“Trey’s description of her made her seem more...divine…like isn’t she supposed to have wings or something?” 

“Whatever, I guess we’ll see when he gets here. If not we can just kill her.” 

Silvina remained perfectly still as she listened and a little while later, the bag that was over her head was removed. She blinked to focus her eyes as they were nearly blinded by the bright torchlight shining nearby. Once her vision wasn’t quite as blurry, she found herself looking up at a man with strange inky black eyes, purple war paint striping his cheeks all the way down his neck like inky jaws. She was a little taken aback at first, smacking the back of her head against the tree she was leaning up against. 

The man smirked a little. “This is not the true guardian of the forest.” He stood straight and looked around at the few men that were gathered. They all looked like normal men though, no strange war paint and normal gazes. They all seemed like some sort of hunters or trappers with leather armor and various types of gear on them, all different.

One of the men smacked his companions shoulder. “See I told you,” which just made the other guy roll his eyes. 

She started to make the connection after the recent overheard conversation. The man, that clearly stuck out like a sore thumb, was the leader and probably who they had called Trey. 

Trey ran his pale fingers through his hair and took a deep breath. “I don’t have more time to find this bitch. And when I say “I”, that really means all of you!” He snarled at his crew and they all shuddered a little. “Get out there and find her! I want those wings before dawn!” He pulled something out of his pocket and held it in his palm. A black...stone? 

Silvina could hear him whisper something into it, causing a stream of shadows to pour from it onto the ground. 

The liquid shadows started to form themselves into dark wolf-like creatures. Their wispy existence looks at their summoner with glowing purple eyes, the shadowed salivating fangs dripping as if they were melting in anticipation. 

“Find the Guardian and bring her to me with her wings intact.” Trey says and his shadow wolves launched themselves into the darkness of the forest with his men chasing after them. Their snarls and howls could be heard for quite some time but eventually they faded out. 

Trey slipped the black stone into his pocket again before turning back to face Silvina, greasy black hair hanging down in his face. His gaze was so disturbing it was sending shivers down her spine, making her want to crawl into a hole and shrivel out of existence. 

“W-who are you?” She said so boldly that his yellow grin suddenly appeared ear to ear.

“Why, I am Trey.” He bowed ever so gracefully, but lifted his chin to hold her gaze. “Servant of Übel and slayer of spirits. May I ask what is your name?” 

Despite his unsettling appearance and body language, he seemed polite at least for now. 

“I’m...Silvina…” She felt like she couldn’t focus properly just looking into his eyes. But she couldn’t look away either. 

What! No! You should’ve lied to him!

She scolded herself but she realized that she had tried to. Just the words that had come out of her mouth were not the words she had wanted to say. 

“Tell me Silvina, what god do you serve?” He asks her. 

“I serve no god.” 

No! Stop telling him things! What are you doing?

“You see Silvina, that’s really good because Übel is looking for new servants to carry his name across this land.” He slipped a knife from its sheath and ran his fingers along the edge of the blade, hard enough to slice into his fingertips to give it a thin coating of blood. He started to approach her. 

He’s going to kill me! 

Instinctively I wanted to flinch away from him when he got closer but my body just wouldn’t move, even as the tip of the blade was less than an inch away from my right eye. It lingered there for a moment before he reached down and undid my bonds before helping me to my feet gracefully. “See the devotion of Übel. We will reform this land. I only ask that you join us.” He whispered and turned her back towards the tree where she had been sitting. His guidance was the only way that she could move, his bloody fingertips lifting her chin so that her gaze now rested upon the hanging body of a familiar man. 

It was Havell, and he was attached by a rope, his neck bent at an odd angle. He was enveloped in a slithering shadowy form that was almost like a snake and blood seeped down into a puddle on the ground as it was devouring him from the feet up. 

How had I not noticed that before?

Her eyes widened, heart racing and she thought that Trey might be able to hear it pounding in her chest and feel the clamminess of her hands. 

I have to get out of here!

The horrific sight had seemed to break the trance on her, giving her control over her body again. She curled her fingers slightly just to make sure, calming her breathing as best she could before turning on Trey and raking her nails across his face before taking off blindly into the forest. 

Trey snarled, reaching up and wiping the fresh blood oozing from his cheek. He flicked it to the side before snapping his fingers. “Mavie!” 

The shadowy creature that was slowly eating Havell’s body began to retract from him, leaving the half eaten stubs of his legs. Once at Trey’s side he looked down at it. “Kill her.”

The shadow snake, like a bolt of lightning disappeared into the forest after Silvina.