Bloodlust

Prologue
I clung to the tree as if clinging for my life. I was, in a sense.

My fingernails dug into the rough bark, hard enough for one to break. Hissing quietly, I wiped the thin trickle of blood from my finger onto my jacket, smearing the gray fabric with crimson. I peered down through the feeble wooden limbs to observe the battleground. I couldn’t see much other than a few bloodstains on the snow-covered ground and one or two dead bodies near the tree I was hiding in.

A tall girl with a quiver of arrows dangling from her back and clenching a bow in her hand crouched over one of the corpses, struggling to lift it up. Another stood behind her, shivering irrepressibly from the biting cold, and I presumed that she was going to help her teammate out in carrying the body; however, the girl with the bow and arrows whispered something to the other and the latter nodded and dashed away with a slight limp, an expression of horror printed on her face.

I climbed up farther away from the trunk of the tree I was sitting in, the limb flexing ominously. Twisting my head around and causing blood to ooze from a wound on the back of my neck, I suspended myself between two branches, letting myself hang there as I looked around for any other remaining Dawndwellers. I hoped desperately that nobody would see me sprawled in the bare, leafless tree.

A shudder racked my body as I caught sight of another carcass in my peripheral vision. There was a deep stab wound in the victim’s side, along with several other injuries that could have caused her death, and nobody appeared to claim it. My breathing stilled sharply as I examined her face, partially expecting to recognize the girl.

I let out the shaky breath I had been holding and shifted around in my position in the tree. She was nobody I knew from my side. Watching her for a moment longer to see if anyone was coming to collect her body, I balanced on the limbs without using my left arm and held it against a rip in the flesh of my other arm, stanching the blood as best I could. After a few seconds and I still didn’t see anyone, I turned so I could see where the other two Dawndwellers I had seen currently were.

The one with the bow and arrow was now slowly heading into the forest, making an effort to keep hold of her lifeless teammate. A third, whom I hadn’t noticed before, followed her silently, glancing all around them to make sure none of my side were still lurking around, waiting for the right time to pounce.

That was basically what I was doing: trying not to get killed by any Dawndwellers still lying in wait. I untangled myself from the branches and crawled backward on the thicker one, squashing myself against the trunk, several of the wounds on my limbs reopening from the movement and commencing to bleed.

A frigid wind blew past, sending another tremor down my spine and inducing the tree to shiver as if it were chilly as well. It howled in my ear, as loud as the shrieks of pain or terror ringing out in the air during the gruesome battle that had ended only minutes ago. Snow began to fall again, turning the world white, covering up the blood splashed on the ground like it didn’t want it to be seen. I squinted my eyes against the stinging snowflakes and, as the snow continued to obscure my vision, I unzipped my jacket halfway and ducked my head into it.

Several minutes had gone by before the wind died down, and, as I drew my head out of my jacket, I decided that I should be able to get out of the tree and back to the Dark side’s base without getting injured or killed on the way, so I zipped my jacket back up and gingerly slid down the trunk. I landed on my feet, though stumbling a bit, and immediately jerked my head up to survey the forest around me for any sign of the Dawndwellers. Negative.

I slipped my sword out of its sheath, just in case one of them appeared nearby, poised and ready to kill me. As I ran soundlessly into the Darkhunter territory, I felt an icy breeze blow past, sending another chill through me, and I began to shiver nonstop. Clenching my teeth so they wouldn’t chatter, I slowed down to a fast walk and slunk as quickly and quietly as I possibly could through the forest. Once I figured I was close enough to the base, I stopped and backed up against a different tree, trembling from the cold, my sword pointed at the ground.

I jumped as I heard a crack close by, the distinct sound of a twig being stepped on and snapped. I whirled around, my heart thumping hard. My hand flipped my sword upward and I clenched it with the other as well, ignoring the pain that ignited in my injuries as I moved.

A Dawndweller, wearing all black and holding a sword not unlike my own, was standing only a few feet from me. I recognized her as one of the double agents that I wished would stop pretending to be on both sides; standing taller than I already was, I grimaced in what I hoped looked like rage, bracing myself for a kill.

Foreboding and dread shadowed the girl’s green gaze as she tilted her head up to look at me, blood staining my sword and numerous wounds. “I’mーI’m on your sideーI’m just heading over to the base,” the girl stammered, her eyebrows twitching as if she were confused at why I was acting hostile towards her, backing away from me as I paced closer, her leg appearing to bleed more than her other injuries and staining the snow blood-red. I raised my sword, completely prepared to ignore her and impale her through the heart.

She stumbled backward and lost her footing, her back thumping into a tree. The girl cringed and held up her hands to shield her face as I pointed my sword at her. After a few satisfying moments of watching her brace herself for a blow, I gripped her shoulder in my hand and threw her to the ground. “Leave now,” I snarled, towering over her, “or I will kill you.”

The girl lay there half a second longer, then scrambled to her feet, whispering what sounded like “I’m on your side” again, and turned and sprinted away, leaving a trail of blood in her wake. I glared after her, partly wishing I had just killed her.

“You! Get over here!” growled someone from behind me. I gave a start and jerked around, lifting my sword. With a surge of anger, I identified the leader of the Dark side: Blue.

“What do you want?” I shot at her, storming past her. Blue caught up with me, only to stop me in my tracks. Glowering at me furiously, she snapped, “Get back to the camp! We’re getting ready for the next battle.” She let out a huff of irritation, blood dripping down her face from a thin cut. “And don’t murder Darkie, she’s on our side. Unless she betrays us to the Dawndwellers, killing her would not be ideal. So don’t.”

I said nothing in reply; I enjoyed coming up with battle plans. That is, unless Blueーor someone elseーhad to criticize me about everything I suggested. My fists clenched at the thought of the double agents again; their loyalties were completely uncertain and I knew for a fact they couldn’t be fully trusted. Rage curdled in my gut.

Instead of following her, I veered to the left and stalked away, heading for the edge of the Darkness territory. As much as I wanted to help make the battle plans, I wanted nothing to do with Blue or the two double agents back at the base.

Looking around at the wintery forest, I walked slowly toward my destination. I felt another cold wind blow past, seeming as if it were reminding me to be cold. I refused to acknowledge it, forcing myself to keep still and stop shivering.

I glanced up as I caught the sound of footsteps on the snow. My eyes widened and my heartbeat increased rapidly when I realized I had no idea where the person could be, but I made sure my expression didn’t show any fear. I tilted my head back, looking in the trees, but snapped it back down and blushed slightly when I remembered that someone wouldn’t be walking around on the treetops like they would on the ground. As I stared in every direction and at every hiding place I would think possible, I began to think that I had just imagined it and was being overly cautious.

Shaking my head and muttering to myself, I began to turn away, but froze when an obvious crunching sound of shoes on snow sounded about twice and a figure appeared from behind a tree. I let out a snarl and raced toward her, brandishing my sword. The other girlーthat third Dawndweller who had followed the one holding her teammate’s carcassーslid an arrow against her bowstring.

I had originally planned on ripping her open with my sword before she could release the arrow but quickly came to realize that I was too late as she pulled the string back, the arrow set in place. I tried to get myself to run as I heard the faint twang of a bowstring being plucked, followed by the sound of the arrow flying through the air, but I was frozen in place and my legs refused to move.

I wasn’t fast enough to recover.

I shrieked as the sharp tip drove deep into my stomach, blood spurting out and splashing to the ground. My legs threatened to buckle beneath me but I kept standing, enduring the agony that shot through me from my gut. I knew I was going to die; it wasn’t very hard to figure it out with an arrow embedded deep in my stomach, blood relentlessly pouring out, but like I always did when I got badly injured in battle, I felt the need to get her back.

Letting out a weak groan, I ripped the arrow out of my body and let myself slump to the ground, hoping through the thick haze of pain that the girl would come closer to finish me off. Faint relief flashed inside me when she indeed took a few more steps toward me and nocked another arrow to shoot at me. With more effort than I thought it would take, I pushed myself back onto my feet, staggering again and nearly collapsing back to the ground.

I swung my sword at her, but didn’t hit my target. She jumped back and fumbled with the arrow before slinging it at me and landing it only an inch or two away from the other wound she had caused. Howling in pain, my grip on the sword slackened as I tore the other arrow out of my gut, but I somehow managed to continue holding onto it.

I whipped the weapon back at her with more force than I probably needed; the blade sliced off a bit of skin from her thumb and forefinger, smearing the shiny metal with blood. Twisting my wrist around, the sword severed the bowstring cleanly in half and cut deep into the wood, only just missing her other hand. The girl hissed from the pain, then noticed what I had done to her bow and flinched, keeping as far a distance from me as she could.

Weakly, I let my sword drop to the ground and crumpled down next to it, blood gushing from my fatal wounds onto the metal. The pain came in intense waves, and I wished that I didn’t have to die so slowly as all the blood inside me drained out, drop by drop. Through clouded, blurry eyes, I stared quietly at the surrounding trees. Each breath sounded shuddery and raspy and my chest heaved as I fought to get air into my lungs. I tasted blood in my mouth and let it open slightly, the metallic liquid dripping from my lip and melting into the snow.

Quick, hurried footsteps in the snow. “What the─what are you─” growled a familiar voice from nearby.

Blue.

I wasn’t even sure if I had heard her right, as my hearing was going in and out as well as my vision. The Dark side leader watched me coldly with her blue-gray eyes, watching me bleed out onto the snow, gasping for air.

“Leave me alone,” I muttered as Blue clenched her jaw.

And then she left.

Just like that.