A jet black Zeharu flew slow and lazily through the sky, it was early in the morning, the sun had just barely risen. He parted his maw in an enormous yawn, then shook his head, //Another day, another day, and she still lives...// He could already smell the blood in the air as he drew closer.

An island came into view, shrouded in dark mist that wove its way around the trees on the island. Blood seeped off the floating island, into the waters below, hissing as it touched the barrier keeping it contained. At the back of the island, was a large cave entrance, filled with jagged, earthy, spikes. It looked like the maw to some ancient dead creature and inside it, was pitch blackness.

Narrowing his red eyes, the male studied the island and noticed nothing out of the ordinary, for the moment. He flew low, inspecting the rocks that held the barrier, the blue symbols on each one glowed bright and strong. He tapped the barrier with his long claws, it was strong and sparked against him, he shook out his paw. Feeling a tingling sensation run up his arm.

After a good hour, he flew up to his usual spot, on a tiny island nearby. He was just curling up to get ready for another long and boring day, carefully moving his streamers around. So he wasn't laying on any of the hard beads attached to it. When he finally noticed something walking around /on/ the island.

He quickly got up and in his haste, stepped on one of his streamers, pulling it hard as he unwound himself. Spitting a curse, he flew up and over to the island, to see who was on it.

//A child!?// His red eyes widened in horror, //How did a child get on the island!? The barrier should be too strong for children to enter it!// he blinked a few times, to make sure he wasn't seeing anything. //Nope, he's still there// He shakes his head, one more test he decided.

Letting out a deep, rumbling, growl. He watched as the little boy reacted to his sound, looking up at him with a darker red gaze. //He is real!// The soul-thief new that if it was one of her illusions, it wouldn't have reacted to him. He shook his head a few times and did the equivalent of pacing, in the air. Going back and forth in circles as he thought.

It didn't take him long to decide, he grit his teeth and pushed forward. Putting his head to the barrier, it started to spark and tried to force him out as he pushed against it. But it was always easier to get into the barrier, than to get out. His heart sunk with dread as he slipped in, the barrier tightening up behind him.

The smell was a hundred times worse inside, the air reeked of blood and just pure death. Like the scent of thousands of rotting corpses. He barely bit back a gag, flaring his nostrils did no good, the scent only flew back in.

The large Zeharu flew down now, to the island and the boy. It felt to him, like his scales were being coated in blood as he descended. Like it clung to his mane and the roof of his mouth. He shifted once he got close enough, to his human form, since the boy was in his human form.

His boots sunk into the blood, sinking half way up towards his knees, before his feet touched the solid ground beneath the sea of red that coated the entire island. Brushing his hand through his black hair, the tall man eyed the boy, "What are you doing here? How did you get in here? Do you have any idea how dangerous this island is?" he was keeping his voice stern, but quiet.

"I can smell your fear" The boy answers, an eerie grin spreading across his face.

The man hesitated and then scowled as he realized, //Go figure a Nightmare variant's child would wander here// he groaned. But the boy wasn't lying, he was terrified to his core, he knew she'd come soon...

He crouched beside the boy, his coat and pants soaking in the blood, "Yes, I am scared, but so should you be" he points to the cave, the boy's gaze followed where the man pointed. "In there, a demon sleeps, she will wake soon. You're lucky I came"

"Now she'll eat both of us?" The boy asks calmly.

"Probably" The man sighs, "What is your name boy? Surely Nightmares name their offspring?"

The boy looked to him, humming as he thought, "I guess I can tell you, if we're gonna be dead meat anyways" he shrugs, "They called me Mika, what do they call you?"

The man gave a humorous smile, "Normally I'd say, nice to meet you Mika, but this is not the best meeting place" he stood up now, "They call me Soul" he moves out his streamers, the red beads glowing brightly.

"She's coming" Soul whispers darkly, just moments before a monstrous scream split the air, it sounded like thousands of tortured souls screaming out in agony all at once. Fear coursed through Soul's very core, like cold ice under his skin, he felt the boy cling to him. Mika's eyes were white-rimmed with terror.

Soul stood rigid with fear, listening as what sounded like hundreds of creatures were racing their way towards the cave entrance, where he and Mika stood. But he knew it was only one.

She burst from the entrance, a horrifying creature to behold as she twisted through the air above them. Her skin was a fleshy pinkish-red, large veins pulsing blood through her body, were visible on her scaleless hide. She had dozens of arms going down her body, all moving, clawing at the air and ground to haul her along quickly.

She arched herself, turning her head in the direction of who she could smell, who she could sense. She had no eyes, just empty, dark sockets. Flesh ribboned itself around her horns and hung loosely on some parts of her body, dangling like a fleshy web. Her maw parted in a toothy, twisted, grin. Her mouth lined with three rows of teeth. "Soul" She hisses, her grin becoming even wider, more of her jagged and rotting teeth showing.

Soul didn't respond, cupping a hand over Mika's mouth and gesturing for silence with his other. He slowly stretched out his streamers more, glowing brightly, the orbs released some of the trapped spirits from them, the spirits moved around the island. Unable to escape the barrier. But that was the point, it was to try and distract her.

She could sense the movement from the spirits and hissed, "This game again" she finally pulls the last of herself out of the cave. "I won't fall for the same trick twice, boy, you'll have to move eventually" she draws her tongue over her lips, "And when you do, you're mine! You and the little brat you're with!"

Mika tilted his head up, slowly, he gazed up at Soul. The fear etched into his face was mirrored on Soul's. He glanced down at the boy and gestured to wait and stay quiet. Soul never fully took his eyes off her. And she didn't move anymore, hovering there and seeming to be frozen in air. Her head was pointed directly at the two males, her maw still twisted in a grin, her empty gaze seemed to pierce them to their cores. Soul knew if he tried to run now, they'd be dead before they reached the cave. He had to wait. He just hoped Mika could play along and wait too...

[The end for now...

This was part 1 of 2]

*TENSELY WAITS FOR ALL COMMENTS TO BE POSTED*

*runs and randomly looks through alka's riptide tag for a bit lol*

this was fun to read, now i want moreeeee!

the island of blood seems more and more horrible the more we get to see & hear of it XD god, how bad that stench must be...

This was so good Blood! I'm with Katty I want more! XD you left us on a cliffhanger!

Ooooohhh, I agree with Katty and Shadow, this was really good!! I wanna see part 2 when you get it done, and you've got me all the more curious about the scary lady XD