The horse coming out of the waves let out a soft neigh. Nikola was not fooled. He knew that there were ghosts in the woods. He stood up, taking a branch with him.
"Dimitri!" He yelled as he waved the branch. "Dimitri! There is a Selkie in here!"
The vampire didn't resurface. The horse dropped its pretense. Nikola saw it for the first time. The creature had scales on its pelt. So, as if it were a fish.
The horse charged. Nikola took off running towards the cabin.
But no matter how fast a person could be, they could never outrun a horse, much less a Selkie.
As the horse finally reached him, it tried to bite him on the neck. Nikola was fast enough to place the branch in the Selkie's mouth. To try to keep it from biting him.
Only for the creature to rear on its back legs and to kick.
A yell followed the sickening crutch.
Nikola laid there, on the ground, and looked into the creature's dark eyes.
Dark like death itself.
He attempted to crawl away, only to be kicked once more. This time on the other leg.
He whimpered, as the Selkie took hold of his sleeve with its teeth and began to drag him to the water.
Where was Dimitri? Why wasn't he responding to the commotion?
Nikola took hold of a root and tried his best not to let himself be dragged away.
Only for the Selkie to dig its teeth in flesh, instead of fabric.
Nikola let out a high-pitched wail. A scream which could have curdled the heart of a criminal if they heard it.
But this dead creature, which was taking him to god knew where, somewhere under the dark water, did not have a gentle heart.
Nikola didn't let go of the root. He began to kick, to scream. Even as the Selkie dug its teeth deeper and deeper into his arm.
He felt something bubbling inside of him. The moon was shining over his head.
The root jerked. Nikola felt rage.
When he was bathed in blood, he blinked.
The Selkie had roots coming out of its flesh. It was its turn to scream in pain and horror.
Nikola channeled the same feeling again. Tried to make the roots finish the job. Tried to think about how he could channel his pain into this creature.
He saw as the dark orbs bore into his green eyes. Saw as the creature decided to take him with it, no matter what.
Nikola roared. His fear blinded him.
As he fell down on the ground, his energy spent, he saw two branches of the tree which roots had weakened the Selkie bore into its eyes.
The magical creature's soul left for the waters. Its vessel being destroyed.
Nikola breathed heavily, as he heard running footsteps. Dimitri was there, over him, looking between his soulmate and the dead horse.
"What?" The vampire asked, as he began to force the horse to the side, so he could get to Nikola.
The man was a mess. Even Dimitri could see that.
And yet, something told him that if he tried to turn his soulmate into a vampire, the way he was now, he was going to kill him.
"Niki. Oh, Niki," Dimitri whispered, as he took hold of the man's head and placed it on his lap. "What? How did that thing even sense you?"
Nikola breathed out something even he could not understand. His mind was foggy, his body hurt.
The tree behind him began to whiter. The water was being drained from its roots, from its leaves.
It was at that moment, as Nikola saw as the tree's sap began to mend his flesh, that he realized that he was a Druid. A cursed creature, no different from the Selkie.
A creature who ate souls.
The man fell unconscious. Refusing to take hold of Dimitri's soul and tug.
****
When Nikola woke up, the landscape before the cabin was different. There wasn't even a single tree to be found. The grass was yellow. So, as if the summer heat had drained it of all life.
He moaned as he felt the blood on his tongue.
It was the tastiest thing he had ever tasted. He tried to focus on what was before him.
It was flesh with scales in it. Someone had cut it up from the Selkie and was feeding him it.
Raw.
Nikola didn't even know if he could even eat cooked food anymore.
"Everything will be fine," Dimitri told him, as he cut off another piece of the horse.
There was a rune on top of it. A rune meant to keep the soul inside. To cut it up together with the flesh.
"I am here," it was daytime. Dimitri looked paler than usual under the sun's rays.
Nikola gulped down the flesh and then, without thinking much about it, took the knife Dimitri was using to cut it up. He began to cut off the chunks himself. When the knife finally hit a bone, he tore it off the carcass and broke it in half.
The bone marrow tasted like nothing else he had ever eaten before. Not even Dimitri's hot chocolate could compare.
He smiled. He could get used to that.
"We can't go back to the humans," Dimitri told him, as Nikola sucked out the bone marrow and the soul who had been foolish enough to think he would not sense where it was hiding. "Not until you get better."
Nikola looked at Dimitri. Noted his scent.
This was his mate, a primal part of his brain told him. Not food. He went back to eating the bone. His now sharp teeth making short work of it.
So, as if it were a baked chicken bone.
"But one day, we will go back," Dimitri told him, as he petted Nikola.
It was a test. A test to see if Nikola really was too far gone.
If they could ever go back to the sleepy town the man had called home.
Nikola leaned into his hand, letting out a small chirping sound in content.
Dimitri smiled.
At least now, he would not need to worry about Nikola dying on him. For to kill a druid was about as hard to kill as a vampire.
Only fire could end them.
But for now, Dimitri didn't want to share that with Nikola.
He was still more animal than human at this point. No, after his first meal they could speak about it all.
But for now, they were simply two monsters who were feasting on a third. Dimitri continued to sip on the Selkie's blood.
Even as Nikola found every single slimmer of its soul and devoured it.