Eva POV:
I shruged to his words without looking at him. My eyes stayed on the part as we continued climbing higher into the mountains.
As a child the only thing I ever wanted was having revenge on the lycans for taking everything away from me. But as time passed, after the years of hunting them down and killing them, I soon came to realize that revenge doesn't fix or take the pain and grief away. The only thing it did was give me a purpose to keep living when life gave me no other reason to."
and that's why I am here, still repeating the same cycle with the person who killed my uncle because he too will add a purpose for me to keep leaving when I start finding a way to kill him.
We walked for a long time without speaking. Along the way I found more trails leading outside the deep mountains. In all my life I had never seen a Lycan leave this many trails behind and what surprise me more - is that what even gave it the motive to keep on traveling this far. It all seemed weird to me, which made me more curious in tracking down this Lycan.
Beside me I could feel Drake's eyes on me and when I finally broke the unspoken silence between us, I asked a questionI I didn't plan for. "What was she like? Lisa… before she died?"
Immediately those words came out of my mouth, I heard his steps slow down behind me, then continue. And when he spoke, his voice was calm.
"She was the nicest person I had ever met," he said softly. "she had this laugh that could light up my world even though when everything seems to be falling apart. She was the only thing that made sense to me.
I turned to look at him. His eyes were far away now, lost in memories.
"How did you meet?" I asked, now curious for more.
A sad smile touched his lips before he replied. "In the woods, he said. i found her in the woods gathering firewood until it became too much for her to carry. I hesitated for a moment before joining in to help her." he looked down, almost smiling for real as if he was relieving the moments in his head. "She made me ginger soup with coconut milk after that. It was the best thing I ever tasted and over time it became my favorite."
He paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. "After that day, I kept on coming back to help gather more fire wood. We talked. We laughed and in the process, started enjoying each other's company. She made my broken world feel… whole." His voice dropped to a whisper. "She made me felt like a person."
"It sounds like she was happy," I said.
"Yes she was," he added.
With that we didn't speak for a while. But the silence between us had changed. It wasn't cold anymore. It felt… sad, but shared.
More hours passed and the sun sank lower, painting the sky orange and purple before the moon light fully took over. I could feel my leg burning from walking so long.
"It's dark, it will be harder to find more trails. We should rest and continue tomorrow," I said, with my eyes searching for a perfect spot to rest.
Drake nodded and he began gathering firewood while I cleared a small space and made a ring of stones. And in no time we manage to start a fire.
I sat close to the flames, feeling my muscles loosen as it warmed me. Drake on the other hand sat across from me, he didn't seem tired or cold which was no surprise to me for someone who had died before.
The firelight flickered across his perfect face with his dark hair falling over his forehead as his eyes reflected the glows of the flame making nasty thoughts come to me. No wonder Lisa must have fallen in love with him, he is not just handsome but he is a beautiful man, his face almost bearing the appearance of a woman. How perfect!.
He looked up suddenly, cashing me staring at him. My heart jumped as I quickly turned away, pretending to look at the sky above us.
"You know....Lisa and I loved doing this almost all the time," he said, breaking the silence first. I took a glance at him and soon found out he was now staring at the night sky as well.
"We'd lie on the grass and just watch the beautiful stars. No talking. Just… being together."
I followed his gaze and stared back at the sky, but this time I finally noticed the stars sparkling above us like silver dust.
"it's… it's beautiful," the words came out loud without me knowing.
"Yes it is," he replied, smiling faintly.
with that we didn't speak again. The fire kept cracking softly and I unknowingly fell asleep sitting up, with my hand resting near my blade as a habit of never being safe.
*****
When I woke up, the morning was pale and cold. Drake looked like he didn't sleep at all, he was standing close to the open trees staring as the morning sun rose.
we didn't waste time. Before leaving I covered the smoke still burning from last night's fire with dirt to quench it completely.
The air grew thicker as we moved down the mountain leading us into a small Forrest. That was when we saw it - a dead body covered with fly's, Half-eaten and torn apart with body parts and blood all over the ground. It smelled terrible meaning it wasn't a fresh kill.
I knelt beside it. The claw marks were clear. Definitely the rogue lycan doings, and with a human corpse lying here in the Forest means there has to be a village nearby.
I stood back up and started moving forward but I soon noticed Drake wasn't following behind me. He stood completely still staring at the corpse on the ground.
"Drake!" I shouted his name.
But when he turned to face me, his eyes was glowing blood red just like the night we met, but this time I could see dark veins spreading from them like cracks in his skin.
He quickly blinked and the red eyes were gone in an instant. But he looked confused for a second.