Chapter Text
His laughter rings in her ears, her heart pounding in her chest as he circles and stops to her right. It’s a feeling she could never get used to: this creature that haunted this place… that haunted her.
He had been there first, this was his forest and his home. She was the stupid one who went chasing after the laughter, her feet leading her deeper and deeper into the forest.
She had been working on the grounds for two months now, mostly handling the upkeep of the signs and park around the buildings before you went into the forest and on the paths. And then of course, trail walks. Just normal little strolls to check up on the park—she hadn’t been put on search and rescue, much to her growing pleasure. There was always something about the woods that just creeped her the fuck out—but the beauty of it was always just so breathtaking. She had lived in this town all her life; went to school here, walked these forests, went splashing in the river just a mile away from base.
Blake knew the stories; there were the stairs, of course, the tales of dark shapes that stood like men, the human-like shapes that would climb up impossibly steep cliff sides with no gear, and the fact that in some places you shouldn’t leave the fucking trail. They were mostly things Blake picked up while on the job—the stairs, the weird tales of people—but then of course there were the things that would come from growing up in these woods.
There were mountain lions, bears, coyotes—all sorts of fuzzy beasties that would love to nip at your heels when you fucked up.
And Blake fucked up.
God, she fucked up so big.
For weeks there’s just been something off—a tickle against the back of her neck when she’d go into the woods. Like eyes watching her even though she went out without a partner. It wasn’t until she had to go on her first search that things start getting… unsettling. The ten of them that stayed out in the woods that night set up their tents, building a large fire and huddling around planning the grid they’d cover the next day.
It was just a steady unease creeping, growing, in her gut. A steady rise to the atmosphere made her feel like her very skin was in the center of a storm cloud, prickling with electricity. It was only when she was turning in for the night that she noticed the shape of a man just at the edge of the light. She called out to him, asking for him to identify himself—the two others still seated around the fire jerked, jumping to their feet at her shouts. The man didn’t answer her, slipping back into the dark before the others could see him.
They didn’t end up finding the little boy they were looking for that day. It was like he had been plucked from the very earth—no footprints, no scent for the dogs to track. Blake had looked for days, even now she still kept her eyes open for the boy when she had to set off along the trails.
All she saw now was a shape in the corner of her gaze once she crossed the two mile mark from base, the same damn shape as that night. It haunted her. Silently circling round and round—she thought she was going crazy. That the woods were finally getting to her. That the stories that her seniors had warned her about weren’t just crazed out-of-body experiences.
She fucked up.
Seven months.
Seven months Blake had been working here and she finally did the most idiotic thing in her life. She had ran towards that laughter.
It was a routine trail check. There was talk of a big animal out in the woods; Blake had volunteered herself to check the trails if she could spot it—whatever it was. About four miles into her hike along said trail she heard it; a deep, dark chuckle walking away from her. It had started behind her, making her pause, before it went off into the woods to the left.
“Hello?” she called, turning towards that part of the forest. Stepping from the trail Blake slipped into the trees and followed that faint laughter. “I’m Blake Belladonna, I’m with the park services. I’m going to have to ask you to leave. There’s been rumor of a large animal in these parts!” She ignored the nervous twist in her gut, her feet moving faster as the voice shifted from a laughter.
“No. No large animals here,” the strikingly male voice replied, the sound seeming to bounce around the trees. Blake ran, deeper and deeper into the woods and away from the trail. The male seemed to snicker at this.
“How do you know this?” she screamed just as the world fell to silence. She froze, standing before her were large burnt stairs. At least twenty steps. Those stairs were always the worst—no one had a legitimate answer for them, some would say that a tornado blew them there or that someone was just fucking with them. But there was something just… not right about the feel of them. Like they oozed some sick and dark aura.
But the worst—the scariest—part of it all was the form reclining along those steps like a large cat. Like a predator before it stalked its prey.
Brown-red hair, striking ruby red eyes encircled by deep onyx. His skin spotted with a mixture of pale white flesh, of tanned skin, and scales. Dark and shiny like a snake. His long fingers sharp with claws tapped against the steps; tap, tap… tap. Blake had thought she had seen those horns (sharp, dark and swooping along with his hair) when she had seen his silhouette that night many months ago. His long legs covered with rich dark fur, large feline-like paws for feet and a tail that flicked along with the beat of his tapping.
His body looked so pieced together, so odd that Blake’s mind jumped to the Frankenstein monster—how the doctor had sowed his body together with different parts to form the being.
Blake blinked, losing sight of him just for a moment, and he just wasn’t there. He wasn’t on the stairs, wasn’t in front of her. Blake swallowed, head slowly turning—she sucked in a breath, feeling the puff of air against her cheek.
“You’re very beautiful,” the male purred, never touching her but she could feel how his words caressed her. Blake swallowed.
“What are you?”
The male chuckled, “I donno. You beings have all sorts of names for things not like you—no? You call them freaks now, right? Before you’d just jump to calling them a fae or a demon. Or just some keeper of the woods or even woods spirit.” His teeth snapped right beside her ear, “choose.”
Blake wracked her brain, think. Think Blake. “I’d rather just call you by your name.” His answering hum left her pleased with her own quick thinking.
He touched her then; wrapping an arm around her shoulders in an embrace. “You may call me Adam—that was the name of the first man, no?” he snickered, his nose pressed against her hair.