He recoiled and let out a warning growl before he turned and raced down the hallway in a blur. One second, I was about to touch a hideous beast I should have been wary of, and the next second, it had disappeared, making it look like I was the scary one.
I frowned, tilting my head to the side. Now that was confusing. It didn't seem like Ethan to run. I should be the one running and not the other way around.
Once more, my legs started moving. It was surreal how it seemed to have a mind of its own. I willed it to stop and tried to halt in my steps, but my feet kept going, dragging my entire body with them.
By the time I knew it, I had already stepped out of the palace. I didn't know where this place was and hadn't been to it before with Athan. The only exit I knew aside from the entrance, was the garden. Athan hasn't taken me here, but somehow my legs knew where to go, and the right turn to take, as if it was following something. And it was.
By the time I pushed open the back door, I realized whom my legs were seeking. Ethan. He lay crouched on the floor, with his focus on the moon. He turned his head when I closed the door behind me and stared hard at me.
Those red eyes still made my heart jump. I rubbed my arms, feeling the cold. It was freezing out here. It wasn't just Ethan sucking up the warmth; it was the weather. If I recall clearly, it was snowing out there even though there wasn't any sign of snow around us.
He got up slowly and approached me, his red eyes fixed on mine. There was no way to run to, and even if I wanted, my legs wouldn't budge. They were determined to lead me straight into trouble.
I gulped, with my back plastered on the door and my heart thumping loudly in my chest. My throat went dry, and I had to swallow to ease it.
He stopped in front of me, and his head reached down. I shut my eyes, trembling when I felt his breath on me. Oddly enough, it was warm, but not enough to ease my fear. My knees almost gave out under me, but I held strong, counting the time until he decided to eat me. When I made it to the count of a hundred and didn't feel any pain, I peeked an eye open, instantly shutting it when I saw how close the red eyes were to mine.
If he was in his human form, we would have been fucking kissing.
"You are odd."
I snapped my eyes open when I heard him speak, expecting to see the beast speaking, but it wasn't. Ethan stood in its place, frowning down at me with a confused expression on his face.
I opened my mouth to speak, but that dread that held me captive a few minutes ago was still present. I couldn't utter a word, and it felt like my tongue was glued to the roof of my mouth.
"You know, you are the first person who approached me, willingly," he continued, not bothered that I wasn't speaking. "Why weren't you scared? Did you believe I wouldn't tear you to shreds?" He scoffed, turning his back to me. I watched as he neared the place he had lain in his beast form and sat. "You took a risk, human," he concluded.
"Not if I wish to die," I responded, regaining my speech now that he wasn't close to me.
"Do you even know what you are asking for?" He turned to look at me, his eyes taking me in from my head to my toes before he averted his gaze. "Death isn't something beautiful. It's not like walking through a garden of flowers in their blooming season."
"I know." I approached him cautiously. "I know that death isn't pretty, but I want that." I sat next to him, keeping some distance between us. "It's just… I'm tired of this life." I looked up at the full moon, letting out a sigh.
"You want to die? Why?" He sounded curious. Though he didn't seem as murderous as before, there was still a coldness around him, a chill that seemed to swallow up the weather. I rubbed my arms, yawning from the cold. It would only take a few minutes out here for the cold to get to my teeth.
"No one wants me." I let out a sigh, thinking back to the time I lived in the village. I was an outcast, judged by the colour of my hair when I had no control over it. I reached out to touch the strand of the said hair. "People fear things they don't understand, and I unluckily fell into that category."
This time, when he looked at me, it didn't seem cold. It felt like he was seeing me for the first time.
"Why? You don't look that bad."
I didn't know what came over me, but I opened my mouth and the words came tumbling out. I told him about me, stories I hadn't told Athan before. I poured them out to the man I knew would kill me when he had gotten tired of listening to my sob story.
When I finished it, he looked up at the sky and said nothing, not like I was expecting anything from him. He wasn't the emotional type. His eyes didn't even fucking soften when I cried. He stared throughout like one reading a boring story.
We sat together in silence before I broke it. "So, who are you to, Athan? Are you guys brothers?"
"Brothers?" He frowned. "I guess you can call us that. We are… Brothers."
"Brothers? But he said you aren't related."
"He doesn't want to be associated with me. Same way I don't." He got up from the floor and looked down at me. "It's late. Go in and sleep before you freeze to death. No one wants to die that way even if you are desperate," he added before he turned his back to me and walked into the palace, slamming the door shut behind him.
I sat there for a short while before I did as he asked. I dusted my butt and retraced my steps to the room Athan asked me to hide in. It was so warm that by the time I plopped down on the bed, I was halfway asleep…