Page 6

H.A.Z.E

I skip barefoot through the darkened forest, not at all bothered that I’m leaving a trail of blood behind me.

The scent is thick in the air—metallic, raw, alive —but it doesn't bother me.

If anything, I like it. Valadez's white button-down shirt hangs loose over my frame, the sticky fabric—stained with the remnants of his life—clinging to my skin.

My long, pale hair shifts from side to side as I hum under my breath.

I should be leaving. I should be running.

Instead, I linger. Something's been following me—a presence.

I tasted it earlier tonight’ an electric hum against my skin, crawling into my bones. And I taste it now—stronger, closer. Different.

For the first time in years, my instincts are screaming. Not in fear, not in panic—but something more. It's the first time in a very long time that the danger signs light up like a Christmas tree in my head. I should run; my body wants to, but my mind isn't designed for that. It's exhilarating.

A twig snaps. I stop in the centre of a clearing and glance over my shoulder, listening to the sounds of heavy footsteps.

I narrow my gaze. Is it him? Is it my creature?

No.

The thing that breaks through the tree line isn't him; it's a useless Defect.

A large, hulking one, his body twisted by whatever half-baked science the humans used to create him. He's shirtless—his pale, scarred skin stretched tight over grotesque muscle. His sunken golden eyes lock onto mine.

He sees me.

That isn't possible; not unless I want him to.

I wove a barrier around Valadez and me, a cloak of shadows rendering us unseen, unscented, unnoticed. This Defect shouldn’t have been able to follow me—shouldn’t even know I’m standing here.

Yet his lipless mouth parts, and his thick, cracked voice breaks the silence.

“Night... walk... agh.”

A growl rattles from his chest as he charges. Heavy, slow, predictable. I don’t move when his fist drives back and cracks into my face with enough force to send most creatures flying.

I feel my nose break, skin split, black blood rolling down my lips, sharp and bitter against my tongue. But that’s it. I remain standing. Barely flinching.

“I... kill... Night... walk... agh.”

I cock my head, barely flinching at his attack as a smile breaks across my lips. "Is that so, big guy?"

He roars and swings again. This time, I move. A slight tilt of my head, and his knuckles graze my pointed ear, barely missing. Pathetic.

I catch his wrist mid-air.

His entire body lurches forward from the force, his knees crashing into the dirt. Even now, towering over me, he trembles.

My grip tightens. Bone shifts. Snap… and crack. The Defect howls so loudly, the forest shudders.

I lean closer, my nose almost brushing his, as I whisper, "Do you think you can kill me?"

My fingers tiptoe across his chest. Back and forth. Back and forth. My eyes fall into a trance as the beast of a man fights against my iron grip.

"Come on now..."

Death spills past my lips like smoke, poisoning the air, the ground, and the Defect—who now sits frozen on his knees as my eyes reflect his golden ones.

"I really, really want to see... what you're made of."

My nails drag across the mangled flesh of his chest. Small droplets of oily black blood ooze from the thin lines I leave behind. With every word, I sink deeper, feeling flesh give way beneath my touch.

"So big... So dangerous..."

My words are slow as my fingers push past his ribcage, parting bone and muscle with terrifying ease. The Defect’s breath hitches, his body jerking violently as I force my way through his lungs.

He's strong; I can feel it in the way his frame resists, in the way his body fights to close around the invading force of my hand. But strength means nothing now.

"Yet..."

With my lips pressed to his ear, my fingers curl around the frantic, beating heart in his chest. It pulses in my grip, thrumming with raw, desperate life.

And finally, he fights. He claws at my wrist, his golden eyes wide, wild with terror.

A roar tears from his throat, raw and primal, shaking the air around us.

But against me, it's all futile.

"Pathetic."

The word slithers from my lips, dripping with disdain as my fingers curl closed into a fist. The heart crushes like an overripe fruit in my grasp, and he convulses—one last, shuddering gasp before his body collapses.

The Nightwalker falls to the ground, his golden eyes flickering, then darkening, empty and lifeless. ..

"NO!"

A man breaks through the tree line, catching my golden eyes as I stand over the Defect. He is handsome. His ruggish brown hair lay in a mess on top of his head, a few loose curls hanging down his forehead, and his wide, dark eyes shift from the Defect to me.

But he still isn't the creature I want to find me!

"Oh." I blink, taking a bite out of the black heart in my hands, and point to the dead Defect. "Was that yours?"

The man stiffens. Maybe it was the fact that I was covered in blood, or that I was a Nightwalker, and he could see the gold bleeding into my eyes. The sight freezes all creatures in fear, no matter how powerful they are.

I spit the muscle out of my mouth, and it bounces off the dead Defect's forehead. When I turn back to the man, he's now a wolf. Larger than the Defect and twice as threatening when his lips peel back, and I catch sight of his large white canines.

"Pathetic little creatures," I sigh, disappointed, "should really know their place."

I feel it; an ice-cold chill that begins at my fingertips, washes over my hands and makes the black marking covering my arms glow green in intricate swirls. It looks beautiful, warm, and welcoming. No one knew the kind of chaos that lurked beneath its depths until it was too late.

The wolf pounces, his chestnut coat catching the glint of the full moon, making his hazel eyes sparkle with deadly precision as he's less than seconds away from tearing my head off.

In the space between seconds, a familiar crackle of energy ignites inside me, like a spark that connects to every fibre of my being, growing from the deepest part of my soul and pushing towards the surface of my skin.

The Defect’s black heart rolls off my fingertips when the wolf is mere inches from my face.

His foul breath slaps against my face before I snatch his throat and slam his large body into the ground.

Web-like cracks form into the earth, acting as a halo around the wolf as he wiggles, fights, and snaps his teeth in a fury.

"I'm going to kill you now, but first, I need to know if there's more of you coming." The wolf glares at me as if to say I won't get what I want from him. I smile broadly. "Oh, don't worry, you don't need to speak for what I'm about to do next."

The wolf stiffens as I push that ice-cold chill beneath his skin, where my hand is wrapped around his throat.

His veins bulge, turning an inky black as the magic pushes deep, deeper.

The brown of his fur turns a sickly pale shade as my magic races through his veins, reaching his temples and connecting me to his memories.

The wolf stills beneath me as words echo in my head, connecting me to memories that aren’t mine.

“Where is he?”

“The Gods’ Champion… The Great Hero."

"Ahh… Hello, Grand Arbiter!"

"I will have my son by the end of the next moon, Riot."

"I'll dispose of you and turn my boy into a fucking God over your corpses."

"We're going to District 2 to catch ourselves a Defect."

"The Defect's going hysterical. Are you sure you want me to stay back?"

"Yes."

I pull back, the creature inside me quivering beneath my skin. I don't know if it's fear or excitement, but that presence is back. This close, it's practically suffocating.

He's here.

He's behind me.

He chuckles, and it’s deep, but I can’t sense a hint of amusement within it. Something in my tummy churns violently. It’s new. It’s different. I should run from the feeling alone. The fact that I really want to is the entire reason I stay.

I glance up as a man who looks like he's melted into the darkness floats through the forest. Everything about him drips with ease, yet there is a weight in the air that presses down on my bones and steals my breath.

It's only once he steps into the clearing and moonlight washes over him that I can finally see him. His hands are stuffed into the pockets of his cargo pants, and his large black boots come to a silent stop beneath the silver moon, where not even the autumn leaves crunch beneath his weight.

But what really catches my attention is his aura; it pours out of him like smoke, rolling off his body and surrounding him like armour. Not even the moonlight can touch him. The darkness surrounding him melts into his shadow and extends into the night. It’s endless, and it’s frightening.

The man, with sharp and smooth facial features, doesn’t spare a glance in my direction.

He looks right past me towards the deathly still wolf beneath my grip.

When he angles his head, glancing towards the dead Defect at my feet, his dark, inky hair shifts with him and lazily sprawls over his shadowed eyes.

"Hello." I smile, tilting my head. "Saviour ."

His gaze snaps to me, and our eyes finally connect. They’re red—red like the blood that used to drown me. They’re like two glowing orbs, shining with so much— too much —anger, hatred, loathing. It pours out of his eyes.

"They belonged to me." His words sound possessive, but his tone is still dead.

Yet somehow, the silkiness of his voice pleases every nerve, muscle, and bone of my being, and I know at that moment that everything about this creature is a trap of the deadliest kind—something I didn't think even I was immune to.

"Yes, I realise that now," I muse, lightly slapping the wolf beneath me on his jaw. "Thanks to your pup."