Reaper's Word

Chapter 36: Subtle Magic and Change

Isaiah looked down at the dead man. Alpha was dragging him back from the water's edge. He'd come down here to run from the hell hounds. He'd gone to climb to hopefully get away. He hadn't known that was the only exit. Luckily Zeta and Alpha had caught him quick and now he was dead. Which he should have felt something sooner. Should have gotten a warning from this place about it.

Isaiah's gaze went to the center island, he frowned at it. It had changed a lot since last he'd been down here. The dragon's head was turned toward where he stood, and tipped to the side. It's stony eye watching the woman. Her face was up now. Her hands still out like she was offering something to the dragon.

If you looked closely it seemed that stony tears ran down her face. The dragon's tail wound around her legs and waist before coming up and over her shoulder. This creation was supposed to be watching and aware. It fueled the house and magic. It was fed by the souls that died in the house. It should have given more warning when the man had started to swim, but it hadn't. Not until he reached the wall. His eyes narrowed, he had a feeling his distraction with Clair and her acceptance by the house might have something to do with it. Great. He meant that sarcastically.

"How long has it looked like this?" He asked the hounds. The power and magic running through those shaped stones was immense. He could feel it from here. There was a significance to them. Magic older than he was, the dragon embodied male, immortal, strength and an unyielding sense. The woman mortal, passion, acceptance, the mental strength to stand with those physically stronger. Honestly it was really just a depiction, but that island was what got him stuck here. What wouldn't let him leave, and yet helped him at the same time. So if it was changing, he wanted to make sure that it wasn't against him.

‘It seems to change every day, though we never see it move.’ Alpha said raising his head. The front of his muzzle and chest splattered with blood.

"I see." He looked back at it. He turned pondering things. What if it was preparing to allow for an escape? He didn't know what drove the magic here. He just wished it would stop working so he could get out. His one main concern was obviously Clair.

Isaiah looked at the island one last time, and then moved into the house. He frowned still deep in thought as he went down a hall. Anyone that was here forever had a piece of them in this place, including himself. He doubted that he'd truly be free in the end. The time here and what had been done. He was also part of the heart of this place. At least it wouldn't keep him though if he got the chance to escape, but he was sure he'd end up coming back. Magic like this could not be ignored.

He looked above him, he could hear someone moving. Judging by the foot falls it was a male, and on the bigger side. Isaiah didn't much care for this group now in the house. He shifted to thoughts of that, rather than ancient magic and rituals he could do nothing about. These men were ready to fight, and do whatever they could to get out.

He'd stripped them of their weapons, and he'd found that several of them were hard to read. It presented a challenge and he didn't mind that. However the ideas going through their heads were less than pleasing to him. They were very set on fighting their way out. Of finding a way to get out of the house. One of them had started to focus on Clair thinking that she knew.

However his fear of Isaiah and the hell hounds kept his mouth shut. He didn't even try to approach her with fear of death. This group got Isaiah in the sense that he would kill for trivial reasons. If they touched what was his, that was it. The man that thought Clair might know something also knew it best to stay away from her. He had seen the two of them together a few times now.

Smart man that one, the others he didn't think would have such reserves going for her. If they thought she knew then they would go for her. So far all but the one were still ignorant of her special treatment. He wasn’t sure how long it was going to stay that way.

This group had formed a kind of odd bond as well. None trusted any of the others, except two men that had been together for a very long time. However they knew to get out it was best in a group. They had pretty much hunted down the others that where in the house, trying to get as much information from them as they could. Isaiah had watched a couple times without them realizing it. Just to see how sadistic they were going to get in their pursuit to get out. One man liked to inflict pain and torture to get his answers. Isaiah felt a smile, when he was ready that man was going to get a real game he wouldn't enjoy.

Three from the group before them remained, and none of them said much. They weren't nearly as scared of the group as they were of Isaiah. How could they not be? One from that group had seen him during the moon and he'd told the men to run like hell when that day came. It was soon too, the good thing about that time was that the exit sealed. There was no way to get down the caves. The house wouldn't allow it. It was only those that survived and proved they were worthy of living that were allowed to look afterward.

Isaiah looked up out a window he passed. Tomorrow he should feel the transformation coming, tomorrow he'd get his wings. He sighed inwardly, until he lived here he could call his other form at will. Though it was much stronger during the moon.

He had perfect control, able to change at whenever. He could still change at will, but he had no control over it during the moon. He even lost memory during that time of what happened. It was of course the result of how they'd trapped him in here.

Isaiah was passing a glass door that led out into the rose garden. He just glanced at it. Not like he could go out there, he wasn't allowed to set one foot onto the property surrounding the house. The roof was as much of the outdoors he could get and only depending on his state of mind.

He came to a sudden halt nearly losing his balance. He turned around and shot back to the door which was open and stood in the doorway. Clair was standing outside in the garden, he looked around it.

There was no exit or entrance to the rest of the yard from this garden unless you climbed over the six foot walls growing with thorny roses and other vines, some poisonous.

She was kneeling on the ground pencil in hand and studying a single rose, blood red in color. She was very focused on it. He was at a complete loss as to how she had gotten out there. He'd seen others try and fail. No one should be able to get outside the house. All were tossed back in. That concerned him, what was happening to the magic in the house? How the hell was Clair continuing to do things like this?

"How did you get out there?" He demanded and Gamma appeared around the fountain looking at him. She must have been laying near by. Clair jumped, turning. He could see the nearly completed rose. She was drawing in the moonlight.

"Oh, uh I just kind of asked." She said looking suddenly very worried. Her scent dropped as it always did when panic or fear set in.

"I wasn't trying to leave. I just wanted to draw." She said standing up.

That had never worked for him. He tested it by sticking his hand out the edge of the door for a moment. Instantly his skin blistered, slightly splitting blood running down it. He dropped it and looked at her.

"You just walked out?" What was so special about her that she managed such things? He felt around her again, nothing but that solid wall of her mind. He felt a tic in his jaw. He really wished she was the one he could use. How was she not special? Look what she was doing.

"Well it was like walking through glue really, but yeah. Every so often I would feel a tug back toward the house. I honestly wasn't trying to leave." Clair said, it didn't appear that he could come out and she couldn't very well stay out here. She was just worried about what he'd do if she came over by him. How angry he might be.

She knew that if she tried to leave the house would more than likely somehow drag her back in. If the hell hounds didn't tear her apart first. Besides there was no way to get out of this garden. She knew her plants and the roses would tear her skin and the poisoned plants around it would get the toxins in her wounds.

He looked very dark and scary when she'd turned to look at him. She was too scared to go over near where he could reach her. She was terrified that he might do something to hurt or punish her for going out here. It was just a simple thing.

"I believe you Clair." He finally said looking around the garden. Then at Gamma who sat staring at him her head cocked. She was nearly fully grown, her diet was rich here. Well fed and the stimulus of being around others of her kind helped. She didn't have to fear so much for her life.

"Thank you." She said clearly relaxing. Color seemed to come back to her face and skin. He found that interesting, she hid her fear and nerves very well. If he hadn't been able to note the change in her scent it would have been impossible to tell.

He glanced up in the sky. The moon was growing closer to being full, just a sliver of a shadow was really left now. She glanced up to where he was looking and then she moved forward toward the house. Dew was forming on the grass and plants.

"Do I need to hide during the moon?" She asked with a half-smile. "Though I guess you'd answer depending on how long you'd really want me around." Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

"I suggest you stay out of the way. However I won't be viewing you as truly being prey."

"Oh. Why is that?" She asked stepping in the doorway past him and into the hall. Gamma moving around them and trotting off.

"Because my scent is all over you and I gave you blood." He moved down the hall. He found that he liked having her around for much more than just her body. He liked her company. It was nice to have another to speak with. Living here so long with none to speak to in simple conversation one could get very lonely and boring. He had been suffering from that for a long time.

He might not be human, but all creatures at some point required companionship. It just depended on the species for the reasons or length. He wasn't exactly normal even by odd standards. He hadn't realized really how much he wanted someone around until Clair showed up.

"Do you know how to shoot an arrow?" He asked her suddenly. She moved after him.

"I'm sorry what?" It just came out of him, She figured he wanted to play a game. He was clearly a competitive soul.

"A bow and arrow, do you know how to shoot one?"

"Well, once in gym class." He glanced at her.

"So you do not know how."

"I guess not." She said carrying her items. She was confused by his question. Though he did tend to just come out of nowhere with them. She wondered at his thought processes. Was it just a scattered hodgepodge of ideas and desires?

"I believe that would be a first."

"Maybe I'm lying to you." She said following to him. She thought she saw a bit of a smile on his face, she had one of her own. She didn't know why but it was fun to try and play with him. Just a little though, nothing that would get him angry or piss him off. Just to amuse him, it seemed to keep him in a good mood.

"I don't believe you are."

"You are a very smug and egoistical being you know that?" She said annoyed, not meaning to say it. He paused in a doorway to open it.

"And?" He said stepping inside, "I have yet to be proven wrong in my assumptions of others."

"Not even of me?" He gave her a slight smile.

"I do not know what to think of you so therefore I cannot assume anything." The lights in the room came on. Clair recognized the room though she'd only been in it once. It was a room that was very long and had targets at the end. Though the last time she'd been in here there had been no bows or arrows.

He moved to a glass cabinet where there were now several bows and next to it a stand with many arrows in it. As he approached the glass it opened, and he reached inside. Clair looked around the room.

It was empty save the one end with the cabinet and arrows. Plus two chairs in the room not far from them. It was long and tall with walls the color of eggshells. The floor was wooden and she set her items near the chair there. The room had to be forty feet long or more with several dark strips of wood on the floor at different distances.

"Here." He said, handing her a bow.

"You are a very random person."

"I'm not a person."

"You know what I mean." She rolled her eyes, looking at the targets. She looked back at him. He was just watching her and she let out a tired sigh.

"I wasn't lying before."

"I know, just wanted to hear you say it." He said with a slight smile. He took the bow which didn't have that many pounds on it and notched an arrow. He pulled it back and Clair looked at the target. He hit the second one dead center.

"How do I know you aren't using your mind or something?" She asked, looking at him suspiciously.

"I guess you don't, however it would defeat the point of even using the bow if I did that." She eyed him, a kind of grim look on her face.

"So what is the game you would like to play?" She said a bit of amusement crept into his gaze at her ire.