“You’re sure about this?” I whispered, ducking beneath a moss-choked pine bough. My eyes kept darting behind us, but the long shadows of evening just made everything excessively eerie and unfamiliar. A sharp pain, and I realized I’d chewed my thumbnail into the quick – again.

“As sure as I am about your momma’s – oof!” The man ahead of me was cut short as he suddenly vanished into the dense brush – as if something had snatched him by the ankles and _yanked_.

I started to yelp a curse, but he popped back up so fast that I nearly ran into him.

“Ahah! I found it!” He cried victoriously. His thick, tangled brown hair was thoroughly entwined with debris, but the blinding brightness of his usual shit-eating grin eased my thundering pulse by a pace.

“Really? I could have sworn it was a little further in…” I pulled my cloak tighter as a chill breeze danced around us, and rustled ominously in the canopy above. I could almost see the stars beginning to shine, winking in and out of view overhead as the forest seemed to breathe around us. Watching. Waiting.

“I’m sure of it. See, look here,” He slapped the rough bark of a nearby pine. “I remember this one as clear as day. Look at the weird pattern – these cracks are extremely distinctive.”

The tree looked like every other damn pine tree for miles around. But I knew better than to argue the point. He better not be fucking around again – we were running out of time.

“Right. Then where do we start digging?” I had to keep the bastard on track, or else he might start waxing eloquent about how his father taught him tracking at three years old, and how he’d hunted more than forty Fellbeasts before he’d turned twenty-three. The man was an expert at everything – but especially at being full of shit. Sometimes I loved him for it – but currently I was considering strangling him if he didn’t shut the hell up and get to work.

“It’s right around here… I think,” He cast around for a moment, tugging at his earlobe casually, and I grit my teeth.

“It’s already been ten hours. Can’t you be serious for once in your fucking life?” The words snapped out before I could bite them back.

“Yeah, I know, I know. You’re always so uptight – were you born that way? I bet your momma – ack! Hey, knock it off!”

I swung the thickest dead branch I could find at him. Repeatedly.

I was significantly shorter than him – and probably more than a hundred pounds lighter. But If I could land that sharp pointy bit there just right –

“Alright – okay, I said! Enough! Fucking hell, man. You’ll put my eyes out.”

“Then quit screwing around! If we don’t find it, we’re dead. You know that, right? Four more hours, and–”

A shrill, piercing howl split through the air. I hadn’t even noticed until now that the wind had completely died.

“Fuck. _Hurry_!”

“Right here,” He handed me a short trowel, and pointed. “I swear this is it.”

“If you’re wrong, I swear I’ll come back as a ghoul and haunt you.”

“That’ll be a first – A ghoul haunting a ghoul.” His stupid snicker made me want to punch him in the face. But at least I was busy angry-digging instead of pissing myself.

He always had a knack for needling the fear right out of me, somehow. 

Another ungodly shriek in the distance shattered the oppressive silence, and I looked up from the knee-deep hole to notice that the daylight had nearly faded entirely. Above, the stars were sharp, and endlessly cold.

“I’ve got it!” He panted, tossing the trowel to the side to shove his arms elbow-deep into the loamy forest soil. We had been lucky not to run into any massive roots – it had been almost ten years since we’d last been here, after all. I was surprised there wasn’t an entire tree in the way.

“Help me, you scrawny rat!” He huffed, tugging at something beneath the dirt. I spat a curse in the language of our hometown at him, but he ignored it. I joined him, my hands grasping something cold and solid along with his. I didn’t know how much help my “scrawny rat” ass might be, but after a few moments of grunting and even more cursing, we finally managed to haul the item from the earth, and I toppled straight into his lap with the force of it.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have time to cuddle right now.” He chuckled, as nonchalant as ever as he lifted me off of him with exaggerated ease. My face burned furiously, and I was momentarily grateful for the growing darkness.

“Come on, let's get out of here before the Fellbeasts come out of their holes.” I growled, moving to grab the dirt-encrusted box. 

“Wait,” He grabbed my wrist, and I hissed at the tightness of his grip.

“What gives? We need to get this back, or else Vanya’s going to turn by dawn.” I tried to shake him off, but he pulled me towards him. My heart fluttered slightly, and then plummeted the moment I saw his face.

“It’s too late for Vanya. You already know that.” His voice was low now, and in the dim light his eyes seemed to shine even colder than the stars.

“Damien, let go of me. That fucking hurts, you bastard.”

“We didn’t come to find a cure for Vanya, and you know it. You just don’t want to admit it.”

I struggled again, but he just pushed me onto my back, straddling me now. He leaned closer, face inches from my own. The stubble along his jaw rasped against my cheek as he lowered his lips to my ear.

It was then that I finally noticed the edge of his ear peaking out from under his unruly, twig-filled hair. It was elongated, and delicately pointed at the tip. _Fuck_.

“Did you really forget what we buried out here, so long ago?” His voice was a warm, sinful shiver down my spine. My mind raced, but every time I tried to recall that moonless night ten years ago, it was as if my memory glanced off a slick surface.

“You promised me, Finn. You promised you’d stay with me.”

My breath came fast and ragged, and a familiar tingle began creeping from my chewed fingertips towards my pounding heart. Panic. Raw, terrified panic.

Another unnatural screech ripped through the night.

The whole forest screamed in response. 

They’d found us.

Or maybe – they had been waiting for us to return.