The Moon Goddess' Chosen

364 A Rare Sight of Two

Later that very day, not far from the waterfall where it had all taken place... where the Seeker had fallen down to her doom, a beautiful couple was taking a stroll along the river, oblivious to the struggle for life and death that had happened hours earlier.

The two lovebirds were in a world of their own making, drowning in the perks that came with being in love with each other. It was a bond that could make Cupid jealous. They spoke of everything and nothing whilst enjoying each other’s company. Kisses here and there when they felt like it.

The picnic basket in the girl’s hands started feeling heavy and the boy took it from her only moments later. They switched this role like this frequently before they finally found the right spot to sit and relax.

Walking through no-man’s-land was impossible without an escort, however, the hunters had secured a few portions of no-man’s-land for many purposes. Having scoured these areas for rogues, the hunters guaranteed safety. The land could then be used for a variety of activities. Occasionally, couples, like these two, after paying a certain amount of money, could get away with something like this.

The girl selected a neat spot with evenly short grass and a nice breeze and lay a scarlet blanket on the green grass by the tree line. The river’s flow was slow at the point they’d chosen. Taking a seat on the blanket, she invited her boyfriend to join her. The boy winced as he took a seat beside his beautiful girlfriend, a gesture that did not go unnoticed, “How does it feel?” the girl asked him with a look of concern.

Instinctively, she reached for the part of his stomach that had been stitched recently. It was a wonder he had all the energy that he showed. It was only that he hadn’t shown any sign of tiring that she’d allowed him to walk as long as they had.

“It’s getting better,” he replied, laying his eyes on his girlfriend’s face, “Besides... the pain vanishes every time you look at me that way, like a magic elixir.”

“Keep saying things like that and you might bring yourself more pain instead,” the girl chuckled, placing a kiss on the boy’s lips, “Want to see what I prepared?”

“Yes, please... I’m famished,” the boy replied with a smile. The girl got to unpacking the picnic basket immediately, humming to a tune as she lay the food on the blanket. It was a tune the boy had heard before coming from her. Whether it was meant to be a lullaby or one of the songs she’d found in a store, it worked wonders on the boy’s moods, “It’s a miracle we’re here today, you know.”

.....

“Are you letting your mind wander back to that night?” the girl asked, “We did something dumb... and we made it out alive. It won’t happen again and I won’t let you...”

“Yeah, you already gave me that speech, Lyla. I don’t think I had ever seen you cry before,” the boy sighed, cutting her off before she could finish. The insecurities of that night still crept back to the girl’s mind. How she’d allowed her boyfriend along with some other werewolf friends to drag them into the forest in the middle of the night. The same night they witnessed Liam getting beaten repeatedly by the princess of Sirius.

“And I don’t want to ever get a reason to cry ever again. Am I clear on that?” the girl glared at him.

“Cross my heart, darling. Now let’s see what we have... You packed pizza! But... but, isn’t it cold by now?”

“Not when you have a flask to keep it warm for you,” the girl gestured to a small plastic container that held the scrumptious meal. He then noticed how abnormally thick it was and that steam was still coming off the toppings of the slices within it. ‘Did she actually make it? Or did she order it? No, she said she brought homemade food?’

Beside the box was a vacuum flask, a few cups, fruits and a dish of scones, “This explains why the basket was heavy. How were you even able to carry all this, let alone prepare it all?”

“Hey, quit complaining. Is it not good enough?” the girl asked. Her disappointment was not lost on him.

“Oh, no... It’s perfect. In fact, I was thinking you might have overdone it. You’re all I need for this date to be perfect. Anything you would have brought would have been good enough for me,” the boy replied, panic filling in his voice.

The girl blushed red, “You never used to say words that sweet before. Ever since you were let out of the hospital...”

“Hush, Lyla. I know what I was before then,” the boy placed his finger on her lips, gazing into his hazel brown eyes, “I won’t put you through all that again. Back then, I didn’t know how much you meant to me and I’m sorry it took nearly dying for me to realise that.”

“I’m glad you finally did. You should have heard Trevor that day. He was torn. He said he would have killed us if we... Peter...” the girl called her boyfriend when she realised he wasn’t paying attention to her. The boy was looking beyond her with a curious face that soon turned to fear...

Following his gaze, the girl set eyes on something bobbing up and down by the edge of the river. It took her a moment to recognize what she was looking at. The girl rushed out to the riverside and found a woman floating by the river’s edge, unconscious, naked and surrounded by a faint shade of red water... Blood... “Peter, call the hunters. She needs to be taken to a hospital. Bring the blanket so that I might cover her.”

Lyla’s raised voice snapped Peter into motion. He packed the items they brought hurriedly and called out to the man that had escorted him. He was meant to keep a distance between them so as to keep their conversations private, but if any of them called out to him, he was within earshot of a yell.

The boy picked up the blanket and rushed to his girlfriend, holding it out so he didn’t see the naked woman floating in the water. Lyla quickly wrapped her up and struggled to get her further away from the water.

“Here, let me help,” Peter offered when he realised the woman was wrapped.

“You’re injured. You’ll open up your injuries,” the girl argued. The hunter they had called soon broke out of the cover of the trees, walking casually... however, the thoughts that had been swarming about his mind vanished when he set eyes on the trio.

“What seems to be the... Oh Lord Prometheus,” he exclaimed, rushing to them. He started on giving the woman first aid to get the water that he could out of her system. The couple gave him space and watched as he went through standard procedures.

When they tried to discern her age, however, they couldn’t quite tell which was which. At first glance, this woman was well within her forties... probably late forties, but a more observant look would quickly wipe that illusion from the eyes.

She would start to look much younger the more you looked at her and snap back to her forties when you tore your gaze away from her. It was easy to ignore this, but a cause for curiosity.

It was not long before the woman coughed out multitudes of water. The moment she regained her breathing, her body went still once more, retaining the rhythmic expansion of her chest... “She’s alive,” the hunter sounded shocked by this, but this was all the more reason to move faster.

He ordered the couple to follow him as the trio rushed the woman to the hospital as fast as they could. Everything happened so fast... they were soon seated in the waiting room, waiting for the doctor’s report. Lyla turned to her boyfriend when the chaos seemed to have died down, “I’m sorry our date got interrupted.”

Surprised, “Huh, that wasn’t your fault, Lyla. Our date was perfect. I just hope that woman makes it. She seemed to be in terrible shape.”

“Yeah, I hope she makes a full recovery as well,” Lyla replied leaning her head on her boyfriend’s shoulder. The two embraced and it was not long before they’d fallen asleep. The hunter, watching the young couple, shook his head in disbelief. ‘Where does someone find a couple in love like these two? I’ve seen a few couples in this line of work, but none so much in sync with each other unless they were werewolves. It’s truly a rare sight.’

The man stood up from his seat and picked up his phone from his pocket, “I better report this incident to the agency and the king’s office while I’m waiting here.” It was standard procedure when someone was found. If these people happened to be werewolves, the empire would want to know exactly what happened to them.