"Damn Dante you're amazing!" Eugene yelled happily after I popped all the balloons with ease, the worker in the stand giving him a huge plushie of a bee.
"Yeah yeah I had good target practice in the past..." I said gesturing like throwing things with my hand.
"Oh..." Eugene suddenly looked down staring at the bee on his arms.
"Oh sorry! I kinda easily forget that I told you about, hey don't think of it too much all right?" I said putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah it's just that I can't think of the possibilities of all the things you said happening to you." He said finally looking up to my face.
"Ugh Eugene you're so kind..." I said as we started blending with the multitude of people, after finally having a way out of Nevermore, I initially thought of looking for the creature that killed me my first time here.
But ended up deciding that I could do that later, anything that has to do with my heart and that creature still isn't done thanks to the fact that there's still more victims appearing, and all of them close to Nevermore.
"Ugh! Sorry!" I heard a teenager boy said as he bumped into me, my own body already tensed up even before realizing he bumped into me.
I looked at the teenager who was with, Wednesday?
And then a group of three boys passed by, the three of them holding a bat in everything but a kind and cute manner.
"Fuck..." I muttered under my breath thinking what could possibly be happening, either they're trying to bully Wednesday like she told me about last night or he's helping her out in a way of another.
Either way my worthless life finds you helping others.
"Eugene stay here okay? I'll go check up on something..." I said, and without need of confirmation I quickly ran into Wednesday and the other teenager boy, who was grabbing her as she stared up to the sky.
"Something wrong?" I said after appearing out of nowhere behind both of them.
Wednesday stood up and looked at the forest, her eyes following, Rowan? Who was going in the woods.
"Wednesday we need to go..." The teenager boy said staring at the group of three boys holding bats.
Wednesday seemed to have conflicted ideas staring between the forest, me and the teenager.
Her eyes looked at mine and with a silent understanding I turned to the three boys while she started running into the forest.
"Hey where are she at Tyler?" I heard the black boy in the middle, supposedly the leader talk to the boy behind me who was with Wednesday.
"I don't know who you're talking about." He said, his tone so lacking of any confidence it was pathetic to hear.
And before any of the three could ask my intention I broke the black boy's nose.
Instantly the one on the left swung his bat ad my side which I stepped back a moment before giving him a quick tap on his neck, making him choke and fall the ground coughing.
The third one looked at me stunned and as soon as he raised his bat I hit him on the liver, making him fall to his knees before anything.
"Wow dude chill out!" I heard the newly identified teenager as Tyler say behind me, but I was already rushing to the woods, following Wednesday steps.
"I think just so happily! 'Oh yeah free day to do anything I want!' And she decides to make me feel responsible over her life..." I was muttered but I knew I was already catching up as I could hear a growing and screams of pain.
I quickly followed a small clearing between the trees to see what I thought I would find.
The creature was big, tall and somehow skinny with muscles, ugly fucking face with sharp teeth and big doe eyes.
It's back arched while it used it's two paws and feet to move, and just then I realized Rowan was under it.
Surely just after being attacked by the creature and with no signs of movement.
"You piece of shit!" I immediately yelled while I got my knife on my right hand and a handmade knuckles made of golden rings with diamonds.
"Get off him!" I yelled again and the creature looked at me, ready to pounce over me.
"If you leave him alone maybe I'll spare your life! Even better if you give back my heart!" I said while walking towards it.
He looked ready to jump over me but I was took the initiative.
I lunged foward stabbing it on the shoulder with my stiletto, and quickly opening the stab wound dragging the knife down it's arm, it instantly snapped back with it's claws opening my stomach.
But thanks to my regeneration it closed faster before any of my guts spilled.
I punched it on the face, the diamonds in front of my knuckles hard that they pushed through the meat and opened holes in it's cheeks.
And then it snapped with a punch this time launching me to a tree.
I stood up instantly and jumped back again, this time I grabbed the knife from it's arm and stabbed it on the chest over and over again, with my own speed barely managing to dodge it's claws.
The blood dripping from the stab and slashing wounds I made dropping on me, plastering my face and clothes red.
The creature finally managed to grab me with both hands and lifted me up in the air, opening it's jaw wide ready to bite off my legs.
I quickly got my hand inside my pocket taking a lighter and a string with firecrackers, recently bought in the festival.
I quickly turned them on and let them go on the monster's mouth, being irritating and even damaging enough for it to let go of me.
I got my hand again into my pocket and took other knuckles the same as the one in my left hand, and started punching the creature.
Even when I was literally peaking human limits, my punches made only small damage,the wounds being only important thanks to the diamonds pointing upwards.
The monster screamed towards me and before I was able to keep striking it punched me away and started running.
"Don't run you piece of shit you still have my heart and now my knife!" I yelled and was just going to start running, but remembered the Rowan on the ground.
I turned back immediately and looked up his wounds and then touched him, after a quick second I didn't even bother healing, he was already far gone.
"Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck!" I kept repeating my favorite cuss word while I watched the dead body under me.
"Dante..." I heard Wednesday voice,and I finally noticed the girl against a tree, breathing heavily while looking at me surprised.
Before she could've said anything I was already in front of her,my hands passing from her chest to her arms and neck.
"Are you hurt!?" I said, my voice so fast the words tangled together before she grabbed my wrists stopping me.
"I'm not." She said in a firm tone,enough to calm me down as I sat down, my hands in the ground as I breathed heavily, the adrenaline still pumping in my veins.
"You'll have to explain what just happened..." she said staring at my bloodie hands.
"You go first; why were you following Rowan and how did that ended with the creature killing him?" I said pointing at Rowan on the ground.
"I chased him after he started acting suspicious, then I took off to follow him and see what was he up to..."
"After that he started chocking me with his psychic powers and told me about how I was bounded to destroy Nevermore or something close..." she said while she took a page in front of her, a drawing of a girl standing in what I assumed was the quad.
"Then out of nowhere that monster jumped in and started killing him..."
"And at the end I appeared..." I said finishing her line of dialog.
"Well that's unfortunate but then I don't feel so bad for not being able to save him..." I said trying to stand up but she grabbed my hand.
"End the deal, now you talk." Wednesday said firmly,not letting go.
I moved my arm up making her stand,my strength substantially a lot bigger than hers.
"I'll go to that water we just passed by and clean myself. I can talk on the way..." I said as I put my knuckles on my pockets.
We started walking back, our eyes checking Rowan before we decided it's better to tell later.
"The first time I came here in Nevermore I was driving a truck, along the road I saw a deer opened up in the middle, it was yelping in pain so I rushed to heal it..."
"Before I was able to do it a sharp claw went straight from my back to my chest, I was raised on the air and before I even saw the creature everything went black for a time."
We finally reached the nearby river and we sat down on the wood bridge.
"After I healed up I noticed that my heart was a new one, so I realized that it either ate it or took it..."
"But since there has been similar cases with the victims missing parts of their body you knew it took your heart with it." Wednesday said looking down at the water in deep thought.
"Yeah..." I nodded while grabbing water with my hands and started cleaning my hair and face off the blood.
"What are you going to do now?" I asked while washing away the blood.
Wednesday looked at me and then grabbed my wrist,holding it up and took a tissue from her bag, and swiped some blood that still wasn't washed up.
"I'll investigate. If this has any relationship with the attacks because then I'm involved too..." She said putting the tissue inside a plastic ziplock.
"The creature clearly only was there to protect you... Rowan didn't have any missing part and just died from the injuries..."
"You mean to say that the creature was only there for me?" Wednesday said looking at me with suspicion, maybe she thought I was amusing her.
"I mean to say, that if you want to investigate further, I'll go with you as protection..." I said raising a finger at her, I was already feeling somehow responsible to take care of the attacks since I was one and needed to have my heart back, no need to involve magic with my immortal body.
Also now that she was involved, a person which even if not considered a friend or something like that, I already felt she was important enough to die for, don't think I love her or anything; afterall I've died for a lot of things already.
"Why would I need you?"
"Because I'm immortal and you're not, and because this is interesting..."
"I can't deny the last part."