I was tired, cold,  hungry, and lost. I'd been wandering the woods for three days and my magic ward that kept anyone from tracking me had worn off. I hadn't made much progress as I wanted in my attempt to gain my freedom. I had thought for certain that I would have found my way back to the highway, and hitch hiked back home. It had seemed like a simple enough of a plan. A plan that didn't require much planning but I hadn't thought about how far the wood actually stretched or if I was headed in the right direction. 

For all I knew I had been wandering in circles for three days. Now that I had more time to think about everything that had transpired I realized that running away had been an emotional response that I should have taken more time to think about. I had allowed Alexei had frighten me away, it was the truth that I had to accept. I had run away like a little girl, running to her parents after seeing the monster hiding in her closet. 

I was laid out under a tree, my feet blistered and sore. I didn't want to walk anymore. So I stared blankly up at the trees that stretched high above my head, pieces of the evening sky peaking through the cracks in the leaves as the blew in the light breeze that had kicked up. I knew eventually someone would come for me, they would have caught my scent trail by now. 

"Poppy?" I heard my name being called on the wind and I turned to see Darren trudging through the darkness at me. I gave him a weak smile, never had I been more happy than I was in that moment to see his dumb face. I thought that Alexei would have been the first face I was going to see after my absence, but perhaps I had finally gotten through to him that I didn't want anything to do with him. A strange bubble of disappoint started to build in my chest but I quickly pushed it away. 

Darren leaned over me with a serious expression marring his face in a way that was unusual. I pushed myself up onto my elbows with a small grunt, "Sorry I left you behind." I commented to him, when he said nothing to me. I was sure that he was probably angry at me for leaving without him. We were usually a packaged deal, most of the things I had done in my life he had been right there alongside me. 

He reached out his hand toward me and I took it, still he said nothing. I was going to get the cold shoulder from him it seemed. He turned away from me but kept his hold on my hand as he started walking. I would have thought the behavior strange but with my waning strength his hand was a promise that I would be able to remain standing on my own two feet. 

We walked hand in hand, in silence through the darkness of the trees. I began to find it odd that none of the Lycans had come to us yet. I looked around the shadows for any sign of them, nibbling on my lip as I felt the uneasiness building in my stomach. 

"This doesn't seem right, Darren." I commented as I continued to look around at the trees that surrounded us. There was this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I was getting further away from Alexei. Almost like the magnetic pulse that pulled me toward him was growing fainter with each step. It was like I was full of water and someone had poked a pin hole in me and it was all leaking out slowly, creating an empty feeling inside of me. 

"Darren, maybe we should turn back..." I didn't want to see Alexei but something in me was screaming that this wasn't right, that I needed to go back to the Lycan community. It was safe there. 

"Seriously, Darren! I want to go back." I snapped at him when he continued to pull be along behind him without responding to my comments. I couldn't understand what the hell was wrong with him but something wasn't right.  I tried to pull my hand from his grip but with my current lack of strength it seemed impossible, "Let me go." 

He spun around and I let out a petrified scream, whoever I was staring at was not my brother. It's skin was a pale grey color and the whites of it's eyes were completely eaten up by darkness. It opened it's mouth in a wide grin that showed rows of sharp, mangled teeth. I wasted no time trying to pry myself from the creatures grip only have it pull me close enough that I could smell the stench of it's breath as it rolled over my cheek. 

My magic hummed low in my distress, wanting to protect me but without the charge it needed to do anything useful. I swung at the creature with my free hand with as much force as I could muster. My fist slammed into it's cheek, it's flesh felt like putty as I hit it--molding around my hand, absorbing my strike as if it were nothing. It hissed into my ear, a snake like tongue sliding over my cheek--tasting me. 

I held back the urge to gag, focusing on my struggle to get away from this bastard. I brought my knee up and landed a hit to it's stomach. That seemed to be a weak spot because it released me with a shriek and I landed on the ground, flat on my back. I felt the air as it rushed out of my lungs but I did my best to scramble backwards as I recovered from the fall, my body aching everywhere. 

It recovered faster than me, launching itself at me with a chest rattling hiss. I kicked out my leg and caught it in the face. When I went to pull my leg back for another kick it grabbed my ankle, holding me captive. I watched in horror as it's lips peeled back into a grin and it lowered it face to my leg, teeth sinking in deep. 

I cried out, white light sparking in front of my eyes at the sudden bombarding pain. I reached out for it blindly with my hands, digging my thumbs into it eye sockets in an attempt to force it to let go.  It pulled away from me with another shriek of pain. I blinked a couple of times as I tried to regain the function of my body through the pain. 

I jolted in surprise as a Lycan crashed through the trees, tearing the creature off of me, both of them snapping at each other like the wild beasts they were. This one was smaller than Anna and Alexei in size, and seemed slightly more feral. I scooted back quickly on the ground, not wasting time to tear my shirt to create something to keep myself from bleeding out. I tied the strip of fabric around my upper tight where the creature had tried to tear out a pound of my flesh. 

When I lifted my gaze again, the rust colored Lycan wrapped it's clawed hand around the beast neck, choking the life out of it. When it continued to struggle the beast stabbed it's other hand through the creatures chest. That seemed to do the trick, it's moments stilling entirely. 

I watched as the beast reformed into something more human, as face becoming more recognizable until finally I was staring at a young female not much older than myself. She moved towards me with confident steps, the wounds that she had taken during the fight, stitching themselves back together again. She had kind eyes that searched me over, "Are you okay?" Her voice is gentle and soft like she is afraid that I will break if she speaks to loud I'll break apart. 

I squeeze my wounded leg, "I'll survive I think." 

"We need to get you back to the community. Do you think you can walk?" She asked with concern in her eyes as she looked at the wound on my leg. I shifted my weight a little, trying to wiggle my foot. The pain lanced through me quick and sharp, that I had to suck in a harsh breath between my gritted teeth. 

"I don't think I'll be walking anytime soon." I replied in defeat. 

Another Lycan crashed through the trees, shifting into it's human form without a struggle.The male was large, blonde hair disheveled and blue eyes full of a silent rage as he turned in our direction, "Loren! Don't just run off like that without telling me what is happening or where you're going." He marched toward us with powerful strides. His eyes raked over the female, and she rolled her eyes as he checked her for any serious wounds. 

"I'm not the one you should be worried about Niklaus." She says in a whispered growl as she pulled herself away from him. 

When He glanced down at me his expression soft, "Druid, you are injured..." I forced myself to get over the shock that he hadn't called me a witch. He leaned over to assess the wrapped wound on my leg with a deep frown setting in on his face. His blue eyes roamed up to meet my gaze. An image of Alexei flashed through my mind, it was like he was staring back at me through this stranger. I shook my head, the blood loss and lack of necessities was getting to me. 

"I am going to carry you back to the community, there is no way you can walk." He leaned in closer to me, holding my gaze, "I am going to pick you up now." He warned and I braced myself as he scooped me up into his strong arms. I had to bite my tongue to keep from crying out from the pain the jostling had caused. They turned and started walking in the opposite direction I had been wandering for the past couple of days. 

"What attacked you?" Niklaus asked as he carried me through the trees. The red headed female hung close to his side, her eyes wandering around the trees with an alertness that showed she was ready if anything else should try to come for us. 

I leaned into the warmth of his body, "I think is was a skin walker." I didn't have much knowledge of all the beasts that roamed the earth, but I had been forced to read enough books during my training to recall most of them. 

"Skin walker?" Loren lifted a brow in confusion. 

"They are shape shifters like you, only they are cannibalistic. They usually function like a hive and less like a pack. They follow the rules of the queen or alpha or whatever..." As the words passed through my lips I realized with sickening clarity that the Skin walker must have been sent after me. Much like with the Zombie's that had attacked Darren and I. I was the one being targeted by the dark druid, there was something that they wanted from me. I just needed to figure out what it was and who they were. 

"That's disturbing." Loren commented with a disgusted look in her face. 

I sunk down in Niklaus' arms, "Yeah...it is..."  We passed through the tree line and the house came into view. I let out a small sigh of relief, the empty feeling that had been with me for the past couple of days was barely noticeable. 

"Poppy!" Darren yelled as he broke away from the group of bodies and charged towards me full speed, "Oh my god, what happened to you?" I tried not to flinch as he reached out for me, the memory of the skin-walker in his form was still fresh in my mind. Alexei was right behind him, closing the distance between us with his long legs.

"Skin-walker." Loren answered for me, noticing that my attention was somewhere entirely else. 

My eyes were completely focused on him, as if the three days away had me thirsting for him like I had been in the desert for years. The pull to be with him seemed to have grown, something inside of me screaming to be near him. That he would keep me safe while I was unable to do so myself. 

"Brother." He greeted Niklaus and I felt like an idiot for not having put that together from the moment I saw him, "Hand over my mate." There was no asking, this was a demand. I noticed the stiffness of his muscles and the darkness that lurked in his gaze. The air around the two of them seemed to clog up with tension and I had a feeling this was about to take another ugly turn. 

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Song: U Don't Know -- Alison Wonderland ft. Wayne