Bleeding Heart 77 Close Call

She struggled to keep her eyes open and was failing. It did not feel natural to her. But she could not shake it off.

She could not even move as her consciousness was slipping away.

Through her barely still open eyes, she saw a shape approaching her. A male, skinny, and dressed in rags that trailed from his body.

He stood over her and raised a long knife that gleamed in the moonlight. Dawn's alarm bells rang off in her head and it managed to make her wake up just a little before the drowsiness pulled her back in.

She was helpless to defend herself.

As the knife plunged towards her, suddenly the man was jerked backward.

In surprise he dropped the knife, as a low deep voice growled out, "Caught you." The voice was strangely familiar to Dawn, yet different at the same time. No longer filled with good cheer it now just sounded ridiculously pleased with itself.

"How-?" Dawn could barely make out that her attacker's eyes had widened. "Everyone in a twenty-foot radius should be under my spell."

"Heh. You must be pretty full of yourself thinking you could get me to fall victim to that lousy spell. Don't make me laugh." As he spoke the now very c.o.c.ky sounding boy lifted up the adult man and slammed him against a tree. "Few enchantments work against me, little one. And no sleep spell could ever hope to even make me even slightly drowsy."

The man struggled against his grip, "L-let me go. Why do you even care about these outlanders! It doesn't give you anything."

"Nor would it give me anything to just watch you slit their throats and rob their corpses. And you are wrong about that anyway. I was born to protect, and every time I serve my purpose I stave off my own cursed blood's effect. So, what does it matter if I do not know them very well, what if they are only outsiders. You attacked them, and my body reacts instinctively." A silence and then his whispered tone, "Now, what shall I do with you?"

"Let me go! I won't do it again." He struggled, "How are you this strong?"

"I don't trust you." The words were chilling as he dragged the taller ragged man away, "Murder should have the death penalty… and I doubt this was your first attempt."

Dawn was shrugging off the effects of the sleep when she heard the strangled yelp as if something's neck had just been wrung. She turned and looked at Raven who looked as bewildered as she was.

They said nothing as they looked at each other and then she heard footsteps and turned to look as their guest came back.

Only he was different than he had been. If it wasn't for his clothes and the fact that his general features were the same, she would not have been sure that it was even the same person.

His hair was now blood red, while his eyes were a cold blue. His lips hooked up into a c.o.c.ky grin. He looked at them and then huffed a little, "You two okay?"

"Yes, thank you." She was not sure what else to say. She was semi-used to being around someone who could change their looks, but this struct her different than how Arrion did it. "Why do you look different?"

"I said that it depended on the day on who I am… this is the reason," The tone was clipped, almost short, "I have no control over it either, not yet anyway."

"I see." She was confused by his sudden s.h.i.+ft in behavior as well. He seemed more closed off now. Less open.

Suddenly she saw those blue eyes widen. "I would love to stay and play more with you all, but I really must be going. Duty calls." He bowed and then a few arcane words left his mouth and he completely dissolved into a mist that reflected the light of the moon into s.h.i.+mmering colors.

The mist rose and left, speeding over the tops of the trees.

"What just happened?" Dawn asked Raven, who shrugged.

"I think someone just tried to kill us, we were saved by an abnormal teen, who just decided to up and leave. But I could be wrong." His face was perfectly straight as he said this but she had the feeling he wanted to laugh.

Dawn decided not to dwell to much on it. Nix'Ryl was a strange place and there was more than one strange person that made their home in it. But that boy had been stronger than she had thought he was.