Chapter 243 - The Taste of Blood (1/2)

He was ready, so why couldn't he find the damn cave? It was frustrating to no end, circling through the woods and around the meadow and coming up with no results. He'd been positive that this was exactly what Surai had meant before she promptly disappeared. He'd known where all his problems started, so it made sense that that was exactly where they were supposed end.

Yet no matter how many times he circled, there was no cave.

Rassa paused in the centre of the meadow, frustrated to no end. He sat down, the lay back on the grass, looking up at the dark sky above him. He was ready to leave. Ready to leave this part of himself behind. What more did he have to prove?

There was a rustle in the grass to the side, and Rassa turned his head, spying a little white rabbit foraging on the edge of the meadow. His mind flashed back to that moment so long ago when he had waited on the edge of the meadow, waited for the right moment to run out so he could catch that same rabbit. Just a game. He'd only been a boy playing a game.

It couldn't be that simple, could it?

Rassa lifted himself so that his feet were beneath him and steady to the ground as he squatted low, peering over the grass at the rabbit. He made a slow move forward, then a stick crunched beneath his boot. The rabbit's ears perked up as it froze, it sniffed the air, turning. Rassa darted forward as soon as the rabbit moved into the tree line.

He followed it past trees and up a small incline, only to watch it disappeared into the dark shadow that swallowed all light.

The cave.

Rassa refused to feel either relief or excitement though as he stared at it, he only opened his mouth to repeat what he'd said back then, ”Digs? Was there always a cave here?”

Rassa turned to the side where a mist like substance seemed to clump together, a young Diggory standing beside him as he too stared into the dark shadows of the cave.

”Who cares, someone has to go and get that rabbit,” he said.

”We're passed the boundary line, we should go back,” Rassa fell deeper into the memory with ease, ”The game is over when the rabbit passes the boundary, remember?”

”But it's right in there, you saw it disappear too!” Diggory grunted, ”We're barely a few metres passed the boundary, look, you can still see the edge of the meadow! Go on, I dare you to go and get the rabbit”.

”But the game is-”

”What, are you scared?” asked Diggory.

He'd questioned it back then, why Dig was acting so haughtily. Now he realised why. He was just as scared, of course he was, but there was something else here influencing what was said. Like Diggory was always supposed to challenge Rassa like that. Like Rassa was supposed to go into that cave.

”Fine, Dig,” Rassa spoke, sure of it this time, ”I'll get the rabbit, then we can all go back to the village together”.

Rassa didn't wait for a reply, turning and marching towards the entrance of the cave.

It was just as dark as he remembered, just as pitch black and haunting. He felt himself pause inside the entrance, and the mist concentrated before him again, the only thing lighting the darkness as his young self stepped forward, finding the rabbit, dead and bloody at his feet. Rassa felt the dread wash over him like it had then, only this time his eyes didn't widen in fear. He knew what was in the cave this time. Knew it and felt it.

A deep rumble disturbed the eerie silence of the cave, and the little Rassa shot to his feet. He turned, sprinting past Rassa towards the exit of the cave, he tripped, picked himself up in a scrambling fear, then proceeded to pound on the solid wall of the entrance, screaming for help.

The shadows shot out from the cave past Rassa to the little figure made from mist, and proceeded to drag him through the air deep down into the cave.

”Let me go!”

”Oh little one...you've barely had a chance to be welcomed...please, come on in”.

The chuckle echoed and faded, then Rassa took a deep breath, and followed the apparitions down into the dark cave.

It didn't take him long to find the echoing cavern he'd been held aloft in by all those vampiric spirits. It was empty this time, the voices around him mere memories of what had happened here.

”Such a valuable specimen...”