NOWHERE TO RUN

STREETS OF ZENARLI, VENDARYA.

No!" With a yell, Adriana grabbedthe long dagger of the fallen man beside her and threw caution to the wind, anger clouted her every move. Charging forward with the dagger held high, she swung her dagger at the leader of the gang and he parried her swipe to the side with the handle of the club in his hand and aimed a retaliatory kick at her, to which she sidestepped and re-enforced her dagger straight into the man's stomach before he could think to defend.

A roar escapes the leader's lips as Adriana wrenched out the dagger and kicked him aside,the leader clutching his bloodied wound. At that, a whistle-like sound nips past Adriana's ear, drawing blood before lodging in the wall in front of her...an arrow.

Adriana glanced up just in time to see an archer atop the building. So, that was their backup plan. But before the archer could aim another shot at her, she had grabbed the club from where it lay unmoving on the ground and sent it hurling at the archer. The club knocked his bow out of his hand, rendering him useless.

But Adriana had been too focused on one person and before she knew it, the guy with the axe, drove his heel in her back, with enough force to break her back... She fell face flat on the ground.

Water trickles down Adriana's face, blurring her vision of her captor and without a weapon, she couldn't think to fight four men single-handedly. Where was Kali?

A warm rough hand swiped down her face, the water droplets on her face clear, blinking her eyes, she spots Kali, handled by two men holding him down, his hand behind his back, face pressed against the wet ground. The rain was stopping, but the winds were picking up...too fast for her liking.

A light tap under her chin draws her attention to a pair of almond-shaped eyes staring at her with a malicious glint in them.

" Your king wants you home and you are here doing what?" Her captor begins, looking at Kali. "Playing with lover boy?" The man said with a sneer.

Your king? That must mean... Damianos. Adriana guessed her eyes widening.

'No! I can't return to Antioch, after everything.'

The man whistled and a rope gets tossed from the building down. It fell some meters away from Kali and the bounty hunter moves to grab the rope.

As grabbed the rope and began making knots, he tied Adriana's arms and was about to tie her legs, when he stopped still. The air stilled and thunder cracked in the air, a resonating rumble in the air. A fiery sensation crept through the cold winds, instantly causing cold sweat to break from his head.

The feeling was not lost on only the bounty hunter, Adriana could feel it too and she had no doubt the others were feeling it too. The aura in the air was threatening, suffocating. Something was happening... Someone was coming.

Fear gripped Adriana full in the chest and her breath hitched, her chest rising and falling at an unsteady tempo. Suddenly, the thunder cracked like a whip and a thin vertical streak of blue appeared some meters where the bounty hunter stood, suspended in space... a cut in space.

The streak of blue pulled apart on each side, opening up, a blood-red luminant light source residing inside the streak. The energy in the air thickened and a strong gust of wind blew.

Who was coming? Who was here? Could it be Anlai?

Adriana stood transfixed, staring at the warp in space. The feeling it gave off was electric, for some reason her body craved the feeling. It felt so warm and dangerous and yet so cozy.

And Anlai was anything but cozy... So what was happening?

The streak soon blared brighter and a foreign entity warped out, the streak disappearing behind him. Black inky skin that pulsed all over, emerald golden eyes that glowed, black hair the color of darkness itself, highlighted by white streaks on its head. Wisps of red smoke smoothed themselves all over its skin...it felt magnetic.

Everyone stared transfixed at it for some seconds, as the blue portal disappeared leaving the entity behind. Suddenly emerald green eyes dart to the side as if sensing something, and his eyes widened considerably.

"You!" The stranger exclaimed and began moving towards Adriana, only to be obstructed by the leader who reached out.

" Watch it, we came here f-" But the words died in his mouth, burning with the rest of his body, the eyes of the stranger glowed brighter and fire erupted from his hands swallowing the gang leader's hands to ash. Ignoring the screams, the mysterious entity approached Adriana.

Fear lodged itself in Adriana's throat and she gasps. Did he just-... The other hunters triedto help but they share the same fate.

" Need help" The stranger stands in front of Adriana with an arm outstretched.

Adriana couldn't believe her eyes, standing in front of her was a being from supernatural folklore... A demon.