WHISPERS IN THE DARK

CHAPTER 4

Inside the building, Jace stood quietly without moving. All he could hear was his heartbeat and the footsteps that scratched against the wooden floor above him. He raised his pistol and made a move, watching every corner that dared to breathe with shadow.

His boot suddenly struck a metal door on the floor, hidden under dust. An entrance to somewhere beneath the house. Jace's gut told him not to open it.

Just before he could take another step, something dark was standing right behind him.

He turned quickly and raised his gun. But all he saw was nothing but emptiness.

Suddenly, just when he turns back to the metal door below, enormous hands with claws, gripped his throat and raised him from the floor.

The pistol fell from his hand as he tries to grab the iron fingers choking him. He kicked and struggled, his boots sliding against the wall for support. But his vision blurred.

With all his strength, his hand grabbed the handle of his combat knife. He pulled it out and stabbed upward into the creature's eye.

The figure staggered back, half-human and half-beast. It's pale skin stretched too tight over it's bones as it's scream shattered the windows.

Jace fell hard to the ground, breathing heavily. Immediately, he snatched up his gun and rolled toward the metal door below.

He opened the metal door and pulled out a grenade from his belt, while the creature leapt toward Jace.

Without hesitation, he tossed it and dove headfirst into the underground.

The metal door slammed shut as the explosion ripped the house above apart.

Jace landed hard on cold floor, his knees screaming with pain. He stood up quickly pointing his Weapon toward the ceiling. But there was no sound of the beast, only smoke and dust filtered down through the cracks.

Jace took some time to breath for a minute, but it didn't last a minute immediately he heard footsteps, again. One that moved slowly like a human.

The echo filled the corridor ahead, calm as if whoever it was owned this place. It didn't sound like a monster shifting, or a prey running.

Jace leaned against the wall and raised his Weapon.

"Who's there?" He barked. But the weight of the silence that followed pressed into his chest.

Suddenly, a soft laughter came out of nowhere.

"You've come far, soldier," the voice said. "Farther than the others."

"Show yourself!" Jace ordered.

The shadows shifted, and a figure covered in a black tattered priest's robes with a bone mask hiding it's face, emerged.

In one hand, it carried a latern that burned with pale fire. And on the other, was a stack of weathered papers, the same he'd seen scattered across the rooftop building, but outside Creek Falls.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Jace asked.

The mask priest stood for a moment, watching him. "You seek the girl, aren't you?"

Jace raised his weapon higher. "Where is she?"

The figured suddenly bursted into laughter, tapping the papers against his palm.

"What's so funny?" Jace asked angrily, keeping his gun up.

"She is alive, desired, promised, and Creek Falls will never let her go as it does to everyone of us." The mask priest said.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jace asked.

Suddenly, the lantern on the masked priest's hand, revealed blood symbols, twisting as if they were alive.

Jace's breath quickened, until the symbols suddenly vanished.

"What was that all about?" He asked.

"You still don't understand, do you?" The masked priest asked, whispering. "Creek Falls is not a town, but a threshold. And Ana is the key."

The voice suddenly dropped, guttural now. "You think you came hunting her. But the moment you stepped into Creek Falls... you became prey."

The latern flared, and whispers poured from the walls, the floor, the ceiling. Thousands of voices murmuring Ana's name, clawing into Jace's ears.

He turns round, aiming his gun across the darkness. But there was nothing other than whispers and the masked priest that stood perfectly still.

Suddenly, the whispers vanished, and Jace pointed his gun back at the masked priest.

The figure leaned closer toward Jace's gun barrel.

"She waits for you, soldier. Creek Falls will decide if you live or die trying to save her." The masked priest said, while the shadows swallowed him whole, leaving only the bone mask clattering to the ground.

Jace's heart pounded with fear, confused with what had just happened. And for the third time in a row, footsteps, occurred again.

"You gotta be kidding me." Jace muttered, pointing his pistol forward.

This time, it sounded quicker as if something or someone was running away from him.

Jace didn't understand what the masked priest meant about Ana waiting for him. And that alone got him thinking if those footsteps where Ana's.

"Ana?" He whispered.

The footsteps hesitated, as if it heard Jace's voice, then ran into the maze.

Without thinking, Jace ran after the footsteps, as Malvoryn's words filled his mind.

'Her blood is the key. Her heart the candle. Her soul the offering.'

The footsteps led him through alleys that bent back into themselves, corridors that made no sense, shadows that beat like living veins. But, no matter how fast he ran, they remained just ahead, unreachable.

Jace stopped running when the road divided. On the left, darkness swallowed the alley, while on the right, lanterns lit untouched houses on the right.

The sound of the footsteps, also divided into twos, identical.

"That's not possible..." Jace muttered, while the whispers returned.

"Bring her screaming. Her blood the key. Her heart the candle. Her soul the offering."

The left alley twisted with shadows, shapes stirring inside. The right path echoed with girlish laughter.

He stood confused. Choosing the wrong part could mean losing Ana forever.

"Think, Jace... think." He said, and steadied his Weapon.

Running out of ideas of what part to take, silence came. And from behind him, something strange whispered his name.

It wasn't the masked priest or Malvoryn. It was something else.

"Jaaace..."

Hearing his name in this cursed city, made his blood freeze.

He turned quickly raising his gun. But... nothing.

Then, all around him, the footsteps returned. Hundreds of them running circles as if the city itself mocked him in the dark.