I sat in silence, my bow at the ready. He knew I was there, I was sure of it. I moved silently and swiftly to the next tree branch. His head jerked up as I landed. I instantly froze. My eyes locked with his, and sent a shiver throughout my body, despite the layers of clothes I had on.
“Found you Lala,” he said, a smile playing on his lips. He drew back his own bow swiftly, and fired at me. I leaped out of the way like quicksilver. Green paint splattered the tree trunk about the branch I had just been on.
“Ha! Your too slow Tutu!” I shouted down from my new position behind him.
“D***.” Was all he got out as he turned and my arrow hit his chest. Red paint splattered on his upper chest and face as he fell to the forest floor. I jumped down form my position, my bow slung on my back, grinning.
“You just had to cheat didn’t ya Lyric? Just had to go up into a d*** tree.” Archer said, picking himself up off the ground.
I pulled a leaf out of his hair, “Yes Archer, I did. You know I hate playing fair.” I replied ruffling his hair. He swatted my hand away.
“Well try once in awhile. You always win when your up in the air.” Archer said, sulking away.
“Remember how we got our nicknames?” I asked, trying to change the subject.
“How could I forget? It’s the most embarrasing nickname ever.” Archer replied.
Me and Archer had been best friends for as long as I can remember. When we were 15, we entered a talent show in our town. He was forced into ballet by his mom when he was younger, so he danced in a tutu in front of the whole town. Hence the nickname being Tutu, for him. Me, on the other hand, I had to sing. Yeah, my name being Lyric, it was ironic. I had sung a song by an old Irish group nobody had heard of. Archer started calling me Lala because I sing almost all the time now.
“That was a fun talent show, don’t you agree?” I asked, stopping in front of him. He stopped walking.
“I do.” He replied, looking away quickly as his face turned a deep crimson.
“What?”
“Nothing Lala. Just nevermind.” Archer said, shaking his head. “It’s not important.”
“Yes it is. Come on tell Tutu. You know I won’t stop bugging you unless you tell me.” I replied poking his red-splattered chest.
“Alright, alright. Yes it was fun, because that was the day I fell in love with you.”
I stood there in shock. My mouth dropped open and I stared at him in awe. Archer in love with me? I didn’t expect him to ever feel like that.
“Lala?” His face was lined with worry. “Lyric,” he grabbed my waist, “answer me. Say something, anything.”
“I…” I tried to think of what to say, but found that nothing came to mind. My mind was too busy going through all my memories of us through the years.
“Lyric, are you ok? I know I should’ve told you sooner, but I figured after everything that’s happened, you knew.” His hands were still on my waist, and he was looking at my eyes, trying to judge my reaction.
“Could you please move your hands?” I asked quietly. His hands, instead of moving off my waist, went around to my back, and he moved closer.
“Better Lyric?” He smiled as he said this.
“Archer, I—” I was cut off as his lips crashed against mine. It surprised me to the point that I was thrown off balance, and started to fall backwards. His arms caught me, and pulled me closer to him. I tried pulling away, but he had my arms pinned to my sides. I tried moving my head away, nad okne of his overly-sharp teeth hit my lip, which of course, made it start bleeding.
“Ow! D***it!” I cried out in pain. He immediately let go.
“Oops. I’m so—” he trailed off. He was staring at my lip. I knew that look, it was his “want” look. Then it clicked in my head, he wanted MY blood. I quickly put my hand over my mouth.
“Archer no. Fight it. You know how it’ll end if your caught.” I had know for quite sometime that he liked blood, and he could usually control himself, but I was unsure about that self-control now.
“Lyric, run. If you knew any better, you’d run.” Archer said in a voice that sounded in pain.
“No.” Was all I said, and then it happened. Before I knew it, I was on the ground, with Archer on top of me, hunger in his eyes.
“You should’ve ran while you had the chance Lala. This is gonna hurt, I’m sorry.”
“I can handle it Tutu.” I replied. Then I felt the pain. It was a sharp, hot, pain in my wrist. Then it moved to my neck. I couldn’t tell if it was me or him, but one of us moaned. My eyes opened suddenly, I sensed someone watching. As I opened my eyes, I heard a gasp of recognition, I saw Archer’s best friend Ronin, move from the trees.
“Ronin.” Was that my voice? It sounded so delicate and weak.
“Get off of her Archer! Your killing her!” Ronin roared, and the pain in my neck lessened.
I saw Ronin dash towards me and Archer, at full speed. He crashed into Archer, knocking him off of me. I heard a growl come from Archer as they both got up.
“Ronin. Stay out of this, it’s not any of your buisness.”
“The f*** it isn’t Archer. You said you had this under control. It sure as h*** don’t look like it.” Ronin screamed, pointing at me. I struggled to get up and stand. Ronin looked p*ssed as he stared Archer down. Archer took a glance at me, and pain played across his face.
“Archer, it’s ok.” I said quietly.
“No, don’t say that Lyric. It’s far from ok.” Ronin said, moving towards Archer.
“Ronin, stop.” My voice gave out. It hurt to talk. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Archer move towards Ronin. As they advanced on each other, I moved towards the middle of them.
“Archer, this ends here. I won’t let you hurt anyone else.” Ronin said, taking a fighting stance.
“I won’t be the one losing Ronin. We both know who will win.” Archer countered.
“I will win.” I whispered to myself, as I stepped between their paths, and suddenly, the world went black.

To be continued………