Chapter 17

"Renee can you tell me more about these monsters?" Layan was standing next her as they looked towards the forest and the gathering shadows as the sun started to set.

She looked over at him slowly, no one was quite sure what to make of this handsome stranger who came from nowhere and was dressed like an ancient warrior from history. Renee could feel a strength coming from him which she had never experienced before.

It was not something she was completely comfortable with. She had not said much to him just watched as he helped with the preparations for the coming night. He had made suggestions for their camp which seemed like good ideas. Like making more small fires outside the circle to give a greater range of light.

"If it bothers you to talk about them, I can ask the others. I was told you have been closer than anyone else who had survived contact with them. I hoped you got a decent look at them. Any information will help me know how to fight them?" Layan continued after she did not answer his first question.

"Sorry I was just thinking about something else. The monsters are hard to see clearly. It's like they are covered by the darkness. They seem to be solid, but they look like shifting shadows. I don't really know what to call them. The one who grabbed my Jake left deep claw wounds on his arm, so they have sharp claws. When they attack each night, we do our best to keep them out of the circle of fire. Some manage to snatch people despite the fires though, so I don't think the light hurts them they just don't like it." Renee spoke calmly despite the unpleasant memories the talk brought up.

Layan listened quietly waiting until she finished to speak "Did Jake get a better look at it when it grabbed him?"

"You will not question my son" Renee's voice turned hard at the mention of Jake. She looked up into Layan's eyes with a fierce gaze, a hint of madness in her eyes.

"Ok, Ok I won't ask him anything, I was not planning on it anyway." Layan looked at the woman and could see that the black energy flared slightly when she thought there was a threat to her son.

'The corruption must have linked to her emotions somehow. I guess that makes sense from what I was told she woke to her power while protecting her son.' Layan studied the woman. She was about five-foot three and maybe fifty Kgs when wet. She was no beauty with her eyes a bit sunken and a weak chin. She had an intensity to her which made her stand out. The fierce look was enough to give anyone pause, and her eyes blazed with inner fire.

Layan looked out to the deepening shadows for a time then looked back at the piles of wood that were gathered into the middle of the huddled group of people. There was enough wood for the night Layan had help by gathering large logs which had shocked the others.

There was nothing else he could do to prepare for the fight. Those who could fight had gathered long branches which they could use as makeshift spears over the fires. They numbered twenty-two of the group who still had enough in them to fight. They spaced themselves around the rest in a loose circle standing behind the large ring of firewood as Renee went around the circle of wood concentrating her heat as she lit the fire.

The shadows underneath the trees began to shift and move in unnatural ways as the sun finally slipped below the horizon. The world shrunk down to the ring of light surrounding the last survivors of Ben's hollow.