Author's Note

WARNING! It's best to read this in Dark mode!

Is it back? Well no duh! Admittedly it will still be a while until the next arc is finally fucking out, but hey, major plot points had to be tweaked, ya know? Thankfully not redone, though. That woulda been a fucking nightmare.

Regardless, hope you all enjoy this little teaser!

-Timeless

??? - Dear Hunter: Blood or Water?

You have mistaken

The stars reflected in the pond at night

For the sky.

You have mistaken

Blood

For water.

I don't know where I was. I remembered falling asleep while staring up at the moonlit sky, and then...here. An endless expanse of extremely shallow water.

Above me was the same sky, still, but the moon was gone, and chimes, harps, and eerie droning filled it's airs, a solitary star of blue outshining all others. Below me was fire, screams, and blood. And within both were two heartbeats, so loud yet so calm that I knew they weren't mine. For a moment I thought this had something to do with my faith, with Heaven and Hell, God and the Devil.

But when that incandescent blue star somehow gained a feral, growling, fanged maw, and I looked down to see the flames gain an abhorrent eye-mouth that licked itself... I knew it wasn't God or the Devil.

But what it was I didn't know.

I tried to run, but while I didn't fall through the water, I didn't go anywhere either. I needed to find somewhere to hunker down, to form a plan, but there was nothing here. Only fear, water, flames, and the eeriness of the sky above. I soon realized something else.

I couldn't hear my own heart.

The two mouths spoke as I doubled my speed.

"You seek..." The Stars began, echoing with voices more numerous than any stars in any sky.

"You hunt..." The Flames accompanied, sounding as if it came from beneath the earth.

"But you neither find..."

"Nor catch..."

My blood turned to ice at their next, combined words.

"That which you could never obtain."

Gritting my teeth and shaking myself back into composure, I stopped running, trying to look for something, anything I could use to help me in this situation.

"You have mistaken," The Flames continued, seeming to chortle, the action causing the water to heat up.

"The stars reflected in the pond at night," The Stars added, taking on a chiding, almost castrating tone, causing the air around me to chill.

"For the sky." The Flames licked their eyelid/lips audibly.

"You have mistaken," The Stars started to growl, eliciting a wind like that of a blizzard, forcing me to hug myself for the warmth that was being stolen.

"Blood," The Flames barked, as if amused, causing the water to ripple, boil, and hiss with heat, forcing me to hop from toe to toe for the calm that was taken.

"For Water." The Stars snapped, and suddenly, my mind felt like it was pierced with an icy-hot spear, and blackness took me.

I woke up sweating in the snow, gasping for breath as I shot up from the ground, holding my pounding heart. I looked around hastily, trying to stay alert, to see if anything had somehow managed to make it up the mountain and reach into my head.

Nothing.

Shooting to my feet, I shifted my shape, and searched the perimeter of my house thoroughly. No new scents. No new tracks. Only the smells that had been left after Angel departed, and while I was in the house last.

I shifted back, my heart stilling it's rapid thumping and my mind calming as I took a breath. "Just a dream..." I said with relief as I walked back into my home. "Next time I'll make sure to sleep inside..." I vowed as I closed my door behind me.

I didn't notice the far eastern mountain range briefly gleam red. I didn't notice a single, saphire star twinkle just a bit more brightly.

And I could never shake the fear that dream gave me after that night. The fear of being Hunted again.