Natalie pulled away, and seeing that he wasn’t holding on to her she turned and began to run, trying to get away from him. In her fear, she ran right back into the hole he had just saved her from. Axle reached over and grabbed her arm, stopping her from falling, then placing her gently on the ground next to the hole.
“It isn’t safe here,” he said.
She seemed to understand, and she rushed for the cable she had used to rappel down into the cave. Axle stood and watched as she climbed out of the cave quickly, out of breath once she was on the outside. She abandoned the rope and began running down to her car.
Axle listened from where he stood in the cave, and then walked over to her camera and picked it up, deleting all of the images she had taken of the place.
Then he hopped out of the hole and made his way toward her car, which was already speeding toward the highway, in the hopes of getting as far away from there as possible.
Axle pulled out his phone and called Levi, hearing the sound of a cartoon playing in the background.
“Hey man, what’s up? Find anything?” Levi asked.
“No, not yet…” Axle replied as he ran through the woods, heading for his motorcycle. “But there might be a bit of a problem with the woman.”
Levi paused. “Are you running?”
“Yeah, chasing after her right now. Uhm, so she sorta saw me, in the caves,” Axle said as he got on his motorcycle.
“Saw you?” Levi asked, moving out of the room so his son wouldn’t hear. “You said you would handle it, you would take her back to her place.”
“I did that, and somehow she didn’t buy it. She went back to the caves, and I followed her to make sure she didn’t get hurt. And she almost did, and I had to save her. She saw me use my powers, and I have no idea what she’s going to do.”
Axle sped through the street, his eyes locked on Natalie’s headlights as she sped down the street. “Look, what now? I mean, I can’t deny what I did, but how do I get her to keep quiet about this? Humans aren’t supposed to know about our existence, so…”
Levi let out a breath. “Look, they’re not supposed to, but when they do, we have to make sure they don’t talk about it. Figure out how to make her quiet, no matter what. If she starts trying to expose us, that would be bad. We have to remain in the shadows. Bingwen is a human, and he knows about us, so you have to make it work.”
“Can’t he do a spell that’ll make her forget?” Axle asked as he parked his bike down the street, watching as Natalie brought her vehicle to a screeching halt in front of her home.
“If he could do that, we wouldn’t have a lot of the problems we have today,” Levi replied. “Axle, we have to take care of this, so please don’t make me come all the way there for something this small, okay?”
“Well, I was calling so big bro could come handle it. But thanks for the advice, I think I can do this one all by myself.” Axle looked at the building, listening to the sound of Natalie running into her bedroom. “What’s the word on Bingwen, does he know where to find me?”
“Are you kidding? He was a hunter before he started working with us, he’ll find you. Just take care of this. I gotta go, Lyra needs help with Adam,” Levi replied.
“Aye, say hey to the little man for me.”
As the call ended, Axle put the phone away and ran a hand through his hair. He had no idea how he was going to handle this, but he had an idea that could work.
“Natalie Clements, you’re going to thank me for this, cause I’m saving you a lot of trouble right now.”
Chapter 3 - Natalie
Natalie felt like her mind was splintering into a million pieces. She slammed on the brakes as she got to the driveway. She got out of the vehicle and rushed into the house, locking the door behind her and slumping to the ground.
The monster had been there, in the cave, and it had saved her life for some reason. Natalie shook her head, amazed that she had been so close to him.
She looked at her ankle, rubbing the spot where she had been grabbed when she fell into the hole. “I’m fine, I’m totally fine…I just…”
She shook her head. Nothing made sense to her. No matter how much she tried to make sense of this, she just couldn’t.
How had a man thrown her over his head with a single arm as she fell? They were both midair, and he had grabbed her, throwing her backwards. She was plus-sized, and that made the task near impossible for even the strongest weight lifter. But the man had done it without breaking a sweat, saving her from the fall.
Natalie got to her feet and made for the kitchen, looking to get a drink of water. She had to calm herself somehow, maybe call Eric and let him know about the madness. As she grabbed a glass, her hand trembled as she held it under the sink. She drank the first glass, and then looked at the bracelet on her arm again, wondering what it had to do with anything. She hadn’t had the bracelet until she had gone into the cave, and now she couldn’t get rid of it.
As she stared at it, a thought sent shivers down her spine and made her freeze. If the man who had saved her was the same one who had brought her back to her home, it meant that he knew exactly where she lived, and he could be at her home at any moment.
She rushed to the windows and peered out, looking at the cars parked outside. It was still early evening, a bunch of people were jogging and walking around the neighborhood. She spotted an old woman across the street walking her dog, but nothing seemed to stand out.