Twist of Love

"I wasn't born like this!" James Walker cried out.

"I was turned!"

James Walker is a reporter working for the Bailey County TV station in Texas. He has been working with the Bailey County TV station for over a year. His dreams of becoming the award-winning reporter of the year are about to be shattered.

He was captured by a mob of creatures dressed in hooded cloaks. They waved flaming torches and threaten to burn him alive. The poor reporter was tied to a stake. He's tired of struggling to free himself after they injected him with a substance that makes him feel weak.

Just a month ago, he was returning from work late in the night. His car broke down in the wooded area. Before he could get help, a beastly-looking creature with hair all over pounced on his car. The creature has fangs in place of teeth. Claws in place of fingers. Before James Walker could flick around to run, the creature snarled at him. Pounced on him and buried his fangs in his chest aiming for the aorta.

He cried for help but no one heard him. He began losing his breath as the creature feasted on him. His limb went limp. To him, that was the end of the road for him. 'There's no escaping death this time,' he said in his heart. This is not his car skidding off the road and running into a truck. This is a reality. His life is coming to an end.

However, his worries and thoughts about dying didn't become a reality. The following morning, he woke up in a hospital. He tried to move but the nurse held him down. 'It will be unwise,' she told him.

'Where am I?' he asked.

He thought he was in the world beyond. There's no way he could have survived such an attack from a hairy creature like that. He needed to be sure he was in the hospital. The life support machine was beeping but that didn't serve his curiosity.

'You are at St. Thomas's Hospital,' she told him.

After the nurse was gone, he removed the oxygen pipe and teetered to the toilet inside his private ward. At this time, he wasn't feeling any pain. He wondered what type of painkiller the nurse has used on him. He slowly began to remove the bandage around his chest. To his horrific surprise, there was no scratch on him. No bite mark. He has completely healed as though nothing happened to him. He thought the incident in the wooded area was a nightmare. Perhaps he has woken up from it.

He draws closer to the mirror affixed to the wall. As he stared into the mirror, his eyes glowed blue. 'What the hell!' he cried out drawing closer to have a good look. He wasn't hallucinating. He opens his mouth to speak but caught a glimpse of fangs in place of teeth. Fear gripped him. He draws away with haste and moves to the corner of the toilet sobbing and wondering what has happened to him.

Tied to a stake, all that was going through his mind was if he could survive death as he did when attacked by a beastly creature. The substance he was injected with is making him feel weak and dizzy.

"Spare me please," he mutters under his breath.

One of the hooded creatures moved closer to him. He stood beside the stake. Removing his hood, the pale red-looking skin was revealed. Its red eyes were so terrifying. The creature has scars on its face. He unsheathed its sword and waved it threateningly at the face of James Walker. "You want us to spare you when your kind never spares mine!" roared the creature.

James Walker recalled how he escaped from the hospital after he noticed the changes in his body. He wasn't sure what he has gotten himself into this time. The creatures are not showing any pity for him. They just want to see him suffer before they could torch him to death. No idea where he was.

He could see a gallow before him and a castle-like structure that looks old and abandoned. His surrounding looks like a wooded area but no idea of where exactly he is. He could hear the birds sing and the spooky sounds of the woods. His eyes were slowly closing but he needed to be awake. Whatever was injected into him is more deadly than he could imagine. James' eyes are dim but he could see some of the creatures on horses back.

"Whatever it is, we can work it out please." He barely spoke.

"Please...have mercy..."

"Warlocks kill werewolves not show mercy!" roared the creature with red pale skin.

On hearing this, James Walker made up his mind to accept his fate. He had no idea where he was. He only woke up to the angry chants of those in hooded cloaks waving flaming torches. He has no idea how he got here. It's now clear to him that what's happening is real and not a nightmare.

Who can save him from this? Who is it that would mourn him when he's gone? He had no one. He's just an orphan who manages to swim through the oceans of life alone. No girlfriend that could kiss him goodbye from this world of shit. He's alone and no one will even notice he's gone.

One of the creatures moved closer to the stake, "It's time."

The creatures echoed chants of joy. Their torches are ready to set him ablaze. None of the creatures pitied him. Warlocks do not pity werewolves. That's what they are and as for James Walker, he will burn!

"In the glory of the Warlock Lord, Gulux, I Xius sentences you to death."

The voices of the horses disrupted James' thoughts as he stared into the face of death. He realized that his cries for mercy are in vain. There was no sense of guilt or even pity in Xius' red eyes.

James' fate has been sealed. He's not going to be an award-winning reporter after all. The beastly hairy creatures that attacked him have ruined his life and now he's about to die for being a werewolf. He didn't ask for it nor did he want to be in this mysterious place.

James Walker struggled in vain, writhing in terror. He desperately wants to free himself from the stake but he couldn't because whatever was injected into him had rendered him weak and he couldn't even rip the rope he was tied with.

Xius sheathed his sword and took the flaming torch in his right hand. With evil in his eyes, he lowered the torch, bringing it close to the pile of leaves and firewood under James' feet. The fire plunges its fiery tongue into the soft human flesh of James Walker and this time, he will not escape death.

The rest of the warlocks watched in silence as Xius plunged the burning torch into the pile of firewood beneath James' feet. James cried in agonizing pain as the flames engulfed his feet.

It was an excruciating pain. James kept screaming out loud. His screams can be heard from a far distance.

The warlocks burst into laughter at the sound of James' screams. "Die werewolf!" they said. "Die!"

Xius stared at James Walker with no sign of pity. He was enjoying what is happening to James and so are the rest of the warlocks.

"Stop this, I want him alive!" a voice escaped from behind the gallow.

Xius swirled with his gaze drawn towards the gallow where the voice came from. It was a female's voice. He sneered on seeing a hooded lady walk out from behind the gallow. "Remove your hood," Xius ordered.

"I don't take orders from warlocks."

"Then get ready to die!" Xius unsheathed his sword. Raising it, he ordered the two warlocks next to him to seize the mysterious lady and bring her to her knees before him.

Before the creatures could carry Xius' order, the mysterious lady moved one and half times faster than the theoretical maximum for a human speed. She moved faster than the eyes can see. She flings the two creatures.

Staring down at Xius, she removed her hood. "You wanted to see my face." She smirked to herself displaying her canine teeth that are extra pointy and extra sharp. "Put out the fire. I won't say it again."

"I don't take orders from you." Xius snarled.

"Very well then," said the mysterious lady as she moved faster than the eyes could see. She knocked down one of the warlocks from the horse and held him firmly under her grip. She sank her pointy fangs into the warlocks' chest aiming for the aorta which is the largest blood vessel of all.

Enraged with the mysterious lady's action, the warlocks have her surrounded with their swords all drawn out.

"I can do this all night," she said wiping her lips off the blood of the first warlock she just killed. "Who is next?" she grinned.

"Kill her!" Xius roared.

Xius haven't witnessed anyone as ruthless as the lady standing over the corpses of his comrades. Before they could carry out his order to kill her, she moved faster than the eyes could see ripping out their hearts one after another.

With fear in his eyes of being the next kill of the mysterious lady, Xius flung the flaming torch away and turned toward James whose feet had been completely charred by the flames. James Walker was still writhing in pain with tears streaming down his anguished face as Xius with his sword slashed the air cutting James loose from the stake.

Though James escaped death, his feet had been completely charred in flames.

Xius jumped into one of the horses and fled from the scene. He didn't want to be a victim of the mysterious lady's pointy fangs.

The mysterious lady walked up to James and tossed a bottle of red liquid at him. "Drink this; it will heal your wounds."

James didn't bother to know the content. He immediately removed the wooden stopper and gently poured the contents of the bottle down his throat. The red liquid tasted like blood. "Is this blood?" he finally asked to satisfy his curiosity.

"Does it really matter to you?"

"Yes, it does." James wound has healed completely without any sign of burnt. It just happened within a few seconds after he drank the contents of the bottle.

"Saying thanks would have been polite." She glared at James.

"I'm sorry. Where are my manners?" James rose to his feet. He's no longer feeling weak. It's as if the contents of the bottle didn't just help him heal his charred feet, it also helped him to stop feeling weak as if it cleared the substance injected into him. "Thanks for your help," James said expressing gratitude.

"We need to go, it's not safe here."

James has a lot of questions going on in his mind. After he got bitten by the beastly creature that attacked him, he started experiencing accelerated healing each time he got injured. He's worried about whether he has lost his ability to heal just as he's worried about where he is.

Had it not been for the mysterious lady who offered him a red liquid content that tasted like blood, he wouldn't have healed. The substance injected into him couldn't let him heal. "I think we should call the cops rather than ignore the crime against me," said James.

Casting a searing gaze at James, she didn't know what the term 'cops' means. She has never heard such a word in her entire life. "No one could help you but me. Follow my cue and you get to live."

"We should get the cops involved. They could..."

"I don't know what that means." The mysterious lady pushed James' words back to his dry throat. She continued in her refined voice. "There's no time, we should go now!"

James was lost in deep thought of his. Things are getting weirder in this unknown place. 'Who in this 21st century does not know what 'cops' mean?' If the mysterious lady said they need to leave or more of the warlocks comes back fully armed, then he had no option but to leave with her. Lost in his thoughts, he still has no idea where he is.

"Into the woods," the mysterious lady said pointing toward the direction of the woods,

"Oh hell no!" James cried out. "I hate nature and nature hates me!"

James Walker isn't a dude who loves staying around nature. He isn't a camping type either. Anything that has to do with staying around the woods, he's not a guy for that kind of stuff. Had it not been his car that broke down in the wooded area, he wouldn't have been attacked by a beastly creature.

The mysterious lady snickered under her breath. "We have no choice." She held James by his pants and started dragging him to the horse. "I don't want you to die... not on my watch."

"It's only one horse," said James with a wide-eyed gaze wondering who could walk on foot. He has never ridden a horse before and didn't know how to ride one. He has seen movies of a horse throwing their owners off their backs. That could happen to him, especially now he's a stranger to the horse.

"Don't worry, we ride together."

James got himself a company. He isn't just going to ride on horseback alone; quite scared of doing that alone. However, his thoughts are not stable. Many have seen him as a jerk who can't even talk to a lady or even get a lady to be with him. Strangely, a mysterious lady is offering to ride with him on the same horseback. He didn't resist but obliged.

30 Minutes Later into the Woods

The horse galloped down the sloppy rocky path. It's been a rough ride for the past few minutes. James wasn't steadied on the horseback. He was sitting right after the mysterious lady. Just a while ago, he nearly fell but the mysterious lady caught him. 'Put your arms around me and hold me firmly,' she told him.

Never in James' life has he ever been so close to a lady before. He is a shy type when it comes to ladies. He could admire their beauty from afar but he couldn't talk to them or boldly admire them. Even in the office, his male colleagues see him as a loser but when it comes to his job, he's damn good at it.

They finally came to a halt near a bayou as the mysterious lady slowly climbs down the horse. After helping James get off the horse, she led the horse by its rein to an almond tree a few paces away from the bayou.

"What now?" James asked with a concerned look on his face.

"I say we camp here for the night," she replied glancing at James as she tied the rein of the horse to the almond tree.

"No, no, no!" James cried out making his way to the mysterious lady. "This isn't a good idea," he said.

Casting a wide-eyed gaze on James, she asked in her refined voice, "Do you have another idea besides this?"

"We can head to the roadside, I believe we could get a car to pick us up," James said with certainty. That's what Bailey County is known for. They are good at helping strangers especially those stranded on the roadside. Perhaps, this could work for them.

With a surprised gaze on James, the mysterious lady realized James is not aware of where he is. The bad news is that James isn't in Bailey County anymore. He's far from home. "You don't know where you are, do you?" she asked sternly.

"Yes. But we can get to the roadside and find help. Perhaps the cops could..."

"I don't know where you are from but basically speaking you are nowhere close to home."

James seems to answer one question correctly. He doesn't know where he is after all. He's just somewhere in the woods. He thinks getting to the roadside could do any good. Perhaps they could wave down a car to help them get to the nearest police station. But the breaking news is that James isn't in Bailey County anymore.

"What does that mean?" James asked with a wide-eyed look filled with curiosity. His voice sounded desperate. The voice of the one seeking answers to mysteries.

"You're in Northumbria."

"What in the hell am I doing here?" James sneered. "How in the hell did I get to Northumbria?"

Northumbria is North East England. Perhaps James shouldn't be worried about what he's doing in Northumbria. He should be worried about how he got to ancient Northumbria because from the look of things, he has mysteriously traveled back in time.

"We will get to that but right now; we need to rest our heads."

"I need answers... please..." James spoke in a quivering tone. Things should be made clearer to him. He's dying of curiosity. If he's in Northumbria, then he can't get help from the cops. In ancient Northumbria, cops do not exist.

Making a sigh of relief, the mysterious lady opened her mouth to speak. "I don't know how you got here but we will get to figure that out with time. One thing I am assuring you is that I will always be by your side."

This isn't the answer James was expecting. But the soothing response of the mysterious lady relieved him from worrying too much. She saved his life; at least he can trust her to help him find answers. But something isn't right. The mysterious lady isn't a werewolf like James. She's something else and James could feel it. "What type of creature are you?" he asked with a concerned look on his face.