Falling Snow Ch. 05

She made the statement so mildly and without inflection in her voice, that it took a moment for Aresta to catch up with the conversation. She froze, her tail stiffening as tension filled her muscles. Her eyes widened. Her head slowly turned to look at Shyira. She starred at the white-haired succubus a moment before answering.

"I meant no disrespect towards, "OUR," Master," she said, emphasizing the word.

"Good." Shyira said mildly, "Anything else?"

Aresta let out a sigh of relief as the tension in the room moved down a notch. Although you would have never known it by looking at Shyira. She had never as so much as raised her voice.

"You're aware of where he's going today?" Aresta asked.

"Yes," she said, looking thoughtful, "we may have to do something about that."

****

The pitter patter of rain had just begun to beat on the glass in earnest as Tom and his fellow students shuffled into the main greenhouse.

A chill had settled into the pit of his stomach. The hair on the back of his head stood on end and he couldn't quite place the reason why. The temperature in the sun starved greenhouse seemed to be dropping by the minute as heat leached out into the rainy afternoon. Or was that just Tom's imagination? There was a cold feeling creeping up on him. Like he was a character in a horror movie, who had just passed the threshold of the old creepy house. If he was the person watching the movie, this would be the part where he would yell, 'Don't go in there, you idiot.' Of course, he didn't need anyone else to yell that at him, he had Sara for that.

For her part, Sara was shooting nervous glances all around them as they walked down the path towards the pond in the center of the room. Their professor was droning on about plant biology and the objective for today's lesson. Normally Tom would be listening intently, he loved Biology. It was one of the few courses he'd taken at university that didn't seem like a massive waste of time and money.

"We really shouldn't be here." She said. Tom was starting to agree with her but wasn't about to say it out loud.

"Chickening out already?" Tom said.

"I'm serious Tom," she said, her voice sounding more nervous by the second.

They arrived at the center of the room and Tom took a moment to look around.

Their group stood at the edge of a large pond in the center of the greenhouse. The path that they had followed snaked through dense foliage that filled up the entire room. Everywhere Tom looked he could see thick lush plants. Trees could be seen scattered across the room, but it was the thick underbrush that blanketed the ground like a green carpet.

I bet you could hide in that underbrush and no one would be able to see you coming, he thought nervously.

The professor was explaining their tasks for the day's lecture and despite his nerves Tom was making an attempt to hear him over Sara's constant whining. It appeared that he wasn't the only one annoyed by her. They had caught the attention of some of the students around them. One wheezily looking busy body and turned to them just as Sara started to speak again.

"Tom, I-" She began.

"SHHH." He said, his fingers pressed to his lips in an admonishing gesture.

Sara shot him look of pure disgust. "You're not important."

"Are you even in this class?" He asked.

"I am today." She said, before completely dismissing him.

Sara turned to Tom to continue their ongoing argument when her eyes suddenly widened. Tom turned towards the direction of the pond in time to see a greenish mist rise up from the water.

"Oh shit, here we go." She said.

Tom had just begun to turn back towards her when the dizziness hit him. His vision began to blur, but not before he noted Sara pulling a wand out of her pocket and taking a defensive posture. His footing faltered and suddenly the ground was approaching rapidly towards the center of his vision.

****

Tom slowly drifted back to consciousness.

"-OM." It was like the words were coming from the end of a long tunnel. "TOM, YOU IDIOT WAKE UP!"

Tom's eyes drifted into focus. The grass was pressed against his cheek. His head swam with dizziness as he regained control of his limbs. He stood after a moment and took stock of their situation.

Sara was in a defensive posture, her back to him. Her wand was held out in front of her. He could see smoking piles of ash in a ring around her. A faintly purple dome of light surrounded them, keeping the greenish mist at bay.

Just outside of easy spell distance was a large group of woodland creatures in a semi-circle around them. Some stood on two legs, while others stood on four. Some of them almost looked like normal animals, only not quite. A reflective greenish tint in the eyes of a wolf, a fox that blinked sideways like an owl, their features were just off enough to qualify for the uncanny valley

Other creatures looked nothing like normal animals. Tom almost didn't see them at first. They blended in almost completely into the underbrush. If it wasn't for what they were doing he never would have seen them.

A group of humanoid creatures made entirely of vines wound themselves around the unconscious bodies of his fellow classmates. The creatures were undoubtedly female, as Tom could make out the shape of their greenish breasts. The tip of a vine poked out of their skin where their nipples should have been. They leaked a green sap that several of them were feeding to the unconscious forms of the fallen students. He understood the purpose of the substance as more vines crawled out of the ground and snaked into the pants of his fellow students.

"An aphrodisiac." He guessed. They planned on milking them dry.

Tom had started to take a step towards them when he heard it. Girlish giggling radiated from the pond behind him.

"I'd be more worried about yourself if I was you."

The body of water behind him was without a doubt, a pond. Lilly pads floated on the surface. Green algae seemed to cling to every surface. Tom could smell the swampy organic soup of a 'not quite' healthy body of water.

It was there among the lily pads that he saw them, amber eyes staring back out of brackish water. They were surfacing, he could see their greenish smiles as they emerged out of the murky water.

Sara took her eyes off the mass of forest creatures just long enough to shoot Tom a worried glance. He could almost hear her silent demand, 'Get us out of here.'

Tom's sight landed on the lead girl. Her body was pale and naked, but not the type of pale of Shyira's ivory skin tone. Her skin was the waxy white of a bloated corpse that had been left in the water for a day too long. As she emerged from the water her midnight black hair clung to her wet skin, completing the analogy of a drowned corpse.

Her figure was lithe and girlish. All smooth curves and young perfection. She should have been gorgeous, but while Tom found his succubi's demonic features to be hot, something about her was setting his teeth on edge. She floated there. Her upper body and pert breast in full view, in no way distracted him from the dead eyes staring back at him.

As more of the girls emerged from the water his sense of dread only increased. They were identical. No not identical, he thought, but close enough to be mistaken for sisters. They had an unnatural uniformness that was just wrong. Human beings were unique. They were individuals. The girls looked, acted and....felt like they were cut from the same mold.

"Come into the water and play with us." She urged.

"Fuck that."

Tom took a step back into Sara's defensive circle. She gave him an expectative look that just screamed, "fix this."

In truth, Tom was terrified. But he didn't want to admit it, either to himself or to her.

One of the plant creatures had edged to close to the pair for comfort. Tom flicked his wrist and yelled, "take that clorofiend," as he sent a small fire ball whizzing towards the creature. It quickly backpedaled to return to the other creatures.

"Don't I just pick the best spots for dates?" He flashed Sara a fake jovial smile.

"Dork, she said, "get me out of this and I'll let you take me on a real one."

"Enough!" The girl from the lake screamed. "You have entered our domain mortal. Answer our riddle or stay and play with us."

The collection of students, entangled by the vine creatures, were being slowly dragged into the loose earth of the green house. Many of them had already been pulled in down to their waists. They were unconscious, yet their faces were flush with excitement and their breathing was heavy. Tom wasn't sure he wanted to know what was happening under the soil.

"Speak lady and we will listen." Sara said in a very formal manner.

Tom turned back to see that Sara was speaking with her head inclined in an old-world show of respect. Sara was brash enough around him that he'd almost forgotten that she was upper class. He was sure that he would never be able to match the same level of respect she was now displaying. The lead girl from the pond inclined her head, ever so slightly in return.

"What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?"

Any pretense of formality and respect dropped out of Sara's voice. "Are you fucking kidding me? When was the last century you used that riddle?"

"If you don't know the answer then you must..." The creature seemed offended.

Sara rolled her eyes, cutting her off. "The answer is a human being, they teach that one in even the most downtrodden of schools these days," she turned to Tom, "now let us go."

Girlish lips opened in shock, eyes darted around the room in shock. Finally, she said. "Thrice we must ask, thrice you must answer."

"That wasn't the deal." Tom said.

The tension in the room went up several notches. The mob of woodland creatures inched closer. "Play with us." They chanted in eerie unison.

"Deceitful bitches." Sara said.

Tom and Sara turned back to back, ready to face the coming onslaught. Before it could begin a commotion from across the pond caught everyone's attention. Tom could have sworn he felt the change in air before he actually saw her. A lithe figure strutted across the surface of the pond.

It was Shyira and she was...walking on water. A moment before each of her steps could break the surface of the water, the water froze, creating a path for her to walk on. The girl's pond was turned into her very on runway.

"Show off." Sara murmured.

Shyira came to a stop in front of the ladies of the pond.

"Now what do we have here?" Shyira asked, one manicured finger set to her jaw in a pose of contemplation.

"Go away! Woman of the frost. This is our territory; this matter doesn't concern you." One of the girls shrieked.

Shyira's eyes narrowed slightly, "Now don't be rude. Doesn't guest right mean anything to you?"

"They must answer our questions or stay and entertain us." The girl said.

"We answered their questions fairly, they refuse to let us leave." Sara said.

"Is that right?" Shyira asked. Stepping closer to the girl, she kneeled down on a platform of ice until she could stare into the cold dead eyes in front of her.

"Go AWAY, Queen of Winter. They must stay and play with us."

Queen of Winter? Tom thought.

"Now, we can't have that, now can we?" Shyira's sugar sweet tone turned into something sharp and deadly as she finished the sentence.

Shyira reached down and gently grabbed a hold of the upper arm of the creature in front of her. Her feather light touch gave no warning before frost erupted across the creature's skin. A look of horror passed across her face, as she tried to pull away from Shyira grasp, her pale skin was pulled taunt, increasingly brittle with the dropping temperature. Shyira smiled a small smile as, with one final pull, the creature finally pulled away...without her arms. She screamed in agony as her skin continued to freeze, until she was little more than a froze chunk of ice floating on the surface of the water.

"Oh, do be quiet." Shyira said coldly.

The lead girl gave Shyira a look of pure hate and venom as she took a step back from her.

"Nice trick. Do you really think your little theatrics are going to save you?"

Shyira put her hand up to her mouth and laughed a mocking little giggle.

"Oh sunshine, I'm not the cavalry, I'm the diversion."

A curtain of fire erupted behind him as the front rank of creatures were engulfed in flame. Aresta flew through the air in all of her demonic glory. Her leathery wings kept her aloft as she swooped down to deliver columns of fire down upon her enemies.

Shyira's eyes glowed with a dispassionate, cold anger from the firestorm erupting on the other side of the room.

"Now, where were w...," Shyira began to say.

One of the ladies gave a scream of pure agony before she lunged at Shyira. The look in her eyes was one of pure fanaticism, a perfect zeal of madness. Shyira's eyes widened slightly in surprise. Shyira's clawed hands shot out and snapped the woman's neck before she could lay hands on her.

One of the forest creatures closer to Tom, gave off its own battle cry and charged him. He raised his hand in a panic and sent a ball of fire towards the creature. Tom seemed to watch in slow motion as the ball of fire connected with its target. Greenish skin turned black as the fire burned. The revolting smell washed over him as the creature stumbled. It smelt of burnt grass and death. The creature went down in a smoldering heap, but not before letting out one last cry of fury as it sent out a projectile of its own wooden flesh streaking towards him.

Tom jumped to one side in an attempt to dodge the projectile, but not before it had cut a scarlet line of blood into the side of his arm. A glancing blow, but one that hurt none the less.

"Tom!" Sara called out to him as he lay on the ground clutching his arm.

Shyira's head snapped in his direction. A cold furry passed over her eyes. The mob of creatures continued to advance towards him. Right over the water soaked ground created by the arrival of the ladies of the pond earlier.

Shyira pointed a single finger at the ground at the creatures' feet. Spears of ice shot out and impaled them four feet above the ground. Tom watched in fascinated horror as blood ran down the icy projectiles from the suspended forms, staining it red like a cherry popsicle.

She turned towards the girls in the pond just as they had begun to move towards her with violence twinkling in their eyes. Shyira flicked her wrist in their direction, a look of surprise still evident on her flawless face.

A great surge of water rolled out of the pond it a great wave. Tom thought the storm surge might hit him when the wave suddenly froze solid. He just had enough time to admire the sharp beauty of the frozen wave, before with a groaning sound of fracturing ice, the wave shattered.

A wall of icy missiles slammed into the ladies, sending them into the cold depths of the pond.

Shyira never missed a beat. She turned yet again. Bringing her hands above her head, she slammed them down towards that last group of enemies. All the lights in the room popped, the glass ceiling shattered, raining razor sharp glass down upon her foes. Like the thunderbolts of some god of old the last of the creatures fell silent.

Wisps of fog rose from the now froze ground. Her eyes burned a sharp, icy blue revealing pale skin that almost seemed to glow in the now dark room. You could feel her rage from across the room and somehow it only added to her beauty. Tom gazed upon the vision of a demon in front of him. Fuel for a thousand nightmares, he thought, or one very ill advised wet dream.

Aresta, having finished off the last of her foes, landed by them. Rain pouring in from the shattered ceiling turned to snow in the frosty air. It drifted down, lazily covering the bodies littering the ground. Dead silence filled the room as Shyira surveyed the her surroundings.

The tension in her muscles finally eased as she turned to look at Tom. "I do not consider this to be an appropriate venue for a college course." She flashed him a small smile. "It appears to be far too dangerous."

"Yeah." He said simply, too tired to come up with anything better to say.

The snow was covering his fellow students the same as the broken creatures in the room. The greenish mist still curled around their bodies, although it seemed to end at an invisible wall several feet away from him. Dimly, Tom realized that Sara's magic had kept the green mist away from the two of them through it all.

Sara looked just as exhausted as he did. Her eyes constantly flicked from place to place, looking for new enemies.

Tom turned to Shyira, "What will happen to the rest of the students?"

Shyira shrugged her shoulders, "They may die or they may live. Who can say for certain?"

"Save them." Tom said, conviction creepy into his voice. "Shyira, you have to save them."

She looked at him, an unreadable look in her eyes. "Why should I?"

Tom swallowed, squared his shoulders and looked at Shyira dead in the eye. "Because I ordered you too."

A second passed like a century before any emotion passed across her face. A shadow of amusement crossed her features, or was that just his imagination? Frost erupted along the ground and up the side of the glass wall. Hair line cracks spread out in a spider's web pattern wherever the cold touched the naked glass. With the roar of shattering glass, the wall came down.

A cold winter's air blew in from the outside. The unnatural gust of cold air was no doubt the result of Shyira's magic. The greenish mist was blown away and his fellow students began to stir almost immediately.

Tom looked at Shyira suspiciously. "That's it? Would they really have died if you did nothing?"

Shyira just shrugged her shoulders, "Who knows."

****

Two succubi and an unlikely pair of warlocks walked out into the rainy weather just as the first firetrucks began to pull up the street.

"We should leave this place for now," Aresta said while looking over at Shyira.

"Well if you'll excuse me I've had just about enough excitement for one day." Sara said. She turned to walk in the opposite direction as the others.

"Hey, don't you owe me a date?"

Sara shot him a look, her hands instantly on her hips, her jaw stiffened in irritation. "You didn't save me, your succubi did. We would have been screwed if they hadn't showed up.

Tom marveled at her raised, disbelieving tone. She was so easy to mess with, he thought.

"Still got you out of there."

Sara rolled her eyes. She flipped her hair over her shoulder as she started to walk again. "Come by tomorrow and pick me up around 8.

Tom smiled as she walked away. Aresta walked up and wrapped an arm around his neck. "Come on lover boy. I promised Shyira I'd take you home and keep you there."

Tom eyes darted to where Shyira had stood a moment before. "Where is she anyway?" He asked.

"Oh, I'm sure she'll be around later."

****

It was dark as Shyira walked through the remains of the greenhouse they had been in only hours before. The place was barren and dark, the police and staff having left for the day. The police tape used to cordon off the area blew lightly in the wind. The moon shown through the scattered cloud cover, bathing the broken glass, that littered the ground, in shadow. The plants had already begun to go into shock from the sudden atmospheric change in the room. Many of them would be following their masters into death in a few days.

Shyira's icy blue eyes scanned the room. Loose soil peppered the walkway. Overturned plants sat next to puddles of mud from the firefighters' hoses.

Background noise. Shyira was looking for something, she just wasn't sure what.

Something was off. The day's events hadn't gone entirely as planned. The girls of the pond were mischievous creatures. Quick to anger and easy to take offense. They enjoyed their riddles and pranks. Tricking the wayward traveler into a swim and a fuck.