Hated By The Alpha-Chapter 126: Carnifex

"W-hat d-do y-you mean, f-far w-worse?" Sandra asked, moving closer to Audrey and holding her waist.

"Shh!" Audrey shushed Sandra, looking around the trees.

"They’re not human," Alpha Lake whispered, frowning, feeling Janeth stirring to wake up as he carried her over his shoulder. He hoped they got to the garden before the girls woke up as soul reapers.

"Yes, Carnifex," Audrey informed.

"What are those?" Sandra asked quietly.

"A Carnifex is a dark creature that feeds on human fear and flesh to get stronger. They are drawn by sound. So let’s be quiet, and stay close. If we don’t make a sound, it can’t sense us, and we can defeat them," Audrey explained.

"I can sense them. They’re just four," Mark said, balancing Cara and Grace on his shoulders.

Alpha Lake nodded, "Me too."

"Yes, hurry, let’s get closer to the gate," Audrey said.

They were quietly tip-toeing to the vined trees when a creature suddenly emerged from the back of a tree.

"Arghh!!!" Sandra screamed, looking at the hulking, demonic creature with razor-sharp claws and teeth.

Immediately, the monstrous Carnifex dived in Sandra’s direction, but Mark was quick to drop the girls he was carrying to the floor and jumped in front of Sandra, a purple barrier instantly forming in front of him and keeping the monster away.

"Grrrrr...mmm..." The Carnifex growled low in anger.

"I can’t hold this for long," Mark said, trying to hold up his protective barrier.

"I got it," Audrey said and gently placed her hand against the portal, and immediately, the white strands of color appeared across the purple barrier, creating a stronger, enchanting, and beautiful barrier.

"Thanks," Mark said and stepped back from the barrier.

"It’s alright. Sandra, Relax. I’m going to take down this barrier when you’re ready. We can’t just leave those creatures out there, they’d head straight into the pack, and that would be disastrous," Audrey explained calmly, holding Sandra’s hand.

Sandra slowly nodded. "I’m sorry," She apologized for almost getting her friends killed because of her fear.

"It’s okay, I’m scared too," Mary said, patting Sandra’s back.

"Me too, but we’re going to burst these losers soon," Maria said, staring angrily at the monsters as they walked aimlessly behind the barrier, trying to trace any sound to something or, rather, someone they could kill and eat.

"Are you ready?" Audrey asked everyone.

"Yes," Mark answered while others nodded.

"Okay, we only have one disadvantage. Magic does not kill them, since they were formed by magic itself, but they are surprisingly easy to kill. Just be sure to drive something sharp through their midsection and they’re dead," Audrey narrated.

"Got it, Kitten," Alpha Lake replied, sounding a little excited about the situation.

"Okay," Audrey said and placed her hand against the portal, causing it to instantly disappear.

She looked behind her and nodded to everyone.

They all understood her sign message and started to walk quietly, making sure to avoid twigs that would break under their weight and attract the Carnifex by the sound.

Audrey slowly picked up a blunt tree branch and magically sharpened the edge to look like a spear, then quietly, she sneaked behind one of the monsters.

When she made sure she would reach her target behind the tall monster, she held the sharpened branch tightly, took her hand backward, and pushed it front and into the monster’s lower back with extreme force.

"Graaak! Kkkkkreeee!!!!" The Carnifex shrieked loudly as the sharpened branch pierced through and out of its abdomen.

Before it could retaliate against its attacker, it shredded into dust, forming a small dune on the ground.

The rest had heard the alarm cry and instantly went berserk, they started throwing their claws around, searching for the one who had hurt their brother.

Everyone dodged and hid, searching for something to kill the Carnifex with.

Sandra was shakily crawling on the forest floor, the wet leaves serving as her pad and noise reducer, but she was too consumed by fear and had mistakenly placed her knee on a thin twig, the snapping sound rising to the quiet forest.

"Grrrrr!" One of the Carnifex instantly turned to the sound, growling and making unrecognized monster sounds.

Sandra fell on her butt as she saw the approaching monster, using her butt to shift away from the angry Carnifex.

"Oh, no," Sandra gasped, blindly reaching for anything behind her back.

"Oh for fuck’s sake!" Audrey muttered loudly as she quickly grabbed another branch, but, this time, she didn’t have time to sharpen it as she saw the monster trying to grab Sandra’s leg. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Kkkkkreeee!" The monster shrieked as the heavy branch fell on its head, pushing it away from Sandra.

But it was quick to get back on his feet, dashing toward Sandra again.

"Die, you bastard!" Maria intercepted it and pushed a sharp wood through the abdomen.

The monster growled and shrieked as it disintegrated and formed dust.

"Mark! Behind you!" Mary screamed as one of the monsters blindly reached its hand to Mark, who was bent over, searching for a sharp object.

Mark sharply turned and jumped out of the monster’s reach.

"Damn it," He muttered.

Hearing his curse, the monster forged toward him again, teeth bared and claws extended.

Mark had just found the right sharp object and was ready to kill the bastard monster when the monster suddenly turned to dust right in front of him.

"You owe me one, bro," Alpha Lake smirked at him, holding his sharp wood up.

Mark sighed and looked behind him; in the blink of an eye, he stepped into Alpha Lake’s space and pushed his hand past Alpha Lake’s side.

The shriek was loud and then there was silence.

"Score settled, bro," Mark patted Alpha Lake’s shoulder and walked away.

The Carnifexes have all been killed.

Alpha Lake scoffed and quickly turned and went to Audrey.

"You weren’t hurt, were you?" He asked gently, looking her up and down.

"I’m fine, how about you?" She questioned.

He smiled, "I’m fine,"

"Yeah, he should be, I saved his ass," Mark replied as he walked past them.

Audrey chuckled, "He saved yours first." She teased.

Alpha Lake was sulking but once he heard Audrey’s reply, he instantly brightened up and wrapped his hand around her waist.

"I sure did," He boasted.

Audrey laughed lightly; her sight suddenly caught Sandra standing with the twins, and she quickly ran over to them.

"Hey, anyone hurt?" Audrey asked as she reached.

"Yes, my arm was scratched," Sandra pouted, showing Audrey her little scratch.

"So whinny, here, all gone," Maria scoffed and waved her hand over Sandra’s wound, healing her.

"Any more sounds?" Audrey asked, smirking.

Sandra slouched her shoulders; she didn’t have anything to complain about anymore.

"Fine, I’m good," She smiled.

"Awesome, let’s get going," Audrey said, putting her hand over Mary’s shoulder.

Alpha Lake and Mark were already carrying the girls toward the tree.

As Audrey neared, the vines immediately cleared from the trees and revealed the entire gate.

"Come on," Audrey pushed the gate open and let everyone enter before she did.

Inside the garden, they placed the three girls beside the river.

"Wheew!" Audrey exclaimed, cracking her neck and sighing in relief as the pop sound reached everyone’s ears.

"Tired?" Alpha Lake asked.

"Exhausted," She replied.

"It’ll be okay," He kissed her and patted her lower back.

"Yeah, okay, so, what do we do with these...soul reapers?" Mark asked, placing his hand over Alpha Lake’s shoulder.

Alpha Lake frowned and swiftly moved away from him, noticing the smile on Mark’s face.

"Right. This was supposed to be a brief soul healing for them, but now it’s going to take time," Audrey replied and walked off toward the orchid side.

"Why would it take time, and why wouldn’t it have taken time?" Maria asked as Mary and Sandra followed Audrey behind.

Mary was busy looking around the enchanting place, admiring its beauty.

"It would have been simpler and faster if they were awake; I’d have just asked them to go into the water and let it cleanse them, but we can’t just throw them in as they are unconscious. They’ll drown," Audrey replied, bending to pluck the weird yet beautiful white flowers.

"Oh, okay, then, why-"

"Why it would take time...help me pluck these flowers first," Audrey said to Maria.

The three friends eagerly helped, bending over to pluck the weird flowers.

Audrey smiled; seeing the curiosity on her friends’ faces, she decided to explain the flower to them.

"The flower is called, Stellaluna. The petals of these flowers hold the essence of stardust, the flower’s gentle glow you see all over it is believed to guide those who are lost, physically and spiritually. Like them," She looked behind at the three girls lying beside the river.

"The healing properties are tied to the lunar cycles, with its power waxing and waning like the moon," She stood when she saw they had gotten enough of the flower.

"We shall be using this flower and the water from the river to cleanse their darkened souls," Audrey said as they walked back to the riverside.

"I said it would take time because, where the water would instantly soak up their darkness, the Stellaluna flower would slowly seep the darkness out of their bodies," Audrey went ahead to lower herself beside the girls and started to pluck the petals and to place it all over their bodies.

Her friends saw her and immediately joined her in placing the petals around the girls.

’I see you’ve met your reincarnated brother, Mikhail,’ The sculpture suddenly spoke to them.