Chapter 63: Finishing What Marsha Started
When they were finally dropped back down, the two of them had been transported to a different spot in the forest.
The place they were now in could only be described as a shrine.
An abandoned temple in the middle of nowhere.
Illustrations and different artwork made of dark ink covered the many walls, showing shadowy wolves and werewolves.
This was their lair.
Once they fully regained consciousness, the two of them were tied up. Black ropes surrounded their bodies. It was pretty bad for the hunter since he couldn't move his arms or legs at all with all these ropes on, but as for her, the huntress, she had it a lot worse than he did.
First and foremost: she had a lot more ropes squeezing her thick and voluptuous body.
Michael could count five more ropes on her, at the very least. For Maleva, they did not only make sure to ensnare her arms and legs but there was this obvious concern and need for her to have ropes tightly wrapped around her torso and chest area.
Many ropes could be observed passing between her huge breasts.
Harshly and tightly squeezing them.
The ropes accidentally made her breasts even larger than they already were normally.
This made it a lot more difficult for Michael to focus on trying to break free from these tight ropes. In fact, he couldn't stop staring at her.
"What are you staring at?" she asked him, thinking something was going on and that there was more problem.
If only she knew.
If only she did.
"Nothing."
"Is there something bad on my chest or something?"
"No. It's not it. It's just that I thought that they didn't go easy on these ropes on your chest," he mentioned to her.
"You got that right, honey," she adorably called him as both of them were desperately trying to break free of their ropes. If only they were able to transform into wolves right this moment, that would make things a lot easier for them, but, unfortunately, that wasn't part of the equation.
"Can't you transform?" she asked him.
"No. You?"
"I can't either. Something's blocking it," she admitted to him.
Something was indeed interrupting any possibilities of them transforming. This was the greater sign that they were in the presence of vile shadows in the area. This was no part of the forest that they had seen before. This ancient shrine was unlike anything else. There was a certain perpetual darkness in the air. Floating. Lingering.
They couldn't transform, and they were still ensnared in the old shrine.
They had to do something, and fast if they ever wished to survive.
However, as they were so desperately trying to break free from these ropes, they could both hear whispers as the shadow followers appeared to be discussing not too far from where they had been left within the shrine. They couldn't make out what they were saying too much, but they were clearly saying something important that they should know about.
"What's going on?" Michael asked Maleva, as their attention was now solely focused on these shadow beings and their dark whispers.
"I'm not sure. I can't hear what they're saying."
"I don't think they're monsters," Michael theorized.
"How do you mean?" Maleva asked him, more confused than ever.
"The appearance they have. I don't think it's them, really. Exactly as it was also the case for your mother, I believe the shadow coating is a disguise. They're not monsters. They're people. Just like us," the hunter went into more detail to unpack his theory a bit more.
"That's not a bad theory, but that doesn't matter as long as we can't do anything. We have to break free of these ropes," Maleva reminded him of what was a bit more important right now.
Then…
Slash!
"What was that?" she asked him.
The ropes that were around his body all slowly fell down to the ground, and Michael then stood up. He had broken free from the restraints of the ropes.
"How did you do that?"
"I don't know."
"Let me see your hands."
He showed them to her.
Hunter didn't have nails, he had claws, telling her that he had partially transformed during the past few minutes. How? Maleva had no clue. She wasn't able to partially transform like he just did.
Slash! Slash!
Michael cut her ropes and freed her as well.
"How can you transform a bit and I can't?"
"I just don't know, but we have to move fast, or they'll find out about us."
"I can agree with that."
…
The pair of hunters ran as silently as possible from one room in the shrine to another, getting closer to the shadow followers without attempting to attract their attention. Their goal was to spy on them, figure out what was going on, and learn what they wanted, before striking back.
So, Michael and Maleva stayed in the shadows for a bit—for as long as needed. Standing in the darkness, their backs squished against two ancient and dusty pillars within the shrine.
Silent.
Not saying a single word to one another.
Only listening and spying.
"It has to be here somewhere!" one of the shadow followers barked. That one had a male voice.
"You said that last time, too," the other shadow follower who replied to him, had a female voice.
The two of them were obviously in some kind of argument. Something was not going according to plan, even if they thought that they had managed to defeat the duo of hunters.
"I swear it's around here somewhere this time!" the male shadow promised her.
What are they searching for? Michael asked himself.
"Very well. Where do you detect it to be now?"
"Right beneath our feet. Beneath the shrine," the male shadow follower explained to her.
"So, that means there is some kind of underground level that was built underneath the shrine itself. We have to look right now. For Marsha."
"For Marsha," the male shadow follower agreed with her.
For Marsha? This means that they're still completely devoted to her, Michael ended up thinking.
Thump!
Exactly as the two shadowy followers were about to leave to search for the underground level of the shrine, Michael accidentally and clumsily caused a small piece of concrete from the pillar behind him to come off by hitting it with his back a bit too hard.
"What was that?" the man shadow follower swiftly turned to the pillar he hid behind.
He heard the tiny piece of concrete falling and rolling on the ground.