Destined to the Hellhound: BEAST

Chapter 33

"Don't wake up the flower women," I whisper to myself as I slowly lift off the ground, keeping as low as possible without touching the water.

She tried to explain what 'flower women' are, but I'm not sure I fully understand. Just like everything in the place, I'm sure they are awful. Women that grow in the flowers. It doesn't make sense.

I've never been so afraid to fly in my life. All of the nerves have made me so unsure. Am I too high? Too low? Am I about to touch the water? It's no more than ten flaps of my wings, but it feels like the longest distance I've ever flown.

When I touch down on the other side, I turn back to look at Kayasera, but I can barely see her. It's as if there is some kind of fog between us.

The muddy shore turns to dirt, which leads me right to densely packed treeline. As I move to step forward, something catches my eye. It looks like a foot. Creeping forward, I realize that it is a foot—a foot attached to a leg. Slightly green in color, it looks like it's growing right out of the moss on the ground.

Looking from the toes, up the thigh, I find a perfectly shaped woman's ass.

This isn't a woman napping on the ground. This is a body actually growing in the moss and grass like a flower. That's what Kayasera said, but I didn't understand. Flower women. They are actual plants.

Aside from the tinge of green, she looks like she could be a fairy. Up ahead, there is another one. I can see this one's head and face. She is stunning, with long lashes sweeping across her cheeks, flowers and grass for hair. Vines wrap around their arms and legs like beautiful bracelets.

There are so many of them, peacefully sleeping on the ground. The faces that I can see are so serene, it makes me feel tired.

Stepping back, carefully, I move to go around them. This is going to take forever.

Every muscle in my body is tense and flexed as I take slow, deliberate steps. As I go deeper, thick vines begin to hang from the trees, loop around branches, and spread across the ground. They are at least as thick as my thighs and covered in purple flowers.

Crouching, sidestepping, and crawling, I make my way through. I'm so close to him that I can almost imagine the feeling of his skin against mine. My neck tingles and burns, longing for him, and each step makes it worse.

Stepping into a small clearing, there are three ways forward, three small, tight pathways between the trees.

Stepping toward the first one, the vines are so thick that I won't be able to get through. The second one has two flower women sleeping on either side. Their heads are so close to the path that I would have to step right between their faces to make it through. I don't like that.

The third path is perfect. There are no vines or women. It's got to be a trap. It's too clear. There is no way that this horrible place would leave an easy way through.

Holding my breath, I place my foot as gently as I can between the two women, their noses almost touching either side of my shoe. This is the most ridiculous situation I've ever found myself in.

Tucking my wings back, I bring my back leg forward, careful not to kick one of them in the head as I go.

"Fuck this place. Fuck this place. Fuck this place!" I repeat it over and over again in my head. Once I get Cerberus out of here, we should burn this stupid forest to the ground.

Suddenly, a huge, heavy vine falls from above me, as if the forest can hear my thoughts and wants revenge. My shoulder makes contact as I try, but fail, to duck out of the way. The unexpected weight makes my back foot slide—only a little bit, but it's enough. I feel my heel tap against something.