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"Your what" rangers eyes opened with surprise. Eyes fanticly looking at Isaiah trying to understand.
" Well she said she has this nice house off a trial not to far from he-"
"So your just leaving that quick!"
The room went still. Ranger threw their hand up and stared at Isaiah looking for an answer. He just gave a pleading look back.
"Look," Isaiah sighed. "She says that she needs my help, that my magic could help her turn back!" He flashed a bright smile at ranger. " I could use my powers for something this time, and she says she could teach me more about them."
He looks back at Ranger, expecting a happy face, but all he sees is one of hurt.
"You barely know this girl Isaiah, how are you sure. What if she takes you into the woods to murder yo-"
"She would never, you know this dude. She was a blood mage before, so I think she just sees herself in me.. I guess."
Isaiah begins to take more clothes and carful folds them into his hiking backpack that has a bunch of different patches on it.
Ranger sit on his bed with their head in their hands.
" Have you even told your mom?" Ranger asks, voice filled with worry.
"You know she doesn't care dude, why do you think she sent me to those summer camps, and now she has a new boyfriend to worry about." Isaiah runs a hand through his hair, sighs, and falls into the bed, looking over at his best friend.
"What about me, Isaiah? What if you get hurt and and..." Ranger says as their voice quivers, they look over at Isaiah eyes filled with worry.
"Dude," Isaiah sits up and moves to be next to them. "You are such a mother hen." He pushes rangers hat down infount of their face.
Ranger lets out a few chuckles before they shove him back."Trust me, I'll be fine, I'm just going to stay with her for a bit while she trians me. Plus, the trail to her house isn't too far from here."
"You're going to walk to her house now. It's about to pour, and the sun should be setting soon."
Ranger says, glancing outside the windows, the sun is just starting to set, and the sky is filled with black clouds.
Isaiah looks out the window for a bit before looking back at Ranger. "I'll be fineeeee."
"You're going against Hikers code? How about I help you bring stuff? She won't care, right?"
Isaiah looks off for a bit in though before shrugging his shoulders. "I don't think she would care, plus I could use some help."
"Alright, give me 5 minutes." Ranger smiles before rushing out.
They run down the street to their house, they run in quickly, throwing their hat to the side, and began making a bag filled with the essentials as if they had done this before. Flashlight, snack bars, 2 water bottles, a small first aid kit, and their trusty pocket knife.
Huffing trying to catch their breath, they look over to their desk. It's a photo from when Ranger and Isaiah were at prom. Both of their prom dates left them, so they dipped and decided to go to McDonald's still all dressed up. Ranger smiles at the picture, grabs their bag, and rushes out the door.
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Ranger and Isaiah stand at the entrance of the trail. It's one they have done so many times before.
"She said to meet her at the cliff point,"
Isaiah looks up from his phone to ranger.
"Ok, still a decent hike up, but it's nothing we haven't done before. Did you tell her I'm coming?" Ranger takes their eyes off of the path ahead of them and looked at Isaiah, their gut filled with a bad feeling.
"No, but she shouldn't care. You're just helping me bring something up, and then after I settle in, I should be able to visit you." Isaiah brushes ranger off and begins to walk ahead
"Should? Why wouldn't you visit me?" Ranger asks, still filled with worry.
Isaiah looks back to Ranger as he stops in his tracks. " Well, shes.... she's worried I'll hurt someone." Isaiah looks down
"Isaiah, in your years of knowing me and showing me your magic, have you hurt me?" Ranger walks up and pats his shoulder. "Plus, if you ever need a dummy to practice on, im right here." Ranger flashes Isaiah a toothy smile before motioning forward. "Come on, let's try to beat the moon. The sun is starting to set."
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It took about 45 minutes of walking, but two of them slowly made it up the trial into an opening. There are a few signs, 2 picknick tables, and some trash. But the best thing about this part was the view of the cliff. it was a beautiful view of the mountains, trees, and the sun as it finally dipped past the horizon.
Ranger look out, a chill going down their spine as darkness stared to set in. They grab their flashlight from the side of their bag and flick it on. They shine it towards Isaiah.
"She says she is on her way now." Isaiah smiles as he puts his phone away in his back pocket. He turns his head to look at the view. "It shouldn't be long since she's a vampire, they are quick as fuck." Isaiah smiles.
"This is the skin of a killer, Bella."Ranger throws their head back in laughter at their own joke. Isaiah begins to laugh back. It take a minute for them to gain their composure back.
"So what are you going to do while I'm doing this?" Isaiah asks, facing Ranger as he crosses his arms at them. Ranger looks at him for a second before looking out at the view.
"Might become a park ranger."They srug their shoulders.
"That.... actually sould perfect." Isaiah chuckles to himself, "you always are a sucker for the outdoors.... and rules."
Ranger gives a playful shove to Isaiah as he laughs. "Just becaus-"
"OH ISAIAH!!" A high pitch voice calls out from behind them. They both turn to face who was calling the name.
"Charlotte!" Isaiah runs over to her and opens his arms out wide. She quickly denied the hug and gives him a pat on the shoulder. "Oh, you know I'm not the huggin-..." She stares at Ranger, red eyes glowing in the light from their flash light.
"Hey Charlotte " they give a quick response.
Charlotte turns to face Isaiah. "Isaiah, doll I though we talked about this." She gave Isaiah a look of pity.
"They just wanted to help me up here, that's all." Isaiah lowers his smile, and his brows scowl together.
"Yeah, is there a problem with that." Ranger quips back.
Charlotte stants and looks back and forth between the two before speaking. " Isaiah, may I speak to you privately for a minute."
Isaiah frowns at her before looking at Ranger. "Yeah ,sure." Ranger takes the idea and goes to sit at one of the picknick tables. They slunch down and start to pick at the table. A water drop falls on their head. They look up and see a cascade of water falling. They were to focus in the rain, and suddenly, a shout catches their attention.
"Look, Charlotte, if you don't like them, I don't care their my best friend, and I'm not just going to leave them!" This is followed a harsh slap. Isaiah stumbles to catch his body , holding his stinging cheek, and he quickly looks back at Charlotte.
"You are going to get them killed, don't you notice th-" Charlotte catches rangers punch right before it hits her face. She breathes out. " I don't have time for this."
She shove ranger back, and they go flying. Their body rolls back into the now muddy path. They cough as the wind was knocked out of them. Isaiah looks over to his best friend he then trys to launch his body towards them, but before he can, he is pulled back by the back of his neck. He was forced to look at Charlotte, and he bagan to hear a ringing in his ear as his vision started to fade.
Charlotte was mouthing words he couldn't hear. Suddenly, Charlotte was knocked out of concentration as a body collided with her. Hands trying their best to grab at Isaiah. She drops Isaiah and turns and hits Ranger in their face. A loud crack fills the air as Ranger stumble back, holding their nose. trying to get a sense of their surroundings. Everything was too much. The rain, the mud, the pain, the worry. Their eyes open to face Charlotte. " I'll tell the Bureau, the- this has to be illegal."
"OH would you just shut it."
Ranger is quickly grabbed by the Throat... they cough and grab at her hands. Eyes bulging, they frantically look around. Their eyes land on Isaiah, whose body layed close to the edge of the cliff. He slowly shakes his head up his arms hold his face up from the mud. He's covered in mud, he tries to stand but as he does the ground from under him slips...
Ranger watches, and they frantically try to claw out of her grip. They let out a horse. "ISAIAH!" Everything feels as if it was in slow motion. Isaiah body begins to quickly slide off the side of the cliff. He frantically tries to grab at the ground, but it's no use. The whole chunk of ground he was on was mud. Mud that was slipping of cliff. Charlotte let go of ranger their body begin to fall to the ground. Just like Isaiah. They tried to reach out, but it was not use.
Isaiah body fell, ranger knew from the sick tud they heard.
Rangers body begin to shake, they started to hyperventilate, this wasn't happening. They wanted to believe that Isaiah was safe right next to them. But every blink of their eyes showed his helpless eyes right before the fall. The sick and wet thump of his body hitting the ground. They screamed.
They only thing that pulled them from this downward spirle was Charlotte yell. "Son of a bitch!" She quickly threw her gaze at ranger. "You!"
Before ranger could speak, her hands were around their neck. "Do you have any idea of what you've done!"
Ranger eyes bulged out as they stared at her. They felt anger build up in their chest. They weren't going to let her get away with this. They quickly grabbed their trusty pocket knife and slammed it into her arm. The next thing they knew, they were slammed into a tree. Everything hurts, their body, their mind, and slowly Charlotte walks up to them. With one hand, she grabs the side of their throat and brings them up to their feet. She stares at them as if she's deciding something. Then her eyes light up, her fangs show as she shows a crazy smile. "At least you can be a blood bag." Rangers eyes look up at her in fear as
She forcefully tilts their head to the side and CRUCH. Ranger trashes against the bite, pain racing threw them.
they feel paralyzed. Their eyes slowly begin to close, but just as they due Charlotte takes her mouth off their throat. A hand opens one of their eyes forcefully. "Im not done with you." She growls and grabs them by the sholders. They see her lips move, but they can't hear anything but ringing. Only something about magic? They panic as they are draged but too tired to fight it off. Suddenly, the ground slips from them... they are falling...THUD.
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"Hotshot?" Ranger head snaps over to Clare, their eyes soften when they see her. She walks over and places an unbrela over the two of them.
"You know, for someone as smart as you, I would think you would be smart enough to not sit out in the rain." Claire, look at them and hold out a hand. Ranger gladly accepts it and is pulled out of their seat. A hand gently glides them inside. "We just got you all fixed up. I don't need you to get sick now." Claire chuckles before putting the unbrela down. "Stay here. I'll go get you a towl. Clare walks away from Ranger to go retrieve a towel. Ranger watches her go, and then they look outside at the rain. The ground was slowly mixing into mud.