Preternatural: Legend of the Black Rider - 1. A Running Mother

There wasn’t much time left. She had to get away before it was too late. No matter how fast she ran, it seemed as though the trees were passing her slowly. It was a moonless night with clouds wandering in the eternity of black. Cold wind swept the land and sent chills down the backs of anyone who felt it.

Celine ran as fast as she could. Her cocoa-coloured hair swayed behind her. Although she was nice and slim, she got tired very quickly; most likely because she’d been running for two hours. She huffed and she puffed as tried to get away from them. They were far behind her, but they’d catch up eventually.

The package was wrapped tightly and held in her arms. Her warm breath hazed around her. The wind made her eyes watery. There was no way she’d reach the nearest town without having one last confrontation with them. She could hear them fluttering behind her; they were near.

Celine tripped on a rock that poked out from the earth and went falling forward. The package rolled out of her arms and bumped against one of the nearby trees.

This caused the package to move and eventually cry. Celine gasped out loud and crawled towards the package. She pulled at the cloth it was wrapped around and seized it back into her arms where she cuddled with her warmth.

Just to see if the package was alright, she pulled away the cloth and revealed the baby-boy’s face. The baby-boy cried out and squirmed in her arms, scared and confused at the pain from when he hit the tree.

“It’s okay,” said Celine. “It’s going to be okay.” Her words lied when the fluttering increased and the screeching of the wind was drowned out. Seed. Seed. Seed. Seed. Seed. The words were echoed from above her as the creatures appeared. She wrapped the baby-boy tightly in the cloth and held him as she got back on her feet.

“You won’t have him!” she yelled at the sky. “He won’t have him!”

The creatures appeared above her. Their skin was black as tar. They had paper-thin wings made of iron with claws of the same material. They were about the size of a toddler, but they were very dangerous. With their thin and sharp fangs, and their big, black eyes, they were hideous to look at.

They were fairies.

“Seed. Seed. Seed. Seed. Seed. Seed.” they whispered over and over. They flew above her and gazed at the baby hidden in her arms. She refused to hand him over to them. “Get away you heinous vermin!” hissed Celine as she moved her right hand underneath the cloth. “I’m warning you!”

She pulled out her wand, a long, denim-coloured ginkgo-wand that was almost unbreakable, and pointed it at the creatures that flew above her; they were ready to swoop down and attack.

“Lumiere!” she cried out, her voice loud and clear. From the tip of her want came a massive ball of bright light. Like a balloon being blown up, the light increased and shone onto the fairies, revealing seven of them. Their black eyes crusted and turned white. They screeched in pain and flew away from the white light as they wished to see another day.

Celine kept the wand pointed to the sky as she watched the fairies retreat out of fear. The longer they stared at the light, the more damaged their nocturnal eyes would get.

When she was sure they were all gone, she lowered her wand and was washed in darkness as the bright ball of white light faded away. She sighed heavily and tried to regain her strength. She was getting too old to be using magic.

The baby-boy was still crying in her arms. He could have been hurt, or worse. Now that the worst was over, for now, she pointed the wand at the baby-boy and knew she was going to have to use magic on him. She vowed never to do it, but the baby-boy could be bleeding internally.

Before she could even utter the hex, a hidden fairy emerged from behind the trees on her left.

The fairy flew right into her and caught her off-guard. Celine fell to the ground and once again dropped the baby-boy and her wand. The creature took advantage of this and crawled to the baby-boy who shrieked and cried.

The fairy wrapped its claws around the baby-boy and got ready to fly and succeed in what its brothers couldn’t do. Celine shot her arm out and grabbed hold of her wand just as the fairy began to take flight. “Aturdir!” yelled Celine, aiming the wand at the fairy. Another light, thin like a lightning bold, shot out from the wand and went right towards the fairy.

The moment the light touched the fairy, it froze completely, like a paused scene, and dropped down to the ground.

“Voar Alto,” uttered Celine, pointing the wand at the baby-boy. Like a cloud, the baby-boy floated out of the fairy’s hands and moved in the air while the creature fell to the ground, shattering into pieces the moment he landed.

Celine levitated the baby-boy towards her and caught him when her arms began to quiver. The baby-boy screamed in pain and Celine knew he was hurt.

She left the shattered fairy for someone else to find as she continued to run down the path. She took a shortcut through the woods and tried not to give in to the sleepiness her body was feeling after using magic. The use of magic was for people with strong blood; people like the baby-boy.

She hopped over fallen trees and rocks that sprouted out. The wind cooled down her sweaty body as she ran her fastest and followed the sounds of talking when it came to her hearing. The town was near, but that didn’t mean she had to stop.

With breathlessness, she reached the town. It was small but lively with lights strung from one building to the next, lighting up the streets that were filled with wandering people. There were shops open and people enjoyed themselves inside it.

Celine thought the town would be empty at this time of night, but she was clearly mistaken.

“Help me!” she called out as she appeared from the woods and entered the street. “Please, help me!” People stopped and looked at the woman. A few were scared while most ran to see what was wrong. This woman, dressed in a white gown covered in cuts and black stains, carried a crying baby in a dark-brown cloth. They were suspicious of her, but she was a mother so they needed to help her.

“It’s okay, miss,” said an approaching woman. Celine ran in front of the woman and fell down onto her knees. “Help me!” Celine begged of the woman. “They’re trying to kill my son!”

“Who is?” asked the woman. Celine heard one of the men in the back telling the other to phone the police. “Who wants to hurt your son?”

Celine looked at the many eyes on her. They were all scared and curious, bewildered and worried. She couldn’t deal with the hundreds of questions that was about to come her way so, to avoid all of it, Celine gently put her wand inside the cloth that kept the baby-boy sage and pretended to faint.

“Oh my gosh!” the woman cried out when Celine fell down in front of her. The woman fell to her knees and inspected Celine, worried for the poor woman and her child’s safety and health.

“We need an ambulance over here!” the woman cried out to the people behind her. “I already phoned them,” said one of the men. “They’re on their way, as are the police,”

“It’s gonna be okay, ma’am,” said the woman to Celine. Even though she was pretending to have fainted, Celine slowly began to drift off as the energy given into her use of magic began to overwhelm her and she fell asleep without even noticing it.

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***

The moment the darkness swallowed her, she woke up and realized she was in a hospital, or clinic. She didn’t really know because both had similar beds.

“Where am I?” Celine asked when she noticed she wasn’t alone in the room. A nurse was beside her bed and checking her drip-line. “You’re in Glasgow Hospital,” said the nurse, a young man with wavy blond hair and a slender body wearing a baby-blue uniform. “You made quite a scene last night.”

“Where’s my son?” Celine asked when she realized she wasn’t holding him anymore. She sat up straight and looked around to see if they put him in the same room as hers. “Your son is alright, miss,” said the nurse, holding out his hands to try and calm her. “He’s with the doctors. He has some bruises against his side, but he’ll be fine.”

“No, I have to find him!” said Celine, slowly taking off the thin covers. “He has to be with me! He’s vulnerable without me!” The nurse knew something bad was going to happen if Celine ran around all crazy and wild looking for her child.

“Miss, I think you should calm down,” said the nurse, trying not to cause a ruckus that would attract attention. “Why don’t you wait here and I’ll go get your son?”

“Please, bring him to me,” said Celine, calming down to show the nurse she wouldn’t be causing trouble. The nurse smiled and gave her a nod. He left the room and disappeared down the corridors.

Celine knew the nurse would get the doctors instead of her child. The nurse probably thought she had something to do with her son’s bruises. Child-welfare would most likely be on their way by now. She needed to avoid questions she couldn’t answer, but then she’d have to take her son with her.

Celine hopped out of bed and gazed down at the hospital robe she wore. Her nostrils breathed in the strong smell of medicine. The soft beeping of heart-monitors rang through her ears. The beeping was drowned out by the continuous chattering of people outside of her room.

Closing her eyes, she grabbed hold of the drip-line and slowly pulled it out from her arm, sending a few droplets of blood over her skin.

She never liked hospitals. Seventy percent of the people never made it out alive. As she stepped out of the room, she entered the corridor with dim lights and stretchers parked against the walls. A few hospital beds were there, too, with sleeping or crying patients on them.

Celine didn’t want to cause attention with her bleeding arm so she stuck to the walls. She had her eyes on the male nurse that had been with her. He was seven feet away from her, and she made sure he stayed there. She would follow him to where they were keeping her son before the fairies returned. They didn’t fear electrical lights, but they did fear natural lights, like the sun.

When the thought of the fairies came to her mind, her heart raced as she feared what they’ve done to her wand. She hurried after the male nurse as he turned a corner. Wherever her son was, her wand was sure to be there. That was if they didn’t get rid of the cloth and thought her wand was some toy. Without her wand, she couldn’t protect her son and the hospital.

“Hey!” she cried out to the male nurse as she turned the corner he did. “Hey, stop right there!” The male nurse stopped and turned to Celine when he heard her voice. He wasn’t surprised to see her running after him. “What are you doing out of bed?” he asked her as she ran up to him.

“I need to see my son,” said Celine, breathing in slowly as an electric jolt sprung up her left arm and she felt the blood forcing through her fingers. “There was something in the cloth he was wrapped in. I need it back.”

“You’re bleeding, miss,” said the male nurse as he looked down at the barn-red blood. “You have to make sure that stick in the cloth is safe and sound and not lying in a trash bin. Believe me when I tell you you’re gonna want that stick back in my hands.”

The male nurse wanted to say something, anything, to make her go back to her room without having to seem rude. He was interrupted when a doctor walked out from a room far from them. The doctor, an elderly man with shadow-grey hair and a fit but wrinkled body, walked towards the two of them. His name tag said Dr. Reid.

“Hello,” greeted Dr. Reid as he stared Celine up and down. “What seems to be the problem here?”

“I just want to know where my son is,” said Celine. “I’m the lady you found in the town. I’m the one who fainted with the baby in my arms.”

“Ah, yes, I know you,” said Dr. Reid. “Your baby is fine. No broken bones, luckily, but he’s bruised real bad. If you would be so kind as to step into my office,” He held out his arm and guided Celine to the room he came from. Celine gave the male nurse a nasty look before she followed Dr. Reid to his office.

“Sit down,” he told her as he walked around his desk and sat down. Celine carefully sat down in the chair across from him and admired his office. Diplomas and achievements were framed and hung on the wall to his right. A window closed by blinds was behind him. Two cabinets were against the wall. A small door was in the corner that led to another room Celine didn’t wonder about.

“Now, I’ve heard that you came running from the woods and cried out for help,” said Dr. Reid. “You were carrying your child in your arms and fainted in front of a woman who wanted to help you, am I right?”

“I pretended to faint to avoid the stupid questions,” answered Celine. “But I ended up fainting for real. Now can I get my son back?”

“We’ll get back to your son in a moment,” said Dr. Reid. “First, you have to tell me what happened to you. I wanna know why you were running from the woods and who was chasing you.”

“I was chased down by a group of men who broke into my house,” said Celine, thinking of a good excuse. “They were sick paedophiles who wanted to touch my boy, so I took him and I ran out of there as fast as I could.”

“What about your husband?” Dr. Reid asked. “He died three years ago,” said Celine. “I was alone, so I had no choice but to run and protect my boy from those men. They chased me down into the woods and whispered the most awful things about what they’d do to my boy if they found him.”

“Can you tell me where you live, miss?” asked the doctor. “I’ve alerted the authorities, and they’d like to ask you a couple of questions.”

Celine froze and held her breath. The police were going to ruin everything. She needed to take her son out of the hospital before the police arrived. The fairies would return and seek her out at the hospital, even if it means they’d risk exposure.

They weren’t ones to care about who saw them or not. Celine and her son were their top priority, and they would get rid of anyone who stood in their way.

“Thank you for the getting the police,” said Celine, acting all generous to throw off any suspicion on her. “But can I please see if my son is alright?” “Of course,” said Dr. Reid. “I’m sure he’ll be glad to sense his mother by his side.”

Dr. Reid cleaned up Celine’s arm and took her to the room her son was in. The room was nice and cramped and had a small bed in the middle with her son resting on it, wrapped in a warm blanket.

Celine ran inside and looked over her son. He looked tired and was finally asleep with a small mask over his mouth and nose. She began to cry when she realized how helpless he looked behind the glass that covered his bed.

“Can I hold him?” she asked Dr. Reid as a tear rolled down her cheek. “Please, can I hold him just for a few minutes?”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but his bruises are still healing,” said Mr. Reid. “If you pick him up now, he might get more hurt. He’s struggling to breathe after whatever impact he made back in the woods.”

“You don’t honestly think I did this do you?” Celine asked, slowly stepping away from the bed. “I told you we were being chased by men who wanted to touch my boy. Do you honestly think I would hurt my own son and run through the woods to ask help for my own crimes?”

“Ma’am, there’s no house outside of town for miles.” said the doctor. “How could you have run that far, barefoot, with a baby in your arms? And these men you say were chasing you? Where are they now?”

“You think they’d come out and show face?” asked Celine. “They’re monsters. What makes you think they would want to go to jail?”

“The stains on your clothes, what were they?” he asked out of nowhere. “What stains?” Celine asked, playing dumb. Dr. Reid wasn’t in the mood for her games. He walked further into the room and passed her and the bed and made his way to the table in the back that Celine didn’t notice.

On top of it was a plastic back which he unzipped and revealed Celine’s gown and the cloth her son was wrapped in. Dr. Reid took out her gown and showed it to her. The stains were as clear as day and there was no denying they looked like blood.

“Where’s that stick?” Celine asked the doctor, completely ignoring the gown. “What? The stick we found with the boy?” asked the doctor, turning back to the plastic bag. The fact that Dr. Reid turned to the bag when Celine asked about her wand meant that it was still there.

She didn’t hesitate. She charged past the doctor and went for the plastic bag. Celine grabbed inside and took out the cloth. She moved her hand through it and searched for the wand. When she didn’t find it, she searched the plastic bag.

“Are you looking for this?” Dr. Reid asked her. Celine felt cold when she heard the tone in how the words were said. She slowly turned to face him and saw the doctor was pointing his own wand at her. He had her wand in his free hand. His wand was charcoal and was a thin cylinder like the regular magician’s wand. “You didn’t think Scotland had no witches and wizards, did you?” he asked, smiling broadly as he walked backwards and closed the door behind him.

“He wants your boy,” said Dr. Reid. “And he offered a lot of coins if I give him the boy.” “Over my dead body!” Celine barked. “Don’t worry, I’ll kill you soon,” he said. “You’re a threat to his plans.”

“I’m guessing you didn’t take hexology in school, now did you?” Celine asked, slowly taking one step towards Dr. Reid. “Because, you see, I took hexology and I know for a fact that you don’t need to be holding your hand to cast a hex. Your wand just needs to hear you. Omplof!”

Dr. Reid wasn’t prepared for when the wand in his free hand began to shake. At first a white orb formed out from the tip, and then, like fireworks exploding on New Year’s Eve, the wand exploded in his hand and he dropped it, stumbling back and eventually falling down against the wall.

Terrified and shocked, the doctor looked at his left hand and cried out in pain when he saw his index-finger, his ring-finger and his thumb had all been blown to bits. The bones that remained were shivering in-between the muscle and tendons as blood ran down his arm.

“What the Hell is wrong with you?” he asked, his voice shrill and crying. “You messed with my son, doctor,” said Celine as she walked over to her wand on the floor. She knelt down and took hold of her wand. “Believe me, I want to end your life so badly right now, but I’m not as sinister as you are,” she said.

Pointing the wand back at Dr. Reid, she gave him a wicked and satisfied smile. “Ve a Dormir,” she whispered. A white fog came slithering from the tip of the wand and floated into Dr. Reid’s nostrils. Within seconds, his eyelids grew heavier and he went to sleep.

“Sleep tight, you monster,” said Celine, spitting into the man’s face afterwards. She turned towards the bed and walked over. Celine didn’t know she was going to do it, but she needed to do it even if it meant he’d be back in pain.

She lifted the glass top off his bed and placed it on the floor. Being very careful, she took off the small mask and everything else that held him to the bed. As slow as she could, she moved her fingers underneath the baby-boy’s body and picked him up. The moment he realized someone was picking him up and his nostrils were slowly closing, the baby-boy screamed out.

“It’s okay, son,” Celine soothed him, gently placing him against her chest with the blanket they gave him wrapped around his small body. The baby-boy had his mouth wide open and tried to breathe through it, but he struggled to. His nostrils opened again and he began to calm down, but tears were still streaming down his little cheeks.

Celine made her way out of the room, her son in her arms and her wand in her hand. She closed the door behind her and left the doctor behind to wake up all on his own. The corridor wasn’t that full of people, so she could easily make her way out.

Her son continued to cry, so she soothed him by lightly tapping him on the back. “Alright, baby, we’re going to get out of here,” said Celine, rubbing him gently as she thought of which direction led to the exit.

She looked to her left and stared down a corridor that led to an elevator. When she turned to her right, she stared at another elevator. Both could take her downstairs, so she chose the one on the right.

Her bare feet slapped against the cold floor as she began to pick up the pace and ran to the elevator, her son crying louder and louder. “We’re almost there, baby,” she said as she came close to the elevator. “We’re gonna be out of here soon, and we’ll get to my friend’s house, okay?”

Celine stopped dead in her tracks when she felt a warm wetness fall over her shoulder. She pulled her son off of her and gasped in horror when she saw the thick black slime drooping from the baby-boy’s little mouth. He was still alive, but not for long. Celine pulled down the blanket and choked on her words when she saw the long slash on his naked back.

“He poisoned you,” Celine said to herself. Tears rolled down her cheeks when she realized what Dr. Reid had done. He did it as a precaution for when Celine decided to take her son. Before she could even think of returning to Dr. Reid and forcing him to tell her how to cure her son, the elevator doors opened and three policemen came walking out.

“Oh, great,” she whispered. The policemen looked down at Celine and didn’t even think of asking her what she was doing on the floor with a baby spewing slime. They yelled at her and took out their guns, pointing it at her.

“Stop right there, ma’am,” said the policeman in the middle. “We don’t want any trouble. Let go of the baby and hand him over to us.”

“What did Dr. Reid tell you?” Celine asked them, knowing very well Dr. Reid must have said something awful for them to want to shoot her. “Ma’am, just let go of the baby, please,” Their yelling caused the nurses and doctors to come out of their rooms and witness the scene.

Celine gripped the wand behind her son’s body and knew she had to find a way out of there without the police chasing her. “I’m sorry, you good men, but my boy is dying and I have to save him so he can live a normal life.” “Ma’am, we need you to hand the child over to us,” repeated the policeman.

“Lumiere!” Celine cried out, pointing the wand towards the policemen. As the bright ball of light consumed the corridor in blindness, the policemen pulled their triggers. Cries were called out as the bright light stabbed into their eyes and they had no choice but to fall down to their knees and shield themselves from the whiteness that was slowly consuming them.

When the light slowly went away and the sharp ringing disappeared into the distant, everyone who caught sight of the brightness opened their eyes and tried to adjust their sight back to normality.

Celine was gone, as was her son. The policemen looked around and were shocked, scared and stupefied. Had they seen a ghost? Aliens, maybe? There had to be a logical explanation, after all. There had to be an explanation for Celine disappearing like that. Sadly, there was one explanation they’d never understand.