Chapter 12

Kev slunk steadfastly toward his destination. He crept stealthily from shadow to shadow so as to elude the few roaming living. In spite of the insatiable bloodlust biting him inside, his pace proved inhumanly smooth and silent, for, rather than moving by steps, he glided along the cold sidewalks and alleys.

Jill was to wait for him in the mausoleum where he'd hidden his coffin with a stake and a hammer. It comforted him to know he would at last find eternal peace, that this great trial would come to an end. For that longed-for sleep, his parents, and his dear sister, he could not afford to fail.

Tonight's the night, he mused.

The more he advanced, the dirtier and poorer the buildings surrounding him became. Presently, he wound up in the city's bleakest neighborhood: a squalid locale languishing away beneath the Bedford Bridge, not far from the southern highway. The dilapidated dwellings in it contained corroded walls, broken shutters, and scratched wooden doors, and harbored outcast families living under equally miserable conditions. A vast number of protuberances and potholes flawed the narrow streets, troubling the passing of even the most promising vehicles. No streetlights shone upon this human wasteland, so darkness enveloped it completely on cold evenings like this.

Soot and poverty had so much corrupted the community, that it seemed even God himself had abandoned it. Maybe that was the reason Lucian selected the old warehouse as his hideout. No angel or mighty godlike authority would ever dare defy him in such cursed land.

Kev jumped over the low fence separating him from the ramshackle edifice and inspected it grimly. Long, uneven slices of wet cardboard concealed the shattered windows; moonlight reflected in tenuous silver gleams from the aluminum roof; the scent of death whiffed out through the many cracks upon the brick walls.

He drew out a wooden stake from his black trousers and, whilst testing its sharpness with the tip of his index, marched to the door. Since the spiteful owner had locked it, Kev had no choice but to force it open with a hard twist.

Sweeping in furtively, he surveyed the dark interior with his specialized nocturnal vision. The room had undergone a terrible devastation: all sorts of tools, from heavy steel spanners to insignificant iron nails, lay scattered about; the damp walls reeked of sewer water; the dusty shelves stood tall before him, like stout, hungry giants. He could discern chalk traces upon the ugly wood flooring, too. By the look of the blurry symbol they had once constituted, he reckoned what their purpose might've been. Everything fit with that odd dream he had after Alyra had intercepted him.

Indeed, he'd come upon Lucian's lair. Why was he the only one present, then?

The sharp bang with which the door slammed shut obliged him to reconsider. Fearless, he wheeled round and gazed sternly at the dark figure which blocked the exit.

"I underestimated you, Kev," said the spectral entity, starting forward calmly. The scarce moonlight that made it into the refuge rinsed the shadows off his face. Nothing about him had changed since Kev's first encounter with him at the party. His blond hair, his crystalline eyes, his moon-white skin… Every wicked feature of his had survived, except that ill, toothy grin. A frightening upturned smile had taken its place.

"What did you do to Alice?"

The fiend grimaced in dishonest surprise. "Pardon me?"

"I was supposed to meet her the night your sister attacked me," explained Kev, now glaring at the man. "I'm certain that she did something to her, and I want to know what exactly."

The man expelled a wretched cackle and glimpsed down in mock grief. "She's dead."

A flame of mingled sorrow and fury wavered in the boy's pale blue eyes but quickly died down again. Deeming it pointless to maintain the conversation, he fastened his grip on the stake and threw himself at the undead creature, dashing along the dusty floor at a speed no ordinary human would've caught with his eyes. He executed three brutal slashes and finished with a deadly stab.

To his amazement, none succeeded in inflicting the intended damage; they merely sliced the air.

"Youngsters…"a supercilious voice drawled behind him, "always so predictable."

Kev turned to his foe, ready for another strike, when he felt an excruciating pain burn through his guts. Shifting his gaze down on the affected area, he noticed that the haft of a dagger protruded from his abdomen, and that the whole blade had disappeared into his vest and skin.

How did he do it? If he planned to beat him, Kev could not allow him to deliver such surprise attacks. He ought to be faster. Smarter.

The boy enclosed the handle in his spare hand and pulled the weapon out slowly, his shredded entrails squishing within him as he removed the obstruction. Copious amounts of blood flooded out of the wound. He flung it aside and, once again, prepared to fight. By now, the creature had retrieved that stupid grin of his. And his fangs, as well as his creepy eyes, seemed to glow in the dark.

A sudden weakness spread through Kev, beginning right where the dagger had rested, then travelling to his arms and legs. He started convulsing frantically, as though an electric current were flowing through his spine. No sooner did his quivering hand drop the stake, than his body lost control and collapsed. Blood kept spurting from the cut and gathered in a sick crimson puddle about him.

He just couldn't understand it. Why hadn't the bleeding stopped already?

"Hawthorn sap," explained the eerie man, as if he'd read his mind, while he walked past Kev and bent over to pick up his weapon. Wiping the blood off the blade with his sleeve, he glowered down at his paralyzed victim. "It can be deadlier than a cross or a stake."

"What's happening to me?" he hissed, gritting his teeth in agony.

Lucian squatted on his heels beside him, his pale lips curled into a malicious sneer. "You're dying again. That's how the sap works: it's a quick and effective killer. But before you turn into a pile of ashes, you should know why I killed your parents… and why you will die as well."

Upon attracting his attention, the fiend carried on. "Did you learn anything about my parents, by any chance?

"I know," he panted with difficulty, "that Lazarus and Haza were destroyed more than two centuries ago."

"Good! It seems you did your homework. And do you have any idea who was responsible?"

Since the boy replied in the negative with a languid shake of the head, the inquirer answered the question himself. "Your ancestor, Desmond Hart. The bastard broke into our house with his angry flock of foolish believers. And they carried in their crosses and their hammers and their goddamned stakes."

He paused to let the information settle adequately in his dying listener's mind. "He destroyed them all, Kevin: my father, my mother, my sisters. The four of us that made it through that night swore to never rest until your entire family suffered the same fate as ours…"

"Four?" interposed his victim in shock. "B-but that's impossible. There are only three of you."

Lucian smiled with delight at his look of disbelief. "As far as you're concerned. Before your parents' death, you knew nothing about us… and you still don't, apparently."

"It's been a long journey," he continued, a spark of melancholy flaring in his chilling voice, "but it will be over at last. By dawn, those who bear the blood of Desmond Hart will all have perished."

In a desperate effort, Kev summoned up the little energy he had left to fumble for the wooden stake with the tips of his fingers. The poison coursed through his veins like a powerful anesthetic, deadening his senses one at a time.

"Now, if you'll excuse me," concluded Lucian in his very proud and self-possessed manner, "I have to go kill your sister."

"No!" screamed the boy frenetically. The unanticipated threat spurred his arm to perform a reflex stretch. He grabbed hold of the weapon he had been blindly seeking all along and, without hesitation, buried it in his enemy's chest.

Gouts of blood burst from the deep gouge as he sprang back abruptly. A deafening screech of pain and astonishment broke out of his mouth before he staggered and finally landed on his back. A look of stupefaction cleaved briefly to his white face, but evolved into one of utter dismay when, having reviewed the latest events, he came to acknowledge death as inevitable in what was his last train of thought.

A rough wave of heat brushed past Kev's cheek. Though his eyes no longer functioned (the sap had finished its job there), he listened to the faint crackling of bones and burning flesh quite well. The putrid smoke soon dissolved into the room's stifling air, as did the monster's tainted soul.

The boy remained motionless on the floor, relishing the profound sense of triumph that pervaded his heart. He was at peace with this world and more than ready to cross over to the next.

"Yeah," he laughed. "Tonight's definitely the night…"

"Kev?" a familiar voice whispered into his ear, blowing away the sight of the spooky warehouse. It was Jill.

The white cub let out a weary yawn, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. The dream flashed like lightning before them and amidst the overcast of memories inside his head.

Over the past days, the picture had grown bitterly clear. Despite the evidence presented to him during his naps, he couldn't bring himself to admit the obvious truth. That Alyra had killed him. That, undoubtedly, he had risen as one of them.

But he escaped, didn't he? Somehow he'd survived Lucian's attack. Somehow he'd woken up somewhere in the African savannah, free from the cruel stigmas of his former existence. Some benign force he could not fathom had transported him to Simba's kingdom so that he would find hope and happiness in a fairer and more normal—so to speak— life.

Notwithstanding, no matter how hard he tried to forget, he knew that they would always haunt him. He could play with the rest of the cubs like a genuine child, feed upon the raw flesh of zebras and antelopes, learn a lion's hunting techniques; basically, he could put into practice whatever these admirable felines taught him. At the end of the day, though, the past would strike back in misty fragments and show him his true nature.

"You can't escape fate," a monstrous creature had warned him in one of his first dreams. And maybe it was right. Maybe this was the illusion. Maybe someday he would open his eyes only to stumble upon the lid of his coffin, to discover that Pride Rock would never be anything but a far-fetched fantasy. Certainly, that possibility sounded way more logical than the other, the one where the talking lions and the savannah were actually real.

His sister set her muzzle close to his ear insomuch that it twitched lightly. "Are you listening?"

Wrapped in his surrogate mother's protective hug and an adamant reluctance to renounce his sleep, the male deigned to utter a grunt of displeasure, then hid his face in the Princess's comfortably warm fur.

His twin did not give up her endeavors; even though tapping him repeatedly on the back and tugging at his ear resulted in no productive outcomes, she presently came up with the perfect motivation: the one thing that would compel him to hop to his paws in the blink of an eye.

"Kopa's right behind you, you know?" she started, smirking down at him. "And he mentioned something about a… 'Kev waking procedure'?"

Instantly, her sibling's lids snapped apart, his black pupils swelling in the absence of light. His body quavered intensely while his limbs pitched frantic kicks and punches at the snoring lioness in a desperate attempt to squirm free. His tail writhed like a chopped earthworm, terrified by the prospect of being reintroduced to the vicious jaws which had so often mistreated it. The she-cub strove to shush him and hold him down with her forelegs, but he had entered so deep a state of panic she could accomplish very little.

He shook and screamed, begging Kopa to please not bite his tail between choked sobs, until the Princess, rankled by the child's restlessness, tightened her hug and soothed him down in slumberous mumbles, assuring him her brother wouldn't dream of messing with him at such an ungodly hour.

Reluctantly obeying, he kept quiet and braced himself for the seemingly inescapable sting. Luckily, the prolonged stillness of his surroundings proved Kiara right. His heart rate decelerated, his muscles relaxed, and his hard panting reverted to his regular breathing. All hints of nervousness gone, the white cub slung a disapproving, bloodshot stare up at his sister, who bade him have a word with her outside.

Kev wriggled out of the lioness's grasp with utmost caution and lollopped sleepily behind Jill toward the cave's mouth. On his way out, his ears perked at the soft patter of little paws. Some cub might've fallen into the unconscious habit of sleepwalking, he reflected, giggling inwardly.

As he gazed at the stars as they hovered high above, the male cub wondered how anything could bother his sister so much as to goad her into disrupting his slumber, especially when the whole world swam in a somber calm. A vague idea of what the cause might be then sparked in his brain. Hoping to be wrong, he ventured to ask her what had deprived her of her sleep, to which Jill's relatively indifferent countenance crumpled into a crushing grimace. On hearing out her reason, he confirmed his theory.

"I had a nightmare too," he sighed despondently.

"But this one wasn't like the others," she objected, lowering her sad eyes. "It was scarier. I don't think I'll be able to take it much longer. It's… it's driving me crazy."

Her voice had teetered on the edge of breaking toward the end of her speech. Conceiving no other means of consolation, the male nuzzled up to her. His brotherly warmth disseminated quickly through her body as a silvery murmur tickled her eardrums.

"For the time being, there's nothing we can do."

"There is," she retorted, softly pulling away. "On our way back from the Kuzimo Kingdom, Kopa told me that he and Nitara agreed to meet at the borderline, tonight. He promised to show her that thing he wanted you to see."

The boy's jaw dropped incredulously, his face crinkling up in anger. "What? W-why? Did he get a recent blow to the head?"

"Just listen before you start freaking out!" she scolded him, glancing back into the cave to make sure his shrieks hadn't aroused commotion. "Now he's waking Aazi and Raghu. We'll all go."

"Oh, you wanna bet? If you go through with this, I'll tell Kiara… I'm warning you. And I don't care if she grounds us for life. This is insanity!"

The awry frown upon her muzzle straightened gradually only to deform into a broad snarl. Bowled over by her frustration, she swiped at her brother, channeling all her fury into her right paw, but stopped just before it scraped his cheek. If her latest nightmare hadn't worked her up so much, she would definitely have carried that wallop to the end.

"I can't do this anymore!" she snapped, violently thrusting her face into his chest and soaking his fur in tears. "I'm not okay, can't you see? This might be our only chance to stop those dreams, and you're not even willing to consider it."

Somewhat baffled by her unheralded switch in mood, Kev set his arm around the disconsolate girl, patting her back while she sobbed. "You really think it'll work?"

Having cried and snuffled all her angst away, she drew back slowly. "Kopa tried to describe to me what it was he saw," she stated after clearing her throat. "He didn't do it very well, though. It must've been something he'd never seen before. I think I know what it is, but I have to be sure."

A compassionate half-smile flicked across the boy's muzzle. He fixed his sympathetic gaze on the stone surface and then redirected it toward her shimmering orbs. He would've exposed the sundry dangers involved in wandering outside the cave at night; discussed the terrible consequences in which their adventure would culminate, should the lionesses find out they left; delved into the possibility of getting lost and never be found; emphasized the very irrationality of her suppositions. He might just have talked her out of it. However, the Prince interfered before he could give any of that a shot, sneaking up on the twins and briskly announcing that all was set.

Aazi and Raghu exited the den on the tips of their toes and rallied round the expedition's leader. All instructions and conditions set forth, the gang started for the northern boundary, where they would meet their Kuzimo pals—the Princess had stressed that she'd require the assistance of her 'mighty guardians'(referring to Ekevu and Bakari) for so dangerous a journey—to then head together for Kopa's mysterious spot.

Along the way, Raghu pretty much clung to his best friend and bombarded him with repetitive queries regarding their destination and annoying comments on how cool and infallible his plan was. In turn, Kopa, fascinated with the brilliant spotlight, replied to his constant flattery with an arrogant air of lost modesty. Kev and Aazi trailed along behind the noisy duo. The white cub, to everyone's surprise, did not oppose the future king's proposal as much as expected. In fact, instead of denouncing them to Kiara like he'd vowed to do, he determined upon joining the adventurous group. He had by this time more or less assimilated the cubby conception that nothing could possibly go wrong, to say nothing of his strong desire to weed out the nightmares that had taken root in his subconscious. Besides, Uzima's daughter took it upon herself to keep him from speculating on all the risks. For the first time since their little accident, she mustered up the courage to express a detailed apology for her late behavior and, having sealed it with a cuddle, held a friendly conversation with the male. For her part, Jill strode alongside the two reconciled friends. Unlike them, she did not participate in any lively chats. Lazarus's voice still reverberated in the core of her being, and each word seemed to rip out enormous chunks of her soul; it felt like the deadliest poison had somehow seeped deep into her. She needed to corroborate his account of the facts with conclusive proof, for, in her heart of hearts, she could not believe her own brother capable of the inexcusable crime the demon had accused him of.

After some time, the brave quintet reached the borderline, where the younglings gathered into a no less braver octet. The Kuzimo had arrived a short while before, and were beginning to doubt whether the Prince of Pride Rock would keep his promise, when they spied five small silhouettes in the distance. Irushimpa's daughter lost a significant portion of her enthusiasm upon catching the female outsider next to the boy she claimed was to become her mate. Initially, she refused to go on with the expedition out of plain jealousy, arguing that she would not have those (pointing her paw at the twins) 'abonations of nature' in her regal presence, and harshly commanded her guardians to turn around.

In spite of the mispronunciation, Kev interpreted the insult very easily. He wondered if she'd learned the term from her father. For a reason he refused to acknowledge, it stung him quite hard, but all the same he did not object to Kopa's running after the indignant cub. Neither did his sister, although her resentful glare suggested she didn't exactly hold her in great esteem.

Once he coaxed her into reconsidering, Simba's son allowed the trio to debate on a final decision and padded back to where his friends had sat down. Not long afterwards, Nitara beckoned him over to inform him that she wouldn't mind having the outsiders tag along this time, provided that no such outrageous exceptions would be needed on future occasions.

The Prince acceded to her terms after mulling over them for a short while. When he veered back toward the white she-cub and contemplated her clueless expression, a pang of remorse struck his heart, a twinge so painful he could've dropped to the grass and wept. In agreeing to the Kuzimo Princess' terms, he felt he was actually betraying his treasured friend. But he had no intentions of chickening out. Not now. Not in front of Nitara's friends. Not in front of her.

The conflict resolved, the little ones bounded merrily to the east end of the boundary, where, according to your respectable and supercool majesty, the surprise lay on display. Sometime during the excursion, the male outsider became aware that the land bore an eerie resemblance to the foul neighborhood in his dream. A moment ago, tall grasses and diverse shrubs abounded; he could even feel the pleasantly moist soil which nourished them under his paws. Now, that cornucopia of healthy vegetation had withered away on a coarse and arid ground. The autumnal winds wandered around the fields, ruffling the scorched grass and wilted bushes.

They had walked for more than twenty minutes when the Prince skidded to a halt before an imposing rampart of sky-scraping trees. Their wide trunks, swathed in barks that could easily have been older than mankind itself, divided into many gaunt boughs which stretched upward and amassed into practically impenetrable wooden tangles coated with thick green leaves.

The borderline went no further; the territory beyond, the so called 'Forest of the Dead', belonged to no one. As far as the Pridelanders and Kuzimo were concerned, this piece of unwanted wilderness extended for miles across the rest of the African continent.

A sepulchral silence swooped down on the younglings as their guide called to their attention one of the front wooden columns. Moonlight shone upon the strange symbol engraved on the trunk, unveiling its ugly contour. It looked like a failed attempt at a giant overturned star that someone had hastily scratched into the ancient bark. Additionally, the talentless artist had left lots of meaningless claw marks above and to both sides of the more elaborate design for aesthetic purposes. No adornments proved necessary to create a strong impact on the viewers, though; upon recognizing the seal, a cold shiver ran down the outsiders' spines.

"This is it!" piped up the golden cub, addressing the male outsider victoriously. "That's the weird thing you mentioned in your story."

Kev stood scrutinizing the imperfect drawing, his mouth agape. If anything frightened him more than the sight of the misshapen emblem, it was the prospect of staying long enough to meet its designer.

Seeing as a knot had formed in her brother's throat, Jill deemed it wise to speak for both. "Maybe we should go back now," she proposed, her tone juddering fearfully.

"Yeah," chimed in Ekevu, his brown eyes glistening with concern. "We heard the legend about King Olwenyo and this forest. Nobody who gets in makes it out alive again."

The Prince glimpsed back over his shoulder, appalled. "What legend? I never heard of it before." Subsequently, he flung an excited smile at Kev. "I bet it has something to do with the monsters. The ones with the bloody snouts, remember? Oh, what was their name again?"

The outsider snapped out of his trance with a raspy groan. "Never mind. Jill's right; we should go back."

"Don't worry, Kopa," interjected Nitara, glowering reprehensively at the abonation for having sown doubt into her future mate's mind. "My dad says it's all just a bunch of superstitious nonsense."

Jill stepped forward, positioning herself to the golden cub's right while the Kuzimo Princess sat down to his left. "I don't think it's a good idea to go through with this."

On one ear, the white girl tried to make him see how bad things could turn out for everyone if he didn't recede, whereas on the other, her rival beguiled him into carrying out the original plan, resorting to the most seductive gestures. The turbulent crossfire, nonetheless, did not last very long.

"Okay!" concluded Irushimpa's daughter, outraged at Jill's fervid protests. "I guess I was wrong about you, Kopa. It seems you're still a scaredy kitty."

With those last two incising words, the demon vanquished the angel, and the bunch sealed its destiny by trooping into the creepy woods behind its suddenly-resolute leader.

For a relatively long time, they trod along the rotten carpet of fallen leaves, skirting around the barky towers and often freezing at the ghostly hooting of nocturnal birds and the distant howling of prowling hyenas. Much to the outsiders' relief, no scarlet-mouthed monsters ever showed up. Wild mice would occasionally scurry past their paws and squeak in pain whenever unintentionally stepped on, but that was pretty much all.

Arriving at the conclusion that he had arranged the trip in vain, the Prince at last whirled about to put an end to their fruitless exploration. All of a sudden, an overwhelming wave of distress crashed into his determined expression. Glints of growing disillusion beamed from his amber orbs as they swirled within their confines in search of someone who was supposed to be among them but had unaccountably vanished.

Where could Raghu have gone?

The cavernous gloom swallowed the whooshing breeze, the skittering rodents hushed, and the leaves quit chafing noisily against each other. The woodland stood still for almost one whole dismal minute.

The little ones called out the missing cub's name and peeked behind trees for any hints of his whereabouts, but he was nowhere to be seen. No sooner did despair and anguish spread among them, than they realized that they themselves had strayed farther into the woods.

What would their parents think? What if they didn't find their friend before dawn? But… What if they did stumble across him? What if he was floating lifeless in some deep, murky puddle? Or lying badly injured somewhere out of reach?

Unspeakable terrors usurped their thoughts while they rummaged through the thorny underbrush for the stray cub. Little could they imagine that they would come upon someone in short time. Someone that neither the Pridelanders nor the Kuzimo had ever met. Someone who would scar their lives beyond repair.

"Raghu!" cried out the golden cub to the thick ceiling of branches and leaves blocking the sky, his ears pricking at a loud swish. Swinging his head in the direction where the whistling sound had originated, he caught a glimpse of a small, blurry figure whizzing along behind a row of wooden pillars.

"It's him!" Kopa yelled, and immediately shot after the earnest sprinter, panting heavily and imploring his playmate to stop.

The others did their best to keep up with the boy's frantic pace, although to no avail. Tears sprang to their eyes as they commenced a much less hopeful search for the two males. Their hearts raced between their palpitating lungs with fear of having lost another comrade. The darkness was subsiding by degrees, and they could make out the stones and thickets around them better than before, but that by no means made their current mission any less difficult.

Any living being can undergo only a certain amount of torment before their mind's lucidity darkens and eventually clouds-over helplessly. Each and every subject to torture will at some point surrender his or her sanity, for the brain, being programmed to ensure the individual's endurance, demolishes all social and moral barriers when threatened by a very hostile outside. Hope drowns in an ocean of utter distress and the foreboding sense of danger ignites one's primary instincts. Consequently, there is simply one dilemma to ponder over: whether to live mad or die sane.

The bold party staggered dangerously close to this threshold, but a high-pitched croak from the Prince echoed through the miles of towering trees and rescued their sinking sanity just in time.

"Who are you?"

Chasing down his quivering call, they presently wound up behind the Prince, who stood facing the stranger he'd mistaken for his best friend. Said stranger, a most peculiar she-cub, raised an eyebrow in apparent bewilderment, perusing her assailers from a safe distance. A happy smile flickered across her muzzle when her gaze alighted on the outsiders' trembling figures. Like theirs, her pelt was as white as the moon. She looked altogether like someone who'd lost a significant amount of blood; dark gray shades encircled her eye sockets and her legs shook terribly, as though laden with an overpowering languidness. Moreover, her irises emitted a somber glimmer that made Kev tingle all over. They differed tremendously from Nitara's and Raghu's, hers being of a bizarrely sick blue color. A dead blue.

Kopa pressed his paws against the earth, digging into it with unsheathed claws. He growled out his inquiry once more to receive no answer. Then, the queer girl did something that flummoxed not just him, but the entire group: giggling ecstatically, she bounded cheerily toward her vexed inquirer and rubbed her flank on his.

The boy's snarl slackened as he reassumed an idle stance. "W-what was that?"

The stranger ignored him and proceeded to welcome the rest with equally friendly nuzzles and licks. Gazes of disorientation fell upon her after she had finished extending her overly kind greetings. One of the Kuzimo —Nitara, perhaps— even grumbled 'weirdo' in a muted voice.

"Wow!" she gasped in awe, beaming at the audacious explorers. "You're all so colored! Well, not you two, but you're still…"

At this point, she threw herself on her back and burst out guffawing like a lunatic. The stray cubs shared a glance of worried befuddlement before refocusing on her rolling body. Repeatedly, Simba's son attempted to end her unremitting laughter with shy interpositions, but only the need to refill her lungs prompted the odd girl to mellow out.

They considered shifting slowly around the furry hindrance and padding away without looking back. If she called out for them, they would simply pretend they didn't hear. If she started following them, they would turn a blind eye to her and move faster. The last thing they wanted was a wacky wanderer topping their already big heap of trouble.

Unfortunately, she scrambled to her paws very suddenly, thwarting the gang's wordlessly devised escape. "What are you doing here in the dead of night?" she asked, tilting her head to one side.

"Ehmmm…"slurred the future king, still a bit startled by her recovery. "We are looking for a friend that got lost."

Her brows contracted in disappointment, a frown displacing her energetic smile. "Oh, that's too bad."

"But you know what?" she blurted out in a brand new outburst of felicity. "My dad knows these woods better than anybody. I'm sure he would be more than happy to help you find your friend and lead you back home!"

"That would be great!" shrieked Aazi, hopping closer to the unknown white cub.

Both boys and girls heaved a loud sigh of relief and scooted precipitately after their new guide, who'd set out for her dwelling at a sprightly pace without prior notice. Their minds bustled with so many crazy emotions they even forgot to introduce themselves. Not only would they reunite with Eshe's son, but they might even make it back to their respective dens before dawn. If they sped up, of course! Their mothers would wake up to find them lying snugly by their side and bestow a loving lick upon their foreheads, oblivious to their mischief. Very soon, they would relate their story in strict confidence to the other cubs and be venerated as heroes for their unrivaled mettle. This horrific night would fade away along with countless others behind the backdrops of the past. Very soon, indeed.

"So," muttered the Prince amiably, attempting to break the ice, "your pride lives here, in the forest?"

The girl nodded, virtually leering back over her shoulder at Kopa. And there Kev saw it again! That eerie glow in her eyes...

The white male fell into a grave state of coma, as if an artery in back of his neck had suddenly popped. Fearing their companion would collapse like he had done on the previous journey, all the little ones but the stranger rushed to his aid. As they sniffed and scanned his body for clues of an illness, they endeavored to erase his disturbingly blank expression by asking him whether he felt alright. Although he did not speak right away, the forceful utterance that eventually passed his lips hit his worried listeners harder than a buffalo's horns.

"We're not going with you," he declared, turning a grim glare on the expectant girl seated a few feet away from him.

"Oh, great!" grumbled the Kuzimo Princess under her breath, locking her testy stare on her husband-to-be. "We're not listening to this loony."

"She can lead us back home, Kev," Aazi chipped in, to which all the others nodded in blind agreement. The thin reddish ring encircling her dilated pupils glistened under the weakening rays of moonlight.

Hereupon, the boy held up his pale visage, disclosing the tears of dread tucked in the corners of his eyes. His friends watched in static dejectedness as they grew and at length rolled down his face. Deeming it an auspicious moment to grant him and the rest of the gang a break from the irksome drama, his sibling imposed silence by caressing his neck with hers.

She rubbed her nose affectionately on his cheek, whispering soothingly into his ear. "It's okay. You can tell me what's wrong."

"We shouldn't follow her," he argued, matching his sister's volume. "She's lying, Jill… She… She's a vampire."

Normally, an ordinary girl would boorishly reject such a preposterous accusation. But being extraordinary in the literal sense of the word, Jill believed his brother the second he identified the white stranger. She threw a fearful glimpse backwards at the supposed night dweller. Her pasty muzzle exposed a cadaverous grin, her blue orbs freezing on hers. Jill could read the mockery and thirst concealed behind her mirthful countenance.

Facing the creature, the female outsider explained in a diffident tone that they (speaking on the whole group's behalf) would rather search for their friend on their own and thanked her for the offer anyway. The Pridelanders and Kuzimo sighed hopelessly, but not one of them —not even Nitara— questioned her call. They could sense something was amiss and thought it best to comply meekly.

The young adventurers had started in the opposite direction, and plunged back into the impure tranquility. Before they could make twenty steps, however, the odd girl's cheery voice swam into their ears from behind, only now it struck them as maniacal and sinister. The shriek she spewed through her fangs shot through their bones like poison. They stood petrified right where they'd halted, a sharp feeling of mingled bewilderment and apprehension seizing their consciences.

"I was wondering when you'd come out into the open, guys," she called out as gleefully as ever.

The siblings spun round brusquely. Two male cubs which bore an uncanny resemblance to the enigmatic girl had mystically materialized out of the dying gloom and now sat staring raptly in their direction. Their creepy eyes blazed like hers, like the flames of a falling star. And they were precisely that, weren't they? Fallen outcasts who roamed the world without a single heartbeat.

"Well!" exclaimed the eldest of the boys, clearly feigning excitement. "Kev! Jill! What an unexpected surprise! At the risk of sounding banal, it's a small world, isn't it?"

Upon seeing their grimaces of utter dread, he frowned affectedly. "What? You don't remember us? Come on, guys! I suppose you do recall having met my lovely sister, Alyra." He laid his paw down on the she-cub's shoulder. In turn, she giggled and curtsied to the group.

"And my valiant little brother, Aiden." He who was recently introduced emulated his sister's salutatory pose, smiling malevolently at Jill. He craved for revenge; the female outsider could perceive the rage within him struggling to break out of its cage. If the sun didn't somehow rise earlier than usual, he would pacify his incensed heart soon enough anyway.

They could not fight back. No. They were at their mercy. How long it took their appetite to get the better of them depended entirely on destiny.

"I don't think an introduction on my part is at all necessary," the eldest proceeded, hopping forth and eying the spectators as if their deaths were written in blood upon their foreheads. "However, for the sake of good manners, I suppose I'll provide one… I am Lucian, the Prince of Bats and Spiders."

Aazi blinked perplexedly at the mention of the eerie title and instantly related it to a conversation he'd held with Kev. He'd whispered something about a 'Queen of Spiders' in his sleep, she recollected vaguely.

She would've inquired into the twins' apparent fear of the three strangers, and the others would most likely have done so too, hadn't their white partners cut them off to reveal the macabre truth about the unusual cubs.

"They're not vampires!" scoffed Simba's son, pointing his paw at the queer trio. "I mean, they're supposed to be scary, and have blood dripping from huge fangs, and… and…" He ransacked his memories for another distinguishing feature of the creatures. "They're supposed to be dead! They look quite alive to me."

"Forget what I said!" the boy barked back. "We have to get out of here! Now!"

Alyra's flirtatious reply drew the Prince's sulky glare toward her. "We can make it fast and painless, darling. You have nothing to worry about."

"Oh, please! You're no different than we are," stated Kopa confidently. "You'll see…"

A weak growl rumbled in his throat. As soon as the grumble rose to a cubbish roar, he leapt forth with his teeth bared. He sprinted his way to the female of the trio like a grownup hunter, employing the same techniques Simba and Kovu had more than often striven to teach him. Although he'd failed repeatedly during practices and games, he had followed every step correctly now. The initial impulse. The quick unsheathing of claws. The light pounds against the earth which, according to his father, always had to be executed with the toes, not the heels. Indeed, under normal circumstances, he would've succeeded in tackling her.

These circumstances being everything but normal, the golden cub tumbled down helplessly when the girl bestowed a careless swipe upon his nose. His back thumped harshly against the soggy debris.

Alyra chuckled rapturously, her cold eyes zeroing in on the youngest of her siblings. Decoding her sly sneer, the white cub threw himself over the fallen prince, shoving him harder against the ground so as to prevent him from wriggling.

Lucian puckered his lips in fake pensiveness. "Now, what are we going to do with you? Hmmm… I think we're gonna gut you with our bare claws, little guy. How does that sound?"

Alyra cut in joyfully with a complementary idea. "How about we castrate him first?"

"You're brilliant, dear sister," he rejoined, smiling approvingly at her. He squinted down at the trembling figure of the future king. "Aiden, you know what to do!"

In the meantime, the bunch beheld the hair-raising scene unfolding before them in openmouthed astonishment. The strange she-cub had knocked down their leader with a single movement. And, amazingly, she didn't require assistance from her claws or her two spiteful cronies in order to achieve it.

Having drawn the little silver blades tucked in his toes, the fiend on top of Kopa slid his right paw smoothly down his whitish underbelly until reaching the lowest portion of it, right between the legs.

"Leave him alone!" begged Jill, her bitter tears eliciting the cruelest laughter from the merciless villains.

"What do you want from us?" yelled her twin, condemning their jeering with a quivery and yet remarkably furious voice. "Revenge?"

"Revenge?" growled Lucian, blowing air out of his lungs like a heated bull before a red flag. "Oh no, Kev. This is no longer about revenge. Believe it or not, it's about survival."

"But he's just a kid!" he pursued shrilly, his sister supporting this claim with a grave nod. "He's no threat to you!"

For an instant, it appeared the unearthly creature would actually give some thought to the request. However, his lips gradually disclosed a contemptuous sneer that incinerated all hope.

"Tell me, Kev," he muttered inquisitively, "what's the cat to do when the mouse is begging?"

Glancing back over his shoulder, he winked an eye at Aiden so that he would proceed with the plan. Kopa writhed and screamed in a tremendous effort to break free, but the fiend maintained a much too stable hold over him.

The young ones braced themselves for the impending bloodbath, shielding their teary orbs and pinning their ears tightly to their skulls. In horror, they awaited the sick squishing sound of flesh being ripped apart and the accompanying screeches of excruciating pain.

Upon reopening them and not encountering their dying friend screaming in agony with a deep gash upon his belly and his entrails scattered about like fat, smelly worms, a quiet sigh of something close to relief slipped out of their muzzles. As luck would have it, someone they initially failed to identify had spared them that gory sight. A yellowish cub had dashed out from the thick forest shrubs and shoved Kopa's captor off, rolling along with him far into the ravenous shadows lurking behind the endless rows of trees. A loud bang resounded, followed by the acute cracking of branches. Or they could've been bones.

Simba's son, who'd recognized the flashing leonine body that had saved his life, sprang to his paws hastily and cried its name out into the void. "Raghu!"

The reply, if any was uttered, never made it to his ears. The cubs stared deeply into the woods, fearing the evil lion would leap out and lash out at them when they least expected it.

Such was the shock this frightening experience had brought upon them, that they didn't notice the other two fiends had vanished into thin air; the gloomy terrain where the shadows had devoured Eshe's son and the vampire had such a spellbinding quality, that the ghostly moans of nocturnal animals did not echo in their heads with the same bitterly distressing effect as before. All they cared for now was their friend's well-being.

The long wait proved almost impossible to endure. Tears streamed down all the sad, dirty faces. Woeful sobs added to the foul racket ruling these damned lands, rendering the heavy sense of danger present within each of them unbearable. The many tragic fates they had predicted for their friend when he had first disappeared beat on every single one of their thoughts like an expanding headache.

Eventually, a soiled yellowish figure crawled weakly out of the dense blackness. Raghu made use of all the power left in his languid legs to drag his injured body forward. He slumped onto the muddy ground next to his best pal, grunting dolefully. Salty streamlets adorned his cheeks and chin; a little blood dribbled down his lips.

Soon afterwards, a much more damaged entity lurched into view, stopping on a dismal spot faintly illuminated by moonlight. Of all the unforgettable images this lifetime had yet to show them, the one that cleaved to their screen of vision when they listened to the drunken shuffling of their foe and looked up at him would surely haunt them for countless nights.

The cubs stared on in disbelief at the grotesque wreckage Aiden had turned into. Stones had cut and bruised him severely from head to tail. His pelt had adopted a filthy gray color, the result of dust and blood mixing together. His right eyelid had purpled and swollen to the point he could no longer inspect his victims with the eye resting beneath it. Also, a bone in his left hind limb had ruptured; one of the broken tips had punctured through the flesh and skin and now lay exposed in a slant position. But the worst part by far was the sight of his bloody chest drilled by three crooked branches.

The news of his death blazed momentarily in his treacherous blue irises. His plaintive countenance ignited a bright remembrance in the back of Jill's brain, one that flared and crackled ragingly as gravity's unforgiving hand crushed the villain against the muddy carpet of dead leaves. As in her dream, the boy burst into vivid flames. The acrid odor of burning sulfur irritated the stunned spectators' nostrils, arousing gags deep in their throats. By the time the venomous smoke faded away along with the creature's last breath, just a small pile of smoldering cinders and the charred branches responsible for his untimely demise had remained.

The cubs—all of them save the outsiders—lay petrified before the decaying embers; their ears and tails did not perform the slightest twitch. The unreality of it all seemed too difficult to grasp. They had always enjoyed ghost stories and ancient legends linked to the gods and the supernatural, but they never thought they'd meet a genuine vampire in real life. Despite the long distance they still had to cover in the path of maturity, they more or less took the Circle of Life for granted. They could not understand how anything could violate it. All living things were supposed to abide by the rules of nature, weren't they? Be born. Grow up. Form a family. Depart to join their ancestors and guard their kin from above, amid the billions of stars.

But not them, it appeared. They didn't belong to the world of the living or that of the dead. They existed somewhere in between.

When the early morning breeze finished scattering the ashes, the younglings twirled around and trotted to assist their brave rescuer. They licked him, patted him on the shoulder, hugged him, praised his courageous deed. Notwithstanding, as he rolled over, grievous gasps hushed the boisterous compliments.

"It hurts!" he whimpered.

His belly, soaked in fresh blood, rose and fell frantically in hopes of pushing out the sharp branch which had punctured it. A shallow scarlet pool quickly formed about him, staining his pelt and the front of his friends' paws.

A throbbing sting flamed up his stomach muscles and soon enough started searing his nerves, wringing pained meows from the debilitated boy. The spark of life grew progressively dimmer in his sapphire eyes. He didn't suffer for long; his heartbeats quieted down rather spontaneously. In no time, he drowsed off into a cold and peaceful sleep.

The cubs tried to poke the motionless member of the gang out of his uninterruptible slumber with their soggy noses, begging him to utter anything at all. The response that stormed into their ears, though, was not articulated by their friend (his lungs had given up on collecting oxygen), but by two furious lions which sprang out of the dark from opposite sides of the forest.

Squinting menacingly at each other, they snarled and growled while four lionesses assembled close to the first and other five, along with a black-maned male, next to the second. Their rigid looks brimming with restrained rage foreshadowed a brutal scuffle. Without question, a bloody battle would've unfolded, hadn't the stirred felines fortuitously glanced down at the lifeless little body splayed between them.

"Raghu!" cried Eshe, jumping forth abruptly (almost running over the kids) and sniffing her son to check for vital signs. Detecting none, the tears of despair that had gathered under her lids burst out harshly, complemented by a loud cry which rendered the entire woods mute. She caressed the wounded area of his belly, imbruing the short fur on her paw with the oozing blood. She was disconcertedly aware that the warmth in him would waste away no matter how strong she hugged him.

Nala condoled with the grieving mother, shedding streams of sorrow while cuddling her. She had every reason to mourn. Not only had she helped Eshe through a tough labor; she had seen her child welcome the world's light into his beautiful eyes, take his first steps, and grow to become her son's most loyal companion. Indeed, she loved him too much to tolerate this tragic scenery.

The more fortunate Kuzimo and Pridelander mothers picked up their children by the scruff and stepped back respectfully, exchanging no threats or provocative remarks. The rival kings cast a dejected gaze at the mourning lioness. Given these special circumstances, they resolved to establish a temporary truce between both prides and, in a neutral area planted themselves on their haunches.

"Simba," whispered the Queen of Pride Rock, keeping her voice level despite the tears streaking her face, "you and the rest go ahead and take the cubs back home. I'll stay here with Eshe."

Not before the Kuzimo had sullenly crept out of sight with their children in their mouths did Simba deem it safe to comply with his mate's request. He bent down to lift up his disconsolate boy and quietly took off for the grasslands, the disheartened lionesses trailing along behind him.

As they weaved their way out of the woodland maze, the desperate wails of the bereaved female pealed ever weaker behind them. The yellow sphere had yet to ascend from its earthly casket, but its reddish orange light had already emerged and faintly stroked the sky. The vibrant colors of dawn would soon mingle with the brightening blue of the atmosphere and wash off all traces of this lamentable night.

A clear and gorgeous day was in store for Simba's kingdom, but it certainly wouldn't feel like one.

AN: So, did you like my villains? Sorry for taking too long to update; my studies are killing me! Anyway, the good thing is college in the U.S. (yes, I'm living there now, but only temporarily) is not as distressing as it is in Paraguay (not that it's easier; it's just that the teachers are way more fun-btw, my biology teacher is awesome!). Please review! And also, PLEASE write something other than "cool chapter"; I mean, it took me months to write this 8000-word chapter and, honestly, reviews that are too short and stark often discourage the author. The author wants to know how a story maAkes you feel, the emotions it conjures, whether he/she can work on improvements, your predictions, etc. :)

Anyway, thanks to all those who are still reading this story! :) (Btw, I saw the commercial about TLK 3D. Do you think they'll show the movie in Kansas City? I'm sure they're not going to show it where I'm living)