ROMANCE: Mr. Mystery: (New Adult Bad Boy Romance) (Contemporary Mystery Short Stories)

by Viva Fox

  So, as she gracefully weaved in and out of the trees, she looked down at the bow and thought of her brothers. She spent the majority of the morning in the woods and as the sun rose and she knew her parents would start inquiring about her she began to make the short journey back home. It didn’t take her long and as she neared the edge of the forest she heard a branch snap in the distance. Karla froze and turned to see if there was an animal but saw nothing. She brushed it off and continued her trip home.

  She had to slip in through the window of her room to go unnoticed as soon as she slipped into the bed, the door slammed open. Her father’s large frame filled the doorway and he lumbered towards the bed. Karla peaked out from the animal furs and saw that he was pretending to sneak up on her, so she played along. After a moment of his loud footsteps landing on the floor he leapt up into her bed and began to shake her.

  “Karla, my daughter, you are now a woman,” he exclaimed. “Wake up so that you may see the sun as it rises on your future.” Karla laughed as she always did when her father, the stoic man and great warrior that everyone knew, acted like a child. It was a side that only she ever saw. He could not act like this around his sons who are grown or his wife, but with Karla he could. “Come, come, I have a gift for you.”

  “Alright, alright,” she replied, still laughing. “What could possibly be so important that you feel the need to do it this early.” She didn’t think her parents knew about her early morning rendezvous into the forests, and she didn’t want them finding out about them. Her father jumped down off the bed and made his way out the door. He motioned for her to join him and she did.

  They walked through the house in silence, the others were still asleep, at least they were before her father started yelling. Her father led her out the front door and around the small house to the shed that her father used as a sort of workshop for his different hobbies. Her brother got his love of blacksmithing from their father who always allowed him to tinker with all his various weapons he had made. He swung open the door and allowed her to enter first.

  Her eyes took a moment to adjust, but sitting on the wooden work bench along the wall was a brand new bow. It was made with the finest Yew and it was a soft white color. There were intricate patterns both carved into the wood and fitted with metal.

  She looked back at her father, mouth agape, but her father just looked at her and smiled. He nodded towards the bow and winked, to which she reached over and picked it up.

  “I had it made special for you,” he said as her fingers slid perfectly into the grooved handle. “I imagine at this point your hands won’t grow too much more, so it’s fitted for you.” She felt the cool leather grip and looked it up and down. Her father pointed out the engraving on the bow.

  “I had that all designed and then your brother did the metal work. We weaved it all in together so that it’s actually stronger now than your standard wooden hunting bow.” Karla continued to stare at it in disbelief and was unable to even speak. “Well, you’ve gotta say something, Karla.” She looked back towards her father and set the bow back down.

  “It’s perfect,” she said as she hugged him. Her arms could barely reach all the way around his massive chest and he giggled as she tried. She took a step back and looked at the bow again. “I’d love to go test it out at the shop. I know they have a target out in the back.” Her father looked at her confused.

  “Well now why would we go to the range when we have a perfectly good morning?” Karla looked at him and tilted her head.

  “You’re not saying what I think you’re saying are you?” Her father’s eyebrow raised and a smile began to creep across his face. “But you said that you would never go hunting with me.”

  “Well today’s a special day, isn’t it?” The large man raised his hands to his mouth and whistled. Out of nowhere she saw both of her brothers appear from outside. Both of them were carrying bows of their own and quivers full of arrows.

  Karla ran forward and hugged them both. Her father grabbed his bow off the wall and began to walk towards the forest. “If your mother asks, we were all out just taking a walk,” he called over his shoulder.

  ****

  Karla’s walked behind her siblings and father into the forest. She had taken this path countless times, but there was something wonderful about walking the forest paths with someone else. There was comfort in the sounds of the leaves and twigs crunching under their feet.

  It was spring, so there was no frost on the ground, but she remembered how comforting that noise was to her during the winter. She could only imagine that it would get better the more feet crunched through it.

  They had been walking for about ten minutes when her middle brother slowed down so that he was walking side by side with Karla. She was always surprised by how large he was. He was only a few years her senior and yet he was massive in comparison. His arms were the roughly the size of her thighs and whenever he hugged her, she was scared that he would crush the life right out of her tiny lungs. As they walked he looked down at her.

  “So, have we ever told you the tale about the man who lives out here?” The words left her brother’s lips and instantly her eldest brother was turning around to chime in.

  “Do you think she’s ready to hear this story? I don’t know, brother.” His voice trailed off and Karla couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. They had always ruffled her feathers, but she was a woman now. She could hear the story, even if it was a joke.

  “Of course I’m ready to hear the story. I’m a woman now.” Her middle brother looked at her eldest and shrugged.

  “She has a point, she is a woman now.” The eldest brother slowed down so that he was walking on the other side of her. Karla looked up and saw her father shaking his head. She knew they must be joking at this point, but she would play along.

  She couldn’t help but wonder though about the noise she heard when she was out in the forest this morning though. She couldn’t tell them about it though or else they would know about how she often spent the mornings running through the forest alone.

  “You see, sister.,” said the middle brother. “A few years before our dear brother here was born there was a man who lived in the town. He was one of the best warriors our village had ever seen. But one day he lashed out against his soon to be wife, disfiguring her. She was devastated that she had lost her beauty and killed herself. But not before she cursed him, saying that he would never find love.”

  “Enough.” The tone of her father’s voice cut through the woods, and their mood. Her brother had been smiling, but immediately dropped the humorous tone. “I told you not to tell that story anymore there’s truth in it that isn’t funny.” Karla’s brother apologized and whispered to Karla.

  “It was father who banished him.” He said it so quietly that Karla could barely hear him, but her brother sped up his pace so that they were all scattered once again before she could ask him any questions.

  That meant that there was someone out in the woods though. And it was a man scorned by her father. There was no way that he knew who she was and would have wanted to harm her, but she realized that she would have to be more careful when alone in the woods.

  Karla’s mind began to wander as they walked through the woods, the footfalls that once comforted her now made her tense. Unsure of whether they were theirs or the footfalls of another man. She watched their feet closely, just to be sure that she could account for all of the noise. However, while she was watching them she failed to note the large buck that was standing in the distance. Her father stopped, and before she knew what was happening so did her brothers.

  She tumbled into them, bumping them all forward. Her father let out a small yelp from his son stepping on the back of his leg and the buck looked up, searching for the source of the noise. They all froze. Even in their uncomfortable position, they were able to see that this was a master buck that they would all want to get their hands on. Slowly, her middle brother slipped an arrow from his quiver. He notched the arro
w and quietly pulled back the bowstring. He aimed up his shot, but his father held up his hand.

  Her father looked towards Karla, who was doing her best to stay quiet. She knew that this buck was on the edge of her range and that it would be a risk for her to take the shot. Even if she could make it that far there was no chance she could get the kill.

  However, her brother nodded and slowly released the bowstring. He unnotched the arrow and handed it to Karla who looked at the tip. Most arrows she saw were the typical arrow head, but this arrow was barbed. It was clear that if she hit, this one would stay in place.

  She notched the arrow onto her bow as her brothers and father quietly kneeled so that she had an unobstructed view. Karla held the bow up and pulled the bowstring back towards her cheek. She could feel her hands beginning to shake, but she fought the urge to stop.

  Her muscles were drawn tighter than the sting and she prepared her shot. The wind was soft on her cheek and she knew that she wouldn’t need to account for that. With a single glance she was able to figure the distance and corrected her aim to take the drop into consideration.

  Karla took in a deep breath and held it. She loosed the arrow and watched it snap off the string. At the moment it snapped off the string though she heard a loud noise in the distance. As if there was something just waiting for her to shoot so that they could scare the buck. In what felt like slow motion she saw the buck twitch at the noise and attempt to bound away. Her arrow had some velocity though and ended up catching in the thigh of the buck as it took off.

  Her brothers and father swore under their breath as they stood up. Karla wasn’t content with a wing though, she was going to hunt it down. She took off at a full sprint after the buck and heard her brothers calling out to her. She couldn’t hear what they were saying though because the wind was rushing past her ears. Looking over her shoulder she called out to them.

  “This is my birthday, keep up or go home.” With smiles stretched across their face her brothers chased after her.

  ****

  Karla had never felt more alive than she did in that moment. Her feet were landing perfectly in front of her and she felt like she was getting faster with each foot fall. In the distance she could see the buck bouncing between the trees.

  She had often wondered if she would be able to keep up with an animal like this, and she now had her answer. If it was wounded, yes, she could. As she ran she would look down and see the trail of blood that the buck was leaving. Her brother’s arrow had done the trick.

  She looked over her shoulder and saw her brothers in the distance trying to keep up. They were doing their best, but she wasn’t surprised that they were struggling to keep up. Karla was built for running. She had a slender frame, like her mother, but had legs like her father. She had never really had to work at it, being that it came easily thanks to genetics. She had petite breasts which often upset her, but she knew that what she lacked there she had on her ass two fold.

  So, as her thighs chugged along through the woods she saw that the buck had begun to slow down. It’s movements were becoming more sporadic and it was obvious that it was doing its best to shake her from it’s tail.

  Every animal had the same strategic tendency to try to bob and weave, but when your hunter was a human, nothing could save you. As the buck slowed down, Karla pulled an arrow out of her quiver. She notched it as she ran after the buck.

  She slowed down a bit and hopped atop a tree that had fallen during a storm. She lined up her shot and loosed the arrow. It lodged into the back of the buck, causing it to stagger. Karla waited, hoping that it would fall, but even though it staggered it continued onward. She swore under her breath and continued after it.

  The buck entered a clearing after a short bit where it fell to the ground. Karla entered the clearing a few moments after and saw it hit the ground. She approached the buck slowly and pulled the knife that she carried in her boot out of the sheath.

  She knelt down beside the creature and listened to it’s raspy breaths. She glanced at the arrow that had pierced its back and knew that she must have hit a lung. Being this up close to such a majestic creature nearly brought a tear to her eye.

  Holding the knife up to the neck of the deer she whispered a short Nordic prayer under her breath thanking the gods for such a wonderful gift on her birthday. She wouldn’t let it go to waste. Karla drew the knife across the buck’s neck and stood up, allowing it time to die.

  As she stood up she glanced back in the direction that she had come in, expecting to see her brothers or father following. However, there was no one to be seen. She looked in different directions, realizing that this clearing was the connection of a number of different paths.

  Karla slowed her breathing to try to see if she could hear anyone coming. Closing her eyes she tried to isolate any noise. The only thing that she could hear was the last, dying breath of the buck beside her.

  She bent down to finish the ritual of killing the buck that she had seen her father perform before. There wasn’t much to it, but she wanted to make sure that when they caught up to her that they knew she was ready to be a hunter just like them.

  She turned the buck over so that it would drain the blood and not taint the blood, but as she reached over to do that she heard a twig snap in the distance. Turning around, she called out to her brothers and father.

  “Father, brothers, I killed the buck. Come and see.” She turned back to her work but didn’t hear or see them coming. She stood back up slowly, fearful of who she may have just called out to. As she stood and looked towards where she originally heard the noise, another twig snapped behind her. Spinning around she caught a glimpse of a shape in the distance and she walked towards it. She picked her bow up off the ground and drew an arrow from the quiver.

  Tentatively she stepped forward, trying to see if she could find the mysterious shape she had seen. Sadly, she was unable to find anything. As she strained her eyes into the distance something rushed past her ear.

  Karla pulled away and quickly looked over at a tree where an arrow quivered in a tree. Ducking she spun around and loosed an arrow in the direction of the first arrow. As she did this she saw two arrows fly in her direction. She dodged both and took off in the opposite direction.

  She hadn’t gotten a good look at what had shot at her, but in the quick second she had to look at the arrow that nearly killed her she had noticed that the fletching looked familiar. She felt her legs turn to jelly as she stopped running.

  Her brothers were the ones who were shooting at her. This was an elaborate prank to get her away from the hunt. Angry more with herself than at her brothers she turned around to confront them and to walk back towards the village, but something caught her attention.

  As she turned around she wasn’t confronted by her siblings but rather a large figure. He was about the size of her brother and he towered over her. His hair was long and tangled, his face covered in a matted beard. He was dressed in a cloak that blended in with the surrounding forest.

  Especially now that it was spring and the forest was lush it was no wonder she hadn’t seen him. Karla looked up in horror into his piercing blue eyes. With two steps he was on top of her and before the last thing she remembered was him snatching the bow from her hand.

  ****

  Karla’s head throbbed as she struggled to open her eyes. She decided that it must have all been a terrible dream and that she must have eaten something strange before heading to bed that would have caused her to have such a vivid nightmare. But as she reached out to grab at the blankets in the bed she realized that they were not her blankets. In reality they were the blankets of the man who knocked her out.

  She bolted upright and scanned the room, searching for the man. Her hand shot to her boot where she expected her knife to be but found only the sheath. The knife had been taken. Slowly she realized that she was alone in the room and listened closely to hear the sounds of an axe chopping wood coming from outside.

  She had some time t
o gather herself and try to get away. Her eyes darted around the room as she looked for a weapon of some sort. She knew that she wanted to get her bow back, but she had a feeling her family would just be happy that she made it back alive, regardless of the bow.

  Karla slid out of the bed and laid on the floor in an attempt to avoid the windows. She didn’t want to risk the chance that he would look in and see her. Crawling along the floor she saw a number of things that she wasn’t expecting. For one thing, on the table there was a plate of food made up and a mug of water sitting next to it.

  She looked at it and felt her stomach growl, but she couldn’t trust him, let alone his food. Another thing she found was that her gear was laid out nearly on a chair next to the door.

  She crawled over to it and hung the quiver across her back and slid the knife back into her boot. Karla then delicately picked up the bow and opened the door quietly. As the door creaked open she came face to face with a large wolf.

  The beast’s muzzle was covered in blood and it began to snarl quietly. The hair on the back of the wolf’s neck stood up and bristled as Karla very calmly closed the door in the wolf’s face.