The creature was weak compared to the spirit that was hitting it and trying to make it submit so that its soul could be eaten. In Belle's eyes, the land of the dead was to eat or to be eaten. She heard the creature that had planned to eat her cry out in pain as it was beaten by the stronger spirit. It was Belle's first day here and maybe that is why she felt pity for the creature, and if she wasn't wrong after the creature was eaten by the spirit, the next person on the menu would be her which would be devoured by the spirits.

Her face flinched every time she heard the bone crack. Unable to look anymore, she finally broke a couple of sticks in her hand and slid down the tree.

The breaking of branches was enough for the spirit to stop what it was doing to the other creature and it threw it down on the ground, turning around to see a girl's soul which was fresh in here. The spirit growled at her, its nails growing and saliva dripping out of its mouth as if it could barely contain its hunger.

The spirit then came right at her, and Belle used her sticks on it as only a dead being could kill another dead thing. The creature growled, its voice echoing throughout the forest. It caught hold of her and threw her across the tree before walking towards her and ready to trample her body, but she rolled away before its large feet could get to her.

"Me food!!" exclaimed the creature, at the thought that the spirit would eat the girl's soul before it could even get a taste.

"How do you kill this thing?" Belle shouted across the many trees to her previous captor, and it stared at her. Her magic was not working, but with a little help, it shouldn't be difficult to defeat this thing, thought Belle to herself.

"Kill?" asked the creature, taking its own sweet time while thinking about it. Belle, on the other hand, used her nails which were still part of her vampire nature. She had learned some basic things from Lucas, and she used the same on the spirit that was trying to get to her. One of the advantages here was that even though the spirit was stronger it was not a developed creature like Belle, "Me don't know."

"What do you know?" asked Belle with a frustrated sigh.

The reason she had got down from the tree to help the creature was to create some sort of alliance so that it wouldn't eat her and help her to get out of this forest. She needed to get back to the ruins of her home to send out some sort of signal to the land of the living. The creature continued to look at her when Belle struggled to keep the spirit's hands away from her neck. It was trying to bring her face close to its mouth so that the next step would be to suck her soul. If her soul were sucked into its mouth, there would be no recovery, and she would perish or fuse herself to turn to something she was not.

"He has delicious heart," answered the creature.

Spirits had a heart? Belle brushed the thought away as it wasn't the time to ponder over it, "I will give you the heart," she said to the creature who suddenly looked happy.

"Two food!" This idiot, thought Belle to herself.

"One food!" Belle shouted back at the creature who appeared to be sad suddenly, "You can have him but you will spare me! I will find you better ones!" The creature stared at her for a first few seconds and then nodded its head.

Belle was glad that she had avoided at least being on one creature's food menu which was good for now. She noticed how the spirit opened its hollow mouth, ready to suck the soul out of her body. At the same time, she pushed her fingers into the chest of the spirit's body to feel its bones scraping her outer part of her hand and she pulled its heart out.

Feeling the hand around her neck loosen, she pushed the spirit who fell flat on the ground and she looked at its heart to scrunch her face. The heart was rotten and grey in colour that made her want to throw up. She threw it towards the creature who caught it in its hands. Before she could notice it eating, she had turned away to look down at the spirit that laid unmoving. How strange to kill something that was already dead, thought Belle to herself.

When the creature was done eating, it came forward to where Belle was and said, "We should go before it wakes up."

Her eyes snapped to look at it, "What do you mean wake up?" Didn't she just pull out its heart for it to fall down?

"It regrows the heart in a few minutes," answered the creature.

So things were not easy to kill in here, said Belle to herself, "Do you know which way to go to the town?" she asked it.

"Which town?" asked the creature.

"Any will do," she answered in urgency. Her time was limited and she had to leave the land of the dead before the hours of corruption of soul started.

The creature then moved its skeleton head to look around and said, "That is the way," pointing at one direction.

"Great," and she started to leave to be followed by the creature. She could only hope now that the creature would not go back from its word and put her back on its tasty food menu.

Belle walked and half ran in the direction the creature had pointed at until they came to stand in front of rocks that surrounded most of the perimeter here. She turned around and looked at the creature, "Is this the way?"

"Me bad. Must be the opposite way," the creature answered, and they turned back in the way they had just come from.

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