Page 144 of The Blood Witch

But she wouldn’t go down without a fight.

Vee snarled, lashing out with a clawed hand. The blow didn’t land. There was nothing there, just endless, formless dark. It felt cold, the emptiness an icy chill all around her. Filling her.

She reached out with that bright power inside of her, reached for a heartbeat, reached for blood, reached foranything.

But there was nothing. Emptiness. Nothing around her but the dark.

Desperate, Vee shifted, bones snapping and reforming. A Wolf emerged from Vee’s skin, with long fast limbs built for running.

If she couldn’t fight, she would run.

Vee raced into the darkness.

Endless. The black was endless and formless, and she ran and ran and ran…

“Where are you running, little Wolf?” a cold voice asked from the void.

Vee turned, snapping her powerful jaws. The voice was behind her. In front of her. All around her.

Come out and fight, she thought, turning her head side to side,looking for something, anything, in the dark.Come out and face me. I’m not afraid.

“There is nowhere left to run,” said the voice.

Vee dove into the darkness.

Nothing.

She snapped her teeth and flailed. She bounded and fought.

Nothing.

The voice was everywhere and nowhere, and in frustration Vee threw back her head to howl.

“Come out and fight me!” she cried, the words garbled and strange coming from her muzzle.

“I don’t need to fight you,” came that voice, that horribly cold voice. “You’ve already lost.”

Vee growled.

“You think you know suffering, little Wolf?” the voice mocked.

Claws sunk into her mind, and Vee whimpered, dropping to her belly. Pain. So much pain. Something was in her head; something was digging around in her skull. She whimpered again, shaking her head from side to side, trying to shake off those horrible claws.

Images came to her, unbidden and unwanted.

Memories of her past.

Flash.

Her mother’s face. Smiling. Happy.

Flash.

Her mother’s face. Bloody and beaten. Dead.

Flash.

Jayce’s brother. Bloody and beaten. Dead.

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