Page 121 of Evil Hearts

Killers killed.

Rapists raped.

Molesters diddled.

Anaprieks got ate.

It was a childish poem and not one that Katarina took any real pride in, but it didn’t change the reality behind it. If it wasn’t for her kind’s speed and agility she doubted there’d be any left alive today. When an anapriek found itself in a bind, it moved; and—boy!—could they move! Though they couldn’t vanish into unseen speeds like the blood-drinking vampires, her kind had an instinct for seeking out new heights, and no matter how fast a vampire might be they could only jump as fast as any other creature.

“No fighting physics,”Erik had said on the subject, the resentment still sounding in the memory.

She’d learned early on that her kind were the bottom of the food-chain in her community. So she had quickly pulled herself out of that kind of environment, hid her longer elf-like ears and made a living amongst the humans.

Simply put: anaprieks survived because anaprieks could move like nothing else.

So when Katarina pointed herself towards the hills with promise of inspiration, her body did what it did best.

And that left her mind to do what it did best.

She was already mentally sketching her third soon-to-be masterpiece from her jumpstarted imagination when a flash of movement dragged her back to reality. Frowning at the sight, she felt a dragging sadness as she saw that the shadows weren’t wolf-like at all. No, they were unmistakably humanoid…

But definitely not human.

Having a vampire agent had at least taught her to recognize the smell of his kind.

Biting her lip, she began to turn away, already anticipating that a group of blood-drinking Scottish locals were not about to welcome a foreign anapriek with open arms. As she started away from them, she got the first glimpse of them. The three were uncharacteristically rugged-looking—hardly the aristocratic snobs that she’d come to associate with their kind—and wore leather kilts baring a fang-like symbol. Stepping away, careful to neither make a show of fleeing nor taking her time with the hope of mercy, she felt her foot knock a small rock and the breath in her lungs froze.

The rock dislodged and clattered down the hillside.

Several smaller rocks followed.

Then a larger rock that had been supported by them crashed down after them.

Three sets of predatory eyes burned in Katarina’s peripheral as their heads swiveled towards her.

Low, animalistic hisses rose like an eerie wind; exposed fangs gleamed in the moonlight.

The scuttle of feet shifting; leather slapping rock.

They were hunting her!

Though there wasn’t enough flat space for the three to run at full speed, she still marveled at the spectacle as they vanished from one point only to appear at another in the blink of an eye; seemingly teleporting from ledge to ledge so that they could leap to the next point and do it all over again.

No fighting physics.

If it weren’t for those ledges she’d already be dead!

Still… they were so swift; so elegant!

For god’s sake, Kat! Get through this first! This isn’t time to find inspiration!the thought was like a slap to her face and she took off, beginning to skillfully cross the hills, using her speedand agility to jump from ledge-to-ledge.See you bastards keep up withthis!

As she continued across the steep hills, leaping and bounding like a mountain goat, she felt a rush at the idea of outrunning such deadly predators. So many of her kind had fallen under their kind’s fangs, and while she wasn’t one for celebrating danger she couldn’t deny her own body’s excitement at alluding—

She felt a tug on her jacket and whimpered at the realization that at least one of the vampires had caught up to her already.

A growl rose from just behind her, and, terror rising, she fought to free herself from the jacket. Twisting her body to-and-fro, Katarina sacrificed her footing and cried out as she stumbled down on a rocky patch and rolled down the grassy incline neighboring the forest. Gasping, she looked back up the hill towards the ledge she’d fallen from, seeing the vampire that still clutched her jacket leering down at her. Beyond him, further up the hill and glowering from the peak’s edge, she spotted a fourth vampire—a female—with bright golden eyes and long hair that glowed crimson-red in the moonlight haloing her features. The female stared back at her a moment longer, her long, red mane shifting in a breeze before settling across her shoulders, before she let out a low scoff and vanished.

The sound, like the many aches and stings she’d earned in the fall, hurt Katarina’s pride, and she inwardly cursed her ears for letting her hear it.

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