Page 38 of Vows Forged in Blood

I can’t be looking at…a Revenant.

But that’s exactly what it is. I’ve seen them in books and paintings and tapestries depicting the glorious victories of the vampiric army, driving the beasts from our lands. But as I look into its cold, crimson eyes, I realize the images hadn’t even come close to capturing the true horror. The thing before me is a monster, something pulled from the darkest nightmare. Evil radiates off of the creature in waves, the menace and inhumanity etched into every line of its gray skin. He grins at me, black fangs dripping with blood, and my stomach roils.

“Pretty little Consort,” it hisses in a voice that sounds like iron dragged over gravel as it stalks towards me. I take a step backward, head whipping around, terrified that more are lurking inches away. The Revenant pulls twin curved blades out of his belt and spins them expertly. He takes another step but halts abruptly when the end of a giant battle axe bursts through the front of his chest, black blood dripping down the blade. He doesn’t even cry out in pain, simply looks down at his chest, as if surprised to see the blade, and then collapses in a heap. Theground is soaked in blood within seconds, a black stain like tar spreading across the packed earth, mixing with the red.

Another figure rushes towards me through the smoke and I scream again, stumbling backwards, but I slap a hand over my mouth as I realize who it is.

“My Lady!” Viktor cries, eyes blazing with fury and battle-lust, fangs sharp as razors and bared in rage. He’s covered in blood, both black and red, and I wince at the large gash across his chest and the smaller one on his cheek. Kane is on Viktor’s heels, sword out and bloody. Viktor yanks his axe from the fallen Revenant with a sickening wet sound that makes me want to vomit. Three more Revenants emerge from the smoke and Kane and Viktor put themselves in front of me protectively. How many Revenants are here? My guard must be outnumbered. Fear and panic claw at my chest, making it hard to breathe.

“Stay back!” Viktor bellows at me over his shoulder. I cower behind the two hulking vampires, edging backwards as the Revenants attack. This fighting is nothing like the sparring and drills I’d seen at the camp. The movements are similar, of course, but there’s a brutal ferocity now that I never could have imagined. There is no mercy to be had, each fighter baring their fangs and landing blows hard enough to make me shake with terror. My heart feels like it’s in my throat as I watch my protectors, myfriends, fight for their lives—and mine.

A Revenant blade barely misses Kane’s neck, but he ducks and spins beneath the blow, thrusting his own sword upward and through the Revenant’s gut. When he pulls the blade free, blood and entrails spill to the ground and I can’t help but gag. Kane turns to help Viktor as he battles the two remaining Revenants, but he’s too late.

One of them drives its sword into Viktor’s side, the other slamming a war hammer into his temple. He topples to the ground, his body unmoving, and I scream in terror—and rage.Fury overtakes the fear for a brief moment, and all I want is to fight these creatures, to defend my friends, to make the beasts pay for harming them. I let the fire in my blood carry me forward without thought. Kane bellows my name, but I’m already flying between Viktor’s prone form and one of the Revenants, just as its blade arcs downward towards the big vampire.

Blinding pain erupts through my arm, just below my shoulder. I scream in agony, an agony I’ve never known, an agony I never could have even imagined. I fall heavily to the mud, my vision completely white for what feels like an eternity. My arm feels as if it’s on fire, the flames spreading through my entire body. Blood pours down my arm like a river, my fingers already slick with it. I feel like the entire earth lurches to the side and I turn my head to vomit violently into the mud.

“Herhead, Halston,” one of the Revenants grates. “We’re to take her head back to Kilgren.”

“I’m getting there,” the other one snaps back.

I blink hard trying to clear my head as terror closes my throat. They’re here to kill me.Oh gods. Please, please, please…I have to get out of this. I don’t want to die. I’m notreadyto die. There’s so much I haven’t done, so much life I haven’t lived! I try to focus on the monsters coming towards me, but the pain somehow doubles, making me see stars. I will myself to stay conscious. I don’t know anything about battle, but I do know that lying unconscious in the middle of it can’t be a good idea, especially when these monsters are trying to…I swallow hard…take my head.

Kane throws himself into the two Revenants, knocking them to the ground.

“RUN!” he roars to me as the three of them roll and fight.

Despite the pain, and despite part of my heart demanding that I help him, survival instincts take over and I obey, turning and running as fast as I can—which is not very. I stumble morethan once, coughing and gagging on the smoke still filling the air and the pain radiating through every inch of my body. It seems as if I’m headed away from the fighting, the sounds growing a bit dimer. I see the carriage ahead and rush towards it, falling to my knees and crawling beneath it.

I bite my lip and glance down at my arm. A whimpering sob escapes my lips at the sight: my upper arm is mangled, cut clear to the bone, and I can’t move the fingers on my left hand at all. My breaths saw in and out raggedly, and blood gushes from the wound with every beat of my heart. A distant part of my mind knows that I need to try to stop the bleeding, but I can’t focus, can’t make my body move or cooperate the way I need it to.

The sounds of fighting still echo all around: clangs of metal, cries of agony, bellows of rage, the wet, sickening sounds of metal cutting through flesh. I know that everything has only taken a few minutes, but it feels as if it’s been hours. The ground beneath me trembles, as if the earth itself is quaking in fear. I don’t know what to do. I can barely keep my eyes open, barely stay upright. I can’t possibly run in this state, and even if I could, where would I go? The village is an hour back, the camp two hours forward. The only option would be off into the woods and that isn’t a very good option at all.

So, no, my only real choice is to stay here and hope someone comes. My guard will save me…won’t they? They’d been hand-selected by Alaric, they’re some of the strongest vampires in his army. But images of the Revenants flash in my mind: the vicious way they fought, the feral brutality in their burning red eyes. And Viktor, lying lifeless on the ground.

“Oh gods,” I whisper. Was he dead? My eyes burn with tears and a fresh wave of agony shoots up my arm.

I suck in a harsh breath when I see a pair of legs emerge from the dust and smoke, walking casually towards the carriage. I clamp my good hand over my mouth, though I know it won’t domuch good, not with these creatures: their senses are almost as keen as vampires. I’m utterly frozen in fear, my body paralyzed though I desperately want to escape. I need to move. I need to run. I need to dosomething. But I can’t.

The booted feet move closer and closer, and my terror grows with every step. What feels like an eternity later, the figure squats down to peer into my hiding place. His crimson eyes are practically dancing with triumph, his black fangs menacing as he grins. He draws a dagger, his black claws coated in blood, and I flinch backwards, the movement sending a fresh wave of blinding pain through my arm. My world tilts for an endless moment, my vision going completely white before the Revenant’s menacing face comes back into view.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” he almost purrs, and my stomach twists at the gleeful malice in his eyes. “The killing of the great High General’s first Consort will be quite a blow, indeed…”

I understand then, despite the clamor in my mind, and the pain and fear making everything a jumbled mess. This is about striking a blow at the heart of Alaric’s army, taking something that belongs to him right from under his nose, and destroying it—and him not being able to do a thing to stop it.

“Ah, you understand now, yes?” he asks, red eyes gleaming. “That pretty little head of yours will look quite lovely on a pike. We’ll bring it to every battle as a reminder to your great warlord…”

I squeeze my eyes closed.Please don’t let my family know what happened here. Please tell them I fell ill. Please burn my body and send them my ashes. Don’t tell them I wasn’t…whole when I burned. Gods…

A bellow of rage unlike anything I’ve ever heard rings out so loudly that my eyes snap open and I clamp a hand over one ear, my other hand hanging uselessly by my side. Before theRevenant can so much as flinch, a blade slices through his neck—a blade black as night with silver stars flashing brightly as it buries itself in the Revenant’s flesh. Black blood sprays, soaking my chest and throat and face, hot and viscous. The Revenant blinks once, twice, and then his head slides off of his neck, landing with a wet, sickeningthunkbefore his body topples beside it.

Too much.It’s too much. I feel myself slipping away, sliding down a deep, dark hole and I can’t do a thing to stop it.

I stare, unblinking.

I’d once seen a man in the village that had been traveling from the east with his family. They’d been attacked by bears, and he had been the only survivor. He’d seen his wife and children torn apart by the beasts, watched them die right in front of him. He’d had a vacant look in his eyes, as if he were staring at something too far for anyone to see, yet seeing nothing at the same time. They’d said that he was in shock, his mind shutting down from the experience to protect itself.

That’s what I think is happening to me now. I’m in shock, my body growing so cold with it that I begin shaking, that dark hole closing in closer around me, squeezing…squeezing…

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