Page 28 of Stolen Oath
Hysterical giggle bubbled up but I choked it down before it became audible.
The grey wolf growled from below us pebbling my skin with goosebumps, his ears pinned to the skull and his teeth bared. He was calling both of us liars there was no doubt there, so I ignored his existence. What else could I do? If it came down to it, it would be his word against ours and last time I checked it was one of him and two of us.
It all happened too fast.
“Look out!”
Dimitri’s bellow was full of horror as it came at the same time with the vampire who sneaked up on us and threw himself at Char who was the bigger target standing up than me crouched down low enough my butt was touching the branch. The momentum turned both of them in a circle where Char’s feet slipped off the branch and they plunged down toward the ground wrapped up like lovers around each other.
My friend’s eyes were wide enough for me to see them clearly in the moonlight when we locked gazes, and the fear I saw in them took my breath away. There was desperation there too but also resignation which told me she expected me to do nothing. If she reached inside my chest and ripped my heart out with her bare hands it would’ve hurt less.
“Char!” Dimitri’s shout turned into a roar at the end but I ignored him. There was nothing he could do because he was too far and they were already more than half way to the forest floor.
The vampire had his mouth open when I focused on him, the long sharp fangs aimed at my friend’s jugular as he was preparing to strike like a viper. Char closed her eyes and an expression of serenity washed over her features. The wind was rustling her curls like wild springs around her face hiding most of the bloodsucker, but not hiding him enough that I couldn’t see his mug. Rage exploded inside me so fast and so hot it blinded me for a split second and it slowed everything around me down to a crawl.
I saw Dimitri starting to shift, his shoulders bunching up and his face etched with a determination of a desperate man. Others were running behind him, Angela amongst them as well. I could appreciate his effort to protect me and save my friend but we both knew he wasn’t going to make it on time.
The strangest thing was the grey wolf found this whole thing amusing and sat back on his hunches to watch it unfold. If I managed to save Char I was going to wax that wolf if it was the last thing I did. My ears were thundering so loud a migraine started pulsing behind my eyes.
“Do it. His life is yours to take.” I could’ve sworn that Zin’s voice whispered in my ear and reached me loud and clear through the noise deafening me. But that couldn’t be since he was a figment of my imagination and lived in a weird dream.
Right?
Taking a breath and knowing full well this was the end of my life, I reached my hand toward Char who had her eyes open again and looked terrified. I didn’t care who saw me do magic. The MPO could’ve stood under that tree for all I cared.
“Thoir dhomh do bheatha.” Give me your life,I commanded the vampire with my birthright, my outstretched fingers curled up into a fist so tight my nails sliced the skin of my palm. Warm liquid gathered inside my clenched fingers and trickled toward my wrist where it slid around it and fell toward the ground.
Everything was still moving in slow motion, each blink of an eye lasting a full minute instead of a split second. Voices reached me but they were garbled like I was hearing them from underwater, so I ignored them, captivated by the rope of crystalline blue that snaked out from the vampire and attached itself to my fist.
It pulsed like a heartbeat and euphoria filled me when the lifeforce begam pumping into me. When I commanded his life to come to me he no longer found my friend tasty but his mouth stood open still. His mouth opened on a silent scream this time while his face grayed and shriveled as his whole body husked out before it hit the ground.
Char dropped next with a grunt.
She didn’t move.
My eyes were still on my friend and I waited until I was certain her chest moved before I released the hold I had on time itself. Looking back, I should’ve been more careful, and used common sense if nothing else but in a situation when a loved one was in danger none of those things take precedence. You act first, think later.
At least I do.
The sound returned with a rush and that was when I heard the still warning shouts. Dimitri was now galloping on all fours toward the tree which told me he was running and shouting for me not my friend as I thought, his claws raking the forest floor hard enough to throw patches of dirt and grass behind him. Angela still in human form dropped on her knees next to Char but her gaze was fixed on me, the bright blue eyes glowing in the night full of shock.
I felt the hot breath first over my left shoulder rustling strands of my hair. My head started to turn so I could see who, and what, was behind me but internal sharp pain lacing through my torso forced me to fall forward with a scream so loud it shredded my vocal cords instantly. Almost as if whatever was inside me, dark and twisted used that opportunity to endcme once and for all.
Foolishly I thought for a moment that it was a perfect time for me to die that night. I revealed that I was a witch to save my friend. It was better to be killed instantly than taken in front of the MPO so they could prosecute and execute me publicly to make a point.
I could fight it I guessed, if I claimed I was a far-removed elemental through my family tree to explain the winds. There was no explaining draining the lifeforce of any living creature apart from witch magic, however.
Sharp teeth closed in on my neck and exerted pressure to a point of pain but didn’t break skin. My body jerked out of survival instinct but went limp instantly after that. The darkness surrounded me and I welcomed death only to be denied it by none other than Dimitri Bell.
Damn him to hell.
“Stop! Let her go.” Dimitri ordered with so much authority the rest of the wolves in the forest whimpered loudly while cowering behind anything they could find.
My eyes snapped open and shock like no other spread through me. Dimitri was talking alright, loud and clear as always, his accent thick and sending little zaps through my veins even in this situation. Death was still looming over me, the hot breath of the predator puffing over the side of my neck but he wouldn’t bite to finish me off. There was only one problem with what I was seeing, too. In front of me there wasn’t the man Dimitri that was standing who spoke with such authority. Oh, no. He was a wolf.
And he just spoke out loud.
In front of everyone.
