Page 19 of Venomous Heart
“You run. Save yourself, you deserve it.” He spoke too low for anyone to hear over the shouts of the others. “I’m dead already.”
“No.”
Everything faded into the background. The shouts of the men, Will Harl, the promise of death in his eyes as he staggered back to his feet—none of it had importance. Everything that was important was those golden eyes, full of sadness and love.
I’m dead already.
Then something—or someone—closed its fingers around her throat and she was pulled back. The shock of the fall shot through her skull as her body hit the ground, feet away from Uril. Her mind was spinning as she tried to figure out which way was up and which way was down, there in the thick grass.
Ava found herself on her hands and knees, staring blankly as Uril was suspended six inches from the ground, held by the throat by a tall, thick man who sneered at him like he was a rat in a trap. Uril’s feet swung wildly and his eyes bulged, his fists striking uselessly at his attacker’s face as the life was smothered out of him.
He’s going to kill him. He’s choking him to death.
Ava screamed, a primal, hollow sound blooming out of her like a river of pure anguish. Hands grabbed at her body, running along her legs, up to her breasts, but all she could see was Uril. Pain exploded in her face as a fist connected with her cheekbone but still, she screamed.
Then, as if answering her cries, the door exploded outward and a hissing, roaring, sapphire blue giant stormed out in a rage.
6
Ava
Ablur of sapphire color passed in front of her, too fast for her eyes to focus on. The hands left her body and the sound of something wet and broken beyond repair filled the air. The next instant, screams came from the spot where Uril was, shrill and full of terror. Then time felt suspended as Uril dropped to the ground in a heap at the blue giant’s feet.
Ava watched in a dazed stupor, her brain unable to process what had happened, what was still happening, her mind rebelling against the influx of information.
She lifted her gaze and watched things move as if in slow motion. Now the two men whose names she didn’t know were lifted by their throats, their feet dangling six inches above the ground. As she stared, reality snapped back into focus and she felt it like a slap of horror across the face.
It was Arlen. That sapphire blue giant hissing and showing his fangs like some feral thing was Arlen.
“You do not touch her.” Arlen’s voice was a low growl, his words almost impossible to decipher. “No one but me can touch her.”
The men’s eyes were wide with fear and gurgling sounds left their mouths as they fought the large blue hands that crushed their airways. It was no good—Arlen was so much stronger than they, and soon, their movements became slow, desperate in their weakness. Both of them were fading, and fast.
Ava’s eyes moved back to the sapphire blue giant who was holding both men up in the air, one in each powerful arm. Arlen’s face was unrecognizable, his usually stoic features twisted into a mask of pure rage, his pale eyes blazing with a light from within, his lips drawn back to expose his fangs as a bloodcurdling snarl slithered from him. His huge arms didn’t even look strained as he held two full grown men high above the ground.
He looked like a nightmare that had stepped right through the doorway between two worlds. He was the bogeyman and all the monsters that had hidden under her bed when she was a little girl—combined.
She had never been afraid of him before, but she was now.
As she stared at Arlen, she caught a flash of movement in the corner of her eye. Will Harl was scrambling away as fast as he could on his newly repaired leg. She opened her mouth to shout, but he was already at the forest’s edge.
Then her gaze settled on the frail body lying on the grass and she forgot all about Will Harl. She scrambled forward on all fours, grabbing Uril’s shoulders, turning him onto his back. He was unconscious, his face slack and his eyes half closed. Her fingers instinctively went to the pulse at his neck and she checked for his heartbeat. It was fast, much too fast.
But he was alive.
“Uril, wake up.” But he didn’t, and Ava’s next word became a sob. “Please.”
He needed help and he needed it now, but she wasn’t strong enough to carry him all the way inside to where she could help him. She cradled Uril’s head on her lap and looked up to see Arlen still holding both men by the throat. Their feet had stopped moving and their eyes rolled in their sockets, their tongues lolling out, their lips turning blue. Arlen was killing them. Or he already had.
This was too much. Too much violence, too much loss.
And all so fucking useless.
“Stop!” she called, her voice broken and full of sobs. “Please, stop.”
But he didn’t hear her. Arlen’s eyes were full of rage, focused on the men dying in his grasp. She called out again, but without success.
In her lap, Uril’s breathing became ragged and shallow. Terror coursed through Ava’s veins as she stared at his slack, absent features.
