Page 12 of Marked By the Dark Lord
He looked at me but didn’t seem to trulyseeme, his gaze going through me.
“M-monsters,” he stammered, still backing away down the slope.
“Monsters?” I echoed. “The police? Are they raiding?”
Ricky’s eyes were wide, letting me see the whites even in the dark night. “Monsters. Real monsters, Mila. Run. Come on, run. They’re coming. Horns. Tusks. Swords. Monsters!”
I stared at him. Tusks? Swords?
“What do they want?” I asked, shifting the book to my other arm as I glanced up the hill.
Ricky trembled as he stared at my chest. I frowned angrily. Now was not the time for that sort of leering. Not that I had tits large enough to ogle anyway, but still. Men. Always a one-track mind.
My thoughts changed as he lifted a hand to point at me.
“T-t-that,” he stuttered. “They wanted the book. The book that glowed red.”
I looked down to see that the previously unseen red runes on the back cover of the book were glowing a dull red.
“This?” I asked, but Ricky was already running again, heading back the way I’d come.
Looking back at the book, I, too, started down the hill. The noises were getting louder, the grunts more intimidating. Whatever was in there, I wanted no part of it, real monsters or not. I turned and ran, but not back the way I came. If they wanted the book, then I needed to get rid of it fast. Send them far away from me and anyone else.
The river at the base of the falls was just the place. If I hurled it down there, the surging waters would carry it far, far away. Then the nightmare would be over.
Mud splashed everywhere as I ran across the ATV park and its trails. The cold sank into my bones, but I didn’t let it stop me. Being cold was better than dealing with whatever sword-wielding tusked monster was behind me, that was for sure!
Eventually, I reached the far side, crawled under another cut section of fence, and into the back of the municipal building lot. The Bridge Offices building was off to my right as I padded past the abandoned maintenance garage and crossed the street. I wasclose, so close. A short stumble down the embankment, and I would be free of my burden at long last.
I cleared the building, only to see a purple glow in the trees that covered the slope down to the river.
“Shit,” I cursed, changing directions, going back the way I’d come, and then heading south to the tracks for a hundred feet. The train bridge was empty at that time of night, and since I wasn’t planning on crossing into the United States, I would be just fine.
I hoped.
Heavy footsteps became audible behind me. I didn’t even look. I just burst into a sprint, heading onto the bridge where I could safely throw the book away.
Bright light on the far side of the bridge stopped me.
“Of all the—are you fucking kidding me!” I howled as the train worked its way across the bridge from the other side. If I kept running down the tracks, it would hit me.
I didn’t stop. Maybe I could use the train to discourage my pursuers. Perhaps I could lose them among the bridge’s spans. There was space for me to avoid the oncoming train. It would be risky, but the alternative seemed much worse.
We were out over the embankment but not the river when my pursuer caught me.
A gauntleted hand grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. I stumbled backward, staring up at the horrific beastly visage. Thick horns jutted from the top of the bovine-looking face, while two eyes glowed purple from underneath a leather-looking mask. Big, flat nostrils snorted hot air into the rapidly cooling night. Two tusks jutted upward from the thing's mouth.
Below the neck, the creature was decidedly human. Thick muscles like a bodybuilder covered its frame. Armored andspiked gauntlets wrapped around the hands all the way up to the elbows. More leather covered the rest of the torso. Both hands were currently empty, but a giant sword strapped across its back poked out from behind one shoulder.
“What are you?” I gasped as one of the thick hands wrapped itself around my slim neck and hauled me from my feet.
“We’re the Gray Knights,” it rumbled in guttural tones as two others like it appeared out of the dark. “And you’re coming with us.”
Chapter Six
Mila
“Please,” I whimpered, “I didn’t do anything. Let me go. I don’t want to die.”
