Page 51 of To Save a Vampire
Wanders Welcome
I stumbleinto the trees as he pushes me harshly away. My feet only take a few rational steps before I fall to the ground. Feeling numb and heavy, my legs don’t coordinate beneath me. Leaves and branches press painfully into my bloody palms. I cry out in agony as branches tear into my gaping wound.
I clench my teeth and pull my body along the forest floor. My nails break off into the dirt as I heave myself slowly forward. My mind doesn’t register the small pain that is overclouded by the rest of my injuries burning into my nerves.
The sword fisted in my palm slows down the little progress I’m making.
Tears fall freely down my face; my breaths come slow and shuddery. My limbs are heavy under each inch I gain from my strenuous efforts.
My fingers wrap around a small tree and I pull myself a few feet farther, the biggest accomplishment I’ve achieved so far. How much time has passed? I can’t see the house anymore or hear the veil tearing the flesh from my mother’s body. I can’t hear anything.
I am alone.
What was the point of it all? My eyes drift closed. I lie on my back, no longer feeling the leaves or the branches beneath me. The pain fades away as the blackness settles in. My hand stays pressed against my deep wound that’s still bleeding through my fingers.
We came all that way. Miles and miles. So I could die here. Alone. In the forest that I’ve grown so familiar with. This is where fate led me?
Everyone I’ve ever cared about is dead. Because of me.
It was all for nothing.
A branch breaks loudly through the quiet forest.
My hand tightens around the hilt of the sword. But that’s it. There’s no more fight left in me. This is as much defense as I can muster.
Death would be a courtesy at this point.
Someone’s standing over me in the silence. I can feel their presence, like a reaper ready to collect.
I can’t find the strength to open my tired eyes, but I feel their gaze on me. Like the forest has come to life around me to watch my final moments.
Fingers touch my throat. The brush of fingertips is warm against my cold skin. The fingers linger at my pulse. I feel it thrum faintly against the pressure of their hand.
I’m alive.
Pain soars energy back into my body as a cold, harsh pressure is felt against my torso.
“It’s just mud. It’s the best I can do right now. I’m sorry,” a gentle female voice says.
I take short breathes, but it’s the most air I’ve gotten in a while. My head spins as she applies the mud again and another dose of pain burst into my veins, my posture going rigid against her touch.
My body jostles around a bit uncomfortably in the silence until I’m settled against a warm body, my arm hoisted over her shoulders in a leaning position. She struggles to carry my weight, dragging my feet over the dry leaves.
I clench my eyes closed again as we walk. Her steps are determined and hurried. My legs are unmoving and dragging behind us. Each of her steps registers a new wave of pain in my abdomen and leg. I start to wish for the numbness to return to me.
My mind fades despite my will to stay awake.
I don’t know how long the stranger carries me. The stents of sleep become longer and longer.
The blinding light splays through the leaves above. I blink up at it, wanting it to warm me, but it doesn’t. I’m so cold.
My legs touch the ground, and pain shoots up my spine on contact, but I don’t react. I don’t have the strength to react.
The stranger lies me carefully on the ground, and leaves crunch under the weight of my body. Two figures appear in silhouette above me in the sunlight.
Deep eyes like chocolate look down at me from time to time. So similar to Ky’s eyes.
Ky …
