Page 13 of Darkest Need

He was clothed in wings of white and gold, dripping with black and white blood.

His gold armor glistened, and he ripped his giant helmet from his face and slammed it against the now-crumbled concrete.

A warm hand grabbed mine. She leaned down, and I saw that her eyes were green, and her hair was black. She squeezed harder, then pulled me to her side. “Don’t be afraid, little one.”

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Eva. Or you can call me by the name given to me by the Creator. Eve.” She smiled again. She looked so pretty with her dark cloak—it had a tree clasp made of real gold around the front. And her skin seemed to glow. “We’re going to save you.”

“Who?” I asked, looking around.

She reached for another person. Someone I’d been running after in order to get free. The girl had weird dark hair and light eyes.

Eve pulled her into our embrace. “All of you.”

“You can’t save us from this,” the girl whispered and started crying so hard I was afraid she would choke. “Only we can save ourselves. Only we get a few days. Only we know what happens—”

“Shhhh.” Eve held her close, pressing the pretty girl’s face to her chest. “I save to provide, I save to forgive myself and others, and we save.” She looked up. “To protect the world.” A tear slid down her cheek. “We save because, what’s the point…in abandonment or surrender in this life or the next?”

All I remember is Eve’s smell and the girl’s. I remember the way the girl stared at me with hope in her eyes.

Hope.

Destiny.

Life.

The man with the armor had a terrifying, deep voice. He looked at us like we were abominations—as if we shouldn’t exist. “Do not make me destroy you, vampire!” He yelled it so loudly I covered my ears and screamed.

But the girl, the one who looked about my age, grabbed one of my fingers and then another until we were holding hands, listening to him yell.

I was finally at peace. I was myself. I was here with someone who understood the confusion of being lost, isolated, and abandoned in a burning city.

In a life that didn’t make sense.

“One day,” she whispered in a shaky voice, her face covered in ash. “I’ll tell you.”

“What?” I said right back, my lips trembling, my blood boiling to a degree that made no sense, and my teeth elongating as if I needed to eat when I had no idea what I even ate to survive. “Tell me what?”

“It’s a prophecy. I’m confused. I can’t say.” Her frown proved it. “All I know is…savior. A savior. You’ll see things, you’ll hear. Don’t be afraid.” She pulled me into her arms and gripped me so tightly I lost my breath, then whispered in a strong voice, “Fear is not welcome here.”

Eve stood between us and the menacing man. Her eyes were closed like she was sad, but I thought she was praying, begging, doing anything she could.

To save us. To save more. To become… I slowly frowned. To become.

Dead?

To live out her future.

I touched her hand and whimpered again.

She was killing herself and knew it. For us.

“Cassius, most of them are innocent. Will you destroy them? The children? The mothers? The grandmothers?”

“If I let one go free, one infected with the blend of angelic and demon blood, the end could be catastrophic…”

“Then choose, Cassius,” Eve said in a challenging voice. “Choose who goes free, save a few. All I ask is that you save some.”

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