Page 84 of A Broken Promise

I readied my dagger.

A few seconds. All it took for him to decide that whatever…whoever I was and what I was doing was no threat or concern of his, as he nervously smiled at me first, and then looked back down to the stacks of papers all over the desk and started shoving a few of them in his hidden pockets of his brown jacket.

I saw the little red carnation flower tattooed on his wrist as he moved his hand close to the candles to look over another paper.

Aredcarnation flower.

He realized his mistake too late. As he paused, stilling his wrist, quite aware of his exposed mark.

A Rebel.

His summer eyes filled with desperation, as if a summer storm. But not the desperation that leads to begging. No, it was a look of someone desperate enough to kill, to fight no matter the cost.

I recognized that look because I had seen it in my own eyes.

My eyes narrowed as I adjusted my wrist just so slightly, discreetly aiming my dagger. I watched his shadow covered body take a slow, calculating breath, preparing to make a fatal move.

A quick move. A shadow behind him. He drew his dagger, but it was too late. The clasping fingers of the Kahor were on his neck. The stranger didn’t even have the time to gasp as Kahors teeth sunk into his flesh.

My eyes widened in panic or shock or just pure terror. I wasn’t sure.

Act then think,I willed myself.

One swift motion. One quiet move and my dagger landed straight into the center of the hooded head of the Kahor. The eyes of the Rebelblinked in horror, but the Kahor just pulled its long teeth out of the bloodied flesh and hissed.

“You. You are the girl from the Rock Quarry.” The Kahor let the bloodless Rebel drop onto the floor as he moved swiftly towards me, my dagger still deeply rooted in his brain.

Fuck. Fucking fuck.

I needed to run. But there was no point. Even if I could. They would rip my veins out within seconds, within my single breath.

I rapidly reached for the neatly hidden dagger on my back.

Heart Piercer.

There was no time to aim. There was noneedto aim as the large, hooded figure was floating in the air just mere steps away. Without a single breath I shoved Heart Piercer deep into its flesh straight to its heart.

The Kahor’s body went limp and then loudly fell against the floor. Black, sticky liquid seeping through its cloak. My arm was still out, though empty, Heart Piercer left deep inside the creature.

I didn’t dare pull the dagger out even as I pushed the hood off and I saw the nightmare-like face. An eyeless creature, only with holes instead of a nose and a large monster-like mouth filled with those sharp teeth.

I gagged. The increasing reek almost made my guts hurl until I turned my eyes to the desk.

The stranger.

That rebel.

I rushed across the room to the messed-up desk and the body right next to it. He was alive, yet his blood was a constant stream, running from his neck over his hands as he tried to apply pressure to it. I ripped another piece of my dress and wrapped it again and again. The wound was too big. I added more of my cloth, now using both of my hands to apply pressure.

“You are going to bleed out,” I told him, but he slowly rose to his feet using his desk to support him.

“We have to go.” He used his hands on his neck now. He was so pale. Too pale.

I followed him without a question.

“You killed it?” he asked, pausing just for a second by the dead creature. I stopped too, ignoring the slight notes of surprise in his voice.

“If I pull the dagger out, will he come back?” I asked the stranger.

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