Page 46 of Blood So Brutal

My pointed ears flickered, listening for the next sound of danger.

Hungry ones were deadly, yes, but they were not exactly stealthy. The next snap of a twig to our right gave them away within a second. Jessiah and Wolf were already pulling on the horse’s reins from the ground—not to run away from the bloodsuckers, but to run toward them.

Just a few feet through thick trees and brush, and we were on them. There were three. They looked fresh, like they had yet to fall into the rotting life of living for nothing but the taste of blood.

But then, we heard the voice.

“Stop!” someone yelled. “Stop! Please!”

The two horses, along with Jessiah and Wolf on the ground, boxed in the three hungry ones, but the voice was coming from somewhere else.

“Who’s out there?” Wolf yelled. “Show yourself!”

I tightened my grip around his waist on instinct. Who would be out here with the hungry ones? Who would bedefendingthem?

What we weren’t expecting, though, was a young girl to step out of the brush.

Jessiah pointed his sword at one of the creatures that got too close.

“Who are you?” I asked.

The girl looked no older than twelve—starving, clearly, and also terrified, but not of the hungry ones.

“Just stop,” she said. “Don’t kill them, please.”

“We have to kill them,” Jessiah explained. “Or they’ll kill us all. You understand that, don’t you?”

The young girl took a step toward the hungry ones. How the hell was she still alive, anyway? How had they not killed her already?

The girl looked at us with a brave face. “I swear to you, they are not hungry ones. They were fine just yesterday. They’re just sick. They’re just?—”

“They’re not sick,” I said, lowering my voice. “They would eat Jessiah right now if he lowered his sword. And then they would eat us, and they would probably eat you.”

A single tear fell down her dirt-stained face. Hells, she looked so tired. Had she been following them this whole time? It wasn’t possible, was it? I mean, it?—

“How are you still alive?” Wolf asked before I had the chance to intervene. He guided the horse a step in her direction, careful to avoid the three hungry ones that were now frozen—almost dazed, as if they were confused on what to do next. I’d seen hungry ones practically crawl over each other to get access to fresh blood.

These hungry ones seemed calmer, not on the verge of tearing into each of our throats. In my entire life of killing these creatures, I had never seen anything like it.

“How have they not killed you?” he asked again when she didn’t answer.

The young girl’s eyes flickered between the hungry ones and Wolf, like she was looking to them to help her.

That was when it clicked for me.

“That’s her family,” I said. “She’s with them because they’re family.”

The largest hungry one—her father, I assumed—chose that moment to let out a low growl and take a step in Jessiah’s direction. The tip of his silver sword pressed into the chest of the creature until blood beaded at the surface. “Tell me what to do here,” Jessiah mumbled in a low voice. “I can’t say I feel great about killing them in front of her.”

I prepared myself to get off the horse and comfort the girl, considering these two men likely had no practice with sensitive matters, but Wolf beat me to it. He took a slow, tentative step toward her. He even hunched his shoulders inward, like he was trying to make himself appear smaller to keep from frightening her.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

The girl’s eyes widened, gluing themselves to Wolf. “Abigail.”

“Abigail,” Wolf repeated. I couldn’t see his face, but I could hear that he was smiling. “Your family is very sick, do you understand?”

The girl nodded.

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