Page 3 of Death Comes for Her
Unbridled fear gripped me by the throat. It was different now. How foolish I was to beg fate to save me from Benjen when worse monsters were rearing up from the darkness.
Viciously delighted laughter floated toward the farm from the main road. Any second now, a group of the vampire soldiers trampling through the village would come near enough. If I didn’t hide now—
“Fairy!” Griselda screamed at the top of her lungs. She cupped her hands on either side of her mouth, took a deep breath, and bellowed again. “There’s a fairy!”
Benjen whirled around to me. “Run, Sierra. You must run.”
My heart leapt into my throat. I frantically glanced between Benjen and Griselda for a brief second. When the vampires urged their horses in our direction, a bolt of energy slammed through my body.
I turned toward the shadowed woods behind the farm. The woods where Benjen and Griselda first found me all those years ago. Time slowed and my heartbeat echoed in my ears.
My muscles tensed, then propelled me forward.
“Fairy whore!” Griselda shrieked after me. “I should have let you die!”
My feet pounded over the earth as I forced myself into a sudden sprint for the tree line. No matter how fast I ran, the withering field seemed to stretch for miles and miles. Each step I took, the beating of hooves never faded.
“There she goes!” Griselda’s vitriol followed. “She’s a fairy!”
“Griselda, no!” The ringing of a blade pulled from its sheath cut off Benjen’s shout. Across the empty field, nothing covered the guttural choking that followed. And the soft whomp of something rolling in the dirt.
Despite my better judgment, and the survival instincts driving me, I looked over my shoulder. A mistake that would cost me dearly.
I stumbled.
Benjen’s headless body filled my vision before the corpse fell to its knees. Griselda’s shaking hands covered her face as she wailed to the black sky overhead. Blood sprayed over the ground, littering the dirt after another sword arced toward her.
Six riders in blood red armor astride beastly war horses speared into view, carelessly trampling the fresh corpses. A squad of vampire soldiers sent to gather humans for their local lords to feast upon. Malicious, hungry eyes marked me as their next target through the dark void of their helmets.
The one in front lifted his sword, dripping with fresh blood, and pointed it directly at me. “After her!”
The adrenaline coursing through me carried me further and faster away. I needed to get to the woods, then maybe I would have a chance of evading the vampires. The phantom ache in my back reminded me of the natural escape I’d lost.
That distraction stole my attention from the ground. I glossed over a branch, jutting up at an awkward angle.
My boot hit the branch with a reverberating crack. Pain shot through my right ankle, like a sharp fire jabbing into my tendon. My running ended as I fell to the ground, slamming into the dirt.
Ringing noise hit my eardrums. The force of my fall knocked the air from my lungs. I wheezed, gasping for breath. Stars danced behind my closed eyes.
A heavy body jumped to the ground nearby. Horses nickered and pawed at the ground, kicking up dirt at the sudden stop. The vampires whistled like they were calling a dog. Some of them laughed, but there was nothing jovial about the sound.
Dread pressed into me like a boulder weighing down my back. Tears pricked at the corner of my eyes. My trembling arms tried and failed to push up. When I moved my leg, pain shot up from my ankle.
A sickening realization settled in my consciousness. After years of getting away, of staying right out of reach, this was how it ended for me. Betrayed by the woman who took me in because her husband couldn’t help himself and took advantage of me.
“The woman screamed this was a fairy. Let’s see if she was right.” The vampire stalked closer. His voice came from only a few feet away.
Scrambling on the ground, I forced my arms to move. I crawled like a pathetic creature in my futile attempt to get away.
The vampire snatched me up by my hair. A scream flew out of me as he jerked my head back, forcing me up to my knees. Tears flowing from my eyes blurred my vision. I grabbed the base of my hair to ease the pain in my scalp as the vampire yanked me upright.
“She’s got no wings. Doesn’t look like fair folk to me.” Another vampire remaining on horseback commented.
A third chuckled before adding, “Haven’t you heard the stories, mate? Fairy parents cut off their own kids’ wings to pass them off as human.”
“Shut up. I’ll see for myself if we’ve got one or not.” The vampire holding me up twisted me around to face him.
Up close, the helmet mirrored a skeletal head. It forced another wave of revulsion through me. The meager contents of my stomach from breakfast threatened to come up.
