the seven virtues [tom riddle]

chapter fourteen

I hate this chapter.

***

"We were born sick",
you heard them say it
My church offers no absolutes
She tells me, "Worship in the bedroom"
The only Heaven I'll be sent to
Is when I'm alone with you
I was born sick, but I love it
Command me to be well"

hozier - take me to church

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

WARNING: Be advised that this chapter contains gore, animal violence, blood, triggering content and mature scenes

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

She pushed through the line of trees, ignoring the tremendous pain that radiated in her bones, ignoring the way tears trailed down her heated face—everything was silenced by the absolute terror that typhooned through her core, wrecking any sanity that she might have clung to once.

The creature loitered behind her, jumping from side to side on the horribly dense branches, and its screech was of utter insidiousness, high octaves a cascade of perturbance on her ears. Varya slid on the muddy soil, ignoring the demonic rain that had ruined their barrier of salt, and winced when her head collided with the trunk of a nearby arbor.

Nails sunk into the dirt, and she used friction to hoist herself up, grasping at roots and branches, not minding the way they scratched her skin bloody, or how they dug themselves underneath the epidermis and pushed against meat, needles of nature.

Varya had warned them—she had warned them not to trust the sounds of the forest, nor the sight. They did not listen, and now leshys were following them through the woods, with their horned heads and impressive height. And only one thing satiated the vicious creatures—murder.

The witch turned her head to glance at the figure that was dashing through the bushes, searching for her endlessly as clawed hands broke trees in half and smashed rocks. Its height stood well above eight feet, broad in the shoulders and with a human form, yet the leather that had been stitched directly to the skin as a form of torture was bloodied and torn. Skulls dangled from its belt, previous victims that had wandered through the woods without sigils of protection at night.