Being Undead

Chapter 25*

No! Laura screamed inside her head. There's no way in hell I can just stand back and watch Frederick die.

Thing is, running- regardless of how fast she could be- was out of the options. Anton was right in front of Frederick and would finish him off before she had the chance to get anywhere near them.

Another other option was the dagger in her hand, but therein laid the problem: she was very bad at throwing things. Sure, she played darts every now and then in her mortal life, but she could never boast of being an excellent marksman.

Now, you get it right, Laura, or Frederick pays the price, she told herself.

Putting all her fears aside, Laura got the dagger ready and, with all her might, threw it at Anton. The dagger merely grazed his hand in the end- her plan was to bury it in it- but fortunately, it was enough to get him to drop the stake.

The two men turned to see her standing there, a surprised expression on their faces, but presumably, for different reasons.

Laura felt her breath cease in her throat when she got a good look at Anton.

Thing is, he was an epitome of nightmare; at least in her mind, he was. She found him in the category of "way too tall," and everything about him seemed to scream "ripping hearts and breaking bones."

She was so absorbed in looking at him that everything seemed to stop existing at that moment, but somehow, she heard Frederick shout, "Laura, run!"

Laura turned, ready to comply, but she had barely taken two steps when something invisible suddenly slammed into her and against the cabin wall. Amidst body aches and a vengeful headache, she realized that what she had felt was actually undead magic; Anton had succeeded.

Truth be told, Anton was really surprised to see the newblood there to foil his attempt to kill Frederick. Thing is, while he had heard many things about her, one of them hadn't included being foolishly confrontational. Maybe the scouts deliberately kept that from me, he thought, I'll deal with them later.

"First, I deal with this pest." He took a step towards Laura who was scrambling to back away.

But out of nowhere, Anton suddenly fell face first to the floor. Frederick had tripped him.

Frederick had been so angry earlier because he felt like he was going to die like some third rate undead. The coward didn't even have the decency to give me a fair fight, he had thought then.

But out of nowhere, Laura had appeared and saved his life. He had actually expected her to argue with the hunters he placed to guard, to put up a fight with them, but actually getting away from them was a lot more than he had thought she could achieve.

My mistake, he admitted, now even more impressed of her than before.

But that admiration soon turned to fear when Frederick looked up to see Anton advancing towards Laura. "No, you're not," he said as he kicked the undead's legs right from underneath him.

As soon as Anton landed on the floor, Frederick lunged at him, but he didn't get anywhere near as the same mystic force from before slammed him against the roof and violently on the floor. Anton punched and then, kicked him into a pile of weapons; luckily, none found a way to his heart.

Just as Anton made to finish Fredrick off again, Laura whacked him on the head with a table from behind, but it had no effect. He backhanded her and she sailed through the air before crashing into another table; knocked out cold on impact.

Anton was so pissed at Laura but not because of the pain; that had become dulled to him over the millennia. It was more about the fact she always seemed to interrupt him when his victory was at hand and that was solely because he never saw her coming. I should have dealt with her a long time before today, he thought. Now, I'll make sure I do.