Fallen Stars

Chapter 4

Hey guys! I want to thank you for reading my book. As you can probably see, I'm a new author on Wattpad and this is the first story I've ever written. I could really use your help and I want your opinion! Comment below what you think so far, what I can improve on, anything you want! As a new author, it would also really help if you could follow me and give this story a vote! I would really appreciate it if you could help spread the word. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THIS BOOK! Also, I'm sorry my chapters are so short. I'll try to fix that. Thanks again for reading!

Love, ||Ri||

Screams threatened to shatter my head. Oh gods. There he was. They whipped Taklit over and over. His screams were broken. The screams of his sisters, his mother, his friends, they pounded in my head. My heart was beating so loud I wasn't sure if I was even breathing. No. No. No. I was screaming it, roaring it. My heart shattered as his knees buckled from the force of the whip. Tears fell down my face. I knew there would be consequences for this. I didn't care.

I took a deep breath and elbowed the guard holding my right arm in the face. Blood sprayed as the crack beneath me revealed I'd broken his nose. As he fell, I turned and punched the guard holding my left arm in the stomach. He doubled over groaning. In the time it took for him to hit the ground, courtesy a kick to his knees, I had grabbed their knives and was rushing for Taklit. I threw myself on the male wielding the whip, throwing two of the knives to cut the chains holding Taklit up. He dropped to the ground like a stone and I hollered at his sisters to take him away. I was cut off by the male's fist slamming into my face. Blood filled my mouth. I snarled and slashed my knife across the broad panes of his chest.

We continued sparing and I caught a glimpse of Taklit's sisters rushing him to safety, his parents not far behind. I sighed in relief, the action costing me. In the moment it took for me to get distracted by their escape the male tackled me to the ground, pinning me on the stones. Dread filled me but was calmed by the relief that Taklit was safe. My mate was safe.

They dragged me to the posts, cramming my wrists in to a fresh pair of iron shackles. I felt my power diminish as they closed with the click of a lock. That's when it came. Panic. Utter panic. I had never felt so powerless, never been so powerless. I wouldn't let them see it. The tears dry on my face, I lifted my chin. My mate was safe. Taklit was safe and that's all that mattered.

"Considering the actions you took today, we have found it fit for you to receive the traitor's full punishment in place of him." The male sneered. I just took a deep breath through my nose and lifted my chin higher. He sneered even more and stalked to my back.

My blood chilled at the sound of the whip unfurling, the iron tip clinking on the stones. Panic returned as the whip slowly dragged closer to me, as his footsteps became louder. I shoved it down, keeping my chin high. I hadn't even realized the whip was flying until it tore clean through my back in one stroke.

My blood dripped on the stones. One. Two. Three drops. The whip hissed through the air, hitting me with a force that made my back arch in agony. I wouldn't give them the satisfaction of crying out. Taklit. Taklit was safe. My mate was safe.

Again. The whip was coated in my blood.

Again. Blood was now spraying from my back every time it struck.

Again. The whip was like a streak of lightning.

Again. I was given seven lashings before I screamed, the cry locked down but brought to the surface by unimaginable agony. The iron tip tore through my flesh like a knife. Spots were dancing by the time they got to fifteen. Twenty-four lashings and I was sagging like a dead animal, brutally slaughtered. My vision tunneled at thirty.

There were tears streaming down my face as I relived the unbearable pain, the agony of seeing my mate injured. I couldn't do this anymore. I screamed at the gods to stop my pain, I had already paid the price for my insolence. Make it stop. I tried closing my eyes, the images dancing on the insides of my eyelids. Why couldn't it go away?

Flashes of my past flew across my vision, each one bringing more pain, misery, agony, and suffering to the surface. I couldn't do this. I couldn't do this.

I shattered into a million pieces when I saw myself look at Taklin for the first time. As I saw us fall in love, our first kiss, our happiness together. These were happy memories yet they sent flashes of  endless torture through me.

I was shaking, I might have been screaming from the intensity of it.

There was something on my shoulders, comforting, shaking me out of my misery. I held onto it like a lifeline as I slowly came to reality. That something was a pair of hands, shaking me awake.

I shot up to a sitting position, gasping for breath. The vampire I had attacked earlier was over me, dark bags under his eyes. Relief filled those eyes as they realized my eyes were now open.

"Oh gods..." He muttered, his head dropping. I looked down at my hands, shaking like leaves in a storm.

"Wh-what happened to me?" Even my voice was shaking. He looked up at me, despair and guilt written all over his face.

"Vampire blood." Was all he said to make my world shake. I didn't need to run my tongue over my teeth to find the new fangs in my mouth.