Mine, Bitten

Chapter Thirty-Seven

 Lily

  It was sublime-the earth had come alive. As a human, selected sounds had fallen to her ears, but those scarce and diminutive, traveling thinly through the air, had passed undetected. And now with her hearing at its utmost keen, everything, even the manner in which the afternoon sun hissed against the roughened pavement resounded against her ears. She could hear the many heartbeats within the proximity of the house. She could hear children, faint and somewhat muffled, playing at the end of a cul-de-sac from the street over.

            She could smell pollen mingled with sap from the trees and the pungent odor of car exhaust, all of which carried to her through the wall. The smell of food sailed her senses, and she was reminded of a favored, sticky sandwich that once sated, only now, churned her stomach.

            At the thought of food, her insides jerked, her jawline twitched and then something incredibly sharp pricked the insides of her mouth and with that, a hunger unlike anything she'd felt arose like a feral beast with a thirst insatiable. She groaned and tossed in a pile of blankets.

            And then she felt it, no, more like smelled it. A particular tang struck the air, tingled beneath her nose, something comparable to leather tinged with salty sweat.

            By the time she realized they were no longer alone, it occurred so abruptly that Lily hadn't the time to comprehend its happening. Varian released a growl so low, barely tangible as he leaped from her side, fangs bared, landing soundly on the floor. The door erupted and shook against the opposing wall as it produced a man of sizeable proportions leveling a mean trigger of something nasty directly on Varian's chest.

            A shot rang out; cutting the space that separated their attacker and Varian. Lily's eyes widened as Varian's body shook with the bullet, the force of it slamming him backward. 

            She cried out and bolted from the bed, moving to where Varian lay unmoving, blood almost black oozing from a hole in his chest.

            "Varian!"

            An arm fell on her shoulder and she rounded on their attacker, fangs bared, eyes red, the full intent to kill filtering all else unto nothing.

            The face brandished before her was none other than the man who'd been rummaging her apartment and he began pulling her toward the door.

            She heard another beastly growl and turned her head, her heart jolting with the sight of Varian on his feet, his wound closing as he barreled toward them.

            The man raised his gun this time aiming for the window. A few shots fired, chipping away at the boards until sunlight burst like rivulets through the dark, creating a burning line that divided her from Varian.

            "Take me, Ravensport!" Varian hissed, "Your vendetta is with me!"

            Ravensport smirked, "We'll see about that."

            He reacted, bringing his weapon about and slamming it against her forehead. The suddenness of it rendered her momentarily stunned and she was swept off her feet and flung like a sac over his shoulder.

            She heard a hiss as Varian lunged forward only to rear back as sunlight struck him sorely in the face. "I'll see to it that you die for that."

            She was cast into a bundle of tarp by two other men waiting in the lower level of the house. She scrambled within the coarse material as she was carried from the house and thrown into the back of a car. Having dealt with back seats before and not particularly liking the outcome of it, she began struggling anew, making attempts to kick at her attackers.