Sing a Song a Sixpence ~ 'Destined Lovers' Book 4

Can't Even Shout, Can't Even Cry

Chapter 4 – Can’t Even Shout, Can’t Even Cry

“Oh, sod it.” I said under my breath as I turned the handle and opened the door and, with a cautious glance over my shoulder… slipped silently into the night.

I ran through the creepily deserted suburban streets, my breath coming in harsh gasps from running so hard. I stopped for a moment, looking around and realising I was…well…for lack of a better word… lost. I needed to find a building, a sign, something to tell me where I was…but there was nothing helpful in sight.

I heard the sound of muffled scuffling just ahead of me and, slowly, walked forward; looking curiously down the gap between two abandoned houses as I reached where the sound was coming from…but I immediately wished I hadn’t. a strangled sound caught in my throat as I saw Ryan, from the clan I was running from, pull his mouth away from his victim and turn to look at me as he let the dead body drop to the ground at his feet.

I saw the realisation in his eyes as he took a half step towards me. “Tally?”

I held my hands out in front of me as I began backing away from him quickly. “Please…don’t-”

“Chris!” Ryan yelled at the top of his lungs and I let out a distressed cry as I turned and ran, fast as I could, up the street and away from him as I heard other voices join Ryan’s second shout. “Ricky!”

An excruciating pain ripped its way through my chest as I heard his name, but that only made me run faster, darting between houses and jumping back fences in an attempt to get away; the pain in my chest worse with each step. I jumped a side fence and froze as I heard a familiar hissing sound; turning abruptly to see who had made the sound…and swallowed. It was another vampire…but, by the looks of him, he was a nomad… a nomad who hadn’t fed in some time… and would kill me if I didn’t do something about it.

I eyed a broken part of the fence I’d just jumped as the nomad spoke to me softly. “You lost, little lady?” my eyes snapped back to him as he began moving towards me. “You need someone to show you the way home?”

“Oh, please, not that line again.” I smiled and leant back against the fence, my hand wrapping around the broken part of the fence as he stalked towards me. “So cliché…mix it up a little…throw in a ‘let’s go back to yours and have a little fun’ every once in a while.”

The nomad chuckled. “Mmm…you’ve got fire,” he let his eyes rove over my figure as he came to stand in front of me, smirking with pleasure at what he saw as he continued. “I like fire…” his eyes snapped up to mine as his smile turned sinister. “Hunter.”

“Vampire.” I nodded and let out a cry as I wrenched the broken shard of wood from the fence and thrust it forward into his chest; spinning out of arms-reach as he growled in pain.

I froze as I heard him chuckle; my heart all but stopping as he looked at me, fangs elongating, as his hand wrapped around the end of the wood shard sticking out of his chest and slowly pulled it out, waving a finger at me in a sarcastically disapproving manner. “Hmm…” he hummed softly as he looked from the shard of wood to me, smiling. “You missed…” my breathing hitched as he threw the wood shard over his shoulder and took a step towards me again. “I’m going to give you…to the count of five,” he grinned insanely as he continued. “And then…I’m going to kill you…one…”

A strangled sound escaped my lips as I turned and sprinted away from him, shocked when I heard myself saying. “Please Ricky…please…find me!”

“Two!” I heard the nomad’s voice call out behind me as I turned a corner and began darting through open backyards. “Three! ...Four!” I felt myself on the brink of tears I was so scared as I looked for somewhere, anywhere, to hide as I heard a final, low growl somewhere behind me. “Five…”