Blood Shed

Chapter 20 - Scarlett

Levana fell limp beside me, hung in arms of the men. They infuriated me, they made my blood boil, and finally, they had crossed the line. I could feel my fangs break through my gums and sit just behind my lips. In a sudden feat of strength, I ripped myself from their grip and turned to face them. My eyes turned into soulless pits, hungry for the blood that I had been deprived of for days. I felt tired and weak struggling to keep consciousness from using up the last of my energy. I was hungry, and it was taking over. Swiftly I ran forward and grabbed the hands of one of the shorter men. He had tanned skin and sandy blonde hair. When I touched him, his skin burned. I pulled him arms out of the way, dislocating one of his soldiers and jumped behind him. I pushed his head to the side and dug my fangs into his neck. It tasted sweet, but hot. It burned my throat but I wanted more. I was ripped back from my prey, the blood spilling out of his neck and dribbling down my chin. I licked my fangs and turned to the one who had pulled me back. It was another man however his skin was shiny. He was buff and his eyes were pure white. I dove for his neck, trying to snap his arm on the way past, however his skin was as hard as iron. I fractured my wrist and fell to the ground at his feet. I grabbed my fractured wrist and winced. I was pulled to my feet and thrown against the wall. I was dazed, almost loosing my consciousness, but managed to keep awake. I couldn't move and pain shot up my arm. I was pulled to my feet and dragged out of the hut along with Levana. I slowly opened my eyes. We were heading for a cave. In the distance I could hear the boots stomping on the soil that separated the desert from the overgrown forest. The fire on their torches crackled and their armour squealed as the plates slid past each other. A voice echoed from the other direction.

"Men, we have an attack of humans on the Eastern border. You must go join the army and fight them off. Orders of the queen." I thought I recognized this voice, but I couldn't tell who it was. I couldn't see them

"But we have to take them to the prisons. They were keeping a fugitive and went against the Queen's directions." Their voices sounded panicked.

"I'll take them. We'll need you to defend the camp." I heard the familiar voice again. Who was it?

I was dropped on the floor, landing with a thud in the soil. I felt the pain shoot up my wrist through my fingertips.

"Good. You're still alive." The man walked in front of my face and picked up my hand examining it. I let out a small wince squeezing my eyes shut. "You need to look at me. I need to see if you have a concussion." I slowly opened my eyes and stared into his. I recognized his face, that fuzzy hair and strong jawline. It was Faolan. He had come to save me. A grin slowly spread across my face. "Smiling at a werewolf eh? Since when did that happen." He softly chuckled. He scooped me up into his arms the grabbed Levana and gently hung her over his shoulder. "We're going back to my hut."

I groaned trying to break out of his grasp. I wanted to fight, I wanted to kill them all. He pulled me closer to his chest. I was too weak to try and break out of his grasp.

"No. You have to come with me you have been fighting for weeks now. Ever since you escaped the lab and this sun is not doing any good for you. As gross at it is to say, you haven't a... proper feed yet." He shook at the last sentence and that's when I knew it. I disgusted him, my habits and my race.

With the last bit of my strength, I wrenched myself free from his grasp and feel to the hard soil. I spat out the dirt from my mouth and rolled over onto my back. Slowly I tried to stand, to push myself up, but my wrist wouldn't allow. I collapsed back into the hard soil.

Faolan growled with frustration and rubbed his hands over his face and through his hair. "Scarlett, come on. You can't walk, you can't run, and you definitely can't fight."

I pushed my head up to look at him. My hair fell over my face and I tasted the soil in my mouth. He took a step towards me and I hissed. He kept walking. I tried to push myself away, scraping through the dirt with my elbow, trying to push my heavy body. He stood in front of me and I hissed again bearing my teeth, trying to push him away with my legs.

"Scarlett, please." His face looked pained as he begged me to stop.

I breathed heavily. My lungs hurt, in fact, my whole body hurt. I knew I couldn't move but I didn't want to leave with him, not a werewolf. I'm supposed to hate them but somehow, I don't hate this one. Gently he lay Levana down on the floor. "I groaned softly in pain. "You hate me... I can't go with you." As soon as I spoke the words I knew they weren't true. He looked at me with shock and confusion.

"I don't hate you, why would you say that?" He kneeled down in the dirt and gently pulled my hair out of my face. "I think you're beautiful."

I stopped trying to move away and I sank to the ground in exhaustion. He picked me up gently in his arms pressing me to his chest, then once again picked up Levana off the ground and laid her over his broad shoulders. I felt happy and safe in his arms. Slowly he wandered through the forest, deeper into the tall trees. The dirt became soft and rain began to fall. I leaned back in his arms, the rain splashed on my face. It dripped into my mouth. It rinsed the blood and dirt off my face. The rain felt amazing and it soaked through my hair and clothes. I looked up at Faolan's determined face. His pace sped up, lightly jogging through the muck on the ground. I closed my eyes relaxing into his arms.

I heard a shout escape Faolan's mouth. "Shit!"

I was dropped onto the ground back first and crashed into the mud and leaves on the ground. Levana was dropped beside me. I rolled over to face Faolan staring into his mud brown eyes. Faolan turned and disappeared into the dark forest. I couldn't move, my body ached and my vision blurred. A yell was heard from the forest, met with a howl then a snap. The forest was silent for three seconds until and wail echoed through the trees. I heard the leaves crackle beside me and the sound of mud splashing under the shifting weight of something large.

"Scarlett..." Levana moaned, the tone of my name hanging in the air.

"Hey, you OK?" I slowly pushed myself up to look at her kneeling in the mud.

"What happened?" She rubbed her head leaving a smudge of dirt across her forehead.

"Faolan came, and he saved us. But... we had to leave the others." I slowly looked down, not daring to meet her eyes. I felt her cold hard stare seeping into my darkened soul. I felt it, she could see the black flickers among the white. Each dot for a life I have taken, a life I had ruined, the lives of those around them changed forever. And now, we had left those people to their fate. My soul had changed again, a dark cloud swarming through my, pulsing in my veins. I smelt death, I felt death and I could hear. The screams from the distance, met with a bang of a gun followed by the sudden silence of death. Yet again I had left another to his fate. Faolan was fighting alone and I could do nothing to help.