Mara the Wicked (A "Dead Seed" story)

Fourteen: She Ran So Far Away

A thunderstorm rumbled nearby, sending streaks of lightning across the dark sky. If her heart wasn't dead it might have been pounding in her decomposing chest. She had never felt fear before as a vampire. Too power hungry. The thing that other beings feared. Now, how would she go on knowing that this cruel vampire was out here, willing to starve his own kind to make a point?

She had to run far away from here. Make sure she could never be found by him again. If she had to spend the next hundred years running, that's what she would do.

As she ran, she risked a look over her shoulder to see if she was being chased yet. She didn't see anyone except for a face in the second story window. The frightened expression of a human boy stared at her from Aimeric's room.

She didn't care who he was or what he was doing there. She kept running.

When Mara made it halfway through the woods, she heard rustling in the trees not far behind her. She knew he would come after her for what she had done. She was ready. Sort of. She was feeling weak again, but that's why she brought the torch and the cleaver. She couldn't fight him with her own strength or powers right now, but maybe she could distract him long enough to get away.

She was almost through the woods now. The headlights of a car flashed in between the trees as it drove by on the road ahead. The rustling of the trees and the snapping of twigs grew louder.

Aimeric was almost there.

Mara paused then, listeneing. She stood with her back against a tree. Thunder rumbled a little louder. The woods were silent. All life had retreated to hide from the approaching storm, or perhaps they were fleeing the beasts in the woods. Either way, there wasn't a sound except for the burning torch and Aimeric's fast-approaching footsteps.

Mara leaned against the tree, raising the meat cleaver and holding the torch out.

The footsteps stopped.

Nothing.

Drip. Drip. Drip, drop, drip. The rain had started, hitting the leaves of the trees and falling to the ground. A drop hit Mara's face as she squinted in the darkness.

Suddenly, a pair of hands reached from around the tree she was against and quicker than she could blink, the hands had her around the throat, smashing the back of her head against the bark of the tree. The hands clenched her throat so hard she thought her neck might snap.

Mara moved the torch so it would burn Aimeric's arm. He released her, unable to take the heat of the fire.

"I had high expectations of you," Aimeric growled from behind the tree.

Mara whipped around, raising the torch so she could see him step in front of her as the rain started coming down in sheets. The canopy of trees helped to block some of it. Thunder struck loudly above their heads.

"I feel so bad for not living up to them," Mara said sarcastically.

"You could have had a good life with us," he continued as if he hadn't heard her. "You would have never gone hungry—" Mara scoffed at that, how ironic. "You would have been able to play with my pets any time you wanted. I might have even given you rule over the others at some point. But you will never get that chance again."

Mara squinted her eyes and said through clenched teeth, "I don't give a shit."

"You'll pay for what you did to my son."

"Is the little tot dead?"

"No."

"Damn, I'm losing my touch."

Aimeric moved towards her in a blur, but she was ready this time. She dodged him and swung the cleaver, hitting him in the back of the arm. He grit his teeth in pain at the same time she yelled at the pain from the broken bones in her hand.

Aimeric spun around and punched her, hooking her under the chin. She bit her tongue. Blood drooled from the corner of her mouth. Mara punched him back. She went to kick him. He caught her by the foot and twisted her leg, throwing her to the side and knocking the torch and cleaver out of her hands.

From the ground, Mara picked up the torch and threw it at him as if it were a spear. Aimeric dodged the flames. The torch landed in the brush nearby. Mara jumped up. Aimeric knocked her backwards, hitting her in the stomach. She fell against a tree next to where the cleaver had landed.

Not wasting a second, she threw the cleaver again, this time hitting Aimeric in the thigh. He yanked the weapon out of his leg and threw it back at her, the blade buried itself into the tree next to her face.

Before she could move, Aimeric jumped at her and straddled her legs, yanking he cleaver out of the tree and holding it to her neck.

"I'm going to take your head off. Do you have anything to say first?"

"Yeah...."

"I'm listening."

"Get the fuck out of my face." Mara closed her eyes so she could draw the last bit of energy she had to summon the light to her palms. She pushed her hands in front of Aimeric's face—the light temporarily blinding him—and she blasted the light like an explosion, throwing him off of her and into a fallen tree.

Aimeric began laughing, the sound sending a shiver up her spine.

When Mara opened her eyes, she saw that Aimeric had been impaled on one of the dead tree's branches. It had gone all the way through the right side of his chest, the tip of the branch sticking through his shirt, where blood was now soaking through.

"That's a neat trick. I'm even more disappointed you decided not to join us," Aimeric said still laughing, "powers like that ... well, it would have made things interesting."

A rumble that wasn't thunder caught Mara's ears then and she looked between the trees. The headlights of a logging truck were coming down the road. She glanced at Aimeric once more. She should take his head off while he was stuck on the tree. But she didn't have time for that. The truck was coming too fast. The other vampires at the house would be coming outside to look for both of them soon.

She had to get out of there.

"Yes, run away my little monster. I'll find you again!" Aimeric's voice followed her as she ran to the edge of the woods.

The logging truck came speeding down the road, windshield wipers whipping back and forth in the furious rain. As the truck sped by, Mara jumped, grabbing the side of the truck and climbing on top of the logs.

She collapsed on the pile, staring up at the rain that was pouring on her face like needles. Her energy disappeared like fog in a fan. She was so weak now.

As soon as she was far enough away, she would feed. Then she would keep running until she was on the other side of the planet.

But for now, she would rest.

For now, she was free.

[The End]

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