Always Hate Me

4. Encounter in a Graveyard

It was a stormy night. Rain lashed down, deluging the sparse grass and mud – turning the graveyard into a swamp. Devi Summan ran as fast as she could, but her feet were getting stuck in the squelching earth with every step. She turned to glance over her should but she could make out nothing through the storm. Her dark hair was plastered to her bruised face. She stopped running and listened, wishing that her breathing was quieter.

Had she managed to get away? She had begun to hope so, when she heard it. Clicking sounds. Slavers. What were slavers doing this deep into Resistance territory? Her heart hammered in her chest and she held very still. Perhaps they were as blind in the storm as she was. The clicking intensified, growing excited and Devi's fear spiked as they started to come from two different directions. She made to run but her feet had sunk too deep into the ground.

With a loud 'omph' she fell in the mud. Devi was quick to scramble back up, wrenching her feet free, she lost a shoe, but didn't stop as she broke back into a hampered run. Mud oozed around her toes but, with the clicking growing frantic, she barely noticed. She knocked into something hard and fell once more – this time bringing a body down with her.

Terrified, she started thrashing out wildly – beating the thing she'd collided into.

"Get your beetley suckers off me!" She screeched. A very human groan made her stop thrashing out and, wiping hair out of her eyes, Devi realised that what she'd collided into was a man. A man whose eyes was closed with pain and who was protectively covering his privates. She'd kneed him between the legs – along with beating him around the head.

But Devi had no time to apologise. Instead, she quickly covered his mouth with a muddy hand and listened hard for the slavers. She whipped her head around – looking for them. 

Ryder protested behind her hand, mumbling noisily. 

She squeezed his lips shut to silence him. The clicking had stopped. The wind dropped and she was able to see a little clearer. They seemed to be alone. Where had the creatures gone?

Devi relaxed her hand, sagging slightly in relief, but continued to cover Ryder's mouth. He nipped her fingers and she recoiled. "Did you just bite me?" She demanded, affronted. 

Ryder gaped at her. Was she seriously cross at him? She was the one who'd been running around in the dark and then assaulted him. "Never mind – shut up. I'm trying to listen." She cut in before he could reply.

Ryder's temper flared. He shoved her roughly backwards and rose to his feet. He needed to get out of here. He had some vampires to fuck up. Or perhaps an entire city. His rage was simmering but it was there – boiling his blood. He needed to rescue Liam and Chloe, and the rest of his people. Also, he deeply wanted to rip Lucjan to shreds. Or perhaps he'd do it slowly – a piece a day...

Devi grabbed his arm to stop him. "Wait," she hissed urgently. Ryder frowned, registering her tense expression. Her eyes kept darting around them and Ryder realised that she was trembling. She was scared. She was also covered in mud and only wearing one shoe. Had something attacked her? Ryder's gaze scanned the graveyard.

"What is it?" He whispered. Devi didn't immediately answer. The rain was slackening and she pulled out a torch light and scanned it's beam around them. There was nothing. But – but they had been so close... They'd been surrounding her...