Falling into Fiction

21 Two Down, One to Go

I'm starting to realize that this is not how I want to spend my free time. How many times have I been attacked by an Arum, now? Is this number three?

To be fair, the first one I walked into intentionally, but the last one and now are absolutely not what I wanted to deal with. Having my vision fade for the second or third time in the span of a few months is crap.

"You've got quite the nice little glow about you. I take it the overprotective snot on the other end of the phone is who you got it from, yes?"

The Arum watches me, and the way he cocks his head to the side heightens my fear and makes me feel like nothing more than prey. If I wasn't struggling to breathe, I would spit in his face. When it feels like my eyes are starting to bulge, his grip around my neck loosens just enough to keep me conscious.

"We're going to have a bit of fun before he gets here, just you and I," he says before licking his lips.

He moves his face closer to mine and takes in a deep breath through his nose. My eyes dart around frantically, and it's then that I notice there are two others watching from a distance.

He glances over his shoulder at one of the others. "Keep an eye out. I don't know how many will be with him."

I drag in a breath. "You can... go to hell," I cough out.

Now that my body has more control over its respiratory function, I actually do spit in his face. It scrunches up in disgust, his eyes squeezed shut as he uses his free hand to wipe the spit away.

The look he gives me nearly stops my heart. "I don't think you-"

He cuts off as my knee slams into his groin. Too bad for him, his look didn't stop my brain from working. I fall onto the leaves below in a heap along with the Arum, who crumples to the ground while he cups himself in pain.

I scramble to get up, kicking up dirt as I get to my feet and sprint in whatever direction takes me away from them. I only make it a few trees away before one of the others stands in my way. Skidding to a stop, I look at the Arum with wide eyes before sprinting to the left.

My body makes it one step before he grabs me, a wicked grin on his face as his eyes wander my own face. "I'm a bit faster than my friend over there. Don't think you can-"

Without even thinking, I slam my knee into my new captor, effectively cutting him off and breaking myself free again. Only, I don't make it a few trees away this time. I don't even make it one tree away.

"Enough!" bellows the third Arum.

My foot barely touches the ground before I'm whisked into the air and clawing at another hand around my throat. Feet dangling uselessly, my chest spasms as the hand cuts off my air supply. Eyes darting to the side, I see that the first Arum I took down is nothing but a shadow now, watching me.

I can't see his face, but he doesn't seem very happy.

"I don't know how you expect to take on the 'overprotective snot' if you can't even take care of a little human girl," the Arum holding me says to the shadow.

"Baruck," the second one I kneed starts as he gets to his feet, "it's not-"

A ball of light whizzes past us, directly into the Arum in his true form. It cuts through his chest like he's not even there, and for just a second, he flickers back to his human form. Falling to his knees as a shadow, he clutches at his chest before dissipating into a million twinkling lights.

The remaining two Arum's heads whip to the source of the ball. My vision is slowly fading, but when I turn my head, I don't see anyone. No Andrew, and no Daemon.