Forsaken Blood [Weekly Updates]

Thirteen

Fierce growls and hungry howls hounded her steps as she ran for her life down a dark hallway lined with swords.

She tripped over her gown as she looked back, trying to see her pursuers. They were no more than dark misshapen shadows, but their presence was very much real.

Her breaths became ragged as she heard her pounding heart and the heavy footfalls become one. The thumping of both rose in a crescendo, bouncing off the empty, endless hallway

Seeing the slightly ajar door at the end of the hallway gave her hope, and she pushed forward in one last desperate burst to reach her destination.

She scrambled through and closed the door behind herself, leaning against the cool dark wood to catch her breath. She closed her eyes as she listened for the creatures to see if they would try to break down the door.

But all was silent.

She sighed and slowly turned around to see the room, but all she saw were two figures in a very familiar setting. One body lying limp on the cold stone floor in a pool of its own blood and a little girl on her knees near it.

Her breath caught, and she closed her eyes. The vision had been etched into her mind and she didn't need to see it to know how it played out; scene by scene.

But behind her closed lids the actors insisted on going through with their part. A sobbing child and a dying father in a last climatic scene. But it wasn't the end. No matter how ardently she wished it was.

When the words started swirling she almost lost it. A familiar voice, a familiar conversation. One she had relived a thousand times over

But it was different this time. New scenes had been added. New actors hired. A masked assassin with eyes dead to the world. A rebel leader sneering at the crowd for knowing so little. A proud princess who wanted the little girl dead.

She started to hyperventilate. She couldn't do this. The scenes all merged and swirled and mixed together. No head. No tail. The roaring of the crowd enjoying themselves thundered in her ears and she would've screamed had not she jolted awake.