*ON HOLD*
Short Story of The Deliverance Series
--⊰♥⊱--
Our world is ever changing.
My upbringing is a lie.
My mate...
...someone I'm not worthy of being destined for.
The vampires have come into their own as a more structured society, their king a...
She hears it too, eerie low howls filling the sky as the sun continues to fall steadily. We can't stay here...in between territories rogues wander and with the shape, we are both in...
I help her to her feet, keeping the dagger held tight in my grasp while she holds onto my shoulders. She limps as we move through the forest, not stopping for a second until everything becomes foreign...
...with the sun setting, the darkness takes hold over the forest.
Nothing is recognizable, and a shockwave roots hard within my body as I collapse, Quinn also falling in the process. I'm breathing hard, tears forming in my eyes as the moment the shackles had been locked on me, my wolf has receded. I'm taking the brunt of the pain as knives plunge through my abdomen, crying softly as I hear Quinn drag herself across the grass.
"L-L-aur-" she can hardly speak as well, her hand touching my shoulder as I try to fight down and away.
Breathing in and out, trying to bring myself to center...it's been a few minutes and I hear snapping twigs off in the distance, directly from where we'd come. I bite my lower lip, forcing myself to my feet slowly while grasping one of Quinn's arms. I whisper to her, "Shh...p-please."
Quinn nods while biting her tongue, a very soft cry surpassing her lips by the time I get her under the safety of a low tree. Setting her against the trunk, I shift the handle of the dagger between my teeth, lowering myself before pushing upward and off the ground. With my wrists together, it's hard and it takes three times before I'm able to grapple one of the low-hanging branches. The sounds move closer, but I pull myself up into the tree, able to move upward two more branches before crouching low next to it.
It's a single rogue wolf, scarred markings on its back are easily seen as it encircles around the tree trunk. Quinn's scent and mine are mixed together, with how close we have been, it's hard for the rogue to distinguish between the two of us. The one thing I am certain of though is it's going for the easier target...the wounded prey.
It's in position, growling lowly as it whips around the corner to lunge for Quinn. A shriek leaves her lips as she sees the wolf, her cry piercing through the dead night sky. I allow myself to lift away from the branch, falling fast and hard with the dagger pointed downward. Both my hands hold the hand, grasping onto it tightly before the sharp blade punctures through the top of the rogue wolf's skull, the blade coming down and out under its head.
Its back breaks my fall as I continue to hold onto the handle, crying out as the impact ricochets through my body, jarring my muscles and bones.
"La-Laura?" Quinn asks shakily, glancing to her to see she's broken out in a sweat. Pulling the dagger from the head of the rogue wolf, it begins to shift back to the form of a man. His dead body lays where I'd fallen and killed him, slowly coming to crouch next to Quinn.
"We h-have to m-move," I urge her but, in her condition...
...I wonder if the bullet is more than just that...
She shakes her head, barely able to lift her hand. My eyes search over her, begging her, "There m-might be m-more...we d-don't know."
"L-Laura...r-run," Quinn wants me to leave her behind...
...I can't and I won't do that.
"Fu-Fuck..." I mutter out lowly, turning my back against the trunk next to her as another wave crashes over my body. The aches seize my muscles, a low scream tearing from my lips as I try to fight it off with everything I have. Tears form once again in my eyes...
...because I can hear sounds approaching again.
Using the handle of the dagger to help silence my cries, biting down hard on it, I slowly rise to my feet. Preparing for yet another attack from a rogue, I lower myself to reach for the tree again. When I push off the ground, my vision crosses and I fall back, but this time I land on my back. My breathing is hard, shaking my head as I try to remove the black spots from clouding my vision. When I glance at Quinn, I see her eyelids are fluttering shut, barely able to keep them open.
I focus, gathering myself to my feet before crouching once again. When I spring upward, it's with as much force and momentum as I can muster. It's enough for me to grasp onto the low-hanging branch again, pulling myself up onto it a few seconds later. I reach up with my hands, my fingertips brushing the next branch above my head, but I slip with my footing, falling backward and slamming the back of my head against the branch. I bite down hard on the handle of the dagger, rolling sideways, but catching myself before I nearly fall off the entire branch.
It takes more effort, my energy almost spent as I crawl back up onto the branch. I rest my cheek on the side of the branch, the blade facing upward as the hilt touches the bark of the branch. My nostrils flare, my senses dulling as I can hardly keep consciousness. Everything hurts...
...my muscles are spasming, ready to cease up as tears fall from my eyes.
In my head, I urge myself...I can do this...Quinn needs me to protect her, to save her...
The sounds grow closer, unable to discern which is what and where is who...everything becoming a jumbled mess. Pressing up against the branch with my hands below my chest, I lift and crouch, stabilizing myself with the trunk next to me. Wolves snarl, their danger filling the area as they move closer to the tree.
It's one...two...three...four...how many are there or is my vision becoming that unreliable?
It crosses multiple times, but there's a tall figure that moves closer to where Quinn is, stopping at the dead man's body. If I can at least take one of them out...
...is there more than one?
Perhaps it's only one.
Fuck...
I shift the handle from my teeth, holding it with both hands as I shift out away from the trunk. It might be that I stepped wrong, but I draw attention, knowing I must attack now to keep an element of surprise...
I fall, a sharp yell leaving my lips as the blade is about to impact with the figure's chest. It never does, feeling the air knocked from my chest while my body collides with the grass, my grip lost on the handle of the blade. I skid across the clearing, only to crash my side into a tree trunk. I'm barely able to scream, the pain of my body holds is overwhelming. My hands reach out, grasping the grass between my fingers as shadows move closer, figures that are undiscernible move toward me.
I bring my knees to my chest, breathing hard and not allowing myself to fall without as much fight as I have left...
...I kick one of my legs outward, but a hand catches my shin and holds it in place. I try to throw my arms outward...but that does nothing, a force catching the chain between the shackles and pinning them to the ground.
Quinn...
Leveraging my other leg, I twist over my first and my heel contacts something solid, but I'm forced harder to the ground this time, crying out as my vision crosses again. Voices are either loud...or drowning out, but a second later, I feel something slip over my mouth and nose, inhaling...
...my muscles become lax, my grip on the grass loosening before my eyelids flutter shut.
Red Like Roses🌹 ~Kay
⊰♥⊱To Be Continued⊰♥⊱
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