Chapter 12 #3
Jagged claws sank into my arms, and he pulled me back with him as he stumbled. One of the Strigoi leapt onto my back—I was guessing the teenage girl based on how light she was—and I jerked my shoulder up while twisting my head down and sideways, blocking her access to my throat.
She ripped into my upper arm instead.
The scent of my blood filled the air, and I felt the wound across my stomach, which had barely started to heal, tear open more. If the other two joined in, I was fucked.
Well, more fucked.
I pushed back against the big Strigoi, screaming as he sliced through the tendons on my right arm and I felt it go limp. The world started to become hazy.
I took another step.
The girl’s bite deepened as she greedily drank from my left arm. Pain and blood loss started to fog my brain, but I couldn’t pass out now.
If I passed out, I died, and I wouldn’t fucking die here.
Another step. Two feet separated us from the scarred tree on the right.
“Wake the fuck up!” I screamed.
One of the Strigoi slammed into me from behind, then claws tore at my back, and for a second, the world went black.
“No!” I growled, my eyes snapping open just in time to see a branch snap forward. With every last bit of strength I had, I threw myself back. I landed in a heap on the ground on top of the Strigoi who had been attacking me from behind and the teenage girl next to me.
In front of us, the Strigoi man twitched, his bright blue eyes staring down at the thick branch protruding through his chest. Everything went so silent, I could hear the blood dripping to the earth and his slowing heart rate.
The remaining three Strigoi had gone perfectly still as they’d realized there was another predator amongst us. One they had probably never encountered before.
An unsettling groan echoed through the woods as the white scar across the tree’s trunk split open, revealing row upon row of short, sharp teeth. The impaled Strigoi had already stopped moving when the tree used another branch to scrape him off and into its gaping maw.
I flinched slightly at the sound it made as it chewed on him. At least he was already dead. May you find peace in the afterlife, because you sure as shit didn’t find it while you were living.
Every part of my body hurt and I couldn’t feel my right arm, but this was my window and I likely wouldn’t get another one.
With the Strigoi momentarily distracted, I lunged forward, straight towards the tree. Two branches swiped at me. I jumped over one, twisting my body midair to soar underneath the second.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t do anything about the third branch.
Pain erupted from my ribs as it grazed me, not enough to impale me, but it definitely took a chunk out of my side.
I landed badly on the hard earth, breath whooshing out of my lungs.
One of the Strigoi went flying over me and slammed into a tree.
It must have tried to follow, and even with its speed, hadn’t been able to avoid the branches.
Wheezing slightly, I got to my feet and ran with the monster tree between me and the Strigoi. They’d go around, and that’s when they’d learn it had roots that extended a good ways.
I spotted a white root with faint purple stripes and gave it a large berth.
We had no name for the tree monster. To the best of my knowledge, they only existed in Narchis territory and we’d only documented six of them.
Nobody had ever seen it, but the trees did move on occasion, although each of them seemed to stay in roughly the same area and never overlapped with one another’s territory.
A high-pitched shriek echoed through the trees before being abruptly cut off.
“Thanks, monster tree,” I mumbled before tripping over my own feet and rolling down an embankment.
Darkness encroached into my vision as I groaned and pushed myself into a kneeling position.
I squinted at the dark lake stretched out before me.
Despite the frigid temperatures, it never froze.
I almost cried when I spotted the smooth stone embedded near the shoreline. Despite the chaos of the last few minutes, I’d managed to find my way to exactly where I needed to be.
A branch cracked in the woods behind me. I wasn’t out of danger yet, as the Strigoi wouldn’t abandon their hunt after getting a taste of my blood. Howlers would catch the scent as well and come to investigate. I needed to get behind those wards.
“Fuck.” I blew out a sharp exhale as I slowly got to my feet and staggered towards the glyph before sinking back to my knees in front of it.
My right arm still dangled uselessly next to me, so I used my left to pluck a red gem from a case we’d built into the earth next to the smooth obsidian black stone.
“‘Salvation,’” I let out a raspy chuckle as I read the meaning behind the glyph. “Too fucking right.” I set the gem on top of the glyph, and it immediately glowed, pulling in the magic from the gem to activate the spell.
The barest sound of rustling brush filtered into my ears, and I snapped my head to look at the tree line. Two Strigoi stood there. The teenage girl and an older woman, whose face was so covered in blood, I couldn’t make out any of her features.
Behind me, water gurgled as the hidden passageway rose up from Lake Malov.
I kept my gaze locked on the Strigoi. Twenty feet separated us and only ten feet stood between me and the door, which would be accessible in seconds. Despite the blood covering both Strigoi, they stood straight, and I suspected their wounds had healed.
Meanwhile, just the thought of standing again made me want to vomit.
I’m not dying here. Lunaria can fuck itself.
We moved at the same time. The Strigoi silently leapt down the embankment as I jumped to my feet, just to collapse again a second later.
“Get the fuck up!” I screamed at myself as I rose before falling again as absolute agony raced up my spine and my muscles spasmed.
The world blinked in and out as I fought to stay conscious even as I knew I wouldn’t make it. Any second now, the Strigoi were going to rip me apart.
Closing my eyes, I tried to drag myself towards the open doorway, still not willing to give up despite knowing I was about to die.
Twin cracks of lightning sounded directly above me, making me flinch violently.
“You know you can ask for help,” a familiar voice said dryly.
I rolled over onto my back and raised my head enough to see the two Strigoi on the ground, each of their heads sitting several feet away. My body shuddered and I dropped my head back onto the stone pathway before looking up at a pair of fiery orange eyes.
“Hey, Roth.”