Rune
Istumble as I turn back around, needing to move.
My shoulder clips something.
“Sorry,” I choke out.
I take one step, but then someone grips my arm.
Not thinking, I turn my head and look at the man.
Locking eyes.
He’s older. Taller than me. Thin. But the hold he has on my arm is firm.
His face fills with shock, and his fingers loosen against my skin. But when I try to pull away. He tightens his hold.
“Let go of me.” Tears drip down my cheeks.
“Abomination.” Hatred fills his gaze.
I shove at his hand. “Let me go!”
His eyes dip to my chest, and he takes a step closer.
I keep pushing at his hold as I take a step back.
His other hand reaches for me. “You must repent.”
I try to slap his hand away as fear replaces the panic in my blood. “Leave me alone.”
I need my vampire.
The man keeps moving closer, and I keep backing away.
Pain radiates up my arm as his grip tightens even further, pinching the skin.
“Help!” I try to scream it, but the air is stuck in my lungs.
My back hits a wall. The front of the house next to mine.
I look past the man, down the street. But it’s still early. There’s no one in sight.
I kick at his knee.
My sandal connects, and he grunts, but it’s not enough to dislodge him.
His breathing is coming fast too. But it looks like excitement. And my fear becomes terror. My blood sprints through my heart.
With his hold on my arm, he tries to pull me to the side.
I turn my head.
He’s trying to pull me into the space between houses.
My struggle increases.
I will not go willingly.
“Help!” This time my scream is audible.
Loud.
His fingernails dig into my skin. “No one can save you, Demon.”
I claw at his arm.
His other hand grips the strap of my tank top. “I am going to—”
Red splashes between us.
My eyes shut as something wet splatters across my face.
And the hold on me disappears.
I lean back against the building and force my eyes to open.
The man’s mouth is wide, like he’s trying to scream.
And then something blurs down from the sky beside us.
It strikes the earth so hard the ground shakes beneath our feet.
We both turn toward it.
Toward him.
Vameer stands from the crouch he landed in. Where he dropped from the sky.
He takes one earth-trembling step toward the man, and I can see the fury swirling in his eyes. “I am your demon.”
The man staggers back a step and lifts his…
My stomach rolls.
The man’s hands are gone.
Missing.
Where they should be is nothing but torn flesh, exposed bones, and blood.
Vameer pulls his lips back, his fangs on display, as he holds his hands up.
Two bloody, unattached hands lift into the air between him and the man.
“You touched what’s mine.” His voice is so deep. So gritty with rage. He sounds just like the demon he claims to be.
“I-I—” The man tries to speak.
“Never again.” Vameer clenches his hands into fists.
Like they’re in his grip, and not hovering in the air, the dismembered hands crush in on themselves.
I slap my palm over my mouth as I try not to gag at the crunching sound.
Vameer drops his fists, and the mashed-up hands fall to the sidewalk.
The man lets out a whimper and takes another stumbling step back.
He’s trying to get away. But instead of moving down the street, he moved into the narrow space between houses.
Trapping himself.
I lower my hand from my mouth.
He was going to hurt me.
He did hurt me.
Just because of how I look.
How many others?
Who else has he hurt?
What else would he do?
I straighten my shoulders.
I hope Vameer kills him.