“Shit, he isn’t listening. At this rate, he’ll kill Hector.”
Reia tried to stamp on his foot to get him to release her. He only grunted in response.
“Why use me as bait? I’m pretty sure he was going to eat me when he took me to the Veil!”
“We don’t know why he takes you brides. The others could still be alive.”
At the same time a cry left her when he grabbed her hair tight enough to pain her, an arm was tossed limply to the side in a spray of blood. A human arm. The Demonslayer’s high-pitched scream pierced the air.
Her cry seemed to capture his attention long enough that his bony head turned towards her. He gave a sharp, pained roar and turned back to the Demonslayer he was attacking.
“Scream again,” he demanded while shaking her head by her hair. She winced in response. “Loud. Make him hear you or I’ll cut your throat.”
When the sword was thrown to the side by his teeth, the Duskwalker raised his claws to give a final strike.
“Now!”
When the blade pressed tighter, and she worried it might actually be cutting into her, Reia screamed, “Orpheus!”
It was too late. They both heard the choking gargle of the Demonslayer dying when he was hit. However, Orpheus turned his head sharply to them, and a roar sounded. He immediately spun around and began to sprint for them on his hands and wolven feet.
“Oh, shit!” the Demonslayer exclaimed.
Reia didn’t want to be in the middle of this collision!
She elbowed the man in the gut, and he loosened his hold on her. Both of them separated on purpose. Reia to run the hell away, and the Demonslayer so he could prepare himself for the Duskwalker that was about to barrel into him.
Nope. Nope. Nope. Lifting the skirt of her stupid wedding dress, she immediately started sprinting up the sharp incline of a hill to get away. I need to run.
She didn’t look back as she tried not to listen to the fight. She didn’t know how hurt the Duskwalker was, but she hoped it was enough that the other one killed him.
When she reached the top of the incline, she steadily sprinted across the mostly flat ground. The air felt colder as it cut into her skin like razorblades.
One thing she was certain of was that her hope had been misplaced. A howling roar sounded before the thumping of heavy steps followed as he gave chase.
I’m dead! I’m so, so dead.
She knew she’d gained a good distance, but he was fast, so damn fast. She imagined him running on all fours made him even quicker.
The snorting huffs he made were growing closer. They reverberated against the snow and trees, making him seem like he was coming from everywhere. Running was pointless, she knew it, but her legs wouldn’t stop moving.
I like the hunt. Those words he’d said to her the day before echoed in her memory. But it makes me hungry.
What should she do if he was going to catch her regardless? He’s already hunting me, though!
A thought struck her. What if I stop? What if he didn’t find her running, but rather standing there still?
Her steps slowed. It didn’t matter what she did, she was going to be caught. If he liked the hunt, then she wouldn’t continue it. It was her only chance.
Reia stopped and turned around to stand there with her hands clenched next to the sides of her thighs. I should have just stayed there. I could have grabbed the Demonslayer’s sword. She could have had the honour of going out fighting rather than whatever the hell she was doing now.
A sacrifice? I’m a bloody offering, through and through.
She gritted her teeth. I refuse to die afraid.
Instead, she tried to turn it into anger.
Anger at the Demons who killed her family but spared her. Anger at the village who abandoned her as some form of curse, treated her cruelly, and then forced her to be here or be locked in a cell. Anger at the Demonslayers for causing this by trying to use her as bait against a monster that didn’t care if she lived or died!
She would be angry at Orpheus, but he couldn’t help being a nightmare. He’d shown her more kindness in his Duskwalker actions than any of the humans she known in the last twenty years.
Perhaps this was always meant to be my fate, Reia thought with a dark laugh when she saw him emerge from the edge of the hill.
He was running on all fours across the flat ground, huffing snorts coming from him. His eyes were a bright, deep glow of red, easy to see over the small distance. They were only thing she could clearly make out with his unbelievable speed.
It was the eyes of her grim reaper. I hope I’m tasty!
She clenched her eyelids shut right before he crashed into her.