Page 24 of Blood and War
“I will return for her.”
The words hit her in her core. She was choking.
Its familiar, crimson eyes met her own. Staring longingly before vanishing into nothing.
Numb. She was completely and utterly numb. The walls she’d painstakingly spent years building up, trying to forget its face came crashing down around her in a matter of seconds. It knew who she was. Ten fucking years later and it still remembered.
She still remembered.
The dagger that was held firm in her grip clattered to the dirt at her feet. Demitria felt sick to her stomach and nearly vomited what little food she’d had left in her system. Her parents… she couldn’t help the sob that raked through her chest. She didn’t care that she was breaking down in front of the Horseman. The pain was too much. Too raw. Of all the creatures that had walked this earth, why had this particular one come back? Why this demon?
A new wave of tears took over. She couldn’t see anymore. Didn’t want to. Everything she’d worked toward, everything she had fought for, and she’d come undone with one glance.
“What the hell is going on?”
Demitria couldn’t answer him. She wouldn’t. She had relived that night so many times since the attack, but seeing the demon that cleaved her heart in two triggered the memory as if it was happening again before her eyes. Her father’s screams as it tore him apart. The look on her mother’s face as she was eaten alive. The smirk on that monster’s fucking face as it sought her out. Her parents’ blood bright red, dripping from its mouth as it came to finish her off.
A wound, still so raw, had torn wide open.
“What did it mean?”
No.
“The words that it spoke. Tell me the information, human!”
War was screaming, but she couldn’t do it. All she could muster was a shake of her head, that moment replaying again and again.
Blood. There was so much damn blood. Could feel it on her hands. She remembered slipping in it when Jace dragged her out of the cupboard. Coating herself in it as her legs gave out beneath her. No. Not again.
Please not again.
The Horseman collapsed. His body slowly crumbled to the ground, and her senses returned in a rush, like a tether had snapped, freeing her from its clutches.
“Horseman.” Demitria crouched over his body, but he didn’t respond. “War.” She looked him up and down, eyes catching on the rounded hole in the thick leather armor on his chest. The red blood she’d watch seep through his fingers had darkened to an unnatural color that dripped down his front. “Kellan!” Finally, he gazed up at her, azure eyes glazed over. The veins on his body grew dark as they snaked across his skin.
Shit
“Kellan what the hell is going on?” She shook him violently, desperate for him to answer. The veins in his face had darkened to the point of being black, matching the blood oozing from the hole in his chest. Nothing about him lookednormal.
“…fine.” He mumbled through clenched teeth “m’ fine”
“Sure doesn’t look like it.” She scoffed, “Definitely not fine.”
“Need…time…” He groaned again, but didn’t move from the ground. His limbs heavy at his side as he lay there, near motionless as the blood forming around his wound looked like a pit of inky black.
The panic began to set in as she scanned around them. The charred trees surrounding them for what seemed like miles. The sun, still so high up above, seemed to hide behind a thin haze. The demon could be anywhere. Waiting to attack the moment the Horseman fell. She didn’t want to admit it, but without him she was vulnerable. An easy target. Its return had scared her senseless, shaking that unyielding fear free from whatever confines she’d managed to cage away in the last ten years. Facing it alone wasn’t something she could do.
The Horseman mumbled again, but it was inaudible. He mumbled once more, repeated himself. “Don’t… go anywhere.” It took him a moment to get his words out. Longer than she’d liked. Demitria felt her nerves stretch taut. “Don’t…. go… home.” The thought hadn’t even crossed her mind until he’d mentioned it. “Favor…stay away.” He uttered again.
Something nagged at the back of her mind. That feeling of a debt owed. Sure, he’d treated her like shit, but he’d also saved her life twice now, even if it hadn’t been for her benefit. She couldn’t leave him there to die. It should have been her on the ground. The demon had been after her, and he’d taken the hit.
Why did she have to care?
Kellan was out cold. His chest rose and fell as jagged breaths left his lips. The blood that pooled from his wound still ran dark, matching the color of his veins. Grabbing hold beneath his armpits, Demitria pulled. He didn’t move. His body was as heavy as he was big. A huff left her mouth before she could stop it. She scanned the surroundings again. They needed to go. The shadows danced around them eerily, playing tricks on her mind. The shaking of her fingers began again, she had to get out. Had to get away before she shut down again.
Demitria whistled for Atlas, knowing his mount would be useless to her. Atlas trotted over quickly, lowering his body beside the Horseman’s as if he could read her mind. She didn’tdeserve him. Grabbing hold of the Horseman once more she pulled. The muscles in her back fought against it. Screaming at her to put him down, but she pushed them harder. Begging them to hold out a little longer.
She shouldn’t care.
