“All right,” she said. “So then it won’t mean anything to you that he’s in the town square now about to be executed? Just thought you ought to know…”
Chapter 12: Kiev
Barely a month had passed since I’d met Natalie, and I was already wondering how I could have ever done without her in my life. I felt my chest tense up as she entered the moonlit meadow. God, she was beautiful. Sparkling eyes framed by perfectly arched brows. Thick dark hair flowing down to her thin waist. Soft red lips I craved every time I laid eyes on them.
Everything about her lit me up and made me ache with want.
She gave me a soft smile as our eyes met.
“Good evening, Kiev. You’re on time, as always…”
It delighted me when she held out her hand, allowing me to kiss it. Placing her arm through mine, I led her through the meadow. She bent down every now and then to scoop up clusters of bright orange marigolds. Once she’d collected a fist full of them, she sat down in the grass.
“Sit here with me,” she said, pointing to the space behind her.
I sat with my legs either side of her, her back against my chest. She dropped the flowers on the ground beside me. I ran my fingers through her hair until I’d separated it into small sections. One marigold at a time, I braided all the flowers into her hair. She ran her hands along my upper legs absentmindedly as I worked. I didn’t let her get up until I’d finished. And once I had, she reached for my face and planted a tender kiss on my cheek.
I wanted to stay and relish her lips against my skin. Perhaps even return the gesture. But, as if my legs were no longer my own, I shot up and began running away in the opposite direction.
She called after me to stop.
But I couldn’t.
My legs ran closer and closer toward a crater that had opened up at the end of the meadow. I reached the edge and gazed down at molten lava.
A wave of heat rushed up and burned my eyeballs.
“No!” Natalie shouted from behind me. “You don’t have to do this, Kiev!”
Charred black hands shot out of the liquid, beckoning me to take the final step. Pebbles crumbled where my feet were planted and dropped into the lava.
It would be so easy to let myself fall. A few inches forward would be all it would take…
When I came to, the first sensation that hit me was agony coursing through my body. I couldn’t open my eyes. They had deliberately placed me in direct contact with the sun. They had left nothing on me but a piece of cloth tied around my waist. I lay on my stomach on a hard wooden surface. I felt like a piece of meat being sizzled on a barbecue. I tried to move, but thick chains were attached to my ankles and wrists.
“This is what we do to anyone,” a gruff voice said above me, “particularly newcomers, who think they can come here and act like they own the place.”
A kick hit near my kidneys and I was sure that I was about to vomit. Rough hands gripped the back of my neck and pulled me to a standing position. My vision still a blur, I could just about make out crowds beneath me. I was standing on some kind of raised platform. I twisted my head to catch a glimpse of the person holding me. All I could make out was the outline of a large brown creature. An ogre. A soon as I turned to face him, he slapped my head back to position facing forward. Then I heard the sound of wood being sharpened behind me.
“I’m sure after this you’ll all think twice next time you consider breaking the rules of The Tavern.” The ogre chuckled beneath his breath. A few jeers echoed up from the crowds.
He let go of me and it was all I could to steady myself and not fall to the ground. I wasn’t sure which would kill me first: the sun or the ogre.
“The Tavern is a place of peace and rest,” the ogre continued. “You all know the rules! This is what happens to anyone who dares disrupt that.”
Even though my eyelids felt like heavy weights, I somehow forced them to stay open and, in doing so, my vision slowly became clearer. The sea of faces was becoming more distinct and I could make out werewolves, ogres, and other creatures I couldn’t put a name to. In the distance, beneath the shade of some trees, a few dozen vampires stood watching.
“This vampire here is guilty of attempted murder of a human… and this human here is guilty of attempted murder of a vampire.”
A female scream pierced through the square.
“No! Please! Spare my husband!”
The sound of the ogre pulling on chains and someone choking met my ears. I turned my head and saw the human who had attacked me. Like me, he had also been stripped of his clothes and wore nothing but a piece of cloth around his waist.
I was surprised to see the human there next to me on the platform. I wasn’t used to such even-handed justice. As a vampire, I was used to humans always getting away with things and all blame being laid on vampires—and rightly so in the majority of cases.
“That vampire killed Jack’s mother!” the female voice continued to scream out.
“Silence!” the ogre bellowed. “We are concerned only with events that take place within these walls.”
“B-but… I’m bearing his child. Please! Have mercy!”
The ogre ignored her screams and turned his back against the crowds. I heard Jack’s heavy breathing next to me. Each second that the ogre delayed my death was another second for the sun to continue roasting me alive. Part of me was hoping they’d kill me first to end my suffering. But it seemed that even that wish wouldn’t be granted. One ogre slammed Jack down on the ground and held him still while the other picked up an axe, raising it in the air.
I closed my eyes as steel sliced flesh.
Chapter 13: Mona
I didn’t know what to say. I clenched my fists and just stood there looking at Saira.
It wasn’t my problem that he’d managed to get himself into trouble again. I couldn’t keep carting him around places. I wasn’t his mother. Or wife. Or even friend. He wasn’t my responsibility. I’d taken him to The Tavern, one of the safest places existing in these parts, introduced him to Elizabeth, arranged for a roof over his head, and still he’d managed to wreck things in less than twelve hours after I’d left him. What more could I have done for the man? He probably deserved whatever punishment he was about to receive.
Don’t even think about meddling, I told myself. You remember how dangerous that is.
“He’s… not a friend. Like I said,” I muttered.
Saira continued staring at me. I looked away, feeling awkward. Although I never had allowed myself to get close to her, she knew me better than I was comfortable with from our traveling together for years. We’d barely spent a month apart from each other since I’d left The Sanctuary.