Blood Juniper A Vampire Tale
Chapter 1.2
As my eyes refocus I see he’s blatantly staring at my cleavage. I’m wearing my work shirt, one of those V necks that has 3 buttons at the top but you only ever button one at the most. I really wish had buttoned it up to my neck at this point. My heart pounds as I realize I may have just made this situation a lot worse for myself.
“Wait” I utter weakly, my voice is hoarse from the running and too soft from fear.
His fierce irises move up to meet mine showing that he heard me but otherwise ignores my plea and looks back down at my heaving chest. He takes a hand off of one of my trembling wrist and reaches for a loose piece of my tousled hair near my jaw.
My eyes widen and I can feel a horrified expression stretching across my face. His cold fingers make there way down from my neck to my collar bone.
“No, STOP!” I cry out before he can go any further and grab his hand trying to pry it away.
His hand doesn’t budge, I panic letting out a pathetic battle screech and flail around, hitting him, scratching, pulling and trying to get away. It’s like hitting a massive rock, it’s useless.
I’m struck across the face and my head snaps to the side. I exhale sharply, he struck me with an open hand but it felt unbelievably forceful and ridiculously quick. My face feels numb, he grabs my cheeks squeezing them coaxing me to look into his evil gaze once again.
I’m dazed with spotty vision but those eyes burn into mine once more getting progressively more irate and terrifying. I’m not in my right mind, I weakly try to pull his hand off my face.
He back hands me again. I swear it’s instantaneous, I don’t even feel his grip release my cheeks to strike me. This one splits my lip and my cheek feels hard and puffy from massive welt forming. Spit and blood fly to the side as air rushes out of my lungs, I take a weak, long breath in trying to stay conscious.
He takes my tender face in his hand again and jerks it to face him. Everything is blurry.
Supposedly, the arguing from the other two stopped as soon as things got physical between me and gray eyes. A deep voice tries to appeal to the enraged man on top of me.
“Now, now Derek, there’s no need fer that.”
The one apparently called Derek won’t be reasoned with as his crazy eyeballs widen and I see his clenched teeth stretch into a tight lipped smile. The hand gripping my jaw is slowly squeezing tighter, it starts to become more than uncomfortable. I make a painful grunt as my free hand latches on to his arm. I dig my nails into his flesh, though it doesn’t seem to faze him at all. He looks like an insane man now and his hand shake slightly.
Through ringing ears I hear a muffled deep voice is trying to talk him down more seriously now. Without a change in his expression he rips his hand from my face roughly. He’s shaking slightly with a soundless laugh, my agony and helplessness seem to enthrall him.
‘Is that it? Are they wanting to torture and toy with me?’ I feel a flare of anger overpower my disoriented state. He seems to be smiling through that crazy look on his face and it pisses me off even more.
‘Why me? Why did they come after me? Screw them! Screw the world! Screw you!’ I’m riled shouting in my head. I can feel my brows furrow as I spit in his face aggressively. Bloodied spit splats on his cheek near his nose. Tonight has been full of bad decisions, but this one was probably my worst yet.
He doesn’t flinch, completely still like a statue. His face slowly contorts into something horrifying, his teeth grind together as he bares them, his eyes darken as his furious brows show even deeper creases. Worst are his eyes that I swear are glowing with pure fury. The glare he is giving me is a complete fusion of insanity and rage, I damn near pissed myself.
He pulls his hand away from the wrist he continued to hold captive. Then in a smooth and incredibly swift action his hand guns for my neck. His long fingers wrapping around and locking like a snap bracelet.
Both of my hands fly up instinctively trying to release the pressure, I’m gasping for oxygen that is cut off from my lungs. He’s only holding me with one hand, how is he so strong? He’s the scrawniest one in the group too! I squirm under him trying to breathe. I see a hand appear on his shoulder to try to stop him but he swats it away, never taking his wretched glare off of me.
He grits his teeth into a melting grimace as his face distorts into something more devilish and his gaze drifts downward to my chest again.
His free hand snatches the collar of my shirt. He rips my top as if it were paper. My body lifts slightly before the cheap fabric tears down the center, turning my shirt into tattered open jacket. The force of my shirt being torn from my body causes my b.r.e.a.s.ts to jiggle violently in my exposed bra.
I feel the pendant of the long chained necklace fling to the side from the forceful tear, it bounces off my limp hand that gave up fighting. His grip on my throat eases up slightly and I’m immediately choking down air in awful, low pitched wheezes.
“That’s Enough, Derek!” I hear a firm, intimidating yell directed at us.
That voice wasn’t gruff enough to come from the brawny guy, it rang clear and strong. Derek clenches his jaw. He slides his choking hand to my collar bone still pressing me firmly into the dirt. I sputter, cough and heaving in more air.
Derek’s face twists into some new kind of anger. Something more irritated and less crazy looking. Derek’s teeth grind in contemplation, trying to figure out the best way to silence the detractor.
I turn my head defeated and look at my necklace. It’s slightly cracked but the liquid is still swishing around inside it. I reach over weakly, holding it in my palm. “You were supposed to protect me” I mouth feebly.
The voice makes another stabbing remark at a fuming Derek, “I never thought your impulsiveness would have you sink this low!”
Derek whirled his head around to face the one pestering him.
Derek spat, “You’ve got to be kidding me, Sam! You have no right to be so self righteous!”
I’ve made a lot of stupid decisions today, what’s the harm in one more? As Derek turns back to finish me off or torture me more, I take the pendant with every ounce of strength I have left and smash it into his face. Thin cracked glass shatters much easier than expected. I could feel shards stabbing into me as the orb implodes and the liquid comes rushing out, bursting like a water balloon.
A deafening screech startles me to my senses. Derek topples off of my body howling and writhing in pain. Wide eyed I see his skin bubble like a chemical reaction. The liquid is sizzling and foaming while melting his skin. I can see a mist or steam rolling off of his face as if it were boiling. What the hell was in there, acid?!
The scene is more than frightening but I have no time to gawk. Remembering the bush wall I scramble my aching body up on my feet, staggering across the line of shrubs. I’m still dizzy from the beating and I tumble when crossing over.
I try to recover, scurrying further away on my hands and knees in a wobbly fashion. I feel light headed and I can’t crawl in a straight line, eventually losing my balance flopping to my side. I roll onto my back and try to reestablish myself.
Dread washes over me seeing the bulky man standing in my view. I hastily grab the chain of my necklace and fumble for the jagged remains of my pendant, holding it out like a pocket knife as my pitiful defense.
My stomach does flips and all my limbs lock up from the sight of the nameless one’s massive figure. It’s almost as if he doesn’t even notice, he doesn’t budge one bit. He’s standing right on the opposite side of the bush barrier. In fact he doesn’t seem to be paying attention to me at all, his eyes are shifting back and forth looking over the area behind me. I flip my head around in response, after a quick check revealing nothing I focus my attention on the group once again.
I breathe out a sigh of small relief and try to will more energy into my body while clearing my mind. I examine my foes to help determine my next move.
Derek is on his arms and knees now, he’s not screaming anymore just taking deep breaths to regain his strength.
When I my eyes veer over I’m startled to see the one they call Sam staring at me intently. I jump slightly and gape at his fearsome stature. He’s closer than before but still away from the line of bushes. His vivid, green eyes shine beneath his thick mess of black hair framing his face. The eyes were reminiscent of a predator’s, like a great cat or a wolf. His strong jaw was tense and his expression was a mixture of emotion making it indecipherable.
I couldn’t help but be entranced but also scared out of my wits, he looks just as dangerous as the other two. However, just like his brawny friend, he doesn’t move an inch from his spot. They’re very quite and focused, it’s unsettling. I’m not quite sure what I should do now.
My heart beats erratically again as Derek picks himself up from off the ground. I’m shaking uncontrollably as I shuffle backwards unconsciously. His aggressive figure looks diabolical, as he slowly stalks my way, seething with every step.
The side of his face where I assaulted him looks awful. Exposed raw flesh, blistered and somewhat stringy. His eye is half closed from the damaged edge where the folds of skin are wrinkled and eroded. It makes the expression on his face all the more heinous.
Still scanning the forest behind me the nameless one puts a firm hand to Derek’s chest as he approaches the the bush line.
I shuddered hearing the animosity in his voice through his teeth.
“Ya can’t go in ‘dere, ya know that,” the big one states in a serious tone, still searching out in the distance like he’s looking for something specific.
‘What on earth is over here, is there something worse waiting for me on this side?’ I clench my teeth in worriment. I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place.
“Let me pass, Cooper.” Derek raised voice a bit, putting sharp emphasis on every word, his eyes glued on me, an overwhelming aura of hatred and hostility emitting from him shakes me to my core.
Decision made. I scurry to my feet and start booking it deeper into this mysterious part of the woods. I caught a glimpse Cooper holding Derek back just before I bolted. It looked like Derek was going to lunge for me like a dog intent on ripping an animal’s throat out.
“The Reap’r took out three just this year, Derek! Not count’n the usual. I knew one of ’em, ‘e was….” Cooper’s desperate words started to fade into unintelligible speech as I heaved my sore body and heavy limbs onward in an awkward run. My eyes dart around as I wind around a few trees in hopes it will make it harder to track me down.
It’s certainly unnerving that something out here is making those men reluctant to pursue me but Derek will definitely kill me if he gets his hands on me a second time. The look on his face was unmistakable, I’ll take my chances on the unknown.
‘But a reaper, did I hear that right?’ A shiver slides down my spine and I shoot a glance behind me, I can’t see the group anymore through the maze of trees I’ve weaved through.
‘I’ll deal with whatever is out here as it comes, let’s hope we don’t run into anything at all.’
My little pep talk seemed to jinx me as a blur shoots past the trees in my peripheral vision.
I’m spooked, my wide eyes snap to attention but I see nothing darting in the trees. Distracted, I run right into something hard while trying to locate that eerie shadow. I bounced off of it, landing on my butt with a thud. I swallowed hard, it wasn’t a tree. I couldn’t breathe, I was petrified. My eyes crept up to meet the impossible…
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