bloodcurdling scream ripped out from her chest.
She heard the mortal man yell from somewhere behind her. “We have to do something!”
“The whistle, Evangeline!” Charlotte yelled from underneath the wolf. “Get the whistle!”
Evangeline, who had been frozen in a state of terror, suddenly snapped and ran for the little silver thing twinkling in the dirt. The wolf diverted its attention to her, leapt away from Charlotte, lunged for Evangeline, who now had the whistle clasped tightly in her hand. Evangeline shrieked when something small darted in front of the large animal, intercepting it from her.
Charlotte rolled on her elbows and saw the small body the wolf was now thrashing around with in the dirt was Edwin. The sound of burlap ripping made bile crawl up Charlotte’s esophagus. She could see piles of stuffing spilling out one of Edwin’s limbs.
“Edwin!” She stumbled forward, tripping as she ran for the beast. She lacked a plan, but her mind was clouded with the image of Edwin’s body. Charlotte leapt onto the beast’s back and pounded on it with her fists as it continued to snarl and tear.
Someone else jumped on next to her. In a flash of moonlight, she saw it was the mortal man before she was thrown off into the dirt again. The wolf-man vaulted away from the now lifeless pile of rags and back at Charlotte, pinning her to the ground. It dug its claws deep into her shoulders as she cried out.
Evangeline blew the whistle with all her might; the sound trilled high above the growling.
The Lycan was about to tear Charlotte’s face off when a silver shadow gunned through the night and slammed into the beast at full force.
The two skidded several feet through the dirt. They tangled, throat for throat, limb for limb in the darkness. Vampire and Lycanthrope. Evangeline ran over, pulled Charlotte into her lap and held her as they watched both figures roll and tumble with each other, growling and flashing silvery fangs and claws.
Valek roared, clutching the half-wolf by the neck and sent it flying into an elm, its body crunching against the impact of the thick trunk.
The human man, his clothes soaked in his own blood and dirt, stared wildly at the four of them. First Evangeline, then Charlotte, next Valek, and finally the wolf whimpering on the ground. He watched as it twitched. It fought to get up, stumbling over itself and shaking its head before it set off deep into the forest, disappearing in the heavy shadows.
“Let him go.” Valek sighed through his exhaustion. He rolled over onto his back and panted. “He’ll die soon enough. He’s too weak.” He inhaled slowly, seeming to smell the fresh blood lingering in the air. His nostrils flared, and he snapped his neck in the direction of the one closest to him, eyes enveloped in black.
Both Charlotte and Evangeline stared in horror at the Vampire they thought they knew so well. The monster before them, however, seemed altogether different. His gentle mannerisms had sunken somewhere deep in the dark waters of his mind. He looked at Charlotte as a shark would look at bleeding bait. The drunken passion behind his wild gaze surfaced as he stumbled toward her, fangs gleaming behind parted lips. He moaned softly, tortured, aroused, hungry.
Creeping ever closer, he got to his knees, sinking one claw in the soft dirt. He leaned in so close to her face, she could feel his cold breath on her eyelashes. She pressed her back more firmly against Evangeline’s shoulder.
“Charlotte—” he hissed. The sound of his voice was foreign and serpentine as it slid from behind his lips. Her pulse quickened in her throat and she willed it to steady, shutting her eyes.
Charlotte felt Evangeline’s grip on her tighten.
“Yes, Valek. It’s Charlotte. It’s
Valek’s wild gaze did not leave Charlotte’s throat. “Lottie—” He breathed again, saying the word, but attaching no comprehendible recognition.
Charlotte swallowed and bravely pulled away from Evangeline. She inched closer to Valek, looking directly into his eyes. The sound of her pulse was as vibrant in her own ears as she was sure it was in his.
“Yes, Valek. Little Lottie.” She smiled and hummed the familiar lullaby he had always hummed to her when she was afraid. The same song when the Fairy had attacked her in his office, and when the thunderstorms had scared her. “Little Lottie,” she sang again.
Something human grasped at the flickering light in his eyes, and he withdrew from her. He stood back up, fighting hard with himself, forcing to turn away.
“L–Lottie.” His breathing was staggered as his hands balled into fists against his eyes, rubbing them feverishly. His focus turned on the other mortal who was staring at them, a petrified mess in the dirt.
The man writhed on the ground, trying his hardest to stand and run. But something cracked in his hip, causing him to arch backward and cry out. His head pressed to the ground. Tears drenched his bloody face.
Valek’s eyes glazed over again. He bent to the ground at the man’s side. “That is a lovely smell,” he whispered. Valek reared back, as a cobra would, and struck, sinking his fangs deep into the mortal’s jugular.
Evangeline let out a tiny scream as Charlotte buried her face in the Witch’s angular shoulder. Evangeline tried to cover Charlotte’s ears so she would not have to hear the man’s inevitable demise.
Warm, thick ichor rushed past Valek’s lips and ran slick down his throat like hot, sweet molasses. He held the human’s neck secure to him as he swallowed heartily, enjoying the grapple as the man clawed and shoved. He listened to his wild heartbeat, like the pulsation of a thousand hornets. The man’s life pooled around Valek’s lips, the smell singeing his nostrils.
Finally, the human was drained, finished, and Valek came up for air. He craned his head toward the moon as the leftovers swam in a string of garnet down the side of his face. The animal in him disappeared, and even though some of the feeling still stuck at the forefront of his consciousness, he was at least sane again. He slowly got to his feet and turned to see Evangeline quaking, clutching Charlotte as though she were a small child.
Valek frowned then knelt beside them again with a wary look toward the Witch. He placed a cool hand on his Charlotte’s shoulder.
Charlotte’s head immediately shot up, her eyes drenched. That was the first time she had ever looked at him like this. Like a monster. He hushed her, running his long fingers down her cheek.
“I am so sorry, Lottie,” he said sadly. This time he really had done permanent damage. “Don’t cry.” He caught a tear that lingered on her face.
Charlotte’s knees shook like they might cave. She saw the heap of burlap and stuffing on the road. Edwin, the once enchanted rag doll, lay dead in the mix of fur and dirt. She looked to Evangeline again, a plea in her eyes this time.
“I can fix him.” A tear rolled down the Witch’s bloodless face. “I promise. It will be…easy.”
Charlotte nodded, finally starting to feel a little less numb as the onset of sadness began to swell at the bottom of her throat. She didn’t say anything. Instead, she got up and gazed down at the tow of them. The glamorous Witch’s hair was caked to her face with dirt and sweat, though she was still just as beautiful as she ever was. Charlotte glanced at Valek one last time.
Valek, Charlotte’s only confidant in the world, was now beyond recognizable to her — their differences painfully apparent. She would never be close to what he was. She was the prey, a link in his food chain. She’d never felt so far removed from him. Not when he argued with her about sneaking into his bedroom. Not even when she’d found him with Evangeline the night before — her worst fear realized.
She ran back down the dirt road. Back to her home, to where it always used to be safe. Back to where things were familiar. She ran as the wind dried the tears on her face. She ran until all she could think about was the path in front of her. She ran, leaving Valek, Evangeline, and a crumpled little Edwin behind.
Chapter Eight
Valek surprised Charlotte when she breathlessly stumbled through the front door. Of course he had beaten her home. The air was blazing in her tattered lungs. There was nowhere else for her to run to now.
