Page 102 of Vameer

I keep pushing at his hold as I take a step back.

His other hand reaches for me. “You must repent.”

I try to slap his hand away as fear replaces the panic in my blood. “Leave me alone.”

I need my vampire.

The man keeps moving closer, and I keep backing away.

Pain radiates up my arm as his grip tightens even further, pinching the skin.

“Help!” I try to scream it, but the air is stuck in my lungs.

My back hits a wall. The front of the house next to mine.

I look past the man, down the street. But it’s still early. There’s no one in sight.

I kick at his knee.

My sandal connects, and he grunts, but it’s not enough to dislodge him.

His breathing is coming fast too. But it looks like excitement. And my fear becomes terror. My blood sprints through my heart.

With his hold on my arm, he tries to pull me to the side.

I turn my head.

He’s trying to pull me into the space between houses.

My struggle increases.

I will not go willingly.

“Help!” This time my scream is audible.

Loud.

His fingernails dig into my skin. “No one can save you, Demon.”

I claw at his arm.

His other hand grips the strap of my tank top. “I am going to⁠—”

Red splashes between us.

My eyes shut as something wet splatters across my face.

And the hold on me disappears.

I lean back against the building and force my eyes to open.

The man’s mouth is wide, like he’s trying to scream.

And then something blurs down from the sky beside us.

It strikes the earth so hard the ground shakes beneath our feet.

We both turn toward it.