My Favorite Nightmare by Abigail Livinghouse (ebook audio reader TXT) 📕

tree which I leaned against, fiddling with my bow and one of my arrows, stringing it absently and turning to the section of trees where the twig had snapped. I spun around the trunk so that I was on the opposite side, and that’s when I saw him.

 

He was about three trees from me, staring in the direction of where I had just been standing. He was tall, lean, with shaggy white blond hair, and a boyish face.

 

I took aim with my bow, shut my eye and readying to hit my target, right in his heart, when he turned his head and locked gazes with me. His eyes were charcoal gray, staring at me with such intensity that I hesitated just a moment, but it was enough.

 

He sprung forward, slamming into my chest and causing us both to topple to the ground. I struggled underneath him, reaching into my belt for my stake.

 

“Oh no you don’t”, he said. He had a thick British accent. I hadn’t heard an accent like that in a long time.

 

He grabbed my wrist, and snatched the stake right out of my grasp. He tossed it aside, then pinned my arms down, his hands clutching my wrists roughly. He used his knees to keep my legs from lashing out and kicking him. My head fell back against the hard ground.

 

I could’ve kicked myself. This was it. This was the end. I wouldn’t be able to come back into town and say that I had proudly defeated the vile creature that had killed in our village. I wouldn’t be coming back at all.

 

What would happen to mother and the twins? Mother’s artisan job wasn’t enough to support them. They needed me and I wouldn’t be there to help them. Well, if I was going out, I was going out with a fight.

 

I wiggled under his grasp, rolling around trying to get out from under him, but it was no use. Vampires were the strongest beings alive, and he was very strong. I sighed, looking at him through my bangs falling in my eyes.

 

“Do it.” I said. He cocked his head, his eyes showing surprise and interest.

 

“Just do it and get it over with.” I said again, a bit of steel in my tone. Yeah, I was pissed, but only because I had lost and he had caught me off guard.

 

He chuckled, smiling slightly. When he smiled his boyish looks vanished, replaced by a devilish grin that hid many secrets.

 

“Oh, but where’s the fun in that?” He said in such a sultry, delighted voice that it was nearly a purr.

 

I spat in his face. “Go to hell.” I said with venom. He wiped off my saliva with another laugh.

 

“Oh, I already am, and”, he leaned forward, his lips inches from my ear. “I’ll see you there.” He whispered.

 

With a grin that showed his whole mouth, two rows of straight white teeth, I saw his fangs grow, peeking out of his lips. I swallowed my disgust, curled my knees to my chest, and kicked him in the gut, sending him flying across the forest. He didn’t stop until he hit a tree, snapping it in half.

 

Without wasting any time, I grabbed my bow and arrows from where they had fallen, ran after him, and jumped onto his chest. I pinned him down just like he had done to me. I pulled the bow back and grinned at him.

 

“Now”, I murmured, “go to hell you demon.”

 

I was just about to release when he chuckled again. I almost groaned. Enough with the delays. Just let me kill you and get it over with! I wanted to yell.

 

“What? That’s the best you got.” He said, looking up at me with an amused expression on his face. “No ‘you evil spawn of Satan’? No, ‘you devil incarnate’?” He sighed, his gaze shifting to the night black sky.

 

“I must say, I’m disappointed. I expected more from you people.” He said, then turned his attention back to me. “Well go ahead love, do it and get it over with.” He said, quoting my exact words. 

 

I swallowed, shifted the bow slightly, and released. The arrow pierced the earth near the vampire’s left shoulder. He eyed it oddly, then gave me a strange look.

 

“Well, not what I was expecting, but alright.” He said, flashing a smile, his fangs gone, and then kicked me off of him.

 

I didn’t go flying like he did when I had kicked him, but I went far enough that when I fell to the ground on my back, it hurt. A burst of pain started in the middle of my spine and traveled all the way up to the back of my neck.

 

“Damn it”, I cursed, struggling to get to my feet. All I had managed was to crawl onto my knees. I looked up, expecting to see the vampire coming over to finish me off, instead just seeing the dark of the forest. 

Chapter Six

I didn’t yell out for anyone to come and help me. I didn’t want to alert the other hunters of my location. I hugged the trunk of a nearby tree, using it as support as I stood up. I leaned against it, my back screaming in outrage.

 

Something moved nearby. I still had my bow and arrows in my hand, but my stake was lost somewhere in the forest where the vampire had thrown it. I angled my bow, deciding that since my cover was already blown, I might as well go ahead and speak.

 

“Who’s there?” I called out.

 

Someone peeked around a tree a few feet away from me, then hid back behind it. I caught a flash of dark hair and eyes. I sighed, dropping my bow. Trine came out from behind the oak.

 

“Kyla?” He murmured.

 

I nodded and sank to the ground, my back no longer able to keep me up. He ran over to me, throwing his weapons aside.

 

“What happened?” He asked urgently, getting down on his knees next to me. I shook my head.

 

“I was an idiot. There was a vampire right in front of me, I was positioned to kill, and I let him go.” I said, ashamed.

 

Trine scowled. “Why?”

 

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I’m just weak.”

 

Trine’s eyes hardened and he vigorously shook his head. “No Kyla, you’re one of the strongest people I know. You’re fierce.”

 

I threw my hands up. “Then why did I let him get to me?” I said much too loudly.

 

Any immortals around here were long gone now, and any hunters around knew that their competition would be easy prey, since we had chased all the immortals within a mile radius away. I let my head fall back, thumping against the hollow trunk of the tree I rested against.

 

“I was a fool.” I murmured.

 

Trine shook his head, brushing some of my dark hair out of my eyes.

 

“You are in no way a fool. What did the immortal do to you?” He asked sternly.

 

“I was on top of him, he kicked me off.” I shifted, wincing with the pain in my spinal cord. “I landed on my back.”

 

Trine turned me over, the side of my face pressed against the rough wood of the tree as he examined me. “I don’t think you broke anything.”

 

I felt Trine’s soft fingers gliding along my back, gently prodding. “Just a sprain.” He confirmed.

 

“You’ll be sore for a while, but you’re lucky it’s not a break. You could’ve been paralyzed with the force the creature took knocking you off.” Trine turned me back around, giving me a kind smile. “You’re once badass hunter.”

 

I laughed lightly, because even laughter hurt to the very core of my bones.

 

“C’mon”, Trine slipped his arm behind my back, holding onto my waist and supporting most of my weight as we got to our feet.

 

We stumbled through the forest, the hunt forgotten, and trekked back to our village.

Chapter Seven

Mother was very angry with me when I came back with an injury. She sat me down at the kitchen table and ran some hot water. She lifted my shirt up, dipped a cloth under the steaming water, and pressed it to my back. I jumped when the scalding fabric touched my skin, but relaxed at the relief it brought to my throbbing back.

   

 “What were you thinking Kyla?”  Mother told me to hold the cloth there while she got me a glass of warm water. I took a sip gratefully.

 

     “This was just an accident, Mother.” I said after I had drunk about half of my water.

 

     She scoffed. “There are no accidents. While you’re out there, those creatures are trying to hurt you. I told you this would happen. You are not going hunting again.”

 

     I twisted around so that I could face my mom. I laughed. “You must be joking.”

 

     Mother shook her head. “I am completely serious.”

 

     She got down on her knees, she was very short. I was the tallest in the family, but with my hunched over figure, I was about as tall as mother. She sighed and caressed my cheek lightly.

 

     “Kyla, you are my daughter and I love you. Every time you go out to hunt I worry that you won’t come back.”

 

     I opened my mouth to speak but she pressed a finger to my lips, shaking her head. “No. I’m sorry, but this is my decision. You are to stay inside and watch the twins so that I can keep an eye on you.”

 

     She stood, taking the cloth and running it under the water to heat it up again. I was speechless. I wanted to fight back, to yell and scream that she was wrong and hunting was perfectly safe. It wasn’t perfectly safe, but this was a fluke. This had never happened to me before and it wasn’t going to happen again. Mother could delude herself with the idea of me not going hunting, but I’d just have to be sneaky about it and make sure not to get caught. No matter what she said, I’d never stop hunting.