Start | Chapter Twenty Part Three | Index | Chapter Twenty One Part One

A/N: Just getting the posts that were lost when the server went down back up. This week’s Haventon Post will go up on Saturday due to the problems.

Ragnar hid the car away from the road in the overgrown garden of the derelict house that he had set up as one of his safe houses. Only the cellar was intact and it wasn’t the best equipped but it was closest and he had made sure it had most things he might need in an emergency. He carried Anna and laid her on a mattress before attaching her chains securely to the ring fastened to the wall above it. Then he bolted and barricaded the door before looking down at her thoughtfully. She was still unconscious but beginning to stir.

“This is crazy,” he said to himself. “Why didn’t I leave you behind? They’ll keep looking for me and you’ll slow me down.” He knew he should cut his losses, kill her and try to flee the town – though he doubted the accursed place would let him yet. But even if he had to stay here he would be able to move faster and avoid their pursuit without her.

He didn’t though instead he grabbed one of the knives he kept here, gritted his teeth and began to cut around the stake still lodged between his ribs. The pain of slicing through flesh already inflamed from rowan poisoning was incredible and by the time he had dug out enough to get a grip on the stake he was working by touch alone because his own bloody tears were blinding him. Still he managed to pull it loose, though the effort made him scream. He threw the remains of of the stake into the corner of room, scrubbed at his eyes with the tatters of his shirt until the blood had cleared and taped up the injury. He grabbed a clean shirt from the small suitcase in the corner then hobbled to the mini fridge and pulled out a bottle of cow’s blood. He downed it in one before pulling out the second and drinking half of that as well. It should be enough to kick start his healing but now he had half a bottle left and he really needed human blood in order to heal properly anyway. He would either have to risk leaving tonight to find a victim or feed on Anna.

With that thought he turned to look at her to find she had woken up while he was distracted by treating his injury and was sitting up and tugging at her chains.

“Don’t bother. I made sure that they are secure,” he said.

She turned and looked at him. Her expression was studiously neutral but she couldn’t hide the hatred in her eyes.

“Now don’t look at me like that, dear Anna,” he said. “You should be on your best behaviour if you want to live because we both know I would be able to move faster without you.”

Anna folded her arms – which must be uncomfortable with the chains – and scowled at him. “If my choices are dying or becoming a monster like you I’ll take dying, thanks.” She pulled herself up as much as the chains would allow and spat in his face. “It doesn’t matter if you kill me – the others will find you and kill you.”

He didn’t have chance to react to her assault because it seemed the words that had accompanied it were prophetic as something hard and heavy banged against the barricaded door.

Start | Chapter Twenty Part Three | Index | Chapter Twenty One Part One