Seconds before Galina’s sharp teeth found their mark a yell sounded out in the cold night air. Her brow furrowed in worry, her ears listening for the step of running feet. With each pulse of blood she consumed, with each weakening breathe he took in through shaking lips into his lungs, Galina’s heart pounded with the urgency of what must be done. She would not lose the man before her again. She would fight of anyone who came, the heavy steps of boots were anticipated, but she did not worry. Not even when he tried to speak against the pain, his voice sounding as if it were lost in a tide of waves, jarring with her memories. Perhaps she had remembered it wrong all those years ago. That smooth melodic voice that had reached out to her.

”Galina.” A hand reached out to her, illuminated from the open ballroom doors behind. The crunch of newly fallen snow sounded as he took a tentative step toward her. Galina dared look up at his eyes. It was a danger to be out here. Surely he knew that. Worry welled up inside her. But still he reached, his gentle eyes imploring her to tell him what it was she worried for. They both knew. Both knew what lurked in the corners of her life, what tangled web she had gotten herself mixed up in.

“Don’t.” Galina warned him, taking a step backward. Her worries, while unspoken, were known. She wouldn’t insult him by defining them. “You were right.” She admitted, trying to keep her tone light despite the swirling emotions in her belly. “Bees should be careful of spiders. Not go flying into their webs.” Echoed words from a night that felt much too long ago. She took another step back, arranging her features into as much of a smile as she could.

He was not deterred. “Then perhaps the bee needs a new flower to land upon.” His hand still stretched out to her. Hope soared in Galina’s heart, for a moment she could see the life and the world he hinted at, she could wonder at the faith he had in such an action. She could imagine the safety behind his gentle words. His voice a balm to her damaged soul. A voice she was sure that she would never forget, no matter what were to happen, what web she might become caught in.

It was not the same voice that guttered through the loss of blood. But then again voices faded quickly from memory. A foolish thought to believe she might remember it in every detail. The gentle cadence that had lulled her doubts and fears to the side, she had nurtured long after all hope was gone. Yet the hope returned along with a longing she had thought long lost.

The man moved against Galina, hands searching for something. For a moment she allowed hope to believe he was reaching for her own hands. To clasp them to him and tell her they would be together. Then the sharp sting of steel dragged along her side. Galina hissed. That was what he was doing here. It all fit. He had discovered her secrets, had believed the story that had been told to Catherine and was taking her from another web, one even more dangerous than she had been in before. He had told her he’d find another flower for her to safely land on, and while he had never truly been a religious man, her mind believed that perhaps there was hope for her, that perhaps he meant to end her and believed that heaven might still await her at the end.

Terror beat upon her breast as Galina backed up against a wall. It thumped through every vein in her body as it mixed with lust and a half remembered love. The look in the man’s eyes was one she well knew. He licked his lips, knowing the reaction his actions had elicited. Galina lifted her head, refusing to give him the satisfaction of her fear. Her eyes met his defiantly, their icy blue depths challenging him instead of cowering. She had gotten herself into this mess she could get herself out. No matter how tangled the web or the promises of safer landings, she could get herself out of this.

The man’s arms locked her in, his gaze brushed over her lips, her jaw, up to her eyes. A deep rumbling chuckle came through his chest. “You fear nothing.” His words were firm. “But you should.” He was right of course, she should fear him. Should have the day she first caught his attention. But it was much too late now.

Footsteps echoed down the empty corridor, the predator’s gaze turned to see her scholar. The words trilled in her, despite the forbidden nature of them. Her scholar. The one who promised hope and redemption for someone as damaged as her.

And now that scholar had tried to harm her. She could only think it was for her own benefit, blind to the truth around her. She was redeemable, he had always believed so. But now they could find that safe landing, that flower that would protect them both. And they could find it together.

Her delicate white hands wrapped around the tawny wrist of the man, putting pressure around him in an icy vice grip. She pressed firmer and firmer, feeling the bones weaken and the blood stop flowing to the hand. She knew it put him in more pain, knew that it might damage bones that would readily heal when it was all over. He’d drop the knife, it would clatter to the ground. Then he’d understand, after it all, when there was time to explain, just what she was doing. The life she had provided to them. The one that had been so cruelly taken from them by the weakness of the human body and the wickedness of life, renewed by the cursed blood.


Word Count: 1000