Vengeance

Seth gritted his teeth as he raced down the narrow alley and the woman he was following disappeared around the next corner. He pushed himself harder, determined to keep her in his sights until she stopped her frantic escape. He just hoped he wasn’t too exhausted when that happened.

His feet slid in the gravel as he turned the corner after her, causing him to slam into the side of the red brick building in front of him. His shoulder throbbed with the impact, causing a rough grunt out of him, but he ignored the pain and pushed off the wall. He couldn’t give up yet. The fight was far from over.

The woman’s golden hair all but glittered in the setting sun, and Seth knew that if he didn’t catch her before dark then he would lose her. Unlike him, she would be able to see in the dark. He’d be blinded by the lack of light and, therefore, at the woman’s mercy should she decide to stop running.

He muttered a curse, his fingers tightening around the object clutched in his right hand. No matter what, he couldn’t lose his weapon. If it was the last thing he did, if this was the last night he had on this earth, he was taking her down with him. He would avenge his beloved wife.

The woman glanced over her shoulder, just a quick glimpse of her heart shaped face, and then she was off again. He knew that she would be able to hear him chasing after her, so wondered if she senses were picking up too many other sounds to be able to tell how close he was. Not that it mattered to him, because he would chase her to the ends of the earth if he needed to.

The sight of her pale skin enflamed his rage even more, giving him the strength he needed to keep running even though his lungs were beginning to burn. His breath came in great heaves, his throat going dry as he struggled to keep up with the blonde, the distance between them slowly expanding with every step.

The wood bit into his fingers as they tightened even more. He tried calling out, hoping to throw off her concentration so she would either stop or accidentally trip on something, anything to keep her from getting away from him. They had passed through most of the houses and were almost out of the deserted businesses in this section of town.

Not many people called this part of town home except for lowlifes and homeless people, which he thought might be why he’d been able to find her hiding in one of the old abandoned houses several streets back. He hadn’t even made it through the back door where he’d been sneaking in when she’d burst through the front door like a bat out of hell, running for her life. He’d thought he was being quiet, but her new senses must have picked up on the sounds he couldn’t hear, or on his scent in the air, because she’d taken off before she’d even gotten a glimpse of him.

He still didn’t know if she was aware of who exactly it was chasing her, or if she’d just decided to run from anyone who came near her. All he knew was that he couldn’t let her get away. His wife needed to be at peace, and the only way to do that was to destroy the creature he was following. It had taken him weeks to track her down, and he wasn’t losing her again.

“Cara!” he yelled after her. It took everything in him not to collapse, gasping in the dirt. His sides burned with the effort he’d made to keep up, and he had to fight off the urge to be sick.

Surprise flashed across her face as she turned more fully, drinking in the sight of the man chasing her down. She still ran, though she was no longer looking where she was going, and even though he was fighting black spots in his vision, she wasn’t even breathing hard. It was as if she’d been out for nothing more than a relaxing jog in the park instead of a full out sprint for her life.

“Seth?” she gasped, slowing to a stop. The smile that stretched her face made his heart ache with the familiarity of it. “Seth! Oh, I’m so glad it’s you.”

She turned to him then, tears in her eyes. But when she was a few feet away from him, her gaze dropped to the object he clutched in one hand, the smile fading from her face as she came to a stop. Confusion was replaced by pain as she looked up to meet his eyes, choking out a sob as she began backing away from him.

The very sight of her caused his heart to constrict, and he wanted nothing more than to go back to the way things were before that fateful day two months ago when his wife was attacked while walking home from work. If only he’d gone and picked her up, despite the fact that she’d only needed to walk a few blocks to the house. It didn’t matter that in the three years they’d lived there, she’d never had an issue walking home from work.

Seth blamed himself for what happened to her, because he hadn’t gone and picked her up that night.

He raised the wooden stake and stalked forward, struggling to harden his heart against what he had to do now.

“Seth, what are you doing? I love you!” she cried out, but still didn’t turn and run from him, though they both knew he would never be able to catch her if she sprinted off again. He didn’t have the energy to keep up with another chase. They were on the outskirts of the rundown section of town they’d been running though, but a straight sprint through the field they now stood along the outside of wouldn’t be any easier on him.

“Don’t you love me anymore?” she whispered in a ragged voice that tore at his heart, because she sounded no different.

“Don’t you see? I have to do this because I loved you,” he whispered in a hoarse, pained voice. “You’re not my wife anymore.”

He raised the stake higher, telling himself he was doing the right thing when Cara’s lips parted, revealing the points of two fangs descending from her teeth.