Wren

I succeeded in getting my legs underneath me as I turned to face the rider. I had no idea what I could do against it, but I refused to go down without a fight. Lifting my gun, I fired again. I was about to squeeze the trigger once more when something burst out of the woods and raced toward Greed.

Corson leapt high, placed his hand on the horse’s rump, and propelled himself into the air. He landed behind Greed and plunged his talons through the horseman’s neck. Greed’s hands flew behind his head; he gripped Corson’s wrist to stop him when Corson started to saw Greed’s head from his body.

When Greed succeeded in tearing Corson’s talons from his neck, I slid my gun into its holster, pulled out my knife, and raced toward them. The horse rose onto its hind legs when I got close to it. Black hooves whistled in the air as they zipped past my head. I reeled away from the horse when it kicked at me again.

The horse’s abrupt movement caused Corson to lose his grip on Greed. Before he could topple from the saddle, he plunged his talons into Greed’s thigh. A strange, high-pitched hiss filled the air. It reminded me of the ouro, only this one was inherently more sinister.

Corson raked his talons down Greed’s thigh, slicing it open to reveal his black muscles and the black bone beneath. When I tried to dash to the side to help Corson, the horse reared again. I lurched back when the tip of a hoof caught my forehead. A burst of pain momentarily blurred my vision as blood trickled down my broken skin and stuck in my eyelashes.

I wiped the blood hastily away and blinked my vision back into focus as Greed rested his hand on Corson’s forehead. Misery and rage filled Corson’s bellow. My heart lodged in my throat as I realized Greed was making him experience the same emptiness I had earlier.

Swinging up with his other hand, Corson buried his talons in Greed’s back and jerked downward. More black blood oozed out of Greed as he strove to stay mounted. The horse twisted to the side in an attempt to throw Corson from it.

Seeing an opening, I lunged forward, but one of the horse’s heads swung toward me, and its teeth snapped inches from my face. Its fetid breath blew my hair back as its body spun toward me and it struck out again. This time, its hoof caught my forearm, breaking my skin open to spill more blood.

I refused to be deterred as I dodged to the side to avoid the next hoof the horse aimed at my head. Clutching a handful of the horse’s red mane, I jumped up. The horse spun, trying to shake me off as I swung my leg over and hooked it around the beast’s neck. I somehow managed to hold on and twist around to straddle its neck.

“Wren, watch out!” Corson shouted, and a hand landed on my back.

I screamed before I realized my mouth opened. Emptiness engulfed me until I was swimming in a bleak pit of melancholy. I fell forward, inhaling the sulfur scent of the horse as I struggled against the overwhelming impulse to drive my knife into my heart and end this torment.

“Shit!” Corson grunted, and that hideous hissing sound filled the air again.

I didn’t know where I found the strength, but I somehow managed to turn and swing blindly downward with my knife. The blade plunged into something and I yanked it when I felt the scrape of bone. The hand on my back fell away. I gasped in a breath as the emptiness within me eased a fraction.

Turning, I saw Greed lifting its bloody hand into the air. I slashed out again, slicing more flesh before grabbing his hand and yanking it to the side.

Want! Need! More! More! More! I didn’t know what I wanted or needed; I only knew the words hammered ceaselessly through my mind.

Somehow, I managed to work past my insatiable greed as bone broke, sinew snapped, and the last of the muscles holding Greed’s hand on gave way. I found myself gazing at the curling fingers of the hand when I pulled it away from the horseman.

Rings! I must have those rings!

With an angry shout, I threw the hand aside before I could pull those rings free and slide them on. I didn’t want to think about what would happen if I put them on, but images of becoming one of the horsemen or spontaneously combusting filtered through my imagination. My head lifted, and I found myself gazing into Greed’s hate-filled, astonished eyes.

Greed’s attention was drawn away from me when Corson climbed onto the saddle behind him once more. With a ferocious shout, Corson buried his talons in the side of Greed’s neck and sliced across his flesh. Greed swung out, backhanding me so hard across the face that bells rang in my head and blood burst into my mouth.

My hands clawed at the horse’s red mane when it reared again, and I started sliding to the side. Another heavy blow knocked my grip loose. Black hooves filled my vision as I toppled beneath the beast. I didn’t have time to roll away before it landed on top of me.

* * *

Corson

“No!” I shouted as Wren fell beneath the horse. “Fucker!” I snarled and sliced my way through what remained of the horseman’s neck.

The decapitated head bounced off the horse’s flank before falling to the ground. I was about to leap off the horse’s back when the animal dissolved beneath me. Red and black ash filled the air, sticking to my skin and filling my lungs as I hit the ground.

“Wren!” I shouted as I searched for her amid the cascading debris. “Wren!”

Through the falling ash, I spotted her limp form. “Wren!”

Something twisted and broke within me, rage built toward a breaking point as I scrambled to her. This rage had nothing to do with any of the horsemen and everything to do with the weakening I felt in my bond to her.

“Wren.”

Ash coated the blood seeping from the corners of her mouth and oozing out of the gash in her chest. Her breath wheezed out of her. I gathered her in my arms, careful not to jar the broken bones in her concave chest. The horse’s weight had crushed her; its hooves had sliced open her shirt and flayed her skin down to the white bone beneath.

I cradled her against my chest as she gazed dazedly up at me. “I should have come sooner. I should have figured out what was happening faster,” I whispered as I kissed her forehead.

Her blood-coated fingers curled into my forearm before she lost her grip on me. Her hand fell limply to her side as she inhaled a rattling breath. “Not your fault, demon. It was only… a matter… of time… before my end came.”

Her body lurched as a convulsion rocked it. Her blue eyes rolled in her head and more blood spilled from her mouth. Helplessness and anguish rose to replace my fury. I’d just found her, and now I was losing her.

“Listen to me, Wren,” I commanded when she became still again. “You’re dying and that is one of the steps for the change to occur. If you tell me yes, I can give you my blood for the second step. If you survive the change, you’ll live, and you’ll be an adhene demon like me.”

Her eyes rolled toward me, their whites were bloodshot, and one had a starburst of blood in it. Her skin held the pasty sheen of death I’d seen many times before. Terror spurred me into speaking faster. “You’ll feed on wraiths. You may have a difficult time adjusting and controlling yourself in the beginning.”

I didn’t want to mention any of the bad things that could come with the change, but she had to know everything before she agreed to this. She was dying; she might say yes to life and later grow to hate me for what she’d become if she didn’t know it all.

“You could accidentally hurt someone until you adjust to what you are,” I told her. “However, if you survive the change, you’ll live forever. You’ll be stronger, faster, and you’ll be with me. No matter what you decide, know I love you, Wren,” I whispered as I kissed her forehead and silently begged her to choose life, to choose me.

“I love you too, Corson,” she said in a blood-choked whisper.

My name and those words on her lips caused me to groan.

“If I die, will I go to Hell? I’ve killed…” She broke off when a round of coughing wracked her. Agony twisted her features, her fingers twitched on the ground, but she didn’t seem to have the strength to lift them as they fell limply beside her once more.

“No, lahala,” I whispered, knowing I could be uttering the words that would take her from me forever. “You won’t go to Hell. You’ve killed because you had to in order to survive. You are not selfish or cruel.”

A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. Tears burned my eyes as I leaned over her. I wasn’t ready to lose her, but she was slipping further away from me.

Another rattle emitted from her, and I knew this was the end for her. If she said no to me, I would be holding her corpse. She loved me, but was it enough to chance becoming something she’d hated for most of her short life?

A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “Do it, demon.”

I froze, uncertain if I’d heard her right. “You want me to give you my blood?”

“Yes,” the word was a whisper on her lips before her breath stopped completely.

Panic filled me as the life faded further from her eyes. The tenuous beat of her heart slowed until I barely detected it. Shifting my hold on her, I sliced a talon down my arm. Blood poured from the deep gash as I held it over the wound in her chest.

My mother threw herself into the fires. I’d witnessed the love my parents had for each other. I’d known what a Chosen bond was, believed I’d understood why my mother had done what she did.

I realized that I’d never truly understood her choice before. I did now.

Wren was so new to me, this bond so fragile, yet the emptiness engulfing me made Greed’s touch seem like a gentle caress. My hand clenched on Wren before I released her to reopen my vein. I would pour every ounce of blood I had into her if that was what it took to save her.