Everything Burns ***Part 13***

***Part 13***

I caught the first man by his shoulders, ripping his arms off of his body in a single pull. Crimson spewed everywhere. I threw his body backward, and into the river with ease.

The second person didn’t get far, either. I snapped his neck with a bone-crunching crack, watching the life fall from his eyes. I let him slump to the forest floor, his head turned around 180 degrees.

The third person nearly made it to camp. I jumped onto a tree and slammed into him from above, smashing his head into a rock like a melon. Brain and bone splattered all over my clothes and I was sure I looked possessed.

By this time, the whole camp screamed about the coming of a demon. Men ran every direction as Katherine came out of her tent. Before I could move, she saw me. She screamed and ran back inside.

As I approached, I ripped off my shirt and doused myself with water from a troth. Trails of red ran off of me. Two men stood in front of Katherine’s tent, but I stared them in the eye and ordered them. “Move away. Now.”

They couldn’t help but comply.

“Run like the others, and don’t look back.”

Both men looked at one another in confusion.

“Go!”

They ran and I opened Katherine's tent, only to fly backwards from a shotgun blast to my midsection. Katherine shot again, moving closer, barely missing my face as I rolled to the side.

“Why?” she asked, holding the gun level with my head.

“I’m sorry, Katherine,” I offered. Already, I could feel my wounds working fast to heal the gunshot. Skin pushed itself back together and my body ejected the foreign buckshot.

“Sorry? What are you? Why did you come here? Answer me.”

I pulled myself to my knees, staring up at the shotgun. “Because I love you, Katherine. I always have.”

“You’ve been the one killing these people?” She asked, and I knew I hurt her. Tears fell.

“I didn’t mean to. It’s in my nature to kill.”

She raised the shotgun, ready to pull the trigger. “You’re a vampire?”

“It’s my disease. I don’t want it. I never did.”

Sadness became her face. She pulled the trigger, but there were no bullets left in the chamber. Shock played in her wide eyes. “Oh, shit.”

“You would have killed me,” I said, surprised. I don’t know why.

She fumbled for more shells while the workers darted through the forest. As she loaded the gun, I pulled myself onto my feet. I grabbed her, kissing her without warning. She cocked the shotgun and pulled the trigger into my belly.

I roared in pain, swiping her across the face involuntarily. Her neck broke upon impact and she crumpled to the ground.

My legs grew weak and I fell over her, crying tears of blood. My eyesight grew dim for only a moment, but I was forced to endure.

The camp was empty. The world was cold.

And I was alone.