Blood Red

She laid there staring up into the night sky watching the stars twinkle above her. She tried to move but her body cried out in pain and she knew that there was no way she was going to be able to get up on her own. Carefully positioning her hands on the cement she pushed herself up as best she could a sharp pain shot through her wrist and she let her body fall back onto the pavement. She should have known something like this would happen to her eventually, she had nothing but bad luck ever since she was born. She had grown up without parents; her whole family was murdered, the police had never found the culprit.

Her family suspected foul play of course, but they knew whatever it was that killed her parents wasn't human. No one would believe them of course. Vampires, werewolves, and fairies weren’t supposed to exist. She had only been a year old when that had happened and she could never remember the details. But then again she guessed that was for the best, who would want to remember their parents being murdered.

Her head throbbed and she cried out in agony, she should called for help, scream even but that was impossible no one would come. She was in the middle of nowhere and without a cell phone, she cursed the fact she had left it at the club. She figured that she would be okay without it. Taking another slow and deep breath she used her one good arm to push herself up, it took some effort and by the time she had dragged herself to the low brick wall she was huffing and puffing, out of breath. Wincing she looked down at one of her many wounds; she placed a hand over the large knife wound trying to hold in the blood but it was no use the blood trickled between her fingers and dripped down onto her torn, dirt - stained jeans.

She looked like she had been through hell, might as well have been with what had happened. She reached up and ran a hand through her dark brown hair only to find the dark red substance glistening on her hands. A head wound. Those thugs hadn't spared once inch of her body it had seemed. She glanced up at the night sky again and despite her condition she smiled and laughed, her whole life she had been trained to kill mythical creatures and yet here she was bleeding to death, taking down by a bunch of drunk men.

Oh if her brothers ever saw her in this state the things they would stay. She chuckled again but was it was cut short by a harsh cough, she whipped the back of her hand across her mouth and felt the metallic taste of blood across her lips. She was dying and she knew it, it was only a matter of time. The sounds of approaching footsteps made her heart beat faster, were the thugs coming back to finish her off?

"You poor thing, look at what they have done to you." That was definitely not one of her attackers.

She tried to lift her head to see who it was, but it felt so heavy. She somehow managed to get her head up enough so that she could look up to the face of her savior, or at least she hopped he was. The man standing before her was beautiful; he was tall standing close to six feet in
height, the black shirt and blue jeans he was wearing showed off his muscular physique, his short dark brown hair was slicked back. But it was his eyes that she was drawn too. His dark brown eyes scanned her up and down, studying her pathetic form.

She tried to open her mouth to ask for help but it came out as a weak squeak. She was so hopeless and pathetic she wished that she could die already the pain was becoming too much for her to handle, her vision already beginning to dim around the edges.
The man crouched down and took her face in his hand, to her surprise his fingers were cool to the touch and it sent shivers down her spine.

He sighed and clicked his tongue in disapproval, "They certainly did a number on you didn’t they.”

That was the understatement of the century she choked out another horse laugh and instantly she regretted it as more blood dripped from her mouth creating puddle on the cement. “Katie I have a question for you.” How did he know her name, she had never seen this guy in her life but his question peaked her interest.

“Do you wish to live?” Live. How could he possibly save her? She was lying here dying with a knife sticking out of her stomach. Her vision was getting darker and darker, she was dying and she knew it. Her grip was beginning to slip on reality, maybe it would be better if she died.

She was falling into the darkness, she could feel her heart beat thumping weakly. She smiled as she watched the clouds float across the night sky, this place was truly beautiful it would have been nice if she could have come up here with her brothers. Her fiance. Reaching up to her neck she tugged on the silver chain around her neck and slipped one of her bloody fingers through the ring it held. Live.

The word echoed in her mind. Live. She wanted to live. To see her brothers again, to laugh with her friends, to get teased. She wanted to go home and live her life.

Grow up, get married, have a family, grow old with her husband, she wanted to see her grandkids playing on her front lawn. She opened her eyes, the beautiful man was still there, watching her, waiting for her answer.

“Yes,” her eyes harden, “I want to live.”

The man smiled, “I was hoping you would say that.” All she saw was a flash of white and red and then her world went black.

Notes