Chapter Three
“Take them,” the command cut through the night.
Out of the darkness they came, tall, regal...deadly. Moving without a sound as they stepped from the trees and out in the open. My crimson ribbon lashed the air like a whip, drawing their gaze. One broke away from the others and strode toward me, with hungry strides like a predator. His long, midnight hair lashed the air as he walked.
He was beautiful as he moved, graceful and carnal, drawing my gaze along his body. But I knew he was ugly on the inside, cold, undead, his heart as hollow as the rotting trunk beside us on the ground. I shifted my gaze as he neared.
“No!” one of the fathers begged, and fell to his knees in the middle of the clearing. “I beg you, let my daughter go. I’ll pay...I have the money...I’ll pay.”
“Are
