CHAPTER THREE Chosen Meat
208 Words
They kept me in a stone chamber that smelled of iron and old prayers. I shook for hours after he left. My neck burned. My body betrayed me with heat and nausea and something darker I refused to name. Why do I feel like this about him. A vampire that took what was mine.
Women from the cottages came to see me.
Some were missing fingers. One walked with a limp that bent her sideways. All whispering to each other.
“Don’t let him choose you,” one whispered urgently. “Those he keeps don’t die. They rot slowly.”
I laughed hysterically until I cried. What does that mean?
That night, screaming echoed through the castle.
They dragged a man into the courtyard—one of ours. A feeder who had tried to run. I could sense his fear.
Astridr tore him apart.
I watched from a slit window as he ripped limbs free with bare hands, blood spraying the stones.
He was beautiful in the way storms are beautiful—devastating, merciless. What am I thinking?
When he looked up, he saw me watching.
He smiled again.
And raised the dripping heart toward my window in salute. I looked away ashamed, ashamed I enjoyed watching him.
- Writer
