Chapter 141 The Enemy from Behind

Chapter 141 The Enemy from Behind
The Enemy from behind 

Liam’s POV

I turned and ran, but I barely made it a few steps before two men stepped out of the shadows and blocked my way.

I stopped so suddenly my feet slid across the dirt.

For one foolish second, I thought I could handle them. I’d fought humans before. Two men shouldn’t have been a problem.

Then I looked into their eyes and my stomach dropped.

They weren’t human.

That same dark, hungry look I’d seen in my own reflection stared back at me. They were vampires and it seems they hadn’t found me by accident… They’d been waiting.

There wasn’t time to think. My eyes landed on a broken tree branch lying near the warehouse wall. I grabbed it and spun around just as the first vampire rushed at me.

He slammed into me with enough force to knock air from my lungs. Pain shot through my shoulders as we crashed together, and I nearly lost my grip on the branch.

He was much stronger than I’d expected.

For a split second, fear hit me.

Maybe coming here alone had been a terrible mistake but I didn’t have the luxury of freezing.

With every bit of strength I had left, I shoved the sharpened end of the branch straight at his chest.

It pierced him.

His eyes flew open in shock. His body went completely still before he crumpled to the ground without making another sound.

I didn’t even have a second to catch my breath.

The other vampire was already coming at me.

I turned and ran.

My legs carried me faster than I thought they could as I raced toward the trees beyond the warehouse. Branches scraped across my arms and face, leaving sharp stinging cuts, but I didn’t slow down. My breathing came in rough gasps, and my heart pounded so hard it felt like it might burst through my chest.

Then I heard footsteps.

At first, I thought it was only the vampire behind me.

Then more footsteps joined in.

They came from different directions, growing louder every second. It sounded like they were surrounding me, moving through the forest with terrifying speed. No matter which way I ran, it felt like I was heading straight toward another one of them.

Panic clawed at my chest.

A massive old tree came into view, its thick trunk wide enough to hide me. I threw myself behind it and pressed my back against the rough bark, squeezing my eyes shut for a second as I fought to quiet my breathing. Every instinct screamed at me to gulp in air, but I forced myself to stay as silent as I could.

Carefully, I peeked around the trunk.

That’s when I saw them.

A group of men dressed in dark hooded cloaks moved quietly through the trees. Their hoods hid most of their faces, and each of them carried a weapon, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. They weren’t wandering around or searching at random. Every step they took was slow and careful, like they knew exactly what they were looking for… Me.

The way they moved told me this wasn’t their first hunt. They had done this before, and they were good at it.

I stayed perfectly still behind the tree, barely daring to breathe. My muscles ached from holding the same position, but I didn’t move an inch. One wrong sound, one snapped twig or shaky breath, and they would find me.

I couldn’t stop imagining what would happen if they did.

They would kill me.

Time seemed to crawl by. I watched them disappear deeper into the forest, listening as their footsteps grew quieter and their voices slowly faded into the distance. 

Only then did I let out the breath I’d been holding.

Even so, I didn’t leave right away. I stayed hidden for several more minutes, forcing myself to be patient. My heart was still racing, but I needed to be sure they were really gone.

When I was finally convinced the danger had passed, I slowly stepped away from the tree and began making my way toward the edge of the forest. If I could reach the road, I could get on my car and put as much distance as possible between myself and this place.

I had almost made it.

The moment I stepped out from beneath the trees, every muscle in my body locked up.

He was standing there.

The vampire I’d failed to kill.

He waited where the forest opened onto the clearing, completely still, as though he’d known this was the only way I could leave. Instead of chasing me through the woods, he’d simply waited for me to come back to him.

My heart lurched.

Without thinking, I spun around and tried to run back into the forest.

I never got the chance.

Dark figures appeared from every direction, moving so fast they were nothing more than blurs. Before I could take more than a single step, they had surrounded me. They closed the circle until there wasn’t even the smallest gap to squeeze through.

I turned from one face to another, searching desperately for an opening, but there wasn’t one. Every path was blocked.

There was nowhere left to run.

“It’s over,” one of them said.

His voice was calm, empty of anger or pity.

It sounded like he was simply stating a fact.

Fear spread through me like ice. Every instinct screamed at me to run, but I refused to let them see that fear. I straightened my shoulders, lifted my chin, and looked at every one of them standing around me, waiting for me to panic.

I wasn’t going to give them that satisfaction.

“Come on then,” I said, surprised by how steady my voice sounded. “What are you waiting for?”

The words had barely left my mouth before they attacked.

The first man rushed at me, and his fist slammed into my jaw so hard that my head snapped to the side. Pain exploded across my face, and I stumbled backward, barely keeping my feet under me.

I hit back without thinking.

My fist connected with his cheek with everything I had left, and he staggered back a step. It wasn’t enough to bring him down, but it was enough to remind him I wasn’t giving up without a fight.

Another attacker came at me from the side.

I turned just in time to throw up my arm. The blow still landed hard enough to send pain shooting from my wrist to my shoulder, making my entire arm go numb for a moment. I ignored it and swung anyway, throwing punches wherever I saw an opening.

Every time I managed to knock one back, another stepped forward to take his place. They didn’t give me a second to breathe. They came at me one after another, wearing me down little by little.

My arms grew painful with every punch I threw. My legs shook beneath me, struggling to keep me standing. Every breath burned in my lungs, and I could feel my strength slipping away no matter how hard I fought to hold on to it.

Still, I refused to stop.

I ducked under one swing and twisted away from another, my body moving on instinct more than anything else. My breathing had turned into short, painful gasps. Sweat stung my eyes, mixing with the blood running down the side of my face from a cut I hadn’t even felt happen.

Everything around me started to blur.

The faces surrounding me became harder to focus on, and the world tilted slightly beneath my feet. I’d already pushed my body far beyond its limit tonight, and it was finally beginning to give out.

Then something hit me.

A sharp, burning pain exploded through my spine.

It was so sudden and so unbearable that every muscle in my body locked at once. My breath caught in my throat, and my legs gave way beneath me. I crashed to my knees with a cry, unable to catch myself.

The pain only grew worse.

It felt like fire was spreading through my back, burning deeper with every heartbeat. I couldn’t move or fight. I could barely breathe.

Grinding my teeth against the pain, I forced myself to look over my shoulder.

The moment I saw it, my heart sank.

A long golden stake was buried deep in my back, driven straight into my spine.

Someone had circled behind me while I was busy fighting the others.

I had been so focused on the enemies in front of me that I never saw the one coming from behind.