Skin and Bones

by Susan Harris

“Hello, Stephen.”

  She had come. A goddess surrounded by golden fire, she had come to save his life and make him immortal. Her sacrifice would not be forgotten, and while he might take enjoyment from slicing her flesh from her bones and tasting her marrow, he might regret having to kill her. But there was no one else like her. The power inside her was mounting, waiting to surge forward, and he had to have it.

  “You came to save the girl and the wolf. That doesn’t surprise me, Ever. I knew from the first moment we met that I had been searching in all the wrong places. That you would be my salvation, my way to becoming immortal.” He couldn’t mask the eagerness in his voice. He needed to taste her, wondering for too long if she tasted like honey, the same way her hair smelt.

  “And how are you going to do that, Stephan? I am utterly human.”

  She didn’t know… and now she would never know. Death had come too soon for her.

  He pulled a silver blade from his hip, and he could almost taste her fear on his tongue.

  “I’m going to eat your skin and bones before you mature into your powers because you, my sweet, delicious Ever, are anything but human.”

  He waited a second before he lunged for her, knife in hand, hoping to strike out before the wolf came after him.

  All the others had whimpered and begged for their lives, and he’d expected Ever to do so, too. But he was not prepared for her to fight back… hadn’t predicted it, and hadn’t anticipated her attack. When her foot connected with his stomach, he flew across the forest into a tree.

  They assessed each other, his prey looking startled by her own actions, but she braced herself for a second-wave attack. And he couldn’t disappoint her, now, could he?