The Guide by Sheritta Bitikofer

Author:Sheritta Bitikofer [Bitikofer, Sheritta]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781946821195
Publisher: Moonstruck Writing
Published: 2017-09-15T16:00:00+00:00

6

Jane started at the sharp rap on the carriage wall. She had been sleeping soundly for the last few hours, despite the constant noise of traders and travelers outside of her dark sleeping place.

“Michael, we need to speak.”

The drowsiness instantly left her the moment she heard Tor’s deep, husky voice. She sat up and scrambled to the other side of the carriage, crawling over her father’s legs as he was just beginning to stir from his sleep.

She grabbed the handle and cracked open the door just enough for the bright sun to spill over the back of her hand. Tor struck the door hard enough to close it once more and he grumbled a word that Jane had recognized as a rather harsh expletive in his language. She had heard it several times on this journey already.

Though the sun was no longer touching her skin, the burning did not subside right away and the scent of charred flesh filled the room, overpowering the musty smell of upholstery and wood. She could feel that the top layers of her skin had flaked away like old, peeling paint on a neglected wall, leaving the raw and bloody flesh beneath to throb and sting.

Jane hissed at the pain, wondering how she could have been so foolish to not ask if it were night yet. When Jane came of age as a young girl, Michael had let her experience the terrible effects of the sun. Exposing one’s skin to an open flame was nothing in comparison to how a vampire suffers in the sun.

Michael sat up and grabbed her hand to check the damage. It was only a second or two of exposure and it had already begun to heal, but nothing would hinder him from being the devoted father that he was. All along this trip, he stayed close to her, just as he had when they traveled with her mother so long ago. He had rarely showed this kind of attentiveness inside their villa and Jane somewhat resented it. She was not a child anymore, but he still treated her like one.

There was something to be said for her father’s commitment to his family. Tor had told her about the arrow Michael took to his thigh when they had come to take her from the hunters, and how bravely he fought alongside them. She loved her father dearly, but knowing that Tor had nearly sacrificed himself to save her trumped it all. Jane had only cried one other time, but those tears were not enough to save her mother who had been stolen from them so many years ago.

Michael gave her a chastising look and then turned to the carriage wall where Tor stood on the other side. “Si?”

Tor proceeded to tell Michael about Giovanni’s plan to sell the carriage and the change in routes. Yaverik fumed on the other side of the carriage as he awoke.

“We’ll surely die if we give up the carriage. It’s a ridiculous plan,” her father’s apprentice shouted.

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