Dusk by Merrie Destefano

Author:Merrie Destefano [Destefano, Merrie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ruby Slippers Press
Published: 2018-05-29T16:00:00+00:00

Nine

It was a long night and more horrible than any nightmare. We gathered together in the parlor, while a fierce battle raged outside our walls. The screaming of the horses and the sangsue seemed as if it would never end, and there were times when I thought I could bear it no longer. I grabbed my pillow and pressed it to my ears, hoping I could block out the terrible unending slaughter, but it didn’t work. Several of the flesh-eating monsters had dragged a horse right in front of our window—I think they did it on purpose to unnerve us—for we heard the poor animal’s pain-wracked whinnies as the sangsue devoured it alive. Finally, I couldn’t stand it anymore, so when both Hannah and John had fallen asleep, I grabbed one of our rifles and slipped out of the room.

Like a soldier sneaking from one battlefront to the next, I crept through the house and up the stairs, until I stood in the upstairs sitting room. There I quietly opened the window, just a crack, slid the barrel of the rifle outside, and I watched the small pack of sangsue that dined on one of our horses. I waited until the four of them took a short break, leaning back to suck in long drafts of air, blood tunneling down their throats and chests. Then, when I had a clean shot, I pulled the trigger.

One puff of gunpowder and a small boom.

The sangsue below me weren’t even sure what had happened. The air was still filled with screams, so many I could scarcely hear my own heart thundering. The monsters merely gaped at the horse they had been feeding upon as it fell suddenly slack.

The poor animal was free. A tiny black hole with a drizzle of blood in its temple.

I sighed, proud of my aim and glad to have taken something away from the monsters below.

I didn’t anticipate their reaction, however, when they realized what I’d done. Their reflexes were much quicker than mine and their powers greater, as well. One of them glanced up at me, perhaps smelling the gunpowder or maybe even smelling me—warm flesh and blood. Glowing eyes met mine for an instant. I quickly glanced away, trying to stay focused on his mouth or his hands, but his eyes had already locked with mine. Even though it was brief, it was long enough to disorient me.

It was as though the room filled with fog and all of my movements slowed down. I pulled the rifle back inside the room and moved my hand to pull the window closed.

In that small amount of time, two of the sangsue had climbed up the side of the villa, clinging to the wall like insects. They scampered toward me, their hands and feet beating against plaster, a hollow thumping almost like a drum. I needed to close the window, but if I thrust my hand outside the window frame, they might be near enough to grab me. Gun in

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