Live It Up

Live It Up

A Grassroots Story

By Emma Hillman

Resplendence Publishing, LLC

http://www.resplendencepublishing.com

Live It Up
Copyright © 2012 Emma Hillman
Edited by Michele Paulin and Juli Simonson
Cover art by Les Byerley,
www.les3photo8.com

Published by Resplendence Publishing, LLC
2665 N Atlantic Avenue, #349
Daytona Beach, FL 32118

Electronic format ISBN: 978-1-60735-505-2

Warning: All rights reserved. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

Electronic Release: May 2012

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and occurrences are a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, places or occurrences, is purely coincidental.

For My Sunny

Chapter One

It took Sunny five miles to realize she’d seriously messed up this time. Her fingers clenching on the wheel, she ignored the woman sitting beside her and her increasingly crazy talk, praying inwardly that a town would soon appear in the distance.

Sunny had been driving with no specific goal in mind, happy with the world, the sun shining, the air dry. She had enough money for gas, meatless tacos for lunch and a motel room for that night. She’d been in a great mood, so when she’d noticed the car parked haphazardly on the side of the road and the woman bent over beside it, she’d automatically stopped to offer her help.

Big mistake.

The woman, Mary she’d said her name was, had looked normal. Sure, her clothes were a little dirty, her hair matted with sweat. But hey, Sunny would have been in a state too if her car had died on her. Hmm, all right, not really. She’d probably have declared she needed to walk anyway to burn off all those highway tacos she’d been eating. Anyhow, that wasn’t the issue at hand.

No, the problem was that Mary was clearly unstable.

A hissing sound echoed inside the car. Sunny looked to her right, and her eyes widened. “What the hell?” she gasped.

Mary’s eyes had turned a weird color. It was almost as if her face had changed somehow too, as if her bones were too big for her skin.

“Are you okay?” Sunny heard herself ask.

The woman stared back at her. She didn’t respond. She didn’t even try to appear…normal. The car hit gravel, and Sunny swerved it back onto the road, breathing heavily when she realized she’d been so caught up with Mary’s weird trance-like state she’d nearly gotten them into an accident.

“Stop the car.”

I will not look at her. I will not…

“Don’t worry,” Sunny said, her forced joyous tone making her ears ache. “I’m sure the town isn’t far.”

“Stop the car.”

“Really, we’ll be fine. I’m sure there’ll be a garage open and you can—”

“I said,
stop the car!
” Fingers grabbed Sunny’s right hand and tugged so hard she could feel her skin break. She bit back a sob, fighting to keep control of the car, but nails started digging into her, the scent of blood soon permeating the small enclosed space.

“What are you doing?” she yelled.

One look at her neighbor and she knew she faced certain death if she stopped the car and let Mary get to her.

Sunny had no idea what the creature was, but she wasn’t human. She couldn’t be. Her features were grotesque, but that wasn’t the worst of it. No, the sharp teeth were.

“Mmm, blood,” Mary said, her voice sounding garbled. An enormous tongue slid out to lick her stretched lips, as if she was already imagining eating Sunny.

Sunny knew she only had a few vital seconds. She stared through the windshield and spotted a few straggly trees. One turn of the wheel was all it took for the car to change course. Hoping her seatbelt and airbag would work, she closed her eyes and prayed.

If it didn’t work, at least, she’d get to see her parents again. That was the last thought she had before the car smashed headfirst into a tree.

* * * *

“Stupid, stupid human.”

Guess my plan didn’t work
, Sunny thought as she woke up and heard Mary’s growl.

She guessed they were somewhere in the open because she felt rocks digging into her back and butt. Her head throbbed. Her arms throbbed. Her whole body felt as if she’d fallen down a cliff.

You crashed the car into a tree. What did you expect?

True.

She blinked, but sweat and blood had glued her eyelids to her face. She tried to move her right arm to rub at them, but something stopped her. She was tied up.

That’s when panic really set in.

She was in the middle of nowhere with a freak. She couldn’t see anything. She couldn’t move. And all this because she’d wanted to help a fellow woman! Damn her stupid principles. Was she really going to get killed because she’d been too nice?

“Your blood tastes so good.” A raspy tongue licked her neck.

Sunny shuddered, trying not to wince as the touch reopened wounds she hadn’t even felt before. Pain hit. Blood trickled down her shoulder. A low growl rang out and the tongue lapped it all up.

“What are you?”

Mary cackled. “You don’t wanna know, li’l human.”

This is a nightmare, and I’m going to wake up any second now. That’ll teach me to watch horror movies before going to bed.

But the nightmare didn’t stop, and as the creature played with her, digging into the cuts Sunny had gotten during the crash for more of her blood. Sunny knew she wouldn’t last long.

She already felt herself starting to fade, dizziness threatening at the edge of her mind. It was a good thing she couldn’t watch after all, she decided after a long moment.

She could just lie there with her eyes closed and imagine herself somewhere else. She could go back to her childhood commune where everyone had been happy, where her parents had been so content with their lives that their love had been her only force.

She’d endured ridicule from the town kids because even at such a young age she’d known the truth. It was better to be different than to be unhappy.

And even now, as she felt life slowly trickle from her, one drop of blood at a time, Sunny smiled. She might have only been on this planet for twenty-five years, but she’d been happy, and that was all that mattered.

She was so lost in thought, so ready for the end to come, that she didn’t notice at first that the creature had stopped. It was only when Sunny heard the menacing growl from her left that she jerked back to the present. Pain hit, making her gasp and writhe on the ground.

“What are you doing, Mary? Didn’t you cause enough trouble as it is? You had to hurt a human too?”

Sunny froze.
Who the hell is that?

The husky male voice still echoed around them when Mary hissed back, “You killed my sister!”

“Not me personally, you know that. Your sister was crazy, Mary. She was going to rape my brother’s mate.”

“You killed her! And now I have nothing left.”

“So you kidnapped another woman? Is that what it is?”

“She’s mine. You can’t touch her,” Mary added just before claws dug into Sunny’s calf.

Sunny tried to move away from the painful touch, but she wasn’t strong enough.
I’ve lost too much blood
, she thought in a corner of her mind.

“I don’t want to kill you too, Mary, but I don’t think you’re giving me much choice.”

The creature laughed. “You may be the Enforcer, but you’re not that strong. I’m not like my sister. I’m not weak.”

Silence met her words.

Then a roar rang out, and something, someone crashed into her legs. Sunny flailed at the feel of…fur? Yes, it was fur brushing her bare skin.
What the hell are these people?

She tried to cling to consciousness as they fought each other right beside her. She didn’t even know who she wanted to win, mostly because she was pretty sure she’d be dead by the end of it anyway.

The man hadn’t sounded much nicer than Mary.
At least, he didn’t spend the past hour lapping at your blood.
Yes, there was that.

She fainted again.

* * * *

There were some days when Andy really hated his life, and today was one of them. He stared at the broken body of the woman he’d just killed and felt despair try to suffocate him. It was such a complete waste. Lionesses should be revered, but no, this was the second one who’d died in a mere month. And for what?

Mary and her sister, Jane, had been plain crazy, but it still depressed him that there hadn’t been another choice. He turned away from the sad sight and walked to the human woman who had been a witness to it all.

He knelt at her side and felt for a pulse. It was weak but present. He sighed and wished his brother Nate was here with him. He’d know what to do and would probably heal her in a few simple acts.

Andy stared at her sprawled body and winced. Her clothes were in tatters, revealing more than covering her. Between the blood and the dirt, it wasn’t easy to distinguish the bruises and wounds marring her pale skin.

It appeared he had his work cut out for him.

He untied her hands then, after removing his jacket, laid her down on top of it. It wasn’t much better than the hard ground, but at least he felt a bit better about keeping her here for the moment.

She remained motionless as he cleaned her with the bottle of water and tissues he’d found in Mary’s purse.
You really can find anything in a woman’s handbag
, he thought as he gingerly dabbed at a gravel-encrusted cut on the human’s thigh.

She mumbled something and shifted underneath his touch.

“Shhh, you’re safe, little kitten,” he murmured as he brushed long strands of dark hair away from her face. “You’re gonna be just fine.”

She quieted under the caress, and when he felt for her pulse, he noticed it’d picked up a little.
Hmm, interesting.
He wasn’t used to humans, and human females even less, but once he’d tended her as best he could, he drew her into his arms and shared his body warmth.

His lion started pacing inside him, wanting to come out and sniff the stranger. It was only when he realized he’d done just that that Andy frowned.
Settle down
, he admonished his animal.

The lion growled back at him and head-butted his insides. “What the hell is wrong with you?” he asked out loud, only to have the woman in his arms stiffen. “Shit,” he murmured under his breath.

He shifted positions until he was lying on his back and she was atop him. His arms were wrapped tightly around her back, so when she finally came to herself he felt it straight away.

Her limbs tensed. Her heartbeat accelerated. He felt the panic rise inside her, and before she started hyperventilating he said, his voice as nice as he could make it, “I’ve got you. You’re safe. She’s…gone.”

“Wha…what?” her voice croaked.

Water. She needs water.
He stretched out his arm and grabbed the bottle he’d discarded earlier then realized she couldn’t drink lying down anyway.
Dumbass
, he swore inwardly. “I’m going to move you. It’s gonna hurt, okay?”