Verena's Whistle: Varangian Descendants Book I by K. Panikian (essential reading txt) 📗

it rushed him, Theo jumped and, at an angle, whipped his shortsword into an overhead blow that severed its tail. I ran forward.

The bukavac lurched but then finished its circle, attacking Theo from the side. It bit into his chest and Theo screamed. I lunged with my saber from my hip, putting the weight of my body behind the thrust, and stabbed its left eye. It let go of Theo and flinched away from me. I followed and slashed hard at its lower body, this time severing the second forward leg.

The creature, bleeding freely from its wounds, backed away from us. Theo slowly sat on the ground but Julian and I advanced. Suddenly, Owen appeared behind it and threw a rock. The bukavac rotated its head to see the new threat and I darted to the side, severing a mid-section leg in a figure eight movement that ended with another slash at its chest. The weight of the bukavac’s bulk became too much for the two remaining legs and it collapsed, still snapping its beakish maw at Owen.

Julian finished the job with an overhand blow from his pernach. The mace crushed the creature’s skull and after a full-body spasm, it lay still. Blood slowly oozed from its body and made a dark pool in the snow. I stepped forward and severed its head, just to make sure. Then I turned to Theo.

He was still sitting in the snow, his eyes pained. I dropped to my knees beside him.

“I think it’s my ribs,” he said with a gasp. I carefully opened his coat and his fleece and pulled up his shirt. His chest was black and purple.

Julian dropped down beside me and turned on a flashlight. “He’s not bleeding, probably all of his layers stopped the teeth from penetrating, but we need to get him to a hospital.”

I agreed and we slowly helped Theo stand up. Owen had the SUV started and we eased Theo sit into the front seat gently.

“We need to get rid of the body,” I said. Shoot. We hadn’t even thought of that earlier when we were making plans. “Should we just push it back into the lake?”

“What if it surfaces and someone sees it?” Owen asked.

“Right, so obviously we can’t leave it intact anywhere.” I thought fast. “Okay, let’s wrap it up in the tarps and we’ll burn it in the backyard at the house.”

Julian stayed with Theo in the car and Owen and I ran for the bukavac’s body. We dragged a tarp over and tossed the head and torso onto it. Then we scrambled around and grabbed the severed legs and tail as well. By the time we had a tidy pile, we were both covered in gross, sticky creature blood. It smelled terrible, like fetid bog water, and now we smelled terrible too. We bundled up the tarp and stuffed it into the cargo area of the SUV.

I jogged back to the lakeside and scuffed up the blood as much as possible with the snow, but after a minute I realized it was fruitless.

“Maybe that couple will tell everyone it’s fake blood from the movie,” Owen offered and I hoped so. I had no other ideas.

Julian drove us out of the parking lot and onto the highway. Theo took shallow breaths next to him and I sat in the backseat, rehashing the whole fight and everything we’d done wrong. I felt sick. Four of us and one bes, and it had almost killed Theo. How would we handle 20? We were in over our heads.

Dark thoughts circulated in my mind and I stared at my hands, bloody and cold. My whistle hadn’t worked even a little. Was it not an offensive weapon after all? Theo was really hurt. If something happened to him, what would… I stopped that thought.

Julian pulled into the parking lot of an urgent care center and I looked up, blinking. He turned to me in the back seat and said, “You and Owen stay here. You’re covered in blood. I’ll take him in. Keep your cell on.”

I nodded at him and he walked around the front of the SUV to help Theo carefully out of passenger side. They walked, gingerly, into the emergency room. I watched until I couldn’t see them anymore and then took a ragged breath. Ugh, that smell permeated the whole SUV, even with the busted out windows.

My phone rang and I looked down. The farmhouse. Of course.

I cleared my throat and answered, “Hi, Uncle Alex.”

“Verena, what happened?

“We killed the bukavac in the lake. Theo’s hurt, but it’s not serious. Julian just took him to the hospital to get checked.”

Uncle Alex sighed in relief. “I had a sudden fear in my chest. David was beside himself. I will tell him you are all okay, if a little wounded.”

I liked that. A little wounded. I felt like I was balancing on a wire, our responsibilities on one side and my love for Theo and Julian on the other. How could we do this again?

“Yes, just a little wounded,” I confirmed. I passed along a few more updates and then hung up.

I bent over in the back seat, holding my stomach.

“Are you hurt?” Owen asked urgently beside me. “I saw it hit you with its tail. Do you need to get checked out too?”

I turned my head and not my body to answer him. “No, not hurt,” I said dully. “Just scared.”

“Scared?” he asked. “You were fearless out there.”

I thought about how to respond. “When it was happening, I wasn’t scared. I just wanted to kill it. It couldn’t survive. It would kill people and feed and kill again.” I paused. “No, I wasn’t scared then.”

“And now?” Owen asked, his eyes kind and his hand hovered, like he wanted to touch me, but he wasn’t sure if he could.

I gripped his hand and said, “And now all I can think about is what if.”

“What if,” Owen mused and suddenly, I wasn’t scared anymore. All I could think about