"Who do we have here?" His voice was gritty like he had swallowed a fist full of nails.
She gasped in the darkness. She could not make out his face but she knew that was not a friendly voice.
She face was hot. She tried to find her voice amidst the fear that was crawling to the surface.
"Wha-, what do ya- you want?" She screamed out trying to sound scary but clearly missing the mark.
The man laughed, "So this the famously brave Lucinda Price." He sneered voice oozing with sarcasm. He gripped her forcefully by the shoulder pulling her up to her feet then slamming her hard against the tree trunk. The force pushed out all the air from her lungs and she cried out with a gut wrenching gasp. Her back screaming with pain. Tears welling in her eyes she could bearly see.
"Listen here, because I am only going to tell you once. You are coming with me. Now!" The man spit out. His face coming into view. He had fierce eyes and pale skin. His grip moved from her shoulder to around her neck. It was tight cutting off her air flow.
Something inside her snapped her fear that immobilized her was replaced by rage. She dug her nails as hard as she could into the hand around her neck. Unwilling to wait for his reaction, she smacked him hard against his face reapeatly. Crying out with every blow. His hands momentarily moved to the defensive to guard his face.
"I'm not going anywhere with you! You sick freak!" She roared with the rage of a fierce lioness.
She tried her best not to make a note of surprise when she saw his dirty tethered wings coming out of his back like old strips of cloth.
The look on his face seemed somewhat surprised, but quickly turned to malice.
He grabbed her by her long mane. Drawing her head back and pulling her to her knees so she could kneel before him.
Looking down at her, "we can do this the easy way or hard way Lucinda. But the result is going to be the same. I'm going to him and trading your freedom for mine. But he never said you had to be fully attached. I don't think he would mind if you were missing a finger." He grinned in a way that made Luce want to vomit.
She knew there was no way she was going to win this fight, but she couldn't give up that easy. This entire time she thought he was one of Miss Sophie's goons. But it was clear she had more enemies than she thought. In that moment she thought of her love. She knew that if she gave up right now, she was giving up a future with him. She knew that in this moment she was not just fighting for herself, but him as well. She gathered up all the courage she had left and gave him one quick blow to the groin. The creature doubled over in pain releasing her hair. She took scrambled into action and ran not thinking about her sense of direction.
She painted, her heart racing. She glanced over her shoulder not paying attention that she plowed straight into someone.
Oh no.
In the moonlight, another one of the same creatures stood in her path. But this one was bigger, much bigger.
"I see Paul was unable to follow through. He only had one job. Get the girl." He called behind him. Three more men with dirty wings came into view.
This was it. Luce knew there was no point in fighting it as their pale ashy hands grabbed out for her. They smiled in a grizzly greasy way.
Lucinda squeezed her eyes shut unable to watch what was about to happen.
Then the ground shook and quaked. The trees were no longer silent. They creaked and swayed. There was a swift rustling of leaves. The men hollered. One begged for help from the others. Luce's kids flew open. She thought her eyes were playing tricks. What she saw could not be true.
The men we're dangling upside down their feathers entangled in vines. It was as if Mother Nature had heard her prayer and came to her rescue. Her vision blurred. Then she fell in a heap to the ground. She thought she heard a female voice calling out to her.