The creature reached down, her long fingers wrapping around the steel lodged in her thigh, and pulled.
Vivienne screamed and struggled, but this gods-damned undead being was strong. Inch by gods-damned inch, the creature yanked her forward.
The fire in Vivienne’s chest worsened until it felt like she’d swallowed embers and was burning alive.
She’d tried so gods-damned hard.
Done so much.
But as she stared into those black eyes that lacked all semblance of life, she realized it wasn’t enough. She would die here, in this forest-turned-battlefield, and her life would end. She’d spent a century as a soldier, but without a doubt, the past few weeks had been the happiest of her life.
The flames within her became a bonfire, consuming her.
Blood seeped out of her wounds.
The monster that had once been a woman screamed, yanked the sword out of Vivienne’s grasp, and grabbed her. Her fingers were claws as they dug into Vivienne’s arm.
So this was it.
Vivienne’s deepest regret, the one that she would carry with her from this life into the next, was that she’d never told Marius she loved him. She never told him that she wanted to go on more adventures with him, see the world with him, and experience life with him by her side.
And now, she’d never get the chance.
Burning tears gathered behind her eyes as the bringer of her final demise snarled in her face.
Death wasn’t beautiful. It wasn’t welcome.
But it had come for Vivienne.
She would not enter death’s arms willingly, though. Not now that she’d finally found love. Even as fire devoured her from the inside out, she attempted to rip herself out of the creature’s grip.
Razor-sharp nails clawed at Vivienne’s arm, peeling back layers of skin.
The burning intensified.
Vivienne screamed, her legs giving out as the pain grew worse. She fell, tears tracking down her cheeks as she crawled backward through the bloody snow. Maybe if she could find her sword, she could protect herself. Kill the undead vampire.
Maybe—
“Vivienne!” The scream came from the battlefield, cutting through the desperate fog that had taken over her mind.
That voice.
She knew that voice.
She tried to move towards the sound, but flames twisted and burned in her chest and arm. Pure fire engulfed her from the inside out.
The end was coming.
Cold unlike anything Vivienne had ever felt swept over her, and she shivered.
Death would not be warm. It would not be comfortable. It would not be filled with laughter and adventure and love.
Death would be lonely, and she was headed straight for it.
Tears streaked down her cheeks as she gasped for air.
Time slowed to a crawl, giving her one last moment before the undead monster, with its outstretched claws and black eyes, killed her.