Prickly pine needles scratched her face as Celine pressed against a bare spot on the tree trunk, shrinking down toward the cold ground. Dark clouds sailed past overhead, and thunder rumbled in the distance.
Her breath caught in her throat as a branch snapped behind her. She twisted in its direction, wincing as her blonde curls tangled in the tree’s sharp growths.
She’d been running for too long, and it had cost her far too much. She couldn’t keep running. It had to end.
An explosion of light interrupted her thoughts as a red-hot fireball slammed into the tree in front of her. The bark charred, sending tendrils of smoke curling toward the angry sky.
“Where are you, Celine?” a British accent called.
Marcus. The man conjured a reaction from her unlike any other. Her skin crawled, puckering into gooseflesh at the sound of his voice.
Rage boiled inside of her as she summoned a fireball of her own. Its blue-white power hovered above her hand as she prepared to return fire.
Another snap of a twig sent her springing from her hiding spot. She wailed the energy-laden orb to her left before she raced through the thick woods.
Branches scratched her face, but her wounds healed in seconds, leaving no trace of the trauma she endured now and for centuries at his hands.
A fireball whizzed past her, crashing into a tree beyond her before another one struck her in the back. She stumbled forward, flailing her arms as she tried to recover. She lost the battle, slamming into the ground a moment later.
A dark figure loomed over her, casting a long shadow as lightning lit the sky. She twisted around to face him, her lips tugging into a grimace.
“Stop running, Celine. You cannot win.”
“Stop following me, Marcus. I’ll never give in to you.”
He smirked at her. “Won’t you? We’ll see.”
She scrambled to her feet, her fingers crackling with electricity. “Leave me alone.”
He studied her hands for a moment before he raised his gaze to her face. “Amusing, but hardly enough to frighten me.”
“This has to stop, Marcus.”
His dark hair ruffled in the wind as his equally dark eyes bore into her. “I agree wholeheartedly. Return to your rightful place at my side and it will.”
Thunder boomed overhead, punctuating his statement.
“No,” she growled.
He flicked his eyebrows up with a sigh and summoned a fireball. “Then the battle continues.”
The heavens opened and rain poured from the skies as she leapt to the side, avoiding the scorching orb he lobbed at her. She tossed one back before she dashed away.
Her dripping curls stuck to her face as she barreled toward the steep cliffs overlooking the ocean. It had to end. She had to get away. One way or another. She had to get away.
