Virtue - a Fairy Tale by Amanda Hocking

beast missing from her back. The pain blotted out most of her other senses, but her fear gave her some amount of clarity. She struggled to sit up and saw one of the beasts fly into a tree, as if it had been thrown.
    Then she saw him clearly. Lux stood in front of the dogs, and he didn’t look the slightest bit ruffled. He held a giant stick in his hand, so long and thick it looked almost too heavy for Lily too hold. Three of the beasts growled and crouched in front of him, looking as if they wanted to rip his head off. The fourth one had been thrown into the tree, and he hurried to get back on his feet.
    The dog charged and hurled itself at Lux, but he raised the stick and impaled the dog in the side. It yelped, and then fell to the ground. It lay a few feet away from Lily, twitching and whimpering on the ground, and even through her fiery pain, she felt sorry for the beast.
    The other three dogs snarled and looked uncertainly at Lux. Since he no longer had a weapon, she expected them to tear him to shreds, but they did nothing more than look at him. He held his hand up, his palm facing them, and the beasts all began to whine, as if in pain. One of them yelped, then turned tail and started running away, and the other two quickly followed.
    The dog Lux had impaled struggled to get to his feet, whimpering sadly. Lux walked over to it, and the beast cowered before him. Lux grabbed the stick and yanked it out, making the dog howl in pain. He raised the branch, meaning to finish the job, but Lily stopped him.
    “Wait!” Lily held out her hand and tried to push herself up more. It hurt to breathe, and a weakening paralysis had started setting in her body. It wouldn’t be much longer before she’d be unable to move at all. “Don’t hurt him!”
    “He’s a canu!” Lux said incredulously.
    He wanted to argue with her about the merits of saving a demon dog, but when he saw the stricken look on her face, he knew she didn’t have the strength to argue. His stomach twisted up when he realized how much pain she had to be in, and it made it even harder for him not to destroy the beast that had done it.
    Reluctantly, Lux dropped the stick and pointed away, signaling the canu to leave before he changed his mind. The dog slowly got to his feet and gave them both a confused look, unsure why it had been spared. Lux had already turned his attention fully to Lily, and the dog hobbled away without any more notice.
    “Don’t move,” Lux said, rushing to her side. He reached out, wiping the mud from her face, and the warm electricity he got from her was still there, although it was dampened by his anxiety. She could barely breathe, and he found it hard to swallow, knowing the agony she had to be in.
    “What are you doing here?” Lily stared up at him, and her arm gave out, so she fell backwards. Before she hit the ground, she felt his arm around her, holding her safe.
    “Don’t worry about it.” He held her in his arms and moved the cloak, so he could see the gashes down her back from the canu. “You’re infected with canu venom.” He looked past her, his mind racing. “I can fix this.”
    Lily tried to say something, but she’d already grown too weak to speak clearly. He got to his feet, still cradling her in his arms, and hurried towards the creek. He wanted to relish the weight of her body, the feel of her with him, but he couldn’t.
    On his way to find her, he’d passed a babbling brook, and that would be his only way to save her. Clean the wound to get out as much venom as possible, then burn it to destroy the rest, and pack it with cool blue moss to ease the pain. It was a rather easy cure, but he had to get it in time.
    The venom was only beginning to spread through her, and once it hit her full force, she would be in unbearable agony.
    She mumbled something into his chest, and Lux ran faster, listening for the sounds of the brook. His heart pounded painfully in his chest, and he didn’t know what he’d do if