scream ripped from my throat. With it and the motion of my arms, two spells burst from me at once. One swept behind, picking up Cal and Spencer and carrying them far back to where it was safe. The other came from the scream, and it slammed the three vampires backwards. They fell the same distance that I threw Cal and Spencer, and both groups landed at the same time.
Cal and Spencer had to scramble back to their feet, but they stayed back.
The vampires did neither. As soon as they touched down on ground, their feet firmly planted in place, all three launched at me once again.
I was ready.
My arms swept forward, pulling the same power I cast Cal and Spencer backwards, I propelled it forward. It hit the vampires back once again, but they fought this time. They were prepared for my onslaught and magic sparked from one of them, breaking my spell in half. It still moved them back, but not far enough.
They were too quick and too powerful.
They were on me within seconds, and I could only stare at them as they leapt over the river. They were in the air, and their fangs were out. Their mouths were open, and they’d be on me—then they were shoved back once more, but not by me. I didn’t have a spell ready to throw back.
I had a second’s warning as a deep roar sounded from behind me, before three bodies leapt over me, meeting the Mori vampires in the air.
Gregory, Gavin, and Tracey each grabbed a Mori, and all three pairs crashed to the ground in a wrestling fervor.
“Whoa,” one of the guys muttered behind me.
I didn’t glance back. I couldn’t look away from the others. If there was an opening, I had to help. And, as if reading my mind, Gavin flipped his Mori over his head. The other vampire fell to the ground, not far from me. I ran over, my hand in the air and a spell ready to cast when the Mori was back on his feet. He was back in the air, hitting at Gavin. The punch was blocked, but the Mori was back in the air, his knees bent toward his chest and his feet ready. He slammed into Gavin, this time on the top as the two were on the ground. After that, everything began to blur. The vampires were too fast.
I recognized Tracey’s growl and whipped to where they were. She and her opponent were close to Cal and Spencer, too close. Any second, they would be hit or used as a hostage.
I ran for them and yelled at the same time, “Get back.”
They both jerked backwards, eyes wide, faces pale, and beads of sweat on both of their foreheads. Spencer pointed to Tracey, who heard my voice and kicked her Mori in the opposite direction. She stopped once and looked to me. Our gazes caught, and I nodded at her. Her eyes narrowed, and her fangs showed, then she turned and leapt in the air, landing on her Mori.
“Who are they?” Spencer grabbed my arm.
Cal surged to my other side. “Yeah. Were those fangs on that chick?”
I couldn’t answer. I didn’t know what to say, not yet anyway.
“Davy.”
I shrugged off Spencer’s hold and said to him, “When this is done. I’ll tell you everything when this is done.”
“When the crazy, freakish fighters are done fighting?” he shot back.
Cal frowned at Spencer, but didn’t say anything against him. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he surveyed the battles once again.
“Davy!” Spencer’s hand wasn’t on my arm anymore, but he stepped close. His presence was demanding answers.
“When it’s safe,” I hissed at him.
“We should be running for our lives, not waiting to see who wins.”
Cal added, “Let’s go. They’re all freaks.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Before they could leave, I grabbed both of their arms, and because I knew there’d be no words to explain everything, I showed them. Using The Immortal’s power, I slipped into their minds. Okay. When I say that I slipped, it was more like I burst through their door and charged my way in. I showed them everything using my memories, of when I first became an empath, of when I lit a vampire on fire, how I enjoyed watching him burn, when I went to college and tried to be normal. They were there when I first met Roane, my first college date that Roane ended coming along with, how I kissed him to distract him, later when we kissed more in a professor’s office, and the first time I realized I was The Immortal. After that, the memories were coming in quick spurts and all at once. I introduced them to Brown, to Kates, to the werewolf, to who Jacith is supposed to be, to Pippa, and lastly they were shown my time in the cage. They were there when I was tortured by the witches, and again when we escaped. The last memory they were shown was when I stumbled upon them in the forest.
I released their arms before anything else could slip through. I didn’t want them to hear the conversation I had with The Immortal and how I learned it was my fault they were pulled from their group.
“Whoa. Holy—” That was all Spencer got out before he ran a few feet away and bent over, throwing up.
Cal didn’t look too far from the same. He raised his arm and pressed it over his mouth, but his face turned a slight shade of green.
“You going to throw up, too?”
He started to shake his head, but as he did, his eyes bulged out, his cheeks puffed up, and his entire top half of his body lurched upward. He sprinted next to Spencer, and the two were throwing up in sync.
I sighed. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that . . .
“Friends of yours?” Gavin was behind me. He was sweating, bloody, and his chest was heaving up and down.
I grinned, though I didn’t feel it. “Apparently, I’m not so in control of my powers as I used to be.”
He frowned at me. “Were you ever?”
I shrugged. “I thought I was better.”
A deep and ferocious roar came from behind us and we looked over, just in time, as Gregory stopped, grabbed the wounded Mori in front of him on both sides of his head, and he twisted the head completely off. The body fell back to the ground with a thud, but Gregory wasn’t done. Tracey yelled at him as she lit her Mori on fire. She tossed the lighter to the Goliath-sized vampire, and Gregory lit the head on fire instantly. He dropped it on the ground as he lit the rest of the body on fire, too.
Both of them, Gregory and Tracey, looked at where Gavin had left his Mori on the ground.
He hadn’t burned the body, but it wasn’t needed. The body had been pulled apart, literally. Arms, fingers, legs, parts of its stomach and chest were scattered all around the beach.
Gavin remarked, “I was mad.”
Gregory grunted. “Got that.”
Tracey didn’t reply, but she began to gather the body parts. Gregory did the same until every part of the Mori were thrown in one burning pile. By that time, Cal and Spencer were done throwing up and we gathered around the fire. It wasn’t enough. The flame should’ve been higher, and without thinking, I held my hands out and began to mutter a spell. The fire began to grow.
“Who-a . . .” someone muttered.
I didn’t care. Every last part of them had to become ash and even then, the pile of ashes would need to be spread all over. I didn’t know the Mori lore and how to kill them, but I wasn’t taking a chance. I kept chanting and the flames doubled in size. A white twinge started to grow on the outskirts of the fire, but that was from The Immortal. I couldn’t see myself, but I knew my eyes had changed to The Immortal white. I kept them lowered so no one could see them until the Mori were completely gone. Then, as the last piece of ash fell to the pile, I raised my hands and made a motion to the left. A strong gust of wind swept through the clearing where we were and picked up the ashes. I sent them off, directing where I wanted them spread, and once I was content, knowing they would never return and never come back to life, I stopped.
I could still feel The Immortal in my blood. She was on an adrenaline high, like she was intoxicated. I was buzzing, but I still waited until an ounce of calmness settled over me. Cal and Spencer had come up behind us, and I turned to look at Tracey, so my back was to the hikers.
I asked in my he
ad, “Are my eyes still white?”
She answered back, “You’re fine.”
Reassured, I looked back over the group.
All of them were staring at me with mixed emotions. Cal and Spencer looked like they were crapping their pants, while Gavin was closed off. I felt his anger. It was just underneath the surface. He was keeping it contained until the humans were dealt with. Gregory and Tracey had similar reactions. I felt the awe in both, but they were also resigned. They were waiting for Gavin and me to fight, then to keep on with whatever we decided.
I grinned slightly, but felt regret, too. “I shouldn’t have left.”
That was all Gavin needed. He erupted, “YOU THINK?”
“AGH!”
Cal and Spencer fell back again, their fear spiking once again.
I took a breath and held a hand out to Gavin. “You didn’t need to come.”
He bristled back. “You had three Mori about to rip your spine out, and you’re telling me we didn’t have to come?”
Tracey said quietly, “You knew we would.”
“You cast a sleeping spell over us.”
I stiffened, hearing the accusation coming from Gregory. I started, “I’m sorry—”
“Wren is alone,” Gavin interrupted. His eyes were narrowed to slits, and his jaw clenched. “She continued to Roane.”
“I didn’t ask you to come with me,” I argued back. My blood started to pump again. “I came here on my own.”
“To do what?”
His words felt like a slap in the face. I winced. “To save Kates.”
“You’re lying to them.”
I closed my eyes. This is not the time.
“Too bad,” The Immortal snarled at me. “You’re going to have let me talk. You have to stop lying to them.”
“Davy?”
I shook my head at Gavin, turning half away from them.
“They can smell your lies.”
I grew still, hearing her answer. It was simple and given to me so calmly. I asked, “What?”
“If you want to be rid of them, stop lying. Believe your truth. They’ll smell that instead and will do what you want.”
“I want them to be safe.”
“So send them to safety.”
I frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“It’ll cost you, but it’ll be worth it. Send them back to Roane. They’ll be safe with him. They won’t be with you.”
“I . . . I don’t have enough strength.”
She laughed at me. “You do. You’ve been restoring it since you woke. You just have to tap into it.”
“What have I been using since I woke?”
“You have a back channel of power. It’s all stored up. It’s where I’m speaking to you from. You are me. I am you. I am this back section of power. Open up your mind and let me in.”
“I . . . can’t . . .” I was going to say I didn’t know to do that, but it wasn’t true. I did. It was the same way I had gotten into Cal and Spencer’s minds. I had my own door closed off to myself. I just needed to find it and burst through it, but . . . thinking about it, I hesitated.
“Come on, Davy,” she started to chide.
“Stop it!” I screamed back, the words coming from my throat as well. My heart was pounding. I could feel her wanting to get in. That was when I realized it—that door wasn’t keeping me out, it was keeping her in. It was keeping The Immortal from completely taking over me.
“Davy?”
I didn’t know who said my name, but I looked to Gavin. Seeing concern and his anger lessening, I almost whimpered. “It’s The Immortal. She’s trying to take over.”
A wave of alarm swept over all of them.
Gavin froze in place and asked, his voice dipping low, “What did you say?”
ROANE
Roane and Bastion had been tailing the Romah army for three days. They were trying to go around them, moving higher on the mountains to give the entire army a wide berth and their progress was painstakingly slow. More than once they were almost discovered and each time, Roane worried about what they’d have to do if that happened. No matter the consequences, whoever discovered them would have to be murdered. If the body was found, that could start a war before he was ready for it. The only plan he had was one he didn’t want to do. It put them at risk as well, but so far, he hadn’t needed to put it into play.
So far.
They were high up, at the highest line of trees on the mountainside. If they broke free from their cover, they’d be seen from below and every time there was a clearing, both had to drop to the ground and crawl across, going as fast as possible.
They weren’t moving as fast as Roane wanted. They needed to get ahead, but the break hadn’t come for them. The Romah army didn’t rest. They slept in shifts. While some would walk, the others would sleep on some makeshift carts. The awake ones would pull them ahead, then switch places and progress even further. The weight of their comrades slowed them down, but not enough.
They were being assisted with magic. Roane felt it in the air. It was covering all of them and it was a problem. It’d be a problem in the future as well. He wasn’t sure where the magic came from, but he knew it was there and he knew it was protecting and helping them to go at an unnaturally faster pace.
He and Bastion were running, sprinting from tree to tree, when suddenly they felt a shift in the air. Both vampires froze as one, looking like statues now.
“Do you see anything?” he asked Bastion in his head.
Bastion leaned forward and his nostrils flared. He closed his eyes and smelled the air, like a wolf would do. Roane knew the answer was nothing before Bastion thought to him, “No. Whoever it is, is beyond the next ridge.”
He edged farther. Instead of their break-neck speed, he and Bastion snuck ahead, keeping to the trees for camouflage. They were going at a snail’s pace now. He wanted to see whoever or whatever it was before they saw them, and as they cleared the hill, both froze in place. A wolf scout was thirty feet in front of them, resting against a tree. Its head was down with closed eyes, and the wolf panted for a moment. In and out. It sounded like it was struggling for breath, but that was from the speed the group was traveling at. Even the wolves were tired.
Roane thought to Bastion, “Hold. The wolf will move forward.”
Bastion didn’t move an inch, but he replied, “The wolf will keep moving ahead of us. We’re stuck behind him.”
Roane grimaced. There was no way around it. If the wolf didn’t move down, but kept going straight ahead of them, he knew Bastion was right. A confrontation was imminent. He was about to signal Bastion to move around when a wolf’s howl filled the air. The wolf in front of them immediately responded. His eyes opened and his head fell back. A long howl ripped from deep in its throat and the two vampires shared a look. From the intensity of closeness of this howl, both knew they wouldn’t forget the sound. It was haunting, sounding from a deep sorrow.
As the wolf finished, he lumbered forward. His head went back down, and he took two quick breaths before bounding ahead.
“He’s keeping to the same path.”
Roane nodded, knowing what Bastion meant. They had to kill the wolf. Giving him the signal, Bastion took off to the left as Roane sprinted forward. Instead of going upward, Bastion would circle around the wolf, coming from below. The wolf would sense Roane’s presence and prepare for an attack, assuming a second opponent, if there were one, would circle up and out of the army’s territory.
That would be his death then.
But before Bastion could go far, the wolf ripped through the foliage, coming straight at them. Roane felt the wolf’s surprise. He had doubled back, not knowing what he’d find, and before he could call for help, both of them were on the wolf.
As Roane impaled the wolf, drawing his sword and shoving it deep into his enemy’s chest, a sadness filled him. He had come to know that creatures such as this one followed orders. That was their only reason for its death. If he had be
en born or turned by the Christane bloodline, his blood wouldn’t have been spilled on the ground that morning. But this wolf hadn’t been and because of that one fact, Roane reached in and yanked out its heart.
The sword harmed him, but it wouldn’t kill him. His own touch delivered that fatal blow and as he stood there, with the heart still beating in his grasp, he said a small prayer honoring its