Besides, despite the fact Xavier was one of the wisest and most knowledgeable men Daniel knew, he felt no emotional connection to him, only desire. He’d never been with someone he didn’t have a bond with before, and had never considered a vampire partner as he planned to leave this world the way he’d come into it, human.
However, life was short. Even for an immortal, he realized as he recalled Braith lying dead in that cave. It may be getting a whole lot shorter for more of them, if not all of them, by the time this thing with Sabine was done.
Daniel’s head tilted to the side as he watched Xavier pace from one tree to another. He didn’t kid himself into thinking they would all make it out of this alive. Maybe it was time to start taking what he desired now; there may not be many more tomorrows. Nothing could ever come of the two of them, but nothing had ever come of his past relationships either, as both parties had agreed to go their separate ways, and he did like Xavier after all.
Xavier rubbed at his stubble-lined cheeks as he met Daniel’s gaze and held it. “I’m going to scout ahead,” Xavier said and slipped into the trees.
“What is with your family and vampires. Can’t you guys lust after someone with a heartbeat?” Max inquired of him after Xavier vanished.
Daniel scowled at him. Max may be his best friend, but he was tempted to plant his foot in his ass and shove him into the water. William and Aria would have. Sometimes he hated being the sensible one of the three.
“I’m not lusting after anyone,” Daniel replied.
“Sure, I see you staring after every vamp and human you meet like that,” Max said and knelt at the edge of the lake again. “I don’t remember the last time I saw you staring at anyone with any interest.”
Neither could he, but Daniel didn’t exactly feel like talking about his relationships right now.
“You and that one?” Timber stopped scrubbing his arms in the lake and thrust his thumb at the woods where Xavier had disappeared. “Good luck, I was beginning to suspect he may be asexual.”
“He’s not,” Daniel said and Max laughed.
Screw being sensible. Grasping the back of Max’s head, he dunked it into the lake. Max came up sputtering and pushed his streaming hair from his eyes with his hands. “You only get to do that once,” Max said as he wiped the water away from his mouth.
“Once was more than enough,” Daniel replied with a smile, and Timber shook his head.
Max gave him the finger and rose to his feet. “So can we expect the entire family to become vamps?” he inquired.
“No,” Daniel said.
“But if he’s your bloodlink or something—”
“He’s not,” Daniel interrupted.
“How do you know?”
“I just do. It’s not the same as what I see with Jack and Hannah or William and Tempest.” He didn’t say Aria and Braith; he couldn’t. They may never be again. Daniel couldn’t stop his hand from rubbing over his heart at the idea of losing his little sister. Max’s eyes softened as he noted the absence of their names. “He’s attractive, and he’s fascinating, but no more than that,” Daniel finished.
He turned to gaze at the lake as the sun shone over its surface, creating a pathway across the ripples fluttering outward. “I won’t become a vampire. I was born a human and I will die a human. When it is my time to go, I will meet it without hesitation,” he said.
“What if you fall for a vamp?” Max inquired. “Which, with your family’s track record, may be a good possibility.”
Daniel turned away from the lake to face him. “I will die a human. If something happens to me, make sure of that. I don’t want to be a vampire. I don’t hate them anymore; I understand there is good and bad in both humans and vampires, but being a human is my natural course in life. Make sure of it.”
“I will.” Max rubbed at his neck as he turned to face the lake. “Aria and I spent a lot of time here after Jack took us from the palace. Fishing, always with the fishing,” he murmured.
“I remember,” Daniel said.
Aria had been heartbroken over learning Braith had a fiancée and having left him behind in the palace. Max had been so angry, so lost after what he’d endured as a blood slave. At the time, Daniel had believed Aria and Max both lost. He’d expected them to turn to each other for comfort, and they had, but not in the way Max or any of the rest of them had expected. Aria would not move on from Braith and Max hadn’t known what to do about it.
To this day, Max rarely spoke of his time as a blood slave and had never revealed what had been done to him, but Daniel had a good idea about it. Max would never be the same as he was before he became a blood slave, but he’d become better at handling his anger. He seemed to have times when he was truly at peace again, or at least relaxed in a way he hadn’t been for a long time after his capture.
Daniel rested his hand on Max’s shoulder, squeezing it as a deer approached the lake and dipped its head to take a drink. There had been a time, after being a blood slave, Max would have shrugged him off, unwilling to allow many to touch him. Now he stood for a minute before turning to Daniel.
“Where do you think Sabine is?” Max asked.
Daniel studied the mountains surrounding them. Tempest’s town of Badwin had been far to the north, nestled in a remote mountain range, but Sabine had made her way there. “I think she has a lot of knowledge of this country,” Daniel said. “She could be anywhere.”
The subtlest shift in the air around them, not so much a sound but something else, had them all turning toward the woods. Max was the only one of them who had managed to keep his bow and arrows after the attack, and he slipped them from his back to aim at the woods. Daniel rested his hand on Max’s arm, pushing it gently down when he spotted Xavier emerging from the trees.
He really was a magnificent man to behold, Daniel decided as he watched the sun dancing over the tribal tattoos on Xavier’s hands, arms, and neck.
“What makes you think she has knowledge of this country?” Timber asked as he rose to stand beside them.
“If she was able to gather the amount of troops William and Tempest said she had, then she’s been moving around this land undetected for quite some time,” Daniel replied.
“Most likely,” Xavier agreed. “There’s at least three clear miles ahead of us.”
“Let’s go then,” Max said and slid his bow around to his back again. “The sooner this is over, the happier we’ll all be.”
Daniel followed his friend into the forest. It had been over a year since it had been necessary for him to remain hidden within the woods, but his instinctive ways fell easily back over him as he searched for any hint of a change in the woods around them. They moved so noiselessly that the birds roosting above them never took flight.
Until ahead, and no more than fifty feet away, a dozen or more sparrows shot into the air like they’d been shot out of a cannon. Before he heard the crack of a branch, Daniel knew they were no longer alone.
CHAPTER 15
Aria
Aria froze, her foot stopped in midair when the sparrows burst into the air. Her hand tightened on her bow as she studied the woods around them. William grabbed her forearm and tried to pull her back.
“It’s her,” Aria hissed as she resisted his impatient tugging on her arm.
“If it is, we’re not ready for her,” he hissed back at her. “Aria, we can’t face her now.”
She surveyed the trees above her. “I can get closer.”
“It’s daytime and there are no leaves to hide you. We must go.”
“William, I can get closer.” She turned to face her brother. Behind him, Tempest, Mary, and John stood near the edge of the thicket they were working their way around. They’d arrived at the final safe house last night and were only a hundred yards away from it. They had left it a little bit ago to inspect the area.
“Take them back to the safe house,” Aria told him and slipped her cloak from her shoulders. She couldn’t have the material hindering her movements
or flapping and drawing attention to her. “I will meet you there.”
“No. I forbid it.”
“Yeah, that’s going to work for you,” she muttered and pulled her glasses off. She felt exposed without them, but she couldn’t take the risk of them falling off. She kept her head averted from Mary and John so they couldn’t see her eyes as she handed the cloak and glasses to him. “I won’t do anything reckless.”
“And the sky is green,” he bit out from between his teeth.
She lifted her head so her gaze bore into his. “I plan to kill her not the other way around. I won’t do anything reckless.”
Before he could argue with her further, she tugged her arm free and leapt up to snag hold of a branch above her head. She threw her legs around it and pulled herself around so she sat on the branch. She rested her fingers on the rigid bark before rising to her feet and leaping for the next branch above her.
She worked her way through the tree until she was hidden within the middle of the limbs. The borrowed pants and shirt she wore were a plain brown hue and made of flax. They were the clothes of those who lived within the woods, the clothes she still felt most comfortable in. They weren’t the same color as the trees, but she’d be able to blend in with her environment well enough to go unnoticed. She pulled the hood on the shirt over her hair and tucked away any loose strands.
When she was certain there was nothing that could give her away, she rubbed her hands together and ran across the limb before leaping for the next branch. Wind whipped at her hair and tugged at her clothing as for a minute she actually felt like she flew. She landed on the next limb, nimbly running across the branch as she raced through the trees.
She didn’t look back as she moved so swiftly and with such a buoyant step, the branches didn’t even bow beneath her weight. Nearing the area where the birds had been scared from their perches, she moved more cautiously through the trees as she examined the forest floor.
The whisper of words caused her to flatten herself against the trunk of an oak as she strained to hear more. A branch snapped from below. She bit her bottom lip as excitement and adrenaline coursed through her. She searched over the woods, waiting for whoever was out there to move into view, and then a dozen or so vampires emerged beneath her.
They didn’t wear the white cloaks she’d seen on them before, but deep brown cloaks that caused them to blend in better with their environment. Clever girl, Aria thought as she studied each of the vampires. Sabine kept her troops in whatever clothes best suited their environment. With the snow gone and no leaves on the trees, the brown was perfect for this time of year.
Watching them, Aria knew they were not part of the king’s guard. They would be wearing the wolf patch if they were, and they were not simply nomadic vampires either. They were too alert for that and moving with trained precision.
She doubted any of them would think to look into the trees, but she didn’t dare move as she watched more and more emerge below. They moved quietly, but they were still louder than any rebel would ever be. They broke branches as they walked, stepped on the smaller pines, and crushed the saplings fighting for survival on the forest floor. Leaves and pine needles were kicked up by their passing, making it entirely possible to track their every movement by scent as well as sight.
Watching them made her cringe. No rebel would have done such a thing. The world would look as untouched after their passing as it had beforehand.
She steadily counted each vampire as they moved past. She was up to over two hundred when the woman she believed to be Sabine rode into view on the back of a large bay.
For a second, Aria thought the branch she stood on had broken as the world lurched out from under her. Then she realized that she remained standing against the tree, but she’d wrapped her arms around it in an attempt to keep herself anchored. Her fingers dug into the bark as she imagined tearing into the woman’s throat, feasting on her blood, and pummeling her body until she was nothing more than broken bones and battered flesh.
Red flooded her vision, and her body quaked with the need to maim and kill. Bloodlust like she’d never experienced before filled every fiber of her being. She could dive from the trees right now, land on top of that woman…
Be on her in an instant! Then Sabine’s followers would take her. They would capture her before she could succeed in killing Sabine and it would all be over.
Right then, she didn’t much care about that.
Her hands dug deeper into the bark. A large piece of it broke off beneath her fingers and fell into the air. No! She bent and caught the piece before it could fall past her and hit the ground, or one of the passing vamps. Kneeling on the branch, she remained tensed to spring, to flee into the trees if someone had witnessed her stupidity.
Get it together or end up dead before you can be of any use to anyone.
Closing her eyes, she took a moment to steady herself. She felt a little more stable when she opened her eyes again. Movement to her right drew her attention; her eyes widened when she spotted Xavier, Daniel, Max, and Timber crouching in the entrance of a small cave fifty yards away from her. A cave she knew dead-ended twenty feet behind them. They would be trapped if they were spotted.
Daniel had his hand on Xavier’s forearm to hold him back; she realized it had been Xavier who had drawn her eye to them. She was certain he’d moved when he’d witnessed her foolish, beginner mistake with the bark. Xavier relaxed slightly and knelt between her brother and Max once more.
She was not worried that the vampires walking beneath her would see her in the tree as the four of them had. They knew her preferred way to travel through the woods and would have looked for her where no one else would have.
Aria turned her attention back to the woman with her black hair trailing over the horse’s rump behind her. Now that she wasn’t consumed with the urge to bathe in the woman’s putrid blood, she was able to take note of more details about her. The potency of her power electrified Aria’s skin.
She was beautiful and as sickly twisted as her son had been. Unlike Atticus, Aria had a feeling this woman’s maliciousness was something she’d been born with, like Caleb, who was the sickest individual she’d ever had the displeasure of dealing with.
The strange, almost albino-looking man was the only other one on a horse as he rode beside Sabine. All of those around them were dressed in brown cloaks, yet the two of them arrogantly wore deep red cloaks that stood out like beacons. The ruby rings on the man’s right hand caught and reflected the sun, causing waves of red to dance over the trees around them.
That arrogance was the first chink in Sabine’s armor, and one of the things that would lead to her downfall. No matter how many more vamps continued to emerge from the woods, Aria knew this to be true.
Aria’s eyes lifted to where the palace lay beyond the woods.
They’re steadily moving closer.
Should she step up their plan with those they’d already recruited? Aria’s hand clenched around the bark in her palm as she debated this. Sabine would most likely try to go through the villages near the palace—if they hadn’t already been evacuated—to gather as many troops as she could and slaughter those who might stand against her.
If the towns had already been evacuated, Sabine would probably find a village to settle in for a bit as she worked out the final stages of her plan. The woman was ruthless, but she wasn’t stupid; she wouldn’t rush through this, and she was arrogant enough to believe she’d be able to take the palace with ease. Sabine would never expect rebels and vampires to close in on her from behind when she did go for the palace.
Aria couldn’t rush things either. They needed time to gather more of their own troops and weapons first. They needed more time for the rebels and vamps to spread the word to be prepared for something lethal coming their way. Time to get as many children as they could to safety before they entered into war, again. It would be best if they stuck to their original plan, no matter what Sabine tried now.
Aria
had lost count of the troops beneath her as the number swelled to well over a thousand. So many, and what if there are more elsewhere?
Then they would fight them all.
Her heart plummeted into her boots when the last of Sabine’s entourage came into view. Except these were no longer vampires, but at least a hundred humans tied together like cattle and being led through the woods by the dozens of vampires surrounding them.
When a dirty, pale woman fell, one of the vampires snapped her neck and cut her loose from the others without so much as a second glance. Aria’s hand flew to her mouth. The humans around the woman cried out and scurried away from her body. This time it was Max’s rising that drew her attention back to her friends, and Timber who pulled him back.
Her gaze latched onto Max as he shook within Timber’s grasp. His cheeks were tinged red with fury and his lips clamped so firmly together they turned white. Aria couldn’t look at the abused humans again; she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from attacking if she did.
It’s all going backwards, returning to the beginning, she thought.
We will fix it! They had to; there were no other options.
She remained in the tree for well over an hour after the last of the vampires and humans vanished from view. Her ears strained to pick up any noise within the woods, but it remained silent and still. Her cramped muscles protested when she rose from her crouched position and climbed down the tree.
Her feet had barely touched the ground when Daniel wrapped his arms around her and embraced her. She’d barely been able to stand the touch of anyone all week, but she lifted her arms to hug him back. He needed this hug, and she needed him. The piece of bark digging into her palm fell from her hand as she clung to her brother. So like their father, he was a source of calm in a world that had become utter chaos for her.