Chapter Thirty-Seven

RAUL

I stand with my feet spread wide, facing the opening from which The Convicted will attack.

I’m under no illusions that I can win this fight. The first three I fought were stupid and distracted by their inner battle over the heart.

Eleira’s blood scent is strong in the air. It’s tantalizingly human. It calls to me, and the call is only magnified to the poor monsters sentenced to waste their lives underground.

It occurs to me that I am bound to become one of them, after the murder of four of my kind.

Time for those worries later. Right now, the priority is Eleira.

She’s rushing back and forth along the invisible wall with Phillip. I curse myself for my stupidity. I should have brought someone else here first, some other human, who could have served as a test-run for this.

But I acted on impulse. All I knew was that I had to get Eleira out. I couldn’t let her die in The Hunt.

Except now, because of my own stupidity, she might die at the hands of these vampire ghouls.

Well, not if I can stop it. I don’t care what happens to me. My life in The Haven is already forfeit. But if I can give Eleira the tiniest scrap of extra time…

I glance back at her. She doesn’t know I’m looking. For a split-second I get a vision of Liana. My heart beats three times faster. It’s ludicrous, the extent of control she exhibits over me.

And she doesn’t even know a tenth of it.

A scraping sounds from the front. I turn my attention forward.

The first of The Convicted is there.

Instinct takes me. I fly over the ground and attack the monster. His flesh is weak. It doesn’t take long for me to find the opening I need to rip his heart out.

I crush it to make sure he won’t revive and throw the body down the tunnel. The Convicted rarely turn upon each other. But if the kill is certain…

Well, I’ve already guaranteed that. Hopefully this new quarry can distract the rest of them from Eleira’s blood.

I hear a cheer of excitement behind me. “Raul!”

I whip back and discover Eleira calling me closer. I rush to her. Phillip is at her side.

“We found it!” she exclaims.

“What? An opening?”

“Yes, but we need your help.”

“Anything.”

Phillip’s lips tighten to form a thin line. “What is it?” I ask him. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he says, too quickly.

“Phillip. I know you. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“It’s not precisely an opening,” he admits. “Eleira thinks she senses a weakness in the ward.”

“Yes, yes, right here!” she exclaims. She sticks her arms out. She looks like a mime pretending to be trapped in a glass box. “It is weaker. Look!”

She pushes, and with a grunt, one of her arms falls through.

She pulls it back out. “But I don’t have enough strength to break through myself.”

“You want me to do… what exactly?”

“Get me through!”

“It’ll crush her,” Phillip says.

“Not if we move with great speed.” She backs away. “We need as much propulsion as we can get.”

She looks at me. “Carry me. Get a running start. Take me through the ward with you. But we have to go right here.”

She outlines the spot again.

“Eleira… if you’re wrong, you’ll be crushed.” My ears pick up the fast-approaching mass of Convicted. I shake my head. “I won’t do it.”

“It’s the only way!” she says. “Don’t think, just do it!”

“If something happens to you —“

“It’s going to happen anyway with those half-dead vampires coming at us.” She leans into my arms. “Now do it!”

I can’t lie. Her spunk is undeniable, as is her courage. I don’t know how she’s changed so much in her short time in The Haven, but she’s grown, gotten bolder.

Other girls might wilt in her position. Not Eleira.

She reminds me of Liana more and more.

I nod. “Phillip?”

“Be careful with her,” he says. “She is special.”

Her cheeks color slightly at the compliment.

“Okay.” I pick her up and back away. It’s all I can do not to focus on the young, infinitely alluring woman in my arms. Every instinct makes me want to devour her, to taste her blood, to have her whole. To make her mine.

It’s a struggle to push all those things aside.

“Ready?” I whisper.

She steadies herself against me. “Yes.”

I take off at a run. I move as fast as my legs will carry me. The invisible ward is coming up in front of us. At the very last moment I spin back, crashing through it with my shoulders and clutching Eleira to me so she doesn’t get crushed.

There’s a tug, a resistance, and for an awful moment I think I’m going to lose her. Her body jerks as it hits the barrier. She cries out in pain from the force of impact. Momentum keeps us going forward, and my hands wrap more tightly around her so as not to let her go.

Time seems to slow as we traverse the barrier. I feel the force against her body, going the other way… and then there’s a harsh snap, and both of us break through.

She rebounds into me. I stagger back, but I manage to stay on my feet.

“Are you okay?” I ask, concern filling every part of my soul.

She bobs her head up and down. She offers a weak smile. “We did it,” she says.

“You did it,” I correct. “This was my screw up, and you fixed it.”

“Well, don’t you worry your handsome face,” she says. She sounds a little woozy. She brings a hand up and holds it to my cheek. “It’s been fixed.”

Her words tug at my heart. In particular, the part of my heart I didn’t know existed.

Phillip appears next to us. “I hate to interrupt this tender moment,” he says, “but we’ve got bigger issues to worry about.”

He points. From out of the cavern opening stream dozens of Convicted. They’re running straight at us.

They’ve sighted their prey.

I hand Eleira off to Phillip. “Go!” I tell them. “Get her up to the opening! I’ll hold them off while you climb.”

“There are too many, Raul!” Phillip cries. “You won’t be able to stop them. Come with us!”

I grab him by the shoulder and shove him away. “Don’t argue. Just go!”

The moans of The Convicted turn into vicious snarls. They’ll attack as a pack.

Phillip looks at me, hesitating for a flicker of a moment. Then a crisp determination shows in his eyes. “Hang on tight,” he tells Eleira, and, swinging her onto his back, he begins the scampering ascent to freedom.

I don’t get to see how far they get, because at that moment, the horde falls on me.