Daniel

Daniel’s feet slipped in the wet leaves and pine needles beneath him. The rain came down so hard it didn’t sink into the ground, but slid over it in torrents that poured down the embankment they were trying to scale. For every two steps forward, he took one step back. Water sluiced over his hair, pouring down his face and into his eyes. He wiped it away, but it did little good as more ran over his eyes and his hair was plastered to his skin.

They were only a mile away from the caves where they’d left Jack, yet with the way they were going, it may take them hours to get there. His soaked clothes pulled heavily on his body, weighing him down. He wouldn’t be surprised if an icicle formed on his skin. No matter how badly his legs ached and shook from exertion, he continued stalwartly onward.

They didn’t try to be as quiet as they normally would have been as the storm covered any noises they made and masked their smell, but it would also do the same for anyone pursuing them. However, he didn’t think their enemies would be crazy enough to be out in this; no one with any sense would, unless they had to be.

Max grunted beside him as he lost his footing and fell onto the side of the embankment. He lay for a minute, panting on the ground with mud splattering his face. Daniel held out his hand to him. After a minute, Max took hold of it and climbed back to his feet.

Timber made it to the top of the embankment first, his eyes scanning the forest before he turned back to wave them onward. Daniel gritted his teeth and leapt toward the top. Timber took hold of his arm and helped to haul him the rest of the way over.

Daniel bent over, resting his hands on his knees as he inhaled gulping breaths of air and searched the forest. Water slid off his lips and into his mouth. He greedily drank it down as he tried to ease the burning in his lungs.

They desperately needed a break, but couldn’t stand here; they’d freeze in the icy rain if they did. Rising, he broke into a brisk jog as he led the way through the woods. Despite the fact the rain and wind made it difficult for him to see more than ten feet ahead of him, he didn’t ease his pace. They were already behind; they had to make it there tonight and get Jack back tomorrow, assuming they would still find Jack still alive and in the same cave where they’d left him.

The rain may have driven Sabine’s vamps to seek shelter tonight, but there had been a fair amount of them moving around the caves they’d left behind. Had Jack and Hannah been found?

They had to have answers tonight.

With every step he took, his heart pounded more and more with excitement and dread. Nearly there. Nearly there.

They were almost a hundred feet from the cave when a flash of movement on his right caught his attention. Daniel spun, swinging his bow off his back and nocking an arrow against it in one swift movement. His fingers were numb, but he’d still hit his target.

He went completely still as he controlled his frantic urge to gasp for breath. The hair on his nape rose as he felt eyes on him. Someone was out there watching them, stalking them.

***

Aria

Aria stood at the bottom of the stairs, staring at the doorway above her head. William and Tempest remained unmoving beside her. Xavier stood resolutely on her other side. The vampires were still up there; she could hear them moving about the barn, their feet stomping over its surface. The lingering scent of animals in the barn and the thick wood would cover their scent, but they couldn’t allow them to remain above.

She didn’t think the vampires would find the door, but if they did…

She’d put an arrow straight through the heart of the first one who entered. “We’ll go out the back way and circle around to the front of the barn,” she said.

“Or we could wait for them to pass on,” William said. “Which they’ll probably do when the storm breaks.”

“And if they don’t? We’re close enough to the palace that they could be considering using the barn as part of their base. With the storm, we can sneak up on them a lot easier. The rain and wind will mask any scent or noise we may make,” Aria said. “We’ll also be taking out some of Sabine’s numbers.”

“And if she notices them missing?” William asked.

“Do you really think she will?”

“I don’t know,” he reluctantly admitted.

“She knows we’re still out here, she has to expect that we’ll still be looking to fight her. She might even think they fled,” Tempest said.

“If they were smart they would,” Xavier replied.

“They would,” Aria agreed. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”

She turned and walked back to the main room. Everyone within remained eerily silent as she strode into the center of the room. “We’re going to go after them,” she whispered. “We can’t take the chance they’ll remain after the storm. We’ll take at least twenty with us.”

Men and women rose to gather their weapons as they worked it out between them who would go and who would remain. Aria waited for them to decide, before striding down the back hallway, passed the rooms lining it to the door at the end of the hall. The humans who would be coming with them, followed her.

William opened the door and peered into the hallway beyond before entering it. She followed him down the dank-smelling, ten-foot long hall to the wall beyond. William’s fingers searched over the wood before he pushed on something and the door swung inward to reveal the root cellar beyond.

The sharp scent of mildew and dirt wafted over her as she stepped into the abandoned cellar. The wood over her head sagged beneath the weight of the earth trying to reclaim it. She warily examined the bowing beams as she walked over to another small door, sagging on its hinges and splintering down the middle.

She waited for everyone else to fill the room. The last woman in closed the door behind her, briefly plunging them into complete darkness until Aria turned the rotten handle and cautiously pulled the door open. Rain lashed against her, stinging her face and numbing her skin as she stepped into the storm.

The wind howled through the trees. From somewhere deep in the forest, a branch cracked and plunged to the ground, taking more branches with it in a cascading, thundering crash as it fell. She wiped the water from her eyes to focus on the barn a hundred feet away from them. Behind her, the others filtered out into the storm.

She gazed over the humans and vampires surrounding her before jerking her head toward the barn. They moved silently across the muddy, slippery ground, or at least they couldn’t be heard over the whipping wind and pelting rain. As Aria gripped the handle of the barn door, she held up a finger to halt everyone before putting it down and sliding the door open in one fluid motion.

She pulled her bow from her back and grabbed an arrow as five of the vamps within leapt to their feet. The other five remained asleep, for now. Shock registered on the vampire’s faces before William’s arrow struck the first one and sent him reeling backward. Aria unleashed three arrows in rapid succession, killing two vamps and catching a third in his shoulder.

More arrows whistled around her as the humans fired at the vampires. The other five vamps woke and leapt to their feet. The vamp’s confusion didn’t last long as they took in the dead bodies surrounding them and the group standing in the doorway.

They charged toward them with murderous expressions on their faces. Aria aimed at the one barreling toward Tempest. Before she could fire, William swung his arm out, catching the vamp in the back of his head and sending him spiraling to the ground.

He pounced on the vamp, jerking his head back and to the side before wrenching it from the vamp’s shoulders. One of them leapt at her, but Xavier dove at him. His arms encircled the vampire’s waist as Xavier slammed the vamp into the ground with enough force to shake the building.

Three left. Aria released another arrow, taking down one of the three.

“You!” the word was spat at her from her left.

Turning to face the new threat, she didn’t get a chance to fire before something crashed against her temple and the side of her face. Her head spun as she took a stumbling step to the side and swung out with her bow at the same time something else cracked against the back of her head. Blackness swirled up around her. She tried not to lose consciousness, but her vision was becoming smaller and smaller as it crept down to a single bead of light in a world of shadows. She tasted blood in her mouth, her blood.

“Aria!” William bellowed as something else hit her and she saw no more.

***

Jack

The low growl on his left caused Jack’s lip to curl back and his hand to tighten around the rabbit he’d caught to feed to Braith. Blood dripped from the rabbit and into Braith’s mouth as claws clicked across the rock floor toward them.

“Enough already,” Jack grated and tossed the bloodless remains of the rabbit to Keegan.

Despite his new meal, the wolf glowered at Jack as he settled in at Braith’s side and rabbit bones crunched within his jaws. Ever since the wolf had arrived the other night, apparently drawn into the cave by the scent of his former master and Jack, Keegan had refused to go far from Braith’s side. Jack hadn’t seen Keegan since he’d returned to the wild after the war with Atticus. The wolf’s loyalty to Braith remained as true as ever though.

Jack could still recall the disbelief that had run down his spine when he’d poked his head around the corner of the cave wall to find Keegan’s emerald eyes blazing at him through the darkness. The wolf’s hackles had been raised, his head bent low as he eyed Jack like a meal. If he hadn’t recognized him as Braith’s wolf, he would have killed him before the wolf could try to feast on them.

Instead, he’d opened the gate for him. Keegan had given him a disgruntled look as he’d trotted by, his claws clicking over the rocks until he’d arrived at Braith’s side. The wolf had settled beside Braith and only left him to go to the bathroom in one of the other side tunnels or to eat.

Keegan barely tolerated Jack’s presence around Braith’s body. The wolf allowed him to feed Braith blood, but watched his every move and emanated a series of growls the entire time Jack knelt at his side. Despite his dislike of the animal, Jack wouldn’t turn away the added protection for Braith. Keegan also now disposed of the remains of the animals, and he only had to leave the cave once a day to hunt for them.

Jack wiped off his knees and rose to his feet. Keegan lifted his head, his lips skimmed back to bare his fangs. Jack gave him the finger before turning away.

Hannah’s lips clamped together as she resisted laughing at him. “He’s only an animal.”

“He’s a dick.”

“There’s certainly no love lost between you two.”

Jack shrugged as he climbed the rocks to sit beside her. “He doesn’t know me. When Braith got him, he was only a puppy, and I was getting ready to leave the palace to infiltrate the rebels. Keegan was ever-present at Braith’s side and served as Braith’s eyes while he was blind.”

Hannah rested her hand on his knee as she gazed across the cavern at Keegan. The wolf finished off his rabbit and rested his head on Braith’s stomach. His emerald eyes glistened as he focused on Jack and Hannah. His thick gray coat shone with health in the torchlight playing over it. He released a yawn that revealed all of his lethal teeth.

The wolf was a dick, but he was an extremely protective one and Jack admired him for it.

“He’s beautiful,” Hannah said. “I wish he would let me pet him.”

“Maybe when Braith wakes,” he replied.

“I like it when you’re optimistic.”

“One of us has to be,” he teased and nudged her side.

She tilted her head back to smile at him. “I always try to see the bright side of things.”

“That is one of the many reasons why I love you.”

The light in her jade eyes was irresistible and he bent his head to kiss her. Her hands twisted into his shirt to drag him closer. Her mouth opened to the gentle prodding of his tongue. Lifting her from the rocks, he climbed easily over them as he made his way toward their sleeping area. After spending a week and a half in this cave, he knew every inch and crevice of it, so he didn’t have to look to see where he placed his feet as he climbed.

Leading her into their side tunnel above, Jack laid her down on the blankets and furs. She lifted her arms to him and he eagerly went into them. He lost himself to her in only the way Hannah could make him lose himself. For a period of time, he was able to forget his brother was dead, their world was coming apart, and the future he’d planned and hoped for them was unraveling.

When he separated himself from her again, he cradled her against his chest as he listened to the distant drip of water sliding over rock and the crackle of the torch flame. Earlier, rain had been pelting the ground when he’d gone to hunt for Braith, but deep beneath the earth there was no indication of that. It remained calm, almost peaceful in this fortress of rock.

He stared at the ceiling over his head, watching the distant flickering of the torch playing across the rock and listening to Keegan’s claws clicking over the rock. The wolf had probably gotten up to go to the bathroom again. Jack ran his fingers over Hannah’s silken flesh, inhaling her tantalizing scent and the scent of the two of them together. Their blood mingled and flowed strongly as one, binding them for an eternity.

His hand stilled on her when Keegan’s claws stopped clicking somewhere in the middle of the cavern.

Hannah murmured something; her hair fell away from his shoulder when he abruptly sat up. He heard no other noise within the cave, but Keegan never just stood somewhere. “Get dressed,” he whispered in Hannah’s ear.

He tugged on his pants and reached for his shirt. His hands wrapped around his stakes as the torch he’d left below suddenly went out, plunging the cave into a darkness so complete that even his vampire eyes couldn’t see his hand in front of his face.

Hannah’s shirt settled into place over her with a rustle of material. Her hand encircled his arm, her nails biting into his flesh. “Jack,” she murmured.

Turning his head into Hannah’s hair, he rested his lips against her ear. “Stay here.” She shook her head and he took hold of her chin, running his fingers over her face as he tried to memorize her features through touch. “There is a storm outside. A gust of wind probably came down one of the tunnels and caught the torch, putting it out. I’ll be fine, but stay here.”

Her chin trembled in his grasp. He knew she didn’t entirely buy his theory, but it was a good possibility. He kissed her quickly before rising into a low crouch to make his way toward the end of the tunnel. His ears strained to hear anything within the cavern, but silence hung thickly in the air.

Too silent. He now understood what it was like to be in a tomb.

The torch had been newly lit a short while ago, but a downdraft from the storm outside could have caught it and put it out. That would also explain why Keegan had risen if the air in the cave had changed and carried a new scent with it.

But why hadn’t Keegan returned to Braith’s side?

Jack remained low as he rested his hand on the first of the jagged rocks at the top of the cavern and crept his way forward. Memory and the feel of the rocks guided him onward as his eyes remained completely ineffective. He was almost tempted to start swinging out with his hands, but he couldn’t take the risk of hitting something and making noise.

He should have kept two torches lit, but he hadn’t wanted to waste materials in case they were here for longer than they expected. However, if he’d had two torches going, in two separate areas, he would know if it had been a downdraft or if someone had entered the cavern with them. It couldn’t be Braith; his brother would have alerted him to his presence. He would have known Jack was in the cave with him, would have scented him.

Jack paused near the bottom of the cavern, his hand resting on a rock as he perched three feet away from the cave floor. He crouched lower, his head canting to the side as he scented the air. He caught no hint of anything else with them, sensed no movement within, but the hair on his nape rose as he got the overwhelming sensation something hunted him from the shadows.

He turned to look behind him, but there was nothing to see there either. It couldn’t be Hannah watching him; he knew the weight of her gaze. Still, he couldn’t lose the feeling that something tracked him.

Follow your instincts.

His instincts told him to go back, to take Hannah to safety, but he couldn’t leave here without Braith’s body. No matter how much he loved her, no matter that he would sacrifice his life for hers, he couldn’t put their safety over the thousands upon thousands of lives counting on them.

Every part of him screamed to return to her, but he took another step forward. He moved over the last three feet of rock before stepping onto the smooth surface of the cavern. Remaining low, his useless gaze swung back and forth, his ears straining to hear the slightest step. Keegan released a small breath from somewhere on his right. The wolf was still alive, but he had yet to move again.

Was Keegan hunting him? No, the wolf may not like him, but Keegan wouldn’t attack him unless he was threatening Braith. No matter how much the wolf growled at him, he had to know Jack was only trying to protect and help his brother. Besides, if Keegan wanted to attack him, he would have by now.

Jack changed his grip on his stakes, pointing them to the sides so he could swing them at anything coming at him. He was ten feet away from where he’d left Braith’s body when a hint of movement had him spinning to the right. Before he could attempt to defend himself, something smashed against his arm with the force of a battering ram, causing it to go numb instantly. Unwillingly, his hand opened and the stake fell from his grasp. The clattering of the wood against the rock floor battered his eardrums after the hush that had enveloped the cavern.

He swung his other arm up, but the stake was yanked from his grasp as if he were no stronger than a five-year-old human child who’d just had their lollipop ripped away. A part of him marveled over the power sizzling over his skin and the strength of his opponent even as a hand enveloped his throat. Lifted effortlessly from the ground, he was slammed into the cave wall with enough force to indent the wall and shatter the rock.