“Go.” She surged forward.
I wavered on my feet. The magic was leaving me so quickly. My knees were weakening, an entire wave of exhaustion was rising up over me. It was going to crash soon. I felt its impending arrival.
The blonde vampire saw my dilemma and she cursed under her breath. I felt Lucan coming. He was roaring my name through the building, making even the cages shake from his fury. I looked back at the door. I knew then, I wouldn’t be able to make it. If Gregory, Gavin, and Wren got free, that was good. I wasn’t going to be with them. I had nothing in me to evade Lucan and his army.
Then, abruptly, Tracey soared to me. She grabbed me up and was running with me. I looked up at her. Her head was down and focused, but as she darted through the door, her eyes shifted to mine. She was getting me to safety. I nodded, thinking in my head, “I’m sorry.”
Her lips pressed together. She didn’t say anything, but I felt the sadness inside of her, and she thought to me, “Rest, Davy. I’ll carry you the way.”
We raced down a hallway and soared past a door. I was so tired. The wave was crashing down on me, but I lifted my head. I felt Lucan coming toward me. He sensed my presence. He knew we were going fast, but Tracey wasn’t fast enough. He was coming—the door exploded in the air and he was there. He was barreling after us. I closed my eyes and transcended above us. The Immortal was quiet, more than she had been the entire time. I didn’t have enough energy for this, so I knew she was doing this.
We weren’t as one anymore. We were almost two separate beings, and she felt my distress. She was lifting me up. My body was in Tracey’s arms, but I was up and I could see Lucan racing to catch up.
We were doomed. He was faster than Tracey was, but I had to try to help. I had to try, at least.
“Rest, Davy.” I felt The Immortal’s words. The anger was there, but held off. It was as if she knew I had tried, and then, my head started to fall back. I watched myself as my body grew limp in Tracey’s arms. She glanced down, her alarm picked up, but she didn’t stop. Her fear gave her a small boost of speed, but it still wasn’t enough.
Lucan was almost there.
“Davy.” The Immortal was at my side again. She laid a hand on my shoulder. “Rest.”
And, as if her words had magic over myself, the world started to grow black. My eyelids fell, suddenly so tired, but I saw The Immortal gazing down where I was in Tracey’s arms. Wind began to pick up. The walls of the hallway started moving around, and then we were gone.
I had fallen asleep.
Christian stared across the bonfire at the man he never understood. Lucas Roane was a vampire. They were all alike, but this one never did as he predicted. He loved a woman. He left her. He lost her, so he fell in love with the new thread. Next he chose to declare a war for the woman. And when she was taken from him, the old vampire he knew would’ve found another woman. This Lucas Roane sought an alliance with his enemy. They went together for this Immortal, for the woman the legendary Hunter thought he loved.
And then he glanced to his side. His sister sat there, content, as she munched on a chicken leg he roasted over the fire for her. Pippa was the younger sister no one understood. She scurried away from fights, hid in the shadows when confronted, and was so eager to escape away to a school far away. Then she called for them and she wasn’t the same woman. She had grown. She stood upright when spoken to, she met each attack with her own fierceness, and she rallied them all when she heard a friend was in need.
It was the same woman. They both loved the same woman, though not in the same way.
Christian looked down at his lap and gripped his water again. His confusion didn’t matter. He would go to this woman. He would rescue her and he would do it without protest. His sister believed in this woman and he would forever be grateful. He was given a new sister, one who loved herself, was proud of herself, and who made him proud as well. He would fight for whoever managed that feat.
“You’re thinking too loud.” Pippa glanced up as she bit into the chicken leg again. She grinned.
“That’s what being older and wiser means. We think a lot.” He draped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. A tender smile came to him. “Good thing I have you with me.”
She nudged him with her elbow. “I keep you on your toes.”
“You do.”
“I do.” She was solemn as she held her older brother’s gaze.
From across the fire, Lucas watched the exchange. A part of him tore inside, but there was no outward reaction. He sat as a statue and his face never moved. He was a stone, had been since Davy was taken. But something softened in him as well. Davy would’ve liked to see her friend happy, and she seemed to be with her older brother.
And then a woosh sounded behind him. Saren took the seat beside him. Her blue leather crinkled in protest as she lowered to the piece of tree. She glanced at him, looked where he watched, and sighed in disgust.
“You humans are all the same,” she snorted, rolling her eyes.
Lucas gave her a restrained look. “I am a vampire.”
“You’re still human.”
“I eat humans.”
“You drink blood. It is different. You still feel. You let those feelings overtake you. You’re still human.” She nodded across the fire. “As are they. They are worse.”
“How so?”