I tripped over a fallen branch and fell snout-first with Henry tucked into my belly. We rolled a few times and then slammed into the trunk of a tree where glowing eyes waited in the shadows.
God damn it, I groaned.So much for trying to lose them.
Henry pawed my snout.Dad says it’s rude to swear.
Jesus, you can hear me?
Charlotte, I’m scared, Henry whimpered.Are they going to hurt us?
My eyes brimmed with tears as I recovered his scruff and carried him away from the tree line. The same vampires blocked our path accompanied by three more. My back stung with the attention of the other vampires that were surely appearing out of the darkness. We were circled and outnumbered.
And I hated it.
My brain focused on one man, the only person who could possibly defend us right now:Adam…
The scent of summer assaulted my nostrils. My awareness expanded, including the forest around us and the dry earth still hot from the late evening sun. Wherever the grass had cooled was trampled by the fight to defend Henry and me from getting swallowed up by these blood bags.
Charlotte, where’s my dad?Henry asked.He’ll come back, right?
I set him on the ground in front of me and positioned as much of my body over him as possible.
Yes, I assured him.He’s coming back. I promise.
Can you call him?
Shoot, could I do that? If I could speak to Henry in my mind, then, surely, I could do the same with Adam. It wasn’t something that had ever occurred to me.
But then again, this wasn’t something I did on a typical Tuesday night.
Adam, I need you! HELP!
A stinging flash of light pierced my vision as I huddled over Henry. Energy rippled through the yard. I wasn’t sure exactly what had happened, only that something had sprung from my soul and zipped around the vampires closing in on us.
It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, but it felt like ages had passed.
“We just want the child,” one of the approaching vampires said in a soft voice. “Hand him over. He’s the key to our freedom.”
I growled.Over my dead body.
The vampire chuckled darkly. “You’ll regret this, sweetheart. What Domingo wants, Domingo gets.”
Never.
“I can’t read your mind,” he continued while casually stepping toward me. He slid a sword from its sheath at his hip, twisting the blade to catch the twinkling light of the solar lamps. “But I can tell you think you’re being brave right now. Is that what you’re trying to do? Because it’s not working.”
Keep talking. See what I do, asshole.
Henry cowered beneath me, shivering so hard that I thought he might vibrate us into another dimension. It would be a welcome reprieve, honestly. The fear that ate away at me about him getting taken was so strange yet drove me to instinctively defend him. Not because Adam had commanded it.
But because Ihadto do it.
Adam’s voice came rushing into my mind,Tell me where you are!
I gasped and replied,Outside!
The vampire brandished his sword. “Alright, little wolf. Suit yourself.” He smirked deviously. “But this is going to hurt.”
One glance at the surrounding vampires prompted them to take action. This was it. This was my downfall.