Jennifer stammered out an answer. How very interesting. But I couldn't contemplate her reaction for long. I made my way to the top third of the tree, grunting to make a big performance. It was a good view of the forest, although it showed no stone circle. In the distance, a flock of birds flitted above a gathering of trees. Were they gathering around the gate? Or perhaps looking at some prey they wanted to eat? Either way, it would make sense to go in that direction. If birds were present, I doubted the invisible creature was lurking in the area. In both the Mortal and Immortal planes, bird creatures were the first to get spooked, no matter what.
"I see our path," I called. I could sense the birds over there as a tiny flutter in my body, but the sensation would grow stronger as we got closer. They felt like Leftover creatures, making their auras a bit strange, but thankfully stronger than mortal animals. "It looks like there is a clearing in the, uh, northern direction." I searched for words that humans might use, knowing I couldn't say that I’d literally felt my way to the spot.
I dropped down, making sure to stumble, and Jennifer grinned excitedly when I pointed in the direction that I wanted to go.
"I have such a good feeling about this," she gushed. From her general aura, I could tell that she was calm, physiologically, as she spoke. There was no sweating or loud heartbeat beside the genuine interest in our journey. Johnny gave her a wary frown, but he said nothing. His role was clearly to put up with Jennifer and not protest. I would have felt sorry for him if he weren’t so complicit in her annoying behavior.
"Well, good," I said, and shrugged, not sure if I should feel better that she wanted to go this way. Something about these two was so off. Their energies fluttered from lightly dark to darkly light from one second to the next. Maybe they weren't ghost town hunters, but petty criminals on the run from the law when the meld happened. Their sketchiness would make more sense if they were.
We headed along the rough path toward the area I had seen. As we got closer, a pang went through me and my entire body buzzed.
It was Lyra. I would know her presence anywhere. I kept an excited breath inside me, not wanting to tip off the humans behind us. I glanced at Cam, but he was still fiddling with his compass. Maybe it was an excuse to avoid having to engage with Jennifer. I had never experienced Lyra's aura so strongly.
I hope she's okay.
I increased my speed, not caring about the complaints from Jennifer as she trailed behind me. She was clearly excited to go along with us. I would deal with these two weirdos once I talked to Lyra about them. I was sure that she would have an idea of what to do, since human civilians were her department.
"It's here," I said as we came upon the outskirts of the gate. The clearing radiated strong energy at me. There were other vampires here. Two of them felt familiar, but the other was completely off. I charged ahead through a narrow opening between two bushes. The birds in the trees cawed, likely sensing our presence.
Lyra wheeled around to face the sound. Her eyes went a centimeter wider, and she nearly cried out my name, the words dying in her throat. Her gaze went straight to Jennifer and Johnny behind me. Her eyes locked onto me again with a questioning but cautious energy.
“It’s just me, Lance,” I called out to her. “Don’t worry.”
"It's our teammates," Lyra said, recovering. Jennifer stumbled over a vine, and Johnny helped her into the clearing. She hadn't seen any of the looks between Lyra and me, but when Jennifer tilted her head up, she let out a loud gasp that startled everyone in the clearing.
"You're Lyra Sloane," Jennifer breathed. Lyra raised a curious yet annoyed eyebrow.
I cleared my throat hurriedly. "We met these civilians out in an abandoned city. They're unaware of anything that happened in the outside world since they were caught here in the meld," I explained quickly, trying to make my voice serious and official sounding. Sike, Arlonne, and another vampire presence were nearby in the trees. Bryce lay on the ground, propped up by a gear bag. "They don't know anything about where they are."
Cam watched Bryce carefully, clearly wanting to go to him immediately but holding himself back.
Jennifer scoffed behind me. "Neither do you. You said you didn't know where we were."
I gave Lyra a pleading look while Jennifer studied my wife. Lyra nodded, as if understanding that we needed to hide the supernatural presences among us. I had dropped her a message in that anything statement, even if the girl didn’t pick up on it.
"You're the famous Bureau rebel," Jennifer added. She forgot her anger at me as she stepped toward Lyra with interest. "Oh, I have so much to ask you. Why do you think all this happened? Are you still working with the government?"
Lyra frowned. "I'm sorry, but I cannot answer any questions about that." Beneath her soldier's composure, I could feel her heartbeat increase. She was flustered by Jennifer's questions. Who wouldn't be?
Jennifer tossed her head to the side with a sneaky expression. "Oh. You can't even tell us whether your secret vampire paramour is here?"
"Excuse me?" Lyra sputtered. She recovered quickly. "Look, I can't talk about that right now. I, um—" She fumbled for a moment, and Cam jumped in as the unexpected savior. I supposed he had more experience with Jennifer.
"Lance and I will make sure our teammates are okay. I want to check on, uh, Captain Bryce," he chimed in. “Don’t worry, Lyra. We’ve got this.”
"Of course," Lyra said, with an appreciative smile and a nod. "You and Lance can catch up with Bryce. Our other teammates are in the
