“Well, when will he be ready?” I ask. And what did she mean by ‘they?’ Stars, Eema is chatty today. Maybe I should come out at three in the morning every day.
As if my thoughts had been an alarm, a few scattered birds begin chirping. I immediately feel Eema fade as her thoughts are pulled elsewhere.
“Wait!” I say. “What should I do now?”
She drifts back. Something dangerous approaches. Best go inside.
“What is it?” I squeak, forgetting everything else with this new development. Fresh anxiety seizes me. “A reaper?”
No . . . I . . . I don’t know what it is. An abomination. Something that should not exist. Hurry, Sophia. It will kill you if given the chance. Bren has not fought this sort of monster before.
After yesterday’s run-in with the reaper, I’m not taking my chances with any more monsters. I rise to my feet. “Okay. See you later, Eema.”
I feel it, then. The same presence I sensed on my walk, weeks ago, to the Ranger’s Inn. Dark. Deadly.
Heart skittering in alarm, I turn and pick my way through the vegetation, back to home. I shouldn’t have gone so far into the forest. I can talk to Eema just about anywhere on the Island. Maybe to be safe, I should start talking to her closer to the clan homes.
But no, I can’t do that. The forest is my sanctuary. I can’t let other things ruin it for me.
As I reach the edge, the feeling grows, unseen eyes fastening on my throat. The only thing I can think of that would do that is a vampire. Stars, that’d be bad if we had vampires roaming Vashon. We’ve heard a few scattered rumors about them stalking Liberty. But it’d be weird to have them come this far out, wouldn’t it?
As I reach the porch, I give an involuntary shiver. That thing is still out there. I turn around, my gaze trying to pierce the dark forest. I can’t see it, but I feel it. There’s a creature out there in the woods.
Harold rises to his feet, his lips peeling back in a snarl, his eyes trained on the same patch of forest I’m facing. I put my hand on his head, hoping to calm him, but it does nothing. Harold’s rumbling snarl continues, his hackles raised.
In the not so far distance, I hear the barking of another one of our dogs. I should go inside, but my gaze is locked on the shadowy figure I now see, just standing inside the forest. What is it?
After a moment, it steps back into the shadows, and the presence begins to fade until it’s just Harold and me.
I don’t move until the dog stops growling. I give him a few pats, trying to soothe him, but he continues to stare out at the forest.
Fatigue starts to creep over me as my initial fear ebbs.
Going up to the door, I turn the knob and go back inside the Keep.
15
Wilder
“Dispose of the guards,” I murmur to Javelin.
He smirks and is off like a shot. The two humans don’t even see him before he’s broken their necks. Javelin takes their handguns and slips them into the waistband of his jeans. As vampires, we don’t really need weapons, but they might be useful in certain scenarios.
“What now?” he says.
“Now, we rip the door down.”
Javelin laughs, and, slamming his fist against the door, proceeds to hammer it off its hinges. If the gangsters weren’t aware of us before, they certainly are now.
“The elves might hear us,” Cecil murmurs. He looks around nervously, red eyes large. “We should sneak in.”
“A little late for that, squirt,” Javelin says. His eyes look almost wild and his lips are peeled back in a wide grin. “I already knocked on the door.”
The entrance is now a crumpled mess of twisted iron. Javelin jumps through the opening with a resounding whoop and is gone.
I follow, Cecil trailing me.
The hallway is narrow and smells like mold. We hurtle down it, ignoring any side exits, and through a far door. I use my nose to pick up the scent of humans, following the trail where the most seem to have gathered.
There’s another corridor, and at the end of it is a final door. My mouth waters. We’re so close. I can sense heartbeats on the other side as we get nearer. So much blood.
Javelin swings his left leg up and out in a powerful sidekick, blasting the door off its hinges and into the far wall.
Cecil and I are a few yards behind him, but he doesn’t look back before sauntering into the room.
“Well, well,” Javelin says, his voice pleasant. “You all went and made this convenient for us. You have our thanks.”
I hear several expletives and the scrape of chairs on the concrete floor. “Who are you?” a low voice growls.
“Javelin,” the vampire replies. “I’m here to announce the presence of Liberty’s new gang leader. All hail Wilder, prince of Liberty.”
I roll my eyes and step into the room. We’re here to murder and drink. What is Javelin up to with all of this nonsense?
I take in the large room. There’s a table on the far right side with several men seated. No women. Good.
Most of the men are staring at Javelin, several with fingers curled around guns, for all the good they will do them. I can’t blame them, though. The vampire just decimated a door with a single kick.
One of the men is peering at me instead of Javelin. He’s a tall, broad-shouldered man with graying hair pulled back in a greasy ponytail. He’s made no move to grab the gun he has holstered at his hip. “Cringey?” he says, his nose wrinkling in contempt. “You’ve gotta lot of nerve showing up here, boy.”
My lip curls in a sneer as I stare down at him. This
