Dani’s terrified gaze swung toward her as another blur raced out of the woods. Cassie caught a brief glance of blood red eyes and elongated teeth as Devon rushed swiftly past her. Rumbling growls echoed through the woods as he collided with Julian, who had been coming back after her. Devon seized hold of him, slamming him into the ground. They rolled as they clawed and tore at each other, murderous snarls of rage echoed throughout the forest.
The smell of blood filled the air. Cassie shuddered, turning back around, unable to leave Devon alone with the monster. She knew that she should flee, but she could not. Devon rolled, bounding back to his feet as Julian knocked him aside. “Devon!” she cried, shocked by the blood oozing from the jagged slices in his magnificent face.
His gaze swung toward her, the blood color of his eyes was startling and frightening. His face was twisted, his teeth extended sharply over his bottom lip. He looked like a monster, but he was still the person that she loved, and she couldn’t leave him here. “Go!” he growled at her. She took an involuntary step back. “Go!” he bellowed when she moved no further.
Cassie jumped in surprise, tears pooled in her eyes as hopelessness filled her. His gaze swung away from her as Julian went at him again. They fell together, snarling and growling as they tore at each other with the ferocity of savage animals. Cassie’s ears rang with the noise as it hammered into her head. A large locust tree shuddered, rocking forcefully as Devon slammed Julian against it. A jagged tear raced up the trunk, cracking as it tore up it.
Melissa and Chris burst onto the path, their eyes wide with horror as they took in the battle before them. “Move!” Cassie screamed at them, snapping them out of the daze that held them riveted.
Bolting across the path, they skidded to a halt beside Dani. Devon slammed Julian into the tree again. The crack gave way with a loud snap that echoed throughout the forest. Devon and Julian were forced from each other as the tree fell with a resounding boom that shook the earth.
Devon bounced across the ground, landing feet away from Cassie. She moved swiftly toward him, needing to help him. He was back on his feet before she could reach him. He bolted forward, colliding with Julian again. Numbed with terror and horror Cassie could only watch helplessly as they tore at each with the frenzied savagery of feral, rabid animals.
The earth beneath her feet began to rumble, a strange pulsing energy suddenly came from it. Cassie gazed down in shock as the earth seemed to heave, pulsating with an odd new rhythm that was frightening as well as energizing. Her mouth parted slightly as a beat began to rise from the dirt, throbbing up her legs and making its way down her arms.
Cassie looked up in surprise as the earth seemed to explode with a current of electricity that rocked her back a step. Eyes widening in terror Cassie watched in horror as Devon and Julian were shot backward, bouncing across the ground like ping pong balls. They both remained limp, knocked unconscious by the bolt that had slammed into them.
Cassie gasped, choking on her terror as she raced to Devon’s side. Falling beside him, she tore at him, grasping at his lifeless body. Instinctively, she rested her hand on his chest, searching for a heartbeat but finding none. She panicked for a moment, until she recalled that he wouldn’t have a heartbeat anyway. It took a few moments for it to fully sink in that he was still alive, though he did not breathe, there was a life energy pulsating from him. Mouth gaping, Cassie looked slowly around the eerily quiet pathway, unable to understand what had just happened, or where the strange energy had come from.
“What was that?” Chris whispered, astonishment choking his voice. If it hadn’t been so frightening and shocking, Cassie would have laughed when she looked at him. His shaggy blond hair was standing on end. It looked as if someone had just rubbed a balloon over the top of it. His arms were raised at his sides, the hair standing up as he looked at them in astonishment. “What the hell was that?” he demanded more fiercely.
Melissa stood beside him, her hair not quite as bad as it was in a tight braid, but a few strands of it were standing up. Melissa looked just as stunned as Chris as her gaze slowly moved toward Dani, her body shifting slightly. Dani stared back at them, her eyes wide, her mouth parted in horror as she bashfully met their gazes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,” she whispered.
Cassie gaped at her for a moment, unable to believe that the tiny girl had done this. “You did this?” Cassie inquired sharply, her hands clenching tighter on Devon’s motionless body.
Dani nodded slowly, looking close to tears. “I’m sorry,” she whispered again.
“Is he going to be ok?”
Dani’s gaze darted over to her, falling briefly on Devon. Confusion flitted over her face, but she did not look at all surprised, or horrified over what had just happened. A numbing knowledge settled over Cassie as she leaned closer to Devon, her hand stroking over his battered face as she prepared to defend him to the death.
Even if it was against one of her own kind.
Dani nodded slowly, her gaze flickering back to Cassie as she tried to sort out what she was witnessing. “He should be fine.”
“Should be?” Cassie hissed. “Should be!?”
“Cassie,” Chris said gently, giving up on calming his hair down.
Cassie took a deep breath, trying to compose herself as her attention returned to Devon. Though he remained immobile, the jagged wounds in his cheek had already begun to heal. She could practically see the muscle reattaching itself as the blood dried on him. The scent of his blood was strong, hinting of spices and power. Even in his bloodied and unconscious state he was still magnificent, and he was hers.
A protective urge surged through her as she bent closer to him. She needed him to wake up, needed him to come back to her. And she needed it to happen soon.
“What did you do?” she asked softly.
Dani looked sheepishly around, her gaze landing everywhere but on them. “It’s… it’s an electric pulse,” she answered shakily. Then her gaze focused on Cassie, her eyes narrowed sharply. “Why are you defending him? I thought they were our enemies?”
Melissa and Chris looked nervously at Cassie before turning their attention back to Dani. “You don’t know it all,” Cassie retorted. “And neither do we.”
“I think we need to get out of here, we can discuss this later,” Melissa interjected softly, her gaze darting to Julian’s prone figure fifty feet down the path.
He had been further away from the blast then Devon, did that mean he would wake faster? Cassie’s hand twitched to the stake at her side, her mind and heart hammered with the possibility of destroying him now, of ending the misery of so many people. Could she get down there in time? “How long does it last?” she inquired softly.
“Cassie!” Melissa hissed in warning.
Dani licked her lips nervously as she glanced at Julian. “I… I don’t know. On normal people,” she glanced wearily at them again, seeming to understand that they were not normal. In fact, Cassie thought Dani knew exactly what they were, just as they knew exactly what she was. There was going to be a lot of explaining to do once they were out of this situation. “It can last an hour or two, depending on the strength of the blast. On them,” her gaze darted over Devon and Julian. “I have no idea, it varies.”
Cassie inhaled sharply, her attention returned to Julian. This could be their opportunity to stop it, to make it all end. They could stop the murders and the suffering, end the fear they had lived with since Julian had arrived. She just didn’t know if she would have time to get to him and kill him before he awoke.
“Can you shock him again?” she asked softly.
Dani shook her head, her bright red highlights flashing in the light of the moon. “No. I have little control over my ability; it usually comes out when I’m frightened. I’ve never been able to use it twice in the same day.”
“Like a battery,” Chris whispered, still looking slightly awestruck. When Dani frowned fiercely at him, seeming a little insulted, he quickly explained himself. “You need time to recharge.”
Dani still did not look appeased as she shrugged. “I guess,” she mumbled.
Cassie glanced back at Julian, twitching to get her hands on him, desperate to end it once and for all. Devon showed no sign of awakening any time soon. Would it be the same with Julian? “We can do it,” she whispered.
“No Cassie!” Melissa said sharply. “We need to get to safety. We need to get Devon to safety,” she added more pointedly.
Reluctantly tearing her gaze away from Julian’s body, Cassie shifted, adjusting herself as she slid her arm under Devon’s shoulders. Melissa was right; Devon was her number one concern right now. She could not take the chance of him being hurt tonight, nor could she take the chance of Julian awakening anytime soon and coming after him in this vulnerable state. “Give me a hand Chris!” she ordered briskly, her heart hammering with her desperate need to get Devon out of here.
He hurried forward, his gaze still wearily on Julian as he bent to help Cassie. It took a few moments but they finally got Devon to his feet. Draping his arms over their shoulders, they drug him toward Dani and Melissa. Cassie’s hand clenched tightly on Devon’s waist, needing to touch him as fear for all of them raced through her.
“We need to hurry,” Melissa said urgently, her onyx eyes darting anxiously back to Julian. Though her dark eyes did not reveal a recent vision, Cassie knew Melissa’s instincts were highly honed because of her premonitions. Cassie’s heart hammered even harder as she glanced over her shoulder, Julian still had not moved.
They shuffled as swiftly down the path as they could while dragging Devon between them. Dani wound easily along, her flashlight bouncing across the trail, flashing off the eyes of a fox as it darted into the woods. Cassie was relieved to note the return of the wildlife, surely that meant that Julian was still safely unconscious. Didn’t it?
Cassie scanned the forest continuously, searching for any hint of his return in the shadowed interior. “Just a little further,” Dani whispered.
Devon twitched suddenly, his hand tightened upon her shoulder. Cassie stiffened, her heart hammered as adrenaline shot through her. “Faster,” Chris urged. “Go faster.”
They broke into a slow trot, Dani and Melissa moved swifter without the added burden of Devon’s weight. A deer bolted through the forest, the loud crashing of its passing reverberated around them. “Oh,” Cassie breathed, forcing herself to ignore the growing ache in her shoulders, back, and legs as she tried to move faster. The eerie silence returned once more, a pall hung over the shadows. “Melissa!”
Melissa turned back to her, rushing to her side. “Take him,” Cassie urged.
Melissa’s dark eyes scanned her worriedly, but she did not refuse as she slid easily into Cassie’s place. Cassie was reluctant to release Devon, but she needed to be ready to fight. She was the strongest of them; she had to be free when Julian came back. Though, she was not fooled into thinking that she was strong enough to defeat Julian. She quickly tried to bury that thought; fear would do her no good here, not now anyway.
“Keep going.”
“We’re not leaving you here!” Chris said forcefully.
“Go!” Cassie snapped. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end, goose bumps broke out on her arms. Julian was coming. She turned, bracing herself for the attack, resting on the tips of her toes as she bounced slightly up and down. “Get him to safety,” she urged. “Please Chris, he’s the only hope we have of destroying Julian.”
Chris swore vehemently. “I’ll take him,” Dani whispered.
Cassie did not look back as more rustling ensued. Chris appeared at her side, his sapphire eyes dark as he briefly met her gaze. “Go,” she urged, not willing to lose her best friend.
“No,” he said simply.
Cassie didn’t argue further, there was no need. It would do no good. They began to back slowly down the path together, keeping an eye out for any sign of movement. She glanced over her shoulder relieved to see that Dani and Melissa had disappeared around a bend with Devon. “Run,” she whispered.
They turned and fled down the path, their feet moving swiftly over the ground as they raced forward. The hairs on her neck stood up, she could almost feel Julian breathing down her neck. His fury pushed her harder and faster than she had ever run before. Reaching out, she grabbed hold of Chris’s arm as he started to lag behind. A surge of strength, she had never known she could possess, swept through her as she dragged him along with her, refusing to lose him to the monster chasing them.
She pushed Chris in front of her, urging him faster, pushing him with her hands. They rounded another corner, Dani and Melissa came back into sight, Devon was still dragging between them. Panic spurted through her. “Go!” she screamed, her voice raw with terror and urgency.
