With a nod to the others, I got down on my hands and knees and made my way beneath the growth, pushing forward. Spring rains and warm weather made the going much darker and more difficult than I remembered as I pushed at the leaves and tender shoots blocking my path. I imagined that in the heart of summer, it would be almost impossible to get to where I was going.
Thomas was right behind me, the gleam of those canine eyes heavy on mine. We pushed ahead. When I reached the spot where Fern had found Kit I froze, waiting for the others to crowd closer. The hair on my arms rose and crackled and I felt my hands heat up and tremble as I cupped the dry earth and stared into that yawning hole. Logic said it couldn’t be deep, not if Kit had come through and lived to tell the tale. Still, the absolute dark intimidated. I reached out a hand and watched it disappear over the lip. It was like moving one's hand outside a window in a storm. I broke the surface of that inked dark and felt a dry breeze float over the back of my hand to ruffle the hairs there. I pulled back and met Thomas’ eyes and everyone else’s beyond. “Ready?” I whispered.
I rolled forward and in and then I was falling through blackness, a brief sense of vertigo causing my stomach to roil. But it was short-lived as I plowed into the ground and kept rolling down a short incline, coming to rest against a tree with a bone-jarring thud. “Oof!” I managed, blinking in the broad daylight. I sat up in a panic and looked around, waiting for the others. I barely had time to register the familiar, and unfamiliar terrain. Trees, rocks and sandy soil crossed my vision right before Thomas came through and crashed into me, sending me further down the hill into the next tree. I struggled to stand up as the rest came through in rapid succession after. Jorta and Ab’et were up and looking around in an instant and I wondered what they were expecting. I thought of the Juggat Dragons and pulled my bow free and notched a bolt.
I looked closer at our surroundings and realized I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. We’d come from pine forests and the rocky soil of a mountainous region.
Despite the hilly terrain we’d landed on, here it was flatter, the landscape dotted with deciduous trees heavy with foliage. The leaves were wide and the size of my palm, with three-lobed pointy edges that looked needle sharp. The soil was rocky, but it was heavy on the sandy side, crumbling beneath our feet with every step.
Ab’et stepped forward. “We need to get out of here. We’re too exposed and in the open.” He nodded towards a denser stand of woods some several hundred yards off to our left. “There, come on.” He didn’t wait to see if we followed as he took off at a dead run, leaving the rest of us struggling to keep up. But Ab’et and Jorta were the experts here, not us. After having dealt with the Juggat Dragon, I was willing to take him at his word.
We reached the stand of trees and kept going until we were well beyond the open landscape we’d landed in. Jorta brought up the rear and faced back the way we’d come with a frown. I assumed to make sure we hadn’t been followed.
Ab’et stopped and we gathered together. “We need to find a spot to hole up for the night and figure out how we’re going to go about doing this without ending up dead,” he finished, unsmiling.
Jorta looked at his father. “About six miles from the others, I’d say. What’s your take?”
Ab’et gave a grunt. “Same. We hole up here tonight and go on in the morning. We should make it there about mid-afternoon.”
“Others?” Thomas asked. Nick stood beside him, staff held stiff in his hands and his mouth in a grim line as he looked around.
“The rest of our group. The other members of our clan that Will Bennett and his dogs chased from their homes.”
Thomas growled at the slur, eyes heating up. Ab’et ignored him.
“We need help if we’re going to have any chance of getting in—or out of Radmoor. We built it to be easily defensible from within. It’s designed to keep attackers out.”
I’d figured as much, but I wasn’t keen on being the only three humans in a den full of starving vamps either. I gulped.
“Are you sure that’s such a wonderful idea?” I addressed Jorta. I knew Ab’et rather hoped we’d get eaten.
“No. It’s not. But do you have a better one? I’m all ears.” He smiled.
Or teeth.
“I’d better get at and gather some firewood, or is that an awful idea too?” I asked.
“No, just don’t wander far and keep your eyes open. Juggats rarely wander through the woods. But Bennett’s got the wolves wandering everywhere. It’s not just your family that he has locked in the keep.” I jerked in surprise. I suppose I should have expected that, but my ego had foolishly believed that Will was only keeping Other and Magicals captive.
“Then we release them all, right? Gives you a chance to take back what’s yours.” I added.
“We’ve tried more than once. So far all we’ve done is add to the numbers he has housed and starving down below.”
We kept the fire small, less to draw notice of our whereabouts to anyone who might pay too close attention. The nights were colder than we were used to. The vampires seemed unaffected by the chill air, but the three of us huddled together for warmth. Dinner was a granola bar washed down with tepid water, but it stilled my stomach. We shivered through the night without speaking much, dreading dawn and our coming encounter with more vampires.
“What if they don’t listen to what we have to say?” Nick whispered in my ear.
I shivered but felt warmer. “Then they probably will enjoy an unexpected buffet, what do you think, Nicholas?” I asked, moody and worried.
“I don’t plan on any of us being on the menu.” He mumbled. The planes of his face seemed to shift and move under the reflection of the firelight.
I sighed, tempering my waspishness. “I think Jorta will be our best bet for convincing them we have a better chance of succeeding if we work together.”
“Yeah, but then, who will convince us?” Thomas murmured from my other side. He’d been listening in.
I HADN’T EXPECTED TO sleep a wink, but after three days with little to none, exhaustion caught up to me.
Something jarred me awake and I wasn’t the only one. I met Ab’et’s eyes across the dwindling fire as he pushed to his feet. Jorta chose that moment to enter from somewhere left, face alarmed.
He nudged Nick with his boot on his way by. Thomas was already stirring, his instinct for trouble waking him up.
“Someone is coming through the woods and fast, get that fire out.” Even as he spoke, Thomas was on it, spreading the dying embers and scuffing dirt over the top to dull the glow. No sense being a beacon to draw whatever it was in.
We had little time to prepare. A stiff breeze came our way and I knew. From the flare of their nostrils, so did everyone else. Demon wolves were heading our way. I imagined they were out scouting for stragglers and had smelled our campfire.
They weren’t trying to be subtle about it either. Maybe they weren’t used to surprising anyone that could fight back.
We spread out, weapons ready, finding trees and angling behind them to conceal our presence. Through the inky dark I could make out five of them. They were only fifty yards out when they paused and then spread wide. Planning to flank the unsuspecting campers, I supposed.
Only, I’d never been a victim and I didn’t mean to start. The lead wolf was almost abreast of me when I stepped out from behind my tree and fired, almost point blank at his chest. The poison tipped arrow sank deep and stopped him in his tracks. Snarling, he reached down and plucked it free with a grunt, eying me with evil intentions. It should have slowed him down more than it did. Instead, he kept coming and I had no time to reload. I slung the bow over my shoulder and drew my knife and crouched, waiting for him to come. He didn’t disappoint.
The sounds of battle raged around me, but none of it mattered in the here and now of what was happening to me. He plowed into me and we tumbled together end over end across the ground, each of us grappling for purchase. Snapping teeth came towards my throat and the panic
and rage made me call what I should have earlier. Power sizzled down the length of my arm and crackled along the length of my bowie knife even as I felt the first warm tickle of his breath against the vulnerable skin beneath my jaw. Fire sizzled over my hand and erupted along the blade's surface. I drove it deep, fanning the flames with my rage and fear as I planted my boots against his belly and shoved him back at the same time.
He landed on all fours, snarling in rage and pain as he gained his feet. The smell and sizzle of hair and flesh made my stomach turn. He eyed me from across the remnants of the fire, clawed hand gripping his side. He wasn’t done, but I was doing damage. Between the poison-tipped bolt and the fire-rimmed knife he was weaving suddenly, struggling to maintain his feet. Sliding the blood slick bowie into my sheath, I swung my bow free, notching a bolt in a smooth motion and bringing it to bear on his forehead. I didn’t try for conversation as I let it fly, the sound a small thwack as it hit. He hit the ground with a thud, but I was already turning, assessing.
I was just in time to see Nick’s staff, the length of it lit with blue fire, impact the charging wolf’s underbelly. The result was instant as Nick sent energy down the length and the wolf was flung backwards, a softball-sized hole where he’d been hit and tendrils of flickering electricity exploding over his torso. The wolf shuddered and went still, smoke fading from his nostrils.
Huh, that was new.
I turned to see Ab’et, arm and arm with a wolf half again his size. It appeared he was losing. I notched another bolt and called my fire, pleased when energy traveled the length of my crossbow and erupted in a sputter of flames at the tip. It sunk deep and all that remained was a steady orange glow. Perfect, who needed a campfire anyhow? I waited until the wolf’s back swung in my direction and I had a broad target before I let it fly. The reaction was explosive and the wolf screamed and arched his back under the impact, his grip on Ab’et’s forearms loosening. With a snarl and a flash of teeth, the vamp went for a hairy throat. I averted my eyes, but I couldn’t shut out the sounds of shredding tendons and gulping. Gross.
The last two wolves, on the losing end of Thomas’ knife and bolos and Jorta’s towering strength and speed, made a run for it, leaving their fallen comrades behind. We didn’t give chase. Instead, I averted my eyes once more as Jorta and Ab’et, with Thomas’ help, drug the three downed wolves out of sight into the darkness. Like the vampires, the only sure way to make sure they stayed dead was Off with Their Heads.
Instead, I unburied the embers in the fire and Nicholas helped me build it back up. I was sure I wasn’t going to be sleeping the rest of the night, but I couldn’t stop the chills that suddenly assaulted me. This time we didn’t keep it small. I huddled close to the heat and Nick came in and sat behind me and wrapped long arms around my torso and snugged me close. I stiffened and started to move away when he leaned in and hissed in my ear.
“Body heat Cross, don’t go getting crazy on me. It’s damned cold.”
Delicious heat was already melting my bones and I stopped trying to move away as the others returned and joined us, wiping the sticky tar-like blood that coated everything on the handfuls of leaves they gathered. Jorta tossed his in the fire and the resulting stench of burning Demon wolf made me gag. I shot him an evil glare. He smiled and shrugged.
I noticed that both vamps looked vital and strong. They’d fed on something that agreed with them for the first time in weeks. The thought of what made me want to unload my measly granola bar all over the ground. I was being unreasonable and I knew it. We needed them to be at full strength tomorrow when we visited their cousins. Vampires respected the mighty and took advantage of the weak. We needed to make sure that’s what we showed them. They’d listen to power.
ELISE SAT NIBBLING on a fingernail, perched on a flat rock and looking ready to burst if she wasn’t careful. Fern stared down the trail towards the middle of Bane Forest that contained the portal Sadie, Nicholas and Thomas would come back through, hopefully with eleven live Tuttles in tow. Sirris stood ankle deep in the lake, but for once, her mind wasn’t on a swim as she stared out over the placid surface, expression pensive.
She must have sensed Fern’s attention as she spoke back over her shoulder. “I don’t like it. I feel useless. Say we get the bomb from dad and they don’t come back through? What do we do then? How long do we wait?” The words floated on the air, the questions unanswered.
Fern answered. “I don’t know. I know Sadie thinks she’s got this, that they can handle it. I’m not so sure. I don’t think we do wait.”
“What, you mean seal the portal now!” Sirris cried in alarm.
“No, I mean we don’t wait for them to come back through. I think we go in after them.”
Elise looked up. “You know, keeping me back was necessary, even if I didn’t like it. If Ab’et thinks I’m leverage, he’s more likely to cooperate. He’s looking forward to being a grandfather. Still, I don’t like that we’re stuck here spinning disks and useless.”
Fern didn’t bother to correct her misuse of the euphemism. This wasn’t English class. “We do need the bomb though. Maybe not right away, but we need to be able to seal that portal when we’re done.”
“Yeah, let’s put everybody back in their own dimension. You get to keep Will Bennett. That one’s yours.” Elise murmured dryly.
“We thought we might gift that one to you?” Sirris said with a sly smile, wading out of the water and grabbing her sneakers as she came.
Elise snorted with a flash of teeth; the sound not ladylike in the least to show what she thought of that idea.
“We need Jerry Waverly. If we can get him to go to Bane Forest with the bomb and wait, that frees us up to go through into the other dimension. I can’t shake the feeling that they’re going to need us.” Fern finished.
“Feelings?” Elise drawled.
Fern gave her a frigid glare. “I’m an Empath. I never ignore my emotions,” she stated.
Sirris stared at her. She’d always wondered if Fern had any. She slipped her shoes on and gathered her staff and pack. “Well then, what are we waiting for? Let’s go.” Sirris headed for the portal key, her hand already lifting to trace the design.
ON THE OTHER SIDE OF Drae Hallow, Sirris turned her face to the mists that swirled about her with a grin, running her fingers over her cheeks to smooth the cool wetness in. She glanced behind her at the steaming opening to the cave and sighed.
“All this time and I was that close to a portal. I never knew. I come here all the time in the winter. It’s like my secret spot.” She glanced at the other two. Maybe not so secret anymore.
Fern spoke up as they turned towards the path. “We need to make a stop first. I think it’s time someone besides us had all the fun.”
Elise frowned. “Stop where?”
But Sirris was following the direction of Fern’s gaze and adding fast. “The Demon wolves. You can’t be serious. We get them to the other side and they’ll be gone so fast. If they don’t turn on us the minute we get there. Will Bennett controls them, remember?”
Fern grinned, crossing her eyes and moving her hand up in the air to waggle her fingers . “Could be I have something for that.” She joked.
Both Elise and Sirris stared at her and blinked. “Was that supposed to be haha?”Elise asked.
Fern huffed an explosive breath and moved off up the trail, disgruntled. “It was funny. You guys have no sense of humor, do you?”
Sirris mumbled beneath her breath as she pulled up the rear. “Weird, I have a fine sense of that.”
“I heard that.” Fern tossed back.
Elise giggled.
FERN’S PEOPLE SKILLS were legendary.
She stared Giat down. “You’re helping us rescue the cousins.” She stated. Both Giat and Dae turned to stare at her, pulling their thunderous gazes away from the vampire in their camp. Dae had grabbed the rest of a squirrel from the dwindling fire it roasted over and stood cradling it like a baby the moment he saw Fern. She had a hab
it of stealing their supper.
“What makes you think we might do that?” Giat growled, glaring at her.
“Because we need your help.” She said simply, as if that were all the explanation that was needed. “And you get to go home. That should be a bit of incentive.”
Giat frowned, expression dark. “As good as that sounds, I don’t look forward to being under the control of Will Bennett again. At least here I’m in control.”
“That’s terrifying, do you know that?” Fern quipped.
He growled at her, slanting her a dirty look.
Fern pulled what looked like a couple of small shell’s from her pocket. “I have these that might help. They carry the sound of the ocean, amplified a 100 times to whoever they are touching. The enchantment should drown out whatever Will Bennett is using to control you. The downside is that your hearing will probably be affected somewhat.”
“Should? What happens if it doesn’t work?” he asked, doubtfully.
Fern shrugged. “Well, then we’ll just have to kill you,” she said without expression, reaching a finger up to scratch Kit’s chin, where she rested on her shoulder, sunning her fuzzy head. One ear twitched.
He blinked, startled. “That will not happen,” he stated flatly, mouth a thin line.
She went on. “We need you to help us navigate through Wyndoor to Radmoor Castle. You know where you’re going. We don’t. Get us in, help us fjord the castle grounds with the others when we catch up to them. You can have Will Bennett when we catch him. If you take him out, then he loses that control, right? You get your forest home back.”
Dae chuckled, still gripping the squirrel possessively and chewing loudly. “I don’t know. Maybe we enjoyed having the castle. Nicer place.”
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