When he reached the door, he stuck his foot out and pulled it further open with his toe. Nothing rushed out at him, and the only sound in the tunnel was the steady rise and fall of his breaths.
Declan stepped into the doorway and aimed his flashlight inside to reveal a cell five times the size of the others. Pushed against the far wall was a massive, king-sized bed. Black cloaks hung inside the open armoire on the wall closest to him. He recalled the demon wore a cloak just like them. This was that thing’s room.
Declan’s lip curled in disgust, and after inspecting the rest of the room, he kicked the door shut. Standing in the tunnel, he played the beam over the walls as he tried to figure out what they were trying to accomplish here.
He suspected whatever it was had something to do with the demon’s room and that they accomplished their mission before Lucien and the others arrived. He could picture them all crowded into the main tunnel, waiting for nightfall when the Alliance arrived. And they would have burst out of here and taken them all down.
There were a lot of Savages here if they’d accomplished what they had here in the short time the cameras were down. But what was so important they’d risk returning to this place?
They knew the Alliance monitored it and would come for them. They might have been setting a trap, but they’d done too much digging for it to be entirely a trap.
Declan tried to puzzle this out as he made his way back toward the main tunnel, but he had no idea what could have brought them back here. The demon was dead; he was sure of it. The flames it emitted burnt his cheek before he released it and watched as fire consumed its body.
The clatter of rocks from somewhere up ahead caused his step to slow as his lips skimmed back. He was spoiling for a fight that would unleash some of his mounting frustration and fury. If there was a Savage in here, he would make it regret its poor life decisions.
“Declan!” Logan hissed from the main tunnel.
Some of his tension eased, but he’d still enjoy beating the shit out of something. “I’m coming back.”
Logan’s feet scraped against concrete as he retreated. At the end of the tunnel, Declan grasped pieces of debris and scaled it in less than a second. Yes, the Savages could have flooded out of this tunnel and overwhelmed the others before they knew what was happening. At the time, the Alliance had the sun on their side, but the Savages would have had the shadows of the forest, and there were plenty of those.
Declan sat on the edge of the opening with his feet still dangling into it as he blinked against the sun’s rays. Lifting the back of his arm, he wiped away the dust and debris clinging to his forehead.
“What did you find?” Vicky asked anxiously.
“They were digging their way toward something.” Declan took the container of water Asher handed him and dumped some of it over his head before scrubbing his face. He used the rest to wash the dust from his hands and handed the bottle back to Asher. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Asher said as he shoved the container into his bag before swinging it onto his back.
“What were they digging toward?” Vicky asked.
“I don’t know what they were searching for down there, but I think they found it,” he said before filling them in on what he discovered below.
“What are they up to now?” Logan muttered.
“I don’t know,” Declan said, “but they’ll come for us when they’re ready, and if the Savages have Lucien and Leonard, they’ll find us.”
“We’re going to find them,” Vicky said.
“What do we do about the tunnel?” Saber asked.
“Blow it,” Declan said.
Saber grinned. “My pleasure.”
“There’s a side tunnel down there too.”
“I’ll make sure it doesn’t survive.”
Chapter Nine
From behind the safety of some trees, Declan watched as Saber’s last bomb detonated. The muffled explosion caused the ground to rumble, and the ripple of shock waves rolling across the earth vibrated through his feet. The trees shook around him, and their branches clicked together as they swayed.
From a few feet away from him, Vicky poked her head out as smoke and debris blasted out of the entrance and shot twenty feet into the air. The ominous creak of trees filled the air before the ground above the tunnel collapsed.
The trees above it toppled and fell with thunderous crashes that quaked the ground again. When everything settled, a pit in the form of the tunnels branching off in different directions marked the earth.
“If there’s any of them around, they’ll know we’re here,” Vicky said.
Declan gritted his teeth against the surge of happiness that the prospect of killing something brought him. Drawing on centuries of training, he took a deep breath as he tried to center himself in the now, but he couldn’t shut down his growing bloodlust. It was time to hunt these things down and make them pay for what happened here.
“We’re ready for them,” Declan assured her.
He stepped out from behind the tree and strode toward the sinkhole as Saber, Logan, and Asher emerged from their hiding places. Declan stopped a few feet away from the pit. Falling bits of stone and dirt still clattered against the side as they tumbled into the hole. If he got any closer, the ground would probably give way beneath him.
“Now what?” Asher asked.
Declan studied the sky as shades of pink and orange streaked across it. Until now, he’d kept the demon part of him at bay by focusing on something else. But his hope they would find anyone dwindled with every passing minute.
The more time that passed without knowing what happened to Willow and Lucien, the harder it became to keep the demon at bay. Pulling a lollipop from his jacket pocket, he unwrapped it, crumpled the wrapper in his hand, and stuck the candy in his mouth.
Strawberry. It was the only flavor he’d grown to like over the almost fifty years he’d been sucking on the things. Because of that, he removed it, rewrapped it, and placed it back in his pocket. He’d throw it out later.
He extracted another lollipop and cringed when the banana flavor hit his tongue. He focused his hatred on the candy rather than the boiling rage building inside him. Usually, it was a trick that helped to calm him; it wasn’t working.
Instead, he remained focused on the fact one of his brothers was missing and Willow’s beautiful face, which kept appearing in his mind. The wrath coiling inside him built until it became increasingly difficult for him to breathe.
His hands ached to tear the trees out of the ground as he tore through the woods in search of them. He would leave nothing in his wake and no place for any of their enemies to hide. The lollipop crunched as he bit down without thinking, and the hated taste of the center helped pull him out of his rising, murderous mood.
“Are we going to start the search for them?” Vicky asked.
He felt all their gazes on him. “I am.” Now that he was here, he couldn't wait to start the search. “The rest of you should return to the cabins until morning.”
They’d taken over another one of the cabins they stayed in the last time they came to this area of the world. When they arrived, there were a couple of fisherwomen staying inside the cabin, but they packed their bags after Declan convinced them it was time to go home.
“That’s not going to happen,” Saber said. “I’m not leaving here without searching for them.”
“We’re not leaving you out here alone,” Logan said.
Declan started to argue with them, but a howl silenced his words. The sound came from a good mile or so away and rose as more cries met it. The eerie, excited noises mingled until he couldn’t tell if there were dozens or hundreds of them reverberating over the land.
“What is that?” Vicky breathed.
“Savages,” Declan muttered.
“What are they doing?”
“Hunting.”
Saber removed his triple-bladed haladie knife from the sheath strapped to his back and grinned. “That means there is someone lef
t to hunt.”
Willow woke and blinked as she took in her surroundings. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep again, but boredom and her healing body had other plans for her. Still in the tree, she stared at the needles surrounding her as she twisted her injured foot in her boot. Except it wasn’t injured anymore because no pain accompanied the movement.
About time.
She would have spoken the words out loud if only to hear a voice again, but her throat was so dry, she couldn’t talk. Howls pierced the night again.
Why don’t they give up? Why don’t they leave? She’d hoped they would have moved on by now, but they were determined to track her. Or maybe they were hunting someone else. Please let there be someone else alive to hunt.
Resting her head against the tree, she studied the stars above. She couldn’t see many of them through the thick conifer surrounding her, but a few poked through. For some reason, those tiny, shining lights made it so she didn’t feel so alone.
Maybe she didn’t feel so alone, but her cramped legs, asleep ass, and stiff neck made her feel like a truck hit her. At least her clothes were dry, and she wasn’t as cold tonight as last night.
Leaning over, she peered through the branches to the ground. She should wait until morning before climbing down, but she felt good, and if she waited until morning, she’d be hungrier. The longer she went without feeding, the weaker she would become. However, she’d have the sun to her advantage in the morning, but in these woods, it wasn’t much of an edge.
She was debating what to do when another howl erupted. The hair on her nape rose, and her breath froze as the sound came from so close she felt like she could touch it. Tendrils of unease slid down her back.
And then, the hot plume of a breath caressed her neck.
The stench of rot filled her nose, and her heartbeat tripled in speed. Something was watching her; something so close its next breath stirred her hair. Something that wouldn’t be satisfied until it destroyed her.
Tilting her head back, her breath puffed out when a pair of red eyes filled her vision. Dirt streaked the face behind those eyes, and the blood caking its hair caused it to stand on end. They stared at each other before it grinned to reveal its elongated fangs.
Willow scrambled for the stake tucked into the belt she’d used to strap herself to the tree, but it was gone.
No! She moaned as the Savage waved the stake at her and its grin grew. Before Willow could free herself from the restraint she created, the Savage flipped off its branch and landed on her.
Chapter Ten
Declan followed the hunting cries of the Savages as he raced through the woods. The others kept pace as the flat terrain gave way to hills before returning to flat once more. He had no idea how much distance they covered before they discovered the first body.
Asher knelt to examine the body and the bite marks covering it. “Leonard.”
“Fucking pricks,” Logan growled.
Logan’s shoulders heaved as he turned and punched one of the trees. With his head bowed, he took a few deep breaths while he reigned in his control again.
“He was young,” Logan said.
“We’ll make them pay for this,” Declan vowed. “But you have to keep yourself together. Can you do that?”
Like Logan, he would like nothing more than to tear into the assholes who did this, but they couldn’t be reckless about their pursuit of them. Right now, they had the advantage of the Savages not knowing they were here, and they couldn’t blow it.
Logan’s head turned, and the white-blue eyes of a pissed-off turned hunter met Declan’s. “Yes,” Logan said.
Before Declan could reply, a series of ear-splitting shrieks erupted. They sounded more like excited baboons than anything once human or vampire. Many of these Savages were probably tortured into becoming these monsters, but he wouldn’t hesitate to kill them all.
His fingers brushed one of the lollipops in his pocket as he contemplated removing it, but he didn’t want to calm down. No, instead, he welcomed his rising fury. He would use it to destroy every one of these bastards, especially if they’d harmed her.
“We can’t leave him here,” Logan said.
“Were not carrying a body around with us,” Saber said. “We’ll come back for him.”
“What if we can’t remember how to find him?”
“That’s a problem for later.”
“I hate these assholes,” Asher muttered.
“We all do. Come on,” Declan said. “They’re getting further away from us.”
He led the way through the woods as they followed the hunting cries.
Willow jerked awake so fast that she nearly fell off the branch, but her belt did its job and yanked her back. With a racing heart, she took in her surroundings before leaning over to peer into the shadows below. She held her breath as she waited for a pair of blood-red eyes to meet hers, but no one else was in the tree.
Taking a deep breath, she rested her head against the trunk and looked at the stars. Despite knowing she was alone and safe, her heart continued its riotous beat as howls echoed over the land.
She must have taken the sound of those cries and incorporated them into her nightmare, but she’d woken to another nightmare. The Savages weren’t going to give up, and if she didn’t get out of this tree soon, she’d be too weak to fight.
Wiggling her toes, she smiled when she discovered that she didn’t dream her healed ankle. She started to undo her belt strap when a howl sounded from so close that she searched the tree to make sure she was still alone.
She bit her lip as the howl went on until it became an endless wail vibrating through her body until it became a part of her—a part that would drive her insane if it didn’t stop soon.
She almost slapped her hands over her ears to block it out, but she wasn’t a child who could bury herself under the covers or crawl into her parents’ bed when she was afraid. She was a trained killer, and as much as she longed for her mom and the safety of her home, she’d chosen to join the Alliance, and it was where she belonged.
In the beginning, she hadn’t known what would come of her choice, but in the Alliance, she discovered a second home and family. She’d also found a purpose that felt as right to her as the air she breathed. It was a deadly choice, and one day it might kill her, but she would never regret it.
Please don’t let that day be today.
Sticks cracked beneath her. Checking her inner jacket pockets and her belt, she breathed a sigh when she discovered that part of her nightmare was also wrong; she still had her stakes. She removed the one from her belt when a Savage emerged.
If it was only one of them, she would take it, but as she thought it, three more materialized. She cursed as she glowered at them. If her incessant thirst and having to heal hadn’t weakened her, she might try to take them, but she didn’t have a death wish.
When they stopped beneath her tree, Willow’s grip tightened on her stake. They stood together as they scanned the forest. If they looked up, they might see her, but she doubted it. It was nighttime, the branches were thick, they didn’t expect her to be there, and she exposed little of her head to their view.
Finally, they moved away and vanished into the forest as another unnatural cry sounded. Willow tried to swallow, but she was so starved she had no saliva left in her parched mouth and throat. She’d give anything to have her feet on the ground where she could feed and run, but she would wait until morning.
Chapter Eleven
When the first rays of the sun touched the sky, and the cries of the Savages died away, Willow undid her belt and slid it around her waist. Buckling it in place, she ignored the stiffness of her body as hunger burned her arid veins.
She hated the tremor in her hands as she descended the tree. When she reached the area where there were no more branches, she sat and, gripping the branch with both hands, lowered her legs over the side. She hung in the air before releasing the limb and falling to the earth.
Landing silently, sh
e crouched and rested her fingers on the ground as she took in her surroundings. Too busy trying to stay alive, she hadn’t paid attention to where she was running while fleeing the Savages, and she had no idea which direction would lead her out of these woods.
In the end, she decided to go in the opposite direction as the Savages last night. She could survive in the woods if she stayed away from them. She had to avoid them until she could feed. At least then, she could take on more than a few at a time if it became necessary.
Willow kept her attention riveted on her surroundings as she ran through the woods in search of prey. The only problem was, the Savages had scared off the larger prey and made the squirrels so skittish they remained in trees.
The sun was high in the sky when the distant sound of trickling water drifted to her. She wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her arm and changed direction to head for the water. It wouldn’t quench her thirst, but it would wet her parched throat, and she could clean the sap off her hands and face.
The closer she got to the water, the louder it became. She suspected it might be the same river she’d plunged into a couple of days ago, and she ran a little faster. If it was the same river, she could follow it back toward the tunnels. From there, she could figure out how to get out of the forest.
She was almost to the water when the snap of a tree branch drew her attention. Her head turned to the side, and from the shadows, a pair of white-blue eyes blazed out at her.
Shit!
She hadn’t bothered to return her stake to her belt after leaving the tree; the second it would take her to remove it was one second too long. And now she gripped the weapon tighter as laughter came from the direction of those eyes.
A turned hunter.
That meant he was more lethal than a normal Savage. He’d most likely been a member of the group who split away from Nathan when he decided to join the Alliance. This Savage was probably held captive with Simone before Killean rescued her.
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