Protector (Daray Hall #2)

by Hoffman, Samantha

  That thought surprises me, and I look away so nobody will see me blush. The uncomfortable silence stretches between us, until thankfully Chloe breaks it. “How long do you think it’ll take for him to wake up? We can’t go anywhere until he does, and it might be dark before we even start climbing.”

  Kaven frowns. “I think Morgan and Kylie should start climbing now, and I’ll stay here with you guys. That way they won’t have to climb in the dark, and you guys won’t be down here unprotected.”

  “I don’t think we should split up,” I say, surprised he would even consider suggesting it. “If those sirens come back, Chloe and Tara won’t be able to stop the two of you from going back to the lake. You could drown while we’re gone.”

  “And if the sirens start to sing again, I don’t wanna be high up on the cliffs when it happens. If I go all crazy again, I don’t wanna jump off those ledges and fall to my death. That would suck,” he says. “It’s safer for me and Austin here on the ground, at least until you guys get back.”

  I look at Morgan. “What do you think? Are you alright with it just being the two of us?”

  She meets my eyes. “You’re a Protector, Kylie. A great one. I trust you to take care of me while we’re up there. Let’s go.” She looks ready to take on the world, which is a good thing, considering what we’re about to do.

  I nod to her, and look at Tara and Kaven. “You guys take care of Austin, and take care of each other. I’m not sure how long we’ll be gone, but it might be a while. I just hope that everything goes according to plan.”

  Morgan begins packing up her things, and I grab my bow and arrows. I slide the bow into the quiver, and strap it to my back. It’ll be slower to take out and defend myself with, but I can’t afford to try climbing with only one free hand. I’ll just get myself killed before I can do any good.

  Morgan looks at me. “I’ve got enough food and water to hopefully make it to the top, but we should try and hurry anyways. I wanna be safe in Selene’s Eternal Gardens before dinner.”

  “We’ll try,” I promise her.

  I cup my hands and give Morgan a boost up. She clutches the first handhold for dear life, but pulls herself up easily. She moves slowly and deliberately, thinking out each move before she makes it, and I know this is going to be slow going. I’m just about to climb up when Kaven stops me. He takes my hand and forces me to look at him. “Be careful up there. If you don’t come back down…”

  He pulls me closer and presses his mouth against mine. I close my eyes, trying to pretend that we’re alone right now and not about to do the nearly impossible, and just enjoy the kiss. When he pulls away, I bite my lip to keep from asking for another one.

  “Be careful,” he says again, much softer this time. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

  I nod, and he lets go of my hand. Kaven boosts me up to the first handhold, and I climb up after Morgan. The quiver strapped to my back affects my range of motion and slows my progress, but I still move faster than Morgan. It only takes me about thirty seconds to catch up to her, and after that I help her as much as I can.

  Morgan isn’t a bad climber; she just takes her time to make sure she doesn’t fall. Considering the fact that it’s about two and a half thousand feet to the top that might not be a bad thing. When I pull up next to her, she stops to catch her breath. We’ve climbed about four hundred feet, and because of the slope, I can’t see the others anymore.

  “We’ve got a ways to go still,” I remind her.

  “I know. Did you know that I have family in Arizona?” I shake my head and she continues. “Yeah. I went out to visit them once, and I climbed Camelback Mountain with my grandfather. I kept thinking it was amazing he didn’t have a heart attack the whole time, but when we reached the top, I felt the most amazing I ever have in my entire life. Nothing beats the feeling of exhilaration when you reach the top of a mountain.”

  “Are you close to your family?” I ask as she starts to move again.

  “I used to be, but I wasn’t really when I turned into a fledgling. Of course, I always kind of hated my parents; I thought they could have been better. More caring, better listeners, etcetera. Maybe if they had been I wouldn’t have always been so depressed and upset. When I “died”, I was happy to get away from most of my family. My grandfather still writes on occasion–he’s the only one that didn’t immediately shun me for what I’ve become.”

  “I’m sorry; I know what it’s like to have people in your own family hate you,” I say, thinking of my stepfather. He’s not my stepfather anymore though, I think to myself. Mom got rid of him when he refused to let her see me. I should have called her before leaving again; she still thinks I’m dead.

  Morgan and I climb in silence after that talk. I already know she and I don’t have a lot in common for us to talk about, and concentrating on the actual climb seems like a much better use of our time. I’d hate to slip and fall just because I stopped to ask her what her favorite color was.

  The ground gets farther and farther away as the day turns to dusk, and I have to force myself to stare straight ahead. I’m tempted to look back down, but I’m not sure I want to see what the ground looks like at twenty-five hundred feet. When we near the top of the bluff, Morgan steps aside and lets me climb up first.

  The ground is nice and flat at the top, with plenty of boulders to hide behind in the event of an attack, but there isn’t much else around here. I see no cave, and I see no indication of which direction it might be.

  I turn around and help Morgan up, and she dusts off her pants before looking around. “Well, I see no cave,” she says. “What do you wanna do now? We can’t split up and look for it.”

  I shush her, and climb to the top of a nearby boulder. From there, I can look pretty far in both directions, despite the rapidly approaching darkness. It’s about six o’clock, and the sun is already starting to go down. In another hour and a half, it’ll be pitch dark out. Not to mention cold.

  We have to find Pandia soon, or we’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

  Finally I see it. The cave is about a quarter of a mile away, but the ground between there and our position is flat and easily traversable. I look over my shoulder at Morgan. “The cave isn’t too far away. We can walk there in a bit, catch our breath, and come up with a better plan than just rushing in.”

  I hop down, and take the time to take my bow from the quiver. There’s a good chance that I’ll need this in the next half an hour or so, and I don’t want to get caught without it. So I fit an arrow to the string, and force Morgan to walk along silently behind me. She obeys my orders without question.

  The cave quickly approaches, and Morgan and I duck down behind a boulder. I peek around the edge, peering into the mouth of the cave. It’s not very large, only about the size of a football field, and it’s dimly lit. I can’t see inside, but I’m sure that’s where Pandia is being held.

  Strangely though, I don’t see any sign of the goddesses that are supposed to be guarding her. Where are Artemis and Bendis? They’re supposed to be here, keeping anyone from saving Pandia. This feels like a trap.

  I look at Morgan. “What do you think we should do? I don’t see anybody inside the cave, but this has to be where Pandia’s being held. Do you think you could sneak inside and scope the place out for me?”

  She nods, but looks nervous. “I can try.” She closes her eyes and her face scrunches up in intense concentration. For a second, nothing happens. When I’m about to suggest another plan, parts of Morgan’s body begin to fade out, and I can see bits of the boulder through her invisible body. A few more seconds pass, and the rest of her becomes invisible. “What do you think?”

  “You’re completely invisible,” I say. “I just hope you’re as invisible to others as you are to me. Morgan, be careful. If you need me, I’ll be there in a second, got it?”

  “Yeah,” she says.

  I can hear her footsteps as she walks around me, but they quickly fade away, just like her body did. I fidget nerv
ously behind the boulder, waiting for some sign that Morgan found Pandia. Someone inside the cave screams, and I know it’s not Morgan or Pandia.

  It’s not even human.

  I vault over the boulder, racing for the cave’s entrance. It takes me only seconds to reach the inside of the cave, and I wish I hadn’t. Morgan is backed against the cave’s wall, completely visible, by four ferocious looking women. They’re like nothing I’ve ever seen before, but I know exactly what they are. They’re harpies–ancient Greek women with the wings and talons of birds.

  These women are hideous. Massive feathery wings rest in the place where their arms should, and sparse feathers line their backs, legs, and chest, giving them the appearance of dirty birds in the process of molting. Razor-sharp talons replace their nails, and their teeth are long and curved, almost serpent like.

  I take aim at the nearest one, which is boldly moving toward Morgan, and I release. The arrow flies straight, burying itself up to the feathers in the harpy’s back. She shrieks and drops like a rock to the floor of the cave. Before she dies, I have another arrow knocked and ready to go. This arrow slices open the wing of a second harpy, and she drops from the air, unable to sustain flight anymore.

  The other two fly shrieking toward me, and I somersault beneath them, drawing my dagger from my boot. In the few seconds it takes them to turn around and come back, I notice Pandia tied up in the back of the cave, looking incredibly weak and tired; she can’t even hold up her head, and is going to be of no use in this fight.

  “Morgan, get Pandia and go!”

  I jump to the side, narrowly avoiding having my stomach ripped open by talons, and slash at the harpy’s ankle. She shrieks, and I take precious seconds to look over my shoulder. Morgan is untying Pandia, but I’m not sure how far they’ll be able to get without someone else to help them.

  While I’m distracted, the harpy with the bleeding ankle slams into me, sending me flying across the cave. I crash into the siding hard enough to crack a rib, and I gasp in pain. It heals quickly though, and I silently thank Selene for having the foresight to make me into a fully-grown vampire.

  The harpy descends on me from above, digging her talons into my shoulders. A pained cry escapes my lips, and she drags me away from the ground, flying up toward the roof of the cave, which is much higher than I thought it would have been. I twist and turn in her grasp, trying to dislodge the creature, but only succeeding in shredding my shoulders down to the bone.

  Blood drips down both of my arms, staining my clothes, and falling to the floor of the cave. From way up here, I can clearly see Morgan guiding Pandia to the cave’s entrance. She’s so unsteady on her feet that she can barely walk, and I know that she’ll be of no help to me.

  I’m going to have to free myself, and I know exactly how to do it. Shifting my dagger in my hands, I bring it up above my head, and stab it directly into the calf muscle of the harpy carrying me. She shrieks again, and I realize they must be incapable of actual human speech, which is why they keep making that sound.

  My inner realization is cut short as she loosens her hold on me. The cave floor rapidly approaches, and I can’t help the scream building up in my throat. Just as I’m about to open my mouth and scream, I land in a pair of outstretched arms that have leapt up to catch me.

  We fall back to the ground, and I look up into Kaven’s dark green eyes. He rests me against the wall of the cave, grabs my bow and arrows, and I try to tell him not to go, but my eyelids feel so heavy that I can’t keep my eyes open. For a second, all I can hear is the sound of shrieking harpies, and then it all fades away, leaving me surrounded by darkness.

  Chapter Eleven

  When I open my eyes, I instantly recognize my surroundings. The scent of jasmine and honeysuckle, the slight breeze that disturbs the cattails by the lake, and the massive waterfall at my back tells me that I’m safe and sound back in Selene’s Eternal Gardens. When I sit up, I see Selene and Pandia talking with everyone, except for Kaven, who’s sitting next to me in the grass.

  “We were really worried about you for a bit,” he says, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. “There was a lot of blood, and you weren’t healing fast enough. I thought Selene would have to intervene, or we’d have to force feed you blood to jumpstart your healing.”

  “I’m fine,” I croak. “I just need some water and a little more rest, and I’ll be ready to go home.”

  He sighs. “We’re not going home.”

  I sit up straighter. “What do you mean? We rescued Pandia. Our job is done, right? Shouldn’t we be going back to help Jillian rebuild Daray Hall? What about helping Carlos get the Protectors ready for the war? We’re not needed here anymore.”

  “Yes, we are. Selene has something else she wants to ask us to do. She wanted to wait until you were awake to talk to us. We should probably go see what she needs.” He helps me to my feet, and then steadies me. “Are you alright?”

  I nod. “I’ll be fine.” I gently shake him off, and walk over to where Selene and Pandia are talking with someone. Everyone else is gathered around them, and are staring at the newcomer with surprise and awe. I can’t see her face yet, but she’s a couple of inches shorter than six feet, and her hair is raven-colored and flows down to her waist in thick waves.

  When I step up beside Selene, I finally get a good look at this newcomer, and I realize instantly who it must be. Hecate, the witch goddess, has a diamond-shaped face, with a narrow chin and wide cheekbones. Her eyes are pitch-black like her hair, and her build is athletic and powerful beneath her gray cloak. At her feet lie two massive dark brown hounds that eye me as I approach.

  She looks at me with interest. “So, you are the fledgling that was sent back. I’ve been waiting to meet you for some time,” she says with a slow drawl. “I am Hecate, the witch goddess. I deal in the magical arts of our world, and I am celebrated as the crone goddess of the moon. I offer wisdom and help to those who pray by the dark of the moon.”

  “You can do magic? I mean, magic is real?” I ask, surprised. Then I remember I’m standing in the Immortal Realms with the goddess of the moon and the goddess credited as the first vampire, of which I am one, and I mentally smack myself. “Ok, that was a stupid question. Sorry.”

  Selene smiles. “I see you’re feeling better.”

  I nod. “Yeah, I am. What happened after I passed out?”

  “Well, Kaven took care of the remaining harpies. Only one got away. Then Pandia transported you all back here to my Gardens. You’ve been asleep for about ten hours or so. Your body still isn’t used to being able to heal from such massive trauma. With time, it’ll get faster, and it’ll be much less tiring.”

  I look at Pandia, who looks much better than the last time I saw her, though she still has dark circles under her eyes. “Why couldn’t you just get away?” I ask. “You’re a goddess! They were just harpies.”

  “Achlys told the other goddesses to keep me weak, and when they left me alone with those things, they allowed me to be fed upon. The harpies had been draining me slowly of blood since I was taken; I didn’t have the strength to escape myself. The only reason I was able to transport us away from that place before the goddesses came back was because Morgan was selfless enough to let me drink from her.”

  Drink from her? The confusion must be evident on my face, because Selene smiles sadly. “I told you before, Kylie, I am considered the mother of all vampires, because my daughter is considered as the very first vampire. Pandia sustains herself off blood just as you all do. She is a vampire–just a slightly more powerful one because of her parentage.”

  “Kaven told me that you needed our help for something else. How can we help?”

  Selene and Pandia trade quick glances. “The three of us are going to Mount Olympus to speak with the gods that reside there,” she says, nodding to both Pandia and Hecate. “Hopefully Zeus will hear our case, and will forbid the others from continuing this war.”

  “I thought the other gods wouldn’t wanna get involv
ed. Don’t they normally have a habit of staying out of each other’s affairs? I thought they liked to meddle in human’s lives, not other immortals.”

  “Normally that’s true. They much prefer pulling human strings, but I think I can get Zeus involved on our behalf. He is, after all, Pandia’s father. When he hears about what was done to her, I think he might want to help.”

  “And if he doesn’t?”

  “Then he might order the other gods to stay out of the fight as well. Right now, Apollo, the twin brother of Artemis, is ready to enter the fight on her behalf. Then it’s only a matter of time before Ares, the god of war, gets into it, probably just for the sake of fighting and bloodshed. Then Aphrodite, Hephaestus, and Athena. The fewer gods in this fight the better it will turn out.”

  “You don’t seem fond of the other gods.”

  She shrugs, managing to look graceful in the process, and says, “The gods live forever, and they do not require sleep. That gives them plenty of time to fill, and certain things get boring after awhile. Sex, drinking, feasting, and games can only entertain for so long. After that, they resort to other, more selfish forms of pleasure, such as human manipulation. Plus, when the gods live forever, they can afford to move slowly. It may take a while for them to reach a decision, if they even do.”

  “So you’re going into this thinking that it won’t work,” Kaven says, crossing his arms over his chest. “Why even bother going if you think nothing will come of it.”

  “Because I can’t just stay here and twiddle my thumbs while Zeus may be able to help. Zeus has had many lovers over the centuries, and once they’re of no more use to him, he feels nothing for them ever again. But it’s a different matter with his children. He cares a great deal about them, and will not be happy that other goddesses have injured his daughter.”

  “So when do we leave?” I ask.