by Maya Nicole
I hadn't even smelled the squirrel with how much attention I was giving Samara.
Nico was sitting on a branch, and he shook his head at me, his beady little eyes pleading. He flicked his tail several times as if trying to have a silent conversation, telling me to stay where I was.
I really wanted to know what the hell was going on.
I turned back as a bolt of lightning came out of the sky and struck Samara. It seemed to last a lot longer than usual.
She fell to her knees and clutched her chest as another bolt came out of the sky and hit her. Three more bolts hit her in quick succession before the storm evaporated, and all that was left was the silence of the forest.
She collapsed onto the forest floor, her skin glowing brightly, and her hair even more purple than before.
Nico leaped from the tree, and as he hit the ground, he shifted back. I followed and did the same.
“What the hell?"
"Quiet." Nico didn't look at me as he approached Samara and scooped her into his arms. Her lips were chattering, and her eyes were clenched shut.
She was glowing like the moon. My brain couldn't make sense of it. I followed them back to the tents and waited outside as Nico put her back into her sleeping bag.
I was surprised when he came back out and stood next to me. He took the tie out of his hair and ran his fingers through it before piling it back on the top of his head. He needed a haircut.
"You can't say anything about this. Her life depends on it." He spoke in a hushed but firm tone. He meant the words he spoke.
I looked at him and raised my eyebrows. "I don't understand."
"Let's just say it didn't take her light." I barely heard him whisper, even with my heightened panther senses. Hell, my gargoyle would have struggled to hear it.
If it didn't take her light, then what exactly had it done? Given her light?
My eyes widened as my brain connected the dots. Her glowing skin, her purple hair, the way she just stood there and was struck five times by the lightning, yet was still alive.
It was infusing her with light magic. The alternative would have been her losing all of her light magic and going feral.
No light meant only one thing: becoming vacant.
"Is she going to be okay?” If he was lying and it really did suck the light from her, we needed to get away. Vacants liked to feast on flesh.
Nico sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "She’ll be fine by morning. It usually takes her about six hours to snap out of the trance-like state she’s in and to stop glowing so noticeably. Until then, she's vulnerable." He stepped forward and then turned to face me. "Is this going to be an issue? You knowing this information?"
I gave him an appraising look from head to toe. It was one that said, ‘what are you going to do about it if there is a problem’ I didn't like the squirrel, and I also didn't care for Samara. "That includes telling the vampire."
I opened my mouth to speak, and he put his hand up to stop me. "I know. But vampires can't be trusted."
I practically growled, my panther rising to the surface. I shook my head at him. "Val can be trusted. He's one of the most trustworthy demons I know."
Nico shrugged. "That might be true, but if word gets out about this… remember what's happened to all the luminous monkeys."
The luminous monkeys no longer existed, thanks to hunters that sucked all their light magic from them.
"The secret is safe with me." I honestly didn't know if I was going to tell Val about it. In that moment, I felt like I needed to keep it secret.
The reality was that Val was a vampire. He was my vampire, but the squirrel did have a valid argument. Vampires were notoriously untrustworthy and always had their own agendas.
He slipped away back into the tent, and I hardened into my gargoyle.
Everything was black. One second I was staring out at the forest and the next, nothing.
I reached for my senses, my eyes not cooperating. They were shut.
Was I sleeping?
Part of my curse was that I never slept.
I struggled to open my eyes, clawing internally to wake up. It was such a foreign sensation, and I wanted to scream.
I wanted to cry. I never cried.
Finally, true rest. Complete rest without the worry of what was threatening those I was in charge of protecting.
I gave in to the feeling and let myself drift away into the abyss.
My eyes flew open, and I took in my surroundings. I was curled in a ball, my nose buried between my paws, and I was in a tent. When had I shifted?
I inhaled and smelled squirrel. I also smelled something sweet that made my mouth water.
I got to my feet quickly and looked down at the sleeping form I had curled up next to. I sniffed and cocked my head to the side. Female.
I slowly moved up the side of her so I wouldn't wake her, and then I saw her hair. That purple hair, fanning out next to her. I lowered my nose to it and inhaled.
She stirred, and her eyes slowly opened. They widened, realizing a panther was hovering over her.
Before she could make a noise, I shifted and put my hand over her mouth to stop her scream. She struggled under me as my body hovered over hers. I could feel the outline of her breasts against my chest.
What the hell had happened last night?
I searched her eyes for answers, and she finally stopped squirming underneath my hold. She clutched at my wrists, and I moved my hand off her mouth.
"What the fuck, Amari? What are you doing in here?" She wiped at her mouth and squirmed some more. Something brushed against my crotch.
"I fell asleep?" I was so confused. I sat back on my heels and rubbed my hand over my head. "I was fucking asleep."
She bought herself up on her forearms and stared at me. "I thought gargoyles didn't sleep."
She looked well-rested, like nothing at all happened the night before. She had been struck five times by lightning, and she looked fresh, like she'd gotten twelve hours of sleep.
"We don't." I narrowed my eyes at her. She had something to do with it.
We stared at each other for a moment before her eyes went wide. "Did I..." She took a breath. "Go towards the lightning last night?"
Did she really not remember anything from the night before? How often did she throw herself in front of the bolts?
"You did. It hit you five times. The squirrel brought you back here."
She nodded solemnly and ran her hands through her hair. It was even more vibrant than it usually was. Did the lightning cause it to turn purple?
"You can't breathe a word of this." Her eyes pleaded with me to guard her secret.
"Don't worry. Your squirrel already talked to me." I stood and stretched my arms over my head. Her eyes traveled my body and settled on the spot where my shirt had lifted, revealing my stomach.
Her eyes stayed locked on my abdomen, and I pulled my shirt down. She shook her head as if she was snapping herself out of it, and then she met my eyes. "He didn't do anything to you. You need to stop calling him squirrel. He has a name."
"Isn't that what he is? I'm referred to as gargoyle. Val is referred to as vampire."
"It's said as a jab. I'm curious though, what am I referred to as?" Her eyes held a challenge, and I bit the inside of my cheek. I desperately wanted to call her something, but what? I'd heard the squirrel call her Peanut, and Val referred to her as princess or bruja.
She was unexpected and powerful.
"Are you a witch?" She certainly looked like a witch, not that witches had any distinctive features. There was a magical aura about her. She didn't have a wrinkle on her face, and her body was taut like she knew how to use it. Knew how to use it to do physical labor, that is.
She slid out of her sleeping bag and stood in front of me. Shit, she wasn't wearing any pants. I couldn't stop myself from looking down at her long, smooth legs. I shoved my hands in my pockets to resist the urge to run my hands up them.
A smirk formed on he
r face, like she knew exactly what I was thinking.
"I'm not a witch. I don't exactly know what I am." There was a hint of sadness in her eyes.
If she was nothing, why had I fallen asleep next to her the night before? It was like I was drawn to her and lulled by her. She had somehow gotten past my curse.
There was an awkward moment of silence, and then I turned and left the tent before I did something stupid. It had suddenly grown very claustrophobic inside.
I lifted the flap to Val's tent, but it was empty.
I really didn't trust myself to be alone with her, but it looked like for now, I was on my own to resist the pull I felt towards her.
Chapter 6
Samara
It happened again. I used to be able to control it, but more recently, the storms pulled me towards them like I had no power.
They were up to something.
Not long after the first bolt of lightning had struck me all those years ago, I started to think of the lightning as a sentient being. It seemed to have a mind, like it knew what it wanted to do.
The second time it chased me down, I thought it was just a fluke. My bad luck. My family had always been on the receiving end of such good luck, I figured it was our time.
The third time it happened, about a year after the first, I really started to wonder what the hell was going on. After each time, my skin and hair would glow. It was like my entire body was infused with magic. Not just any magic either; light magic.
Instead of the lightning taking away my light magic, it was feeding it to me.
I was no longer able to fight the pull of the storms. I couldn't even lock myself up. We had tried, and I had some burst of strength to break the chains.
I was scared shitless. The more times it struck, the longer I stayed passed out. Eventually, it was going to kill me. Either by itself, or someone was going to kill me because I was an anomaly.
I put on fresh clothes and swept my hair up into a bun at the back of my neck. With it close to my head, it was less noticeable. I tried shaving it all off once. The next morning, it had grown back.
I took several calming breaths and walked out of the tent. I was surprised Nico had left Amari with me considering their dislike for each other. Nico acted like we were together instead of just best friends. Men.
I scanned the area but only saw Amari packing up their tent. He had taken off his shirt, and his muscles rippled under his dark skin. I hated to admit it, but I was attracted to him. He scowled entirely way too much, but that was part of the appeal. There was more underneath that scowl. I saw it in his emerald eyes when he’d hovered over me in the tent.
Plus, I saw the way he looked at Val like he was his everything. I wanted that. I wanted Nico to look at me like I was his entire world.
But that wasn’t what Nico wanted. Nico had his world, and it was ripped away from him.
I let out a sigh and began packing up our tent too. I could feel Amari's eyes on me, his gaze causing heat to rise on the back of my neck.
I was experiencing testosterone overload from all directions. It wasn’t that I didn't like to be around men, but with three alpha personalities, I was aching between my legs like never before. If only one would touch me.
Val and Nico came from the trees, interrupting my thoughts, which had started to drift towards the risqué. Val was carrying a rabbit, and Nico trailed behind, looking annoyed.
Val handed the rabbit over to Nico and then went to Amari. I couldn't hear what was said, but he looked upset about something. His eyes landed on me as I watched their exchange.
He was probably wondering why his boyfriend slept in the tent with me. From what I could gather, Amari never slept with Val unless they were engaging in activities of the sexual variety.
My nipples hardened at the thought of them in the library together.
"How are you feeling this morning, Peanut?" Nico set to work cleaning the rabbit so he could roast it over the fire. I'd asked him once how he felt comfortable eating one of his cousins. He had tickled me without mercy.
He looked at me and smiled as if he was thinking the same thing. That smile was everything.
"It's getting worse. It's only a matter of time before…" I rolled up the tent and tied it onto his pack. I didn't want to talk about the possibility of dying. "Amari fell asleep."
He grunted and lowered his voice so only I could hear. "It was like he was under a spell. I tried to get him out, but then he shifted into his panther. As soon as he touched you, he was out cold."
I furrowed my brows and scratched my forehead. "My mother could put someone to sleep with a touch. Maybe after all these years, I'm getting my powers."
I was the daughter of two powerful dream demons, yet was born with no abilities. At one point, my father even accused my mother of sleeping with someone else. Really, what it came to was that I was just a disappointment.
Nico shook his head. "It wasn't that. I could see some of the light leaving you, and it spread over his body."
That was a new development. I looked at my hands, examining the palms and the backs of them. "This is not good, Nico."
"I know, Peanut. I know."
"I caught the scent," Amari said in his grumbly panther voice. It was much deeper than his normal speaking voice and sounded like there was gravel moving around in there. "This way."
We followed at a distance so our horses' smells wouldn't mess with his tracking. He took a left in the forest, and we continued at a snail's pace.
Tracking was a tedious process. I didn't even know why I volunteered to do it. Part of me had wanted to prove myself to those men sitting around the table. I had a feeling, though, even if we found the missing demons, the other council members would never accept me.
"Why did you never send word that you were alive?" Val rode his horse up next to mine but didn't look at me.
Nico looked back over his shoulder and raised his eyebrows. I wanted to dig my heels into the horse and gallop ahead, but I heard the hurt in Val's voice. I needed to be honest with him. Or at least as honest as I could be.
"I knew if I tried to contact you, you would come and get me." Maybe if I hadn't been struck by lightning, I would have contacted him. That night changed everything.
He made a strangled noise in his throat and glanced over at me. "And what would have been the problem with that?"
I gripped onto the reins, the leather digging into my skin. "I didn't want to be found. My brother had just told me to run and never look back."
"My family would have protected you. You didn't even give us a chance. Lilith left us alone for the most part. A few of our people went to serve her, but most of those ended up dead." We rode in silence for a couple minutes longer. "You could've at least sent me a note or message saying you were okay."
"Val-"
A growl came from in front of us. Amari had stopped in his tracks.
I knew something was very wrong when Buttercup stopped and began backing up. The other two horses whinnied and stomped their hooves.
I couldn't see anything yet, but something was coming towards us through the forest.
"Run!" Amari yelled.
He didn't have to tell me twice.
I could feel it on my skin. Whatever was coming for us was coming fast. I pulled Buttercup's reins to the side, and he knew exactly what I wanted. He did a one-eighty and took off at a gallop back the way we came.
I could hear Val and Nico behind us, the sounds of hooves pounding the forest floor creating an unsettling noise.
I braved a glance back over my shoulder and saw Amari behind us at a distance. Horses were much faster than panthers. Behind him, gaining ground, even though we were running as fast as we could, was a large group of vacants. Their eyes glowed red, and they were running.
Vacants didn't run.
I faced forward again and urged Buttercup on. He was not happy with the speed we were going, but I think he knew deep down inside that we were in deep shit.
"They
aren't stopping! We can't go back to the castle!" Nico urged his horse faster and came in front of me. "We need to get somewhere they can't go. Follow me."
Nico started to curve our path, and we followed him since we had no other options. The only relief was that vacants operated on their sense of smell, so they were following the same path as us. If they had any kind of visual perception, they would cut us off at the curve.
There were only two things that could stop a vacant: fire or water.
We had already been heading north, so going to the area where there was a lot of fire was out of the question. It would take us days to get there, and the horses would go lame before then.
I vaguely remembered there was a lake nearby. We had visited it once when I was a child.
"There's a lake around here somewhere!" I shouted over the sounds of hooves and snarling vacants running behind us.
I looked again, and they were slowly gaining inches. It wouldn't be much longer until they were on us, and we were ripped to shreds, starting with Amari.
"It's not far. Do you think we’ll make it?" Val tried to keep his voice calm, but it was hard to when flesh-eating monsters were hot on our tail.
I could see the red tint of the lake through the trees ahead. The moonlight shone down on it, making it appear like a reflective pool of wine. Usually, I would think it was beautiful, but at that moment, all I could think about was how Buttercup was going to have to make a decision.
As if he sensed my train of thought, he let out a pained neigh. I let go of the reins and took hold of his mane. His muscles trembled as we drew near the lake.
Hell horses couldn't go in the water.
"Amari! No!" Val's voice was strained. I didn't look back to see what had happened, my focus on the horse that had become family to me.
We were practically to the lake. Buttercup was about to sacrifice himself to save me.
All of a sudden, I was lifted from the horse from above. I felt teeth digging into my clothing at my neck, and then arms wrapped around me. They were half shifted between demon and panther.
