Page 2 of Fading Sun

When I finally look up, I see Maria, one of the Guardian shifters in the city, on the bed next to Eliza, the human girl who helped us track down Viktor. Eliza’s pale from blood loss—Viktor took more from her than anticipated.

Maria’s watching me, as if she’s bracing for an attack.

“Why are you just sitting there?” I snap at Maria, gesturing to Eliza. “Shouldn’t you be tending to her? Making sure she’s not dying?”

Eliza flinches at my outburst.

Maria remains calm, her expression neutral as she shifts her attention to the frail human girl beside her. “She’s fine, Damien,” she says. “The juice helped. She’s recovering.”

Eliza drinks more juice with trembling hands, her eyes darting between Maria and me. She’s scared—of me, of the situation, of everything.

She should be.

I am, as Viktor pointed out, a monster.

And Eliza’s blood that soaked into the sheets while Viktor was drinking from her smells delicious.

My breaths quicken as its scent fills my nose, my base instincts wrapping around me like a hand in the darkness. It’s like her blood is hypnotizing me, taunting me, teasing me.

A little taste never hurt anyone…

No, I think, snapping myself out of it. She’s already weak from blood loss. Anything more is too risky. Especially in front of a Guardian.

I will not risk myself, my alliance, and my kingdom. Not for a simple human girl.

I’ve come too far to give in now.

“Take her back to the brownstone,” I tell Maria. “I’ll send someone to retrieve her tomorrow and bring her to her new home at the Fairmont.”

Maria tilts her head in concern. “Are you sure…?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” I snap again, which shuts her up immediately. “There’s something else I need to do here. And I can’t have a weak human tagging along while I do it.”

“Understood,” Maria says. “Although, I can’t leave with her just yet. She needs more time to regain her strength after the blood loss.”

“Then I trust you to stay with her until she’s ready, and to ensure she arrives safely at the brownstone.”

“Will do,” she replies.

“Thank you.” I take Viktor’s dagger from the ground, pocket it and the Astral Compass, and hurry out of the room, closing the door quietly behind me.

I am, after all, a predator. Predators never alert their prey to their presence—until it’s too late.

I only have to walk a block before turning onto Tenth Avenue—the street that lines the Hudson River. It’s quiet at this late hour.

Dangerous.

Anger pulses through my veins as I make my way in the darkness, mixed with an insatiable hunger—a primal need to feed.

The night’s events have left me raw, every nerve frayed, my mind a tangle of fury and doubt.

The duskberry bond, now silent, feels like a mockery of the lengths I’ve gone to keep Amber safe. Either she closed it to me, or she’s dead. Both possibilities fuel the fire of my raging emotions, making the hunger inside me coil like a spring ready to release.

I turn the corner and spot a lone figure walking in the distance.

A human man, unaware of the dangers that lurk in the shadows. He’s walking with his head down, earbuds in, absorbed in his own world.

They’re all so careless nowadays. They think their technology makes them invincible.

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