Page 21 of Tangle of Lust and Lethargy

My lungs burned as we skidded to a stop, finally able to take in our surroundings. The twisted trunks loomed over us, their bare branches reaching toward the ashen sky like skeletal fingers.

“Did we lose them?” I panted, my grip on Justice and Garrick’s hands finally loosening.

Maggie pressed her back against a tree, her eyes closed as she focused on listening. “I don’t hear the dragon,” she whispered.

Garrick’s gaze darted between the trees. “We can’t stay here long. The sloth demons will catch our scent soon enough.”

I peered through the stark branches, trying to catch a glimpse of our pursuers. The Whispering Wastes stretched beyond our meager shelter, a desolate expanse offering no comfort.

Justice squeezed my hand. “We’ll rest for a moment, then we move. Stay close.”

I nodded weakly, then doubled over, my hands trembling as they rested on my knees. Each breath felt like fire in my chest, my lungs desperately trying to pull in air. The ache in my ribs was a constant throb, a reminder of how ill-equipped my human body was for vampire-speed travel.

“Garrick,” I managed between gasps. “How far…is the Forgotten Hollows?”

The Unseelie king’s eyes swept across the bleak landscape. His face was a mask of concentration, lines of worry etched around his eyes.

“We still have to move through the Whispering Wastes,” Garrick replied. “Based on where we are, I suspect we have another five miles to go.”

A chill ran down my spine at the thought of crossing more of this desolate terrain. The gnarled trees around us suddenly felt less like shelter and more like looming specters, silent witnesses to our desperate flight.

Garrick continued, his gaze fixed on some distant point I couldn’t see. “There’s a large stone archway you must pass to enter. The Forgotten Hollows lies beyond, and that’s where we’ll be tested.”

Maggie moved closer to Garrick, her hand finding his. “Tested how?” she asked.

Garrick didn’t answer.

Justice’s cool hand on my back steadied me as I straightened, finally able to breathe without gasping. Already, I felt the urge to keep moving, to put more distance between us and our pursuers.

“We need to go,” Justice murmured, his heightened senses no doubt picking up dangers I couldn’t perceive. “Can you make it, Sawyer?”

I nodded, steeling myself for the next leg of our journey. “I have to,” I replied, meeting his concerned gaze. “We don’t have a choice.”

I looked behind us and couldn’t even see the thatched house. “Do you think Damon and Zara are okay? Maybe we shouldn’t have left them.”

“I don’t know,” Garrick admitted. “If the sloth demons touch them, they’ll remain alive but frozen in time.”

A pit of fear ballooned in my chest at leaving my brother behind.

Please-please-please let him be safe.

I braced myself to leave our temporary haven. My legs shook at the thought of another five miles, but it was our only hope of escape. Our one chance to outrun the horrors that pursued us through this nightmarish realm.

I reached for Justice’s hand, drawing strength from his touch.

“Head that way,” Garrick urged tightly, gesturing in a direction. “Move fast. I see the demons out there.”

Justice’s eyes flash with determination.

“Always.” Justice’s hand grabbed mine. My heart pounded, adrenaline surging through my veins.

Once again, wind rushed over me as Justice whirled us out of the copse. The gust felt like icy daggers against my skin, carrying the putrid stench of rotting vegetation. Angry shrieks pierced the air, freezing my heart and sending shivers down my spine. The cacophony of inhuman wails seemed to come from every direction at once.

The sloth demons’ cries sounded like a nightmarish blend of nails on a chalkboard and a wounded animal’s howl.

Justice weaved us around the demons’ lumbering forms, their grotesque bodies barely more than blurs of matted fur and twisted limbs. Maybe they were too slow to touch a blitzing vampire. Their claws swiped empty air where we had been mere milliseconds before.

My stomach lurched with each rapid change of direction.

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