Page 113 of Fated Exile

The last time Delilah was kidnapped, she was dropped into the arena and by my side, where she changed my life forever. I can't regret the events that brought us together, but the thought of losing her similarly makes my heart race. I'd be unmoored without her, lost and all alone.

Which is why I'm not going to let that happen. Pushing my body to the limits, I run as fast as I can until I see the house in the distance.

I can hear and smell other wolves around me, further out in the trees, racing as well. Lance's white-furred body shows up, then Kieran's reddish-brown, and Finn's dark fur. There are others, warriors I've patrolled with and hunted beside, each of them strong and brave. Even the older ones.

Including Niall, who comes racing out of the house with us, bursting into his solid grey wolf and stretching his lanky legs. He glances over at Roarke and asks,This the fight?

I think it is,Roarke responds, and for the first time since I've met him, I hear real fear in his voice. It's enough to frighten me a little.Do you smell that? I smell something, but I can't see them.

The scent hits my nostrils a moment after he mentions it. The wind shifts, and I get more and more of it.

It's a smell that's all too familiar to me, and it makes my stomach queasy.

Vampires. Many of them, based on the smell. Enough to outnumber us.

Enough to overpower us, if we're unlucky.

It's not until we're closer to the edge of town that I see them. They're covered in thick, oily clouds of black, like Ignacio was the night of the Mating Ceremony. Whatever the spell is, it takes a moment for my eyes to see through them and get a sense of their number.

There are around fifty vampires.

And Delilah is running straight into the center of them.

I can feel her bond with me now, its strength tighter and stronger now that she's within sight, though not as strong as it should be. The field is still dampening it to a certain extent.

Reaching out towards her, I slam into her mind and send the first panicked message I can.Vampires! Fifty of them. All around you.

Where?

To your right!One lunges for her, and I practically break my neck streaking across the space between us. Closing ground, I leap on it before it can get her and tell her anxiously,There are too many. You can't see them?

No.She freezes in the darkness, her bright eyes searching the night for shadows.There must be some spell. Maybe I can lift it somehow, but I have to shift back—

Too dangerous!I shove my shoulder against her and slip more fully into her mind, panic overtaking me as I see the vampires prowling towards her.Look through my eyes. Let everyone do it.

Bastian, I don't know how—

Something inside me is different,I insist. I have theories as to why, but we don't really have the time.Just try it.

She does. I can feel her in my mind, and it's a little uncomfortable, but I let her in because it's Delilah. Unlike that time with the scary monster thing inside me, it's easy this time around, and it doesn't hurt me or scare me at all.

I blink, and suddenly, there's double vision behind my eyes. I can see a little bit what Delilah is seeing, and I think she can see what I am. Then it goes away, and she eases out of my mind, her body tensing as she whirls to face one of the vampires directly.

I can see them now.I feel the wonder inside her through our bond, and hear it in her "voice" inside my head.I think I can share this with the others through the bond. Maybe Roarke and I can even share it with the warriors, too. Thank you Bastian—that was quick thinking.

It was the only thought I had, which is why it was so fast, but I take the compliment anyway.Let's fight!

And fight we do. Delilah's magic ripples out to the other guys, visible as a light glowing dust in the air—though I think I'm the only one who sees it. As they look around and adjust to their new special anti-vampire-invisibleness sight, they tense and start to attack the bloodsuckers, which is good because I can't do this shit on my own.

Though I'd certainly like to try.

Breaking away from Delilah, I jump on the closest vamp and sink my fingers into his leg. Though he tries to rip away from me, I shake my head back and forth to tear his flesh apart. Then I hit bone, feel a crunch, and leap away with all my body to tear his leg from the rest of him.

It sticks out of my mouth, dangling a little.

So I get the bright idea to twist my head around and smack him with his own arm a bit. Ha! That's pretty fun. Once it gets boring, I just sever his head from his body, rip his spine apart, and move on to the next vampire as he turns to dust on the ground.

Over there is a willowy, pale vampire woman who once told me I'm pretty dim. I show her how dim I can be by punching my teeth through her middle and breaking her body in half by the spine. It's not severing the head, which usually is what you have to do with vamps, but it does the job. Guess I'm a little bit of a genius after all.

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