Page 48 of Darkest Heart

“Goodbye.”

The word haunted me ever since it had been whispered through our bond yesterday. I’d felt nothing since. I closed my eyes, desperately grappling for something. I’d never felt so helpless as I searched for Olivia, but she wasn’t there.

We waded around recumbent statues, and through thick overgrowth which had reclaimed the town. Weathered stone buildings stood decrepit, suffocated by ivy under the setting sun. Our footsteps penetrated the eerie silence, with only the occasional bird song echoing within forgotten stores and houses.

Indigo enveloped the sky as the sun fizzled from beyond the horizon. As we grew closer, I was sure I’d feel more from Olivia. But the silence in our bond was far more terrifying than any monsters lurking.

I refused to believe she was dead. There was no way that could be the end. In no world could she not exist anymore. I gazed up at the sky, a reminder of a place where the people I loved remained. Forever beyond my reach. My soul belonged to the depths of the underworld.

“Do you feel her?” Ravena asked, desperation lacing her tone. I couldn’t tell her the truth. She would think Olivia was gone, and that wasn’t true. Because my soulmate could not be dead. Not in any world. We had to keep looking, now more than ever. That goodbye pushed me harder than I ever had.

“Yes,” I lied, and turned my back. The soul vampires were more civilized in the city, even if their actions were still vile. But here, in the south, they were savages. There was no order, just chaos.

Erianna stood behind me as we reached the outskirts of the ghost town. There were seven of them with cemeteries, each more decrepit than the last. “This one has to be the one,” Erianna said.

“It better be,” I seethed. We’d been no closer to finding her. The lack of sleep weighed on my mind, slowing my reactions.

Erianna groaned. “If Ravena had scoped the towns out properly, like we planned, we’d have found her by now.”

A whoosh sounded behind me, and I whipped my head around. Ravena grabbed Erianna’s wrist, twisting her arm behind her back. I sped to her, my hand around her throat, before Erianna could plunge her dagger into the queen’s side.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I shouted, slamming her onto the ground. Dust billowed around her as rocks scattered.

Ravena jumped to her feet; her fists clenched at her side. Her venomous glare found Erianna. “I checked all the towns. Do you think I wouldn’t have done my due diligence? She ismydaughter!” Her voice rose an octave, shrilling through the night.

“Erianna’s right,” I said. “You didn’t do your job.”

Zach swept between the three of us, his starlight wings extended. “Stop.”

Ravena’s black gaze bore into me, specks of red lining her irises. “I should have never let you marry my dau?”

“Shut up,” Zach demanded, his voice a whisper. She opened her mouth to argue, but Zach placed his hand over her mouth.

A sound cracked in the permeating darkness beyond broken buildings and trees. I froze, and Erianna slowly drew her dagger. Ravena lowered Zach’s hand from her face, slowly turning, her fangs elongating.

They were here. It meant we were closer. I listened carefully, but Erianna held seven fingers to us. Zach nodded, and my stomach churned. We were outnumbered. Snarls licked the air around us as they whisked around trees and forgotten memorials, faster than any of us. Erianna gave a signal to Zach, who stood back-to-back with her, quietly drawing his sword. Ravena took three steps toward an old house, going it alone as always. Erianna pointed at my belt, and I pulled out the dagger Zach had given me. Unlike Erianna’s, mine wasn’t magically infused and, therefore, would do little to slow an aniccipere down.

Sadistic whispers caught in the winds surrounded us, as low growls brought us closer together. Huddled in the center, surrounded by creatures hiding in the shadows, I white-knuckled the dagger. My heart steadied as I brushed shoulders with Erianna and Zach. We always had each other’s backs, and if I was in the situation with anyone else but them, I wouldn’t have a hope we could get out of this.

Neither moved, so I remained still, waiting for cues from their body language that it was time to strike. The next moments were unspoken. Zach lifted the sword higher, and I glanced at Ravena, who was several feet from us, poised to fight.

Adrenaline pumped through my veins as the aniccipere grew closer. Flashes of their gaunt bodies whooshed past buildings. Each time, they were nearer, watching us from all angles. We had one chance. Even taking on one of them was difficult, but seven. While we didn’t have their strength or speed, we had strategy?something these savages didn’t naturally possess. Their primal, instinctual nature made them unpredictable, but easier to kill. They wouldn’t protect each other.

Erianna’s yell jolted me back as she slammed a hand down on my shoulder, pushing me away from the group. “Left!”

I lifted the dagger, extending my wings and flew up as one sped to my left. Erianna screamed direction at Zach, who sliced his sword through the air. I fixed my gaze upon the soul vampire, and curled my back mid-air, somersaulting down behind it. It whipped its head around, lunging at me, its needle-like teeth dripping with the blood from its last feed.

I seized the creature’s arm, plunging the dagger into its side. Pain ripped down my wing as its talon ripped into the tip, slicing the flesh. “Fuck,” I yelled, and twisted the blade, snapping muscle tendons. Its beady eyes found mine, a pointed tongue darting from its mouth as it tasted my soul. A psychotic smile split on its face, eyes glancing behind me. I wrenched the dagger out, stumbling back into another. One grabbed my foot when I tried to take flight, gaining advantage in height. Zach got the same idea. The whoosh of wings flapped in my ears as he flew up beside me, grabbing the one who’d snuck up behind me by the neck. I focused back on the creature I’d stabbed.

Before it could run, I lunged, sinking the blade into the chest cavity, using my other hand to carve a hole between ribs and flesh. The pure strength behind its pull away snapped a bone in my finger, the pain numbing my mind for a second.

But that’s all it took.

He gripped my neck, teeth sinking into my throat before I could react. The dagger tumbled from my fingers. I flapped my wings, the pain from the tear pushing me harder. It gave me some momentum, its teeth slipping from my neck as I flew back. I touched my blood-soaked skin, eyes darkening as I glared at the aniccipere, the untamed darkness I’d suppressed since Olivia was taken, snapping.

Rage guided me, my fangs elongated as I reached it. Grappling against its neck, I dug my nails into its chin and nose, pulling the mouth apart with every ounce of strength I had left. Its scream shrilled in my ears, the sound of tearing skin just as satisfying as I ripped open its mouth. The stench of decay on the aniccipere’s death-tainted breath hit me. Venom punctured my fingertips as its teeth pricked my skin, but it wasn’t enough to penetrate the anger clouding me. I barely heard Erianna shouting when I tore apart its face. Gurgling blood, the creature scratched at my arms, drawing blood. Wrapping my arms around its neck, I tugged, using my wings to pull harder. Hovering in the air, I landed my feet on its shoulders, twisting its head until it detached in a pool of blood.

I jumped down, the dead aniccipere at my feet. I turned, spotting Erianna mid-fight with one, with Ravena nowhere to be seen. A battle cry left my mouth, guiding my anger as I charged at the monsters responsible for taking my wife. It darted behind me, and Zach came up next to me, his blood-spattered expression focused.

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