Page 10 of Entangled (Guardian Academy 2)

Feel me, a melodious voice floats through my head. Feel my death …

Dizziness swims in my brain as her death seeps through my body … The pain … It’s unbearable … as hot as lightning yet as cold as a blizzard. I can barely breathe as images flicker through my mind. A tug kisses at my fingertips. I swear I fall … fall into her … become her … die with her.

“We shouldn’t be here,” I say as I stand in the middle of the field surrounded by my fellow fey. My violet skin sparkles in the pale moonlight, my silver hair whips in the wind, and a scorching hot power blazes through my veins. “This is a trap.”

The man in front of me turns toward me, brushing a lock of his inky black hair out of his crystal blue eyes. “Adaliya, you need to calm down. We have a truce with the Lord of the Afterlife, and he wouldn’t dare break that.”

I laugh hollowly. “You really think that’s true? That the Lord cursed with darkness in his veins wouldn’t screw you over?”

“Do I need to remind you who I am?” His threat rumbles from his chest. “Unlike you, I’m not some mere civilian fey. Royal blood pumps through my veins. Remember your place, Adaliya.”

Anger simmers under my skin, but I lower my head into a bow. “Yes, sir. I’m just nervous. With the water fey roaming the world now, I’m worried that everything is going to change, that truces might be broken and new ones formed.”

“I understand your concern, but I assure you the Lord of the Afterlife would not dare do anything to break the truce with the fey.” He towers over me. “We’re too powerful.”

I internally sigh. The Prince of the North Kingdom is too arrogant for his own good. I should have followed my gut instinct and stayed in the Fey Realm tonight in the safety of our magic.

“You said the Lord sent a letter for us to meet him here tonight,” I proceed with caution, choosing my words carefully to avoid angering him more. “But what exactly did he promise that made you so easily break the laws of leaving your kingdom?”

“He said he found the Branch of Eternity.” He casts a glance up at the night sky now hazed with clouds. “He wants to make a bargain for it.” His eyes land back on me. “Do you know what that would mean for our kind? It would free us from death forever.”

“We already live too long as it is,” I say. “Not everyone wants to live forever.”

“Well, I do, and that’s all that matters.” He turns his back on me, leaving me to stew in my frustration.

How dare he bring our army out here and risk our lives, all so he can have immortality! He doesn’t even know if the letter is actually from the Lord of the Afterlife.

I start to turn away, ready to disobey rules and walk away from this, when a low, grumbling sound rises from the trees. I strain my eyes against the darkness and make out the shadows of human-like figures with red, glowing eyes.

“Eyes of the blood thirsty ones,” I whisper in horror. I reach for the prince to warn him, but a scream shatters through the air.

Blurry figures zip out from the trees, moving so fast my eyes can barely keep up. The scent of rust floods the land, and the ground below me softens like mud. At first, I think that maybe it started to rain, but when I glance down, I realize the dirt is soaked in blood.

A gasp escapes my lips as I trip back, reaching for my dagger in my sheath, but a figure zooms toward me and slams their hands against my chest. The dagger falls from my hands as I stumble to the ground, landing on the bodies of my fallen friends.

Dead. Everyone’s dead.

A sob wrenches from my chest as I extend my arm to the side and feel around for my weapon. Blood coats my fingers, and tears stain my cheeks.

“No. This can’t be happening.”

“But it is.” A deathly, emotionless face appears above me. Her skin is as pale as the moon, her hair as black as the sky, and her teeth as sharp as my missing dagger.

“You’re a vampire.” My voice trembles as I lean back, my fingers tracing the ground, searching for my dagger.

“Wow. You’re a sharp one,” she ridicules with a smirk before wrapping her fingers loosely around my neck and leaning in. “I guess fey were never really known for their intelligence, though, were they?”

“But we were here to meet the Lord of the Afterlife.”

“Did you really believe that?” She laughs. “How stupid of you.”

I want to tell her she’s wrong, want to be confident and strong, but fear overwhelms me, and I only manage to get one word out. “Why?”

“Why?” She hovers closer, so close I can smell the stench of blood staining her pierced lips. “That’s the best you can come up with?”

My fingers graze the handle of my dagger, and a drop of hope rises in my chest. “What else am I supposed to ask?”

Her smile widens, blood dripping down her chin. “How about this?” She leans closer, putting her lips to my ear. “Who?”

My fingers fold around the metal handle. “But I already know the answer. It’s right in front of me.”

She laughs wickedly, the sound sending a chill down my spine. “Stupid fey. Nothing is ever that simple.” She slants away from me, raising her head into the moonlight, her lips parting, her fangs ready to sink into my flesh and rip me to bits.

That’s when I spot the sequence of symbols branded into her throat.

“You’re from one of the facilities,” I whisper, inching my dagger close. “This isn’t you. This is them, the Electi. They did this to you.”

Anger flares in her eyes. “The facilities have done nothing to me except bring out what I truly am!” she roars, her fangs lengthening as she throws her head back.

A trail of moonlight spills across her bloody throat and collarbone. In the hollow of her throat, inked into her flesh, is a tattoo of a blood droplet with a silvery T carved into the center. She’s part of the territory clan that lives near Virginia Beach by the coastline. Usually, territory vampires are less violent and more in control of their blood thirst.

It hast to be because of the facilities. They ruined her, just like they’re ruining everything else.

I bring my dagger up, aiming it at her chest, but she captures my arm and digs her nails into my flesh.

I wince in pain, the weapon slipping from my fingers as her fangs sink into my neck and split open my throat.

I’m dying …

I really am …

Chapter 8

“Well, Jax, I have to say, you really picked a winner here,” an unfamiliar voice says. “Fainting at the scene? I think that might be a first.”

“It’s not a first, and you know it. Over half the newbies faint when they see their first real crime scene,” Jax replies with a deafening exhale. “And, if I’m remembering correctly, you were one of them.”

I want to open my eyes and see who she is, see where I am, but I’m afraid. Cold.

Terrified.

“You’re right. I did.” The woman’s voice turns flirty. “But I’m surprised you remember that.”

“How could I forget?” Jax replies. “I’m the one who caught you and saved your ass from smacking the pavement.”

She laughs. “Well, I guess you were just paying me back early for all the times I’ve saved that cute, little butt of yours.”

I wait for Jax to respond, but he doesn’t. Instead, warm fingers spread across my cheeks.

“Alana, open your eyes.” His breath seeps into my skin and thaws the deathly coldness inside me. “Please. You’re really starting to worry me.”

I don’t want to open my eyes at all. I don’t want to see the bodies on the ground, bodies I just saw die with my own eyes. How did I see through the eyes of the dead faerie, though? Maybe I’m becoming a Foreseer and am just tapping into my powers? Although, from everything I know, seeing through the dead’s eyes isn’t a Foreseer trait.

I wait for my grandpa’s voice to show up in my mind and tell me if I’m correct or not, but all I hear is the memory of the screams as the fey fell to their painful deaths.

Not knowing what else to do, I open my eyes and return to reality.

The sky is the first thing to come into focus, followed by Jax’s face. His sunglasses are drawn to the top of his head, so I get a clear view of the worry flooding his eyes.

“Thank God.” A relieved breath eases from his lips, but worry resides in his eyes as he remains crouched beside me with his hands cupping my face. “Are you okay? You fell pretty hard when you fainted.”

I want to tell him that I didn’t faint, but I zip my lips shut when I become highly aware we have an audience.

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