From behind the safety of some trees, Declan watched as Saber’s last bomb detonated. The muffled explosion caused the ground to rumble, and the ripple of shock waves rolling across the earth vibrated through his feet. The trees shook around him, and their branches clicked together as they swayed.
From a few feet away from him, Vicky poked her head out as smoke and debris blasted out of the entrance and shot twenty feet into the air. The ominous creak of trees filled the air before the ground above the tunnel collapsed.
The trees above it toppled and fell with thunderous crashes that quaked the ground again. When everything settled, a pit in the form of the tunnels branching off in different directions marked the earth.
“If there’s any of them around, they’ll know we’re here,” Vicky said.
Declan gritted his teeth against the surge of happiness that the prospect of killing something brought him. Drawing on centuries of training, he took a deep breath as he tried to center himself in the now, but he couldn’t shut down his growing bloodlust. It was time to hunt these things down and make them pay for what happened here.
“We’re ready for them,” Declan assured her.
He stepped out from behind the tree and strode toward the sinkhole as Saber, Logan, and Asher emerged from their hiding places. Declan stopped a few feet away from the pit. Falling bits of stone and dirt still clattered against the side as they tumbled into the hole. If he got any closer, the ground would probably give way beneath him.
“Now what?” Asher asked.
Declan studied the sky as shades of pink and orange streaked across it. Until now, he’d kept the demon part of him at bay by focusing on something else. But his hope they would find anyone dwindled with every passing minute.
The more time that passed without knowing what happened to Willow and Lucien, the harder it became to keep the demon at bay. Pulling a lollipop from his jacket pocket, he unwrapped it, crumpled the wrapper in his hand, and stuck the candy in his mouth.
Strawberry. It was the only flavor he’d grown to like over the almost fifty years he’d been sucking on the things. Because of that, he removed it, rewrapped it, and placed it back in his pocket. He’d throw it out later.
He extracted another lollipop and cringed when the banana flavor hit his tongue. He focused his hatred on the candy rather than the boiling rage building inside him. Usually, it was a trick that helped to calm him; it wasn’t working.
Instead, he remained focused on the fact one of his brothers was missing and Willow’s beautiful face, which kept appearing in his mind. The wrath coiling inside him built until it became increasingly difficult for him to breathe.
His hands ached to tear the trees out of the ground as he tore through the woods in search of them. He would leave nothing in his wake and no place for any of their enemies to hide. The lollipop crunched as he bit down without thinking, and the hated taste of the center helped pull him out of his rising, murderous mood.
“Are we going to start the search for them?” Vicky asked.
He felt all their gazes on him. “I am.” Now that he was here, he couldn't wait to start the search. “The rest of you should return to the cabins until morning.”
They’d taken over another one of the cabins they stayed in the last time they came to this area of the world. When they arrived, there were a couple of fisherwomen staying inside the cabin, but they packed their bags after Declan convinced them it was time to go home.
“That’s not going to happen,” Saber said. “I’m not leaving here without searching for them.”
“We’re not leaving you out here alone,” Logan said.
Declan started to argue with them, but a howl silenced his words. The sound came from a good mile or so away and rose as more cries met it. The eerie, excited noises mingled until he couldn’t tell if there were dozens or hundreds of them reverberating over the land.
“What is that?” Vicky breathed.
“Savages,” Declan muttered.
“What are they doing?”
“Hunting.”
Saber removed his triple-bladed haladie knife from the sheath strapped to his back and grinned. “That means there is someone left to hunt.”
***
Willow woke and blinked as she took in her surroundings. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep again, but boredom and her healing body had other plans for her. Still in the tree, she stared at the needles surrounding her as she twisted her injured foot in her boot. Except it wasn’t injured anymore because no pain accompanied the movement.
About time.
She would have spoken the words out loud if only to hear a voice again, but her throat was so dry, she couldn’t talk. Howls pierced the night again.
Why don’t they give up? Why don’t they leave? She’d hoped they would have moved on by now, but they were determined to track her. Or maybe they were hunting someone else. Please let there be someone else alive to hunt.
Resting her head against the tree, she studied the stars above. She couldn’t see many of them through the thick conifer surrounding her, but a few poked through. For some reason, those tiny, shining lights made it so she didn’t feel so alone.
Maybe she didn’t feel so alone, but her cramped legs, asleep ass, and stiff neck made her feel like a truck hit her. At least her clothes were dry, and she wasn’t as cold tonight as last night.
Leaning over, she peered through the branches to the ground. She should wait until morning before climbing down, but she felt good, and if she waited until morning, she’d be hungrier. The longer she went without feeding, the weaker she would become. However, she’d have the sun to her advantage in the morning, but in these woods, it wasn’t much of an edge.
She was debating what to do when another howl erupted. The hair on her nape rose, and her breath froze as the sound came from so close she felt like she could touch it. Tendrils of unease slid down her back.
And then, the hot plume of a breath caressed her neck.
The stench of rot filled her nose, and her heartbeat tripled in speed. Something was watching her; something so close its next breath stirred her hair. Something that wouldn’t be satisfied until it destroyed her.
Tilting her head back, her breath puffed out when a pair of red eyes filled her vision. Dirt streaked the face behind those eyes, and the blood caking its hair caused it to stand on end. They stared at each other before it grinned to reveal its elongated fangs.
Willow scrambled for the stake tucked into the belt she’d used to strap herself to the tree, but it was gone.
No! She moaned as the Savage waved the stake at her and its grin grew. Before Willow could free herself from the restraint she created, the Savage flipped off its branch and landed on her.