Chapter 21

It started to rain.

Willow didn’t know how long she knelt there. Hours, perhaps, judging from the dark blue sky turning gray as dawn approached. Her heart was numb. Her mind was numb. And now, her sense of time was numb. Everything that had just been within reach had slipped away, and she was powerless to stop it.

What now? Her mate didn’t want her. She had no business in Ironfell. And her people were fleeing to Ichor Knell. Perhaps it was time she did too.

Still, she stayed sitting on her ankles, her head bowed and the rain drenching her from head to toe. At least one good thing had come of this—she had learned the location of the Throat of Druxix, and that could help her people avoid it.

She frowned. If her people knew, it could hurt them if the information got out and spread among humans and other creatures. Now she understood why it was a secret and why those who knew of the location spread rumors surrounding these mountains. It was safer that way.

She was content to stay there unmoving for at least another year, but a shrill noise pierced the night, and a whoosh of feathers followed as a bird dipped low in the sky. The swallow transformed into Oriel before hitting the ground. He stood above her, but quickly took a seat beside her, putting him on the same level as her.

“Are you all right?” he asked with concern lacing his voice. “Nayden said you had come this way.”

“I’m fine,” she answered, though she didn’t feel it. “Did you bring news?”

He nodded, scooting a little closer. She could see the blue in his eyes. Those eyes were the trademark look of the Covaci coven. His grandfather, Nicolae, was only a few months younger than her father, and in the case of her father’s death would succeed as Shah, making Oriel a vampire emir, or prince as the humans would call him.

“All vampires are making their way to the Homeland. Some weren’t able to survive. But rest assured, Your Highness. Most of our people remain safe thanks to your quick thinking.”

She sighed in relief, though she mourned for those few they lost. Now Oriel and Laurel needed to escape the city before they were found out. “You need to leave too. It’s too dangerous here. You will be safer in Ichor Knell.”

He nodded. “I wish you would travel with us, Your Highness. I would like the opportunity to get to know you better.”

Her heart throbbed painfully once again, his meaning coming across loud and clear. She was already mated, and even if she hadn’t met Adam, a union with Oriel didn’t feel right. Like she concluded before, he was too tame for her.

He wasn’t her match. It wouldn’t have worked with him. And Adam… Well, she wouldn’t give up. Not yet. Not while he still lived. One day, death would take him, and she couldn’t mate again. She might have to learn to live the rest of her life without him.

The thought brought on another wave of heartache.

“I’m sorry, Oriel,” she said quietly. “Adam… He’s my mate.”

Oriel looked taken aback. “The blood hunter?” His eyebrows rose in surprise before quickly furrowing in confusion, and finally softened with acceptance. “Please forgive me. Dracula assured me you were unattached. If I had known, I would not have been as forward with my interest.”

A silent tension followed, and it was awkward, to say the least, but she was grateful he acted kind and understanding about the situation.

“Though,” he said slowly, looking at her from the corner of his eye. “I would have expected you to choose your own kind. He’s…human.”

“Yes, he is.”

He paused, knitting his brows and trying to piece it all together. “I don’t know why I’m surprised. It’s not as if a mated vampire and human haven’t happened before. But the human never stays human for long. Will you bite him?”

She frowned, a deep sadness entering her heart. “No. That’s not something he would want.”

He smiled, but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “He is lucky to have you.”

He stood and helped pull her to her feet. “My invitation still stands. We’re safer if we travel in a group rather than alone.”

“I might as well. Adam has other things to attend to.”

Although she attempted to transport by breaking into small, fiery particles, she couldn’t figure out how to do it again. Not when she felt disheartened and depressed. Instead, she traveled the old-fashioned way. By foot. With Oriel keeping her company, they clambered down the mountainside, snuck past the skittish guards, and crept back into town to meet with the rest of the coven. It wasn’t until they were safe in the slums that Oriel found his voice.

“If you don’t mind me asking… What is so important to Adam that he would leave his mate behind?”

The reminder hit her like a powerful storm. Heartache filled the gap their distance created. “His brother is a vampire,” she answered truthfully. “He rode east to help.”

Oriel stopped walking, his expression unreadable in the darkness. “How long ago?”

“At dusk,” she answered, trying to push away the memory of his expression as he first tried to kill her and then left her behind.

He turned to face her, concern in his expression as he placed his hand on her shoulder and gazed at her in earnest. “Your Highness… The crusaders are a large group. Most left yesterday, marching east. The remainder marched out recently.”

Her body iced over as the realization struck her. No matter how hard or how fast Adam rode, he would never make it in time. If anything, he would run straight into the first group of crusaders and become cornered by the second group. Any blood hunter was sure to be welcomed into the crusaders’ ranks, but Wyler knew Adam’s secret. Adam would be slaughtered.

And Adam didn’t know the danger he was in.

She gasped, all feeling rushing back and she covered her mouth with her hand as despair overcame her. Agonizing despair. This was her fault. Wyler could have ridden out as she and Adam were climbing the mountain. Adam would never make it to Zachariah. If he ran into Wyler before he reached the cabin, he would be in danger, as would his brother.

“I have to get to him! I have to warn him!” She ran forward and tried to materialize like she had earlier, but she didn’t get further than a few specks of dancing ember before she came back to her whole self. She tried again and again, but nothing worked.

She clenched her jaw, looking to the east where the light of the sun peeked over the mountains in the early morning. She didn’t have long.

She tried materializing again, but nothing happened except a feeling of frustration.

“He is your mate,” Oriel said from behind her. “Let the magic do the work.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, reaching deep within herself, thoughts of Adam filling her mind. When she opened her eyes, she felt something click within her. She could do this. The magic would take her to Adam.

A powerful burst exploded within her, and the wind rushed in to carry her, breezing past Ironfell, toward the swamp, and closer to the woods. It had happened suddenly, and she almost didn’t recover from the shock in time to control where she was going. It felt like an unseen force pulled her forward, toward Adam.

The embers glowed around her as she moved swiftly until she heard the furious thundering of hooves far down below. She had grossly underestimated the capabilities and endurance of a blood hunter horse, as Adam had gotten much further than she had anticipated. And she could see the crusaders continuing their march ahead. He didn’t seem to know they were there.

Before he could burst into the clearing, she dropped downward, her surroundings turning into a blur. She slammed straight into him knocking him right off the horse. He grunted as they hit the ground until they rolled to a stop, her on top of him.

“Bloody crows, Willow! What are you doing—?” he started to bellow, but she quickly covered his mouth with her hand to silence his words.

“Shhh!” she hissed, glancing right and left to make sure the crusaders hadn’t heard him. Thankfully, the horse stayed put, not giving them away by bursting into the clearing without a rider. “The crusaders are ahead of you. A whole army of them.”

He pushed himself on an elbow and glared at her. “And? They aren’t a problem for me. I could pretend to join them and sneak away in minutes. Leave me alone.”

“You don’t get it!” she cried as she shoved his shoulders, her strength pinning him to the ground. “I heard you! Your rival blood hunter hates you with a passion, and he cornered me. I… I’m sorry, Adam. I had no choice. I had to fight back.”

His eyes widened before he sighed into his hand, not saying anything for a few long moments. Finally, he spoke to his hand. “He knows.”

“Yes, he knows. He’ll oust you if he’s among the crusaders. You won’t get past that army.” She sighed and leaned back, finally taking her weight off him. Immense guilt overcame her for the trouble she had put him through. “I’m sorry, Adam. I never meant for this to happen.”

He rose to his feet, a cautious look in his eyes as he crept forward. She followed silently, wincing as he made too much noise.

They stopped at the edge of the clearing until she had a good view of the crusaders. They were packing up from their night’s rest, getting ready to move on. Each bore a green armband with a white circle emblem on the fabric. Those who weren’t in armor looked like regular tradesman or farmers, some with weapons like swords and daggers, and others using pitchforks and pans.

The stench of sour human blood hit her hard, making her gag. It curdled her stomach, utterly unappetizing to her, but to vampires less than a hundred years old, it would be an irresistible beacon.

Her heart twisted with fear as she spotted a confident and dangerous figure lurking in the crowd. Wyler had, indeed, joined their ranks as more than just a bystander. He looked to be helping lead the march. Adam wouldn’t be able to show his face without Wyler calling him out. Like she had suspected, the crusaders were moving in the exact direction of Adam’s cabin. They had a little less than five minutes to reach Zachariah before the crusaders did.

Zachariah was in trouble.

He motioned for her to follow him several paces away to avoid being seen or heard by the army.

“This is a temporary setback,” he said, determination in his eyes. “I know this area better than any of them. If we leave now before they start moving, we can round the army and slip into the cellar before anyone knows what happened.”

“Good plan,” Willow said sarcastically. “And then what? The moment Zachariah smells the blood, he will screech and thrash wildly and give himself away, even if he can’t escape through the vodryx prison.”

“I don’t know, I’ll gag him.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Have you heard that boy screech? I would be able to hear him from a mile away. We don’t have the luxury of a mile. They’re passing right over him!”

“Well, it’s the only plan I’ve got!”

She pinched the bridge of her nose as the stress of the situation got to her. This wasn’t looking good for them. And what remained unspoken between them was that neither of them was going to allow Zachariah to die without doing everything they possibly could.

“We need to stop arguing,” she said. “We don’t have much time left. Let’s get moving.”

He nodded in agreement, and they set off at as fast a pace they would dare travel. She was frustrated with how loud his steps were, but there was no fixing it now. She stepped lightly and quickly over the autumn leaves in the forest, matching his pace.

The cellar door came within view, and he put a hand to her back, keeping her ahead of him. Although she would have loved to stop and revel in how protective the gesture felt, she didn’t have time. She hopped into the dark cellar first, he followed after pulling a large pile of leaves to cover the trapdoor to obscure it from the crusaders’ eyes.

Zachariah hissed at their presence, but upon noticing her, he became calmer, watching her curiously. She prayed her presence alone would be enough to keep him quiet for another minute. His eyes were red, but his fangs were not bared. He hadn’t smelled the blood yet.

“We need to get him out of here,” Adam said as he reached for the ring of keys at his belt.

“Wait,” she said as she placed a hand on his chest to keep him from moving closer to the cell. “Do you feel that?” Hundreds of rumbling vibrations sank into the ground, followed by clanking armor and weapons.

“No, what is it?”

She shook her head, mimicking the uncertainty and fear that shone back at her through his eyes. “The crusaders are too close. We’ll be seen.”

He swore under his breath and ran his hands through his hair. She had never seen him more worried or stressed in all the time she had known him. This was bad.

“Willow, leave. You can still run.”

“No,” she replied. “I’m staying.”

“You are tremendously stubborn!” he growled, kicking over an empty bucket near the wall. “If you are adamant on getting yourself killed, fine. Do your vampire thing like you did last time and distract him long enough for the danger to pass.”

With a sigh, she shook her head. “You underestimate a feral vampire’s bloodlust. Once he smells human blood, there is no stopping him.”

He swore and paced the length of the cellar, running his hands through his hair again and again while the vibrations became stronger. The crusaders were closer now.

She stared intently at the knife on Adam’s belt. Her heart beat faster as determination overcame her. For far too many moments, she considered her next action. It could kill Adam if she wasn’t careful, or even if she lost control. But they were all dead if they didn’t do something. It was now or never.

She had moments to react. While his guard fell from worry for his brother, she slipped the dagger from his belt, slicing him across the palm. He cried out, but she didn’t stop there. She pinned him against the wall with all her might, making him unable to resist her with any amount of struggling, and bit her fangs into his wound. He cried out again as she sucked deep mouthfuls of his blood and swallowed. He still struggled against her, but he quickly became incapacitated from rapid blood loss. His struggling became weaker until he was no longer able to fight back. She took just enough to leave him alive. It was all she could do.

Her panic set in when she heard the rumbling footsteps approaching swiftly. The Dunmere Crusaders were headed their way above them, and if they baited Zachariah with blood… He wouldn’t be able to control himself. He would screech and give them all away. All three of them would be killed.

Zachariah attacked the vodryx bars holding him prisoner, his fangs fully sprouted and his eyes red. He was trying to get Adam. He wanted his brother’s blood. And if she let him loose, he would kill Adam.

“What…are you doing…?” he rasped when she let go of him, his limp form dropping onto all fours. She ignored him and stole his keys to the cell. The trampling feet pounded closer.

She unlocked the door, and Zachariah flew at Adam, and if she hadn’t been centuries older, she might not have been able to stop him. However, her quick reflexes allowed her to lash out and grab Zachariah around the throat, slamming him to the hard earth. He struggled against her, much stronger than Adam’s pathetic human struggles, but it didn’t deter her. She would save him. She would save Zachariah. And that meant keeping him quiet.

She pinned him with one arm and using her free hand, she pried Zachariah’s jaw open. Before he had the chance to release a feral screech, she pressed her mouth over his and regurgitated the blood she had swallowed, a little bit at a time. At first, he fought against it, but then he drank hungrily, allowing her to feed him. It was a lot of blood. Adam would be weak for days, maybe weeks. But there had been no other choice.

She continued feeding him as the marching crusaders passed right overhead. The sound made her anxious, but she never stopped. Only a little at a time. She had to make it last.

Finally, the last of the crusaders passed, and she relaxed, feeding him the last of the blood. Zachariah whimpered when she unlatched her mouth, but he seemed content to lie there for a minute. For the first time in years, Zachariah finally fed. It was a lot for his body to take in.

Unfortunately, Zachariah would still be unstable and feral for a time. She dragged him back into his cell and locked the barred door behind her. He still didn’t move but laid still and took deep breaths.

Remembering Adam, she turned and rushed to his side, helping him into a sitting position—he could hardly move on his own. He looked deathly pale, and for a moment, she worried she accidentally turned him. However, he didn’t exhibit any of the telltale signs. She freed a relieved breath. Becoming a vampire wasn’t what he wanted.

“You…You fed on me…” he slurred. He didn’t look horrified like she expected but surprised and completely taken off guard. He attempted to cover the gash in his palm to keep more blood from spilling, but he proved to be too weak to do that much. The fact that he was conscious testified enough to his character. He was a stubborn mule.

“You said you would do anything to save your brother,” she argued. She didn’t have anything to bind his hand, and therefore made use of a thin blanket near the cell, ripping a section of the material off and tying the wound.

“I…would. But I didn’t…mean this. You could have…killed me.”

“And you already tried to kill me. We’ll call this even.”

His breathing sped up, and his eyes couldn’t focus as he looked around in confusion. He was not doing all right. He needed to rest.

“The crusaders should be gone by now. Come on. You should rest in bed.”

She hefted him to his feet, but he tried to push her away. “I can…I can do it myself.” Though when he took his first step, his body collapsed on him, and she caught him, rolling her eyes. She ignored his protests and heaved him over her shoulder with her unrestrained strength and began climbing the ladder leading out of the cellar.

A ray of morning sunlight hit her arm, and she hissed, but she kept trekking forward as soon as she found respite in the shade. It was clear an army passed through here from the trampled leaves, and a frown formed on her face when she saw that Adam’s cabin had not been left untouched. Windows were broken, the outside wood scarred with deep gashes.

She kicked open the door and reached out a hand to test for an invisible barrier that would burn her and prevent her entrance. However, she found none and entered, discovering the place was not only disheveled from their fight—that had turned into something more passionate—but it had been wholly looted from the weapons to the candles to the food, only the books remained untouched. She passed the kitchen, and a wall of intense aromas hit her, making her cover her nose to try to block the herbs’ scents. He would be glad to learn that his herbs, too, remained untouched.

She had to step over splintered wood and fallen books to get to the bedroom. After unstrapping the weapons from his back, she carefully laid him on the bed and grimaced at how sickly he looked. He looked pale, his breathing still coming more rapidly than it should. He could even die. And it terrified her.

She crouched to his level and fondly touched his hair, rubbing her thumb soothingly against his temple. Taking care of a human was not something she was accustomed too, but she had to try.

“I know there are plenty of herbs in your kitchen,” she said softly. “Tell me what to put in your tea.”

“You can…make tea?” he mumbled. “I thought…I thought you didn’t…consume human food.”

“I don’t,” she answered. “I never said anything about being unable to make it, though.”

He nodded weakly and closed his eyes, taking several breaths before he said, “Blackwood…sage…fairy primrose…and lemon for the taste. I can’t stand the taste.”

She grimaced. “I don’t know what half of those things are. You better have labeled these ingredients, or I might accidentally poison you.”

To her surprise, he chuckled weakly. The sound nearly startled her, as she had never heard him laugh before, let alone smile. More than anything, she wanted to hear more of his laughter.

She left the room and found her way to the kitchen, but she immediately stopped short, her eyes wide in disbelief. The room was a mess. Shattered glass littered the floor. A dozen small drawers were open with herbs hanging out. Nothing was labeled. And that didn’t mention the blue-green monstrosity of a mess that had slicked itself to the counter. However, this was one herb she knew. Wolfsbane.

Her heart skipped in surprise. Adam wasn’t immune to werewolf scratches after all. From the looks of it, he nearly became one.

Her eyes continued to roam about the bedraggled room, and she came to a straightforward conclusion—he needed a female in his life.

Willow explored small drawers, each filled with a single herb ranging from flaky purple flowers to velvety green leaves, trying to find the correct ingredients before deciding it was a hopeless case. She almost returned to receive more thorough instructions from him when she came across a second field journal—this one detailing plants and herbs, and their medicinal properties. Judging by the messy handwriting she had seen in the other journal, he wrote this one too.

“All right,” she said to herself as she flipped through the pages of the book. “Blackrose, fairy sage, primwood, and lemon.” She shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to recall his exact words. “No, it was blackwood, sage, fairy primrose, and lemon. I think.”

Oh heavens. She hoped she wouldn’t poison him.

Finding the herbs detailed in the book, she got to work. She had made tea plenty of times in her line of work with the jarl in Lakefalls. But never like this. Not after sucking out approximately thirty percent of someone’s total blood volume. She still couldn’t believe she did such a thing. To her own mate!

But he had seemed willing to die for Zachariah. She gave them both the best chance they had.

As the herbs steeped, she wandered outside with Adam’s cloak covering her, remembering seeing spots of purple on their frantic dash to save Zachariah. Violets. They would add a sweet but delicate flavor to the tea to hopefully make the tea more bearable to drink.

She collected a handful of the beautiful purple flowers and returned to the cabin. Although the flowers weren’t dry, they would still work. She added them to the steeping tea and poured a piping hot cup. The liquid retained a reddish tint, and for a moment, it looked like delicious watery blood. She was tempted to try it but quickly grimaced as the wafting steam hit her nose. It was not blood. It was a revolting human drink.

He was still conscious when she returned, and despite looking incredibly pale, he appeared a little bit more alert now that he was resting in bed. She handed the cup to him, his hands trembling as he managed to take it from her. Stubborn man.

Before he took a sip, he sniffed the tea and rose his eyebrows. “No poison? I took a gamble…letting you make me tea.”

“You could smell if there was poison in there? I’m impressed.”

“Blood hunters are immune…to most poisons.” He stopped to take a sip, his eyes widening in wonder. “This actually tastes…good. What did you do to it?”

She laughed and pulled up a chair to sit beside him. She desperately wanted to touch him, to hold his hand, anything, but she held herself back, the incident at the Throat of Druxix not completely forgotten. “A vampire secret. I’ll never tell.”

He became rigid as he inhaled the tea again, but his posture relaxed. “Violets. Why did I never…think of that? You have no idea how many…times I’ve endured the taste.”

“I can imagine after seeing the state of your kitchen,” Willow said. “I had wondered for the longest time how you hadn’t been infected by the werewolf scratch. It seems you’re not quite superhuman like I believed.”

He snorted. “Is that what you thought I was?”

“Actually, yes. Up until the point where I bit you. I expected a more difficult fight than the one you gave me.”

He shrugged, or at least tried to shrug in his weakened state, and took another sip of the tea. “I dropped my guard. Why the knife…and not the fangs?”

She traced the pattern on his bed using her finger. She felt happy if just to spend time with him like this. “I know how meticulous you are about sharpening your weapons. It would hurt less if I cut you rather than bite you. Besides, I didn’t think you would want to run around with fangs for scars. Didn’t want to ruin your reputation as a blood hunter.”

He grinned, and she stared for a moment. He seemed…happier. Like a load had been taken off his shoulders. “I think I managed to do that without your help.”

She smiled coyly at him, a hint of timidity in her eyes. “Well, I helped a little bit.”

They chuckled together, a wall finally falling between them. This was Adam the human, not Adam the blood hunter. For the longest time, she believed the two were inseparable, but now she knew the truth. He did have a sense of humanity, but he hid it well.

After finishing half the tea, he looked at her accusingly. “You kissed my brother.”

Her mouth fell open in disbelief. “That was not what happened, and you know it! I had limited options and little time. It kept him quiet, didn’t it? Besides, how else would we feed our young?”

He spit out his tea in shock. “I hope that’s a joke.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Of course not.”

He stared back at her as if he still didn’t believe she wasn’t trying to yank his chain. “Bloody crows, you are serious. Vampires don’t suckle their babies?”

She was momentarily appalled. “Absolutely not! That is one of the most ridiculous human characteristics I’ve ever come across. The first time I witnessed a woman suckling her baby, I thought the baby was trying to eat its mother.”

Shaking his head with a grimace on his face, he turned back to his tea. “The more I get to know you, the stranger you become. You don’t have any…children. Do you?”

The conversation suddenly took a dangerous turn. She still didn’t want him to know he was her mate. Things were starting to get better between them, and it took her having to suck a good portion of the blood from his body to do it.

She quickly shook her head and stood. “I’m not married, as you humans would call it. Anyway, you should get some rest. And don’t worry about Zachariah. I will take care of him. He’ll be better before you know it. I promise.”

She turned to leave, but he called after her in a weak tone. “Thank you. For saving my brother.”

She smiled. “He’s my kin too.”

Giving him one last smile, she exited the cabin and released the breath she had been holding. She had two incapacitated brothers she had to care for, and she needed to get started. That meant she had to feed Zachariah every few hours, with a tankard this time.

A wicked grin pulled up on her lips as the scent of vampire-killing crusaders filled her nostrils. She wouldn’t let them get away for what they’d done, even if she had to pick them off one by one.