A Gift of Three (A Shade of Vampire #42)(47)

As we continued our journey, Field flew down occasionally, letting us know that he couldn’t see anything up ahead. The swamp was starting to turn into jungle, the air becoming increasingly humid, making it difficult to breathe. I felt perspiration covering the entirety of my body, running down my back in rivulets. It wasn’t really helping my mood, and I noticed Aida struggling with it as much as I was.

“I keep daydreaming of water,” she commented wistfully. “An entire bucket of it, filled with ice cubes, being dunked over my head…or a swimming pool, jumping in, submerging my entire body in cold, cold water.”

“Oh, stop it,” Vita moaned, hitting Aida on the arm. “Once we get further in there will be water—there’s got to be a stream somewhere with this much jungle.”

I hoped there was. We hadn’t brought any water with us… or any food. Still, I wasn’t overly concerned—in a lush place like this, water and food was unlikely to be scarce. We just had to make sure we didn’t poison ourselves in the process.

We started to pick up the pace—thanks to Aida and her daydreams, we were now all in search of a water source.

“Stop, please—stop a sec,” Vita called out. She had fallen to the back of the group, and I hurried to her. She bent double, leaning against a rock.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, seeing her visibly pale right before my eyes. She clutched at her stomach with an agonized groan. We crowded around her, all of us deeply worried. She had started sweating profusely, more than was normal. I saw that the hand clutching her stomach was trembling violently.

“Vita, breathe,” I commanded her gently, “just breathe.”

She nodded, inhaling deeply, but in the next moment her body jerked backward, her spine curving backward with her face thrown up to the sky. He eyes rolled back into her skull.

“Vita!” I cried, grabbing her before she fell.

She jerked in my arms, and Phoenix moved me aside, holding onto her tightly as she shook. It lasted no more than ten seconds, and then her body went limp.

“Vita, Vita?” Phoenix called her name, rubbing her arms to bring her awake. I heard Field land behind us, giving a sharp inhale of breath as he saw Vita in Phoenix’s arms.

Slowly she opened her eyes, looking around at us all, dazed, but registering our presence.

“We need to get out of here,” she whispered, her voice dry and reedy. “We need to leave… Now. We will become the hunted. His creatures never sleep.”

“What creatures?” I gasped. “Who will hunt us? Vita?”

She started to convulse again, her eyes scrunched up in pain and her breathing coming out in the short pants that reminded me of when they’d all been unconscious on the hospital beds.

“Let’s get the hell out of here.” Field moved to pick Vita up, taking her in his arms. Before he could fly up with her, he paused, turning around in the direction we’d been heading.

“Everyone, hide!” he whispered, dragging Vita and me down into the undergrowth.





Serena





[Hazel and Tejus’s daughter]




As I ducked down, I realized what Field had been reacting to. I could hear someone, or something, running through the undergrowth at great speed, heading in our direction.

Vita’s panting, and her pain, hadn’t let up.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, covering her mouth with my hand. She looked up at me in panic, and I tried to hug her at the same time, to reassure her. I couldn’t let her give our position away if she cried out—I could only hope that whatever was running toward us would continue past, and that we weren’t their target.

I looked over to where Aida, Phoenix and Jovi had been standing, but I couldn’t see them.

Good.

Hopefully the large leaves and the bright colors of the various jungle plants would be enough to shield us from sight.

The sound grew louder. They could only be about a yard away from us now. I started praying that we wouldn’t be noticed, when another noise made my blood run cold. A loud shriek, high-pitched and vicious, sounded from above us. Whatever it was, it was horrible—like an animal in severe pain. I heard the flapping of huge wings smacking against the tops of the trees.

I clutched Vita tighter, glancing over at Field, his horror mirroring my own.

The next moment, I caught sight of the creature—or creatures, as I soon realized—who had been running through the undergrowth. I now believed that they were most likely running from the creatures overhead, and so when I caught sight of them, I was no longer worried about us being found, but more worried about their fate.

They were two men who would have looked entirely human were it not for two very small horns at their temples, and slightly silvery skin, which might have just been a trick of the light. As they ran, they repeatedly glanced up into the sky, their faces fixed in expressions of fear.

They were only a matter of feet away from us when one of them collapsed on his front, a spear protruding from his back. I gasped, covering my own mouth as soon as it slipped out.

The second man flung himself down on the ground next to his companion, and before I could cry out a warning, another spear shot through the sky, landing in the second man.

I turned my head away, not wanting to see anymore.

The screams from above grew louder, almost victorious. The trees directly above us shook as wings hit against them, then shuddered still. The cries grew fainter, and I heaved a sigh of relief when I heard a final cry, coming far off in the distance.