A Gift of Three (A Shade of Vampire #42)(48)

“Are you okay?” I whispered to Vita, removing my hand from her mouth. Field motioned for us both to be quiet, pointing at the two dead men on the ground. I was about to move back up when, to my surprise, the second of the two men slowly rose to his feet with a muffled groan. The spear must have missed him by inches, its tip protruding from the earth. He stayed crouched on the floor, clutching at the lifeless arm of his companion. I caught sight of his profile, contorted by devastation.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I’m so very sorry.”

He muttered something else under his breath, and yanked out the spear. With a sudden explosion of rage, he snapped it over his knee, splitting it in half. Next, he took a hunting knife from a sheath at his side. He closed his eyes momentarily, his face etched in misery. In one single, fluid movement, he sliced the neck of his companion—thick silvery blood pooling out onto the forest floor.

I gasped, unable to help myself. The action had been so violent, so unexpected in his moment of mourning.

The man turned sharply in my direction.

“Show yourself,” he barked out, his voice thick with unshed tears.

Reluctantly, seeing no other choice, I rose to my feet. The moment I did so, Phoenix jumped up from his hiding place, looking menacingly in the direction of the horned man. For the first time since I’d laid eyes on him, I noticed how strangely beautiful he was—unearthly handsome, like an artist’s depiction of beauty, as unreal and inhuman as any I’d ever seen.

He didn’t look surprised to see either of us, and less so when the others emerged from their hiding places.

“Who are you?” Phoenix demanded.

“I feel like I should be asking the questions,” the man replied, his voice deep and husky, his eyes lighting on me and Aida. His stare was piercing and traveled up and down both of our figures with a lazy delight, making me feel like he was seeing right through my clothes. Vita was the last of us to stand, swaying slightly as she clutched a tree for support. The horned man’s eyes widened at the sight of her, and his gaze became even more intent.

I blushed furiously, moving in front of Vita to protect her from his stare.

He saw what I was doing, and smiled broadly—the anguish of his friend’s plight seemed to be momentarily forgotten and he bowed down low, not for a second removing his gaze from Vita.

“It’s such a pleasure to meet you all.”

I rolled my eyes in disgust. Vita just stared at him, like she was hypnotized.

“Seriously?” I interrupted. “Who are you—and can you stop staring at my friend like you want to eat her?”

Field moved to stand directly in front of both me and Vita, blocking the man’s view. He crossed his arms, staring him down till he replied.

“Sorry,” the man replied, not sounding sorry at all. “I’m easily distracted. I’ll tell you what and who I am back at the house—you’ve decided to abandon the Druid, I take it?”

“What do you mean?” I asked sharply. How did this stranger know where we’d come from? I glanced over at the rest of the group. Everyone—other than Vita—eyed him with deep suspicion and anger.

The horned man shrugged, seemingly oblivious to the reaction he’d just caused.

“Like I said, I’ll tell you everything.” He searched the sky again. “But we really do need to get moving. Unless you all wish to spend the rest of eternity with Azazel? Which, by the way, I do not recommend.”

I looked to Field, wondering what he would think the best course of action was. I knew what I thought, that we should get the hell out of here and turn back, but I was starting to realize that my vote as the youngest wasn’t going to hold much sway.

“All right.” Field nodded. “We head back. But we will want answers—proper ones, not the vague half-truths the Druid provided.”

The horned man eyed him speculatively.

“He may be telling you the whole truth—perhaps you just don’t want to hear it,” he replied softly.

Field ignored him, moving back the direction we had come. We all followed him, the horned man keeping up the rear. I kept Vita close, wondering what kind of spell he had her under—I’d never seen my friend behave so moon-eyed. He was handsome, I couldn’t deny that, but her behavior made me think that something else was going on. She walked alongside me as if she was in a daze, and I didn’t know how much was due to the painful episode she’d just had or the new arrival.

What I was totally sure of was that Vita had experienced a vision.

“Vita,” I asked, drawing her away from the others, “what was that? Can you remember what happened?”

She shook her head, wrapping her arms around her small frame.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “I felt sick, horribly sick… like there was this weird bile filling up inside me…and then I saw things, like a film playing out in my head. I saw the men rushing through the forest, and that creature…the one in the sky—he had grabbed Field by the neck, lifting him up off his feet.” She shuddered. “It was horrible.”

I got the impression that there was more she wasn’t telling me. Her face was back to its unhealthy palor, and I briefly pulled her toward me in a hug before releasing her so that we could navigate the jungle.

“It was a vision, wasn’t it?” she asked me.