A Tangle of Hearts (A Shade of Vampire #44)(43)

“Destroyers,” he whispered.

I jolted up and accidentally kicked Draven. He groaned, then stilled and sat up instantly. My hand reached out to the duffel bag next to me, frenetically searching for a couple of long knives I’d packed for the journey.

“How far?” Draven whispered to Bijarki.

My fingers grasped the cold metal at the bottom of the bag.

I pulled a knife out and clutched it with all my strength. My heart thundered, and blood raced through me like a rampant flood.

“A quarter of a mile,” Bijarki said.

I heard him load his crossbow, and I looked over to Jovi and Anjani. The succubus held her crossbow ready, and something twinkled in Jovi’s hand as well, presumably a blade, but I couldn’t tell much with the darkness around us.

Bijarki had stomped the fire out. I could smell the charred wood and smoke.

“What do we do?” Jovi asked under his breath.

“We sit still, we don’t move, and hopefully they won’t notice we’re here,” Draven whispered.

I moved closer to the incubus, my knife ready in case the Destroyers found us. Draven snaked his arm around me and pulled me back. I tumbled onto him, unable to move.

My protests were futile. His grip was firm as he shushed me.

Horses galloped outside, their hooves thundering across the soft grass.

I counted at least six. The Destroyers hissed as they rushed past the tree, their stallions neighing and piercing through the night’s silence.

They sounded like an earthquake thrashing and rumbling through the jungle.

I stilled in Draven’s arms. His lips rested against my head, soft and settled on my skin. My heart drummed in my ears, desperate to jump out of my chest and away from the madness. He held me tightly, unyielding in his grip.

A few moments passed before there was silence again.

Bijarki, Anjani, and Jovi breathed out sighs of relief. Draven relaxed as well, but he didn’t let go, and I was too shaken up to move anyway.

The Destroyers were gone. We had been inches away from certain death.

Chills ran through me as my mind got tangled in the what-ifs. What if the Destroyers had found us inside that tree? I sank deeper into Draven’s arms, instinctively seeking the comfort he’d given me earlier while we were sleeping.

Bijarki peered through the branches. “They’re gone, headed east,” he murmured.

“That was close.” Anjani sighed and leaned into Jovi, who put his arm around her and pulled the succubus closer into his side.

I breathed in and out, carefully counting as I exhaled in an attempt to regain my composure. I could feel my hands and feet trembling from the adrenaline rush. I dropped the knife, my fingers sweaty from the grip.

While I may have been ready to face off against raging shape-shifters now that we had the poisonous arrows, I was in no way prepared to fight Destroyers.

Draven held me tight, his lips still against my forehead.

We stayed like that for a while. My fear sank back into the darkness, and I dozed off again, listening to the faint sound of his heart beating. Even after the prospect of Destroyers tearing us apart, Draven’s presence managed to soothe me and guide me back to sleep.





Jovi





[Victoria & Bastien’s son]





The rest of the night went smoothly. Even the crickets were silent after the Destroyers left. The entire jungle seemed to tremble from crippling fear as those monsters galloped through its woods, their horses neighing and their hooves thundering like they carried death in their saddles. Well, they pretty much did carry death in their saddles—death in the form of evil Druids with massive snake tails and poisonous spears.

Thanks to Anjani’s alertness and Bijarki’s rapid response, we’d been able to stomp out the fire and disappear inside the tree before the Destroyers reached us. She’d seen them from about a mile away, giving us enough time to climb down and hide ourselves.

After that, Anjani and I stayed inside the tree with Draven until dawn. Serena took her turn after a short nap and climbed up to keep watch, while Bijarki rested his head against the amber casing, closing his eyes once in a while for short catnaps.

I managed to fall asleep after a while, with my arm still wrapped around Anjani. In other circumstances she probably would have pushed me away, but instead she dozed off in my arms, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Her soft purr and her hair brushing against my face were the perfect antidote to the adrenaline rush that the Destroyers had triggered in me earlier.

When I woke up in the early hours of the morning, she was already outside, changing her leg bandage by herself. I moved to help her but she shook her head sharply.

“I can do it myself, thank you,” she muttered.

And she’s back.

Bijarki and Serena had already packed the bags, and Draven was sniffing the cool air, telling us we’d have clear skies for the rest of our journey.

We resumed our trip, and several hours later we looked up and noticed the mountains towering over us—limestone giants with sharp ridges, thick pine forests, and snowy peaks disappearing into the clouds. The temperature and humidity had dropped a little, making it a perfect place to live—not too hot, and definitely not too cold. The jungle scattered where the mountain rose lazily toward the sky.

The sun was high above when we reached the end of the trail and walked out into a wide clearing covered in grass and wildflowers. It was as if we had stepped out of one world and into another.