Anomaly (Causal Enchantment #4)(28)

And then I was falling.

I screamed as I plummeted, as the broad expanse of sky loomed over me. It felt like an eternity of falling, fear paralyzing my body.

I eventually found myself standing in front of an equally disoriented Julian.

His head tipped to regard two hundred feet of rock wall as he brushed the snow from his sleeve. “See? Like cats. We always land on our feet.”

Judging by the broken branches and crimson stains on the ground around us, I’m pretty sure we didn’t land on our feet like cats. I’m pretty sure that about five seconds ago, we were two bloody messes embedded in the ground.

“I think that was my fault,” Julian admitted with a sheepish grin, but it faded quickly. “How did Galen die?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. Caden didn’t get into specifics.”

“Damn. That’s going to crush Cecile.”

“Yeah. That’s why we can’t say anything. She’ll go nuts.”

Julian’s face screwed up. “But Galen was like a freaking commando maniac. How could a fledgling take him out?”

“Good question.”

“If they can take Galen down, then …” Julian’s face smoothed over.

“Who will be next?” I finished. This was ridiculous. I couldn’t sit around, waiting for Caden to come back. Not when fledglings were obviously so much more dangerous than Caden had led me to believe.

“I want to go help Amelie,” Julian insisted.

“You can’t, Julian! You’ll get distracted by humans and become a target!”

He flung a muscular arm back in the direction of the mine. “But look at all that human blood I just walked away from!”

I groaned. This was giving him a false sense of security. In truth, I could go. I could leave now and run straight for New York City, not stopping until I found Caden. But how could I in good conscience lead Julian there? Sofie and Caden had a valid reason for keeping Julian and the others isolated. It just didn’t apply to me. “You need to stick around here, Julian. Maybe we should head back to …” My nostrils caught the sweet scent of a warm-blooded animal a second before I felt its heart throb inside my throat.

Julian took off through the trees.

Crap! I went after him, pushing through the thick brush, terrified of what I might see each time I cleared another tree. I found him a hundred feet away, hovering over the twitching body of a deer, the scent of freshly spilled blood assaulting my nostrils. Tracks leading off in the opposite direction told me its companion fled the scene.

Hunkering down on a fallen tree trunk, I sat quietly and watched my best friend as he partook in an urge that not long ago he had condemned.

So much for being able to handle it.

I lasted five minutes before I insisted, “That’s enough, Julian. You’ve had enough.”

He dropped the carcass to the soft snow. I knew that wasn’t typical fledgling kill behavior. They’d normally suck the creature dry. That meant that I had compelled him. I didn’t even have his full attention and I managed to make him stop.

I couldn’t explain this ability but my instincts were telling me it could be of some use in the city. That or my conscience was searching for a good excuse to break my promise and run for New York now.

Julian didn’t immediately stand or talk, kneeling in front of the dead deer, head hung. And then I heard it, just a light whisper. “I hate not being able to help myself. I feel like some sort of addict.” He turned and I sighed with relief when his pretty brown eyes settled on me. “How are you not affected, Evie?”

I shoved my hands into my pockets and ambled over to regard the body. “I guess the Fates gave me a break. For once.”

He admitted in a low voice, “I don’t want to kill anyone, but part of me just wants to get it over with. Just so I know how much control I actually have.”

Or how much control I might have over him.

Was it worth it to try? If I could help him, then we could track down Caden and the others together.

“Come on.” Reaching out, I roped an arm through his. “I have an idea.” Probably the dumbest one I’d had yet.

Chapter Six – Sofie

“Dear God.” The words slipped from my lips as we stood in a roughly erected doorway. A set of metal stairs led down to the ground of the Second Avenue subway construction site, a cavernous space three stories below street level.

And it was crawling with vampire fledglings. There had to be a thousand or more. “Kait says they’re filling up the tunnels too,” Lilly informed us. “She’s down in one right now.”

Thousands.

“Tell her to get out of here. It’s too risky if they discover her.” I scanned the sea of heads. With this many, it was relatively quiet, a low buzz permeating the space. They all seemed too preoccupied with buckets of red to hear our guarded whispers. Discarded plastic and upturned coolers littered the ground.

“I guess we know where the city’s blood supply went to,” Mage said, her black eyes drifting over the crowd, narrowing as she surveyed faces. I knew who she was looking for. Her right hand, the mutant who had betrayed her. It wouldn’t be hard to spot him if he was here. That gaunt demonic face would stand out anywhere.

A chorus of snarls erupted, pulling my attention down to a tall, dark-skinned man who walked among the fledglings, tossing bags at their feet like dogs. Several more were doing the same in other areas.