A Search for Death (A Shade of Vampire #73) - Bella Forrest Page 0,3

sighed.

“Taeral…” Eira tried to speak but bit her lower lip instead. I had a feeling she couldn’t find the right words to say, given the circumstances. I found her awkwardness endearing, and I remembered that I was still in charge of her safety and wellbeing.

“I think we should get moving,” I said, giving everyone a brief nod. “This world has Hermessi in it, so I don’t want us to linger too long in one place. You heard Raphael: he’s about to lose his mind. The last thing we need is a psychotic Perfect.”

Raphael chuckled softly and gave me a friendly pat on the back. “That’s the spirit.”

We made our way down the cliff and through the woods, heading north. At ground level, the trees were spectacularly tall, and the moon’s persistent shine began to falter. Many seemed to defy gravity, their slender trunks in seeming opposition to their nearly impossible height. The deeper we went, the green crowns above thickened enough to pull the darkness over us. I snapped my fingers and produced a small flame in the palm of my hand—enough to help us see ahead as we conquered mile after mile of strange wilderness. The top side view had been well lit. Down here, the shadows reigned.

“There are animals here,” Amelia said, her gaze darting left and right, her pupils dilating and her nostrils flaring. I had to give credit to vampires—their senses were extraordinary, especially in the dark. “Small ones, a few rodent types… some kind of deer with extremely long and straight antlers… and predators. There are some predators in the area.”

“What kind?” Herakles asked. “Big and slow, or feline types that could easily pounce on us?”

Amelia shook her head. “Somewhere in between. Some species of bear with black fur… I saw a couple of wolves, or creatures similar to wolves. I’ll call them wolves, for now. But they’re keeping their distance.”

“Good. I’d hate to end up as lunch,” Lumi muttered, prompting Raphael to chuckle.

“Are you trying to make Eira feel better?” he asked.

“Hey! What gives?” Eira croaked, slightly alarmed.

“Well, technically, out of the five of us, you’re most likely to end up as wolf chow if they attack,” Raphael replied. A second later, water gushed from the side and hit him so hard, he toppled and fell like a big ol’ tree. “I take that back,” he added, grunting as he pulled himself back up and gave Eira a sheepish smile. He looked at me next. “So, then, you’re the weakest link?”

The flame in my hand burned brighter and more menacing as I narrowed my eyes at him. “Let me guess, you’re trying to figure out which one of us you can sacrifice to a pack of wolves?”

Amelia smacked him over the shoulder. He laughed. “Fortunately, we’re all high-end specimens here,” Amelia said. “No one’s getting eaten by wolves or whatever else roams through these woods.”

We walked for a couple of hours, talking and going over everything that had happened. We’d done the same in the previous four hours after our arrival here, but the topics didn’t get old. How would we get out of here? Would we get out of here in time to meet with Varga and join him on the Mortis mission? What was going on with Harper? What more could we tell Phoenix to help him find us faster? What options did we have left to fight the Hermessi before they hit the five million fae mark? Questions without answers, questions that bugged the hell out of me…

Amelia frowned and came to a sudden halt. Instinctively, we all stopped by her side, and she took several deep breaths.

“What is it?” Raphael whispered.

“Shush. Hold on. The air’s getting colder,” she said quietly. “I mean, the temperature is dropping.”

“We are headed north,” I said. She shot me a dark glare.

“That’s not what I mean. Don’t you feel it?” Amelia asked, and we all shook our heads.

Granted, it was chillier in these parts than up on the cliff, but I didn’t find the temperature drop to be all that noticeable. Still, it wasn’t enough to satisfy her. She stilled, her gaze fixed on something not far from where we stood.

I followed her point of focus but couldn’t see anything. “What is it, Amelia?” I asked, my voice low.

“This is… This is weird,” she said. “Don’t you see him?”

“See who?” Raphael replied, persistently staring in the same direction.

Eira and Lumi were equally confused.

“He’s standing right there. Fifty yards, at three o’clock,” Amelia insisted, pointing a