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I nod. “And during the vision, I remembered why I got up to go find them that night. I’d had a nightmare.”
“What happened in the dream?” Jesse asks gently, seeming to sense this part is important.
I swallow thickly. “I dreamed they were dead. In a car accident.”
“Holy shit,” Steph breathes, her eyes filling with tears. “You prophesized something that would happen nearly two decades later.”
I nod even though it wasn’t a question. “I did.”
“Did you tell them about the dream?” she asks.
“No,” I say, feeling my own eyes start to sting. “Maybe if I had…”
“Don’t do that,” Jesse cuts in. “It wasn’t your fault, and even if you had told them, what would they do? Never get into a car again?”
He’s right. I know he is. But guilt still twists in my gut.
“We should get moving,” Erik says, cutting through my turbulent thoughts.
I start to nod my agreement, but a noise in the woods has me snapping my head in that direction. The other two vampires copy my movement as we all go deathly still.
“What––” Steph starts, but my hand flies up to cut her off.
“Someone is out there,” I whisper with the faint sound of several heartbeats thumping in my ears.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” echoes around us just as a group of people emerge from the tree line.
My body stiffens even more, turning to steel as the scent of rotting flowers wafts up my nose. The same magic I smelled the first time we visited the Grundelier village. The group approaching us are witches, and they were there that day. Maybe they left before we got there, or maybe they were watching us, invisible to the eye. I still don’t know why I was the only person who could smell it, but I’m sure this scent is the same.
The four of us fall into a straight line, a united front against the strangers. I’m surprised Erik doesn’t try to pull Steph in behind him instead of letting her face these witches head-on, but then again, this is Steph we’re talking about. She’d probably strike him down with magic if he tried.
“We’re just passing through,” Jesse calls back, trying for diplomacy.
“Do not lie to us, demon,” the female in the middle shouts, the words sizzling with anger and disgust. “We know where you are going, just like we know you’ve been there twice before.”
Steph gasps, and I shoot a glance her way. Meeting my eyes, she mouths one word. Brimmwise.
“Gold star, little witch,” a guy that looks like he’s only fifteen or so calls out.
I study him for a moment, then let my gaze trail over the rest. There are six of them, in total, and they all appear to be teenagers. But something is off. The scent of magic, the way the air has the slightest of shimmers around the group. The twist in my gut…
They aren’t showing us their real selves. This is a glamour. A façade meant to hide their identities. To lure us into a false sense of security by making us think we’re dealing with children.
“You’ve been warned not to come back here. You should’ve heeded the warning,” the female who spoke first says.
“Is that supposed to scare us?” Steph asks, the tremor in her voice belying the brave front she’s trying to put on.
“You were warned about us, as well, were you not?” another girl calls out, and my eyes narrow at the gravel in her voice. She’s definitely much older than she appears. “You must know we’re more powerful than you could ever dream of being.”
I feel eyes on me, and glance over to see a male on the left studying me intently. His eyes narrow as he murmurs, “The female demon is different.”
They all look at me with varying degrees of curiosity and disgust. A sudden sense of self-preservation floods through me, and before I can think about it or reconsider, I call on my magic. A calm settles over me as it zips from my core to my extremities, heating my palms and feet as I prepare to protect myself and those I love.
“It can’t be,” one of them whispers as six sets of eyes widen with horror.
“That’s right. She’s a witch-vampire hybrid, and she’s about to kick all of your asses,” Steph boasts, but not one of them acknowledges her.
The female who spoke first shakes her head vigorously, mouthing, “Impossible.”
