But it was too late.
Here in the middle of vamp central, the sweet kid in the unicorn hoodie—the one who’d ultimately savedmylife—was dead.
Three
Gray
Murderer.
Guilt flooded my gut, hot and prickly.
She was just a kid. I was supposed to save her.
Instead, I’d gotten her killed.
I puked all over the front of my shirt.
This can’t be happening.
Think, Gray. Think.
Wiping my mouth on my arm, I returned my attention to her glassy eyes. Empty eyes.
Right now, more than anything, I wanted her alive. I wanted to take her to Luna’s Café for a cup of coffee and a hot meal, to teach her how to defend herself against vampires and rogue shifters and bad man hiding out in alleys. I wanted it with a deep and endless yearning, a soul-sucking regret that felt like it was turning me inside out.
“Please, Bean.” I stared into her vacant eyes. “Come back.”
Silence.
I reached forward again, grabbing her limp hand, but something felt… off. Like I was being watched. Trapped. I whipped my head around and scanned the end of the alley, peering into the misty darkness of the street beyond. An old car backfired nearby, making me flinch. But I saw nothing. Smelled nothing.
I turned back to Bean, my arms erupting in goose bumps. Instantly the temperature plummeted. My breath turned icy with frost.
The alley tilted sideways. I squeezed my eyes shut.
Somewhere deep inside, I felt an old, familiar rush, a pulsing heat gathering deep in my core.
No. Not again…
I fought to resist, but it called to me, warm and inviting where seconds ago I’d been shivering. I opened my eyes, the world spinning and blurring, then stopping suddenly.
The alley was gone.
I was on my knees in the middle of a lush, moonlit forest, my hands full of rich earth.
There were no buildings here, no brick walls or vampires or greasy men. I was alone in the middle of nowhere, the only sound a gentle breeze whispering through a canopy of leaves. The soothing scents of lilac and lavender washed over me.
I know this place.
Rising slowly, I wiped my dirty hands on my jeans. Several paces ahead, indigo light pulsed, urging me forward along a path clogged with tangled vines and flowers so big and full they’d bent their stems.
Picking my way through the growth, I followed the light until I reached a small clearing surrounded on by dense, dark forest. Nestled in among the blackest of trees, a hundred pair of silver eyes glittered in the night.
Watching.
Not so alone after all…
At the center of the clearing, a chest-high pedestal made of smooth white stones rose out of the earth, vines twining through the gaps between the rocks. Here was the source of my seductive light—a pentacle etched into the stone slab balanced on top, glowing as if it had been carved from living, indigo fire.
