I collapsed to my knees with weakness, but still I didn’t give up, didn’t relent.
Finally, I felt the last of their resistance break. The four remaining beasts flapped their wings, reared back in the sky, and flew away.
The magic dissipated, leaving me spent and exhausted. I wanted nothing more than to curl up in the grass and sleep for a thousand years.
But I needed to find the guys. To get home.
I got to my feet and jogged back toward the pool, where two hulking black forms lay dead in a cloud of dust. Ronan and Darius stood behind them, trying to catch their breath.
I sat on the stone perimeter encircling the pool and closed my eyes, waiting for my own breath to return, for my heartbeat to slow.
When the dust settled and I could finally breathe again, I got to my feet and turned toward the pool, peering inside.
At nothing.
No water. No starlight. No rune gate. The majestic Pool of Unknowing was no more than a pit filled with dust and emptiness.
The gateway—my last chance, my only road home—was gone.
I looked to Darius, the shock washing over me in waves.
“It’s gone,” I said, my voice breaking.
Darius blinked.
“The rune gate,” I explained. “The pool. The way home.”
He said nothing, still blinking at me in confusion.
I stepped closer, peering up into his eyes. “Darius?”
His brow furrowed as he looked around, taking in the scene. When he met my eyes again, his gaze was completely blank.
Moments ago at the hell portal, he’d looked at me like I was the only thing that ever mattered. He’d almost said he was falling in love with me.
Now he looked at me like he’d never seen me before in his life.
“Pardon me,” he said, stiff and formal. “But I seem to have lost my way. Would you mind telling me where I am?”
“Darius?” I said again, my mind refusing to believe it, even as my heart slowly cracked in two.
“Darius?” He looked over his shoulder, then back to me, shaking his head in confusion. He opened his mouth, then closed it, his lips twisting in disgust. “Is this… is this blood?”
Both pieces of my broken heart slammed against my ribs, the full realization punching a hole right through my chest.
Darius could speak, but he had no memories. He didn’t know me. Didn’t know his name. Didn’t even know he was a vampire.
“Oh, fuck,” Ronan said as he approached the pool, shaking the dust from his clothes. “The rune gate—”
“Ronan.” I grabbed his arm, tugging him away from the pool. “Darius is… He’s… The memory eaters…” A sob escaped my mouth, cutting off my words.
Ronan reached for me, his face crumpling in confusion and concern, but before I could get the rest of the words out, a terrible shriek pierced the air, driving us both to our knees.
The sky turned black, and I could tell from the sheer horror on Ronan’s face what that meant.
The memory eaters had returned.
With a herd.
