It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him…
It was that she didn’t trust him.
Something about him had shifted since he had climbed out of that coffin.
They had been walking for four days, when she had finally found a vine with the right pattern, and had changed directions.
He had obeyed without question. In fact, he had followed behind her in silence—almost eerie silence, with how quietly he could move. Nadi had forgotten what it was like to be around a vampire for long periods of time. Now and then, she’d look over her shoulder and just see his red eyes glinting in the dim light of the Wild and she’d jolt in reflexive fear.
And he’d smirk.
As if he was biding his time.
She’d grabbed as many supplies as she could from the ship before jumping over to save him. Mael and Lana had been watching her obsessively. They’d been right to. But the moment their guard had dropped, she had vanished.
And she’d stolen anything that she knew would survive the swim. As many tins of canned food as she could fit, a can opener, a length of rope, first aid supplies that could take being waterlogged, a few kitchen knives, and the bolt cutters she’d found in the engine room. And, also importantly, several pieces of Lana’s expensive jewelry that she’d pocketed, knowing she could use them to barter with whoever they might come across.
If they lived that long.
In nearly a week, they had at least made progress. She had found her path to the heart-vines, and they hadn’t had any major run-ins. Only a few smaller beasts had considered tangling with them, and they had effectively scared them off. And their supplies were lasting. Raziel wasn’t eating any of them, which made sense.
He didn’t need food to survive.
He needed something else.
And with every moment that ticked by, Nadi felt the skin on the back of her neck begin to stand up a little bit more, as though she were avoiding the inevitable. She felt like she was beinghunted.
It all came to a head when they took a sharp left turn. There was a steep dip, and she let out a yelp as the ground shifted and she slid a few feet, before tumbling and landing on a soft, mossy surface.
She couldn’t see anything. There were no visible vines wherever she had landed. The growth must be covered up by leaves, or it ducked into a crevice in the rock that obscured its light. It happened, from time to time, and was fairly normal. But this one was ill-timed. “Damn it.”
“Are you okay?” Raziel was right next to her. She hadn’t heard him move. She’d fallen, but he hadn’t. His hand on her upper arm lifted her to her feet.
“I’m fine.” Brushing herself off, she shifted the bag on her shoulder. “I can’t see a damn thing.” Without the vines and the dim glow, she was in true darkness, here. “How did you make it down here without falling?”
“You can’t see?” He paused. “Interesting.”
“You can?”
“Not precisely.” He let go of her arm. “I could hear it. There’s a…heartbeat to this place. It bounces off everything. I can’t seeit, so much as I canfeelit. I could feel the entrance to this chamber. Same as I canfeelthe moss. The creatures. You. I can feel where the exit is, because I can feel the things living around it. The blood pulsing in their veins.Yourveins.”
That was unsettling. “You can…hear in the dark?” She knew of animals in the Deep Wild that could do that. Things that navigated on sound alone.
“Yes.” There was a tone to his voice that made her nervous. Very nervous. “And everything seems to want to bleed in the Wild. Even the plants. It makes a vampire like me…very thirsty.”
Shit. “Raziel.”
His voice came from behind her. “Yes?”
Shivering, she spun to face him. When she did, he grabbed the backpack, tearing it from her shoulder. She heard it land some distance away. The chamber was larger than she’d thought. “What’re?—”
“What I have wanted to do since we arrived in this place.” His voice was a low growl.
Fear and anticipation twisted in her stomach, warring with each other. She knew what he was after—she knew what he was going to do. But something had changed. Something had broken in him. This was different.
Hewas different.
This was the true Serpent now.
