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West frowned. “What’s your point?”
“I don’t think these bodies are here by accident,” Jack said.
Wesley nodded. “They were brought here by someone.”
“But why?” I asked.
“Food for the hatay,” Zayn suggested. West and the others turned to look at him. He shrugged. “Just a theory, but we already found it strange that there are so many hatay here, and it’s one hell of a coincidence they are all here right at the time she shows up. Unless...”
“Unless someone lured them here and kept them fed, waiting for her to show up,” West surmised slowly.
Zayn nodded. “Screams trap to me.”
“So someone is orchestrating this?” Jack muttered. “Well, shit.”
“We really need to get out of here now,” West urged. “Let’s go. No more talking.”
We sped through the tunnels. I was still feeling drained, but the sight of what those hatay had done to those people spurred me on. Emotions raged through me—fear, disgust, and pure fury. If what Zayn said was right, those people had been killed just to enable the hatay to hunt me down. We needed to get out now, but I swore to myself as we moved through the darkness that if it was true, I would hunt down the one responsible. An image filled my head of physically ripping open the person who had done this and tearing his heart out with my mouth, feeling the blood running down my chin as I devoured it in front of him. The thought stopped me in my tracks. I was never normally one for violence. What the hell was happening to me? I suddenly felt incredibly thirsty, and it fed the rage inside me. My skin burned with a strange prickling sensation, and the tips of my fingers tingled. My breathing sped up, and my vision blurred for a moment.
“Tory, are you okay? Tory?”
Wesley’s voice filtered through, and my vision cleared again. I blinked at him. He stood in front of me, stroking my arms. The touch was soft and comforting, and I took a deep breath. The thirst lessened, and I began to feel calmer.
“What’s the matter?” West doubled back as the others paused.
“Nothing, I’m fine.” Well, apart from having psycho killer visions in my head, but he really didn’t need to know about that. Maybe I was just finally losing my grip on sanity. Maybe this whole crazy week was a complete delusion. I wasn’t sure if the thought was a comfort or not.
West looked me over and shook his head. “I don’t like this. You’re way too pale, and look at you, you can barely stand.” He peeled my shirt away and pulled at my hand holding Jack’s shirt, pressing his lips together in a thin line as he saw how soaked it was. Gently pressing my hand and the shirt back into place, he turned his head towards Zayn.
“Zayn, take point. Wesley, you go ahead.” He turned back to me, his blue eyes strangely bright in the darkness. “Put your arms around my neck,” he instructed. Too weary to argue, I did as he said, and he swept me up in his arms, cradling me against his chest. “Okay?” he asked. I nodded, closing my eyes and laying my head against his shoulder.
He’d only taken a few steps when my eyes flew open again. “West!”
He nodded. “Yes, I felt it too. Let’s speed it up, people!”
No longer slowed by my progress, the five of us moved quickly through the tunnel. My night vision was fading, and I could barely see the outline of West’s face anymore. I reached up gently to touch it to reassure myself he was still there. It was a daft concept, considering I could feel his arms around me.
He glanced down as my fingers brushed over his jawline, rough with the beginnings of a beard.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured quietly. My voice sounded cringey to me, like a little girl.
“For what?”
“For running out on you and Jack at the airport. This is all my fault.”
He sighed. “I’ve been your high priest for thousands of years and spent countless lives where my job was to keep you safe. If I can’t control a twenty-three-year-old girl, then that’s my fault, not yours.”
I was silent for a moment, then my voice sounded clearer, more like myself. “I’m not a little girl anymore, West.”
His thumb rubbed deliberately over my arm. “I know that. Trust me, I know that.”
“I like the beard,” I murmured.
He gave a short laugh, and I thought he was about to reply when a rustling sound filled my ears, coming from behind us. I heard Jack open fire. West spun around, and I saw so many glowing eyes in the darkness.
“They are coming the tunnels ahead,” Zayn shouted. “We need to go now, or we’re going to be trapped between them.”
“Davenport, forward!” West yelled, spinning around and racing up the tunnel after Zayn and Wesley. Zayn paused just in front of us, opening fire into a narrow tunnel that branched off into utter darkness. With no night vision, all I saw were flashes as the gun went off. The report from Jack’s pistols still sounded, but he was farther behind us than he had been. Suddenly they went silent, and I heard him shout.
