AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A blur lunged towards Daria, claws and fangs out. Charlie twisted his body mid-leap and crashed toward the man instead of Sona, aiming for the head. He glimpsed red eyes in shock before he hit his target, knocking the man to the ground. He kept going, smacking pressure points until the figure was unconscious.
“Vampires,” Daria declared in awe. “What are they planning with you guys?”
“A human, a rare type of shifter, a…wolf shifter,” Charlie guessed, noting the other woman’s spouting fur similar in shade to the kids they had seen playing before. The woman noted him back with narrowed eyes, recognizing his predator side. There was also curiosity.
“Half,” the woman corrected with a scoff. “They wanted a pure breed to perform for them and got duped when I clawed a few eyes out instead.”
But the claws didn’t come now as the woman seemed to put her trust in them. Perhaps it was the fire that licked its way to the top, leaving them with no choice but to huddle together.
“It’s coming for us. There’s no way around it,” he declared, assessing the silence that he took for them agreeing. He fingered the vial in his pocket, calculating the number of additional weight and how much more energy it would take to fly across that fire and out of the vampire’s territory. He thought it was a risk worth taking until he glanced at Daria, who was frozen in place. “What is it?”
“Nothing,” she said quickly. But he saw the way she snatched her hand guiltily out of her pocket and glimpsed the glow before she patted that small space shut.
What does the key do?
It glows.
The conversation took front and center, brief but significant. Testing it, he tugged her up until they were an arm’s length away from the others and noted how her arm stilled over the pocket, curling. He imagined he could even see it glow brighter, cementing one truth: that north had been the right direction all along. He glanced at the others, who looked on expectantly and nervously, still visibly weak. Just like that, a decision was born.
“We have to leave.”
“We can’t leave him behind,” Daria protested automatically, gesturing at the unconscious vampire.
The wolf shifter growled. “I don’t mind leaving him behind.”
“No,” Charlie growled back, their gazes clashing. To his surprise, the woman obliged and nodded reluctantly, making it easier to get the rest out. “We can’t let him burn like some barbarian. Someone needs to tie him up.”
Again, to his surprise, everyone jumped to attention, already scrambling about in search of materials and ganging up on the vampire. Daria wandered away, then wandered back with a rope in hand and worry on her features. He wiped the sweat from her forehead and felt the seconds tick away as she tied knots in between and held it up.
“One knot to hold on to each. Can we do this?”
“Yes.”
Further instructions later and the others were secure, with Daria holding on to him once more. They huddled together as sweat dripped now and a tenseness coated them. Then Charlie released the energy and waited as they floated away, slower than when it had just been the two of them. But it was working.
Gasps and whimpers echoed from below while someone grasped his leg and clutched it tighter. He glanced down at the scaled woman, who had the male human on her back. The female shifter was dangling at the last knot on the rope, glaring helplessly at the fire below and holding on to the vampire. Daria sighed in relief, scanning the fire, too. Then he changed direction and her gaze snapped up.
“Charlie?”
He continued going north, eyes on her. He glimpsed stunned disbelief and felt her slight tremble.
“It’s too risky over the fire…and your key’s calling you. You are not missing your goal, sweetheart. Not under my watch.”
The way her eyes glowed made him feel like the most heroic dude on the planet. Then all reflections halted as he focused on his body wobbling from the weight and harnessing just enough power from the vial to support them without emptying the energy too quickly. The tug-of-war in balance seeped into his bones, but he hardened his muscles and pushed on, following the direction of her tugs. When he felt his energy wane, he lowered his head.
“Tell me we are close, Daria,” he warned.
“Not quite. Almost. Charlie?”
“What?”
“Hold on to me,” she requested.
Then she was pushing up and climbing his body, leaving him nothing but those words. He held on and gritted his teeth when she pushed over his shoulders until his face was in line with her thighs and her arms were stretched out. The key rested on the tip of her fingers, dangling precariously…glowing incessantly, a blinding light that had the figures below bursting with questions.
“What’s that?”
“What’s going on?”
