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“I don’t need saving.”
“I know you don’t. You are a competent shifter who chews too loudly and acts like you know everything.”
“I know what I know.”
“That vampires are evil?”
“I didn’t say that. I don’t believe that anymore, okay? And stop acting so smug. I hate that smugness.”
“I hate that potty mouth.”
“Then hate it. May it drive you crazy for eternity.”
“I don’t need eternity. It drives me crazy now.”
“Because I tell you the truth you don’t want to hear?”
“Because it’s always so red, and it makes me think of drinking you. Because it belongs toyou.”
There it was again, arising beyond the frustration: passion. The hissed words did nothing to hide it. Silence followed, heavy in the atmosphere.
“I’m half human. If you really want….”
“You don’t know what I want.”
Riva gasped. Diego hissed again.
Daria backed away before she could hear more, refusing to interrupt something so private and…raw. It caught at her heart, that little part that felt excited about the budding romance of others. Of course, this had the makings of being an angry, hateful encounter, too, but the confidence in the two not hurting each other physically made her leave them alone.
When the tapping restarted, she ran for it, perhaps to escape the bickering pair before it morphed into wanting the truth of that sound. It led her to a crevice she hadn’t noticed before, where there was just enough space for a body to wriggle in. Here, the sound was louder and faster. She heard it in front of her, then behind her—and that was when it sank in.
Oh.
Not a tapping nor a ticking, but the beat of a heart of whatever it was inside that cave…and yes, it was now behind her.
She didn’t know what to do, and the lack of a plan made her act like a statue for those long, excruciating seconds. Then she snapped out of it and turned around, not missing the breath down her neck that was now as loud as the heartbeat. Belatedly, she realized that the beat was still in her head as if…
“Hello. Are you trying to communicate with me?”
There was no response. There was no sense of presence, nothing sinister to get scared of, and no energy to warn her of what kind of thing she was facing. There was no escape, either, not when it was blocking the way…not when it knew she was there even when she maintained invisibility. With a start, she pulled back the magic and let herself be seen. Nothing changed from the other party, which meant either of two things: it could break her neck no matter what she did. Or it wouldn’t.
She was trapped, so she might as well make the best of it.
“I will touch you,” she declared.
Still nothing, so her hand reached out. She bit back a sound when she touched something solid immediately, larger than she had anticipated. So much larger. It was soft, breathing in and out…gigantic,like a giant fluffy ball she could hug a hundred times over. Daria refrained from hugging it and just kept cruising her hand until she got a decent idea of its size and eventually found the head, which was another blob of softness complete with spiky lashes, a circular nose, and an unusually small mouth. She held back from exploring the inside of the mouth, too.
“I’m not stupid,” she muttered, though this very action already was. “You might swallow me and crunch me to death. Is that why you called me here? Was it telekinesis of some sort?”
There was no reply, so she retreated.
“I heard you in my mind, I think, and I’m a hundred percent sure the others didn’t hear you. Otherwise, someone as sharp-eared as Diego would have already discovered you—whoa!”
The yelp ended with a squeak, then silence when her body was knocked to the ground. She braced for a fight, then blinked when the weight wasn’t pressing her down but….
“Are younuzzlingme?”
It was, whatever this strange creature was. She considered being in a dream for a second before deducing that everything since the start of the journey had been dream-like.
