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He could simply…stop…fighting. Abandon this shallow, meaningless existence that had become his life.
But Anna… Would she come with him? What about Adam? Did he care?
Damn that unbreakable needle that guided his moral compass. He wanted to surrender and let go, stop fighting so hard to keep living this wretchedly lonesome life. Vision winking in and out, he glanced toward the sky and spotted something strange in the shadows of the canopy above.
A memory teased the tattered frays of his flickering conscience. He’d been looking for something. A creature. Not just a creature—his uncle, Isaiah. No longer recognizable as his kin, Isaiah had long ago turned feeish, living out the last century as vampire.
Cain’s eyes squinted at the black branches overhead, his wavering vision making out the strange bundles. Several abandoned nests in the black shadows of the canopy. Bare branches cradled large clusters of twigs and scavenged scraps. So many nests, each one too large for hawks or owls.
They were cribs for the others…
“We must leave this place,” he wheezed, wondering if he could trust the mortal to carry him. “Help me...”
“Oh, God, I don’t think you should move. Where’s your phone? We have to call—”
“Cursed female!” he snapped. “Do you ever listen?”
“I’m trying to help you!”
Her tedious reasoning drained him of effort and he sank weakly into the ground, catching his breath. A face filled his memory. Not Anna, but another female—innocent and young. Blameless eyes that spoke of horrors but a mouth that remained silent. Cybil. Should he perish in these woods, who would look after sweet, innocent Cybil?
He was here to avenge her mother’s death. A mortal girl of ten, far too young to have seen what she’d seen when her mother had been murdered in these woods by his delusional uncle. And the mortal girl’s mother had not been the only woman to lose her life at Isaiah’s wrath.
Anger gnawed away his patience. “Why are you here?”
The foolish reporter lacked the sensibility to survive, which should have been a natural instinct. She reported on the deaths for her English news, knew there was something lethal hiding in these woods, yet here she was armed with stupidity and a weapon she could barely lift.
“Why are you here?” she snapped back.
An inhuman squawk chattered in the distance, drawing both their attention. Cain shut his eyes and called the wind. On the tail of a breeze, he scented the others moving in and surrounding them. If they reached them, surrounding them from all angles, he would not be able to defend himself let alone protect the mortal.
Cain’s arm sagged limply onto the ground, his breath wheezing in and out of him in what seemed his final gasps. He looked at the woman, no longer hearing her panic, but watching her spiral. Why would anyone care so much if he lived or died? Perhaps it was a blemish on her conscience she wanted to avoid.
Mortals were not their responsibility. They were slow, foolish, and fragile, but this entire mess linked back to his kin. His family had a responsibility to end the murders taking place in these woods by tracking the source and ending Isaiah.
When the female turned, Cain frowned, noting the slashes that tore open her clothing and the dark stain of blood seeping from her back. His hunger rallied and his mind pushed through the haze. Survival instinct took over as the scent of her human blood called to him.
Cain had promised Cybil retribution. He swore he would find the monster that killed her mother and destroy it. Killing his uncle Isaiah would not undo the trauma little Cybil and her older brother, Dane, had suffered, but it might help Cybil find her words again.
“Blood,” Cain rasped, curling his fingers as if the motion might lure her closer. His body was too weak to use compulsion.
He’d yet to fulfill his vows, not just the one he made to Cybil, but also his promise to Annalise. A promise he’d broken when he swore to his brother’s wife he would not get injured on the hunt.
Scowling at the frantic female that just shot him in the heart, he reconsidered his stance on draining meddlesome mortal troublemakers dry. Blindly dragging his heavy hand to his chest, he gripped the rod of the arrow. The plunging throb spread through his back and shoulders and he screamed in frustration as the arrow twisted against the raw tissue of his spurting heart.
His insides revolted, a swirl of nausea lifting his shoulders off the ground only to have the agony in his chest thrust him back to the earth. Sweat beaded on his brow and he panted through clenched teeth as his mind fought to stay conscious.
He couldn’t sleep. He needed to keep fighting. Needed to keep his promise to Cybil and stay alive for Anna—though his sister-by-law only required his safety and survival, nothing more. She had his twin brother, Adam, for all else.
He drew in a galvanizing breath and pulled again, gritting his teeth and screaming. Panting, he shut his eyes and tried to slow his breath so he wouldn’t pass out. The continuous babble from the mortal female no longer registered, just a frantic pulse that played like a steady tribal beat in his ear. He should kill her. Feed, then snap her neck so he could think in silence.
His life’s blood filled his mouth and he swallowed…choking…drowning. Blood loss weakened him. He couldn’t think. Couldn’t move as tremors raked his body and fluid suffocated him. Another attack seized his heart. Couldn’t fight anymore.
The mortal’s words volleyed between what sounded like Portuguese and English. “Deus! I can’t go to jail for murder. Shit. Fuck.” She moved as if searching for signs of salvation that didn’t exist this deep in the woods. “Meu Deus! Não sei o que fazer! Me ajuda!”
Her gibberish grated on him as much as her modern attire and overdone eyes. “My phone,” he panted, head back and eyes shut tight against the pain. “In my pocket.” The lie lured her in as he expected it would. His finger twitched and he pointed to his hip. “Here.”
Her pulse quickened, a fast-prattling harmony to his ears. The scent of her adrenaline laced sweat filled his ravaged lungs. He slowed his breathing, a predator lying in wait, as thunder rumbled low in the distance.
