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I snorted softly, but didn’t reply as the wave of wrongness briefly sharpened. It didn’t have the same sort of feel as that of a vampire—even one as magically powerful as Maelle. It felt more along the lines of something demonic.
Of course, many sorcerers did make deals with demons—generally for power upgrades and/or demonic servitude—in exchange for their souls on death, but vampires were already dead, so I couldn’t see many demons being interested. Unless, of course, it was the souls of her victims she was offering.
“I have no idea what is going on out there,” I said, “but it’s reaching flash point.”
“A death-type flash point?”
“I guess. I mean, whether it’s a demon or a vampire, death is usually their end game.”
“At least when it comes to this reservation,” he grumbled and flattened the accelerator, eking out every bit of speed from the engine that was possible.
It made for a noisy drive, given all the bullet holes.
He slowed as we swept into Blackwood. I sent a text to Aiden, then motioned Monty to continue on. Whatever it was, it wasn’t in the trees surrounding the town, but deeper within the reservation’s forested heart.
We swept out the other side of the town and began to climb. The waves of power increased the closer we got to it, and my skin itched. I still had no idea who or what the source of that wave was, but I was absolutely certain we were going to be too late to stop whatever was happening.
My phone pinged, and I glanced down. Aiden was now only a few minutes behind us.
The forest edged closer to the road, shutting out the moon’s light and leaving deep divisions of darkness on either side of the headlights. We swept past multiple dirt roads, but as we neared the crest of another long rise, instinct twitched hard.
“Take the left just up ahead,” I said.
Monty didn’t stop or slow; he just wrenched the wheel down hard and all but spun onto the gravel road. The SUV fishtailed for several meters before he got it back under control.
I sent Aiden another text and then said, “You’d better slow. From the look of things, the road really narrows up ahead.”
He did so, although that didn’t mean we were actually going slow. If a kangaroo decided to jump out in front of us, it would be dead meat. The brakes in the SUV were good, but they couldn’t perform miracles on a gravel road at this speed.
We flew past a track on our left and were soon approaching a fork in the road. The main track swung around to the right, but a narrower track went left and was steeply inclined.
“Let me guess,” Monty said, voice dry, “we go left.”
“Afraid so.”
He slowed and swung onto the track. As the four-wheel drive system kicked in, I sent Aiden more directions. He might have said don’t go into the forest, but he meant don’twalkinto the forest. We were perfectly safe as long as we kept to the main tracks.
I hoped like hell that I hadn’t tempted fate with that thought.
We bumped up the rocky track, crashing past low-growing shrubs and overhanging branches. I hung on to the grab bar and stared blindly through the windscreen. The wrongness was now so sharp my skin burned, and every breath tasted of ash and darkness.
“We’re close,” I somehow said.
But so too was the culmination of whatever was happening out there.
We swung around the bend and discovered the road ended in a line of trees.
Monty swore and stopped the SUV. “What now?”
Before I could answer, the spell erupted, an explosion strong enough to physically push me back in my seat. I swore, undid the seat belt, and scrambled out.
It was then I smelled the blood and saw the darkly luminescent remnants of the spell.
But not any old spell. A blood summoning.
One that had called forth a demon.
ChapterTwo
