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“Thank God he didn’t succeed,” Thane murmured, his gaze distant.
Our group fell silent as we waited for the sun to disappear behind the trees’ leaves, aiming for the horizon.
We still had time to kill, so Ivan and Lena took turns skipping rocks across the pond, competing for the farthest skip. Everything turned into a competition with them, and Thane joined in the fun before long.
Sitting on a large, flat rock near the sand, I leaned back onto my palms and soaked up the last of the sun’s warmth. I still hadn’t recovered my tan after my resurrection dealing with William. Once this was over, I’d make that a priority, no matter how silly the goal seemed right now.
It made me feel normal and in control, something I hadn’t had much of lately.
My anticipation grew as the golden rays faded and the sky’s edges darkened. I chalked it up to nerves about what was to come, but I couldn’t shake the sense of impending doom. Like something terrible was about to happen.
Was getting this dagger and creating the super weapon worth the risk of it falling into the wrong hands?
Were any hands the right hands?
Or would we all end up succumbing to our dark sides?
17
MONDAY AT DUSK
By the time dusk arrived, my nerves were shot from the sensation of being watched. Also because we hadn’t settled on who should wield the Last Hope. At least we had more time to decide before creating the damn thing.
No sense rushing into such a monumental decision, right?
Not like it would cause chaos if we chose the wrong person…
Oh, wait.
The last traces of sunlight filtered through the surrounding leaves and sparkled like gold amid the specks of dust. Fresh noises joined the forest chorus as nocturnal animals began their shifts.
The witching hour was calm and peaceful and truly magical.
So why the hell did I feel so uneasy?
The stag tilted its massive antlers toward the waterfall and huffed. It is time. The dagger is at the bottom of the pool beneath the falls.
“I can go get it.” Ivan reached for his shirt’s hem to pull over his head.
With a flick of Kit’s wrist and a single chanted word, the pool’s water separated down the middle, forming a path over smooth stones straight to the waterfall’s base. A cave burrowed into the rock, its opening barely large enough for an adult to crawl into.
Ivan grinned sheepishly as he pushed his shirt back down and stepped toward the pool.
A twang rang from the trees a breath before an arrow pierced the sand an inch from his boot, pulling him up sharp.
I spun to face the attacker, knives in hand.
A sound I hoped to never hear again echoed all around us—the skittering noises of newly-turned vampires. Except these weren’t any kind of vampire that I’d ever seen, and my mouth ran drier than a desert.
Malformed faces materialized in the shadows between trees like they had formed from the darkness. As the unknown creatures climbed down tree trunks and slunk forward beneath bushes, saliva dripped down their nonexistent chins. Horrors that belonged to someone’s worst nightmares crept closer, leaving the forest’s gloom in their wake.
Razor-sharp, splintering claws extended from their gnarled hands and legs. A dark, greenish-black skin clung to their somewhat humanoid bodies, but ooze leaked from their pores. Steam and the nose-burning stench of sulfur rose anywhere the tar-like goop dripped.
Their empty eye sockets regarded us without emotion, and I knew deep within my soul that they would kill us and eat our innards without an ounce of remorse. I swallowed hard.
These were most definitely not human world vampires.
No, it was so much worse than that.
