Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
AMARI
Iwatched the glowing embers of our small campfire die to nothing as the forest swallowed the last traces of light. At least where we’d set up camp in the Black Forest was a little less haunted.
The others had retreated to their tents after a meal of dried meat and hard cheese, conversation minimal as the weight of the abandoned village pressed down on our thoughts.
Val disappeared into our shared tent first, his shoulders tight with unspoken tension.
Samara and Nico followed shortly after, retreating to their own canvas shelter.
Those two were a puzzle I couldn’t quite piece together. He looked at her as if she were his world, but also like his heart was utterly broken. They were abnormally close for a male and female who weren’t fucking. So why weren’t they together?
I shifted into my panther and positioned myself in front of our tent, my body hardening to stone. The transformation was familiar now after centuries of practice, as my senses sharpened and my skin and fur calcified into living stone.
The forest unfurled before me in layers of sound and scent impossible for other creatures to perceive. I heard Val’s breathing slow and deepen inside our tent. The squirrel snored lightly, a soft purring sound that irritated me.
I really didn’t want to protect the squirrel, but Val had requested that I stop being such a dick. I was still going to be one, but maybe I would treat him with a little more respect.
Until he brought out his nuts, then I could make no promises.
My awareness expanded outward in concentric circles. The forest breathed around us with the minute sounds of insects, the distant rustle of nocturnal creatures. I could hear the faint skittering of a spider traversing bark twenty feet away.
A storm approached from the east, the electric charge tingling against my stone skin. In fifteen minutes, it would reach us. I didn’t fear it, since even direct strikes couldn’t harm my gargoyle.
I was settling into the comfortable vigilance of the night watch when I detected movement from Samara’s tent. The tent flap parted, and she emerged like a shadow, pausing behind me.
I remained motionless, curious about what she intended to do. Val had tried to throw a blanket over my head once while I was in gargoyle form. He’d learned quickly why that was a terrible idea.
But Samara didn’t move closer. Instead, she slipped between the tents and into the trees behind our camp.
I tracked her progress by sound, and about twenty feet out, she curved her path in an arc, clearly trying to circle wide of the camp.
She likely thought she was being stealthy, unaware that my gargoyle senses could track her every movement as clearly as if she were illuminated by spotlights.
It was possible she was using the bathroom, but then she set off deeper into the forest, heading directly toward the approaching storm. What the hell was she doing?
I released myself from stone, my body shifting back to fur, and followed. I stayed low, using the shadows as cover, tracking her without a sound.
Her purple hair made her ridiculously easy to follow. The unnatural color shimmered with an almost iridescent quality whenever the light struck it just right. My paws itched with the impulse to run through those silken waves.
The thought was so unexpected, so unwelcome, that I nearly stumbled. What the fuck was wrong with me? This woman was a complication in Val’s life that I was tolerating.
The farther we went, the more my panther bristled with unease. The storm was closing in, the air growing heavier. Whatever she was doing, wandering alone in a dangerous forest with a lightning storm approaching was reckless at best, deadly at worst.
When the trees grew denser, I took to the branches. My claws found purchase in the rough bark as I leapt silently from tree to tree, following her path toward a small clearing that opened up ahead.
She stopped in the middle of the exposed space and went completely still. Her posture shifted, tension draining from her shoulders as she stood transfixed, face tilted toward the sky. The hairs on my arms rose as lightning flashed closer, illuminating her profile for a split second.
Her expression was serene, almost rapturous.
This wasn’t normal behavior. I crouched lower on my branch, muscles bunching as I prepared to leap down and drag her back to safety. The storm was practically on top of us now, lightning dancing between the clouds.
A bolt struck the ground ten feet from where she stood.
She didn’t even flinch.
Lightning that close should trigger every survival instinct in a demon’s body. Her utter stillness was unnerving. Either she’d lost her mind, or she knew exactly what she was doing.
I was a heartbeat away from jumping down when a chittering sound caught my attention. I turned to find Nico perched on a nearby branch, his beady eyes fixed on me. He shook his head vigorously, tail flicking in urgent, silent communication.
The intensity of his gaze gave me pause. He knew what was happening, and he didn’t want me to interfere.
I turned back right as a blinding bolt of lightning struck Samara directly. The world went white, my vision temporarily overloaded by the brilliant flash. The lightning didn’t dissipate immediately but lingered, coursing through her for several seconds longer than any natural strike should last.
She dropped to her knees, one hand clutching her chest as if in pain. Before she could recover, another bolt hit her, then three more in rapid succession. Each strike made her glow brighter from within, her skin becoming luminescent and her hair shifting to a more vivid purple.
As suddenly as it had appeared, the storm vanished, leaving an unnatural silence in its wake. Samara collapsed onto the ground, her body radiating light like a fallen star.
Nico leapt from his branch, shifting mid-air, landing in his demon form with unexpected grace. I followed, my shift smooth as I hit the ground beside him.
“What the fuck?” The words burst from me before I could stop them.
“Quiet.” He didn’t spare me a glance as he rushed to Samara, gathering her into his arms with practiced care. Her body trembled violently, teeth chattering, eyes squeezed shut. The glow emanating from her skin cast eerie shadows across Nico’s concerned face.
She was fucking glowing. Not metaphorically, but literally glowing like the moon. Nothing had prepared me for this.
I followed them back to camp in stunned silence, watching as Nico carefully placed her back in the tent. When he emerged and positioned himself beside me, I was surprised he was willing to leave her side at all.
He pulled the tie from his hair, running his fingers through the mess before gathering it back into its knot. In the moonlight, the dark circles under his eyes were more pronounced than I’d noticed before.
“You can’t say anything about this. Her life depends on it.” His voice was laced with warning.
I raised my eyebrows, unable to keep the incredulity from my expression. “I don’t understand.”
His gaze shifted to the tent, then back to me. “Let’s just say it didn’t take her light.” The whispered words were so faint that even my enhanced hearing struggled to catch them.
If it didn’t take her light, then what exactly had it done? Given her light?
My eyes widened as my brain connected the dots. Her glowing skin. The purple hair. The way she stood unflinching as lightning struck her repeatedly. The implications were staggering.
Lightning usually drained creatures of light. No light meant only one thing: becoming vacant. Vacants were hollow shells of their former selves, driven by an uncontrollable hunger for flesh.
“Is she going to be okay?” I kept my voice low, suddenly concerned that Val might overhear us despite him sleeping like the dead. If I were wrong and Samara were turning vacant, we needed to get as far away from her as possible.
Nico sighed, rubbing his hands over his face.
“She’ll be fine by morning. It usually takes her about six hours to snap out of the trance-like state she’s in and to stop glowing so noticeably.
Until then, she’s vulnerable.” He turned to face me fully.
“Is knowing this information going to be an issue?”
I assessed him from head to toe, a deliberate evaluation that communicated my thoughts without words: What exactly do you think you could do if I decided it was a problem? I might not care for either of them, but I wasn’t in the habit of revealing secrets that could get people killed.
“That includes telling the vampire.” Nico’s expression hardened, challenging me.
I opened my mouth to defend Val, but Nico raised his hand, cutting me off. “Vampires can’t be trusted.”
A growl rumbled in my chest, my panther rising to the surface at the implied insult. “Val can be. He’s one of the most trustworthy demons I know.”
Nico shrugged, unimpressed by my defense. “That might be true, but if word gets out about this... remember what’s happened to all the luminous monkeys.”
The reference hit its mark. The tiny monkeys had been hunted to extinction for their light magic, their essence harvested by black market dealers who sold it to the highest bidders.
“The secret is safe with me.” I honestly didn’t know if I was going to tell Val about it. In that moment, I felt like I needed to keep it a secret.
The reality was that Val was a vampire. He was my vampire, but the squirrel had a valid argument. Vampires were notoriously untrustworthy and always had their own agendas.
Nico nodded once, satisfied with my response, then slipped back into the tent where Samara was still glowing.
I transformed back into my gargoyle, my mind racing. The purple-haired princess was more than she appeared, and suddenly her presence in our lives was less like coincidence and more like the first rumbling of something big.
The forest seemed darker now, filled with hidden threats beyond mere physical dangers. I settled into my watch with renewed vigilance, my thoughts circling around the image of Samara standing beneath the lightning, face upturned in welcome rather than fear.
What other secrets did she carry beneath that unassuming exterior? And what would Val do if he discovered this one?
Everything was black. One second, I was staring out at the forest and the next, nothing.
I reached for my senses, my eyes not cooperating. They were shut.
Was I sleeping?
Part of my curse was that I never slept.
I struggled to open my eyes, clawing internally to wake up. It was such a foreign sensation, and I wanted to scream, but I also wanted to cry.
Finally, true rest. Complete rest without the worry of what was threatening those I was in charge of protecting.
I gave in to the feeling and let myself drift away into the abyss.
As quickly as the feeling had come, it was gone.
My eyes flew open, and I took in my surroundings. I was curled in a ball, my nose buried between my paws, and I was in a tent.
When did I shift?
I inhaled and smelled the lingering scent of squirrel and something sweet that made my mouth water. I got to my feet quickly and looked down at the sleeping form I had curled up next to.
Samara.
Unable to resist, I lowered my nose to her hair and inhaled. She stirred, and her eyes slowly opened. They widened, realizing a panther was hovering over her.
Before she could make a noise, I shifted and put my hand over her mouth to stop her scream. She struggled under me as my body hovered over hers.
What the hell had happened last night?
I searched her eyes for answers, and she finally stopped squirming underneath my hold. She clutched at my wrists, and I moved my hand from her mouth.
“What the fuck, Amari? What are you doing here?” She wiped her mouth and squirmed some more. Something brushed against my crotch.
“I fell asleep?” I was so confused. I sat back on my heels and rubbed my hands over my head. “I was asleep.”
She pushed herself up on her forearms and stared at me. “I thought gargoyles didn’t sleep.”
She looked as if she’d gotten twelve hours of sleep and like nothing at all happened the night before.
“We don’t.” I narrowed my eyes. She had something to do with it.
We stared at each other for a moment before her eyes went wide. “Did I...” She took a breath. “Go toward the storm last night?”
Did she really not remember any of it? How often did she throw herself in front of the bolts?
“You did. It hit you five times. The squirrel brought you back here.”
She nodded solemnly and ran her hands through her hair. It was even more vibrant than it usually was.
“You can’t breathe a word of this.” Her eyes pleaded with me to guard her secret.
“Don’t worry. Your squirrel already talked to me.” I stood and stretched my arms over my head. Her eyes traveled over my body and settled on the spot where my shirt had lifted, revealing my stomach.
Her eyes stayed locked on my abdomen, and I pulled my shirt down. She shook her head as if she were snapping herself out of it, and then she met my eyes. “You need to stop calling him squirrel. He has a name.”
“Isn’t that what he is? I’m called ‘gargoyle,’ and Val is called ‘vampire.’”
“It’s said as a jab. I’m curious about what I’m referred to as?” Her eyes held a challenge, and I bit the inside of my cheek.
I desperately wanted to call her something, but what? I’d heard the squirrel call her Peanut, and Val referred to her as princess or bruja.
“Are you a witch?”
She certainly looked like a witch, not that witches had any distinctive features. There was a magical aura about her.
She slid out of her sleeping bag and stood in front of me. She wasn’t wearing any pants, and I couldn’t stop myself from looking down at her long legs. I shoved my hands in my pockets to resist the urge to run my hands up them.
A smirk formed on her face, but there was a hint of sadness in her eyes. “I’m not a witch, but I don’t exactly know what I am.”
If she was nothing, why had I fallen asleep next to her? It was as if I were drawn to her, and she had somehow gotten past my curse.
There was an awkward moment of silence, and it had suddenly grown very claustrophobic. Where was the damn squirrel, and why hadn’t he kicked me out?
I turned and left the tent before I did something stupid.