Chapter 19 #2
“He said, walk away.” Amari’s voice came from directly behind me, low and controlled. “Now.”
The man glanced at Amari, and his face paled. I didn’t know what Amari looked like to him—maybe his eyes had shifted, or there was something in the gargoyle’s stillness that spoke of predators—but the man’s bravado crumbled.
He took a step back. “Whatever, freaks.”
He disappeared into the darkness of the doorway he’d come from, and I felt my chest loosen slightly. The urge to chase him and teach him proper respect for what belonged to others hummed beneath my skin, but I pushed it down. Samara needed me present, not feral.
Samara pulled me forward. “Let’s keep moving.”
We walked in silence, my heartbeat gradually returning to something resembling normal. The bloodlust still prowled at the edges of my mind, but the farther we got away from the crowds and that man, the more manageable it became.
Amari fell into step beside me, his voice barely above a whisper. “That could have gone worse.”
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. My hands were shaking slightly, and I knew Samara could feel it where she held me.
We turned down a narrow street that smelled like trash. There were doors, but no one was waiting at these.
We moved down the long passageway until Samara stopped and opened her bag. “Ready? Let’s hope this works.”
We grabbed onto her, and she took a deep breath before touching the feather to her palm.
Nothing happened.
“Maybe this one is defective.” She reached into her bag and pulled out another. “This one has more dried blood on it.”
A curse left her lips as the second feather failed to work.
“Maybe it only works inside the castle,” Amari suggested.
“No. It should work everywhere.” My family definitely hadn’t been in the castle when they’d ventured to Earth.
We grabbed onto Sammy for the third time. She closed her eyes, took a few deep breaths, and closed her fist around the feather.
Nothing happened at first, but then her hand glowed. I was about to say something when we were pulled to Inferna, to the Black Forest.
“Thank fuck that worked.” She shoved the feather into her bag and started walking north toward my village, where we’d be safe.
There was no ignoring that her hand had been glowing. It hadn’t when we’d left the dungeon. “Why was your hand glowing?”
She shrugged with an infuriating little lift of her shoulders that told me exactly nothing. I wouldn’t let her dismiss it that easily.
I stalked after her, my boots crunching against the dead leaves and twisted roots.
Amari walked behind me, matching my pace. What he rarely did was match my temper. It was annoying how level-headed he remained even when I wanted to shake answers out of Samara.
“So that’s it?” I called out to Samara’s retreating form. “You’re going to walk away?”
She didn’t stop or even slow down. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
“The hell there isn’t.” My strides ate up the distance between us until I was walking backward in front of her, forcing her to acknowledge me.
“Every demon has tricks.” She kept her gaze fixed somewhere past my shoulder, avoiding my eyes. A sure sign she was lying or withholding information.
“Your hand lit up like a luminous monkey. That’s not nothing.”
“Valentino, drop it.” Amari never used my entire name unless he was mad at me, and he definitely wasn’t.
I stopped, throwing my hands in the air as she continued on. “What the fuck is going on? You suddenly can figure out how to get to Earth? And then when it doesn’t work, your hand glows, and then, boom, we’re back? What am I supposed to make of all this?”
With a growl, I jogged to catch up to her and grabbed her arm, spinning her around. Her face was wet, and she swiped at her tears. My anger instantly dissipated.
Fuck, I was such an asshole.
“What is it, bruja?” I asked softly as I reached up with my free hand to wipe her tears.
She glanced over my shoulder at Amari, and my stomach dropped. Whatever it was, he knew. He kept it from me.
My anger was back.
I turned and pinned him with a glare. “What’s going on here? Someone needs to tell me right now before I lose my shit.” I didn’t like secrets, especially from people I loved and who I thought loved me.
Which really made me a fucking hypocrite.
Amari ran a hand over his close-cropped curls. “You’re already losing your shit. You need to calm the fuck down.”
My nostrils flared, and I could smell Samara’s fear. But was it because of how I was acting or because of her secret?
I was getting nowhere fast, so I took off toward my village, leaving Amari and Samara behind me. My footfalls slammed against the ground, each step a tiny explosion of anger and frustration.
The silence between us stretched as we walked and made me more irritated, if that was even possible.
Finally, I couldn’t contain myself any longer, and I spun and glared at both of them. My finger jabbed into the air toward Samara, then Amari.
“You’ve been lying to me this whole time! Both of you. And I’m done asking nicely. Now tell me—”
The sharp crack of a twig snapping silenced me mid-sentence. My head whipped toward the sound, every muscle in my body going rigid.
Without a word, we moved behind the nearest trees, not that the trunks gave us that much cover.
My hand drifted to the dagger at my hip, and I caught Amari doing the same out of the corner of my eye.
Samara stood frozen behind the tree next to mine, her bag clutched tight against her chest like a shield.
The footsteps grew closer.
“Just guards from your village.” Amari stepped out from behind his tree with his hands in the air. “It’s—”
He didn’t have time to tell them it was us before arrows started whizzing past his head. One hit him in the forearm, and he let out a pained scream.
Amari didn’t scream.
“Stay there,” I mouthed to Samara, who had drawn a knife.
I dashed out from my hiding spot but was too fast for the arrows as I went from tree to tree, each time taking inventory. There were at least a dozen men—my father’s men.
“It’s me! Valentino!” I looked over at Amari, lying on the ground, writhing in pain as he held his arm where he’d yanked out the arrow. “We’re going home.”
“Surrender, and no one else will get hurt.”
Whoever had spoken better enjoy their last words; they would soon have their throat ripped out. But I complied because I could move fast enough if needed.
“The princess needs to surrender too.”
Another throat to be ripped out. My list was going to grow longer if these guards weren’t careful.
“The princess?” I feigned confusion and didn’t dare look at the tree she was hidden behind.
“The council has a bounty on both of you. Luckily, your father is paying us more.”
I narrowed my eyes, not trusting these men. “You’re going to take me to my father’s estate?”
Several of the guards had moved closer. One of them gave Amari a kick in the arm. He let out another yelp. I didn’t understand why he wasn’t standing up.
Crap, was it poisoned?
“Where’s the girl?”
I focused on her heartbeat, or at least tried to. It was no longer there. My head snapped toward the tree despite my attempts to stop the reaction.
She had disappeared.
She was playing with the magic we knew little about. What if she landed in the middle of the street? What if she wound up in the ocean?
Fear gripped me, and I looked around frantically. Maybe she had run off, but I knew that wasn’t true. I would have heard her.
Two guards pulled Amari to his feet, his eyes filled with pain and worry. He struggled against their holds but was no match for them in his state.
My gaze dropped from his to his arm. It had turned to stone around the wound and looked like it was melting.
Fuck.
A guard pulled his sword out of the sheath. “Where is she? This is the last time we’re going to ask. Tell us, or we’ll take his arm. Good luck saving this.” He poked at the wound with the tip of his sword.
“Run,” Amari mouthed before he clenched his jaw so hard I heard bones and teeth breaking.
“I’ll have your head.” I walked forward, and several of the archers raised their bows at me. I was surrounded.
Amari shook his head.
“Little Valentino, so naive.” The guard laughed. “Hold out his arm.”
A third guard grabbed Amari’s arm and pulled it straight out as he struggled to free himself. His eyes pleaded with me.
“Last chance. We saw her. Now, where is she?” He raised his sword over his head and then slowly lowered it down to Amari’s arm, right above the elbow.
“She’s here.” My voice cracked. “Samara! Samara! It’s safe.”
I tried to buy time and come up with a plan. I could lunge for the guard with the sword, but he was a vampire. He would have Amari’s arm off faster than I could get to him.
I met Amari’s eyes again. He gave me a slight shake of the head. He knew what I was thinking.
Why wasn’t he changing into his gargoyle form? Or shifting? What the hell were they using on the arrow tips?
Red filled my vision as the vampire holding the sword laughed. “Very well.”
I lunged.
He swung.
Amari screamed.
Something pierced my chest.