Chapter 34
KAGE
The hell serpent’s roar shook the trees, followed by a wave of heat that hit my back. I didn’t look behind me. Looking would slow me down, and slowing down meant dying.
Nico chittered somewhere in the branches above. I followed the sounds, my lungs burning as I ran. Branches tore at my clothes, but I didn’t stop.
The vacants were everywhere. Their shrieks pierced through the roar of flames. Some ran past me, close enough that I felt the displaced air. Too close. If one of them touched me, it would be over.
I veered right, following Nico by sound. Nico was leading me somewhere safe, but the flames were spreading quickly.
My foot caught on a root, and I went down hard. I scrambled up, not caring about the pain shooting through my palms and knees. My chest seized, and I couldn’t get air past the panic clawing up my throat.
A vacant ran into me.
The impact knocked us both sideways, and I stumbled against a tree. I pressed myself against it even though I was still holding onto my invisibility.
The vacant’s head snapped toward me, and it reached out, fingers grasping inches from my face.
A flash of brown knocked it to the side.
I bolted, my heart threatening to burst through my ribs. My body wasn’t used to running. If we didn’t make it to safety soon, I was going to collapse.
Looking over my shoulder, I sighed in relief. The fire was far enough away from us now, and the vacants had thinned considerably. I stopped for a moment, hands on my knees, gulping in air that tasted like ash.
We couldn’t just keep running. We needed a plan.
Nico shifted next to me and grabbed my arm. He pulled me forward, not giving me time to catch my breath.
“Wait!” My voice came out hoarse. “Where—”
His fingers dug in harder. “Run!”
I wanted to ask him where we were going since Val’s estate was in the opposite direction, but I could barely breathe, let alone talk.
We ran for what felt like forever, though it was probably only a minute, before Nico put his arm out, stopping my forward momentum.
In front of us, a man stepped out from a cluster of trees, twenty vacants behind him. I stumbled backward, pressing against a tree.
“Stay quiet and invisible,” Nico muttered, his hand going to his waist pouch but freezing when the man said his name.
“Nicolas.” The man spoke with no emotion in his voice and stopped his forward trajectory. He had the same eyes as Sammy, but they lacked the life hers held.
Nico took several steps to the side, standing in front of me protectively, even though I was invisible. “What do you want?”
“Shift,” I whispered.
Nico shook his head subtly and stood his ground. It would have been much easier to escape if he had shifted and taken to the trees. I could stay pressed against the tree until they left.
“Where’s my sister?”
“Your sister?” Nico feigned confusion. “Who are you?”
Taylor’s menacing laugh made my stomach drop, and my body started shaking more than it already was. I needed to control myself before Taylor or the vacants noticed my presence.
Faster than I had ever seen the vacants move, they rushed forward and grabbed Nico, pulling him toward Taylor. Nico did nothing because what else could he do? What could I do?
If he shifted, they’d still have him, and somehow that would be worse. A vacant would easily kill a squirrel with one bite.
As soon as Nico was in front of Taylor, his fingers closed around Nico’s pouch, tearing it from his hip with casual violence. “Squirrels have always been stupid.”
Nico’s whole body went rigid. The vacants tightened their grip, fingers pressing into his arms hard enough that blood welled up around their nails.
Was Taylor’s plan to let the vacants rip Nico to shreds? Or worse, would he turn him into a vacant? What did that even mean for me? He’d still be alive, so the bond wouldn’t be broken.
I pressed harder against the tree, the bark digging into my spine. The pain was nothing compared to the terror expanding in my chest.
The contents of the pouch spilled into Taylor’s palm like coins. Like nothing. “This is quite the little collection you have here.” Taylor turned the nuts over, examining them with detached interest. “But this isn’t all you have, is it?”
“I’ll kill you.” Nico’s voice transformed, each syllable dripping with a venom that I’d never heard from him before.
Taylor ignored his threat and brought the nuts to his nose. He inhaled deeply, eyes drifting closed. When they opened again, something cold and calculating gleamed there. “These are your special nuts.”
Nico strained against his captors, muscles standing out in his neck. Every instinct I had screamed at me to do something. I scanned my immediate area for anything that could be used as a weapon.
I grabbed a branch, and the moment I lifted it, all eyes were drawn to it floating mid-air like a ghost’s weapon. My magic wasn’t strong enough to conceal it.
“No, Kage. Put it down.” Nico’s voice came through clenched teeth.
The command hit me like a wall. My fingers opened involuntarily, and the branch fell to the ground. I tried to bend down to grab it again, but my body wouldn’t obey. The intent in his command wrapped around my muscles and bones, holding me prisoner.
Tears burned in my eyes. I wasn’t strong enough. Not strong enough to fight the command, not strong enough to help, not strong enough for anything that mattered.
Taylor’s hand closed around the nuts.
The sound of shells cracking was obscenely loud in the sudden silence. Pop. Pop. Pop. Like bones breaking.
All color drained from Nico’s face.
Taylor opened his palm. Shards of shell and exposed nut flesh lay in pieces across his hand. He brought them to his lips and blew gently, almost lovingly. Something dark spread across the fragments, crawling over them like rot.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Nico’s panic made his voice crack. “Is that how you make vacants?”
I didn’t understand what was happening, but the look of pure terror on Nico’s face made my fear multiply.
My hands clawed at my thighs, trying to inch down to the branch.
The command held me frozen while Nico needed me.
While everything was falling apart. Sweat broke out across my forehead, running down my temples as I fought uselessly against invisible chains.
Taylor took a step closer. Then another. His boots crunched leaves that sounded like screams in my head.
“Hold his mouth open.”
A vacant grabbed Nico’s jaw, fingers digging into the hinges. Nico thrashed, making strangled sounds of protest that tore something vital in my chest. Another vacant wrapped both hands around his head, holding him absolutely still.
No. No, no, no.
Taylor shoved the handful of nuts into Nico’s mouth. The vacants clamped his jaw shut, their strength making resistance impossible. His eyes went wide with terror and revulsion. His throat worked, convulsing and resisting the urge to swallow.
“Now, now. Be a good little pet and eat what I’ve given you.” Taylor reached forward and stroked down Nico’s throat.
The veins at Nico’s temples pulsed with effort, but I saw the moment he swallowed. The moment his body could no longer fight the biological urge.
Taylor stepped back, and the vacants released him. He hit the ground on his hands and knees, coughing and gasping for air. His fingers dug into the dirt as he attempted to retch the nuts up.
“What did you do?” His voice broke.
Then he screamed.
The sound ripped through the forest and through me. His body seized, back arching at an unnatural angle. His fingers clawed at his own throat and chest, as if trying to tear something out.
Taylor watched as if this were an experiment and Nico was nothing more than a test subject. His expression shifted from confusion to anger, his jaw clenching.
Minutes crawled by. Each one felt like hours while Nico shook and screamed and slowly went silent. His movements became smaller and weaker until finally he lay still on the ground, chest barely moving.
Then he moaned.
Taylor’s face lit up with sick pleasure. He laughed, the sound wrong in every possible way. “That method took a little longer than usual, but still perfect.”
His attention turned directly toward me. I stopped breathing entirely. “I hope my sister enjoys my gift to her. There are many birthdays I need to make up for.”
He turned and walked away, the vacants following him.
Nico remained motionless on the ground, making small sounds of pain that twisted in my gut. I waited, counting my racing heartbeats. One hundred. Two hundred.
Finally, the command’s hold loosened, and I could move. I crept forward on unsteady legs. What had Taylor done to him? Surely, if he’d turned him, he’d not still be on the ground. Was it poison? Some kind of dark magic?
“Nico?”
His head snapped up at the sound of my voice, his movement too fast and too jerky. When he turned toward me, I scrambled backward, a scream lodging in my throat.
His eyes weren’t red yet, but they were empty.
Nico was a vacant.
To be continued…