Chapter 41
The wind was biting cold. It gnawed into Harper’s skin, despite the layers of clothes.
Most of it was Kieran’s. Harper didn’t particularly like the idea of wearing it, but she liked the idea of freezing to death even less, and since she and Evie weren’t even wearing shoes, they’d had little choice.
Both of them had put on several pairs of socks, just so they could somewhat fill out the boots Maya had found for them.
No one interrupted. Kieran had said he didn’t want to be disturbed, and the howling wind must have muted the gunshots. A sole silver lining in this fucked-up situation.
As they hurried away from the warehouse, Evie was able to walk on her own, but once they were safely between the trees, adrenaline waned enough that every step became a trial.
She ended up with an arm around Maya’s shoulders, leaning against her as they hobbled through the forest. They only managed to walk for a few minutes before Maya stopped and listened.
“Someone found the bodies.” She gestured Harper over, directing Evie to lean on her instead. “You two keep going. Go as fast as you can and don’t turn back. No matter what you hear.”
Harper shook her head. “No! You have to come with us.”
Maya cupped her face, catching a tear with her thumb. Harper hadn’t even noticed that she’d started crying.
“Follow the trail. I marked the trees with blood on my way here.” She gestured at a nearby tree, the bark covered in a smear of red.
“But they… Won’t they follow us?”
“Wolves aren’t the only ones who can use them. So just go. Okay?” Maya gave her a kiss. A brief, weak kiss that didn’t feel at all okay. “I’ll be right behind you. I promise.”
Harper didn’t believe that promise. Going by the set of her jaw, Maya didn’t either.
She stepped back in the direction they’d come from. She pulled her switchblade from her pocket, flicked it open, and then vanished in the dark.
Harper stared at the spot she’d just been in. Everything was shaking, from her breath to her freezing hands. She stared for a few long seconds until the path they’d made in the snow came into focus.
A child could follow those tracks.
“Come on,” Harper said with feigned resolve, starting forward. Evie winced.
“I’m slowing you down. You should—”
“Don’t,” Harper snapped. “I don’t want to hear it. We’re both getting out of here, even if I have to drag you the entire way. So stop arguing.”
Evie opened her mouth again. But she didn’t protest further. For the next hundred feet, the only noises she made were pained groans whenever she had to put weight on her foot.
“You know, I don’t know if I mentioned this,” Evie said. “But your girlfriend is kind of badass.”
Harper’s bottom lip trembled. “Yeah. She’s pretty great, huh?”
“She really is.” Evie dug her fingers into Harper’s shoulder. “I’m sorry for not seeing it sooner. For not giving her a chance.”
“I get it. It wasn’t like you could help it.”
“I could, actually. But I was terrified of her, Harper. Of her hurting you. After being without you for so long, I was so scared of losing you again that I saw signs of it everywhere.”
She took a deep breath. “I asked Natalya to look into her. To find out just how much awful stuff Maya had done, because then my fear would feel justified. But she couldn’t find anything.
Nothing Maya did on purpose, at least. And despite all the evidence, I just refused to listen.
It was easier to be scared of her than accept that some vampires might actually be decent. ”
“Yeah, well…” Harper swiped at her eyes, clearing her blurring vision. “Maya is in a category of her own there. She’s annoyingly decent.”
“She’s more than decent,” Evie whispered. “She knows. What it’s like to be scared all the time. Not many people do.”
Not too long ago, Harper would have placed herself far away from that category. Being unsafe had been her normal, so she couldn’t afford to feel scared.
Usually, it didn’t hit until afterwards. Until whatever trial she’d been through was contrasted by safety. She didn’t realize how messed up her normal had been until she experienced what peace, true peace, felt like.
A few weeks ago, she would have seen this situation as hopeless. Accepted Maya as lost and used that knowledge to close her heart before it could break. But she couldn’t do that now. She couldn’t even pretend not to hope that this wouldn’t have the terrible end she was always readying herself for.
“She’s so good, Evie,” Harper said, voice unsteady. “How the hell am I supposed to handle that?”
Evie smiled. “You’ll figure it out. It just takes some practice.”
Branches snapped behind them. A shout followed, cut short by a brief scream. Voices filled the night, too distant to make out what they were saying.
Evie looked over her shoulder while Harper refused to do so. That scream wasn’t Maya’s. But that wasn’t as comforting a thought as it should be, because it meant the people following them were close enough to be heard.
Miles of forest lay ahead. Too far, both to run and especially to stagger. Even in the gray morning light, the dense forest was shrouded in darkness.
Footsteps rushed through the snow. Getting closer, and accompanied by snarling breaths.
A young man with a dark buzz cut broke through the trees.
Tall and wild-eyed, with irises showing a yellowish tint.
His clothes were covered in dried blood, and his face was twisted with rage.
But before he could take even a single step more towards them, a shadow burst out of the dark.
Maya stumbled into view, positioning herself between them and the lycanthrope.
She held up her knife—the blade stained crimson.
She was barely standing. Swaying in place, limbs trembling. She was covered in wounds, the most prominent being four gory claw marks on her waist.
Despite that, the man still stepped back. He stayed at a distance even as another person appeared between the trees. A woman with graying hair and bloody teeth. A dozen more joined them, forming a circle around their group.
Maya glared at them, eyes hard and dangerous. The stare of a predator. But as the seconds ticked by, it became obvious that the predator in question was cornered. That she had no strength left to strike.
She reached her hand back, joining her fingers with Harper’s, but didn’t turn. She kept staring at the gathered wolves, tensing when the young man bared gleaming fangs. And took a step closer.
Smoke drifted in, clinging to the ground like morning mist. It curled through the trees, and the surrounding wolves stilled as it swept around their feet. Taking on a tint of violet.
A streak of black and bright scarlet seared through the forest. It whirled around them in a frenzy, a flurry of snow and steam following it, and in the next moment, half the lycanthropes dropped to the ground, bodies limp and necks snapped, including the man with the buzz cut.
The ones left standing yelled out. A few tensed, others leaped back, but all of them stared at the scarlet-eyed fiend that had just appeared in front of them.
Natalya looked like fury personified. Her golden-brown skin was mottled with purple scales, and her black dress was torn to shreds from the thighs down. Her nails had extended into horrid claws, and heat blazed off her so harshly it melted the surrounding snow.
Terror gripped Harper’s chest. An emotion so heightened it seemed manufactured, but that didn’t make it any less devastating.
It infected the air like a toxin, and she ducked behind Maya, clutching her hand so hard her arm shook.
Even Maya took a startled step back, while the remaining lycanthropes took off running, slipping in the snow as they fled.
The only one unaffected was Evie.
“Natalya…” She pushed past Maya, limping towards the demonic embodiment of ruin that had just materialized.
Natalya spun in their direction, eyes fiery scarlet and teeth sharp as needles, but despite how horrifying she looked, Evie kept going undeterred.
Violet flooded into Natalya’s eyes. Her claws retracted, her skin smoothed over, and her monstrous appearance fell away as she rushed to Evie and pulled her into her arms.
“You were scared.” Natalya’s voice trembled. All of her trembled. “You were so scared. I hurried, but you were gone, and… I thought…”
She leaned back, cupping Evie’s face as though to ensure she was really there.
“What happened, darling? Are you alright?”
“I’m okay. My ankle hurts a bit, but that’s all.” She smiled, eyes glistening. “Maya saved me. She stopped them before they could do anything. She refused to leave me behind.”
Natalya stared at Evie, baffled. Stunned. Then she turned her brilliant violet eyes on Maya, relief and awe glinting within them.
“Thank you.” Natalya spoke the words like a vow. She pulled Evie near again, sighing as though it was the first free breath she’d taken in hours.
Maya didn’t respond. She swayed, dropped the knife, and when she reached for a nearby tree, trying to catch herself, her hand slipped on the frozen bark. She collapsed in the snow, eyes closing, and her hand still grasping Harper’s.
“Maya?” Harper kneeled next to her. “What’s wrong? Are you injured, or—”
“I’m okay.” She let out a wheezing sigh. “Just tired. And relieved. I didn’t know if it would work.”
Harper frowned, confused, when shouts filled the forest. But these didn’t come from behind them, but from the direction they’d been running.
Dozens of Chains came sprinting through the trees. Some carried melee weapons, some of them firearms. They ran past, following the tracks left by the fleeing lycanthropes.
“You planned this?” Harper asked.
“Sort of. With how scared Evie was, I knew Natalya was coming. No amount of reason or caution could keep her away. I hoped she could get in contact with Aleksander and get his forces to help, but… maybe the storm killed the phone lines. I couldn’t wait for her.
The marked trees were for her benefit, so she would know where to go.
I made sure Nell knew to explain it all.
And I told her that she couldn’t panic either, even though Natalya would probably be really fucking scary when she showed up. ”
Harper could easily imagine that. Having to answer furious questions from the demon she’d just seen would test anyone’s resolve.
“But… that still doesn’t make sense,” Harper said. “How did you know where we were?”
Maya smiled. That enviable, gorgeous smile, whose appearance could still make Harper fall silent.
“You’re right. It doesn’t make sense.” She lifted her hand, caressing Harper’s cheek.
Brushing cold tears away from her skin. “I don’t know how it works.
How I work. I don’t know why I am this way or what let me be so lucky that I get to be in your presence.
But I know this. That no matter what happens, I will always be able to find you.
Even if my mind doesn’t know where you are, my heart always will. ”
Golden light fell between the trees. The sun had risen past the clouds, its rays streaking through the naked branches and casting a warm glow on Maya’s face.
“I love you too, Harper. I think I’ve loved you since the first time I saw you.”
The words were pure warmth. Harper smiled, tears welling in her eyes.
“Are you serious?”
Maya flashed a grin. “You know me. I love being serious.”
Harper laughed, the noise catching awkwardly between sniffling breaths. Because she believed her. Believed her with no constraints. The words nestled so assuredly within her chest that she wouldn’t ever be able to dismiss them.
Harper leaned down, taking Maya’s face in her hands, and kissed her. She forgot the cold biting at her skin and the remnants of fear still lingering in her body. Forgot the sorrow she had been fighting and all the awful events of this terrible night.
None of it mattered. All she wanted to feel right then was the warmth of the morning sun and Maya’s soft lips, resting against hers.