Chapter 2
TWO
Nadi remembered enough of the Deep Wild to know how dangerous it was. And how many of her people had ventured into it never to return. Not simply because the caverns were narrow, dark, and endless in their twists and turns—but because of what lived within them.
Species that had countless ways to poison, maim, and consume.
The only way she knew which way to go was because of the vines.
It was one of the very first things that all those in fae clans, human or not, were taught how to navigate.
The Wild was too twisted, too impossible to map, otherwise.
It would be a deathtrap to anyone and everyone without some knowledge of how to trek through it if they got separated from one’s clan.
The ever-present purple-black vines that wound their way through the caverns were the secret.
It wasn’t as simple as following them to the larger caverns—it was knowing how to read them.
Different parts of the growth would have different patterns in the skin or bark of their covering—showing the age of the vine, and whether or not it was part of the thicker heart-vines that ran from the Deep Wild to the surface, or was just a dead-end offshoot.
The trick was to find a part of the growth that showed the right pattern, and to follow it from thinner to thicker, seemingly in the wrong direction, until one found a huge, building-sized heart-vine.
Those enormous “trunks” could then be followed up through the caverns reliably and without fail, as long as at that point one always made sure to keep following the branches that grew thinner along the way.
She did not tell Raziel any of what she knew.
It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him…
It was that she didn’t trust him.
Something about him had shifted since he had climbed out of that coffin.
They had been walking for four days, when she had finally found a vine with the right pattern, and had changed directions.
He had obeyed without question. In fact, he had followed behind her in silence—almost eerie silence, with how quietly he could move.
Nadi had forgotten what it was like to be around a vampire for long periods of time.
Now and then, she’d look over her shoulder and just see his red eyes glinting in the dim light of the Wild and she’d jolt in reflexive fear.
And he’d smirk.
As if he was biding his time.
She’d grabbed as many supplies as she could from the ship before jumping over to save him. Mael and Lana had been watching her obsessively. They’d been right to. But the moment their guard had dropped, she had vanished.
And she’d stolen anything that she knew would survive the swim.
As many tins of canned food as she could fit, a can opener, a length of rope, first aid supplies that could take being waterlogged, a few kitchen knives, and the bolt cutters she’d found in the engine room.
And, also importantly, several pieces of Lana’s expensive jewelry that she’d pocketed, knowing she could use them to barter with whoever they might come across.
If they lived that long.
In nearly a week, they had at least made progress.
She had found her path to the heart-vines, and they hadn’t had any major run-ins.
Only a few smaller beasts had considered tangling with them, and they had effectively scared them off.
And their supplies were lasting. Raziel wasn’t eating any of them, which made sense.
He didn’t need food to survive.
He needed something else.
And with every moment that ticked by, Nadi felt the skin on the back of her neck begin to stand up a little bit more, as though she were avoiding the inevitable. She felt like she was being hunted.
It all came to a head when they took a sharp left turn. There was a steep dip, and she let out a yelp as the ground shifted and she slid a few feet, before tumbling and landing on a soft, mossy surface.
She couldn’t see anything. There were no visible vines wherever she had landed. The growth must be covered up by leaves, or it ducked into a crevice in the rock that obscured its light. It happened, from time to time, and was fairly normal. But this one was ill-timed. “Damn it.”
“Are you okay?” Raziel was right next to her. She hadn’t heard him move. She’d fallen, but he hadn’t. His hand on her upper arm lifted her to her feet.
“I’m fine.” Brushing herself off, she shifted the bag on her shoulder. “I can’t see a damn thing.” Without the vines and the dim glow, she was in true darkness, here. “How did you make it down here without falling?”
“You can’t see?” He paused. “Interesting.”
“You can?”
“Not precisely.” He let go of her arm. “I could hear it. There’s a…
heartbeat to this place. It bounces off everything.
I can’t see it, so much as I can feel it.
I could feel the entrance to this chamber.
Same as I can feel the moss. The creatures.
You. I can feel where the exit is, because I can feel the things living around it.
The blood pulsing in their veins. Your veins. ”
That was unsettling. “You can… hear in the dark?” She knew of animals in the Deep Wild that could do that. Things that navigated on sound alone.
“Yes.” There was a tone to his voice that made her nervous. Very nervous. “And everything seems to want to bleed in the Wild. Even the plants. It makes a vampire like me… very thirsty.”
Shit. “Raziel.”
His voice came from behind her. “Yes?”
Shivering, she spun to face him. When she did, he grabbed the backpack, tearing it from her shoulder. She heard it land some distance away. The chamber was larger than she’d thought. “What’re—”
“What I have wanted to do since we arrived in this place.” His voice was a low growl.
Fear and anticipation twisted in her stomach, warring with each other. She knew what he was after—she knew what he was going to do. But something had changed. Something had broken in him. This was different.
He was different.
This was the true Serpent now.
Free of Raziel. Free of every shred of social code or family tie or anything that might have held him back before. This was simply him. His raw self. And now she was trapped with it. Alone. In the dark. Unable to protect herself.
And in a sick, twisted way, she couldn’t have been more excited for this moment. Because he wasn’t the only one who had been waiting for it. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she had wondered what this would be like. What it would feel like.
“Your heart is racing, little murderer…” He chuckled, his voice coming from somewhere else in the chamber. “You’re afraid of me. But I can smell your blood. You aren’t just afraid.”
“Raziel.” She gripped the bolt cutters tighter in her hand. “We don’t have time for this.”
“I believe we have all the time in the world, don’t we?” He laughed. “The world thinks we are dead! And who cares if we take a little longer to get to the surface? No one. So I plan to take this moment to remind you who I am, my sweet little fae assassin. To remind us both.”
That sent a surge of something that was definitely not fear coiling through her body. She wanted him. But she knew this was a waste of time. And a dangerous one, at that.
“Raz—” The rest of his name never left her.
Hands grabbed her shoulders from behind and spun her around, half throwing her, half pushing her to the ground. She used all her reflexes to roll back up to standing. But it meant she had to drop the bolt cutters in the process, which had likely been his only goal.
And the moment she was back up to her feet, a hand in the center of her back pushed her forward, using her inertia to shove her.
She couldn’t stop herself, and in the dark, she couldn’t see whatever it was in front of her that she rammed into at hip-height, doubling over with a hard “Ungh!” It was likely a branch of some long-dead growth of vines, by the feel of it.
That would leave a bruise, but he knew she healed quickly. Her clothing was his next target, and she snarled and swiped at him with her fists, struggling in his grasp as he yanked her blouse and her bra free of her. In the dark, she might as well have been fighting a ghost.
She was cussing at him in fae when he tossed her to the ground to yank off her shoes and pants. He let her get to her feet, and she knew it was just because he wanted to see her standing there, now fully naked. She was furious at how easily she had lost to him in the dark.
Maybe she had wanted to lose. But he was too fast. Too strong. Even having not fed for days.
He was a monster, down here in the Wild.
What had she done, bringing a vampire to this place?
“You are so beautiful when you’re mad.” The whisper in her ear sent goosebumps crawling up her skin. She shuddered and tried to run.
“Try” being the operative word.
She had forgotten about the damn silver chain he had been carrying.
He must have looped it.
Because now it snapped around her throat. Heavy and thick, doubled over so he could use it like a fucking leash. She gagged as she ran against the end of the lead, and he pulled her back against his chest. Hard and cold like a rock.
“This is how you’re meant to be and just how you like it, isn’t it? My little assassin. My little fae pet.” The growl in her ear sent another shiver down her spine. “Just how nature intended it to be.”
The length of chain tightened and she gasped, her hands flying to the links to try to worm her fingers into the space between them and her throat. She could breathe, with difficulty—but for how long?
Damn him. Damn him to the pits. Because it made her knees weak. She would murder anyone who dared do this to her—but foolishly, stupidly, she trusted him.
They were moving again. He was dragging her forward as he walked and pulled her with him, and she had no clue where he was taking her, until he shifted to sit on some object and pulled her to stand in front of him.
When he yanked her forward, she flailed with one of her hands to keep from falling over, and her palm met his thigh.