Chapter 29: 29__Getting lost with the Vampire Sorcerer

Her teeth clenched, fingers hurting from how tightly she held the arrow stretched back on the bow.

Maia's gaze was focused on Rogan, but he didn’t look at her. With an expressionless look on his face, he stepped back, away from her.

Maia saw a Shifter move from the corner of her eye, nearly as fast as Vampires as he dashed for her. In a split second, she released the arrow and heard a guttural scream as the arrow sunk into its target. A dull thud could be heard as he dropped to the ground.

“Bastard,” she muttered lowly.

At that, Rogan turned his gaze to her and their eyes locked.

The Shifters came at her in a hurry, whizzing past their fallen comrade.

With a scowl on her face as she stared at Rogan, Maia yanked four arrows out of her quiver and sent them flying through the air, all four vying for the Shifters.

Two pierced through one Shifter and the other got struck with one straight through his heart, the fourth arrow barely missing his face.

Both Shifters dropped dead, one on top of the other.

Rogan looked at them and blinked. They were dead? Just like that? The *fools*! Now how would he—

Maia whipped out an arrow and aimed for Rogan’s chest.

“Woah!” he said, raising his hand. “Shit, relax.”

She narrowed one eye, aiming accurately. “Did you just… try to sell me out? Rogan…"

Rogan blinked. “Huh?"

Baring her teeth, Maia pulled the bow back.

“Wait!” Rogan barked, staring wide-eyed at her. “I mean… fuck, let’s talk this out! You really want to *shoot* me—”

“I trusted you, you *bastard*!” Maia yelled at him, trembling from fury.

*Mistake number one*, thought Rogan, his brows raised.

“I *am* a real bastard, aren’t I?” he said with a laugh.

“You’re laughing?!” Maia barked. “I’ll arrow you in the crotch, you traitorous freak!”

His hands dove to cover his crotch before Rogan scoffed. “Between you and I, I think *you’re* the freak if last night is anything to go b— arckk!”

Shocked, Rogan stared at the arrow sticking out of his shoulder, pain flaring through his arm. He looked back at Maia, open-mouthed. “Did you… did you just arrow me?”

Maia whipped out another arrow, her gaze fierce. “I’ll do it again!”

“Wait!” Closing his eyes, he yanked the arrow out, a deep groan escaping him. He looked at the arrow held in his hand and then raised his gaze to Maia’s. Another laugh escaped him before he could stop it. “Fuck, that was so hot,” he growled with a grin. “Arrow me again, baby.”

“You think I’m joking?!” Maia screamed, her face turning pink from anger. Rogan saw the glimmer of tears in her big grey eyes. “I… I *really* did trust you…”

Her words trailed off, blending into the silence of the forest. Her gaze remained intense on his face, making Rogan squirm uncomfortably as his smile melted off. Damn the girl. Why did she have to go and do something as idiotic as trusting him? Now he felt… guilty.

Rogan mentally froze. She made him feel guilty. Something he’d never felt before, no matter whose father he killed. And now she stood there pinning him to the spot with her teary eyes of accusation.

Rogan cleared his throat. “Look… it’s not what you think, okay.”

“Save it!” Maia snapped, making Rogan jolt back.

“No, really,” he told her, putting as much sincerity into his voice as he could. “I… uhm… I only did that because… because I knew you’d be able to fight them on your own. Yeah. I wouldn’t have done that if you hadn’t been holding a bow with about a thousand enchanted arrows in that quiver on your back.”

She stared at him, narrowing her eyes at his explanation. Was he telling the truth? Or…

“Are you sure?” Maia asked quietly, her voice hitching once. “Maybe… you were just trying to turn me into a cold-hearted killer. Like you did to your younger brother.”

Rogan went completely still, any bit of amusement in his eyes dying away.

They stared at each other, both pierced with emotional arrows by the other.

Before either of them could say anything, the ground beneath their feet suddenly trembled once, twice, then again.

Maia looked at the round around her in alarm, clutching her bow tightly. She looked up and met Rogan’s gaze. At the same time, they slowly turned their heads to the left, staring at the dark depth of the forest.

They appeared slowly. First a few and then more, they appeared in an army.

Rogan frowned. “Shifters.”

Maia could barely move. There seemed to be thousands of them, approaching from afar, waging war.

“Oh, my God…” she whispered, eyes wide.

Before Maia could react anymore, a hand closed around her wrist and Rogan took off, pulling her along with him.

She glanced at him as they ran. Gritting her teeth, she yanked her wrist out of his tight grip and, before Rogan could even react, wrapped her hand around his wrist.

“Follow me!” she screamed.

Rogan let her lead him as they ran, but felt bitter about it. “Never have I ever let myself be led!” he yelled.

“There’s a first time for everything!” Maia yelled back. If he was escaping with her, they’d go where she wanted. If those bastards behind them caught her, Maia wasn’t sure if Rogan would fight for her. She used to be sure he would, but not anymore.

They ran in silence for minutes, darting around trees and leaping over raised roots in their escape. She was incredibly fast which fascinated Rogan. Of course, he was running at her pace, yet still, for a non-Vampire or Shifter specie, she was fast. But that speed wouldn’t outrun the Shifters on their tail. Did she even have a destination or plan in mind?

“Where are we going?!” Rogan yelled.

Maia glanced at him rapidly before turning back to continue weaving through the forest. “We need to get lost!”

“What?!”

“Get. Lost!!”

Rogan had no damn idea what she was talking about. Just as he was about to tell her so, he realized something. The air around them had stopped moving. They were running but there was no air rushing into their faces and blowing into their hair. Everything was outlandishly still.

Then it wasn’t.

A sudden burst of air blew into them, forcing their eyes closed as they ran.

When the wind lessened, Rogan looked around. He and Maia were still running, but the place where they ran now was foreign. It was a forest he’d never seen before. Still, she didn’t stop running. Rogan glanced behind them and turned back with surprise written on his face. The Shifters had disappeared.

He frowned. Had they? Had the Shifters disappeared or had he and Maia?

He looked at her when he realized she was slowing down. Soon Maia came to a stop, breathing heavily as she dropped to the ground and lay in a starfish position.

Rogan stood over her, looking at her with a frown.

“Hey.” He nudged her hip with his foot.

Maia reached over and smacked his foot away, too breathless to curse at him.

“What the hell just happened?” he asked.

Glaring at him, Maia sat up, leaning back on her hands. “We’re… we got lost.”

At her cryptic words, Rogan raised his gaze and studied their surroundings. It was a forest, but a strange one. One he’d never seen before.

“Did you just… did you just teleport us to some weird place?”

Maia swallowed, moistening her dry throat. “Am I a Vampire? How would I teleport us?”

“Then what did you do?! Where are we?”

Pushing herself off the ground, Maia straightened and looked at him, her face flushed from running so hard in such a short space of time.

“My safe house.”

Rogan made a face. “What?”

Without answering, Maia picked her bow off the ground and walked off. Annoyed, Rogan stalked after her.

“When Nana was alive…” said Maia as they walked. “She made me this place.”

Rogan looked around at the strange forest. “What is it?”

“A portal,” said Maia. She looked around at the trees which never aged any further no matter how long they existed. “It’s a place that I find when I’m desperate to escape.”

Rogan stopped walking and grabbed her by the shoulders, turning her to face him. “Explain.”

Releasing a breath, Maia crossed her arms. “Those Shifters aren’t the first to come after me, okay. All my life, Nana and I lived in the forest. We were in hiding and although she never told me why, I know it was because of me. Each time we were found, Nana told me one thing. 'Get lost'. On normal days, it was a game to practice the real thing, but on days of ambush, it was a fight for my survival.”

Rogan listened attentively, his brows drawn together as she spoke.

“Whenever Nana grabbed me urgently and told me to get lost, I knew all I had to do was leave our home and run. I just always ran until I got lost and could no longer recognize my surroundings. That’s when I knew I was here. It’s a place that nobody but me can find. That’s what Nana told me, but every time, after she’d gotten rid of the ambushers at home, she’d appear here and take me back home. I asked her how come she could find it and she said it was because she searched for me desperately enough.” Maia looked around at the forest. “I could never leave until she found me.”

Rogan scratched his jaw at the interesting story. “A place you have to get lost to find. Interesting.” He looked at her. “How did she make this place?"

Maia smiled. “Nana was a Sorceress. Although she preferred to be called a Fairy. She made this portal and linked it to me.”

“Well, why didn’t you use this place when those avatars were chasing you?”

Maia sighed. “It didn’t work. I had been running for so long with the Zoar tribe after me, but the magic just wouldn’t work. That’s when I ran into you. I think it was destined.”

Rogan raised a brow. Destined? He turned away. “Okay, well, how the hell do we get out of here?”

Maia raised a hand. “Your phone.”

Eyeing her suspiciously, he pulled it out of his pocket and placed it in her palm.

Maia stared at it for a minute before she realized something. She looked up at Rogan. “How… how do you make a call?”

He gave her a look and plucked the phone out of her hand. “Why ask for something you can’t even use? Who do you want to call?”

Maia started walking again and Rogan was forced to follow. “Aiden. Tell him to come to the Geminor forest and look for us. Tell him to look *desperately*! He shouldn’t stop searching until he gets lost.”

Watching her sceptically, Rogan made the call. When he’d finished his usual bickering with Aiden and hung up, he raised a brow at Maia.

“Now what?! What happens if Aiden doesn’t find us?”

Maia sighed and stopped walking once more. She kept her gaze ahead and when Rogan followed it, he saw. There in the near distance, stood a beautiful, large house in the woods. It looked like a luxury cabin, its windows large and with the traditional cross in the glass, its doors shut on the wooden porch.

“If he doesn’t find us…” said Maia. She looked at Rogan. “Prepare to live here forever.”