Chapter 61

My heart beat like a bass drum inside my chest. No weapons between either me or Malcolm and a giant boogeyman or whatever it was headed straight at us.

“Get behind me,” Malcolm said in a low, urgent voice.

“What is it?” Maybe if I knew what was coming, we could figure something out. Though we’d gotten lucky with the Barghest, my gut told me this wouldn’t be so easy.

His silence worried me even more than an answer.

Still, I clenched my hand, keeping my injured arm tucked in front of me. Whatever it was would get a fight. I wasn’t just trying to keep myself alive, but my men and Maggie too. She’d be stuck here forever.

I couldn’t let that happen.

The creature loomed toward us. It looked like a hunchback giant cloaked in shadows and darkness and moved across the ground like an octopus on land. It let out a piercing wail that made all the hairs on my body stood up.

Well, there was always a first time for fleeing a fight I knew we couldn’t win.

I tugged on Malcolm’s arm.

Another eerie whistle echoed through the trees. This one coming from the other side of the forest.

Fucking great. Two different monsters coming for us? “As much as I’d like to throw a party for an uninvited guest, I think we should run.”

“Isn’t her voice beautiful?” Malcolm asked in a dreamy singsong voice.

“Not unless you like shrieking.” I tugged harder on his arm.

Wind brushed my hair in my face as something rushed past me. A beautiful woman with long white hair and red eyes stood in front of Malcolm, her arms outstretched. She was thin almost gaunt-looking. Her skin was alabaster, but she held an air of strength despite her appearance. She smiled, revealing fangs.

Shit! It was a brochan sìth…a Fae vampire. She’d only want Malcolm’s blood since he was a guy, not mine. Bad news was that she would kill me to get to him. Unlike a normal vampire, she had to lure Malcolm to her, but she also had the seduction power of a succubus.

She gave that weird screeching sound again and Malcolm took a step forward.

“No, stop.” I yanked hard on his arm, but he kept moving closer to her. “Malcolm.”

The lumbering giant crashed through a spiny bush and headed straight for us. I couldn’t fight both of them. My heart twisted in my chest.

“Please,” I jerked harder on Malcolm, my wings trying in vain to lift me off the ground and get the fuck away from here. For once, I agreed with them. “Come with me.”

I couldn’t lose him. Couldn’t leave him here.

“You can’t have him, bitch.” I dashed to the brochan sìth and punched her in the nose.

Her head whipped back for a moment before she snapped it forward and snarled. Her fangs extended looking more like a lion’s than the vampires on TV. She leapt for me and I kicked her in the stomach.

She slashed at me with black claws, but I dodged her swings. The giant was almost on top of us now. Its dark from an almost shapeless bunk told me nothing about what it was, and my breaths froze in my chest. I couldn’t fight them both and Malcolm stood behind me with his eyes glazed.

Hopelessness slammed into me, but I wasn’t going to give up. I couldn’t. I loved Malcolm and I’d fight all the creatures in this fucking place to keep him with me.

The Fae vampire zipped past me so fast she was a blur and headed around me to Malcolm.

“No,” I screamed, tackling her, and we both crashed to the ground. “I won’t let you have him. He’s mine. I love him!”

I punched her in the face. My body trembled all over from adrenaline. She shrieked and bucked, holding her arms over her head to protect herself.

“Turn off your seduction, let Malcolm go,” I said, pressing her throat with my good arm.

The Fae vampire twisted to get away, but when I glanced over to Malcolm, he still swayed on his feet. And the giant stomped toward him.

I jumped up and hauled the female brochan sìth up with me.

I shoved her toward the giant with all my strength. She shrilled in pain as the dark shape engulfed her.

“Malcolm.” I stumbled to his side and took his hand. Doubted the giant would be delayed too long by the Fae vamp. “Come on, we have to go.”

But he didn’t move.

My chest tightened. I leaned up on my tiptoes, brushing my lips across his. “Please, I can’t leave you here. Don’t make me. I-I love you.”

He hissed in a breath, then blinked looking at me like he was waking up from a dream. “Avery?”

“Yeah,” I said with tears in my voice. “Let’s get out of here.”

The giant bellowed and we froze. When I looked over my shoulder, the thing had grown twice its size. Now it had black claws for hands, gleaming white teeth that looked as big as a sabretooth tiger’s, and a white streak of hair down its back.

“What the fuck—” Malcolm stumbled backward, taking me with him.

“Let’s not wait to find out.”

Malcolm and I ran deeper into the woods, but the giant must be faster now since it had absorbed the vamp’s speed and gained on us. Wonderful. I’d turned our situation from bad to oh, shit.

We ran through the dense forest. Hated to admit it, but he was right. We couldn’t stay here. Which meant I wouldn’t be able to find Maggie and get her out.

Besides all the Fae and humans, I had to save me, Malcolm, Darrius, and Simeon. And Xzander too.

“There’s the border,” Malcolm huffed next to me.

I choked back a sob but nodded. “I’m so sorry, Maggie,” I whispered.

* * *

At the border, we slammed into an invisible wall, and we were knocked back a foot.

The giant was only a few yards away and gaining fast.

“How do we get past the barrier?”

“Go.” Malcolm brought my hand up and kissed it.

“Not without you.”

He stared at me like he was memorizing my face. “You’re the one who can stop this. You’re the one who still has an anchor to the land of the living.”

“No.” But even as I shook my head, I knew he was right, but it still felt like I was digging out my own heart. Tears choked me. “I’ll come back for you…and Maggie…I’ll figure something out.” How could I even consider this? “No, no. There has to be another way.”

He smiled sadly, resolution in his midnight blue eyes. “Crossing the barrier takes a sacrifice. Both yours, in leaving me and your friend behind… and mine in letting you go.”

Before I could protest, he pushed me backward into the barrier, then opened his arms as the giant crashed into him.

My scream filled the silence as I fell through the void, past the barrier, and away from Malcolm.