Chapter Sixty-Six

Drake.

Drake tracked his brother’s scent to the road. He caught the scent of the wolves that tracked him days before and followed it.

He wasn’t sure how far it would take him, but he knew he would run it. He'd do whatever he needed to save his brother. Roderick not showing up at the fight meant one of two things: his father had him held somewhere, or he’d killed him.

He hoped that he wasn’t dead. His father was cruel but not that cruel to Roderick. If he was using Roderick to lure Drake, he didn't imagine he would kill him.

The further Drake ran, dodging trees and overturns roots, the more he questioned his decision to go alone. The idea of all of the royals being dead was farfetched.

Drake knew that. He just prayed wherever they had his brother that an army wasn’t waiting on him. One town turned into another, and suddenly he was standing in the middle of nowhere.

An abandoned hunting camp sat in the middle of a giant field surrounded by abandonment.

No life to be seen within miles.

The last sign of life was fifteen minutes back in the other direction.

He swallowed his nerves while walking out into the middle of the field. The scents stopped around the woods where the wolves had hidden. They mentioned an abandoned camp but it didn’t look like they’d come this far. Something told them not to, and he felt it too.

Drake felt nerves slither down his spine as he neared the building. Part of the roof was concaved and the glass windows were broken.

Roderick’s scent was heavy the closer he walked toward the building.

He expected someone to jump out at any minute but nothing happened. Besides Roderick’s scent and older ones, he didn’t smell anyone. Had they left him here? He wouldn’t pick up on his scent so strongly if he were dead.

Biting his tongue, debating on what to do, he shouted, “Roderick?”

Silence answered him.

Running his palm over his face, he continued around the side of the camp and toward the back. The trees were thick behind the camp, and wildlife was the only noise he heard.

“Roderick!” he shouted again.

A muffled voice answered him. He spun circles looking for him. He burst through the backdoor, two rats scurried out from the building.

The smell of mildew and age hung in the air. “Roderick?”

This time the voice sounded even further away. He walked back outside, taking a deep breath he smelled his scent again. “Roderick!”

The same muffled voice answered him. Drake followed it, stopping in the middle of the field, searching for any movement, or another attempt at communication with him. “Roderick!”

The voice answered this time closer than before. He searched the ground, seeing what looked like a hole covered by a piece of plywood.

Drake jerked it off and looked down into the hole.

Roderick lay in the bottom of it, silver draped over him, immobilizing him. “Oh my God,” Drake said, sliding down the side of the hole and next to his brother.

Roderick’s skin was burned and scorched from the silver. It was so much he couldn’t move it, but not enough to kill him.

Drake ripped it off, burning his palms and cradled his brother to his chest. He'd never seen Roderick look so bad. He was seconds away from death. “You need blood. Let’s go.”

Roderick laughed half-heartedly. “I can’t move. Bring me something, please.”

Drake stood up and leaped out of the hole. Panic formed in his stomach. He raced into the forest, looking for anything alive. Seconds later he found a squirrel scurrying away from him at full speed.

He grabbed it and ran back to his brother. He broke its neck and dropped it into Roderick’s lap. Drake went back and forth to Roderick and the woods until he had enough for him.

The last time he brought back a fish Roderick had climbed out of the hole. He was still scorched but alive.

“What happened?” Drake asked him, handing him the fish.

Roderick sunk his fangs into the thing, sucked it dry and tossed it into the hole. “Nicole and her friends caught me and dragged me here.”

Drake paused. Nicole? He hadn’t seen her since the dinner. “Nicole is here? She wasn’t at the camp when the royals came. Why did they even bring you here?” Drake asked. He couldn’t fathom why they would have done this. “There was a chance of you surviving, so I don’t understand why they would …”

Roderick glanced around the field. “We need to leave,” he stopped Drake. “We need to leave now.”

They both started toward the field when he heard a howl from behind them.

Three large hellhounds stood at the edge of the woods with a dozen rabid vampires near them. Drake could smell Nicole in the midst of them.

Roderick sighed deeply. “Is there any way you brought your cell phone?”

Drake pulled it out of his pocket. “No signal. Go figure we’re in the middle of nowhere.”

He glanced at his brother. “There is no way we can outrun all of them with you still healing,” Drake said. “We have to fight them.”

Roderick shrugged. “I’ve been near death for over a day, what’s one more obstacle to staying alive?”

Drake watched them from across the field, waiting for someone to make a move when one of the rabid vampires darted from the depths of the pack. He opened his fists and curled his fingers back in slowly. He attempted to reach out to Waverly. He knew it was a long shot, and most vampires couldn’t communicate with their mates, especially when they were human, but it was worth a shot.

'Roderick is alive. Send help.'

He opened his eyes to the vampire from the gas station launching at him. He ducked, and rolled, turning in time to land a fist to his face.

The crazed look in his eyes defined rabid. Red-rimmed eyes glared at him like killing him would heal all his problems.

Drake swallowed and braced himself for whatever happened. Though his mind kept drifting to Waverly. Had she heard the message? Would she be okay if something happened to him?

They’d been through so much in such a short amount of time. He couldn’t imagine her going back to a normal life after this.

She’d fall in love with another vampire or wolf. Maybe she’d move on fine, or it’d break her heart. Either way he had to make it out of this field. This stupid trap that he half-heartedly believed waited on him when he left.

Drake couldn’t let someone else walk into this. He had to save his brother because he was family.

He sidestepped the vampire when he noticed Nicole watching from across the field. She gave him a finger wave, her other hand gripped onto the hellhound's collar.

He cringed inwardly, knowing what was coming for him.

The rabid vampire kicked him in the stomach, sending him back several yards where he bounded to his feet. From across the field, he saw the moment she let them loose.

“They’re coming, Roderick,” he whispered.

Roderick met his gaze, and then the dummy smiled. “Come on, Brother. You’re not afraid of a little mutt are you?”

Drake couldn’t help but laugh. The vampire snarled at him again, leaped forward and Drake gave him a roundhouse kick that he learned during Roderick’s obsession with MMA fighting.

“Nice,” Roderick laughed. “Now, use it on all of them.”