“I know. You’re my mate. My vampire.”
He growled low in his chest, and I knew if Elias wasn’t nearby, he would have fucked me hard against a tree just to remind me who I belonged to. Because like it or not, he and I were bound together in ways I didn’t want to question and didn’t care to understand. “I can sense your want,” he whispered as he leaned in and smelled my neck.
“Do you need me to leave?” Elias asked, and I ignored the smirk and hoped Marlon did the same.
“No. We have no time now. Tell us everything you remember,” Marlon said, once again focused on our quest.
“There must be a spell they used to subdue me. Maybe it’s something to do with a barrier. Once I crossed it, I was changed, or a spell was cast. I don’t know how their magic works. But no amount of strength will break the hold,” Elias said.
“We need to leave before they return. Do you think you could follow their trail?” Marlon asked Elias.
“I can find them. But we don’t have much time. I’m not willing to go against them and be in danger of burning.”
“Let’s go then,” I said, and we ran the rest of the distance to the truck. “How far from here are they?”
“Not far. Where we started to cross the border is where we’ll find them. I don’t know why I know, but it’s true,” Elias said as the three of us sped along the highway.
“We’ll go there now and feed nearby. That way we’ll be powered up and ready to fight if we need to,” Marlon said.
I followed directions back to the same desolate area we’d been in only yesterday, but this time we went down adifferent road and left the truck in an even smaller town nearby. There wasn’t much there, but it was enough to give me a sense of not being completely alone while also making me worry about everyone who lived there. The three of us ran through the woods, not caring about which side of the border we were on, driven only by our senses and following each other’s instincts.
Elias took down a large deer and nearly drained it on his own before we dared to drink from it. He had been far closer to starvation than I had realized. I knew he needed to feed, but the amount of blood he drank far exceeded what his small body should have been able to hold. When he stood and wiped his face, Marlon and I shared what was left. Neither of us needed much, but I trusted what they said and drank what I could.
“We’ll go back to that area just past the border where the trail narrows. That’s where they were waiting for us. Maybe there’s more there than we realized,” Marlon said. He led us to the far side of where we’d tried to cross.
“That area there is where I last remember being,” Elias whispered and pointed at the narrow gap between a rocky outcropping. From here we could see that the two walls formed a channel that would be inescapable due to the steep walls. It also made it easy to be trapped at both ends of the trail. But that wasn’t the only trap.
“They’ve enchanted this area,” Marlon whispered. “See those markings in the rock and there on the trees. I don’t know what they mean, but I’m willing to bet they have something to do with your memory lapse and making you weak enough for them to bleed you out and weaken you more.”
Elias studied the symbols Marlon had pointed out before speaking. “I did not see any such symbols on the other side.”
“You may be right about there being a barrier,” Marlon said.
“Why here though? Why would they put so much effort into creating a trap here?”
“Our kind like to wander, but we also use the same trails out of habit. We like knowing there is a haven nearbyto avoid the sun. This area is one of those trails. When I first came here, this was being used and is so today,” Elias said. “If they knew our kind at all, they would know that eventually a vampire would use this trail.”
A disturbance on the trail put us all on high alert. The same three witches as earlier entered from the other side and walked in front of us. “It’s too bad the little one was taken from us,” the woman said.
“We know, Drayana, but we still have some blood, and we’ll use it to bring more vampires here. What of the two we still hold?” the man asked.
“Drayana, I have heard of this witch,” Elias said. “She has been using our kind for many years.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“She was in Europe two hundred years ago and was very powerful then. Vampires hoped to unite with witches, knowing they could use our blood for their spells. They hoped there was a spell that would allow them to walk in the sun. Drayana was the witch that betrayed many vampires by using their blood to extend her life and to gain power,” Elias said.
“And you’re just now remembering this?” Marlon asked.
“I did not remember until I heard her name. It seems she’s used her magic in many ways on me.”
“What about the two we still have?” the man asked again.
“They are new vampires, and their blood is not as powerful as the old one we lost. But we’ll drain them just the same. His blood we will use to draw more here,” Drayana said. The three of them walked up to one side of the rock wall and seemed to disappear.
“That is where they have them. A hidden cave,” Marlon said. “But we cannot go near it with all the magic they’ve woven around here.”
Marlon and Elias were who they wanted. They were old, and their blood was powerful. It was up to me to see where they were keeping the other vampires. And as I readied myself to bolt and follow them, I hoped the spells would not affect me the way they had Elias.
