I wondered what it was like to live with that much blind faith in something. I wasn’t capable of it, but she clearly was. Faith in me, in God, in everything. This small thing had more faith than our entire pack combined, and I wasn’t going to let her down.
Leaning forward, I placed a kiss on her cheek and made a promise to make the world a safer and better place for people like Astra.
* * *
Sleeping next to little Creek,all snuggled in a soft bed with real blankets and pillows, was heaven. Sage slept above us on the top bunk of a shared room. Rab said he could arrange for me to have some fancy captain’s quarters and kick a family out that was sharing it, but I insisted I be treated like everyone else. It was only for one night anyway, and I didn’t think Sage and I were ready to live separate lives just yet. We hadn’t said it out loud, but we’d both become each other’s support and comfort person over our time in the Dark Woods. Coming back to reality was nice, but also a shock. We needed to ease into it.
Creek nursed once in the night, but my mom came and took him in the morning to bottle feed him, and after a large breakfast we went over the drill with the entire bunker. We had them all line up in alphabetical order based on family last name.
And … it was a total shitshow.
Rab had drawn letters on paper, A through Z, and taped them along the hallways, but we’d underestimated how many of each letter there were and people with A last name were lined up all the way into C, which meant C was pushing to move up. It didn’t go well, but we’d adjusted where the letters were, and I had faith that tonight it would work. It had to.
“Knock, knock,” Raven called into the war room as I peered up from the Wolf City maps I was looking at.
I grinned at the sight of my bestie. We’d had no time to catch up, and yet a friendship this old and close made it feel like not even a day had gone by since we’d last talked.
“Hey.” I waved her in and she gave me a quick hug before settling next to me and looking at the maps.
“I heard about your plan to lead the vampires on a chase and I came up with an idea.” She pulled out a small baggy of tiny plastic cap looking things.
“What are those?” I inspected them.
She pulled out a cap and broke off the top to reveal a thin, barely visible needle. “Diabetic needles to test blood sugar. We use them in spell work when we need only a tiny drop of blood.”
Modern day witch tools. I guess it beat cutting your palm open like in the movies.
“I was thinking … in order to get the vampires to scent you and follow a coordinated trail, you could prick your finger with the cuffs off and leave blood somewhere. Then run away from that place and put the cuffs back on. Then repeat this for a few hours until Rab signals that we are all out.”
I grinned. “Raven, that’s genius!”
The blood would be like vampire candy, and make it stronger and easier for them to scent me, allowing me to bring them exactly where I wanted them.
She pulled her nails up to her mouth and huffed on them, before buffing them off on her shoulder. “I mean, no biggie.” She winked.
Reaching out, I took her hand in mine. “You’ve been such a good friend. It’s hard to believe over a year ago we were going to Delphi, and now…”
She nodded, squeezing my hand. “I know.”
We sat there for a moment in the dimly lit and quiet room until finally she stood. “I gotta pack my bag. Excited to get out of here and back into nature.” She looked around at the concrete walls.
I nodded and she turned to leave.
“Hey, Raven?”
She spun to face me.
“I know I’ve been gone and we haven’t had much time to catch up, but…” My voice cracked.
She grinned and tears lined her eyes. “Love you too, babe.”
I chuckled, she always knew what I was going to say.
She left the room, and I tucked the finger pokers into my pocket. I was going to pack a small bag of protein bars and water and then get ready for my night of running.
Of being prey.
I zoomedthrough the woods at the northside of Wolf City before taking a break to lean against a tree, panting from the exertion. I’d pricked my fingers raw, dapping little dots of blood on trees, or doors of houses or car windows. Then they would heal up and I’d throw on my cuffs before zooming off. It had worked, but now the city was crawling with vampires. They’d pulled everyone from Sterling Hill and the surrounding area and put them on the hunt for me. When my cuffs were on, they couldn’t scent me, not like they normally would. I probably smelled human. I was able to hide behind buildings and catch parts of their conversations. The queen had been called in when they recognized it as my blood, and they all thought I was injured, which was good.
