An undignified snort slips out that sends us both into a fit of laughter. Nestling into his side, I rest my head on his shoulder and close my eyes, completely and utterly exhausted. “Maybe if we keep traveling through the caves, we’ll shave a few days off of the trip.”
He hums contentedly. “Hell of a lot better than scaling those cliffs another day. Doubt there’s anything to eat down here, though.”
“By the time you climb up, hunt, and back down, you’ve likely burned off more than you gain, anyway,” I counter. “Less food, but less effort. I don’t know about you, but I could go for an easy day.”
Starting to drift off, he murmurs, “You kidding me? I bet by the time we make it back, the mage will have already bought us a fortress outside of the city to stash you away in. He’ll shower you in so much luxury to convince you never to step foot outside again, you’ll be missing our camping trip.”
A smile blooms across my face. “Hate to tell you, but just because you’ve spent the week pitching tents doesn’t make this a camping trip.”
His body shakes with silent laughter.“Go to sleep, pretty girl.”
***
“Beck.”He doesn’t instantly wake up when my eyes fly open, and I don’t hesitate to slap a palm over his mouth as I pivot to my knees.“Beck!”
“Shit.”He slowly pushes himself up, dragging me with him as I slip my hand from his mouth.
There’s no need to explain; he’s been so high strung the past few days that I’m not surprised he finally crashed hard. But the second he became conscious at the sound of my panic, his eyes locked on the point directly across from us, down one of the tunnels.
“The tunnel we came from,”he commands, taking a slow step back without removing his attention from the set of red-rimmed eyes watching us from a crouch a few hundred feet away.“We know for sure that it leads out of here.”
We make it all of three steps before the sound of shifting gravel makes us stop. Trusting him to not take his eyes off of the vamp, I turn, watching a bare foot appear through the hole that sent us sliding into the cavern. Tattered jeans come next, and I quickly scan the rest of the space.
“That’s gonna be a hard no, unfortunately. We’ll have to take our chances on the one we were eyeing. It feeds the pool, so we know it isn't a dead end.”
With measured steps, we make our way around the pool, Beck holding the initial vampire in an unyielding gaze. Controlled vamps attack without rhyme or reason; they don’t wait for a trigger. They’ll launch at someone sitting on a park bench as quickly as they will someone that’s trying to escape. But that’s when they’re being sent out by the original with the command to feed. We have no idea how they act inside of their nest when they aren’t feeding or being fed from.
Yes you do, you just don’t want to remember.The thought nags at me, refusing to be ignored.
Licking my lips, I frantically scramble through my thoughts as we inch our way towards the tunnel that’s our only hope short of killing these people. And honestly, if any more show up, I’m not sure we can handle them in the state we’re in, even if we’d wanted to. And knowing that they’re no different than I was a year ago? That we can save them? I desperately don’t want to have their blood on my hands too.
“He’s sleeping.”I keep my voice a whisper, even in Beck’s head, scared to do anything to break the fragile standoff we’re held in.“They were drawn by the scent of our bloody sex fest, but they aren’t allowed to eat unless he tells them to feed. It’s how he keeps them under control easier; starving and desperate so they can’t fight his influence. Treat them like shifters right now; establish dominance. Don’t be the first to break eye contact.”
We reach the mouth of the tunnel, staying against the side to avoid the thin river that cuts down the center. It’s wide enough that we can walk single file, and he doesn’t hesitate to push me ahead of him, acting as a buffer, though we both know how pointless that is at this point. In the small amount of time it took us to cross the cavern, two dozen more emerged from the shadows. Despite the way my heart is hammering away in my chest, it gives me hope that this really is an exit.
“And when we round the corner?”he asks, knowing the answer as well as I do, but the conversation is helping to keep us from completely losing our shit.
My voice brokers no room for debate, tightening my grip on his hand behind me before he gets some idiotic idea like trying to give me a head start. “Run.”
We take off like bats out of hell, sprinting straight ahead and following the thin stream of water through the winding tunnel. Harder and faster, we push ourselves, putting as much distance between us and the vampires as possible before we lose our advantage.
“They’re not following,” he pants, but he doesn’t slow to check and confirm.
“They will. Second the original wakes up and gives them permission to leave the nest and hunt... they will.”
The tunnel branches off into a fork, both with thin rivulets of water running down the centers as we continue our ascent and we finally pause. Trying to suppress our labored breathing, we strain to hear where the whistling sound of faint wind is stemming from that originally led me down that crevice like a fucking idiot. Taking the one to the left, we start running again, only for the path to dip down into a small, thigh deep pool of water. It’s completely dark now, and I can’t shake the visual that something is waiting in the water to sink its claws into my leg.
We slosh our way through to the other side, rounding another bend and following yet another forked path. All the while, water splashes to the floor from our soaked pants, wet shoes slapping obnoxiously loud against the stone. Worse, the layer of dirt over the top turns slick, and each step threatens to send us sprawling in our haste scaling the increasingly steep incline.
Snarls and the sound of rapid footsteps echo and we kick off our shoes simultaneously without a word. I latch onto the sound of my heartbeat, trying to convince myself that if I just focus hard enough, it can drown out the memory. The all consuming fear as I was chased through the streets, down the alley, and realizing I wasn’t fast enough. The pain as teeth tore into my flesh, claws piercing my skin and keeping me pinned. But no amount of desperate delusions can dispel the instincts screaming for attention, even the predator part of my brain knowing we’ll be slaughtered if we aren’t fast enough.
A bit farther, we find the source of the water pouring in through a hole just big enough we can crawl through. The only problem is that it’s several feet above our heads and the rock is so smooth from the constant stream of the miniature waterfall, there are no hand holds.
Beck doesn’t hesitate, gripping my hips and tossing me up. I scrabble for something to hold on to, the water rushing in through the hole slow, but leaving the ledge slippery and smooth. My claws make it past the rocky opening and blessedly sink into mud and gravel. Hauling myself up with a grunt, I roll out of the way to make room as Beck takes a running start and his palms slap the wet ledge I just vacated. Latching onto his wrist, I help hold him steady as he pulls himself free.
We slide the last few inches down into the shallow creek; me on my ass, and Beck rolling in. The cave entrance is high enough that the heavy winds splash water into it, but it’s clear that when the water level rises about six inches, it pours down into the tunnels.
“Which way?” I pant, getting to my feet and scanning the forest, trying to get my bearings of which way the ocean is, but everything’s obscured by dense trees and the stormy night sky, thunder cracking in the distance to muffle crashing waves.
