As Darkness Falls by Riley Storm

Chapter Thirty-Three

“Ready yourselves,” Aaron said, standing straight.

I looked around wildly. There was no sign of anything. We’d been in his realm for hours now, closer to half a day hiking to reach this point. In our entire time here, I hadn’t seen so much as a flicker of movement. There were no leaves to blow across the landscape. No wind to stir the sand.

It was like the entire realm was dead. Now, he was telling us we would have to fight? Fight who?

Yet, even as a part of my mind raced with questions, I pushed them back into their own detached box, isolating the questions, the fear, the hesitation. My mind calmed, and I took in a slow, deep breath, working to reduce the frantic beating of my heart. They were basic tricks I’d learned during my fighting days in Kellar, and they served me well now.

The calmer I was before a fight, the better I’d be able to analyze the situation to ensure I reacted swiftly and in a smart way.

I continued to face the building where I’d seen the statue and the alleyway just to the left, with Vir covering my right side. The rest of the team spread out. I trusted them to cover all other avenues to us. That was what you did with a team. You trusted them.

With my heart calm, I called upon my wolf. We didn’t shift yet, but I merged her senses with mine. The world swam into brighter clarity. I could practically pick out individual grains of sand. My nose filled with–nothing.

I could scent my team, but that was it. There were no scents to be found around us. Even the stone didn’t seem to give off a particular smell. How was that possible?

Fighting back a spurt of energy from my wolf, I reined her in. She was eager to fight, to tear out some vampire throats. As if she was meant for it. The strength of her mental assault surprised me, and I considered shifting. Aaron had said upon our return from Shuldar that he and his team couldn’t keep up with my wolf. Perhaps I could turn that to my advantage now. Something I could use to better help the team.

Looking down, I went for the zipper to pull off my one-piece outfit.

In that instant, my wolf raised the alarm. I snapped my gaze back up, watching with horror as half a dozen vampires appeared from nowhere less than twenty feet from me. I could hear the shuffling of feet and knew that others must be here as well.

We were surrounded.

They continued to walk closer to us, not bothering to slow down.

Overconfident little pricks, aren’t you?

I grinned, and when the nearest one to me was mid-step, I sprang at him with a shout. We went down, and I drove my elbow into his nose. His eyes went wide with shock, followed by pain.

Yeah, I bet you didn’t expect me to be that strong, did you?

Rolling free of him, I sprang to my feet, feeling fast and furious, ready to go after the next one. I launched myself at her, my fingers bent, nails aimed to take out her eyes. They were so slow! None of them were reacting to my attack yet. I grinned, lips pulled back to reveal my teeth, ready to taste vamp flesh and–

“Urk,” I grunted as something snagged me mid-air and held me there by the scruff of my neck as if I weighed nothing.

I swung and thrashed, trying to turn enough to get a glimpse of my attacker. They were devilishly strong.

“Vir!” I shouted, desperate for help.

“Yes?” an amused voice came from over my shoulder.

I frowned and calmed my attempts to escape as I reached up and patted the hand on my neck. Large. Warm. Slightly hairy. I reached farther back, following the arms behind me as best I could.

Around the neck, the skin turned to fur, and instead of the flat, angular human face that came to me in my dreams these days, there was a pointy wolf’s snout.

I slowly turned my head. This time, my captor turned their grip as well. As I’d suspected, Vir was holding me. He was in his giant warrior form, with the golden armor only now materializing around his chest and torso and the bracers on his forearms. In his free hand, he held the golden spear I’d seen him wield with deadly ferocity.

Looking past Vir, I could see the rest of the team staring at me in shock. They were all still in their protective circle, but not one of them had moved to attack. While Fred and the rest of the team still held their weapons, the barrels were pointed at the ground. Not at the vampires who had us surrounded on every side.

“I take it,” I said quietly when nobody spoke, “that by ‘ready yourselves’, you did not mean to attack.”

“No,” Aaron said quietly. “I did not.”

I licked my lips. “See, this is why maybe it’s a good idea for you not to leave me in the dark. How bad did I screw us over?”

To my surprise, Aaron smiled. “Not bad. That particular one could probably deserve another few reminders like that.”

From the crowd of vampires, someone spoke. “Welcome back, Pr–”

“Don’t,” Aaron spat, cutting off the speaker with a violent slash of his hands. “Do not. I am not back. I’m not here. We are passing through. Nothing more. So piss off, and leave me alone, got it?”

The hostility in Aaron’s tone surprised me. There had been none from the other speaker. If anything, they had spoken with respect.

They certainly weren’t getting it in return.

“I cannot do that,” the speaker said.

Eager to get a view, I slapped at Vir’s hand. “Let me down,” I hissed.

Vir’s eyes twinkled with blue fire–I noticed he hadn’t brought out the horns yet. Was that because he didn’t expect a fight? Or what did they signify?

Once I was down, I walked to the front of our group to stand next to Aaron. The vampire addressing him was tall, bald, and wore very ornate robes. Yet, he still had no color on him. They were all different shades of cream and ivory, cut thickly and draping his entire form.

“Whoever chose the color pallet of this place must have been colorblind,” I muttered to myself.

The speaker’s gaze fixed on me, his eyes cold and so darkly brown they were practically black. A wave of cold hatred and fear washed over me, strong enough that I knew it couldn’t just be me reacting to it.

My wolf didn’t like that. Hot fury boiled up from within me, burning away the impression. I shook it off, adjusting my feet. If things went sideways, that asshole would be the first one my wolf and I took down.

The vampire must not have expected that reaction, because his eyes widened.

“I wouldn’t mess with her,” Aaron chuckled from my side.

Given that the vampire was male, it meant Aaron was talking about me. He was warning the other vampires from trying anything. Did he truly feel like I was that badass? Or was it just an act?

The cold, hard gaze of the speaker swung back to Aaron. “You must come with us.”

“No,” Aaron said before the speaker could get more out. “I’m not going with you. None of us are. Stop trying. Trust me when I tell you that she doesn’t want to see me anyway.”

I clamped my mouth shut, despite my curiosity going berserk. Who didn’t want to see him? Who was he talking about? Who were these people? Why weren’t they simply ordering Aaron to go with them? They outnumbered us ten to one easily.

“Come on,” Aaron growled, waving a hand at us. “Let’s go.”

The circle of vampires parted as we walked through them. I watched them all as we passed, ready for anything to happen. It seemed impossible that we would get out of there without a fight. They could have imposed their will on us with ease.

“Why are there so many of them?” I asked Vir under my breath.

He mouthed something back. I only caught one word.

Honor.

I wasn’t sure what that meant, and now didn’t seem the right time to ask.

Then, we were through the group. I glanced back, but they were already gone, having disappeared as quickly as they appeared.

“Why do I get the feeling that we’ve not seen the last of them?” I asked as we walked swiftly through the city streets once more.

“Because,” Vir reminded me, “we have to come back this way.”

Aw, hell.