Primal Kill (The Order of Vampires #5)

Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

T hey were lost.

Hiking in the dark woods sounded like a great idea until Juniper realized she was not quite as one with nature as her ancestors might have been.

A mosquito bit her neck, and she angrily slapped herself where it stung. “Damn it with these bugs! Are we sure this is the fastest path to the falls?”

Adriel seemed the only one with any sort of tracking skills, so they sent her ahead. In a flash, she doubled back, once again startling the crap out of Juniper.

“Damn it, Ade! I told you not to sneak up on me like that.”

“I wasn’t sneaking. You asked a question, and I was miles ahead. I didn’t want to shout.”

There wasn’t enough blood in the world to gift her or Dane with equal speed or super-human hearing to that of a purebred immortal.

Ade’s eyes dropped to the mosquito bite on her neck. “You’re bleeding.”

“It’s nothing.”

Her stare met hers. That look was so much more than nothing. It screamed silent envy for the tiny creature that stole one drop of what they both knew she wanted. Juniper didn’t understand why she hadn’t taken her blood the other day. Her resistance made her want it all the more.

Adriel’s stare cut away. “To answer your question, yes, this is the fastest route to the falls. If you open your senses, you can smell the minerals in the air coming off the mist.”

The only thing Juniper could smell was the delicious scent of Adriel’s skin. Her nearness was so distracting that it overpowered the energy of the gorges, which any witch worth her salt would be able to feel thrumming through the earth.

“I need some room to concentrate. I’m not grounded.”

“I’ll leave you to it then.” Adriel rushed off, giving her more than enough space to focus.

“I can hear it,” Dane said, pushing past her to take the lead.

Her hair lifted as Adriel abruptly returned, once again startling her. Juniper flinched, but then Adriel’s knuckle casually grazed her hand as it hung by her side, and a wave of desire surged through her .

“Did something upset you?”

“No, I’m just having a hard time focusing.” They had yet to actually discuss what happened the other night, and Juniper was starting to worry that Adriel had regrets.

“Me too.” She tipped her face down and shyly watched her through her lashes. “I find myself unable to think through a single thought without also thinking of you.”

Her words stirred some much-needed assurance. “Really?”

Adriel nodded, her green eyes especially bright in the moonlight. She leaned close and whispered, “I keep replaying the other night in my head, and all I want to do is…”

Juniper’s breath held. “Say it.”

The corner of her mouth twitched into a half smile, and she blushed. “This.” The kiss was so fast it was over before Juniper realized it was happening.

“I wanted to tell you?—"

“Guys, the falls are this way,” Dane called. “What’s taking you so long?”

Springing apart, Adriel rushed after him. Guess they were keeping it a secret then. Juniper didn’t know if that was smart or dumb, but she could figure it out later.

Rushing after them, she navigated the muddy terrain and roots crowding the path, moving fast enough to avoid getting bit by more mosquitos .

It was fall. Shouldn’t those little fuckers be dead by now ?

When they reached the foot of the gorges, all other sounds muffled. Mist dampened the air, and the change in altitude messed with her ears.

“Do you feel that?” Adriel grinned.

Juniper nodded and set down her leather backpack. “I definitely feel it.” She pulled the big book out and closed her eyes, taking a moment to ground.

Last night, she’d set all of her tools on the windowsill to charge. This morning, the books vibrated with energy as if not inanimate objects but something secretly alive.

Magick was merely the channeling of life from one source to another. It was all connected. Water and sunlight fed the grass that fed the animals, which then nourished the humans who supplied the immortals. In the end, everything from the earth to the ether was connected. Animals fertilizing the plants and freshened the air, which mixed with the solar system above. It was all magically connected in the cycle of life.

“You ready to do this?” Dane asked, rolling up his sleeves.

It had been his idea to practice on something bigger than pennies, rocks, and tomatoes, so he volunteered himself.

“Perhaps you should start with me, in case anything goes wrong,” Adriel suggested. “No offense, Dane, but I’m less…breakable.”

Dane rolled his eyes. “You’re tiny. She needs to practice on something bigger.”

“Ah, yes.” Adriel rolled her eyes. “You Dane. Dane big and strong.” She thumped a fist on her chest then softened her voice. “Me little female, feeble and weak.”

Juniper laughed. “Adriel has a point, Dane. I could screw up and hurt you.”

“I think I can handle it.” He stretched his legs and arms as if getting ready to run a marathon. “Besides, I fed an hour ago. I feel great.”

Juniper did a double take. When had that happened? And whose blood did he drink? When Adriel flushed, she had her answer.

Juniper scowled, all jovialness leaving her at once. “Well then I guess we’re ready.”

“I really think you should practice on me, first, June?—”

“Dane will be fine. He’s a big, strong boy. I’m sure he can handle a few bruises.” She looked upward at the cliffs. “Are you afraid of heights?”

Dane looked behind him. “I don’t think so.”

“Then up you go.” Extending her arms overhead, she pulled energy from the earth and called it into her body.

Dane’s laughter echoed off the stone walls as he lifted off the ground. The rushing spray of the falls snuffed out the sound.

She lowered her arms, which consequently lowered Dane back to the earth. Silence.

“What’s wrong?”

Juniper frowned. “I thought I felt something.”

“What kind of something?” Dane asked, now standing several feet away. “I felt nothing except lightness. ”

Adriel stepped forward. “Try it with me and see if you feel it again.”

“Okay.” Juniper turned her attention to Adriel’s smaller form. Maybe it was like lifting weights and she needed to build up her strength for someone of Dane’s size. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

She concentrated, and up Adriel went. She was definitely lighter and easier to carry. Her laughter echoed much like Dane’s until she was too far above the spray to hear. She deposited her at the top of the gorge, where a cliff protruded.

“There it is again.” Juniper sucked in a sharp breath, unsure of what caused the chill. It was cold, like ice floating in the air. It slithered into her bones with a rheumatoid ache. “Ade?” Her eyes squinted as she listened closely for Adriel’s voice.

“Do you hear anything?”

“Just water.”

“Adriel?” She and Dane shouted, moving up the path toward the top of the cliff where she’d deposited Adriel. “Adriel, answer us!”

The air chilled again, and Juniper’s worry doubled. Something wasn’t right.

She rushed up the mud path, her heart pounding when they continued to call without a single answer from Adriel.

“Adriel!”

She lost her footing and slipped in a mire of leaves and sludge, falling hard and smashing her knee on a protruding root. “Shit! ”

“Are you all right?” Dane pulled her up, his breath ragged from climbing the steep incline.

Her jeans had ripped and her knee was now bleeding. “Something’s wrong.” Anxiety spiked in her tight chest. The sky darkened and the dense tree coverage blocked the moonlight, making it hard to see the trail.

“Adriel!”

Thunder cracked, but no light webbed the sky. Blackness bled into the trees and a whisper of unease skated over her skin, snaking through the forest like a toxic gas until fear was all she could breathe.

“Why isn’t she answering us?”

“This isn’t right.” The bitter taste of dark sorcery soured her tongue. That was not her magick or any kind of magick she recognized. The obscure sense of danger seeped from the shadows. “Something else is out there. We need to get to the?—

A blood-curdling scream shattered her concentration.

“Shit!” Dane cursed as they bolted toward the sound of Adriel’s cry.

The trees crowded them like silent sentinels, blocking their path and making it impossible to run as fast as she wanted. She thought the sound of Adriel’s scream the worse sound in the world, until her cries stopped and silence was all they heard.

“Fuck! Come on!” She rushed forward, then turned, confused which way led to the top of the gorges. “I’m all turned around.”

“Me too. What the hell is going on?”

“I don’t know. Adriel!”

“Wait, we both have her blood in our system. Can’t we track her that way?”

“Do you know how?”

“No.”

Panic welled inside of her. “We have to keep moving. Adriel!”

A loud bang had them suddenly crouching low as the ground convulsed violently. Shockwaves rippled through the rugged terrain, and a shudder raced up her spine. Dane slipped in a landslide of mud and leaves as Juniper clung to the wide trunk of a tree, now realizing what was wrong.

“It’s him! He’s here!”

She yanked Dane to his feet as a storm erupted from the earth under the clear black sky.

“Don’t worry about me. Go find Adriel!”

Trees thrashed wildly, their branches lashing out like frenzied tendrils as the earth buckled and heaved beneath their feet. Juniper’s palms slammed into the wet ground, her nails clawing into the mud for purchase.

The relentless force sent rocks tumbling. “Watch out!”

Boulders careened from the bluffs, pummeling the trees as if they were nothing more than pipe cleaners. “We have to get away from the cliffs! ”

Dane caught her by the ribs as she lost her footing. “Hold onto me.” Hands linked, they raced to the gorge's edge and looked down. Rapids slammed against the rocks.

“There’s nowhere to go!”

A chasm parted the forest floor, and they jumped onto a moss-covered slab, sliding until they both went down. Dane caught the brunt of their weight, breaking their fall and landing hard on his back.

Juniper scrambled to her hands and knees, panting and searching for other options. There weren’t any. The ground split open. Landslides crumbled the ancient stone walls, washing away years of vegetation.

“Watch out!” Dane yanked her back from the edge just as the earth gaped open.

She looked up at him in horror. He’d just saved her from falling to her death.

“This way!” he yelled, and they crawled to the nearest wall.

Amidst the chaos, the gulches opened into pits and sinkholes. The falls rushed faster and louder, flooding the banks and carving mudslides through the upturned trees. The mountain moaned, and water surged with newfound ferocity.

Dane lost his footing and slipped, his body sliding down too fast for Juniper to catch. “Dane!”

He grunted as he landed hard on his chest, his hand clinging to a slick vine. “Go! I’m right behind you! ”

She couldn’t leave him. “Don’t move. I’ll pull you up!”

She searched for another vine, but every root she grabbed was too slick to hold her weight.

“June, use your magick!”

Panic had made her forget her power, but the moment he said it, she tapped into the energy swirling around them. Her hands shook violently as heavy rocks fell around them, plummeting into the once-calm waters now raging below.

“I can’t!” She was too scared of being crushed.

“Juniper, look at me.”

Overwhelmed and unsure, her stare found Dane’s as he clung to the vine. His grip was slipping, and his face pinched in pain. A nasty cut bled from his eye, and his clothes were drenched in mud. He strained to hold on.

“Listen to my voice and block everything else out. My left arm is hurt. I can’t hold on much longer. You have to concentrate. You can do this. Don’t let him scare you. That’s what he wants.”

He was right. Her fear was unprecedented. Cerberus was trying to block her the way she’d blocked him.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she called on the energy of her ancestors and forced the protection spell back in place. Calm encircled her and Dane, and her legs steadied. “I’ve got this,” she whispered, holding out her palms and thrusting her arms into the air.

Dane propelled skyward just as the earth crumbled and the vine he’d been holding fell away. She lifted him with the ease of a balloon and set him on the ground beside her. As soon as he was safe, she lunged at him, hugging him tightly.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know why it took me so long to figure that out?—”

“There’s no time for that. Come on. We have to get to Adriel!”

The earthquake could not touch them under such an acute protection spell, and the destruction left a trail of obstacles for them to climb. They were making progress until everything stilled. Not just the area she protected, but the ground beyond her spell.

“It stopped. Why did it stop?”

In the eerie stillness, the woods whispered secrets of their own, as if mourning the violence that had shattered their tranquility there. It wasn’t just destruction. Death lingered in the air.

Holes and dens were buried. Nests had plummeted to the earth. And worst of all, Juniper knew he was far from finished.

“It’s the calm before the storm.”

Dane looked at the cliff above. “You have to send me up there. It’s the only way!”

“Are you crazy?”

“He has Adriel! One of us needs to stop him before he goes too far.”

“Fine!” She panicked. “But what if you can’t?” She glanced at his injured arm as it hung limp at his side. “You’re hurt?—”

“Do it. And as soon as I’m up there, you climb as fast as possible. I’ll do whatever I can to slow him down.”

It was an insane plan but the best option. “Fuck!” She raked her hands through her soaked hair.

“Now, Juniper! We can’t wait any longer!”

With unsteady hands, she pushed him upward. Moonlight illuminated the landscape but once Dane disappeared over the bluff, she was blind and alone, clueless to what they faced above.

Breath punched out of her as she climbed over the upturned roots and navigated the ransacked woods in the pitch dark. Sinkholes pocked the soil, leaving it soft and unstable. She had to constantly keep her grip on the trees as she moved.

She tripped and fell into a tree, scraping her face on a branch. But a potent spark flooded her arm when her hand pressed into the bark. She gasped, reminded of the extreme power trapped in nature.

Her fear made sense, but her apprehension did not. Nature was a witch’s most sacred place. This was her turf. She didn’t understand where this crippling anxiety came from.

Then she realized. “He’s fucking with me.” She scowled upward, unsure how he was doing it.

“You motherfucker.” Clamping her hands on the tree trunk, she siphoned all the power her body could hold and sent a jolt of don’t-fuck- with-me energy outward. The force of the transfer, nearly ripped her open, but she was done being bullied by ancient blood-sucking fucks.

She gritted her teeth and pushed back when she felt resistance, refusing to let him win. “Get out of my head, you bastard!”

Like a dog shaking off an infestation of fleas, sharp resistance bit into her, but she somehow broke free of his hold. The moment she pushed him out of her head, her anxiety calmed, and she could think clearly again.

Her brain was bathed in a rush of solutions she couldn’t see seconds ago, and she ran for the top of the gorge. Drawing an algiz rune in the air for protection, she whispered an incantation that called forth the magick of her ancestors and used it to the power of the minerals throughout the land underfoot. She found balance above the earth and her breath calmed as the energy of the water moved her, each hasty step guided by the wisdom of the trees.

Her need to get to Adriel drove her like the moon pulled the tides. The moment she hauled herself over the ledge, landing flat on her belly, she scented blood.

A dark shadow speared her with fear. “Dane!” She scrambled to his side, panic once again knifing through her as he lay unmoving, his eyes closed. She shook him roughly. “Dane, wake up.”

He groaned and rolled to his back, his bloody face twisting in pain. “Save Ade.”

Sucking back a sob, she traced the shape of the algiz rune on his brow and ran toward the trees. A horrific scream cleaved through the air, sharp enough to cut the night in two.

Juniper scented her blood but couldn’t find her. “Adriel?”

“Juniper, run!”

She spun and her blood turned to ice. Cerberus’s claws were embedded in Adriel’s body as he jerked her about like a ragdoll and she screamed in pain, her claws scraping down his face as she tried to wrestle him off.

Red filled his eyes, and his fangs were not that of a normal immortal’s. They were long and curved, resembling the bite of a python.

“Let go of her!” Juniper raced forward.

He tore Adriel’s clothes away, choking her into silence as he prepared to mount her. His head drew back on a hiss, and those viper-like fangs dripped with what Juniper feared was venom.

She staggered back in horror. “What the fuck are you?”

“Run!” Adriel choked. “Go?—”

Her words silenced as he sank his fist into her stomach and laughed.

Those blood-red eyes locked on Juniper as he sneered and punched into the earth, but Juniper was prepared. She dropped to her knees and pulled the energy of the falls into her, then used the force of the gorges to ricochet the earthquake back at him.

His features twisted with malevolent intent as he suffered the consequences of his own attack. Adriel tried to escape, but he dug his claws into her leg, wrenching her back to him. He snarled at Juniper with palpable wrath, and she only had a split second to protect herself.

“No!” She threw her arms upward, pulling the energy of the moon into her battered body. The lunar force ripped through her, surging into a vortex of energy that propelled Cerberus off of Adriel and slammed him into a tree.

Adriel disappeared in a blur of motion.

Juniper held the energy, plowing Cerberus’s body deeper into the woods until her entire body vibrated as if being electrocuted. The air cracked, and time screeched as her body convulsed.

Her bones screamed as her weight crumbled, her muscles giving out as she hung suspended in the air, wavering in the centrifugal force radiating around her, and then she dropped. Her wasted body smashed into the earth with lethal force and pain exploded through her back and skull as all went black.