Primal Kill (The Order of Vampires #5)

Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

A driel’s attention jerked to the trees as a screech owl twittered and called. Her instincts were on high alert, as were her senses. Small predators often fled in her presence, but she was doing her best to mask her scent. The woodland creatures could warn her of other dangers creeping nearby.

It had been six nights since leaving. Six grueling days traveling by foot and keeping a paranoid watch over her shoulder.

She hadn’t believed she’d make it this far. Her progress implied Cerberus might have been more injured at the gorges than they realized.

She didn’t want to think about Juniper and Dane. By now, she had probably come to terms with her choice—or maybe she hadn’t.

Adriel's guilt tugged at her resolve, and she went back and forth, never quite sure if she’d made the right decision. Her heart wanted to turn back, but who knew if Juniper would speak to her after the way she’d left?

She should have had the integrity to say goodbye to her face. She tried, several times, to reason with her, but Juniper refused to listen to reason. Cerberus was going to find her sooner or later. It was best if she was alone. That way, she was less vulnerable.

A bat passed overhead, and she tracked its silent flight. Once again, she scanned her surroundings. Aside from the occasional night critter scurrying about, everything seemed calm.

She’d made it past the Canadian border several nights ago. From there, she passed through Quebec and believed she was now in the Newfoundland mountains.

The high winds disguised her scent, but the cold made hunting and feeding difficult. She assumed she’d stop when she reached the coast. Or maybe she’d find passage east, toward Iceland, the UK, or perhaps Scandinavia—considering she lived long enough to get that far.

The moon hung heavy in the sky, its pale light casting eerie shadows over the rugged terrain. Fog drifted in, crawling over the ground and through the trees like long fingers. The relentless wind howled like the mournful cries of lost souls, and the biting cold burned her cheeks.

She kept moving, even when everything inside of her demanded she rest. The higher the altitude the more ragged her breathing. She needed blood, but hadn’t passed anything worth hunting in some time.

A stick snapped, not far behind, and she stilled. Her heart pounded like a war drum in her chest, each beat a desperate plea for survival. Was this it? Had he found her?

She stilled and waited for the smaller animals of the mountains to scurry, but they appeared undisturbed. Yet, she sensed something out there.

Had it been Cerberus, he would have shaken her out and tormented her, using his power to rip open the earth and down trees in her path. The forest had been calm for hours, so why was she suddenly on edge?

When a branch fell, she bolted like frightened prey. Sprinting through the dense forest, her feet crunched over the frost-covered underbrush. The impenetrable darkness flashed whenever the occasional sliver of moonlight pierced the canopy above. Her senses were on high alert, every rustle of leaves and snap of twigs sending jolts of fear through her frazzled nerves.

No matter the distance between them, Cerberus’s sinister presence loomed like a dark specter. Her mind played tricks on her, hearing sounds that were not there and seeing sights that did not exist.

Born of nightmares, she sometimes felt him most in that place between sleeping and awake. Once, she thought she saw his crimson eyes watching her in the dark, glowing like rubies on fire with malevolent intent.

He thrived in the darkness, a nocturnal predator who enjoyed toying with his prey. Perhaps her instincts were correct and he was close by, or maybe her mind was deceiving her, drunk on fear and her ever spiking adrenaline. The anticipation of the hunt wore her down mentally and physically, but it would further invigorate him.

Her steps slowed for only a moment so she could pause long enough to listen. Looking back, she sensed danger closing in. She was not alone.

It was either Cerberus or something just as threatening. The oppressive weight of a threatening presence bore down on her, and her mind raced, searching for an escape. She needed to outmaneuver whatever stalked her.

Varying her path, she leaped through trees, creating a labyrinth that would confuse whatever trailed her in the forests. When she reached an icy stream, she stepped into the water, covering her tracks in the brook’s cold, unforgiving embrace.

She pushed herself harder, her legs burning with exertion, her lungs aching with every breath. The forest seemed to conspire against her, branches reaching out like skeletal hands to claw at her clothes and skin, roots rising from the ground to trip her. But these were merely natural pitfalls, not necessarily the evidence of Cerberus .

Still, she had to keep moving. Shivering, she struggled to regulate her temperature. In a moment of desperate fear, she wished Juniper was there to cocoon her in a protection spell. But most of all, she wished she could wrap herself in the sanctuary of her arms.

A sudden, sharp pain shot through her ankle as she stumbled over a jagged rock poking out of the stream. She cried out, the sound swallowed by the night, as she fell to the ground.

A low, guttural growl purred into a malicious laugh. Panic surged through her, adrenaline spurring her to scramble to her feet despite the agony that shot up her leg. He was there.

Desperation clawed at her insides as she limped in frantic flight. The forest thinned, and trees gave way to a steep, rocky incline. She scaled the walls, using her hands to steady herself, her fingers numb and trembling. The summit seemed an impossible distance away, each step a battle against the treacherous terrain and her weakening resolve.

The earth trembled, marking his nearness and taunting her. When she lost her footing again, it was too late. Her pack slipped from her hands, tumbling down the incline and hooking onto a branch. Her weapons were in there. She needed to get to them. This was it. She needed to end this before he got to her.

“You can’t run forever, girl. We have a score to settle.” His voice echoed through the canyons, sinking like a nearby whisper into her mind .

She frantically scrabbled the rock wall, backtracking to her pack, and then saw him. He moved with a preternatural grace, his dark form a blur as he closed the gap between them.

Her pulse thundered in her ears, and her vision blurred with tears of fear and frustration as she stretched desperately for her bag, only to knock it loose from the root and watch it fall down the mountainside.

Her breath turned to ice in her lungs. She spun and climbed upward, forgetting the pack to once again focus on escape.

His low laughter taunted her hopeless flight. He was nearing on her in unmarked strides, appearing closer and closer without ever seeming to move.

Chest heaving, her gasps turned to sobs as she scaled the wall. Her wet clothes froze under the relentless wind. She screamed as Cerberus emerged from the shadows ahead, his eyes locking onto hers with a predatory gleam.

He had her.

This was it.

She’d waited too long and there would be no escaping him now.

“It’s time to have that long-awaited reunion you’ve been putting off, girl.”

She spun to flee, but Cerberus was upon her instantly, his hand clamping around her wrist with a vice-like grip. She screamed, a sound of pure terror, as he jerked her to her feet.

“Did you honestly think you would get away?” His breath washed over her face, and she whimpered. He laughed, the sound cruel and promising. “What’s that now?”

Lips trembling, her words stammered out. “K-kill me. Please.”

Another cold laugh cut through the air. “Oh, no. There will be none of that. At least not the way you’re hoping. I have so much to show you.”

He traced a razor-sharp claw down her cheek, slicing open her skin. She tried to pull away but he yanked her closer.

“I want to show you everything you missed while we’ve been apart. Namely, the insufferable misery of being quartered and buried alive for more than a century. Doesn’t that sound fun, precious mate of mine?” His eyes burned with sadistic pleasure. “But first, I’m going to drain you dry.”

She gasped, unable to draw a single breath into her lungs. He struck with the precision of a viper, his curved fangs sinking into her throat as he bit down and ripped open her flesh. Blood rushed into her mouth, choking her, as he ravaged her throat.

This was it. There was no escaping him now. He would leave her too weak to run, just as he'd done before. Her life was over, but her suffering would be endless.

She should have never left Juniper. She was her purest love. Her truest love. She would never look into her kind eyes again. She would never see Christian, her son, again. They were all lost to her now.

He drew back and hissed, slipping easily in and out of her mind now that he had her blood. “Tell me more about those you love. I look forward to such introductions.”

Memories of her siblings flooded her with trauma as if he’d hurt them only yesterday. “Please. You have me. Don’t?—”

He slapped her so hard her head snapped back. “Don’t you dare think to tell me what I should and should not do. For that, alone, I should eat your friends.”

Rage, unlike anything she’d ever experienced before, tunneled through her and she screamed, bearing her fangs and unleashing her fury on him.

Clawing at his face, something primal came over her. She sank her teeth into his shoulder. But in the end, he was stronger.

When he yanked her off of him, her fang snapped loose, and she howled as blood sputtered past her lips. Something inside of her snapped and rage erupted from the darkest shadows of her soul.

She had nothing left to lose. After centuries of blocking her mind and making herself small, she let the fury seethe out of her, slashing her claws into his face, ripping at his eyes and growling like a feral animal. “I hate you!”

He jerked her off of him, slamming her down on the rock hard enough that white light burst behind her eyes, momentarily stealing her sight. Gripping her by the throat, he hoisted her overhead. Blood flooded her vision as capillaries burst in her head. She pushed her mind into his, embedding herself deep in his thoughts, frantically searching for any weakness she might use to end him.

She expected the dark, twisted thoughts and the deeply disturbed memories she found. She even flinched at the images of his time underground. But what she had not expected to find was visions of her mother.

“Get out of my head!” he snapped, slamming her into the rock wall.

She would not relent. So long as she was conscious, she needed to understand why her mother was in his memories.

Castles. Armor. Royalty. These were not visions from her time. Her mother was there. But not with her father. A malformed sense of affection stabbed into her.

Tenderness. Protectiveness. These were not sentiments Cerberus displayed. Then it occurred to her…

He loved her.

He had a life before becoming her mate, a life that involved Adriel’s mother. How was that possible?

“Stay out of my memories!”

She refused to let go. She needed to understand.

In some way, he saw her as his. And she betrayed him when she accepted her calling to Adriel’s father. Then she found the moment he decided to strike back.

“No…” He choked her, but she’d punctured his deepest memories and there was no prying her from his mind without killing her.

He lied. It was all a lie. That’s what this was. Centuries of torture and vengeance all in the name of revenge. He was not her mate. He was a traveler who had used and abused her in a scheme to punish her mother.

His fist sank into her stomach. Her crushed windpipe wheezed as she desperately tried to breathe.

“You think it matters now? You’re mine. You’ll never be rid of me. And I plan to make you suffer for the rest of eternity.

He struck again, burying his fangs deep in her ransacked throat, determined to finish her. In a desperate grasp of hope, she blew open her mind and reached for Juniper, hoping she still had enough of her blood in her system to hear her call.

My parents. Go to my parents. Lilias and Lazarus Schrock. Find them. Tell them he has me. Please. Juniper, he’s not my mate ? —

He drained her veins until her heart had nothing left to pump. She looked up at him, unable to wheeze in a single breath, devoid of any essence of life. Then he threw her body down the rocky mountainside until she landed in a broken heap on the bedrock far below.