Authors: Kaylie Austen
Even if Claudius took my right from me and stole Demetrius’s
essence, there was no guarantee that he could isolate and detach Nathanial’s
essence and push it back into Nathanial’s heart. Even then, he wouldn’t
remember his life. Surely, such extensive brain damage took its toll.
At this point, without complete details of how
Claudius intended this to work, I believed that false hope strung him along. I
also felt a twinge of vex, because clearly Claudius deemed this to be possible
but had no intention of delivering such service to my father.
I hoped to leave the compound soon, but it seemed that
I would have to return to the domicile sooner than expected. Claudius warned me
not to walk back through those doors without Demetrius. Well, tough nuts. He
had some explaining to do.
“Anything else of importance in regards to these
bodies?”
“No.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Does any of this have to do with
the Demetrius, who I’m currently hunting? Brother to the tracker, Damares?”
“No. I know nothing of him or his whereabouts.”
“Stand up.”
He shakily got to his feet and I snatched away the
crescent. He fell back to his knees, trembling and sweating.
“What does this feel like?” I was inclined to know.
“Like a drug withdrawal.”
“Do you want more of me?”
He scurried away and hugged the wall. His kind was
vicious, but he seemed so pitiful. “My mind and body wants more, but logically,
I cannot take it again. I don’t want it again.”
I grinned, fangs still out. “Remember that the next
time I ask questions.”
“Will you leave now?”
“No. I suspect he’ll return. He was looming over this
place, but fled when he saw me. I’ll wait here to find out what he wants. Then
I’ll return him, and hopefully the next time we meet, it will be under better
conditions.”
“Hopefully the next time we meet is when you’re dead.”
“Tsk, tsk. Poor manners, keeper.”
I left and returned to the large room where my father
rested. With another great sigh, I moved around the door-less entrance, placed
my back against the free wall, and slid to the floor. Pulling my knees to my
chest, I hugged them after pulling my collar up to cover my ears. I just needed
a few minutes alone with Father.
Chapter Nineteen
I remained at the catacombs for an entire day, lurking
in the shadows by the entrance without food, water, or rest, and waiting to
ambush Demetrius because I knew he would return. He did.
The crypt keeper whispered to me through the labyrinth
in an eerie tone once Demetrius formed and set foot on the roof. There was a
trap door up there, for the occasional moment a keeper wanted fresh air, to
view the world, or to see what the ruckus was outside without revealing the
secret door.
“He comes to you,” the keeper hissed and then scurried
away on the ceiling, deadly and silent.
I doubted Demetrius could catch my scent in the
catacombs that were abnormally dusty, cold, and filled with the many slightly
malodorous smells of the fallen ones.
I watched as he cast his shadow, meeting the shadows
of the wall at my back. He walked in cautiously to what appeared to be a
deserted room. He went to my father’s crypt and opened the drawer. I fumed, but
remained silent as I rose to my feet in one swift movement.
He sniffed the air, pushed the drawer closed, and
turned to face me. “I thought I smelled you.”
I stepped into the light and bared my fangs. “This is
the end of the road.”
“Seems like it,” he responded sullenly, defeated,
depressed.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came to see the bodies, maybe find a clue as to who
really did this.”
I sneered as my essence spread around me, filtering
through the floating dust particles.
“You wouldn’t want to battle me here. We would destroy
this place, and neither one of us wants that.”
“So surrender if you truly care about us,” I snapped.
“Don’t force my hand in fighting you in a place as
fragile as these catacombs. Let the ancient ones rest.”
“Give me your wrists.”
“Outside.”
“Do you think that I’m an idiot?”
He watched me with a haggard face. “Of course not.
Come with me and please allow me to tell you my story before you try to kill
me.”
“When I kill you, I’ll know the story.”
“You’re hopeless, Selene.”
“I’m relentless. What did you expect to find here?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I just came here to finally get
caught. I’m tired of running from you, tired of putting you through this. Since
you won’t listen to me, I’m willing to turn myself in and let you read my
memories. But I want you to do it here and now.”
“I’ll kill you here. I need the Council to see you
first.”
“I know that you can perform the memory retrieval
without killing me.”
I tensed. “Are you done here? Any so-called clues?”
“No. Who’s the tracker who’s helping you?”
“You should know. It’s Ashton.”
He mulled it over. Nothing of concern or revelation
crossed his face.
“Let’s go. Walk in front of me and walk slowly,” I
commanded.
He stared at me through dark lids, stood immobile for
another minute before moving ahead of me. I stood to the side to allow him
access and before he fully passed, grabbed his wrist with one hand and pulled
out my crescent with the other.
Unfortunately, he was as quick as I was. Demetrius
dropped down, rolled beneath me so that he twisted my arm, and shoved me
against the wall. I grunted, inhaling a good amount of dirt.
“You have to be willing to listen to me before I
surrender,” he grumbled into my ear.
My cheek was crushed against the cold surface of
stone. He kissed me harshly and then released me.
I pushed myself from the wall and took after him. Demetrius
ran up the walls, sprinting, dashing, and jumping from one area to another. He
seemed to know the labyrinth better than I did, but I possessed super speed, so
I caught up to him. I ran up the walls.
Closing in the gap, I lunged, catching him between my
claws, and dragged him down with me as I crashed against the brittle wall. It
cracked and splintered under impact. I bit down into his shoulder, through the
coat, but he whipped around and shoved me back down the hallway.
By the time I got to my feet and returned to a sprint,
he obtained a good distance. I growled, suppressing my need to cry out since
that would rattle and crumble the catacombs. I raced after Demetrius, followed
his smoke, his scent, and the blur that occasionally came into view. He
sprouted up above the staircase and took to the roof.
When I slammed open the trap door on the rooftop above
me and jumped out, Demetrius leapt from the building and erupted into a ball of
smoke, taking to the skies. I unleashed my cry. The catacombs beneath my feet shook,
and I caught myself, choking out the remainder of my howl.
Crawling down the building, I ran as soon as I hit the
sodden ground. The catacombs behind me waved and disappeared from my sight. The
keepers weren’t happy enough to have me out of there.
I wasn’t going to lose track of Demetrius now that he
was so close to my chilled grip. I would weaken when the sun rose, but so would
he. During the daytime, he wouldn’t be able to escape by way of smoke. If I could
only continue the chase until daybreak.
I ran for some time away from the crypts, and further
away from the domicile. My eyes darted back and forth between the area in front
of me and the sky where Demetrius moved swifter than ever. I moved so quickly that
my reflexes hadn’t adapted. I hardly had time to react when the sound of snarls
caught my ears and a giant cougar leapt out in front of me.
I collided right into him, stumbled, and threw him
against a tree as I rolled and landed on my back. I got to my feet as soon as
the cougar shook his grand head and staggered away from the damaged trunk.
He growled at me. I raised myself and appeared harmless,
allowing him the time he needed to realize who I was. I glanced up into the
night sky, concerned as to why the cloud stopped and hovered directly above,
watching us.
The sentinel and I were alone and far from the main
buildings. When the giant beast snapped his jaws, baring teeth, and advanced, I
spoke, “What are you doing, sentry? I’m on the hunt, let me pass.”
He closed the gap between us in two broad bounds, his
wide mouth aimed at my throat and his paws wide, heading for my chest. I
automatically reverted into combat mode. My fangs grew longer, my nails grew
into talons, and I crouched, prepared for impact.
When the colossal cat hit me, I fell back, gripping
his throat with my claw. He snapped fiercely now, moved around my arms trying
to get to major arteries and body parts.
“Calm down!” I screeched.
He didn’t. The shifter became more aggressive, fought
harder. I shrilled and he cowered away, griping at his ears with a paw. Taking
the advantage, I swiped across his face and drew black blood. He was one of us,
all right.
I primed myself for a fight to the death when he
lunged at me again. I hissed, ready to bite, claw, and tear him apart, no
matter what damage he would impress on me. He could do plenty of harm, and so
could I.
In midair, as he hurtled toward me, a broad hand
gripped him by the fold of thick fur at the nape of his neck and yanked him back.
Demetrius swung around and thrust the near one-ton animal across the small
field opening.
The cougar crashed into the same tree that he hit
before. I scrambled to my feet, staring at Demetrius’s back as he keenly stood
between me and the shifter. There was a moment of relief. One, I was saved for
the time being and had another person to help ward off the attack. Two, the
cougar would wear down the criminal, making my job easier.
The cougar staggered to his paws. Blood dripped down
the four marks across his cheek and one faint trail across his throat. He
snarled something vicious at us, his eyes flitting between Demetrius and me.
He went for my former lover first, whose eyes turned
black as the birthmark appeared on his temple. Demetrius raked against the
cougar’s throat, but the cougar snatched him up by the ends of his trench coat,
shook with wild intensity, and lobbed him several feet into the branches. He
instantly made a run for me.
He knocked the breath out of my lungs on collision,
smacking my head against patchy ground. I clawed with my hands, but he grabbed
my wrist and bit, snapping small bones. I screeched at the sudden pain that
throbbed from my fingertips to the point in my elbow. Heat radiated as dark
fluid oozed out of broken blood vessels through the puncture marks in my flesh.
The cougar’s stench hit me as his mouth gaped wide in
anticipatory deliverance for whatever this was. My left hand lay helpless on
the ground while a paw imprisoned my other. His heavy body kept mine in place
and no amount of strength left within me after days of hunting without food or
rest could save me.
Saliva trickled from his teeth onto my shirt, his
mouth barely inches from chomping down on my face, when Demetrius pounced on
him. He straddled the beast, which stood over five feet on his paws, and
clamped down around his neck. The cat jerked sideways, back and forth, trying
to rid itself of the crippling hold. He wheezed, frantic.
Demetrius pulled out a dagger, the one he had left,
and plunged it into the cougar’s shoulder, just missing his throat. The cat
howled. I cringed.
The shifter scurried back. All I could do was get to
my haunches and squat while the cougar backed into a tree, raised itself on hind
legs, and crushed Demetrius between him and the trunk.
Demetrius finally released him, sliding to the roots
when the cougar limped away, leaving a trail of black blood.
I breathed hard, my chest ached, and my wrists
throbbed as if dozens of fiery hot coals pierced my flesh over and over.
Crashing to the ground, I leaned against brush and watched Demetrius, who
didn’t move at all.
I waited until I gained more strength to crawl over
and snap the crescent around his wrists. Several minutes staggered by before he
groaned and clutched the dagger in his hand. He breathed heavily when he raised
himself. Wiping the blood from his blade against the grass, he returned it to
its sheath and looked around, then sniffed the air.
Demetrius must have deemed the area safe for now,
because he crawled over to me. I pulled out the crescent. In a swift blink of
an eye, he took it from me and buried it between his back and his dark jeans.
“That’s mine,” I barked. I winced. It hurt to talk, to
move.
Gasping for air, he looked down and said, “You’re
hurt.”
“Nice work, Sherlock.”
“Good old, catty Selene,” he muttered and then
gathered me into his arms.