Chapter 14

"Jesus fucking Christ,"Ezra said.

I wasn't sure what shocked me more. Hearing Ezra curse like that, or the sight before me.

Nothing could have prepared me for what I was looking at. I knew these people were horrible, evil, but I had expected war. War like the ones I'd seen in movies. Like the kind Graham had described to me. Like the battle half an hour ago.

I hadn't expected… this.

This part of the cave was circular, framed with benches and wooden chairs. Two lanterns hung on the rock walls, one on my right, and one a dozen feet ahead on my left. In the center sat a fire. Above it, perched between two metal forks, a piece of meat roasted. Almost like a pig at a luau.

The smell was odd. Like pork, but somehow… off.

But why? The meat looked fine. Edging closer, I noticed something by the second lantern. Straight ahead, strung up on the wall, the source of the smell hung lifelessly.

It took staring for a solid ten seconds to understand. At first, it looked just like any other piece of meat. An animal tied upside down by its legs to drain the blood. After all, that was all that remained. Only the legs. The rest of the body had already been butchered.

My gaze titled higher, and bile rose up my esophagus.

Feet. Not hooves. Not paws. Feet.

Human feet. Human feet, attached to human ankles, attached to human thighs, ending at a mutilated groin.

They were male. They had to have been, because a large patch of blood-covered flesh would've been plain skin on my body.

I gagged.

Using a spell to chop a few dozen people in half? That I could handle. This? A man strung up by his feet, bled like cattle, only his lower half remaining without so much as his genitals intact?

No, this I could not take with a calm stomach.

When I looked back at the fire, at that piece of meat they were roasting over it, I couldn't keep it in. I veered to the right, avoiding Ezra, and emptied all of last night's dinner onto the cave floor.

A second later, Ezra was doing the same.

Supposed cannibals were a stretch, even for a Vampire.

We lefteverything exactly how it was. My spell had killed them all, we hoped, so our next priority was getting out of the cave. It wasn't too difficult. Ezra followed the scent of tree sap. Since trees couldn't grow in caves, he knew that scent would lead us back to civilization.

Once outside, we sat on pine dusted boulders. Back-to-back, of course, as we had been instructed to yesterday. After all, that advice had saved us.

If Ezra had been taken here alone, he wouldn't have made it out. No matter how strong he was, he couldn't have fought off all of them. I may have been able to, but it would've been a gamble. Because we had each other's strength to pull from, we were able to use that spell and wipe them all out at once.

Still, we were sitting on the enemy's doorstep. Our guards were not down.

I was calmer than I thought I'd be, given the circumstances. Or, at least, I hadn't panicked yet. I just sat there, back-to-back with Ezra, turning my head left to right, scanning for energy I didn't recognize, waiting.

We'd only been sitting for a minute or two when Laila's voice sounded in my head. There you are. We're on our way.

We'll be here.

It was only a few minutes later when the croaks and caws of ravens sounded. In the distance, over the treetops, my flock of them fluttered closer. Warmth spread through me at the sight of them. No matter how much they used to annoy me, I loved the little fuckers now.

But as one fluttered from the clouds overhead to the ground before me, then hopped up into my lap, I didn't smile. It nuzzled its little head into my chest, croaking some more, and it melted my heart. This one always stuck closest to me. I called him Mohawk. He had a few feathers atop his head that never laid flat, always pointing to the sky, so… Mohawk.

This was his usual. Flying for a while, then landing in my lap. Cuddling against me like a stray cat I'd left food out for.

It usually made me smile.

With the fresh sight of that man in my head, there was no way I could smile.

"That wasn't something we were aware of, was it?" Ezra's voice was low to avoid alerting anything in the forest.

"These things chopping people up and eating their dicks?" I asked. "Yeah, no. Don't remember that in the briefing."

A half-laugh escaped him.

"I guess it makes sense though," I murmured, the flap of wings in the distance calling my gaze to the tangerine sky. "Graham called them soul eaters. Why wouldn't they eat people too?"

"Because there's no logical reason," he murmured, tone just as soft. "It's got to be more than that. We Vampires consume blood. It serves a purpose. It gives us fuel. It's food. But they have access to all the food in the world here. So why eat their enemies?"

Valid point. "Well, it can't be a fear tactic. If Iliantha, the queen of this land, doesn't even know, then they must be concealing it from the public. It's not like they're going around saying that they'll eat your flesh and use your bones for broth."

"It's not a common ritual used to honor death in this culture," he said. "From what I've read in their religious texts, there is no value to this either. Is this practice relevant magically?"

"If so, it's dark magic I've never heard of," I said.

Beyond the tree line ahead, high above the ground, Kilyn's big, black wings came into view. Ezra must've seen them at the same time, because together, we stood, joined hands, and started in that direction.

Waving overhead, Ezra said, "It has to be something like that. I can see no other reason why they would do this. It must be for magic."

"Maybe." Still waving, the pulse of their energies coasted over me. It was odd: I barely noticed the power we all radiated back on Earth, yet I seemed to rely on it constantly here. "Or maybe it is religious."

"But their gods are Jeremy and Laila. They don't seem to have an affinity for cannibalism."

"No, but I doubt any religion is true to its roots. They all get muddied by the people who follow them."

"Perhaps. Or…" Squinting above, Ezra cocked his head to the side. "What in the world?"

The sun obstructed my view, so I, too, had to squint. Even then, I could barely register what was falling toward us. Or rather, who was falling toward us. Again, I relied on the vibration of his energy to recognize him.

Covered in muck that disguised his usual creamy skin, Warren fell to the ground like an atom bomb. Ezra and I produced a cushion of wind simultaneously, catching him only inches above the soil. He landed with a gasp, then rolled and thrashed like he was trapped in layers of blankets after a nightmare.

Before I could move, Ezra was at his side, leveling the air around him. Gripping Warren's shoulders, Ezra helped him to his feet. Between deep breaths, Warren grasped his face, touching him all over. I only got a glimmer of that loving look in his eyes before he was in front of me, doing just the same. His blood crusted fingertips slid over my cheeks, then down my shoulders and my hips, checking me all over for signs of injury.

Most of the time, Ezra and Warren didn't use their speed. They did their best to act as human as possible on Earth, so it really only came out when they were worked up. Still, it was mesmerizing. When Ezra did it, he was erratic and jerky.

But Warren was graceful. Always so graceful. His touch was as soft as the breeze between the trees, those pale blue eyes unusually warm.

One hand on my cheek, the other on Ezra's bicep, his eyes flicked quickly between us. "What happened? Are you okay? Did they do something to you? Did they hurt you? Are you hurt?"

His words came out just as fast as his pat down.

"We're fine," Ezra said, managing a smile. "It's okay."

Letting out a deep breath of relief, he grabbed the back of my head and pulled me into him. As anxious as I was to inform the others what we had discovered, an all-encompassing sense of relief wash over me at his touch. With my head against his chest, Ezra's on his shoulder, all of our arms wrapped around one another's waist, a sense of tranquility trickled into my shoulders and neck.

The funny part was, I hadn't realized I was tense until I felt the release.

I tilted my head back to look at him. "You and Graham flew separate?" They had to have, because Graham would've cushioned his fall if they had flown together.

Slowly, the relief in Warren's eyes faded. He opened his mouth to speak, but an arm circled my waist from behind and hauled me backwards. The smell of Graham's cologne filled my nostrils.

Spinning in a circle, he squeezed me tight. "Don't you ever scare me like that again, mo stoirín."

With a smile came that feeling again. All my muscles loosening at his touch. I had known I was anxious, that I needed them, that I missed them, but here they were.

Cautious contentment. That's what I had felt a moment prior when it was only Ezra and me. Now that we were all together, everything was okay. Everything would be.

I twirled to face him, dizzy from the spin, and tossed my arms around his neck. "You had nothing to worry about."

He smiled. A proud, accomplished smile. "‘Atta lass." But he glanced behind me and tightened his jaw.

"Alright, we got them," Laila said. "We have people to resurrect. Let's get back to camp."

"Who's down?" I asked, looking around. Laila must have teleported Graham down here, because she was the only other person around. "How many?"

"Just one," Laila said. "Connor and Naomi are looking for sacrifices. Her wounds aren't too bad. As soon as they find people, we'll have her back in an hour."

"Good." I paused. "Not good that she's dead, but good that we're going to take care of it, and that we have a minute here."

Green eyes brightening to glows, she cocked her head to the side. "We… need a minute here?"

"Yes," Ezra said. "Something we need to brief everyone on."