43. Hunter

HUNTER

“ N o! No, no, no …” I cradle Eva’s lifeless body in my arms. “This can’t be happening. Wake up, baby.”

She doesn’t budge. She doesn’t breathe. She doesn’t sprout fangs.

“Why isn’t she changing?” Peyton whispers, crouching down beside me.

I shake my head, fighting back the tears, knowing that breaking down isn’t going to help the situation. It isn’t going to help me fix this. Because I am going to fix it.

“I have no idea …” I brush her hair from her face and note how cold her skin is already. “Maybe because of what she is.” Swallowing hard, I look up to find Max, wondering if he may know something about this.

Sure, I hate the idea of asking a demon for anything, but if it means saving Eva …

I’d do anything.

The damn asshole has abandoned the tent and took Ryleigh with him. Figures he’d run when all shit hit the fan. And it makes me suspicious that perhaps he had something to do with this. Although, with how he looks at Eva, I’m not sure he would kill her.

But is she really dead? What even happened?

“Did you see what did this to her?” I ask Peyton, looking at Eva in my arms.

There’s so much I wanted to say to her, and now I might never have the chance.

“There was a blur,” Peyton says. “But that’s all I saw … I don’t know what it was.”

“Me, either. I doubt it was a demon, though. They want her alive, not dead.” I just wish I knew why they wanted to feed off her. Why are they trying to get more power?

That’s not really important right now. What’s important is saving Eva.

I frantically rack my brain for a way to fix this. Eva had been working on a spell to bring Ryleigh back from the dead, and I think she had most of the ingredients. Perhaps I could do the spell on her. But I don’t have a clue what spell she was planning on using or where she put all the ingredients she gathered. And some of those ingredients were really hard to find, almost nearly impossible. Like a demon scale. And the only way Eva got that was by accident.

If only I had Eva’s gift of talking to the dead, then I could just ask her …

An idea smacks me across the face. “We need a Ghost Breather.”

“They’re really rare.”

“I know that.” Fuck! This can’t be happening! I can’t lose her!

“You think Eva’s still hanging around?” Peyton’s worried gaze scans the area.

“Yes.”

“How do you know?”

“Because of this.” I carefully turn Eva’s head and show Peyton the curving lines printed on her neck. “When we were younger, she accidentally cast a spirit connection spell on herself, which means when she died, there’s a good chance her spirit is going to hang around for a while. And if we can find a way to communicate with her, then I might be able to get all those supplies Eva was saving up for the spell she wanted to use on Ryleigh to bring her back.”

Peyton wavers. “Well, I may know a Ghost Breather, but getting her to help us is going to be a bit complicated.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because she hates her gift and tries to ignore it as much as possible.”

“Well, we’re going to have to make her like it again,” I say, vowing to myself to save Eva no matter what it takes.

And then, I’m going to track down whoever hurt her and make them suffer.