Chapter 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

PIPER

" A nd I'm just supposed to step into that thing?" I stood just outside of Beckett's swirling blue vortex of death.

He nodded. "Yep."

"Feels like a trap." I crossed my arms over my chest and didn't make a move forward. The magic within looked so turbulent. It twisted and turned with blue smoke that felt heavy in the room. This was one rollercoaster ride I wasn't ready to step on. "You said Kylian was going to puke . . . I don't want to puke."

Astrid scoffed and stepped beside me. "Can vampires even puke?"

"I can assure you with perfect clarity that they really can." I nodded my head, trying to get the idea of my first meal as a vampire out of my mind and how Grayson stayed by my side through it. It was awful and not something I was looking to relive.

Astrid wrinkled her nose and made a sound of disgust in the back of her throat. "Noted."

"What are you waiting for?" Kylian silently came up behind me. I hadn't even heard his footsteps, which was shocking for me as I'd grown so used to hearing everything around me.

I whirled around to face him, and my fangs extended of their own accord. I hissed at him, then slammed my hand over my mouth. It was such a guttural reaction that I had no control over. "You startled me."

"Here now, what's a little hiss between friends?" He winked. "And we are friends, Piper."

I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to convey the message to keep his mouth shut. I wasn't ready to reveal how my fragile human friend got involved with an elven tracker, or how I'd hidden her in this world that she really didn't belong in. When this was all over, I was going to have to get her to a new, safe place to live.

"Yeah, we're friends." I tried to make my words sound free and easy, but they sounded as guarded as I felt.

Astrid looked back and forth between me and him. "You two are kind of weird with each other, you know that right?"

Kylian didn't bother to answer her. Instead, he turned to the rest of the group. "This isn't a school field trip, and I'm not a chaperone, so I won't be doing a guided tour on how to hunt a vampire."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Meaning?"

"Meaning, I'm not taking all of you, so decide who's coming and who's not." He pointed toward Beckett. "You're coming." Then he looked around the room at the rest of the group gathered there. "The rest of you . . . meh."

Beckett sighed. "You only want me for my power."

"So?" Kylian gave him a deadpan look as if saying who cares why I want you here . "Besides, you owe me for our little killing adventure before."

Killing adventure ? This world was full of magic and violence I wasn't accustomed to but was steadily getting there. I couldn't decide if it was a bad thing that I kind of loved it. Maybe Ophelia and I had more in common than I thought, and maybe I was good with it.

Beckett held his hands up in surrender. "Just thought I'd make it known. I'm pretty too."

Kylian rolled his eyes. "You're not my type of blonde, pretty boy."

Astrid stepped between the two of them and pressed her hands to their chest, forcing them to move apart. "Better be careful or I'll start to get jealous."

Zinnia snapped her fingers to get everyone's attention. "Beckett and Astrid, you'll go with Piper and Kylian. We'll keep the hunting numbers small, and the rest of us will stay here and do as much research as possible."

Beckett waved toward the swirling portal, and I still hesitated. "How do you know where to go?"

"Kylian told me." He shrugged as if that were answer enough.

"Look, baby vamp, I'm not standing here all night debating our quickest form of travel." Kylian looked me up and down. "Do you want your Prince or not?"

"Are you my fairy godmother now?"

"Yeah, better watch out where I stick my wand." He chuckled to himself.

Ashryn, his sister and the elf guardian of the witches, strode over to him and smacked him across the back of the head. "Don't be gross."

He rubbed the back of his head. "Only you could get away with that."

"You deserved it." She gave a casual shrug with one shoulder. "I don't think I've ever regretted hitting you."

"And here I was thinking you actually cared." He shook his head. "Sisters are useless sometimes."

"Except when breaking you out of jail." She narrowed her eyes at him.

I raised my eyebrows. "You know, every time I learn something new about you all, I start to question whether or not you're actually the good guys. Murder, jail, killing sprees . . . Might be a bit much."

Zinnia chuckled. "I could see how that might make you question things, and if we had more time, I'd give you all the details. But that's a story for another time."

Beckett took a step toward the portal. "Just trust me, Piper. I got you."

"I don't think I have much of a choice." Portaling would be the fastest way to get to Gray.

Kylian was the first to go through the portal. He threw his shoulders back and stepped in without hesitation. I sighed and followed, stepping into the swirling magic. It wasn't anything like mirror travel. This wasn't walking from destination to destination. This was like floating in nothingness. I was surrounded by soothing warmth like floating in a pool, and then suddenly I was on the other side stepping out into a dark street. I knew the smell of this land well . . . and the feel of the dampness in the air and delicate falling snow.

We were back in England.

Astrid stepped out behind me. "You should've been around when he was annoyed at me. Rollercoasters don't have anything on a moody Beckett."

"I am not moody," Beckett protested as he stepped from the portal and right behind us.

"Right, and those portals from the early days were so calm and serene." She crossed her arms and pursed her lips.

Beckett kissed the top of her head. "You survived."

I snickered and turned to walk beside Kylian. "How do you know this is where he'll be?"

We were in the middle of a small town in the midlands. I could tell by the homes that reminded me of town houses. They were clustered in groups of three or four standing side by side down the narrow streets. At the town center, there was a simple main street that was dark but for a small pub. The smell of liquor and blood permeated the air and drifted on the wind. I froze and the rest of them didn't move.

Kylian knelt to the ground and pressed his hand to the cobblestones below our feet. Burgundy smoke seeped from his fingers and drifted over the ground. The stone cracked beneath his touch and crushed in on itself until it transformed into a long, thin dagger. I tried to hide the shock from my face as he stood straight with his newly made weapon. But I must've failed horribly because he chuckled at my face.

"I didn't think elves had witchy powers."

He wrinkled his nose. "Elves are creatures of the earth and as such are tied to it."

He said it so simply as if that was all the explanation I needed, but before I could ask follow-up questions, the door to the pub flew open and five people ran out screaming. Some of them fell in the street with bite marks on their necks. Blood coated the sidewalk and sirens blared in the distance. I ran headlong into the pub and felt the others hurry behind me. When I ran through the door, I froze. It was an utter disaster. People huddled in corners and under tables while others lay lifeless on the floor. The lights above flickered, and the TVs hanging in the corners of the room were shattered. Music skipped over the same three lines of song as though a record was being played on repeat. Broken glass, food, and furniture littered the narrow room.

When I looked deeper into the room trying to search out Grayson, I knew he was gone. His scent was dull and nearly undetectable. I hurried through the room listening for heartbeats to see how many he'd killed with his thirst. Not a single one had perished, though their injuries were grave, and if they didn't get help soon, several of them would perish this night. The others ran through the door and stood frozen, their eyes wide at the carnage. The sirens moved closer. Kylian bent down, pressing his fingers to a man's neck.

"Well, at least this one is alive."

I motioned to the whole room. "They all are. Barely."

Astrid sighed with relief. "What are we gonna do? If the humans find them like this, Grayson will be in a shit ton of trouble."

"But how do we fix this?" I looked around. It was clear a monster had ransacked the place, or a wild animal, and the midlands didn't have wild animals like this.

Astrid opened her hands and golden magic poured from her to cover the ground. "If we had Logan, we could convince them it was a gas leak or something."

Beckett opened a portal right away and stepped in. A moment later, he stood there with Logan by his side. Logan hardly showed an ounce of emotion when he stepped through the portal and looked around. He gave a low whistle. "And what's on the agenda for tonight?"

"We need them all to believe this is a gas leak or something like that," Astrid instructed quickly.

Logan opened his hands and dark orange power seeped from his hands and covered the people around us. He closed his eyes, and the people cowering under the tables and hiding in corners passed out, falling to the floor limply as though in sleep. He walked around slowly, letting his power run in all directions while Astrid did the same. Gold and orange power mingled together, and I couldn't see two feet in front of me. I waved my hand, trying to clear the magic from my face. A moment later the power faded, and the room was back to normal. Kylian walked into the room. He carried a man on each shoulder.

"You got them from the street?" My voice raised with disbelief.

He dropped them on the floor, and they fell with a loud thunk . "Payment for clean-up is extra."

I narrowed my eyes. "I'll add money to your meal plan at the school since you like to mooch off them."

He gave a dark chuckle. "Very funny, baby vamp."

When the blue lights flashed outside the door and the sirens were on top of us, Beckett opened a portal. "Everyone in."

Astrid waved her hand, and I watched as the skin at their necks knitted back together before my eyes.

"You can heal people?"

She shook her head. "It's a glamor. I can't heal, but I can hide the damage."

She turned toward the portal and ran toward it. The others all followed. I hesitated and looked back at the poor people all knocked out. Beckett cleared his throat to get my attention. "We'll find him, Piper."

"I know."

"Just prepare yourself. This isn't going to be the last time something like this happens."

My throat tightened, and I swallowed. "I know."

He placed his hand on my shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. "I'm sorry, Piper. But this will be the hardest hunt you'll have to engage in. And I wouldn't wish this on any soulmate."