Escaped the Night (18 page)

In sync
,
t
he fairies
,
with help from Aiden
,
beamed a
light
so
incredibly
bri
lliant
it near
ly
blinded us. I
covered
my eyes and felt
warmth on my skin like pure sunshine.
The
ir
performance
worked
.
T
he
n
ightwalkers hiss
ed
and snarl
ed
in agony
,
retreating
outside into the darkness
.
The tiny fairies
managed to come
to our rescue for
the time being.
They
continued to hold their brightness for
another
ten minutes
.
Then
the
glows began to dim
inish
and
the nightwalkers started
towards the entrance again
.

“Meriel… your turn,
” Jayce
said
.

A
n enormous wave
roll
ed past the entrance
,
sweeping
away the doomahorns and
even a few
vampires
.
The w
erewolves
used
their giant claws
to
grip
onto
the
rock
s so they didn’t get swept away
by
all
the water
.
Meriel
had really helped clear away some ene
mies, o
nly another problem arose
. We were
knee deep in
water and it was rising rapidly.
I
glanced
over a
t
Jayce
,
who was splashing
around
.
Within a few seconds
,
the water
reached our waists
, then our chests
.

“Meriel enough,”
Jayce pleaded.
Instantly
,
the water levels
lowered and
some of
t
he nightwalkers
made
their way back towards the cave
,
quite
angry and sopping wet.
A couple
werewolves took the
opportunity
and pushed
th
rough the mass of fairies, swatting and snarling
at the tiny beings.

Two
wer
ewolves headed in my direction.
I was
pinned up against the
wall with nowhere to go. I glanced around for
Jayce
,
but couldn’t see past the wolves’ mammoth bodies.
They
let out rumbling snarls
as
drool
spilled
out of their mouths.
The larger
of the two
reached
a paw
out to me.
I shut
my eyes
.
I
n the same instant
,
I felt what rese
mbled a shock of electricity zapping me
. I screamed out
at
the excru
ciating pain
radiating
from my arm. I looked down and saw
where
it
clawed
me
.
M
y
head spun
from the sight of
my blood.

Just then,
a pair of hands
pulled the beast’s
massive head back.
The wolf
made a
loud yelpin
g sound and
I heard a snap come from its powerful jaws.
The
injured
beast retreated out of the cave. A split second later
,
the other one
howled
in pain
and also
withdr
ew
.

Two massive figures
emerged
.
I closed my eyes, waiting for them to finish me off. Minutes p
assed and I didn’t feel any worse
and the
pain in
my arm was
starting to subside
. I
carefully
open
ed
one
eye and
saw a large chest
beside me. I quic
kly closed my eyes tightly
.
A few more minutes went by and still
nothing happened
to me
. Confuse
d, I opened
both
eyes and looked first to my left and then over to my right side. Two muscular males stood in the same protective pose on either side of me. T
hen, t
hings
began making a bit more sense
as I
clued into the fact
that these were the ones who’
d fought off the werewolves.

Th
rough the
entrance
there was dark shadows moving
.
The vampires,
doomahorns and remaining wer
ewolves were
n’t as close
.
I was thankful for
the massive figures
;
because of them w
e
now
had a bit of space between
the nightwalkers and us
.
I looked over
,
wanting to
celebrate o
u
r small victory with Jayce.
But he was nowhere to be seen.
I searched
frantically
.
W
here
was he
?
Was he okay?

A female voice spoke with
a hostile sharpness.
“Shanntal, if you ever want to see your precious Jayce again, call o
ff your protectors and
get out here
.”

Protectors? T
his
was
what my father
was referring to? He’
d told me
protectors would be coming for me soon
and with them by my side I’
d be safe. I
now understood
the true
meaning of
his
words. I was saf
e. Safe from the werewolves who
could’ve
easily
polished me off if it hadn’t been for these guys arriving
at the right moment
.
I
stepped forward
,
taking the opportunity
to view both
of
my protectors.
As
I
looked ove
r their faces
, I realized they were
almost identical
. A few years apart in age perhaps
,
but still incredibly similar.

The older
looking
one
spoke in a strong enchanting voice. “
I a
m Kale
b,
your protector. I’ll
guard you with my
very life. As long as I’
m around
,
you will
always
be safe.”
He
swiftly returned his focus
back
to
wards the entrance
.

The younger
one took his turn speaking.
He had a bit of a deeper voice
,
but
still sounded
quite
charming
.
“I’m
Garrison
.
I too
,
am your protector. You’
ll be safe with me at your side. Until death, I
promise to
stand by you.”
He
winked
and
returned his focus
to the front of the cave.

Even though I’
d just met them
,
they
felt like
part of the family. There was a clos
eness I couldn’t quite explain
.

The three of us moved carefully through
the remaining fairies. Mo
st
had fle
d
the cave
during
the
invasion
in hopes of
chasing
the vampires
away
as far as possible
with their glow
. The remaining
ones
assumed
their position
s
,
flying
right
beside
us.
It was a
sweet gesture
,
letting us know
they were still trying to help.
Towering over me,
Garrison
and Kaleb
wa
l
ked
protectively on either side
and we
came
to
the entrance
.
I
s
topped
dead, taking
my first look at the
dreaded dooma
horn.

Doomahorns were such ugly creatures, with
large horse-like bodies
and
a
mutated
bu
lge on their back
. On top of their beastly heads
cur
led two devilish horns. L
ong
ragged
fur coats
of
dark grays and black patches
covered
their
protruding
muscles.
Drool poured between their jagged fangs, but t
heir dark beaming red eyes
were
their most frightening feature —
blood burning
eyes.

I
turned
my head away
,
unable to
look any longer
.
Garrison
and K
aleb moved in front
of me
,
assuming
a
fighting stance
with their massive bodies
.
T
hey positioned
themselves
so I was no longer in harm
’
s way.

“Call off your beasts
,
parasite
,
”
Garrison
ordered.

“Beasts,
you say?” Daray taunted
.

Garrison
remained firm
,
not
bother
ing
with a response. He stood his ground
,
showing
no sign of backing down.

“Look at them. T
hey
are
dark beauties, not beasts
.
” He walked over to stroke
the ugly creature. “
Don’t be afraid
,
Shanntal
. T
hey will never
harm you.”

Suddenly
, the
closest one
rubbed and pounded
it
s hooves on the ground as if ready
to charge.
I instinctively moved myself back
wards
trying to get out of its w
ay
. The doomahorn took off
,
approaching
rapidly
and Kaleb intervened. He
swiftly jumped up on
its
back, g
r
abbed
ahold of
its horns
and
steered
the bucking beast away from the crowd. A moment later,
he
returned
alone and promptly
took
his place
by my side.

Daray let out a violent
hiss.

I
spotted Jayce.
The half-breed Lakyle
e
held
his arms behind his back. She didn’t ap
pear to be using
much force,
but enough
so that
he
couldn’t
break free.
He looked
a bit
roughed up
, but
seemed okay despite
some
minor scratches on his face. A
bit of blood from
one of
his wounds
left a
st
ain on
his jacket. It seemed strange
to me,
he was completely surrounded by vampires and werewolves
and
for some reason
they
weren’t
obsessed with his blood. I immediately jumped to the co
nclusion
it
must’ve been because he was
also
immortal.

My conclusion made
me less anxious
because it seemed that
Jayce wo
uld be all right. C
learly
they wanted me, not him
. I sup
pose it
was
part of
the reason
I’
d been
granted
the
protectors.
I glanced around the crowd
. The nightw
alkers looked like they were
starting to get antsy.
I blurted,
“Daray, why
did you come here
? What do you want
?”

Daray stepped forward from his group of followers.
I
did
too
.
I gestured to
my protectors to stay b
ehind and t
hey obeyed.
Daray and I
stood
less tha
n a foot apart and I
couldn’
t help
but
take notice of him.
He was devilishly handsome and I didn’t fe
ar him like I thought I would
have
;
instead
,
I was curious
. Why did he contact
me through the
Ouija
board? What
did he want
?

Daray took a noticeable sniff of my arm and let out a low rumbling growl.
That’s when I remembered
I was
bleeding. I
cringed
from the
thought
,
he was a vampire and the fresh aroma of my blood
was tempting
him. He must have known what I was thinking because he let out an enchanting chuckle, then said,
“Shanntal, you’
re not like anyone else.”
He held his hand out. “
You are
so
special. We do not w
ish
for your blood. W
e want you to join
us.”

An into
x
icated sensation took over
. U
nable to stop
myself
,
I stretched out my hand toward him.
He was in
complete
control and ther
e wasn’t a thing I could do abou
t it.
He pulled me
in
closer
,
running his icy fingers over my shoulder
.
He held onto me tightly in his cold embrace.
“
My
sweet Shanntal,
remember
you are my queen.” As his sensuous voice spoke,
my mind flooded with images.
The ordeal was too
much
to absorb and
I
passed out
.
I
saw myself stan
d
ing
with Daray
,
but we were
in a different place, a different time.
We were together
as a couple.