Escaped the Night (51 page)

Clearly
,
Daray had another admirer. I saw the fire in Sauda’s eyes as she spoke of him.
She s
eemed a bit confused as to why Daray
would go
to these extents for me, but
remained extremely helpful as
she filled me in o
n the details of their meeting. Perhaps
a little
bit
to
o
helpful.

Lakylee
pushed her way through the crowd
as she overheard
my conversation
. “Where do you come
from
,
Sauda? When did you see Daray
last?”

Sauda
instantly put her guard up as
Lakylee
entered
the picture.
“What does it matter to you?”

“Oh, it matters.”
Lakylee
was rough around the edge
s
and i
t was
sometimes
difficult
see
ing
the friendlier side of her
. You had to look deep
, past all the layers
,
in order to find it. It was her defense mechanism,
her
protection from being different.
I understood how
Lakylee
worked, as I had
do
ne
the same thing
from time to time
.
Wear
ing
a shield so only a select few ever saw
the real you because
it was hard just
trying to blend in.
Being one of a kind
—
som
etimes had its drawbacks. I
sympathized with her
because
I’d been there myself,
not too
long ago.

From Sauda’s
response I assumed
Lakylee
had intimidated her
by
being a half-breed and all.
Lakylee
had strength unlike any of the others.
Clearly, Sauda hit a sore spot with the way she spoke of Daray.

I glanced over
, watching
as the elements
back
ed
up trying to head
out of the room.
They were on the right track.
It was better to be safe than sorry
. Layla, Kynthia and Allayna
moved in
front,
placing themselves
as barriers between t
he elements and
everyone else
. The elements were top
priority; if any of us wanted to live
, they had to be safe.

I frantically looked around
before spotting
Uncle Dane and Auntie Steph
together in the far left corner of the room. They seemed to be in
good
spirits
,
even as the fricti
on between the nightwalkers escalated
. I watched Jayce and Kael move
closer to
them
. Kaleb never left my side. We were one.

When the tension
s
rose, our
world
s
separated once again. It was a shame
,
but seemed necessary right now.
Lakylee
had
a short temper, especially where
Daray was concerned. Now this dark beauty was here,
claiming
interest
and
ironically
was
the last one to see him.
I wasn’t sure if this
would be the
news
to
push
Lakylee
right over the edge. We needed to stay prepared, a
t least until everyone
learned
to get along.

After the initial
assessment and the fact
that
Sauda lost the
stare down
, she began
explain
ing
everything
to Lakylee.
“I come from Forest Falls
,
located
on the
southern side of the mainland.
Daray came
to our coven seeking shelter and
made it to us just before dawn. I didn’t have the heart to turn him away, so I let him in. That was when he
first
spoke
of Donovan. H
e holds such anger towards him for
st
ealing his love as well as
his life.”

Lakylee
s
hot
me a
look
that
gave me
goose bumps
. I needed to get
Sauda to shut her mouth before she sa
id something that would hurt our
newly formed alliance.

“How did you know how t
o find us?” I interrupted
.

“It wasn’t until a few days after Daray left
.
C
hatter from
other covens came
,
telling us of what was going on here.”

“How long ago
did you see him
,
Sauda
?” I asked.

“He
left
our place about three
nights ago
, however the chatter started two days
ago.
Word is spreading quickly and
I’ve
h
eard from others,
Donovan is close. He’s probably
here already
.
Bad thing for Daray because i
t means
he’s going in
the wrong direction. He
headed
east when he parted from us.”

“
No,
actually
that’s really
good news! The further away Daray goes, the less of a chance he’ll have
of running into Donovan.
I
t will keep him safe.
Right?” I glanced over to
Lakylee
,
hoping she agreed.

She gave me a quick nod and retreated back over
to
the group of werewolve
s. I hoped we found Daray soon because
I wanted them to be happy. It was a dark kind of love
they shared
, but true nonetheless.
If I hadn’t come here, or
used the Ouija b
oard that night with Ginata, maybe their love would
still
be growing strong. I
needed to fix things between them because
i
f Daray
could
love
Lakylee
, I’d be free to love Jayce forever,
with no interference
from
nightwalkers
.

The night crept along and through
various discussio
ns we decided it would be best if
we
didn’t
all
stay in one place. Nothin
g was happening except min
gling, which was a good thing;
h
owever, there was also an increase in
tension between some of the
old allies and
the
newcomers.
With so many
newcomers
arriving
during the night, it was becomin
g diffi
cult to keep track of everyone
and this was quite frustrating
.
Another problem also arose; with
so many
gathered
a
t the grand house,
there wasn’t any possibility for
Donovan
to get
close. There were
si
mply too many of us, which
put up a wall he’d never be able to cross. W
e
needed
to split up in order to find him
or allow him to find me
.

Aiden
was on the same
page
. He announced to the group,
“
We will
be splitting up and
keeping
our g
roup
s fairly small. They will be large
enough to ensure
that
no one
i
s
t
aken off guard as
this
helps lessen
the risk for all involved.
Groups of
four
will be okay as long as
each group
is
accompanied by a number of fairies.”

Some
mumbled, but
overall, h
eads were nodding. Everyone
seemed to be
in agreement
so far
.

Aiden continued.
“One new rule must come
into play
,
so
fairies,
please listen up. Y
our
glow
power
is
only
to be used
to find
Donovan or
as a defense mechanism against
his followers.
Please b
e careful not to use your glow
around any ally nightwalkers.”

There
were
many fairies
available
and it was
quite
he
lpful having
the power of
their glows
on our side
.

The first g
roup
consisted
of
Lakylee
the half-breed, Sauda
the
vampire, Kynthia the shifter,
Gabriella the unicorn and a number of fairies.
They were
going
to
Uncle Dane’s house. Donovan
was
there
last, so it seemed like the
best starting point
to try and pick up any
trail
from him.

Before departing
Lakylee
shot me a less
than thrilled look because of the fact
that
Sauda was in her group.
I shrugged
,
t
here wasn’t much I could do;
Aiden
was the one who
paired them up.

T
he
next
group
he announced
consisted
of Layla the shifter, Taini a werewolf, Jayce and a
very nice looking vampire guy,
who
I
’d
never go
tten introduced to
. They were going to
be on lookout down at
the beach.

Jayce walked over, gave me a quick kiss and
nonchalantly
turned away
to head
out.

Funny,
he though
t I’d let him go
j
ust like that.
“Why you? Why
do you need to go? You’
re supposed to be here with me!” I grabbed
his arm
trying to keep him from
moving
further
away.

He turned
to face me and I saw the
fear
and
the fight
in his eyes.
“Shann
tal, I have to do this. We need
as ma
n
y daywalkers as possible in the
groups. We’r
e clearly outnumbered
here
and i
t’s the only way to even things out and make sure everything sticks to the plan.”

“But
—
”

He cut me off with a passionate kiss
.
“I love you
,
Shanntal
,
and
I
need
to do this because
of how much
I love
you. I’ll be fine
,
so p
lease
try not to
worry. We are going down by th
e beach only because i
t’s where we
’ve
had run-i
ns before.”

“Jayce…
that’s what I’m afraid of.”

“I’ll be back before you know it.
” He wouldn’t change his mind. “
Kaleb and Kael will stay w
ith you. I know y
ou’ll be safe with them around.” He gestured
to
them
to come
over.

“I love you
,
J
ayce. Please know
how much because
I can’t live without you.”

“I know,” h
e said
,
kissing
my
forehead.

I
let go and
held my breath as I watched his group disappear
into the
darkness
.
Something inside
me
wanted to give
Aiden
a piece of my mind. How dare he send
Jayce out to search for Donovan?
Jayce was supposed to be safe. H
e was supposed to be here with me.
I kept my mouth closed because I knew deep down
inside
he had to go
,
because
we all needed
to play a part in this.

I listened as Aiden
gathered
the next group consisting
of the other unicorn, Allayna the shape shifter, Fadan and Keita
,
who w
ere both werewolves. They were instructed to
take watch by the vampire house.

Allayna expressed some concern
,
“Aiden,
I’m not sure about t
his.
Don’t
you think it’
d be
a better idea for us to have at least one vampire
in our
group?
After all, we are going to a vampire house.”

“My deci
sion is final. This is
for your safety.”

“
M
y safety?”

“We
’ve
a
lready
agreed it
would be better
for non-vampires to watch over the house.
Remember it is
their home after all.”

“
We?”
she challenged.

“
Yes, we, as in t
he elements.
We
as a whole
are making the groups and doing
it
in a way,
that
will protect and benefit everyone.”

Allayna
nodded
,
seeming
satisfie
d by his response. Their group assembled
and a
moment
later they
headed
to their stakeout point
.
A few fairies followed
closely
behind.

The
once
crowded house had r
eally begun to clear out. T
here w
ere only a few of us remaining and i
t was time
for us
to find out
what
our roles
were going to be in all this
.

Aiden went on to say
,
“We elements need
to be kept
safe
,
so
we are
locking ourselves together in a room. While we are locked
away,
we ask that you only call upon us if absolutely necessary. Every time we use our powers we become weaker
,
so we will only use them under dire circumstances
.”

“We will try our best to not bother you guys.”
Kaleb said.
It didn’t seem fai
r for them to become involved. Too much was much at stake and t
he
entire
world needed them
. T
his
situation
was
simply
too dangerous.

Uncle Dane, Auntie Steph, Kaleb and Kael w
ere told to
stay by my side at the house.
A
few
of the
straggling nightwalkers
that
hadn’t made it into groups
were directed by
Aiden
to
patrol the area around the house.

We were as ready as we could be.

‘
Donovan, tonight is
the night. To
night your e
vil world ends
,
’
I thought to myself.

‘Well said!’
Jayce
said.

‘
Are you at the beach now
?’

‘Just about, but I wanted to say,
I love you very much. I’
ll be o
kay. I promise. No heroic moves, j
ust whatever’
s necessary.’

‘Please
,
Jayce,
be careful. I love you.’

I didn’t feel our connection break and suddenly
felt better knowing
that.
It
left
me feel
ing
like he was
still
standing right beside me.

The moon was full and the breeze blew strong
, b
lowing
the winds of change
through the night air
. We all stood
ready to put the
changes into action.

Hours passed and nothing happened. The unev
entful night dragged on and on
,
and
I was getting annoyed. Where was Donovan? Why hadn’t he shown himself yet?
I tried
asking
Jayce if
their group had any luck, but
couldn’t reach him. He
wasn’t
connected any longer.
A
ggravated, I stepped outside
to walk along the terrace on
the front of the house. I needed some air. Everyone had come together and it was
a step in the right direction.
So why wasn’t it working out
how
I thought it would?

W
e were willing to fight for
these changes
because they
could
make life better for everyone.
I grew impa
tient
with
this
waiting game
. I wanted…
I
needed
things sorted out. This
had to be implemented
before anyone else I cared about got hurt. Frustrated
, I paced back and forth
,
trying to
blow off some steam before I erupted.
After a few minutes of pacing
I began
calm
ing
down and was
able to stop and think about the bigger picture. No news was good news. Right?

In my
moment
of clarity
I noticed how awfully quiet it was. Nothing moved. Even the
earlier
wild
winds
had
died down to a silent
breeze. No sounds came fr
om anywhere, leaving the illus
ion that
the eerie night
had
swallowed
up
the rest of the world. There
were
at least four nightwalkers nearby, yet I
didn’t see or hear any of them
.
I stood still
and
held
my breath
,
as I
stared out into the darkness. The moon lit up the tops of the trees and reflected off the water,
making it easier to see, but m
oments passed an
d
still,
nothing stirred. It was as if
they’d all left.

I
was about to turn around and
warn
the othe
rs in the house when I noticed the
silhouette of a person coming
up
the driveway. I pa
used. Knee-
high
mist linge
red on top of the driveway, giving
the
approach
ing individual quite the floating effect.
Shivers rippled down my spine, m
y heart pounded harder and my palms
began to
sweat. Was I about to face Donovan
, on my own, r
ight here, right now? I swallowed hard and braced myself.

As the figure came closer,
I
bravely
took a step off the ter
race. The figure kept approaching, but
as hard as I tried
I still couldn’t make out who
it was.
Taking
anot
her few steps
f
urther away from the terrace, I
proceeded onto
the driveway.
Only
a small distance
remained
between the
advancing individual and me
.
The
mist cleared and
I
recognized the figure
.

“Daray,” I shouted excitedly as
I ran over
and embraced
him.

He didn’t
take to my embrace
; instead
he
remained hard and cold.
“Shanntal.
”

I let go of him and
quickly
stepped
back. I’d forgotten how we’d left things. The last time we saw each other, a lot of hurtful
things had been said and done.
I was
so relieved to see him
,
I never thought about how
much
my rejection
had
hurt him
. “Daray, may
we talk for a minute?”