My chest tightened as I lowered myself in front of Blaze. He was in pain, and had already broken out into a cold sweat, his face pale. Blood glazed his left cheek and trickled down. There was a puncture wound at the corner of his eye. Scarlett joined us, biting into her palm to open a gash for him to drink from.
“Hold on, Blaze,” she said, then pushed her hand against his lips. “Drink.”
Blaze drank some of her blood, while I rummaged through my backpack for bandages and Patrik gave him a healing pellet, along with a small, purple dried fruit.
“Eat this,” the Druid said. “It’ll help with the pain.”
“Hold still,” I said softly.
He obeyed, gritting his teeth, and put his hand down, revealing his injured eye. The eyeball had only been grazed, from what I could see, and it would heal faster with vampire blood and healing herbs from the Druid. It was red and a bit swollen, blood still trickling from the puncture wound. It hurt me on the inside to see him like this, but I took comfort in the fact that we’d been able to give him two effective treatments. Hopefully he’d be healed soon. I bandaged his eye, wrapping the thin fabric around his head, then wiped his cheek and neck.
He watched quietly as I cleaned the blood off his skin, then backed away. Heron handed him a pair of pants—we’d all packed spares in the satchels on our horse saddles, just in case. We knew there would be more than one instance in which Blaze would have to go full dragon in these gorges.
“Thank you.” He gave me a weak smile, then nodded at Patrik and Scarlett.
“Thank you, Blaze.” Hansa patted his shoulder. “You made our work much easier.”
“Just take care of yourself,” Jax added, gripping the reins of an indigo horse. “The daemons are twice as fast and vicious if they’re visible, as we’ve all learned just now, and they will actively look for weaknesses. We need to be more careful, going forward. This won’t be the last time they try to take a swipe at your eyes.”
Blaze nodded, then stood up and slipped into his pants, while we all looked away. I couldn’t stop my cheeks from flushing. Even in those circumstances, I seemed to be highly reactive to his presence and his body.
“At least we know we can beat them.” Blaze shrugged, buttoning his pants.
“Now let’s quickly address the elephant in the gorge.” Harper raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked at Caspian, whose hood and mask were still on. “You can take those off, Lord Kifo. I already had to tell my team about you.”
A few seconds passed as Caspian’s jade eyes scanned us, followed by his head and shoulders dropping. He removed his mask and pulled the hood back, revealing himself with an irritated expression.
“Clearly, I cannot trust you to keep a secret,” he muttered, resting one hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword.
“Not when you give me meranium pendants for the whole team and expect me to figure out a good explanation,” Harper replied.
“Harper hasn’t told us much, other than the fact that you’ve helped us twice now, and also gave us the pendants to protect us against daemons trying to consume our souls.” Jax frowned. “For that, we are obviously thankful. Rest assured that we won’t tell anyone outside GASP about what you did for us.”
“That being said,” Hansa added, “we have a lot of questions for you. First off, what are you doing here?”
Caspian gave Harper a sideways glance, pursing his lips. He seemed genuinely cross with her.
“I figured you might need an extra pair of hands, and I was right. Had I not shown up, your sentry here would’ve been torn to shreds,” he said.
“If I were you, I wouldn’t jump to that conclusion, but thanks anyway,” Harper retorted.
“Why are you helping us? What do you know about the daemons? What aren’t you telling us about the Exiled Maras?” Hansa continued her drilling.
Caspian heaved a sigh, then looked around.
“I’m just going to tell you the same thing I told Miss Hellswan,” he replied. “Get your vampire back, if you can. And then get out of Neraka. You are in over your heads, and there’s nothing I could tell you to make it easier for you.”
“And I’m just going to tell you what Harper has probably already told you,” Hansa replied, her scowl highlighting the gold flakes in her emerald eyes. “GASP can help with whatever is going on here, even on a large scale. Blaze is not the only dragon we have. You’ve seen us by now; you know we won’t back off.”
Caspian glanced briefly at Blaze, then gave Hansa a nod.
“Tell you what,” he said, “if you make it out of this gorge alive, I’ll reconsider your offer to help. Until then, however, your focus should be on your survival and on getting Miss Achilles back, not on my knowledge or motives regarding all this. I imagine Miss Harper has already explained that I do not seek to obstruct your investigation, nor do I wish to harm you. We seem to be, more or less, headed toward the same objective, which is the salvation of my people. But I cannot trust you. Not right now. Not until I see what you’re really capable of. This daemon scuffle was light. You’ve seen them, now. You know what they’re capable of. There is worse to come. Prove yourselves. Survive this mission and we’ll talk. In the meantime, however, I must stress the importance of withholding my involvement from anyone outside this group. Innocent lives depend on it.”
“Fair enough,” Jax replied, then patted his horse’s neck. “We need to go now. The tracking spell is still moving.”
We all looked ahead, and saw the light orb hovering a third of a mile away.
“We’re short on horses, though,” Patrik muttered, gripping the reins of another indigo mare. There were six left, and more of us.
“I’ll take one,” I said, then looked at Blaze. “You can ride with me. This way, you’ll have some time to heal.”
I got on one of the horses, and Blaze swiftly joined me, climbing behind me. I pulled on the reins and directed the creature toward the tracking spell. Patrik took Scarlett on his horse, while Jax and Hansa reluctantly shared her mare. Avril and Heron each had their own, with one stallion left for Harper and Caspian.
Blaze’s warmth simmered through me as he wrapped one arm around my waist for support. My breath hitched when he tightened his hold on me, his lips by my ear.
“Thank you, Caia,” he whispered.
I blushed and thought about a response, but the only thing I could come up with was a faint nod. He slowly leaned against my back, gradually relaxing in the saddle. Our horse trotted forward, the motion seriously not helping, as each movement somehow made Blaze slip even closer, his thighs rubbing against mine in the process.
Well… This is going to be an interesting ride.
Harper
(Daughter of Hazel & Tejus)
While the rest of my team split between horses, I found myself awkwardly standing on my own. Caspian pulled the last horse around and motioned for me to get on it. I was equal parts annoyed and relieved to see him, and that didn’t sit well with me. My heart felt tight against my ribs whenever our eyes met, and my pulse kept jumping at the sound of his voice. Then my blood boiled as soon as he opened his mouth to talk down to me. Rinse and repeat.
“Get on,” he said impatiently.
“Nah, I’m good.” I shook my head and turned to join the rest of my team. “I can walk, or get on Avril or Heron’s horse.”
“Don’t be foolish.” Caspian rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. “I won’t bite. Now get on.”
I wasn’t thrilled with being so close to him, but it was too late to object, as the team was already advancing through the gorge at a higher speed to catch up with the glowing tracking spell.
“Fine, but I’m leading,” I muttered, and got on the horse, tying my backpack to the saddle’s side.
Caspian climbed behind me and snatched the reins from my hand. “No, you’re sitting in the front because I’m much bigger than you. I’m leading.”
He didn’t give me a chance to reply to his dominan
t assertion. His arm tightened around my waist and pulled me closer into him, while his spare hand guided the horse. He clicked his teeth and nudged the animal’s ribs, prompting it to rush after the rest of my team.
I tried to breathe in a normal fashion, but his grip on me was firm, and his head slowly inched forward over my right shoulder. His chin brushed against my temple. I realized exactly how tall and well-built he was, with nothing but hot muscles covering my back, beneath layers of fabric. His scent tickled my senses, an intense mixture of musk and wild roses, reminding me of midsummer nights in The Shade, somehow, and the simple pleasure of basking in the moonlight.
Several minutes went by—minutes I spent trying to form eloquent or at least coherent thoughts, while his heartbeat echoed against my shoulder blades, his hot breath tickled my skin, and his thighs brushed against mine.
“I must admit, I’m equal parts dismayed and impressed by your stubbornness and persistence in staying here, on Neraka, while everything in this gorge is eager to kill you,” Caspian said, his husky voice trickling into my ear and rumbling through my chest.
“At least you’re entertained,” I muttered. “Looking on the bright side, here.”
“I am, yes. I’m also curious to see whether you all make it out of here alive or not,” he replied, and I gave him a sideways glance. His jade eyes were burning holes through me. I shifted my focus back to my team and the path ahead. The stream gently rolled toward the eastern plain, several miles behind us.
“Glad to hear you’re having fun.”
“If you succeed tonight, you might actually be able to help,” he whispered, his cheek brushing against mine as he lowered his head, and the horse briefly jerked to the side. I felt Caspian’s body stir and tighten with the movement, his arm pressing into my stomach. I exhaled sharply, and he brought his head even lower, to the point where his eyes were on the same level as mine and my skin simmered all over. “Neraka doesn’t want you to survive, and it will do everything in its power to stop you.”
“You talk about the planet like it’s a single entity,” I managed, trying to keep my breathing under control and not let Caspian know how much he affected me.
“In many ways, it is,” he replied, then straightened his back.
I looked around, seeing the gorge with new eyes. Instead of taking its various elements separately, as pieces of natural architecture—the limestone walls, the dark crevices, the stream, the wild animals, and the daemons—I took them as parts of a whole. A single, unified organism with an objective.
And it gave me the chills, as I sensed the natural hostility. I didn’t belong here, and Neraka seemed to know it.
Every inch of this place probably wanted to kill me. Or worse, feed on my soul.
Harper
(Daughter of Hazel & Tejus)
We caught up with the tracking spell and continued to follow it, quietly and cautiously, through the gorge. Its speed was still quite slow, but I hoped it was only a matter of time before we’d see it dart toward wherever Fiona was being held captive.
I grew mildly accustomed to Caspian’s body, in the sense that his strong torso provided me with comfortable back support—I’d leaned into him, gradually relaxing and hoping he wouldn’t notice. He didn’t seem to mind, and, since he was the one with the reins, I took the time to analyze our surroundings and use my True Sight to look through the walls.
There were only animals scurrying through neighboring gorges and no sign of Vincent or the Correction Officers. The strip of sky visible above was an intense black sprinkled with stars, and one of the moons looked down on us, the other two hidden beyond the gorge’s walls.
I was feeling a little drained, and it dawned on me then that the last time I’d fed it had been off Blaze, on our first day here. It usually took more than two days for me to tap out, and I could tell, from my True Sight range at that point, that the daemon fight had left its mark on my energy levels.
As much as I’d disliked the idea of being so close to Caspian prior to riding the horse together, I was relieved that he was there. I could actually relax for a handful of minutes, before checking to see if any of my teammates would spare some energy for me. My worst-case scenario involved syphoning off the next hostile headed my way, but that sounded like quite the mission. Daemons were far more interested in killing me than standing by for my sentry nourishment.
“What’s wrong with you?” Caspian asked me.
“Huh? What do you mean?” I mumbled, my gaze fixed on the tracking spell hovering ahead.
“You’re getting soft,” he replied. He then lowered his head, his lips tickling my earlobe and sending electric impulses down my spine. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were trying to flirt with me, with the way you’re melting in my arms.”
“Wait, what? No!” I blurted, and immediately sat up straight, startling our horse. The creature shuddered, and I wound up being tilted back into Caspian.
I tried to move again, but his hold on my waist tightened, keeping me firmly gripped against his torso.
“I didn’t say I disliked it,” he murmured, further lighting my senses on fire.
Was he toying with me? Was he being sarcastic? Was there an endgame here?
“Nothing like that, Lord Kifo,” I replied through gritted teeth. “I’m just a little weak, that’s all. Trying to save my energy. I’m a double-trouble when it comes to feeding. I need blood for sustenance, and I need mental energy from creatures around me to keep my sentry side sated and capable of creating strong barriers and accurate True Sight.”
“Barriers… You mean the pulses you were pushing out earlier?”
“Yes. They’re concentrated energy waves.” I sighed, once more softening against him and secretly hating myself for it.
“Tell me more about your sentry abilities,” he said.
With nothing better to do, I obliged. I figured he’d be more open with me if I told him more about myself, hopefully establishing a two-way trust channel with the Mara who knew most about this place.
“Sentries are creatures that developed from humans after spending too much time around ghouls,” I explained briefly. “Humans are a lot like your Imen, if that makes sense. Sentry abilities are mostly mental. We can syphon energy off other creatures, which is how we sharpen our sentry senses. We can read emotions. That’s kind of like reading minds, to an extent. Some of us can see through pretty much any surface with True Sight. We can even mind-meld, which can be best described as two souls merging, feeling and sensing each other at all times. It’s very intimate, usually done by couples. And we have some mind-control abilities as well, though not as strong as the Maras’, from what I’ve seen so far.”
Several moments passed as Caspian seemed to process my brief description of sentry abilities. He cocked his head to one side, turning it slowly to better look at me, curiosity glimmering in his jade eyes.
“Can you read my emotions?” he asked, his voice low.
I shook my head in response, trying to hide my disappointment. My life on Neraka would’ve been much simpler, had I been able to read a Mara’s emotions. We might have even solved this mystery by now.
“That’s a shame,” he muttered. “And you need energy from living creatures to strengthen your barriers and hone your meddlesome vision…”
“Yeah,” I replied, ignoring his jab regarding my True Sight. He was still holding a minor grudge for the way I’d seen through his mask, earlier in the night. “Normally I’d ask Caia or Blaze, since he’s a dragon and has tons to spare, but Caia’s in the middle of this with us, and Blaze is recovering from his injury, so I’ll have to tough it out till later. I’m still perfectly functional, but I’ll perform much better once I syphon some energy. My bet’s on the next daemon I cross paths with, assuming I’ll manage to hold him down for long enough to feed off him, then kill him.”
Another minute went by in silence before Caspian spoke again.
“Would you like to syphon some energy from me?”
he asked, making my stomach drop.
My head whipped around so I could look at him, and I instantly found myself locked in the pale green pools of his eyes. Judging by his expression, he was serious. My heart skipped a beat as my sentry hunger kicked in hard, and I started wondering what it would be like to let his energy flow through me. My lips parted slowly, and his gaze dropped to them. I tried to get my brain to catch up with my mouth.
“I-I’m not sure that’s necessary, Lord Kifo,” I croaked. “Surely, you need your energy, too, given where we are right now. I’ll manage till later.”
“Don’t underestimate me, Miss Hellswan,” he replied, still staring at my lips. It was odd and confusing, much like everything else about him. It was like he was showing me a different side of him, one I didn’t know how to approach just yet. “You must feed now. Your sentry abilities are clearly an advantage against the daemons and against this entire damn gorge. Your team needs you at full strength. Syphon whatever you need off me. I’ll be fine.”
I mulled it over for a couple of seconds. Could I even feed off a Mara? I’d never tried it before. I didn’t even think it would be possible, given how mentally cut off their species was from me. I couldn’t read their emotions, nor could I influence their minds. However, I was curious, and figured it was a good time to answer that question. Besides, he was right. I needed my sentry game back on.
I nodded and allowed myself to relax. His arm still rested around my waist, and I tilted my head back, leaning it against his shoulder. I brought my hand up and placed it over his, intrigued by the electrifying sensations buzzing through my fingertips as soon as our skin touched.
I felt his entire being open before me, and my body instantly reacted to his energy pouring into me, to the waves of cool green that matched his eyes and filled me up like fresh mountain air. A muscle twitched in his jaw as he carefully examined my face, while I syphoned off him and felt the blood rush through me with the strength of a waterfall.