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I waited a few more seconds, making sure no fae or vampyre bolted from the woods to attack me, before slowly slipping from the shallows and crawling toward my clothes. I threw my black shirt on and slid my black trousers up my wet legs. Shoving the rest of my clothes in my bag and carrying my boots, I crept backward, back toward the city lines of Midgrave.

Not even five footsteps in, I heard the rustling of leaves, followed by a low, animalistic growl. Everything in my body screamed at me to run, which could only mean one thing.Vampyre.

I grabbed my new knife—Venom—and dropped my bag.

Come and get me, you blood-sucking bastard.

My heart pounded in my chest, just as wild as my breath, as I waited for my attacker. Vampyres were naturally instinctive creatures, but their bloodlust made them idiots. Even the smartest among their kind would turn into rabid animals once they were hungry enough.

That’s why they couldn’t be trusted.

“Come on,” I mumbled to myself. “I’ve got plenty of warm, fresh blood pumping through these veins. Come and get it.”

I rotated the dagger in my hand, getting used to its weight. It was heavier and more solid than any of the cheap, handmade blades I had used during training, but it would work.

Anything would work if you were strong enough.

I waited and waited and waited, frozen in my crouched position with Venom in my hand.

But nothing came. No vampyre bolted from the woods, aiming their nasty teeth at my neck.

Nothing.

I sat there for a few more minutes, ensuring the vampyres had moved on, before throwing my boots on, sheathing Venom, and silently making my way toward Midgrave.

If vampyres were this close, Midgrave was the next target.

And the Phantoms were the only ones standing between them and a slaughtered city.

Chapter

Four

Midgrave came into view ahead of me as I traveled back toward the city, with the tops of the crumbling walls shining through the thinning line of trees from the surrounding forest. I could see the short wall that circled it, just fifty paces away, but every instinct I had screamed that something was very wrong.

I picked up my pace, my jog soon morphing into a full-blown sprint. A scream split the air in the distance. Another followed shortly after.Shit.

The sound of glass shattering echoed, making my blood run cold.

I yanked Venom from my sheath and ran faster.

A million scenarios ran through my mind as the crumbling walls of the city grew closer and closer. The logical explanation would be the local bandits breaking into someone’s house.

But this early into the night?

I didn’t want to admit the other option. Because that meant more death. More violence.

If the vampyres made it into the city, I might be too late.

The barely standing stone wall that separated Midgrave from the forest taunted me, just a few feet away. My heart pumpedquickly but steadily, my lungs sucking in a powerful breath every second.

I used my free hand for leverage and swept my body over the waist-height wall in one motion.

Two more screams erupted, followed by an unmistakable growl of a hungry, soulless monster. My boots hit the dirt ground again.

Again.

Again.