Page 90 of Anatomy of the Immortal Species

“Ready?” she asked, buying herself another second.

The long-haired vampire gestured for her to proceed.

Amelia unlocked the knowledge. A torrent of faces merging into one another assailed her – screaming, reaching out with hands that grew from their eyes and mouths, bombarding her thoughts in a whirlwind of chaos. When it became unbearable, she shut it off.

“Convinced?” she asked.

The long-haired vampire shook his head. “How can I beconvinced if your eyes were closed?”

Her eyes had been closed? “All right. Let me try—”

“We’re done here!” The vampire turned away from her. “Let the celebrations resume!”

“Wait!”

The female vampires grabbed her again. She tried to resist, but she was no match for the four of them. The drum boomed, signalling the resume of the dances. Vampires dispersed across the field, resuming their revelries.

“Don’t touch me!” Amelia thrust aside the vampire who dared brush a lock of her hair, muttering something under her breath.

All of a sudden, a deafening shriek pierced the field. The women released Amelia. Everyone turned towards the wooden pillar, where a sliced rope dangled.

Her lips curled. While everyone had been entranced by Amelia’s attempt to prove herself as the Oracle, Nyavolski, Helena, Viktor, and Alex had escaped!

The vampire who’d noticed them missing peeked into the sarcophagus that was meant for the sacrificial mummy and this time, his scream was even louder.

Panic arose. It took Amelia some time to realise the cause: the empty sarcophagus. Not only had the live sacrifices escaped, but the dead one was missing as well.

The turn of events made Amelia freeze in the middle of the field. She lifted her head and met the long-haired vampire’s gaze. His eyes held an unspoken warning, and she knew that this time, her threats about the Creator’s wrath wouldn’t matter.

Something slammed into her with such force that it knocked the air out of her lungs. By the time she could breathe again, she was being carried through the mountain. The bonfire and vampires grew distant. Whoever held her was sprinting through the forest at an incredible speed.

Please, let it be Zacharia!

The creature carrying her seemed like a blend of a vampire and a lycanthrope, almost as tall as Mikhail in his secondary form and just as hairy, but the fur was greyer under the starlight. He had muscular arms and a long snout, more wolf-like than Mikhail’s, while the rest of his face had a distorted shape, almost like those grotesque depictions of devils in ancient paintings.

When he slowed his pace, Amelia recognised the meadow where they had first entered the temple. They had emerged back on it from outside – there would be no need to navigate the underground tunnels this time.

The creature scanned the area, then sprinted across the meadow, weaving past the rocks, slipping between the cliffs, and down to the road where their cars were parked. Nyavolski, Helena, Viktor, and Alex were already there.

Just before reaching them, the creature shifted back into Zacharia.

“Are you all right?” Viktor asked.

“Yes.” Amelia touched the ground again. “What happened? Why were you tied up?”

“All thanks to Little Miss Kleptomaniac over here!” Helena hissed, glaring at Alex.

The girl was on the verge of tears. “I said I was sorry!”

“Shut up, all of you, damn it! We’ll talk later,” Nyavolski barked. “We’re leaving!”

Amelia hurried to the car, eager to escape. She opened the door and—

Gasped.

A mummy!

A mummy was sitting in the back seat. Well, not exactly sitting – more like propped up in an awkward position.