Page 6 of Consume Me (Immortal Vices and Virtues: All Hallows’ Eve #4)

Glowing flowers bloom in the dirt on either side of the trail, opening like they’ve been waiting just for me. Pale blue petals, pulsing faintly, line the trail like runway lights. Magic hums beneath the soil. The kind that feels older than language, more sentient than not.

A hush falls over the forest. The air thickens.

A portal shimmers to life directly ahead of me. Magic sparks off its edges.

My breath catches from the suddenness of it. Whoever this Vaelora is, she’s dramatic as fuck. Why bring me out here, only to offer a portal in the end?

With a huff, I waltz through the magical gateway, bracing myself for whatever awaits me on the other side. Fireworks or acrobats or whatever else this strange fae woman has thought up. But on the other side of the portal is more forest.

And that same lit path, glowing with flowers.

Moon blooms.

They were my mother’s favorite, I suddenly remember.

A pang of emotion spears through me too fast to hold at bay. The scent of the flowers brings memories I’ve long buried suddenly rising to the surface. My heart aches. My eyes burn. Fuck?—

I cannot arrive at a midnight ball sobbing like a weirdo.

Desperate to distract myself, I pinch my arm. Hard.

Then the sound of music drifts through the trees. Low at first. Just a whisper of sound, like a forgotten melody rising from below the earth. But it’s enough to pull me from my heartache.

I’m so lost in my own head that I almost don’t see the two people whose paths are converging with mine until I’m nearly running into them.

I stop just in time and flash a tight smile at the couple.

The male watches me with gray eyes from behind a pair of glasses that, along with his unruly hair, definitely give him a professor vibe.

But I’m too caught up in the death clinging to his aura to really notice much else.

He clearly knows it, too, because he winks at me, and I snap out of it as my face heats.

The female beside him watches me knowingly. She’s gorgeous with long brown hair woven with shells and beads. Her pale blue eyes are the kind that see way more than they let on.

“Sorry to startle you,” she says. “Max has that effect.”

“No, it’s just…” My vision flares, and for the first time in a long time, it’s not the daggers offering flashes of futures.

It’s my own. I see the two of them, together, though it’s not an easy road getting them to admit that’s what they want.

A whole future splayed out before them. With so much love and? —

I gasp, pulling myself free from the images that are so lovely they make my heart ache.

“You okay?” the woman asks.

“Yeah, I—sometimes, I get distracted.”

“You saw something,” she says, and it’s so direct that I don’t know how to lie.

“I have the gift of sight,” I admit.

It’s not a secret I offer very often, but something about these two makes me feel like it’s safe to admit.

“I knew it.” She snaps her fingers, her excitement throwing me off. She leans in and says, “Takes one to know one.”

I blink. “You have it too?”

She sighs. “Fortunately…and sometimes unfortunately.”

“I’ve never met anyone else who could see what I see,” I tell her.

“And what exactly did you see?” the male asks.

The woman rolls her eyes. “This is Max. He’s half-dead, so that’s why his manners suck.”

I bite back a smile at the way Max looks more confused than upset at that.

“I’m Tamsin,” she adds, holding out her hand.

“Kendall.” I start to offer my hand then stop. “Maybe we shouldn’t…”

Tamsin grins. “Or maybe we should.”

Tentatively, I put my hand in hers and shake.

Nothing happens.

Inside their hidden holster, the daggers whisper a few snide remarks that I ignore .

Tamsin grins as we break contact. “That was…interesting.”

I frown. “Wait. What? Did something happen on your end?”

“I think this is one vision I should keep to myself,” she says, shaking her head so the beads in her hair click together. She motions for Max to start moving again.

“Is it… my death?” I whisper, suddenly rooted to the spot where I stand.

She turns back, still smiling in a way that makes me think it’s not nearly as bad as I fear. “Not at all,” she says. “It’s your life. And by the way, she was right.” Her gaze flicks down to my dress then back up. “That dress really is a weapon in itself.”

“Wait, who…” I trail off, remembering Natalia’s parting words.

Tamsin and Max are already halfway up the path. “Enjoy your night, Kendall.”

She sounds smug as hell. Like she knows my future in a way that I don’t.

Fuck.

It’s not nearly as fun when the shoe’s on the other foot.

As tempting as it is to chase her down and make her tell me, I don’t. Partly because I don’t want the daggers to hear anything that might help them screw me over. But mostly because I can’t let myself hope too much.

When Max and Tamsin have rounded the bend, I take a step.

And then another.

The blooms along the path are blinking now— beckoning, alive.

Each step I take makes the next flower bloom and blink, its light making my dress shimmer and glow.

Like the magic wants me to arrive in style.

Up ahead, a huge estate house beckons. It’s grand enough to make me glad all over again that I have a dress to fit the occasion.

Natalia’s—and now Tamsin’s words—echo in my head.

I straighten my spine, roll my shoulders back, and increase my pace. If I’m going to kill for my freedom, I might as well look good doing it.