Page 5

Diana

“ D on’t move.” I kept my tone low, and even despite the way my body was flooding with adrenaline. “Not a muscle.”

Raven was absolutely still in the way that only vampires can pull off…As if he’d turned into a statue. Maverick’s breathing was on the harsher side, but he didn’t move either.

The Vanator that was in hiding, though?

He leaped from his hiding place and bolted to the left, stumbling over a line of webbing that criss-crossed the ground.

The massive spider didn’t lunge after him. He spun and pointed his three-foot-long spinnerets, then shot a blast of sticky web that caught the running man in mid-stride.

I felt more than saw Maverick twitch.

“Don’t move!” I hissed.

As its newest victim hit the ground, the spider creature let out a high pitched, wet whistle that sent shivers through me. But it never looked at its freshly caught pretty. It stayed focused on the task at hand.

To finish mummifying the wriggling prey before him.

“Fucking hell,” I whispered, taking a closer look at the man struggling. Every feature was etched with raw terror, and I had to look away.

“Its back is turned,” Raven murmured, his voice barely audible. “This is our chance. Move slow. Steady. Don’t touch anything you don’t have to.”

In absolute horror, we kept our eyes locked on the beast as we stepped backward, carefully placing our feet one after another. The Vanator thrashed and fought the web, but he only succeeded in getting his legs more tangled as the spider creature absently dragged him closer.

The Vanator rolled, and his desperate gaze locked on mine.

“Help me, please!” He clawed at the ground, digging a furrow in his wake even as the monstrous spider reeled him in.

I didn’t realize I’d stopped moving until a set of hands summarily yanked me behind a trio of trees.

“You can’t save him, Frostbite.” Raven held tight to my forearm, squeezing me gently.

How well he could read me.

“But Myrr…Nicholas…Kevin…” How would we find out where they were? If they were still alive? Surely, this Vanator had seen them, he had to know if they were alive. And even if he didn’t, I couldn’t deny that, despite him being our mortal enemy, the thought of looking on while that creature sucked him dry made me ill. Maybe losing my father had made me soft, but–

I shook my head, trying to get my mind wrapped around what we’d just witnessed. The spider creature was easily twenty feet across, and that was without its twelve-inch round legs stretched all the way out. Its body was covered in generous spikes, and the mandibles attached to its oversized human head and mouth were razor sharp…

I shuddered and hugged my arms around my body. Even my wolf cringed at the idea of fighting that monstrosity.

But fight it I would if that was how we got our friends back. I wouldn’t lose them to this beast.

“Even if they did make it, how the hell are we going to save them when that’s on the island, hunting us?” Mav whispered. “And what the hell is it, anyway?”

The sound of branches creaking and rustling leaves had my blood going cold. Raven motioned for us to flatten ourselves, and we all reacted the same way, lying low under the brush around the base of the tree. He pointed toward the canopy of the trees overhead.

I looked up to see the spider creature carefully working its way through the upper branches of the trees, dragging two well-wrapped bodies. There was nothing of their faces; they were covered in webbing, so there was no way to tell if they were male, female, Vanator, or one of our friends. Worse? They were both still wriggling to free themselves.

Still alive. Totally aware that they were about to be… eaten alive.

Bile rose up from my belly, whispering at the back of my throat and reminding me that had almost been us. If we hadn’t stumbled on the Vanator hiding, we’d have never seen that fucking spider. It had been right there, and it had no scent. Nothing telling us it was even hunting us until it had moved, emerging from the natural camouflage of the forest and the patterns on its body.

The sound of the spider traveling above us faded into nothing and even then, we didn’t move for another five minutes.

“I think it has poor vision.” Raven sat up first. “Did you see how milky the eyes were?”

Maverick leaned against the tree. “Then how did it get that Vanator so fast? Luck?”

“Vibration.” I pointed at the webbing over our heads and in places in the bush. “The Vanator running away created a vibration as he hit the webbing. Look at all these strands…they’re connected to that fucking thing.”

His eyes widened. “There’s no way we can survive this, Di. We don’t have any real weapons; we don’t even have a good escape if we get its attention and have to run for it.”

“Correction,” Raven snorted. “ You might not survive this.” I shot him a look and he shrugged. “I’m not lying, am I?”

“Not the time.”

Maverick though didn’t seem fussed by Raven’s assessment. “How do we know that’s the only monster on the island? There could be other things that we can’t fight.”

“I doubt it,” I said, refusing to even allow myself to go down that road. “That creature is very obviously the top of the food chain.”

“Why do you say that?” Maverick frowned. “How could you know? We’ve only been here for a few hours.”

I looked around at the space we were in, thinking about how we’d arrived on the island, and what we’d seen so far.

“Give me a moment.”

Raven’s eyes were on me, I could feel the weight of his gaze but I just closed my eyes and worked through everything. Lilis had used the storm to push us here. The lighthouse with rocks all around it. The sheer amount of naturally growing food that was on the island…food that would sustain most humans and many, many supernatural types.

The webbing.

The creature with the bad vision.

“It’s all a trap.” I opened my eyes as it came together. “Like an angler fish.”

“A what?” Maverick shook his head. “How is this like a fish?”

Raven let out a sharp hiss. “Fuck. The lighthouse to draw us in? Thinking it's safe, only to be smashed on the rocks?”

I nodded. “No choice but to come here. And then once we do, look at all the food we’ve found. Oranges. I saw berry bushes back there, avocado and guava trees, and?—”

“I saw coconuts,” Raven said.

Maverick frowned. “Okay, so there’s lots of food available. It’s a jungle. Are you surprised?”

I stared at Raven as more puzzle pieces clicked into place. “Avocado and guava are high in protein. Avocados are loaded with fat.” But it was more than that, and I knew why Raven had locked onto the coconuts. “Young coconuts can be used in a pinch for a vampire, it’s not quite the same as blood,” I said quietly, “But they would keep a vampire from dying. They might last weeks on just coconut water.”

Assuming they either had a protective device like Raven and Nicholas, or they managed to hide from the sun during the day.

I could see that Maverick wasn’t quite getting it. Raven on the other hand…

“We’re in someone’s private buffet,” Raven marveled. “And they’ve provided food and nourishment to fatten us up and keep us alive while they hunt us down.”

Maverick paled. “You…you’re just being a dick again.”

Raven snorted. “If I was being a dick, I’d say they were just hunting humans and then I’d grab a strand of that web and shake it to call the big bastard back. But it’s obvious they—whether it’s just that monster or someone else—are prepared for others too.”

The quiet of a horrible understanding descended on us, with just the call of a bird here and there to break the silence. They weren’t prey for the spider creature—they were too small. But they probably made great additional protein sources along with the variety of fruits and plants.

“So, what do we do?” Maverick asked, breaking the uneasy silence.

I had an idea forming. One that was leaping off what both Mav and Raven had pointed out. We didn’t know who—or what—else might be on this island. “The lighthouse. There has to be someone manning it. There is no way that the spider creature is climbing up there, and making sure the flames stay lit.”

Raven slowly nodded. “So we go talk to them. See if we can find out more about this place, using someone who lives here with the beast? Good call, Frostbite.”

“And we can go back to the beach.” Maverick nodded. “Stay out of the jungle and away from these webs.”

I scrunched up my face. “No. The lighthouse was to the northwest edge of the island. It’s not far from us if we bushwack. Straight west I’d say. If we go back the way we came it will take hours that our friends likely don’t have.”

Maverick stood up and offered his hand to me. “I don’t want you to get hurt, Diana. Going through the jungle is more dangerous. How many times are we going to run into more webbing? We won’t be any good to Myrr and Nick by getting caught ourselves.”

His words tugged at me and I took his offered hand. Part of me knew he wasn’t wrong, the other part?—

“Well, there is the finest crock of cowardly bullshit I’ve heard in a long time,” Raven drawled. "I think I've finally settled on your nickname. Chickenshit.”

I closed my eyes because I didn’t want Maverick to see that I understood he was scared. I didn’t think he was a coward, but…

“You agree with him?” Maverick dropped my hand, and the warmth of his fingers was a tiny loss.

I opened my eyes and let out a sigh. “Mav, no. I know you’re looking out for?—”

“Himself,” Raven grunted. “Always. And don’t forget it.”

I pushed myself to stand as Raven continued.

“I’ll lead the way. I think I can manage not to stumble on a web.”

Without waiting to see if we followed, Raven headed straight west. The spider had gone east, which would give us some distance. But I also knew it would take us further from our three missing friends.

I motioned for Maverick to follow Raven.

“You first. I’m not staring at the back of that asshole the whole way.” Maverick waited with his arms crossed.

Which left me to take the middle spot. Again.

Raven was as good as his word, working us through the jungle, avoiding every web. Even those I wouldn’t have seen. Aside from that, we were all left with our thoughts as we traveled in silence. Hours passed, the rest of the day slid by as we wove our way through.

Plenty of time to think of all the things we’d gotten wrong and how they had gotten us here. Plenty of time to blame myself for leaving the ship to go find Raven back at the Wild Queen Casino. I’d allowed him to distract me, and Nicholas, Myrr, and Kevin were paying the price.

We had to get them back, no matter what it took. I had to believe they were all still alive. There was no other option for me in my mind.

Hours into the walk, Raven put his hand out toward me, stopping me.

“Watch this on the right,” he said. “It’s another pit.”

He skirted to the left of a pile of leaves and loose branches. Through the top of the carefully woven mat, I could see heavy boulders at the bottom. Not spikes. Things to incapacitate, maybe break a leg or knock you out, but not kill. Wouldn’t want all that good blood going to waste.

“Fuck.” Maverick whispered behind me, no doubt coming to the same conclusion I had.

I didn’t disagree with him. Fuck indeed.

After that, the three of us continued to walk in silence, which gave me far too much time alone in my head. Far too much time to second guess every decision. Maybe Mav was right. Maybe we should just go. Not because I wanted to leave our friends behind, but because the chances of them being alive were slim, and I had two more people to consider. Was I leading them to their demise as well? And what of restoring the Veil? The tens of thousands who would die as the Territories continued to collapse?

The fate of the world depended on me making the right choice. The hard choice. The tightness in my throat had nothing to do with the heat, or my need for water, and everything to do with a decision that was looming.

When I thought the hike would never end, we finally found the edge of the jungle and were looking out across the sand and directly at the lighthouse.

I drew a deep breath and let it go, long and slow, noting that Raven and Maverick both did the same. As if we could finally relax to some degree. The strain of watching every step, every place we moved our bodies was draining to say the least.

The sun was setting on the far side of the lighthouse, but even so, the sky was lit with purples, pinks and oranges, turning the white-stoned lighthouse into a kaleidoscope of colors.

“We should rest,” Maverick said. “Get some of the jungle food and then head to the lighthouse at sunrise.”

Again, I heard what he was saying and understood the caution behind it. But we didn’t have time. The quicker we got answers, the better.

I checked out the bushes and fruit trees closest to the beach. Nothing here was covered with webs that I could see. “Ok, grab something to eat.”

Raven turned and raised an eyebrow. “You want to wait?”

“No, but we can’t do this on no energy.” I was starving and the guava I’d grabbed was perfectly ripe. I bit into it, and grabbed a bundle of bananas off a low hanging branch. I tossed two to Maverick. “Eat up.”

“Di…”

Raven stepped between us. “She’s made her choice. You agreed to follow her, Chickenshit. Follow her or fuck off and stop trying to make it like you care, and that it’s not just your own skin you’re trying to protect.”

Maverick surprised me. He stepped up to Raven, throat working as he met the vampire’s furious gaze. “I would die for her.”

“Why don’t you just do that, then?” Raven growled.

Gods be damned…how did I end up with these two vying for my attention?

Movement caught the corner of my eye. “Put your dicks away. The lighthouse…there’s someone in there.”

Staring at the top of the lighthouse, I watched through a large, picture window as a figure crossed the room. A limping gait, someone on two legs.

Someone who was not a spider and not a monster. Perfect.

Time to get some fucking answers.