I looked at Alex, and I knew he was thinking the same thing; that I’d brought Nicholas and the Death Walkers here with us. But if that were so then where had they been hiding.
“Well, it would have been a lot better if she hadn’t dropped us in the middle of the lake,” Nicholas said irritably.
Who the heck was he talking to? Himself?
Alex must have been thinking the same thing, because he took a cautious peek around the tree trunk. When he moved back, he looked completely mystified.
Who is it, I mouthed.
He shook his head and shrugged. Huh, so maybe faerie boy was talking to himself.
“I know, but where are they?” Nicholas asked, and the more he spoke, the more I wondered if he had lost his mind or something.
Another shriek rattled the air and shook at the trees, causing leaves to break off their branches and float to the ground.
“Would you stop doing that!” Nicholas exclaimed.
My eyes widened. Was he talking to the Death Walkers? No, that wasn’t possible…was it?
“Well, stop smelling the blood then!” Nicholas’s voice cut sharply through the forest.
Blood?Blood! Oh, no, please, please, don’t let the blood he’s referring to belong to Laylen.
“He tried to attack me first” Nicholas snapped. “It was self-defense. Besides, you would have frozen him to death anyway.”
There was a pause where all I could hear was my heart thumping erratically.
“So what if he created Laylen,” Nicholas said, annoyed. “Creating another vampire isn’t that hard.”
Vampire. Vampire. Oh my God, they were talking about Laylen.
Without even thinking about what I was doing, I started to move around the tree, but Alex grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into him. He shook his head, and I glared at him, trying to wiggle my way free without making too much noise. He intensified his grip—apparently some of his strength returned to him—and met my gaze, his eye begging me to stop.
It hurt. It actually physically hurt to stay behind that tree and know Laylen was injured, while Nicholas chatted away.
“I’m not messing around,” Nicholas insisted. “I know what has to be done.” Another pause. “I know, but it might be a little difficult to find her. She’s very powerful and getting more powerful by the day. She can do things normal Foreseers can’t.” A shriek, and then, “Fine. Let’s go back to the City of Crystal, and I’ll see if I can get an exact location on her.”
There was a swoosh, and then silence.
Alex peered around the corner of the tree trunk, before letting me go. And then we were sprinting though the lingering fog that was starting to tint my skin a bluish-purple. But at the moment I didn’t care. All I cared about was that Laylen was laying on the ground, on top of the scattered leaves and twigs, with a stick stabbed into his chest, blood covering his shirt.
I’d never felt anything like it before. Panic, rage, fear—it all crushed through me.
Alex muttered something incoherently as he bent down to Laylen’s lifeless body.
“He’s not—he’s not,” I was on the verge of tears, “dead, is he?”
Alex examined the stick poking out of Laylen’s chest. Being a huge science fiction freak, I’d read enough vampire books to know that a stake through the heart meant death for a vampire.
The stick was so close to his heart.
“He’s not dead,” Alex finally said, putting his hands on top of the stick. “Not yet anyway.”
“Not yet anyway,” I repeated, horrified. “Does that mean he’s going to die?”
“Not if we can get him some…” Alex yanked out the stick, and I tried not to gasp at the sight of the very large hole in Laylen’s chest or at the blood that was pouring out of it. Alex pressed his hand onto the wound, putting pressure on it.
“Get him some what?” I asked, fully freaking out. “Is there a cure?”
Alex avoided my eyes as he said, “”Yeah, blood.”
“He has to bite someone?” I asked, remembering the first day I had met Laylen and he had told me he never brought out his fangs.
Alex hesitated, and I could see it in his eyes, “No, he needs another vampires blood.”
“Is that the only kind of blood that will work?” I asked.
He nodded, and even though I didn’t believe him, I took a deep breath, placed a hand on Laylen’s cold arm, and then shut my eyes, hoping I was strong enough to take us back, since what I could do with my extraordinary Foreseer ability was still a huge question mark.
“Take us to the Black Dungeon,” Alex told me.
Keeping my eyes shut, I replied, “Why there?”
“Because there’ll be vampires all over.”
I nodded, thinking how Laylen wasn’t supposed to go near vampires, but feared if he didn’t, he would die. I pictured the alley, damp, scary, and covered with garbage. I envisioned the bright red door, and the flap at the top. I saw all three of us there.
I tried my hardest to focus on the details I’d seen when I was there, and when Alex took hold of my hand, I felt a surge of electricity, and the weakness I’d been feeling left me. I knew I’d get us there.
I had to.
Chapter 23
I didn’t have to open my eyes to know I’d gotten us to the right place. The smell of garbage and musty air gave away our location.