The Fangs of Bloodhaven (23 page)

“This is it,” Adrielle said. “Dr. Transton told us to turn directly southwest through the jungle.”

They had reached the end of the wall. The thought of heading straight into the vegetation was intimidating. Everett could feel Vanguard and Adrielle watching him. Despite all of his bravado, it worried Everett to walk away from the city that had been their homes.

“You can do this,” Lisette whispered from somewhere on his right side.

Her words calmed Everett’s heart. He took a steeling breath and forced a smile. “We can’t stop now,” he said. “Nectaris needs hope, and we’re the only people who can bring it.”

“You mean the only monsters,” Adrielle said.

A true smile spread across his face. “That’s right. We’re monsters, and that’s why we’re going to make it.”

Chapter Twenty-three

Everett lost track of how long they walked through the jungle. The gray light of dawn hinted at the horizon just visible through the tangled branches. Eerie hoots and howls stayed ahead of them, silencing when they drew near so that they only felt the eyes of the creatures that made them while the animals themselves stayed hidden within the darkness.

The floor of the jungle was soft as though they walked on a thick carpet. The jagged vines and reaching branches tore at their clothes and hair. Bugs with big feelers and multiple mouths bit at their exposed skin. Everett felt as though every plant and creature in the jungle wanted to draw blood. He had very little to spare, and found himself guarding it very preciously.

“Everett, look!”

The sound of awe in Lisette’s voice drew his attention to his left where the sun was just breaking through the leaves. Usually the sight of sunlight was enough to send chills and burning sensations across his body, but this was different.

When the sun hit the leaves, the jungle transformed. The reaching branches of the trees that had snagged and pulled at their clothes rose away from the ground, reaching for the sky. Each leaf spread out in a multi-faceted fan. Colors in every shade of the rainbow caught the sunlight and spliced it like one of his father’s prisms, sending it in waves across the ground.

The thorns of the vines weren’t as solid as they had felt. Instead, on closer inspection, Everett saw that they were hollow like his fangs. The vines turned, writhing on the trees so that they caught the most possible sunlight. When a beam hit the thorns, the light was drawn inside like the blood a vampire sucked. The thorns lit up, glowing from the inside out with a bioluminescence Everett knew his father would love to see. As the light grew stronger and more was drawn into the thorns, it spread down the vines, lighting them and jungle in a hue of greens and blues.

A humming sound began. The brighter the sunlight got, the louder it became. It took Everett a moment to locate the source. It came from the moss that covered the ground beneath their feet. Wherever the light from the sun or colored light passing through the leaves touched, the moss hummed. Everett crouched and set a hand on the soft surface. He could feel the humming as much as hear it. The entire ground felt like it was vibrating.

“This is amazing,” he said.

“You mean terrifying,” Adrielle replied in a tight voice.

Everett spun around to see the werewolf backed against a tree. She stared in horror as the tree branches of the tree across from her rose, lifting toward the light. The raising branches exposed a nest made of vines wrapped tightly together. They glowed with blue and green hues from the sunlight, but that wasn’t what held Adrielle’s attention.

It took Everett a moment to see the faces poking out from the nest. They were green and furry with huge ears. Each creature hung upside down from the vines, and they stared at Adrielle with wide eyes that reflected the same colors. When they moved, Everett saw their leathery wings colored in shades of dark blue.

“Vanguard, they’re looking at me,” she squeaked.

“I’m a little busy,” the warlock replied.

Everett spotted the older boy on his hands and knees a few steps from Adrielle. He had apparently tripped over a root, and he stared at a mound beneath his face. It moved, squirming and wiggling. Everett realized with a start that instead of a single creature, the mound was made of a huge group of bugs.

“They have wings,” Vanguard said, his voice thick with fear. “They have stingers. I think they’re Gray Widowmakers.”

A shudder ran down Everett’s spine. Gray Widowmakers were a product of the fallout. The bugs had been eradicated from the Pentagrin, but occasionally outbreaks near the walls where the vines were the thickest occurred. News of the outbreaks were usually followed by a body count because the first sting rendered a person completely numb, and the second was deadly. Vanguard stared into a nest of hundreds.

“Don’t move,” he said.

But it was too late. Buzzing arose from the pile and the Gray Widowmakers lifted into the air in a huge mass.

“The bats,” Lisette said.

“Adrielle, scare the bats,” Everett called.

Adrielle looked too terrified to move.

Everett picked up a branch and threw it as hard as he could. It struck the nest of green bats. Adrielle shrieked when they rose into the air and swarmed past her.

They circled Vanguard in a whirlwind that hid him from view.

“Help!” Vanguard yelled in a strangled voice.

Everett ran toward him. Just before he reached the warlock, the bats lifted away and rose into the air as though they were one creature. They circled within the trees once, their squeaking sounds filling the forest, then they were gone, vanishing through the branches with a speed that left Everett breathless.

The Gray Widowmakers had been eaten down to the last bug. Everett was relieved to see Vanguard shaken but apparently unbitten.

“Vanguard, are you alright?” Adrielle asked, dropping to her knees next to the warlock.

“I-I think so,” Vanguard replied. He pushed to his knees and looked at Everett. “That was a close one. Thank you.”

“Lisette was the one who said it,” Everett told them. He held out a hand to Vanguard.

The warlock rose to his feet and gave Everett a wary look. “It’s time someone asked. Who’s Lisette?”

“Everett, usually when someone talks to themselves, they don’t give their self another name,” Adrielle pointed out. “And if they do, it’s probably not a girl’s name.”

Everett rolled his eyes. “I’m not crazy, and I’m not talking to myself.” He looked around. “Lisette, please?”

At her silence, he blew out a breath. “Seriously? Just because you’re a ghost doesn’t mean you can just disappear whenever you want.” He knew that was exactly what it meant, but frustration made him say it anyway.

“A ghost?” Adrielle repeated. “What ghost?”

Everett looked around, hoping she would appear. “Lisette, from the Monster Asylum.”

“Everett, there’s no ghost at the Asylum,” Vanguard said.

Everett smiled, convinced they were giving him a hard time. “Sure there are. There’s the poltergeist Lisette, and you can’t tell me somebody isn’t operating that elevator. It definitely has a mind of its own and a wicked sense of humor if I—”

“Everett!” Adrielle cut him off. “Did you just say Lisette, the ghost you’ve been talking to, is the poltergeist from the Monster Asylum?”

Everett nodded, confused by her panicked tone.

“You mean from floor thirty-one, the floor we’re never supposed to go to?” she pressed.

“Nobody told me we weren’t supposed to go there,” Everett replied. “And the elevator stopped—”

Vanguard held up a hand, halting his explanation. “Are you telling me that the poltergeist followed us here?” He looked more terrified than he had been staring down the pile of Gray Widowmakers.

Everett didn’t know what to say. Both of them were staring at him as if he was crazy. He was getting tired of being looked at that way. “Yes,” he answered shortly.

“We’re doomed,” Vanguard moaned, throwing up his hands. He walked away muttering to himself, “Dr. Transton said take the vampire, he’s reliable, so we do and the vampire brings the poltergeist responsible for levelling an entire building.”

“Wait,” Everett said in shock. “She’s
that
poltergeist?” At Adrielle’s amazed look, he lifted his shoulders. “You guys said
a
poltergeist was responsible for it, not Lisette.”

“She’s the only poltergeist we know about,” Adrielle replied in exasperation. “And up to this point, nobody knew her name, or even that she’s a girl.” She gave Everett a steeling look. “We can’t do this with a poltergeist following us around.”

“What do you want me to do?” he asked, flustered.

“Ask her to leave,” Adrielle said. “Maybe she’ll listen to you.” She looked around as if she feared Lisette would appear at any moment and destroy them all. When the ghost failed yet again to show herself, the werewolf stormed off after Vanguard.

“You guys are ridiculous,” Everett called after them.

“You’re the one talking to a murderous ghost,” Vanguard replied through the trees. His voice lowered and Everett heard him say to Adrielle, “That boy seriously needs some new friends.”

Everett kicked the closest tree. To his surprise, the tree actually yelped in pain. Everett set a hand on its mossy surface. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. He stomped off in the opposite direction from Adrielle and Vanguard.

He pushed through overhanging branches and ducked under thorny vines, careful not to injure any other trees. “This is crazy,” he muttered. “I’m in a jungle with a magician and a werewolf, and they’re mad at me for being friends with a ghost? The whole world doesn’t make sense anymore!”

Angry tears burned his eyes. He blinked quickly, forcing them not to fall. “It’s not like I’ve left everything I know behind to go to some vampire community where I’m not even sure I’ll be welcome in order to save a city that’s done its best to destroy anyone remotely like me,” he said aloud.

He ducked under another low-sweeping vine and paused. A clearing spread out in front of him. The canopy high above shielded most of it from the rising sun, and the multi-hued light from the leaves traveled down in colored beams that looked as though he could touch them.

Everett stretched out a hand. A purple beam fell across his palm. He stared at the way the light played on his skin. After a minute, mist started to rise from his palm and the familiar burning sensation traveled up his arm. Everett pulled his hand back and rubbed it against his shirt.

“Great,” he said. “The sun’s up. Things keep getting better.”

Life crashed over Everett all at once. His frustrations at being the only vampire he knew, the thirst for blood that began in his stomach and traveled up his throat until it was hard not to think about how much he needed it, and the fact that he was stuck in a jungle with two people who thought he was crazy and another one who apparently was insane.

The thirst was getting stronger. Everett thought of the blood he had drank the night before. For some reason, it hadn’t been enough. Usually he could go another day on the amount Celeste had given him, but they had walked all night and into the morning, burning far more than he usually did.

Vanguard and Adrielle were in the jungle. Everett clenched his teeth, forcing his mind away from the direction of his thoughts. He hated that even the suggestion made his mouth water. He had never taken blood from a person before, and wasn’t about to start, yet his feet willed him to walk toward them. Just the chance to listen to the sound of their heartbeats pulled at him, drawing him closer. He took a step, then another.

Everett caught himself. “What kind of monster am I?” he growled. He gritted his teeth and turned away from the direction of his friends. Determination filled his steps as he walked into the clearing.

“Everett, what are you doing?” Alarm filled Lisette’s voice. She appeared in a few steps away. The orange and yellow beams that fell on her shoulders faded her outline, making her merely a brush of color amid the rainbow-filled clearing.

“I’m a danger to them,” Everett said. His hands clenched into fists with the effort it took to keep walking. The beams fell on his shoulders and head. Green and red filled his vision as the burning sensation ran up his arms.

“You can’t do this,” Lisette protested. “You’ll die!”

Everett shook his head. “I just need the pain to chase away the thirst,” he replied, his voice tight. “I can’t be a danger to them. They need to be safe.” He gasped when the burning intensified, blocking out all thoughts and feelings other than the sensation of fire covering his body. It felt as if the leaves altering the colors actually strengthened the sunlight. It was too much. He had to get back to shade.

“Everett!” Lisette called.

His feet felt heavy when he turned to face the shortest distance back to the shadows. The trees beckoned to him, promising a safety he knew they didn’t hold. The vines appeared to twist and tangle as he watched, blurring in his eyesight. It looked so much further than he remembered walking.

“Come on, Everett,” Lisette said, her voice right next to his ear. “Take a step.”

Everett willed his body to obey. He lifted one foot and put it in front of him.

“Good,” Lisette said. “Now another.”

The pain clouded everything. Everett could smell the scent of his body burning. It was worse than anything he had ever experienced. The amazing beauty of the colorful clearing felt like a predator, drawing him in and devouring him with teeth of flames.

“Good,” Lisette coaxed, her voice thick with emotion.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Everett noted that the ghost was crying. He wondered why.

“Take another step,” she continued. “One more.”

“Always one more,” Everett replied, using precious strength to speak instead of walk.

“Don’t you dare give up on me, Everett,” she demanded.

He took another step forward. The shadows were only a few feet away. He was almost there.

“That’s it; just a few more steps. Come on,” Lisette coaxed.