58

A flash of magic shattered my vision into a kaleidoscope of light. The stone patio was no longer under my feet. Instead, I was standing on a thick blanket of rotten palm fronds, matted ferns, and moss. I was deep in the jungle, the canopy so thick that the light was more like dusk than morning.

It only took an instant for me to catch my bearings before I started sprinting. The magical drone hummed behind me, pursuing me. The giant leaves of the jungle flashed past and slapped at my face and arms as I hurtled through the forest. All along the path I’d chosen, I could hear noises through the underbrush. Rattling, hissing, ominous growls. None of them were close enough to be dangerous. The smells were playing havoc with my mind. When the sheer number of scents hit my nostrils, I was shocked and appalled that they’d managed to get so many dangerous creatures on one island.

The air grew cold at the approach of a ghost, causing me to veer sharply to the north. The skin-crawling sensation of a nearby mad vampire tickled my mind. A scream broke through the sound of my running. I skidded to a stop, tilting an ear toward the noise. It was a shout of panic, fear, and pain. The voice was deep like Wyatt’s, but I couldn’t be sure if it was him.

My brain was working on the logistics of rushing toward the scream when a vampire tackled me. I sprawled on the jungle floor as the emaciated creature tumbled over me and jumped to its feet. Scrambling, I leaped up and backed away, putting distance between me and the vampire. It glared at me through sunken eyes. Its face was a sallow gray, shrunken by hunger, which made its fangs look that much bigger when it hissed at me.

After hundreds—sometimes thousands—of years, vampires went mad. There was only so much life anyone could handle. Once they lost any trace of the humanity they once had, their bloodlust fully consumed them and turned them into monsters like the one before me. This one had clearly lost its mind a while ago. It was naked, and every rib was visible through the skin stretched tight over its bones. It had been male, but its sex organs had shriveled to a small black lump. The only desire the thing had now was to drink the blood of the living.

For all that it looked weak, the thing still had supernatural speed. It leaped forward, soaring through the air faster than I’d anticipated. Its teeth gnashed and snapped at my neck as I ducked aside and pushed an elbow into its chest. It scrabbled at the ground and leaped up again, grabbing me around the waist and baring its fangs toward my neck. Before it could latch onto my throat, I pressed a hand under his chin and shoved its face away. Grabbing its throat with my other hand, I dug my fingers into the skin and summoned all my shifter strength. The creature’s spine broke beneath my hands with a snap that sounded like a branch breaking.

I stumbled away as the thing crumpled to the ground. Taking a few deep breaths, I watched it writhe and try to get back to its feet. The broken neck wouldn’t kill it, but it would impede its nervous system long enough for me to get away before it could heal.

I ran again, this time picking up my pace exponentially. All around me, I could hear shouts, screams, snarls, howls, and yelps from wolves. My fellow shifters were fighting for their lives.

Before I could orient myself and find the best way to get back to the mansion, another vampire crawled out of a pile of dead palm fronds. Its claw-like hand lashed out, scraping across my sneaker as I leaped back. It rose from its resting place and stumbled toward me. With a growl, I kicked out, striking it in the chest. The thing fell backward, impaling itself on a broken tree branch. The sharp wood pierced its back and shot out through the chest, stabbing right through whatever shriveled heart it had. It screamed in horror and pain, then slumped forward and turned black before my eyes.

Before I could start running again, an icy cloud of air burst across my body, and the ghost was upon me. It manifested in the shape of some horribly tentacled, dripping abomination. The ghosts of murderers never retained their human forms in death and always turned into awful, unknowable things like this—a mirror image of the soul they’d had during life.

I dodged its attack and sprinted away. Without any reliquaries or enchanted weapons, I had no chance of fighting a ghost out here. Running was my only option. Thankfully, it didn’t follow me.

Gritting my teeth with determination, I scrambled up a tree to get a lay of the land. When I reached the top, I could see the roof of the mansion in the distance. It was disconcerting how far away it was—three miles, at least. And I’d already fought off two vampires and a ghost in four hundred yards. Gods only knew what awaited the rest of the way.

Climbing out of the tree, I heard someone scream in pain. The scream was closer than any I’d heard thus far, and this time, I recognized the voice. Leif. I chewed my lip as I looked in the direction of his screaming and then back toward the mansion. The decision was simple but not easy. I wanted to win, but I couldn’t let an innocent person die if I was close enough to help it.

Growling, I sprinted toward Leif’s screams. A few moments later, I burst into a clearing. Leif was on the ground, screaming and clawing at the dirt as a feral wolf shifter dragged him backward toward the underbrush. Leif was in his human form and covered in bites, scratches, and blood. The look of abject panic in his eyes sent a shiver of terror through me. It was the look of a creature that knew and understood it was about to be devoured by another creature. There was no greater fear in the world. None that I’d seen, at least.