Nate

I tilt my head back and am greeted with the twinkling stars starting to fade and giving way to the shining sunrise. Shaking my head, I head back down the path, focusing on the silhouette that I know belongs to Dad. He’s crouched in front of Cameron, Lukas, and Cayden.

I can just barely make out their whispers from this distance and slap at my ears in frustration. Can’t the damn things heal already? They’re just eardrums. I spot Samuel and Dewitt in the middle of what looks to be a long talk, though, from Dewitt’s clenched hands, it might be moving along to an argument.

A hand comes down on my shoulder, and I have to fight back my immediate reflex—twisting around to punch that person in the throat. Tilting my head slightly, I catch a glimpse of the woman who had tended to my injuries.

She has a somewhat apologetic smile painted upon her face. I back up a little bit before taking a close look at her, and I can’t help but take in her scent; it’s bitter in a way and reminds me of black coffee.

“So do you have a name or are you Doc?” I ask, throwing myself onto the ground. I eye the stars and mentally start to map out the path I will be traveling.

“That’s what everybody calls, but you may also call me Aceso,” she responds.

“I take it you’re not human then?”

“Oh, you could say that.” She steps closer and leans over me, getting in the way of my view of the sky. I have no choice but to look at her again and, for the first time, take notice of the calculating stare she has. It makes me feel as though any minute she’s going to reach out to gobble me up. The feeling is gone as fast as it came.

I gasp as my heart races in my chest; I inch back and wipe the sweat off my forehead. What the hell was that? She nods her head before backing away, and I’m left with the distinct feeling that I’ve passed some test, though I have no idea what it could be.

“Doc are you messin’ with my kid?” Dad shouts. I turn my head and see Dad looking between the two of us while pressing his lips together in a tight line as he glances between the two of us. Aceso lets out a long sigh before slowly backing away with her hands in the air. I turn to my dad and see him practically growling at her retreating back.

“I thought she was your friend?” I ask, raising an eyebrow at his actions.

“She is, but sometimes we have a difference of opinion on how to handle certain situations,” he tells me, and he comes to sit down right next to me.

“So you don’t trust her?” I watch as he shakes his head refusing to meet my gaze.

“It’s complicated. But I’m pretty sure she’d never hurt you,” he states with confidence. I scrunch my nose up at the words pretty sure. What a laugh. That’s like saying I’m pretty sure I’m not going to bite anybody today. Doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen.

“Why would she care about me?”

“That’s something you’ll have to ask your mother.”

“Fine. Guess I’ll just add it to the list,” I snark.

“Hey! Don’t take that tone with me. You were supposed to find out about all this when you turned eighteen. It’s not our fault you up and left.” His eyes have taken on the blue steel hue that all shifters are known for. I can’t but to gape at the sight of the first physical confirmation that my whole I’d been lied to. He takes a deep breath before giving me a small smile and knocking our shoulders together.

“So you’re gonna go get little Vee today; you must be excited,” he trails, and as I look to the side, his eyes are fixated on the path ahead. I nudge him a bit, but all that earns me is a grunt and a shove on my back. Staying on the ground, I relax and close my eyes as one of his hands comes up and starts to rearrange my locs.

I take this all in stride; eventually, I’m shuffled in front of him. My head is practically on his shoulder as he gathers some of the locs into a section on top of my head. He begins to split that section in half and twists both sides down to the back of my head. I hand him one of the spare pieces of cloth I usually use for Vanessa’s hair.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to keep her waitin’ on me,” I ramble. “You’ve seen her temper; I like to stay on her good side if you know what I mean.” After that, no more words are spoken, and the silence between us is deafening. He gets up and starts to walk away from everybody. I tentatively follow him, certain that I don’t want our goodbye to end on such a sour point.

Stolen novel; please report.

By the time I catch up Dad’s rummaging around in Samuel’s arsenal trunk that had been lying out in the open since the attack. I lean over his shoulder to get a closer look at all the goodies but get shoved in the gut for my efforts. Glancing down, I see that he is holding something. When I take too long to grab the weapon, he lets go of it, and lucky for me, I catch it before it impales my foot.

I shoot him a glare before unsheathing the knife and taking the time to admire the blade. The black metal gleams in the rising sun, and I give a low whistle at the little hook that appears halfway down the blade with serrated edges along the bottom portion. Swinging it through the air, I get a good feel for the weapon and can’t help the bloodthirsty grin I can feel spreading across my face.

“That’s my personal blade,” Dad’s voice breaks me out of my thoughts, and I pivot to look at him once more. He’s giving me a smirk, and the melancholy look in his eyes is all but gone. Good. I would hate to leave him upset about our partin’ ways.

“It’s a better grade than the one you have currently, plus it’s been spelled by some witches, so it’ll cut anybody that gets in your way.” He clears his throat before continuing on. “If something were to happen to you,” he trails off, tears welling up but to my relief none fall from his eyes.

“Mom would kill you,” I offer up. The whole conversation feels like a goodbye, and I’ve survived too long to go down now.

“Yeah, she would.” He comes up to me and tightly hugs me before letting me go. “Please don’t die,” he whispers into the wind as he walks over to Samuel and my heart aches, not knowing if it was meant for my ears or not.

I catch a glimpse of my dad looking towards the path with a hardened face that I can only place as fear and hesitance. He turns in my direction, and the easy grin he wears almost causes me to forget the sight I just witnessed.

“It’s just for a couple of days,” I remind him. “We’ve already been apart five years, what’s a couple of days?”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” he whispers. “Promise me you’ll be safe.”

“I can’t do that; you know that,” I tell him. His face softens before he pulls me into one final tight hug, he pats my back before releasing.

I nod my head, not saying goodbye. As Dad and Samuel explained, we will be meeting up again and to say otherwise would suggest I want differently. Before picking up my duffle and heading along the way that Samuel explained would lead me to the ocean.

Even if I get lost, the smell will stain the air so much that it’ll be hard not to go in that direction. Besides, when I take really deep breaths, Vanessa’s scent still litters the air currents, and I can’t help but run after the scent knowing it may be my only clue to her whereabouts.

Before I know it, I’m running along the path, and the scenery is dashing past. I use my muscles in a way that I’ve barely allowed myself the freedom of doing. I throw my body into the air, and once gravity takes over, I tuck into a roll as I hit the ground.

I let loose a round of laughter that echoes all around me simply because I am able to, and I go on like this for several hours before I begin to tire. Coming to a stop I throw myself on the ground and lounge on the dusty road until when I hear the soft crunch of footsteps pressing into the nearly sand and rocks.

Please be anythin’ but the NTSCU. I glance up and flop back down into the sand as I realize that I’ve been surrounded by dozens of Bobbies.

They all look to be infected with Rot, and not one has the bright eyes of lucidity. Not even bothering to open my mouth, I lunge at the throng of Bobbies, hoping to have this finished relatively soon. I grip the knife given to me by my dad and start slashing at anything that moves in my direct vicinity.

A few get in some lucky hits, but I finish with the Bobbies and am just about to clean up when I catch sight of more Bobbies coming up from the sand. Oh, you gotta be kidding. As I get in a low crouch, I groan, prepared for the next wave of the closet thing to the dead I’ve ever seen.

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My feet sink into the sand, and I grit my teeth as the wound in my side starts to ache from the constant motion of walking forward. Honestly taking a break sounds amazing right about now, but I finally got away from that hoard of Bobbies, and the more space between us, the better.

That plan is thrown out the window when the scent of more Bobbies hits my nose. Letting loose a growl I twist around trying to see which direction they’re coming from.

I take stock of my injuries: besides the gaping hole in my side, I have several cracked ribs and one that has a high chance of being broken. That’s not to mention the fucking headache I’ve gotten from standing in the sun all day and butting heads with these Rot infested morons.

Goddess, if only Vanessa was here, then we’d have handled this mess already. I take a quick count of their numbers and almost fall over with relief. Oh, praise the Goddess there’s only five.

I rush at them and quickly attack them one by one until I’ve managed to twist off four of their heads. Honestly, it’s the most disgusting way to kill them. Gooey blood falls like tar all over everything, soaking the ground and my clothes with their sickly sweet scent. The last one keeps evading me and finally snaps my patience when it takes a massive bite out of my shoulder.

I tackle the Bobby to the ground, jump to my feet, and bring my boot down hard into its chest. Immediately it stops moving. I move my foot and try to rub the blood into the sand, but it’s a useless gesture, so I get on with cutting the Bobby’s head off before it revives.

I sink the knife into its neck until it meets the sand, and with one jerk of my arm, the deed is already done. Ignoring the thick, black blood seeping from the cut, I lift the knife to twist it around and finish the job.

It better be the last one. I chance a look around and huff out a breath when nothing else pops out of the sand. I’ve seen some crazy ass shit, but that just took the cake. In all my years alone, Bobbies just don’t act like that except if being led by someone else.

I cast my gaze around again, but it only confirms what I already know. Besides the scattered corpses of Bobbies, I’m all alone out here. I shake my head and shove the matter aside until I have my priority back at my side. I grab our duffle and am glad to see that somehow the thing managed to stay clean of major splatters.

I shake it off before continuing along the path. Unfortunately, the stench of sweet blood covers up even the slightest hint of Vanessa’s trail. I take off trying to get clear of the stench of Bobbies. Not only does their smell singe my nose hairs but it completely covers up any trace of Vanessa’s scent in the air.

I’ve lost all daylight and am once more glad that I can see so well in the dark, though the sun is just resting beyond the mountains, so there’s that. The moon is high in the sky by the time I smell Vanessa’s scent mixed in with salty water that I can only imagine must be the ocean.

I slow to a jog when I smell other people. More importantly, I smell witches. I glance around and can just make out tents hidden by the jagged mountains. I climb through, but despite the strong scents, I have yet to cross another person. I glance around before a voice calls out. I whirl around before I see Keira standing on the edge of white sand.

“Nate, I’m so glad you could join us,” she states before gesturing for me to follow her. I raise an eyebrow at her back but see no reason to not follow her lead. We come to a beach with the bluest water I’ve ever seen. I can only imagine what it looks like in the sunshine.

I notice Kore is standing on the edge of the water, and I’m about to call her name when she turns towards us in a robotic way. She has a saddened wild look in her eye that has me wary of whatever is about to happen. I glance between the two, my hackles start to rise, and I begin to back up before I remember what I’ve come there for.

“Where’s Witchy,” I ask them, not bothering to add any pleasantries into the uneasy encounter. Keria points out towards the water.

“She’s on that,” she replies, and I look at the water and see a great ship rocking on the waves. I spot Vanessa’s face with her bright emerald eyes and the freckles that she hates for me to point out. I feel my heart give a violent lurch as the ship holding my Witchy, my dear Nessa, suddenly bursts into flames.