Page 3 of Endless Terrors
We ended the kiss at the same time, but neither of us pulled away. Not at first. Collith touched his forehead to mine, one of his hands buried in my hair and the other pressed against my waist, keeping me anchored to him. I breathed him in, still struggling to believe that he was real, he was here. It felt as if I was waking up after a long, terrible dream.
The thought was jarring, like the gong of a clock or the screech of brakes. Dreams. Nightmares. Danger. You shouldn’t have come. The words stuck in my throat, because they felt like a lie. I shifted, stepping away from Collith at last. He stayed where he was, following my movement. His expression was unfathomable. I stared at him, breathing hard, battling the urge to throw myself back into his arms.
Instead, I snatched my knife from the ground and bolted.
Logically, I knew I wouldn’t be able to outrun a creature who could vanish and reappear anywhere he wanted. I just knew that I had to move, get away, away. I didn’t hear footsteps behind me or see Collith ahead, though. My shoes flew over dead leaves and sheets of ice. The car was visible through the trees now, and I burst into the clearing a few moments later, keys already in my hand. I shoved them into the lock, trying not to shake. Once it was open, I tossed my things inside—backpack first, knife second—and dropped into the driver’s seat. I began to slam the door shut.
A pale hand moved in a blur. In an instant, Collith had forced the door right back open. He made a sound I’d never heard before and reached inside. White-hot pain shot down my arm at his unrelenting grip.
Without giving me a chance to react, Collith yanked my entire body back into the open. I stumbled and caught myself by flattening my palms against the closest tree. I whirled, my chest heaving in a mixture of fury and terror, and all at once I remembered what Collith had said to me when we first met. The first thing you should understand is that I am not a man. I don’t have human instincts or desires.
He was a faerie, and a pissed one, at that.
“You’ve been missing”—Collith slammed the car door shut and came toward me—“for three months. No one knew where you were. What was I supposed to think, Fortuna?”
He’d never been so rough before, and something told me Lyari wasn’t the only one struggling with the new, darker urges that came after being severed from a Court. My heart hammered in my ears. Collith could probably hear it, but I still tipped my head back and gave him a disdainful look. “You’re not supposed to think anything. That’s why I texted you. Or did you lose the ability to read during your time with Death Bringer?”
As soon as I said the words, I wanted to take them back. But I had to drive Collith away. I had to.
“You’re scared,” he said with that infuriating calm. His hazel eyes looked black as they bore into mine. “You’re so scared you can’t think straight. And before you lie, keep in mind that I can taste it. Your fear is like … sugar. Sweet. What are you running from, Fortuna?”
Ironic, I thought bitterly. It was so ironic that Collith was sensing my fear with the very power he’d taken from me. His question floated between us, and it almost felt visible, like the plumes of air leaving our mouths. But all my reasons were tucked away, hidden in the shadowy corners of my mind and available only to me.
“You think I could forget a little betrayal like that?” I said finally, shoving him away. My lip curled. “All I’m running from is the smell coming from you. How long has it been since you’ve showered?”
The insult bounced off Collith like a bead, skittering into the darkness. He stayed on my heels as I stormed back to the car. “I can help if you just tell me, goddamn it.”
Lucifer’s threats had gone too deep, a weed with long and numerous roots. I just shook my head. “No one can help.”
Collith didn’t stop me this time, but his voice stayed close, cutting through the night. “Tell me what you need, then. Forget the rest,” he insisted.
I slowed, then turned. I raised my gaze back to his. I’d missed him. That was undeniable now. Looking at Collith made me feel a thousand things, all at once, everywhere. In that moment, I longed to trust him. To let someone else share the burden I’d been carrying since leaving home.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. Collith frowned, and I imagined my heart covered in a layer of steel plates as I continued, “I really am. But … I can’t have you following me.”
Before he could ask any more questions, I stabbed Collith in the gut. He cried out and doubled over, his face twisting in pain.
“You always forget about the one I keep in my shoe,” I told him coldly. Then I yanked the knife back out and ran back to the car.
Collith’s enraged shout echoed all around us. “Fortuna!”
I slammed the door at the same time I turned the key. The car started with a whine, and gravel spewed up from the tires. As I roared off into the night, my eyes flicked to the rearview mirror, searching the place I’d left Collith. But it was too dark. I couldn’t make out anything. He’d heal, I reminded myself—my second knife hadn’t been soaked in holy water. I kept reminding myself of it as I pulled my phone out and began a new text.
Burn it, I typed. Burn it all.
I pressed SEND and floored it.
Five minutes later, neither of them had responded to my message. They were supposed to confirm whenever they saw it. So much for our swift exit strategy.
Once I got to the motel, I killed the engine and stared out the window, clutching the steering wheel so hard my knuckles were white. My sense of urgency hadn’t faded, but I needed a minute, just a minute, to regather my thoughts. It felt like they’d scattered and blown off in a hundred different directions.
The parking lot was dim and loud. A cluster of teenage boys lounged against a chain-link fence and music poured from one of the rooms. A woman stood in the open doorway, smoking a cigarette. Near the trash container, a stray dog shoved its snout into a bag that had split open, sending bottles clinking over the cracked pavement.
As I sat there, the neon sign above me flickered, a single word blinking in and out of existence. VACANCY. I gazed up at it, already dreading the next motel, the next sign. The three of us always stayed at this kind of place. Nobody asked any questions and everyone looked the other way if they saw something they shouldn’t have. But that didn’t mean we were safe, especially now that Collith might’ve drawn attention to me. We needed to keep moving.
The thought propelled me into motion. I got out of the car—the hinges moaned—and crossed the parking lot. Broken glass crunched under my shoes. All the rooms faced the lot; one door, one window each. I approached the door with the golden number 6 on it, twisted the key in the lock, and went in.
The TV was on. The sound of it filled the tiny room as I crossed the stained carpet and knelt by one of the beds. A form was huddled beneath the blankets, and all I could see of it was a tuft of dark hair. The transformation always drained my werewolf friend. No wonder he hadn’t responded to the text. But where was Gil? He’d been the one to leave the TV on, no doubt. The vampire used it to block out noise that traveled through our thin walls.
