Zane waved his hand at his side for Cora to see, silently urging her to walk backwards away from the river bank where the vampires were now transfixed on the blood moon.
She backed up as quietly as possible, not breaking her gaze from the black eyes that were all raised to the sky. It felt like she was walking through ice cold water. The terror running through her limbs made it so that she couldn't even feel the rest of her body aside from the goosebumps on her flesh that prickled all over. Even her eyes felt as though they had goosebumps from the sight before her.
Zane was faster. Somehow he was better at deftly walking backwards without bumping into any trees in the process while her steps were more careful, and soon he was next to her. He grabbed her hand and urged her along faster with him.
The vampires were gradually getting further away from their vision, but if they were only transfixed on the sky while the eclipse was at its peak, then their window for escape was going to be brief.
"I think we should make a run for it," Zane whispered.
Cora's breath came out ragged. "Are you sure?"
He didn't answer immediately, his hand curling around hers tighter as he considered it. It was a risk, but soon their eyes would be off the solid red moon.
"Yeah. Go," he said in an urgent whisper.
Cora sucked in a breath as he turned and pushed her ahead of him. All she could feel and hear was her heartbeat as they sprinted between trees in the direction that was hopefully leading them home. It was eerily familiar—her heartbeat feeling as if it was thundering through the silent forest, giving them away. It was just like one of her dreams. Her heartbeat was so loud. There was no way that the vampires didn't hear it. There was no way that they were not going to pursue these two frantically fleeing prey animals.
The air rushing past her cheeks that her arms and legs were slicing through was like ice. Her whole body was like ice despite the fact that she was running faster than she could ever remember running before.
When the tree line finally came into view that indicated how close they were to home, she finally let out a choked sob. They were going to make it.
She turned with a breathless smile, but Zane was not behind her.
"Zane?" She gaped into the emptiness behind her. "Zane!" She cried, her bottom lip trembling as she did.
The goosebumps rose again, pebbling her flesh all the way down to her toes. He was just behind her! He was just there—where had he gone? They couldn't have got him, could they have? She would have heard it. He would have at least cried out or something… she would have heard it!
"Zane!" She cried again, taking an uncertain step back into the white forest.
She shuddered, imagining her brother at the bottom of a pile of hungry vampires all clamoring for a taste of his warm, living blood. She would kill all of them! Her fingers curled into fists at her side. She would give them all beating hearts so they could suffer the same fate as the one they had pursued. Or she would kill them herself after they were made mortal.
A rumble made its way up her throat and out into the open. If she weren't so focused on the determination she now felt to save her brother, the sound may have startled her. It sounded feral. It was not one she had ever made before. But she hardly noticed it. Her eyes narrowed, seeking any movement in the darkness as she slowly stalked back under the canopy of trees.
Her fingers uncurled from where they were balled at her sides, the gift of life she had been given creating small treasonous sprouts shooting up from the ground on either side of her. These vampires would pay for messing with her family. If even one hair was disturbed on her brother's head…
"Cora," Grayson was suddenly in front of her, blocking her path.
He was relaxed, but the lighthearted air he usually tried to carry himself with was gone. And there was a hard warning in his eyes. He glanced down at the plants that had sprung up, creating the path upon which she was walking. A muscle feathered in his jaw. This would most certainly be a problem that he had to deal with in the morning.
"Where is my brother?" She asked though gritted teeth.
"Go home, Cora," he tried to say as gently as possible. He knew that she would not respond to threats. He had to appeal to her with kindness. "You are not safe out here, especially with what you have in mind."
"I need my brother, Grayson," she said, biting back the urge to cry that was suddenly rising uncomfortably in her throat, threatening to block her voice.
"I will make sure he is returned to you. Now go home," he repeated.
He was resisting the urge to compel her. He didn't want to do that to her. It would only create more problems than it would solve, and she was already so terrified of all of them. If he did that now, how would she ever trust them?
"But…" she objected, her bottom lip quivering again as the fear for her brother broke through. "Grayson?"
"Yes Cora?" His eyes softened as he saw that raw emotion in her that he didn't understand.
It must be so difficult for her here. His family was honestly at a loss about what to do with her until she turned, but they did not wish for harm to come to her. They didn't wish it for her brother either. The royals were waiting patiently for the process to finally begin when the siblings would transition into their vampire forms, but it was taking much longer than they anticipated. And now of all nights that they had decided to wander around, they picked one with a blood moon.
"Is Zane okay?" She asked, her voice breaking at the end and stealing him from his thoughts.
"I can assure you that he is fine," he said.
He didn't actually know if her brother was fine or not, but it would be a surprise if one of his subjects explicitly violated the rule to not touch the siblings. Torture was too much of a price to pay, even for a taste of their blood.
"Now go home. You will see your brother soon."