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The woods had never felt secure to her before, but now as she clung to a tree branch, hardly daring to breathe, they felt safer than anything else.
Where was Diego?
Fred was nearby—she could kind of sense him, just knowing which tree she didn't want to look at. The others in the coven were being somewhat rambunctious. She'd initially wondered why Riley or Victoria hadn't stopped them, but she'd quickly surmised that the deadline the small vampire had given Victoria apparently meant subtlety no longer mattered, apparently. Not like they'd ever been subtle, of course, but she was still somewhat disturbed by the noisy way they moved through the forest.
Actually, she didn't like any of this. Whatever reason Victoria had for attacking the coven seemed not to involve her, or any of them, except that they were bodies she could afford to lose.
Carefully, she crept toward the tree where Fred was crouching. It took just one leap from her current branch onto his.
He was ready, and grabbed her arm to pull her close when she landed. "This is bad," he said.
"Yeah," she agreed, wincing at her closeness to him. She wasn't usually the target of his gift, but she knew she needed to stay next to him if she didn't want to be noticed.
"We need to get out of here," he suggested.
"Diego..." she mumbled, but...she knew. Riley's coldness...Diego was already gone. Part of her wanted to stay and to rip Riley apart herself, forget the other coven! But she also knew that some of the others were too loyal. She might die at their hands, even if she could get the jump on Riley.
But if she lived now, maybe she could get stronger, and—
Someone started screaming.
Fred shoved her behind him, and she peered around him, curious and frightened.
There was an unfamiliar vampire, tall, blonde, with too many bites covering his skin. There was a sound, then, different than a scream, more like a squeal or a shriek. There was a fire, and three of their army were dead.
The others hesitated to move toward him, and he grinned, waiting for them to try it.
"We need to leave, now. Stay close to me and he shouldn't notice you," Fred whispered.
She hesitated. If she left, she wouldn't find out about Diego. But if she stayed...the vampire with the scars would kill her. She was certain.
She didn't have to explain that to Fred—they both started moving in tandem, leaping from branch to branch until it made more sense to jump to the ground and put all of their weight into running.
They could hear the fight for miles. All of the crying screams and the cracking of bones and skin, the sweet smell of the arm on fire...God. She'd never stop running if it meant she never saw that man again, or heard that sound...
She wouldn't forget, though. Because if that's how the others sounded when they died, than that was how Diego sounded. And she wouldn't let Riley or Victoria get away with that. She'd be back.