Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 141492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
Harsh laughter echoed through the caves, the sound grating and demeaning. Abruptly it was cut off, and a chill crept down Safia’s spine.
They’ve gone, she whispered to Aura.
Aura didn’t bother to state the obvious. She caught up Safia and whisked them both from the safety of the chamber to the surface, following the vampires back to Safia’s farm. The plan was for Aura to take Safia most of the way there and then put her down on the familiar track where Safia would begin her run, the beacon to draw the vampires straight to her, away from the farm and her family.
They had chosen their first battleground with care, giving themselves every advantage. This was an important opening in the gambit between the opposing parties. Safia had to know she could defend her family and that her strategy against her opponent was a solid one. As she learned more about her enemies, she could be fluid and change her approach when needed. For now, she’d built these first forays in the hope of gathering as much information as possible.
The moment Aura disappeared, Safia was running alone in the night, her stride long, arms pumping for speed, her rhythm steady. She ran like the gazelle, moving along the trail knowing she was a beacon of light and all eyes would turn to her quickly. There was trepidation, fear even, but this was what she had trained for her entire life. Either she was up for the task or she wasn’t. She believed she was. There was no room for failure, because if she failed, her family would die, and that was unacceptable to her.
So yes, she was afraid. She would be less than human if she wasn’t afraid. Fear was good because it kept her sharp. Every one of her senses flared out into the night, seeking to find her enemies. She was alone as she ran the familiar trail toward her farm, her heart staying at that steady beat, although it wanted to thunder in her ears and demand she reach out to Aura for reassurance that the safeguards hadn’t been penetrated—that the vampires didn’t have access to her family, and Charif had stayed where he’d been told.
The fog shrouded the entire area in a gray veil of thick mist, muffling sound. It was eerily quiet, as if she were the only living creature in existence. Her soft-soled boots made no impact on the loose dirt trail as she ran, leaping over the occasional obstacle, knowing it was there almost by a peculiar radar imaging in her head.
She had run nearly a quarter of a mile and the familiar peaceful euphoric endorphins had slipped into her veins. A tingling of alertness crept down her spine, icy fingers of awareness. She still had another quarter of a mile to go to get to the designated target area. She pushed her speed just a bit, not wanting to alert the one watching her. One? Or two? Had she drawn both vampires off the house? Or had there been a third one the two women hadn’t spotted lurking in the shadows?
Safia pushed speculation from her mind. Amastan was right when he’d told her repeatedly not to waste time on worrying about things she couldn’t control or that might never happen. She just had to get to the battleground and draw the vampire to her. Hopefully, he would watch her, making certain she was foolishly alone.
It was much more difficult to control her fear and her heart rate when she knew a vampire was drawing closer and she was alone on the trail. She kept her arms loose and pumping as she ran with long, even strides, keeping her form as she raced over the uneven dirt as if she were trying to get to her family.
The vampire struck at her mind just as she rounded the wide sweeping curve that ran along a set of misshapen boulders jutting out of a field of wild grasses and flowers. Her defenses were far too strong for him to break through her barriers. Generations of forming that protection had been put in place, and then Aura’s patient teachings, along with her mother’s and grandmother’s instructions, had aided in building a wall so strong it was impossible for a vampire to compel her to do his bidding.
Safia abruptly broke from the trail and entered the field, racing across it to reach the next set of boulders. These were even larger than the ones by the trail and shaped into a loose circle. She tried to appear as if she were going to hide in the rocks from her adversary.
Taunting laughter erupted around her, coming out of the fog from every direction. She stood still for a moment, catching her breath in the middle of the sphere of rocks, where she’d already formed a consecrated circle of protection. She looked out cautiously to see what she faced.