Page 97 of The Girl in the Forest

I glared at her through bleary eyes. Tears made everything distorted, and I couldn’t figure out what she was doing. But the vampire dropped Levi, turned toward Brin, and I realized she was doing what I couldn’t do.

She was protecting Levi with her cool challenge. Attracting the enemy’s attention while I sobbed and frantically drew useless energy.

Hysterics meant nothing to them when they wanted me suffering along with everyone else. But a girl who stood there unafraid—that was something different. Why was Brin doing it? Putting herself in danger?

The metal bars were softening beneath my grip. Heating enough to get through to me—that was why she was doing it. I was out of control and revealing too much, letting them see what I could do. It was what Laura tried to stop with her hands on my arms. What Brin realized before I did, how the bars were already deforming.

I couldn’t even save Levi without stupidly giving my abilities away, the only defense we had, and I choked on the saliva clogging my throat. Let go and wiped the snot from my nose while the cell bars solidified with the faint indents left from my fingers.

I was angry because Brin had more control than I did, but it was envy more than anger, and I couldn’t hate her for it. Or think she was less faille than I was. Brin had been with vampires longer than I had. She knew how they would react if she challenged them—what I should have known.

She also expected the reaction and actually smiled, taunting the vampire when he approached her cell. He pushed the air with his hand and a ripple of blasting power knocked her backward. I heard the thud of her body, the stifled cry when her head cracked against the wall. Blood smeared across the stones before she curled on the straw-covered floor.

The gorgeous man who attacked her opened the cell long enough to make sure she was alive, while I stared at his face, committing it to memory. To the list of who I would destroy before this was over.

“Stupid bitch,” he growled.

“Fuck, yeah,” Brin panted. “Touch me next time. I’ll catch you on fire.”

“Shit, Brin.” I hissed when we were alone. “Why did you do that?”

She didn’t look at me, but she bared her teeth and said, “Better me than you. No one else can get us out of this.”

How wrong she was. I’d been useless, caught up in my emotions while she had acted stone cold.

“Let me help you,” I said.

“I’m fine.” Brin pulled her knees up and withdrew behind defiance, but she was still fighting the world for the right to exist. My questions about trusting her grew more pointless with every passing hour. I gave her the benefit of the doubt. The respect she’d earned. Really, with a little more practice, Brin could probably reverse the power wave and blow it up in the vampire’s face.

Wouldn’t that be something to watch?

A draft swept through the corridor. The frigid air added another layer of discomfort. The overhead lights flickered with the uncertainty of a storm.

Laura pulled me down to the straw. I was grateful that Brin and Laura had noticed the weakening bars before the vampires did, but my fingerprints were still indented in the iron, and I was dreading the retaliation. Someone would notice, eventually.

Levi remained in the corridor, a crumpled heap, frighteningly close to the dry well. No one bothered to move him, but if there was a silver lining, it was that I’d learned something from the encounter.

The vampires had attacked Levi close up. But they attacked Brin from a distance, using a surge of energy she’d expected. I needed to ask her what else they used against her because the assumptions vampires made about failles exposed their weaknesses. The ways I could attack them in return—like using fire. Brin might not be ready to trust me, but we had to stick together until I found a way out.

A soft scuffing in the corridor pulled my head around. The female vampire had returned. I recognized the robe and the inner red lining of the cowl, which she pushed back with both hands. Pale, white-gold hair swirled around her shoulders. Her lips were blood-red, perfect, and the flawless features proved the females were as gorgeous as the males.

She dropped to her knees to check on Levi, then pushed upright. Moments later, the door to our cell swung open. Another female joined the first vampire and, together, they moved Levi into our cell. They set him gently on the cleanest straw, which wasn’t saying much, but the only blanket was there.

“The sires have called a meeting,” she said, her voice low enough that I couldn’t place her accent. “They’re arguing. Some approve of hunting failles. Others are opposed. They say nothing good can come from it, and trouble is spreading.”

I wondered where the trouble was spreading. If it included the wolves. If anyone in the vampire camp realized they’d infuriated a dread lord. Because I had little doubt that Grayson was infuriated.

But I was here, and it was my responsibility to keep everyone alive. “We need better food,” I said. “More blankets and clean clothes. Fresh straw. Levi needs medical care.”

“I can provide food and clothes,” the vampire said. “What care he receives is up to your healer.”

She looked at Laura, who nodded. Then she glanced back at me.

“No one is safe right now. I will do what I can, but survival is up to you.”

“What do they want?”

“Something that threatens many,” she said. “They want you.”

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