Page 115 of Dark Embers

I flushed with panic from the top of my scalp to the tips of my toes. I didn’t want to believe a word of what he’d said. My heart rejected it so passionately that I feared it might give out. But it was the only explanation that finally made sense.

It explained why my mom had been on the run all my life, always looking over her shoulder. Why we only left town during the day and why I was never allowed out after dark. Why Mom had never revealed that she and I were shifters. And the no social-media thing—that must’ve been because she was afraid Hadrian would find her there.

My hands rushed to grip both sides of my head, a futile attempt to keep my world from spinning.

Oh God, my dad was a vampire.

And not just any vampire, butthemost notorious, wicked, and feared vampire in shifter history.

Any fantasies I’d had of some heartwarming father-daughter reunion with an angelic harpy crashed and drowned.

There were so many frantic thoughts bouncing around in my head that I almost forgot Kendall was standing in front of me,still holding my arms. I came back to myself, and it occurred to me that the usual guards of this area were nowhere in sight. After the vampire attacks, that wasn’t just unusual. There was something very wrong here.

I moistened my dry lips with an even drier tongue, then said very slowly, “Kendall, what are we doing at the door to the platform?”

He let go of me and took a deep breath, running a hand through his hair, bracing for what he obviously expected to be an unpleasant reaction.

“I’ve seen the future, Arya. Shifters are going to be wiped out. Vampires are going to win, and our side loses. There’s no way around it. But I know now why I’ve been seeing you for so long. You and I don’t have to die. We can save ourselves.”

“Wh—what?” I stammered, unable to believe what I was hearing.

“Hadrian wants you,” he said, looking crazier and more desperate by the second. “He won’t hurt you, not the daughter he’s been looking for for the past two decades. If I bring you to him, you and I will be safe. He’ll finally have you, and he’ll reward me for delivering you. I’ll be able to watch over you. We can be together, even as the world falls apart.”

My heart pounded a death march in my chest. I realized with staunch horror that I had no idea what Kendall was really capable of. I had to handle this situation delicately.

“You’re talking about abandoning everyone here and selling them out to the vampires?” As I spoke, I backed toward the hallway as slowly and seamlessly as I could, waiting for the right time to bolt.

“Please, don’t see it like that,” he pleaded, his brows creasing in a way that made him look sweet again. “I’ve seen their end.Everyone here is already doomed. But I know that I can save you—saveus. That’s what my visions have been trying to tell me. You and I don’t have to join them in their fate.”

“What if by doing this, you’re causing your vision to come true?” I asked, drawing at one last straw to change his mind. “What if your visions are trying to warn you to take a different path?”

His jaw set and his brow smoothed. “That’s exactly what I’m doing. Choosing a different path. One day, you’ll understand.”

As fast as I could, I spun and sprinted for the hallway. But before I had gone five feet, Kendall’s arms closed around me, lifting me off the ground.

“Hel—” I began to scream, but Kendall’s hand closed firmly over my mouth, trapping all sound as his other arm held me like an iron clamp.

“I didn’t want to have to do this, but you’ve given me no choice.”

He set me down next to the wall, then turned me to face it, keeping his hand firmly over my mouth. Pressing his body against mine to cage me against the wall and free up his other hand, he lifted something out of his pocket. In my peripheral vision, I could see the glint of a syringe with clear liquid coming toward my neck.

My eyes nearly popped out of my skull, and I squealed into his tight palm, expelling all the air from my lungs in the hopes that any of it would escape between his fingers. I didn’t know what was in that syringe, but I was terrified to find out.

Despite my twisting and flailing, Kendall seemed to have me locked in an unbreakable wedge. When I felt the needle touch the skin of my neck, I closed my eyes, bracing for what was to come.

“Kendall? Arya? What’s going on here?” Celeste’s silhouette appeared at the end of the short hallway.

The brief distraction was all I needed. I pressed my knee against the wall and pushed forward with all the force my spent limbs could muster, my skull crashing into Kendall’s forehead and jarring us both.

He stumbled back, and I crashed to the cold, metallic floor. I was so rocked by the impact that I was completely cut off from the world around me for a brief eternal moment. I squeezed my head between my hands, waiting for the throbbing to stop.

Hands landed on my shoulders and I jerked away, ready to fight to the death, even if I was still too dizzy to function. But when my vision focused, it was Celeste kneeling in front of me.

“Arya, are you alright?” Celeste asked.

Slowly, the dizziness dissipated, and I did what I thought was nodding.

“Where’s Kendall?” I asked, squinting one eye and rubbing the back of my neck. There was a prick of pain where the needle had partially stuck, but I was grateful it hadn’t gone any deeper.

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