Page 108 of A House of Fangs & Deceit

A dark shape flashed by our haven of light, followed soon by another. The second one got a little too close to the light, and it let out an ear-splitting shriek before diving back into the shadows.

My eyes roved around the room, but I didn’t see the third one anywhere. Maybe it was still recovering from the wound Vail had given it.

“Can you run?” Vail asked quietly.

“Only one way to find out.”

He stared at me, and I could tell he was debating trying to carry me out. At least, I hoped he was thinking that and not chucking me off into the shadows and getting himself out while the wraiths were distracted.

But given that he’d just given me blood and probably saved my life, I was inclined to believe that he wanted to save us both.

Which confused the hell out of me given his previous actions, but I wasn’t going to question it now.

At least I wasn’t dead.

“I’m fine,” I murmured. “Set me down quickly and then we make a break for it, okay?”

Vail looked at me with silver and dark grey eyes that reminded me of a storm cloud. When he made no move to set me down, I pushed against him until he finally relented and set me on my feet. I wobbled for a second, but with Vail’s blood coursing through me, I wasn’t in pain at all. If anything, I felt fucking amazing.

I quickly took stock of my injuries and found that theworst of them had already healed. Vail also looked no worse for wear despite the fights he’d been in with the wraiths and whatever the hell he had done to break down part of the ceiling.

Before I could think better of it, I slipped my hand into his and gave him a questioning look.

Fathomless eyes looked at our hands clasped together before slowly trailing up to my face. He stared at me for a long moment before slowly nodding.

When the wraiths circling us passed by, leaving a wide-open path to the front room, we both bolted forward. Despite the boost of Vail’s blood, it only took him a few seconds to outpace me. His fingers clamped down harder around my hand as he pulled me with him.

A scream ripped out of me as I stumbled when one of the wraiths swiped its claws down my back, but Vail only tightened his grip and refused to let me fall.

Finally, we passed the archway that led to the front room, and I could see the sunlit exit ahead of us. Without warning, a wall of shadows slammed into existence between us and it, and Vail yanked me to the side. We raced between the columns, weaving in and out as the wraiths kept trying to slow our progress.

They were clearly trying to keep us alive because they kept going for our legs and arms in an attempt to maim, probably so they could drag us back for that moons-damned ritual.

But their tactics changed when we got closer to the exit and they saw us slipping from their grasp.

I barked out a warning when I saw one of them snap towards Vail, talons solidifying at the last second to rip out his throat. He swerved to the side and swiped at the arm with his dagger. Shadows dripped to the floor like blood as the wraith shrieked in pain.

Alaric appeared in the archway but stayed within the lightas he watched in horror as we did our best to outrun our deaths.

The wounds down my back felt like liquid fire, but I was too hopped up on adrenaline to let it slow me down. Anticipation coursed through me as the exit drew nearer, and I could practically feel the sunlight on my skin as we closed the distance between us and salvation.

Vail made it through the exit first, and just as I passed Alaric and felt the sun hit my skin, something wrapped around my throat and ripped me out of Vail’s grasp.

“Samara!” Alaric screamed and grabbed my arm with both hands.

Vail reached back for me, but a slash of shadow shot out and knocked him back, far past the columns that decorated the outside of the temple.

The pressure around my throat vanished, only to immediately be replaced by another as the wraiths worked together to pull me back into the darkness. I felt claws pierce my skin where Alaric was holding on, pulling on me with all his strength.

The wraiths were relentless and for a second, I thought I was going to know what it felt like to have my arm torn off.

Vail’s pissed-off expression filled my view as he raced back towards us with his dagger raised. The wraiths doubled their efforts to claim me as both theirs and an agonized scream erupted from my throat when my shoulder dislocated.

The cold realization that Vail was going to be too slow slammed into me.

“Don’t let go,” I pleaded as I stared directly into Alaric’s panicked but determined eyes.

“I won’t!” Alaric swore, even as his grip on me started to slip.

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