Gavin noticed her reaction. “What is it?”
“I feel my magic.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s like a rock that’s thrown in water. It causes waves to emanate from it. My magic, what I used to get us out of here before, it was like that. Instead of a rock, though, it was like I dropped an entire mountain in the ocean.”
Gavin turned back to look at the river. “And you didn’t sense it on the other side?”
“Their lands are protected. They use magic anyway, and they want to keep what is theirs already. They have a barrier. It’s why my magic won’t extend over the river, and it’s why I didn’t sense the Mori vampires. Their essence was blocked because of the barrier.”
“Oh whoa.”
Davy glanced to the side, farther down the river where Cal and Spencer were crossing. Tracey was with them. She had a sturdy arm around both of them and carried them so the river’s current didn’t sweep them away. Spencer had just stepped down on the ground, and those words had been his reaction. He was human, but even he felt the magic, too.
A knot formed in her throat. They were going to be changed because of their presence among the Mori. She didn’t know how, but she knew it wouldn’t be for the better. They were humans and she had brought them into this war. After reuniting with Gavin, Gregory, and Tracey, they hadn’t moved into the Mori land for a few days. They stayed, camping on their side of the river, while they decided their next move. After hearing that Wren went back to Lucas, Davy knew what would happen. He would use Wren’s information about where they had been and he would try to intercept them before they got back to Lucan. She didn’t want that to happen. Davy wanted to infiltrate the Mori, cloak herself, so she could kill Lucan herself. She wanted to save Lucas this demon. If he had to murder his own brother, she knew it would haunt him for the rest of his life. The closer she got to Lucan, the more her real desire grew. It wasn’t just to retrieve Kates. It was more about enacting vengeance. Kates was fast becoming an after-thought, but it was one she needed to cling to. It would save her humanity, or that was how she was feeling. When she thought about Lucan, The Immortal grew in strength inside of her. When she remembered her best friend, the human side of her sparked alive again.
But she hadn’t shared any of this with Gavin or the others. She just let them know there was a battle inside of her. The Immortal wanted to take over, but she was holding it at bay. They had been reassured it wouldn’t happen, that she had a handle on it, but the longer they camped near the Mori, the more her blood lust for Lucan grew and the stronger The Immortal was becoming.
Finally, after waiting a few days where Davy wasn’t able to send the two humans back to their group, they decided to keep going. She hoped at some point she could send them back, but now they were on Mori lands, she knew their death was imminent. Even if they stayed behind, they were smack in the middle of a vampire and werewolf war. They’d be dead by someone’s hand, so it was voted on by everyone, and it was unanimous. Cal and Spencer were to be brought with them, and they’d remain protected by their group of three vampires and one Immortal that wasn’t in control of anything anymore.
“Davy?”
She tore her gaze from Cal and Spencer. Gavin had been trying to talk to her. She blinked a few times, as if waking up. “What?”
He gave her a half-grin, seeing where her attention had been. “They’ll be fine. We’ll protect them. Don’t worry.”
He had no idea. A doomed feeling was in her stomach, and it was growing, but she only replied back, “Yeah. You’re right.”
But he wasn’t right. She felt their death in her already. In fact, she felt all of their deaths. The only one who wouldn’t die was her, but she wished for it because what was going to happen was much worse than death.
“Are we going?” He gestured ahead to a walking path that led through the trees.
“Yeah.” She started forward, falling in line behind Gregory who had taken the lead. “Let’s go.”
Her head went back down, and she began chanting in her head. She was connecting to the magic she had left in the Mori land. It had been waiting for her return and it gathered inside of her now. As they progressed into the forest, she cast a cloaking spell over all of them.
She didn’t need to worry about tiring out. It was the opposite here. The Immortal was so much stronger. She needed to use her energy, to try to keep her at bay. They wouldn’t realize it, but as they made their way farther into the Mori lands, they were completely invisible to the magical breed of supernatural vampires. It wouldn’t be until later, much later, that they would realize the cost of returning to enemy territory would have on them.