He surged forward moving through the vampires like a demon from hell. Screams filled the hallway, clashing with the muffled music from the other room.
When the last vampire dropped to the floor unconscious, Greer grabbed him and pulled him away.
“Are you okay?” Greer asked as they made their way out. “You are hurt.”
Alexander glanced down at the rip in his shirt. It was darkening quickly, blood soaking through and dripping to the floor.
“I’m fine. I will heal,” Alexander said, reaching for Blade. “I’ll meet you at home.”
He took off at a run down the street, ignoring the pain in his side as he headed toward the mountain. Using his supernatural speed, he moved over fallen trees and rough terrain until he reached the castle. He shoved the front door open, startling the young vampire on guard, and rushed up the stairs toward Blade’s room.
“Turn the heat up,” he said when Greer entered a few seconds later. “And bring more blankets. He is shivering.”
“Yeah,” Greer said, already turning to go.
“What is wrong with him?” his mother asked, suddenly appearing beside him.
“He is having a vision,” Alexander said, rubbing Blade’s hands to try to warm them.
Greer returned with more blankets and they layered them over Blade, tucking him in as best they could. Alexander tried to catch fragments of what Blade was mumbling, but none of it made sense.
“Can I help?” his mother asked, concern in her voice.
“No. All we can do is wait for the vision to pass,” Alexander said.
He wanted to tell her about what Blade had seen before, about Drago. But he could not.
What if Blade had been wrong?
***
Blade
The thin veil between worlds rippled before him. Strong winds tore at his clothes and hair, and the sky above churned dark and restless, as though a storm was gathering.
Whenever Blade entered his visions, he paid attention to the weather. It always hinted at what was coming. And this was not good.
Earlier, when the vision first hit him, he had only seen still images, fragments of everything, including Drago. But now,fueled by the excess sexual energy he had fed from, it was different. It was like a film playing behind his eyes.
The veil pulsed, then turned almost transparent. Beyond it, he could see the other side. The underworld.
Blade stepped closer. A lizard-like figure stood near the veil, its slit eyes scanning the space as though it could sense something on the other side. Blade followed a faint scar along the veil, where the chasm had formed. At the very top, it had not sealed properly. A small opening fluttered in the wind, as if the veil itself was breathing in the world of the living.
No. This could not be happening.
Blade took a step back, fear striking through him like ice.
Before he could retreat further, the vision shifted. Suddenly he was no longer watching from a distance. He was in the underworld, seeing everything through the lizard’s eyes.
It inhaled slowly. Its chest tightened as a scent reached it.
Blood.
His gaze dropped briefly to the wooden stake on the other side, still wet, blood dripping from its tip and sinking uselessly into the earth. In the underworld, that same blood would have been consumed instantly.
But the stake was not what held his attention.
His focus shifted upward again, locking onto the opening.