My love. Come to me.

No.

I worry for you, precious one. Spend any longer near the Council, and they will discover you.

He worries for his precious weapon. “I’m going to Blackriver.” When I try to push forward, it’s like stepping through treacle. “Let me go, Alexei.”

I light my body again, letting the flames engulf me, and his hold releases.

Stubborn bloodline. Go if you must. Maybe it is better if you feel the sting of the Guardians’ betrayal. But I am your home, Michael. All the answers you seek are with me. If they attempt to harm you, call to your prince, and I will come.

Yeah, not likely.

An echoing emptiness replaces Alexei’s velvet presence in my mind, and it feels like my heart just left my chest. I take a deep breath.

Not real feelings, Blakeley. Not real.

Towering moss-covered spruce surround me. Their thick foliage casts deep shadows over the ground and blocks out the dying sunlight, though the fiery tones of sunset shimmer through the trees straight ahead. That means the road must be to my left.

The silver flames across my body cast no light, but I can see clearly, even in this near dark. Colors seep away, but every detail remains sharp.

Night vision. Cooool.

Angling southwest, I set off running, leaping across rocky ground and dodging between the giant trunks. The Flame sputters out again. I can’t seem to maintain it while concentrating on something else. The woods pass by in a blur as my speed ramps past record levels. An incredible feeling. Exhilarating. I could develop a fondness for these new abilities. Vamp blood or not, they’re awesome. But it will still take me too long to get back to the mansion. Blackriver must be twenty miles away. That’s some distance to run through forest. I may arrive too late.

With urgency driving me on, I pick up speed between the ancient trees, noticing something…different. Off.

This isn’t a normal forest. Pristine and wild it may be, but the spruce seem…aware as I pass. Alien eyes peek from the shadows. I glimpse flickering silver veins streaming through the branches and stones, but everything solidifies under direct scrutiny. The mysterious Flame lives everywhere here. It hums in my skin, passes through my lungs, tickles my scalp and fingers. Inside me, it shimmies through my spine, dancing along nerves like a giddy child. The fizzing energy helps me make good ground, lifting my feet until I’m practically flying across the forest floor.

It’s when I meet an oddly shaped log for the second time that I realize something is amiss.

I skid to a halt. I’m sure I’ve passed that log. I remember because it resembles a goat with a mossy blanket on its back. Have I just run in a circle?