fearsome scorpions had obviously adored my father, my family had a way with deadly creatures. I only wish I’d inherited it, but that ability seemed to have skipped me . . .
“Oh, shit, where are the handcuffs?” I said, smacking at my new clothes to see if they’d somehow gotten tangled in them.
Ian came over, plucking at my sleeve. “Stop. Look.”
New markings on my forearm caught my eye. I pulled my sleeve all the way up, revealing silver-colored links twining around my arm before connecting to two larger sets of cuffs.
Ashael frowned. “You didn’t have a tattoo when I dressed you earlier . . .” Then his voice trailed off, and when he came closer, a hiss escaped him. “That is our father’s magic.”
“Yes.” My voice was hoarse. “It is.”
I didn’t have to worry about losing the handcuffs now. My father had embedded them inside my very skin. I wasn’t clear on how to get them out, but something told me that I’d know when the time came.
“We need to get back at once,” Ian said. “If you’ve been hiding our bodies for over four days, that will translate into months back in our world.”
I winced. Phanes, Morana, and Ruaumoko had such a head start on us. I only hoped it had taken time for them to regain their strength since they hadn’t been resurrected the normal way. I certainly felt like shit, and usually I felt great when I came back to life. But I hadn’t regrown a whole new body this time. I was back in my old one, and it felt starved and sluggish.
“I’m ready to leave, if you’re up to it,” Ashael said.
“Only one way to find out,” Ian replied, taking my hand.
Ashael took Ian’s free hand. Naxos let out a loud, snorting whine and rose to his feet.
“Sorry, you can’t come with me,” Ashael said. “I’ll come back for you if I can. Until then, farewell, my friend!”
Naxos ran toward Ashael, but the whirling darkness took us all away.
Several dizzying moments later, it felt like the three of us were vomited out of the vortex. We landed in a forest. Luckily for Ashael, it was night, so he didn’t have to immediately run for cover. I rolled onto my side, my hand slipping from Ian’s, who had also landed in a sprawl.
“Worst. Headache. Ever,” he said with a groan.
Headache? Vampires didn’t get those . . . “What is that?” I gasped, catching my first good look at Ian.
Ashael jumped to his feet, drawing a curved dagger. “What?”
“Ian’s head,” I said, shock making me sway. “What is that?”
A new, ragged scar zigzagged from Ian’s ear all the way down to the back of his neck. For a second, it glowed with the brightness of a lightning flash. Then, it turned into the same dark red color as the other strange new scar on his back.
“What the fuck is going on with you?”
Worry sharpened my voice. New scars were impossible for vampires. At least, they should be. Sure, some vampires had old, faded scars from back when they were human, but once you changed over, any new injuries healed without a trace.
“Don’t fret about it,” Ian said, sitting up.
“Oh, she has cause to fret, all right,” Ashael muttered.
“About what?” I nearly shouted.
Ian gave Ashael a look that had my brother turning around as if suddenly fascinated by the tree behind him. Oh, shit. Whatever this was, it was bad.
“Nothing we’re going to discuss now, until I’m sure of where we are,” Ian said, holding a hand up when I immediately began to argue. “We might not be safe, so a bunch of noise giving away our location isn’t a good idea, don’t you agree?”
My mouth closed with a click.
Ian flashed me a grin that made me angry as well as worried. Bastard knew I couldn’t bear to needlessly put him in danger, even if everything in me was screaming for answers.
“Does your mobile still work?” Ian asked Ashael.
My brother took out his cell phone, pressed some buttons, smacked it against his hand, and then finally tossed it aside.
“Dead,” he said. “Told you it couldn’t survive inter-dimensional travel. I’m surprised it wasn’t smoking from all the electromagnetic interference it must have absorbed.”
“The old-fashioned way, then,” Ian said with a sigh, getting up and starting to walk northward.
“I could teleport ahead and tell you what I see to verify if we’re where we’re supposed to be,” Ashael offered.
Ian let out a sardonic grunt. “Then you might get your eyes