Free Escaped the Night by Jennifer Blyth

shared. He was in my mind and I was in his, experiencing all of our burning desire together.
     
    I felt dizzy and my lips burned hot . The feeling lingered , almost the same way cinnamon heart s stung your lips and tongue. The sensati on was absolutely irresistible .
     
    Together , w e sat back down on our rock . I was so comfortable around Jayce . I didn’t have to hide or act like some one I wasn’t. The b est part, I was positively sure he felt the same way about me.
     
    He took this opportunity to explain more about the existence of the different immortals. He tol d me stories about the elements and shape shifters. Soon he was describing beautiful fairies, glorious mermaids, fierce werewolves and dreadful doomahorn s.
     
    “Doomahor ns?”
     
    “You’ve probably never heard of them . ”
     
    “Never. What exactly is a doomahorn?”
     
    “ It’s a rare breed of nightwalker. I’m honestly not sure what or who created them. I j ust know to steer clear . Promise you’ll do the same.”
     
    “How will I know if I see one?”
     
    “ Take my word for it, t hey’re pretty unmistakable.”
     
    I hoped to never cros s paths with one. “ Nightwalker ” was one word that made me want to stay away . I listened as Jayce continued filling me in on the details of various immortals.
     
    “ Nightwalkers use scouts, which are the doomahorns . I’m g uess ing you might want to know wh at they look like so you know what to stay away from. ” He shot me a quirky smile.
     
    “That might help.”
     
    “They’ re dark horse- like creatures with t wo devilish horns on their h ead , a large deformed bulge on their back and big jagged fangs. T hey’ve got unmistakable ferocious blood red eyes. Trust me, y ou won’t miss them. They’re used to track prey . The n, the werewolves get the dirty work out of the way and the vampires come in for the final kill. It’s the ultimate ambush. ”
     
    This was so much to process and sounded like a movie. I sat , unab le to move or speak, just trying to take it all in. I couldn’t h ave imagined anything like this , n ot eve n in my wildest dreams and I have a pretty vivid imagination. A flood of emotion came over me. I began crying hysterically , tears streaming down my face.
     
    Jayce leaned over. “What’s wrong? Shanntal, please tell me what’s wrong .”
     
    “You… s … s … s. said,” I choked out the wo rds in between my hysterical sobs. “You said vampires ar e r eal?”
     
    Jayce focused on trying to comfort me . He rubbed my back and hugged me tight ly . Unfortunately, his reaction made me sob even harder. I sensed his growing frustration and I felt all of this on top of my pain . I had to get the tears out of the way so I could speak again. I just didn’t kno w how long i t would take. I’ d he ld myself together for so long. Eight months had passed since my family was killed and it had been months since I’ d shed any tears. Now, it felt like it had just happened all over again .
     
    Eventually, I calmed down . I took a couple of deep breath s and looked at Jayce with swollen tear- stained eyes. “So, this vampire named D aray, do you kn ow him? Is he real?” I asked with a shaky voice.
     
    Jayce took a cautious pause before speaking . He eyed me up and down and then carefully started . “Yes , I know him. Daray is one of the most powe rful vampires of all time. I believe it’ s because of him the vampires and werewolves joined alliances. As far as I’m concerned, h e’ s a real danger to everyone, mortal or immortal.”
     
    Again, the hysterics took over. I couldn’t make myself stop , even when I trie d. The tears kept on flowing. In order to explain more to Jayce, I thought long and hard about the night at Ginata’s house when we used the Ouija board. That was the night before our families were killed and it was when Daray contacted us.
     
    “I’m so very sorry , Shanntal. ” He squeezed me harder and I knew he’d seen what I