Chapter 130

Almara’s Pov

We manage to escape on the outskirts of town. We interweaved in and out of alleys, kept a low profile, and moved quick on our feet. A few times passersby stopped and lingered to give us a hard stare, but ultimately gave up.

Somewhere along out route, I came to the realization the reason the vampires are plundering in society and could never defeat us in battle is they lack one of the most vital assets of what it means to be a community: unity.

Sure, the vampires hate us simply because of who we are but how many are willing to put forth the effort in fighting us? Who here will risk dying simply out of honor for their community? I don’t mean to be cocky, but if ay of these soulless blood sucks came to our town, there would be no chance for them.

Perhaps, the moon goddess is finally giving us some grace gen the trials we just endured. We’re finally at the home stretch now. We keep a steady pace treading through dead grass to the end of the vampire borders.

The last person we saw had to be at least a half-mile back. The tall, twisted barren trees have replaced the population. The fog is becoming denser and the dying land stretches far ahead of us, but my determination grows livelier.

“Four went on this mission and two return.” Robert says, breaking the long silence.

“Roman made it back too.” I say more confidently than I truly believe. “He’s smart and probably is sending a car for us now.”

“Man, they really don’t care about their land do they?” Robert says as if not hearing a word I said. I’m about to say as much but suddenly I remember the one ingredient we failed to get.

“The quartz dust.” I say, stopping in place.

“What?”

I shake my head and say more annoyed, “The stupid quartz dust from the soul plant. We forgot to get that.” I look more intently around my environment, hoping I’ll immediately recognize whatever this plant is and it’s just cropped up right next to me for an easy fix.

I hear Robert groan, as if that’s helping anything right now. “We have to go back.” I say trying to get over the defeated sensation rising in my chest. It’s going to be dark very soon, which means the blood suckers will be all out and about just crawling all over the place.

“Can’t we get this plant anywhere else?” Robert says. I bite my tongue from sarcastically pointing out that yes, there’s a whole quartz dust store right by our house, I just feel like staying here longer than we have to.

“They grow in the wild in this land.” I say, looking around once more again hoping one lone plant will stand out.

“So, can’t we look as we leave?” Robert says and continues to walk without waiting for an answer.

“No.” I tell him, yanking is arm back so he stops moving. “The land is only going to get less and less like the soil the flowers like to grow in.” I spread my arms and shrug. “We have to go back where the land was more,” I trail off looking for the right word.

“Dead?” Robert says, finishing my thought. I nod. With another grunt, we turn back and retrace our steps.

I’m not sure how long we walk back for, but we spread out and keep our eyes focused on thr ground. Luckily, the land is flat so if I look up, no matter how far Robert or I have wandered off to I can still see him. Which also means someone might see us.

The sky is growing more dim, a few stars are beginning to shine through and I know that we can’t stay much longer. Perhaps the vampires didn’t put up much of a fight when we we’re leaving because it was during the day. There’s no predicting their vitality once night covets the sky.

We keep looking and maybe it’s desire from staring at the same repetitive pattern in this flat land covered in nothing but dust and patches of dead grass, but something else is beginning to stand out.

“Are you seeing this?” I ask, though more so to myself than Robert. I crouch down to my knees and trace my fingers across the land. It’s dry, but in some isolated spots are pockets of moisture. As if the land had been dug up and fresh dirt was brought to the surface.

“Did you say something?” I hear Robert say standing above me.

“I think this land has recently been toiled.” I say letting some moist dirt crumble between my fingers.

Robert leans down next to me. He picks up some dirt and smells it. “It’s fresh.” He says. My mind starts racing a mile minute.

“The council probably had gardeners come out and rid the land of any flower that’s useful for a potion.” I conclude. I stand up and look around. There’re no plants of any kind and haven’t been in the miles that we’ve walked.

“The second they caught wind of the Hurricane Pack breaking through the gates, they must’ve gotten rid of anything useful.”

I laugh in disbelief. “Like the soul plant for quartz dust.” I say.

“Hey, it’s okay. We’ve made it this far. We’ll get the dust, just not in the way we thought.” Robert says, trying to comfort me though it’s clear by his tone it’s weird for him just as it is for me.

I roll up my shoulders and wipe my eyes. “You’re right.” I agree. There’s no time to be upset about it now, and we have come this far which means I’m certainly not giving up now. I look up at the moon goddess, bring it on. I hear Lily bark and can’t help but laugh.

“We have to get out of here, though.” Robert says and the way he says it makes the hair on my back stand up. I suddenly get the feeling we aren’t alone.

We drop the dirt and run the way we came from, leaving puffs of dust behind us.

We’re around t same spot when I realized we forgot the quartz dust when my senses alert me of an intruder. I stop running and so does Robert. I sniff the air and follow the scent. I take my fighting stance and turn to see a tall dark shadow just move out of the corner of my eye.

“Looking for me?” A cackling whisper calls from above.

Before we have time to react, a small black figure assaults our vision the only think I can make out is the sound of flapping wings nestling in my hair. I hear Robert Howl in pain and I begin to trash my arms.

The small black figure flys back before morphing into the human form, only then realizing it was a bat. I look at Robert hose clutching his shoulder, panting heavy.

“Did you get bit?” I asl, surprised by the fear that takes hold of me.

“Now, just the disgusting claws dug into me.”

“Disgusting?” The man says, slowly stepping toward us. “These are the hands maintain the beautiful landscape you see around you.”

“Makes sense.” Robert says and spits on the ground.

“We we’re just leaving.” I say, still in my fighting stance.

“Yes, you were.” The man says and instantly transforms into a bat again. He takes flight leaving behind a noise trail of ugly squeaks,

“What was that?” I ask with an unnerving feeling settling in my stomach.

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it.” Robert says.