I narrated everything I heard and saw like a grandmother entertaining her grandchildren. I described the Moon Goddess's messages, her voice in my head, and her warning about the Grim Reaper.

Wren frowned and glanced at the ceiling. "You think the Moon Goddess is real?"

I snorted and put my hands on my hips. "Of course she's real! I used to be a white mage, and white mages are more dedicated to her than anybody else."

He sighed and shook his head. "You're believing in a myth, Zoe. That woman was probably insane."

"No, she was real!" I lashed out, and the embers inside me smoldered at his accusation. "I hear voices inside my head all the time. When I was with her, I couldn't hear them anymore. No insane woman could do that."

"You do have a point, but it still sounds ridiculous. Your boss already killed thousands of people already; he doesn't want more." Wren hopped off the chair and started to go upstairs.

"Wren, come back!" I leaped after him and snatched his arm. When he glanced at me, his dark eyes were narrowed and his shoulders tense. I stared at him and pleaded, "I've been here for so long. I know the Reaper, and I know his moods. He keeps saying stuff about the devil and interacting with him, so I think he's plotting something really bad. Please, can you come with me?"

His fingers relaxed their grip on the railing. "That's the weakest and nicest I've ever heard you."

"Oh, shut your dang mouth." I turned away as my face heated up.

Wren blew out a breath and muttered, "Fine, I'll come with you, but on one condition."

"What is it?" I asked, a splash of cold running down my spine.

He turned to face me on the steps and bared his wicked-sharp teeth. "After we're done, you let me free. Once I'm out of here, I'm not coming back."

I once read a book on vampires, since the Grim Reaper ordered it. At Wren's words, a dusty, water-stained passage came to me: "Vampires are feared and dangerous creatures, since they wander around at night and feed on the blood of humans. For centuries, people have been imprisoning them and starving them until they die. They always forget that one day, these vampires were humans themselves before they were bitten by the species we hate so much."

Feared and dangerous... Wren would be more interesting if he were those things. I shook his hand and declared, "Deal."

I gazed at my map as the markets and roads of Honeycide came into sight. "Okay, there's a road that goes straight to Queenland, and then we can hike out of here," I observed to Wren. His body flashed and some edges appeared like a captivated audience were taking dozens of photos of him, and the best I could make out was an arm shading his eyes.

"We can't just walk that many miles without any resources," he grumbled.

"Says the guy who can only drink blood for food. Stop worrying, Sharp Teeth, and leave that to me." I rolled up my map and swung my arms as we passed by the city. Warm, inviting smells of honey buns drifted from a bakery, making my mouth water, and shopkeepers called out their wares over the buzz of conversing people. Leaves whispered to each other and scraped the tops of houses in the wind.

"What, you aren't going to stop by?" Wren asked.

I shook my head and shuddered as I pictured the Moon Goddess's face in my mind. "No. We'll stop at another town."

The sun soon crawled to its bed, and the moon stretched up to the star-dotted sky. Still, we were walking, legs aching and mouths dry, but eventually another span of buildings rose up in front of us.

Wren, now visible, twisted his lips in a smirk. "Where's this?"

"Um..." I smoothed out my map and squinted at it under the sparse moonlight. "Maxenmilla. I read somewhere that it's notorious for nighttime trouble, so be careful."

"Oh, I think you're in more danger than me." I glanced at him and snorted at the look on his face. He was pressing his lips with a dancing light in his eyes, trying desperately not to laugh.

"What's so funny?" I snapped, but he only glanced away with that infuriating smirk. I sighed and shoved the map into my pack. "We're staying until the shops open up again. See any good spots?"

"No. Let's actually go into the towns, Zoe dear." He practically leaped into the dirt roads with his hands fidgeting in excitement.

"Don't call me 'dear,'" I muttered before following him. In my head, I reminded myself of the attack spells I learned and clenched my hands into fists.

Suddenly, the scrape of boots on soil interrupted my thoughts. I raised my hands, but Wren only called out smoothly, "Come on out of the shadows, my brothers. I finally came back."

My fingers strayed to the pack's zipper, the knife inside urging me to pick it up and throw it at whoever stands in my way. However, Wren didn't seem fazed as a boy and a girl stepped out of nowhere and smiled at us.

"I thought that Grim Reaper man caught you," the boy greeted. "How are you even here?"

The girl tipped her head with eyes that glittered like gold. "Who's your friend? I haven't seen her," she questioned.

"A human." He spoke the word so slowly and with such relish my skin prickled. "You know what the rules are."

The boy and girl, no older than me, took another step forward. "The rules specifically say any human caught out here at night must be bitten and brought back," he purred.

The girl tied up her brown hair and bared her sharp fangs at me. "The sky is black and there's no sun to be seen for hours. Let's get her."

I threw my pack to the ground and thrust out my hands. "Come and get me, bloodsuckers," I snarled.

They leaped, and the boy tried to bite my wrist. I smacked my hand into his nose and shouted, "Usuni nalya-illyb!"

Black ribbons shot out of my hands and twisted after the boy. They slid against each other with malevolent whispers and wrapped around his legs. He jerked his legs, a growl coming from his throat, but something slammed into me and toppled me over.

"Forgot me!" the girl gloated, and I landed limp below her. She bent down, loosening her muscles in victory, but I heaved all my weight up and knocked her over. She screamed as I kicked her stomach, and then I hurried towards Wren, who was standing by with an amused smile on his face.

"What are you doing?!" I bellowed as I skidded to a stop. "Did you know about this?"

He flicked his hair aside, like the fight was totally normal and boring to him. "I used to live here. Of course I knew."

I was about to yell Then why didn't you tell me? before nails dug into my skin. I hissed as the girl yanked my hair, sharp strings of pain shooting across my scalp, and kicked me.

I crumpled to my knees and gasped for breath. I reached for my pack and tried to rip the zipper open, but the vampire caught a string of my hair and pulled.

I gasped as she whispered silkily, "Now, now, little human. Lay down and accept your fate."

"Get off me!" I shouted, and bolted away on my hands and feet like a dog. I leaped upright and chanted, "Kanath! Kanath!"

Black veins swirled and pulsed in my hand. Lightning bolts of pain stabbed and struck it, but I gritted my teeth and fought against it. "Protect me while the spell builds!" I pleaded to Wren.

He shrugged, muttered something, and then sprinted to my side. "Stay back, Malachi!" he warned the boy, who was creeping up to us. The ribbons were dangling and broken, held only by tendrils on his right leg. Malachi stopped a few yards away from Wren, who crouched in front of me and readied to pounce. "I thought you were on our side, Wren," he cooed.

"I need her for something," he explained. Then he leaped and bowled Malachi over, and they punched and kicked like thugs in a street fight.

White-hot fire burned my fingers and hand, and my whole body seemed to be screaming in pain  as a black ball formed in my palm. "Get out of the way, Wren!" I shouted, and then hurled the ball at the fighting vampires.

Wren scurried away just in time. As the death spell struck Malachi, he choked and struggled to breathe. He grabbed his throat and gasped for air, but then his knees buckled and he flopped face-down into the earth. Silent and motionless, his body lay there in the dirt without so much as a twitch.

I dusted off my hands. "Thanks, man," I told Wren.

An ear-splitting shriek erupted from behind us. "MALACHIIIIIII!" the girl howled, and she beat the ground with her fists. "You took him from me! You traitor! Why would you even think about showing your face here again?"

"Run along, or you'll end up like him," Wren advised her.

She glared at him before sprinting past us, picking up Malachi's body in the process, and running away into the gloom.

I sighed and backed out of the town. "I've had enough for one day. Let's set up camp, and we'll get supplies in the daytime."

Our first night in Maxenmilla wasn't exactly a nice one.