A Break of Day (A Shade of Vampire #7)(42)
Author: Bella Forrest

Sofia moaned in pain as the rays hit her. The disguise doesn’t protect her from the wrath of the sun. I hoped Aiden wouldn’t keep us flying up there too long.

By the time my eyes had adjusted, Aiden had stretched out his huge wings again and was carrying us forward. I looked behind me and to my relief saw that we had not lost the others.

Barely a few moments had passed when Kyle shouted out, “Arron!”

I turned to look back again and saw Arron had now emerged from beneath the treetops. His eyes had narrowed to slits as he came hurtling toward us with all the speed his mighty wings could muster.

“Hurry!” I shouted to Aiden over Ben’s cries.

“I’m going as fast as I can!” Aiden gasped.

Arron had the clear advantage, with no weight to carry but his own. I looked around wildly at the sea of treetops beneath us in hope of spotting the Hawk carving.

“The carving is too short! It won’t show among the treetops!” I panted. The ceiling of leaves was far too dense.

A gust of wind blew down on me from above, and to my horror, I realized that Arron had caught up and was now hovering over us. Trying to keep Ben safe with one hand, whilst holding on for dear life with the other, I was incapable of even a feeble attempt at fighting him off.

A pain shot through the nerves in my lower back. I looked up again and saw Arron’s talons covered with blood. My blood. The weight of Arron’s attack made Aiden falter in the air and for a moment I thought he was about to lose all stability.

He’s playing with his prey before the final swoop. Arron positioned himself for another attack. Perhaps this time he would pierce right through my midriff.

Abruptly, Aiden took a nose-dive back down toward the treetops. I closed my eyes and wrapped Ben even tighter against me as we once again made contact with the leaves and branches. As soon as we had made it through the layers of leaves in the ceiling, we reemerged in the open area of the city, Arron popping out from the leaves just a few seconds after us.

“Faster!” I urged.

Initially I didn’t know why Aiden had chosen this particular spot to duck back down beneath the leaves, but as we hurtled further downward, I saw it: the carving.

As we reached the first level of the Lower Layers, Aiden let out a scream as he miscalculated a dodge and a branch dug right into his wing. Our dive halted to a violent stop. I was flung against a branch as I struggled to make sure it was my back that landed against the bough rather than Ben. Feeling dizzy, I looked around and saw Sofia hanging from a branch just next to mine. She looked just as out of breath as I felt but she managed to swing herself up to safety.

Then we both looked up. Aiden’s wing was caught on a sharp branch. It had pierced right through it, leaving him hanging and writhing.

“No!” Sofia shrieked.

Arron dropped down through the leaves and hovered next to Aiden, laughing at his helpless state.

It was then that I registered the absence of Rufus and his passengers.

“Traitor!” Arron snarled in Aiden’s face. “You know what we do to traitors in Aviary, don’t you?” He cackled as Aiden struggled more violently. Then he looked down at Sofia and me as we watched helplessly. “But wait there for now.” He chuckled. As if Aiden had any choice but to wait. “I’ll deal with your insipid family first. It’s quite convenient actually. The Hawks will be in need of a hearty dinner after all these long meetings we’ve been having.”

He made his way toward me first, I assumed because he thought I was weakest—carrying a newborn in my arms. But Sofia was having none of it. The moment Arron touched down on the branch, she lunged for him. She swung herself onto his back and gripped her legs around his midriff. Then, to my surprise, sharp claws shot out from her hands. She slid them next to his throat and dug them in a little. Then she opened her mouth and as she tilted her head back, her beak and wings disappeared as fangs emerged. It was as though she was breaking through her disguise by calling upon her weapons.

“One single movement from you, bird, and I will dig deep,” she growled. I had never witnessed such intensity in Sofia. I was taken aback probably more than Arron.

She was a lioness. A lioness protecting her cub.

Sofia nodded as if to say she had Arron under control. Aiden was still dangling and grunting with pain as he hung from his wing. I began to climb up to assist him when a rustling of leaves caused my heart to pound. What if Arron already contacted other Hawks for backup?

But then Rufus landed on the branch—our three friends still clinging to him. They all had gashes and bruises covering their bodies, but at least they were alive.

Rufus climbed up to Aiden and, holding him by the waist for support, separated his wing from the tree. Aiden groaned as he closed his wing behind him. It hung disjointedly compared to the other one.

“Now what?” I said, looking at Sofia.

Time was slipping through our fingers. I had lost my watch during the struggle with Arron in the sky and I didn’t even know how much time we had left before all hope of escaping this nightmarish place would be gone forever.

It was Rufus who responded while drawing a long curved dagger out of his belt. “Reach the gate. Get out of here before it’s too late. Escape forever. And hurry.”

“Rufus!” Arron spluttered. “You dare to…”

His voice garbled and then quieted as Sofia applied more pressure. A drop of blood trickled down his throat.

“I told you, no movement. That includes speaking,” Sofia said.

“I don’t know how long I’ll be able to contain him,” Rufus continued, “or any other Hawks who might have become aware of all of this commotion…”

“Kyle and Ian,” I said, “help Aiden keep up with us. We need to reach the ground as quickly as possible.”

With that, Rufus placed his long blade exactly where Sofia had been positioning her claws.

Ben was still crying in my arms. I kissed his forehead, then tightened the blanket around me that I had formed into a carrier for him. We began the climb back down to the jungle floor.

“Careful of the snakes!” Sofia warned, pointing to one hanging about five meters away from us. Aiden groaned and grunted as he made his way down. Even with Ian and Kyle’s help, he was slow. Too slow. Anna had climbed onto Sofia’s back since she seemed to have sprained an ankle.

The air became steadily moister and the darkness increased as we descended, with less sunlight able to escape through the leaves. It seemed that we had been clambering down for at least an hour, but having no watch, I could not count.