Revenant by Patti Larsen Page B

never escape. My mind flashes to Syd, the night she was drained by Batsheva Moromond and her vampires, having enough power to enter the veil but not enough to leave it.
    I was certain we lost her, that Syd was gone forever, devoured by the veil. And I think had she not connected with Max, with Trill Zornov, she would have perished no matter her near imperviousness to harm.
    Sage and I have no such protections.
    We’re going to die here.
    PLEASE! I send the word out in a burst of desperate hope. Save us! All of my pride is gone, my need to protect my hardened core from showing weakness. I can’t let our lives end here in the darkness. This would be a terrible end.
    Silence and falling and the suctioning nothingness of the veil. Not even Syd can hear me here. I give up hope, though my mind continues to beg the Universe for help. It’s all I can do. I turn to Sage, see his lips moving, but I can’t hear his words, the sound swallowed by the veil. I pull him closer, hug him tightly to me.
    It can’t end this way.
    Something buffets against me, wind moving where there is no wind.
    I beg you , a soft mind says as a gray figure with giant wings and glowing diamond eyes comes to hover in front of me, huge dragon nose practically touching mine. Stop with the noise you’re making, if you don’t mind .
    My mental shriek cuts off, panic retreating. Max?  
    I am not my leader , the drach says, the pressure of his wing strokes halting our downward tumble. I hear Sage’s mental churning in my head now I’ve stopped screaming, the veil making it easier to connect with him when I’m focused. He’s trying to grasp the vision of a dragon hovering before us, but I don’t have time to comfort him.
    We are lost , I send to the drach, almost sobbing my relief. Can you help? Sanity returns with the fading memory of Andre, with the fear of our endless deaths now gone. We’ve escaped, somehow, I recall. Through a tear in the veil. Did I do that? I did that…
    Odd , the drach says in a conversational tone, as though we weren’t hovering in the veil, but standing on an ordinary street corner passing the time of day. One would think if you can enter the veil, you could exit it on your own power as well .
    It was an accident . How did I do it? I must find out, desperation shoved aside by a blast of victory. This could solve many problems for Sage and me. Panic is replaced by hope for our future.
    I see . The drach sweeps his wings again, rainbow light casting off him and sparking in the veil. You are a werewolf?  
    I am , I send. A dear friend of Sydlynn Hayle . I’m not above using that relationship in this moment, though I second-guess myself once I say her name. Hopefully, he won’t summon her or worse, Max. I’m certain the leader of the drach will insist on taking me to Wilding Springs.
    Indeed , the drach says. Any friend of the Light One is a friend of the drach. You had a destination in mind when this accident occurred?  
    I reach out and brush my fingers over the rock-hard scales of his nose. Yes , I send, my mind going to Miami. I realize my mistake the moment the veil opens beside us and the shining night-time coast of Florida appears. But I have no time to ask the drach to take us further.
    Be well, friend of Sydlynn Hayle , he sends.
    And we’re plunging ten feet toward the ground, landing hard on damp sand as the heavy waves pound froth upon the shore behind us. Sage pants into the warm night air, looking up as I do in time to see the veil seal itself again.
    “Damn it!” I pound the ground with both fists. “I’m an idiot!”
    Sage rolls over onto his back, coughing a laugh. “You saved our lives,” he says. “What’s so wrong with that?”
    “I should have told him to send us to California.” I sit up, brushing sand from my arms, shaking my dark bob in frustration. “What a waste of an opportunity.”
    Sage props himself up on one elbow, grinning. “The coolest freaking save in the history of saves,” he