"But, why can't you come with us?" Hope asked, she didn't have the confidence to bring all of these people out of there by herself.
"I can't, I am sorry." The priestess's expression turned sad. "I can barely hold on. I have used enough of my strength."
Hope could see it, her spirit became weaker and weaker.If it wasn't because of the contrast of her translucent body against this dark, terrifying forest, maybe Hope would have a hard time to see her.
"I think this is our goodbye," the priestess said softly, smiling tenderly among the thousands of fireflies.
Hope could feel her chest tightened. She hated goodbye. "It is a shame that I can't give you a hug," Hope bit her lips to prevent her tears from streaming down her cheeks.
It was very strange for her to feel so attached to the priestess when in fact they just met a few hours ago.
If only Hope could meet her in flesh…
Growing up with women like Lana and Serefina, without a doubt, the priestess would be the brightest, warmest and kindest woman that she had ever met.
"You can give me a smile then." She tilted her head. "Promise me that you will find your way to the centaur, I will be happy to know that you are safe."
Hope nodded, her voice croaked. "I promise."
They were staring at each other for a few seconds longer before the priestess decided it was the time for them to move.
"Go now, I will try to hold them back as best as I can." The priestess gave Hope her last warm smile before her spirit was fading away and disappeared from their sight, along with the thousands of fireflies, made the forest become even more terrifying.
"The priestess is gone?" Lydia asked, her eyes scanned the entire forest, as if she could catch a sight of her.
"Yes," Hope said, feeling down. "She said we have to go to the direction of the sunset, there, we will find the centaurs."
"Centaurs? Are they on our side?" Abby asked, but Leon glared at his sister to prevent her from making the situation even worse. "But, it's dark already, how can we know the direction of the sunset?" She looked at the sky and frowned.
"Do you think the direction of the sunset is different in each region?" Lydia scoffed, finally Abby's complaint got on her nerves.
"Do you…" Abby wanted to retort, but she lost her voice in mid of her sentence. Her mouth opened wide, but there was no sound that they could hear.
"If your sister keeps making trouble for us, I will make her stay here and let those vampires turn her into their guinea pig!" Lydia snapped at the siblings.
Leon raised both of his hands, as if saying; you can do what you want.
"This way," Lydia grumbled and led the way. It was easy enough for her to know the right direction of the sunset. And Hope was glad for that.
==============
The priestess said they had to follow the direction of the sunset, but she forgot to ask how far it was…
They had been walking for two hours long, but Kace still couldn't pick any scent from the centaurs, there was no indication those creatures were nearby.
Due to the fact no one was in good shape at the moment, all of them were so tired already.
"Hope, are you sure the priestess said to go towards the direction of the sunset?" Lydia asked while staring at the night sky, gloomy clouds hanging above their heads, looked like it would rain soon.
"I am sure, she said it," Hope became restless, her legs throbbing painfully, and the mud from before had hardened inside her shoes, it felt so itchy and hurt.
Kace had been telling her to get on his back, but Hope insisted that she wanted to walk.There was no way she would let him carry her when he was not in a good condition either.
However, right now, Hope barely could move her feet. To think of it again, she had been running the entire day, thanks to the devil woman who put her in this messed up situation.Added to the fact that she had not yet eaten anything since her last dinner with Kace that seemed like it happened a thousand year ago…
Suddenly, Kace stopped walking and pulled Hope towards him as he growled loudly.His face contorted as his eyes turned red.
That was not a good sign.
"What happened?" though Hope asked that, but she knew the answer before Kace said it.
"They are nearby," Kace said dangerously.
Leon, Abby, and Lydia crept closer towards Kace and Hope.
"We have to find a place to hide," Leon suggested, his eyes looking at his surroundings warily while at the same time keeping Abby closed to him.
"Too late," Kace gritted his teeth as he put Hope behind his back.
The witches that came with the vampires, must have done something to cover their scent, because Kace couldn't smell them before they got this close.
Hope had a bad feeling that a disaster was about to happen in no time.
Right at that moment, they could feel several people walking behind the bushes in the dark of the forest.
Kace's grip on Hope's wrist tightened as he growled deeply when eight people emerged from behind the trees.
In a place with a very limited light like this, it was difficult for Hope to identify them, only when they were only ten steps away from them, Hope could see five men and three women, smirking at her little group.
"Dmitri…" Kace said his name with venom on the tip of his tongue, but then Kace narrowed his eyes and chuckled, yet there was no humor in his red eyes, as they turned deadly cold. "Ron, from Golden Moon Pack. Kyle, from Diandrum Pack and Drake, from Rosete Pack."
Kace mentioned the other three men, who came along with the vampire and the witches.
And then the lycan talked in disdain. "Does Torak know that you guys betray him?"