Primal Heat 05 - Darkness Reborn

last forever. You only have to survive until dawn."
    An owl moved in the trees, making Sarah jump. How many minutes until night hit and they found her? She punched the gas, making the truck leap forward. Her view of the sunset disappeared as she drove deeper into the woods, the trees closing down on her like a canopy of death, trapping her.
    The wheels on the SUV spun as she drove further and further away from Akara, the village that was her home, trying to put as many miles between it and herself before sunset struck. The further she was from Akara, the longer it would take for her brother to get to her once he woke up. Every muscle in her body was aching, pain was shooting through her back, and the chills were getting more violent. "I didn't get a chance to heal from last night," she said quietly. "I don't have much power left."
    Her grandmother was silent for a long moment. "You didn't go to the fountain this morning to restore your powers?"
    The fountain in the burned out section of their village had been standing for over a thousand years, filled with water that gave the gift of life to Sarah, but the flow had been getting weaker and weaker over the last several years. "The fountain was dry, and I didn't have time to try to dig out the water. I had to leave. I had to try to make Nashoba before dusk." But she wasn't going to get there in time. "I'm still three hours away from it." Nashoba was rumored to be a village like hers, and she was headed there to get help in dealing with the creatures haunting Akara and to find a new source of water. She'd tried to contact people there, but had come up empty. Jacob's turning had made it impossible to wait anymore, and she'd had to take the chance she could complete the drive between sunrise and sunset.
    But she had to make it there before sunset, and it wasn't going to happen.
    Traffic was a bitch sometimes.
    "Sarah." The exasperation in her grandmother's voice made Sarah's throat tighten with fear, because it was the acknowledgement of death, the reality that there was no way Sarah could sustain herself through another night like the last one if she hadn't rebuilt her defenses after last night's assault.
    They both knew it. Sarah had risked everything to try to make it in time, and the payoff was not happening the way she'd needed it to.
    "You keep driving, do you understand?" There was a loud crash from over the phone, and Sarah jumped. It had sounded like the deadbolt had just been released.
    "Nonny! What are you doing?"
    "I'm going back out there. When they start hunting, they're going to find me before they find you."
    "What?" Chills rippled down Sarah's arms at the thought of her grandmother heading into those woods to take on the creatures who had tortured her all night. They didn't want Nonny. They wanted Sarah. There was no reason for Nonny to throw herself in their path. "No! Don't! You'll never survive." Sarah heard the scrape of wood and knew that her grandmother had just pulled open the heavy door that barred the nightmares. "Nonny! Stop!"
    "You're more important than I am," Nonny announced, like some damned martyr.
    What was wrong with her? Martyrs weren't cool! "Oh my God, Nonny! What kind of statement is that? Go back inside!" Sarah wanted to scream with frustration as she heard the tap of her grandmother's feet on the front porch stairs. "They'll kill you!"
    "As long as it takes them three hours, it's worth it," her grandmother declared. "I've got a few tricks of my own. I'll knock them on their asses a few times before they can get to me."
    "God, no!" The devastating weight of loss swept through Sarah like a chasm of emptiness. There was no way she could handle it if her grandmother was killed. Nonny was the only person left in her life that mattered to her, and the thought of her dying... No. Sarah's trembling became more violent, the pounding in her head more intense as waves of despair crashed down around her. "Nonny, stay inside! It won't help me if you die. It will break me. I need your faith and hope to make it."
    "That's a bunch of bullcrap, Sarah. You have plenty of hope and faith of your own. What you need is time, and I'll give that to you."
    "Nonny!" she shouted, wishing she could swing the vehicle around and handcuff the stubborn old lady to the bed and never let her go. She would, if she could get back there in time. But that was impossible, so all she could do was cajole, threaten and beg, hoping to get through her grandmother's thick head.