The tunnels Marguerite pointed Jarrah and Rayne to were absolutely bone chilling. Rats ran by, mildew seeped along the sweaty walls, and off and on there would be a quick stench of blood that nearly had Rayne gagging. The tunnels stretched from the witches' hide out down to wherever the building is, and all they had to do was follow the blue bundle of magical light Marguerite made for them, as well as a transportation spell that should get them out of New Orleans and into the surrounding forest as soon as they get the elixir. Though she wasn't the sweetest old woman in the world, the fact that she was desperate enough to depend on a wolf and Fae must mean the situation really was going to get worse for them all.

But why? What pissed the vampire lord off that much?

Nobody knew, but it didn't matter. He needed to be put down and soon, and now the other creatures were depending on the two of them to get the elixir and save them all.

Rayne knew as soon as they'd enter the building, the fangs would be put back, and she wasn't ready for it. Just the thought of sharp teeth made her gums ache, but Marguerite prolonged, being fangless after leading them to the tunnel, so that was something. But, considering the building wasn't too far from where they were, the celebration was short-lived.

Then again, would they even need them? Every vampire inside would be able to spot they were outsiders from a mile away.

The blue light led them to a random set of stairs at the end of one of the winding tunnels, but before Rayne could step forward first, Jarrah gently nudged her back.

"Let me go first," Jarrah insisted.

Rayne tried her best not to roll her eyes, but she wasn't very successful. "Jarrah, I'll be fine. I let you go first last time, so it's my turn to scope out the area for us this time."

"Rayne—"

She ignored him. Hiking up her skirt with her hands, she moved forward before Jarrah could stop her again and began walking up the steps. It wasn't until Jarrah swore under his breath that she swiftly spun around, raising an eyebrow curiously. His eyes moved away from her lower half so he could look at her amused smile and a blush flirted up his neck and spilled into the apples of his cheeks.

"What?" she asked, innocently.

"Nothing," he stuttered.

Shrugging her shoulders, she turned back around and followed the wisp up the stairs. She didn't have time to question his behavior, and only wanted to focus on the task at hand because they were drawing themselves into dangerous territory. She honestly didn't even know if she should trust Marguerite, but considering their lack of options, they had no choice but to follow her word. And if she was right, the task that lay before them was going to begin right on the other side of whatever door they had to get through.

By the time they made it to the top of the staircase, Rayne had finally noticed the trap door above their heads as the wisp disappeared into the wood, signaling the end of its purpose. She pressed her hand against the wooden door, her fingers spreading out beneath the grooves of the wood. She took a deep breath to prepare herself and went to push it open when Jarrah's voice stopped her, along with his hand grasping her free hand.

"Wait," he gasped, his voice panicked.

Rayne, confused and annoyed by him stalling her, looked down with a frown on her lips. "What?"

He hesitated at first. He bit his lip with uncertainty and then released a quiet breath after releasing her hand. "Just . . . Please, please be careful, Rayne. Open it slowly," he instructed.

"Jarrah," Rayne whined, rolling her eyes.

"Don't "Jarrah" me," he warned. "As a matter of fact, let me go f—"

Rayne huffed loudly, the man just never stops. Turning back to the task at hand, she used her palm to slowly push open the heavy door above her head. She peeked out into the vacant space first, her eyes shifting from side to side in the dark blue room, but after not noticing anything suspicious, she decided to push through. Pressing one of her hands on the floor, she attempted to pull her body through with no such luck. Even standing on the top step of the staircase she had trouble, particularly because she refused to release the door in case it made a loud sound.

So she fussed about, jumped up lightly a few times, but ultimately came out as a failure. She impatiently looked down at Jarrah, who seemed genuinely amused by her frustration. "Can you give me a boost?" she whispered.

Jarrah sighed but wrapped his arms around her legs and lifted her up in one hoist. She used that to her advantage and crawled through the open space much more successfully, all while holding the trapdoor. Once she was out, she turned to help him up as well, but he pressed his arms on the outsides of the hole and pulled himself through easily.

Rayne, now that she settled comfortably back on her feet, took a glance around. A scream built in the pit of her throat, but she knew she couldn't release it or they would be dead and drained of blood in a matter of seconds. Resting on top of each other were sickly, zombie looking vrykolakas who was fast asleep to the world. But, according to the legend, they could wake at any given moment if they weren't careful.

Something in Rayne's chest felt weirdly heavy all of a sudden the moment she regained her bearings in the large room. Her heart didn't once stop pounding to a strange rhythm in her chest that nearly pierced her ears; like her body was filled with a lively energy that buzzed all around her and almost drew her into a euphoric-like state. She didn't know how to explain it, but the feeling terrified her.

Panic swelled in her chest as she looked to Jarrah, who appeared much more alert as his eyes snapped to Rayne's in confusion, his body tense and rigid. He stepped to her side immediately and closed the trapdoor as silently as possible. For the moment, she tried her best to push away the odd calling in her body. If she wanted to get out of there alive, she needed to focus and try to control whatever the hell was going on in her chest.

'What do we do?' Rayne mouthed to him. She assumed they were at the part Marguerite so graciously refused to translate, and she didn't know where to go from there. Jarrah's wings would have to help them reach the top of the building somehow, which was a lot more than a few stories up, but by the way his eyebrows furrowed when his translucent wings that looked like stained glass unfurled, they did nothing. There was a task they needed to complete first.

Jarrah waved a bubble over their heads to block off their voices with a flicker of his hand. Once inside the bubble, he starts to act strange again, and he blinks down at her from their proximity. Much to their surprise, he inhaled deeply, and an emotion Rayne had never witnessed from him before flashed clear across his wide eyes. He swallowed at the confused look in her gaze and shook his head when she tried to ask him what was wrong.

"We don't have time to talk, Rayne. We need to make this quick," he forced through his teeth, his voice strained. "Marguerite said something about us having to figure out this part on our own. There's a spell here that's preventing me from being able to fly and we need to figure out what to do first."

Rayne's eyes widened. "Shit."

Jarrah was going to respond to that, but he stopped talking abruptly, his body stiffening. Her eyebrows furrowed as she watched him tilt his head to the side, his gaze narrowed in concentration. He inhaled again and Rayne shifted uneasily on her feet as the strange feeling from before spread across her chest. Was he feeling the same way?

"Do you hear that?" Jarrah asked, quietly.

Rayne frowned, not hearing anything at all. "Hear what?"

"It's almost like," he paused, and then blinked. "Like singing."

She quietly listened again. She focused all of her attention on her hearing and tuned her other senses out for a minute. Still, there was nothing but silence. "I definitely don't hear anything."

Jarrah took in a shaky breath. "And, and that smell," he purred, his pupils dilating.

Rayne couldn't smell anything but him, and it was in an abnormally good way. It was almost like something blocked her senses before, and now that they were in the strange building, she felt more alive than she ever had before and can reach every bit of her senses to its full capacity. It seemed almost as if they were both wired on a kinetic energy that she realized was emanating from both of their bodies. His woodsy scent now intermingled with something sweeter, in a mix of honeysuckle and gardenias, which it hadn't been before.

That time, it was Rayne's turn to inhale deeply, and the delicious scent almost made her dizzy.

"It smells sweet," Rayne admitted, breathlessly. It was so strange because they had purposely masked their scents. How could they be smelling anything from each other at all?

Jarrah's eyes became hypnotized by Rayne now. His increasingly heated gaze marveled over her features as the bubble slowly drifted away from their faces until it popped silently into nothing. All Rayne could hear was the pounding of a heartbeat, and she wondered if that was the song Jarrah had heard. It sounded different from a regular heartbeat as it turned into something resembling the rhythm of a love song.

It didn't take her long to figure out the song she heard was coming straight from her chest, just as it had earlier.

Rayne would have honestly freaked out about it if it wasn't for the intense way Jarrah was staring at her. An intrigued hunger blanketed his features and increased her already rapidly pulsing heart as warmth flooded her body. Her thighs clenched closer together when he made a deliberate step towards her.

She wanted to speak, but she knew she couldn't now that the bubble was gone. If she were to say anything at all, they would both be dead in seconds.

Jarrah reached towards her face and delicately wrapped his palms around her flushed cheeks. His chest stuttered from the silent breath he had taken and his dreamlike state had no intention of moving away from her, despite their dire circumstances. He searched her eyes for an answer almost desperately as his thumbs drifted over her skin ever so softly. Rayne nimbly nodded her head and slowly closed her eyes.

Not long after that, Jarrah lowered his face to hers and pressed a kiss as soft as a rose petal to her awaiting lips.

Behind Rayne's eyelids, the moon goddess smiled, and two stars burst into flames. Once disintegrated, their ashes slithered together to be conjoined as one; making a lasso of a bond that wrapped brightly around two people's hearts that had no intention of parting from one another. The man was tall with wings of silver, and the woman attached to him had curly hair of shimmering bronze and eyes of molten gold. It was a symbol that no matter how vastly different the two were together, and no matter how much they were destined to clash, silver and gold truly belonged together.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the two people behind Rayne's eyes were her and Jarrah.

And once she realized that, her world erupted into a fit of chaos.