Chapter 27. You Can’t Stop Them

Xerina’s POV

A shiver ran down my spine again as his eyes flickered again. “Who is it, then?” I asked, my voice trembling. “Who’s doing this?”

His eyes darkened, and a shadow of something I couldn’t quite identify passed over his face.

“There are forces at play here that you can’t begin to understand,” his voice was a harsh whisper. “Just leave me the fuck alone.”

“Tell me what you know,” I demanded, taking another step forward, and he stepped back as if my presence was overbearing. “I need to know who to stop.”

“You can’t stop them,” he scoffed darkly. “No one can. They are bound by blood, by oaths older than time itself. You think you’re hunting a monster, but the real monsters are the ones who wear human faces.”

The wind howled around us. My eyes narrowed. “Who are they? Who’s marked you?”

His laugh was bitter, devoid of humor. “The same ones who will come for you if you keep digging,” he said. “The ones who see us as nothing more