Chapter 743. Unconscious
There was a fire, something was burning, and Jael could hear piercing screams. The smell, scream, and bright light hit him all at once. Jael didn’t understand what he was looking at, and it took Mauve’s voice to break through. He rushed forward to where she was on the ground, her hands on her stomach, as he watched the source of the fire skid around.
"Jael," she whimpered. He picked her off the floor, carrying her in his arms. There wasn’t any time to waste; the fire was spreading. He needed to get her out of the trees and, at the same time, find a way to stop the fire from spreading.
It was hard to process all this information at once while also trying to figure out what could have started the fire suddenly—and the clear fact that the Paler had been burning. Getting Mauve out of there was far more important than anything. She coughed, and Jael started walking out to the field.
"Hang on," he said.
"Fire!" Danag called. Jael couldn’t see him yet, but his voice was as clear as day. "How did the fire get started? What’s that scream?" Voices filtered through the smoke toward him. The rest of the vampires must have noticed the fire.
Jael could understand the reasoning behind the last question. If his hands weren’t busy, he would have had them deep in his ears. The screams were loud enough to make him want to rip his head off. They were guttural, and it was clear the source of the screams was in intense pain.
Jael burst out of the trees, coughing, just as Danag appeared at his side. "Sire," the guard called. "You found her." There was relief in his voice and something else. He clearly had questions to ask, but anyone could see that now was not the time.
"Find a way to stop the fire, Danag. Mobilize as many hands as you can get." It would not only be dangerous to let the fire go on, but it could also put the castle at risk.
The fire was bigger now, the screams weren’t as loud but still gut-wrenching.
"Yes, Sire."
Jael walked past him just as he saw a handful of vampires rushing toward him, with Louis leading them. "What are you doing here? Where’s the Paler?" Jael asked angrily. His question was directed at all of them.