Midnight Fire - Rise of the Dark Angel - Book One by Melody Anne

knowing their families would be safe. They made us a really good home, nothing like what we had before but much better than what so many are deal ing with. Have you seen the slave camps?” she asked.
                  “I’ ve seen them and trus t me, you’d be better off sleeping on the ground ,” he told her. The camps the enemy troops placed th e humans in were horrific. He’ d watched as they were beaten and starved. Some had been able to escape but it wasn’ t usually far . T he unlucky , who remained locked up , didn’t stand a chance.
                  The very old and the very young were always the first to die but the troops fed the teenage humans a bit better to get more work out of them. Any person who was deemed unusable was quickly disposed of. They killed humans by the dozen without any remorse. He didn’t see how they kill ed off their without feeling anything .
                  “I know some of the elders go on missions , try ing to rescue people but it’ s very risky and they don’t talk much about it. We’ ve lost some of our people but we’ ve also been fortunate enough to rescue many . Those who do get out of t he camps are always grateful and they never talk to the kids about what they’ ve been through. I’ m sure they talk to the elders , though. I think they just don’t want to think about the torture they were put through. I can’t believe how skinny and sick they look when they come in,” Phoenix said as a tear rolled down her cheek.
                  Jayden watched the small tear and felt a tug in his heart . He wanted to pull her into his arms and offer comfort. He wanted to promise her he’ d protect her from the enemy and make sure she didn’t witness any more horrors. It was a promi se he couldn’t keep , though . He didn’t understand why he even cared .
                  “I’ m sorry,” was all he could say .
                  “Thanks , Jayden. S ometimes n o one knows what to say but I’m glad you’ re safe. I think you’ ll like our place,” she told him. “I’ ve gathered all I can today so we can start heading back,” she finished and headed in a new direction.
                  Jayden silently followed Phoenix, keeping an ear out for danger , feeling a strong desire to keep her safe . She’ d quickly become the single most important person in his existence . Phoenix seemed fine with the silence . T hey walked through the woods for about an hour . He didn’t know how she’ d managed to stay alive for so long , co nsidering how careless she was. Even though her group had soldiers stationed throughout the woods didn’t mean she should let her guard down. Someone could slip in unseen, like he had.
                  He was relieved when they reached the secret entrance to her cave, grateful the enemy was unable to locate the spot. T he ir group had guards stationed throughout the woods and they may be invisible to other humans but not to his people.              
                  “I’ m exc ited for you to meet my dad and the rest of our group . I’m sure you’ re starving . D inner will be in about an hour but if you need something now we could probably sneak into the kitchen ,” she told him. He hadn’t really thought about food. He inwardly groaned as he realized he was most likely going to have to eat some of their human food. It wasn’t like it did anything bad to his system. H e simply couldn’t stand their flavorless food.              
                  He continued following Phoenix deep within the cave, not comfortable being closed in . He didn’t like being in unfamiliar places. He certainly didn’t like not having a way to escape. He quickly scanned the cave, learning all the exit points. He was relieved there were n’t any demons there . Many of Vyco’s followers loved to hide among the humans. They