Deadrise (Book 3): Savage Blood

by Brandt, Siara

  That’s when the lights went out.

  Aili didn’t waste another moment. In the darkness, she scrambled to her feet and took a step backward. She didn’t get far. She tripped over the bunched-up rug and fell hard. She immediately got back to her feet. And then, without stopping, without even looking behind her, she ran right out the open door, straight into the rain-slashed darkness. Which did not slow her down. Nor did it have any effect on her murderous pursuer apparently. She heard his snarl close behind her as she stumbled down the steps. When she reached the yard, she was running for her life, as if the hounds of hell were fast on her heels.

  Chapter 2

  Only a few miles away, Danielle Tennant had the same desperate thought in her mind. To run. With her heart pounding heavily against her ribs, she kept running. And when there was nowhere left for her to run, she used her hands like claws to grasp at anything that would help her climb. Roots, branches, tree trunks, rocks. Whatever kept her from sliding back down into the hollow. Because it was in the hollow.

  As she scrambled upward, she had to force herself not to look back. Not to look down. The inhuman screams and screeches behind her had faded until she didn’t hear them anymore, but she didn’t dare slow down. She was too terrified because she knew it was still out there somewhere. Like any hunted animal, survival loomed uppermost in her mind.

  The slope was steep and slippery with fallen leaves, and several times she lost her footing and had to scramble frantically to make up for it. If she fell, if she fell . . . She had climbed far enough that by now, she knew it was a long, long way down.

  She bit her lips to keep from crying out as branches and thorns tore at her flesh. The thorns were the worst. They cut deeply into the exposed areas of her legs and arms so that the blood ran freely from deep lacerations. But still she climbed. As if death pursued her.

  Only when she was near the top of the ravine wall, did she pause to catch her breath. Don’t panic, she told herself. There’s nothing behind you now. Leaning her forehead against the rough bark of a tree, she was keenly aware of the forest all around her. It was autumn and earthy smells mingled with the pungent odors of decaying foliage. The musty scent of fallen leaves filled her lungs with each deep, burning breath she took.

  She knew that to survive she had to stop and think her way through this. She couldn’t keep running blindly. What had happened was terrifying to think about, but making sense of it might keep her alive. Almost too afraid to look, she finally did muster up the courage to glance down. There was nothing there that shouldn’t be there. Just trees and brush and the leaf-strewn forest floor far below her. And silence. A deep, deep silence.

  Dani tilted her head far back and saw that storm clouds were covering most of the sky now. As a sudden wind gusted through the forest, it set the leaves in motion. A shiver racked her body and she suppressed a sob. She knew she couldn’t give in to the tears. Even though she wanted to do just that. Even more, she wanted with all her heart to be home and safe in her own bed in her own room. If only this was all a nightmare, one that she would eventually wake up from.

  But the nightmare was all too real.

  Think, Dani. You’re going to have to think your way out of this. Before the sun goes down. Before it gets dark. Or you could end up like-

  The mental image of what she had seen back at the bakery had her stomach clenching all over again. She had walked into the bakery, heard the little bell on the door, and saw what she had first thought was some kind of elaborate Halloween prank. But as she stared at the bodies, there had come that heart-stopping moment when she realized that it was no prank.

  Olen Bedlow had just killed his wife. Or something that looked like Olen Bedlow. Something that growled and snarled and looked like it had stepped right out of a horror movie. It was the last thing she expected to see. The bakery that should have been filled with the pleasant aromas of baking goods had turned into a macabre shop of horrors. She had stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Ina lying dead on the floor. Her body looked like it had been ripped open by wild dogs. Her husband was leaning over her, lapping up not the raspberry jelly from one of his famous filled donuts, but a dark, viscous pool of blood from the floor.

  Poor Ina. But there had been no time to mourn her death. Dani had quickly become the one in danger.

  Olen, who looked like he was wearing a very realistic, ghoulish mask, had turned his face toward her with a bloodthirsty look in his eye. Dani only knew it was Olen Bedlow because of the apron he wore. But it wasn’t white anymore. It was covered with blood. The attack came suddenly and without warning. He lunged straight for her with a savage snarl and a wheezing rasp of rattling breath, spraying Ina’s blood from his mouth.

  Dani had panicked, falling back into something sharp, a display hook that punctured her upper arm. It was a painful wound and the blood had immediately begun to run down her arm. But that was the least of her worries.

  Olen Bedlow was reaching for her with grasping hands as he tried to take a bite out of her. At first she was trapped against one of the glass display cases. Then somehow she managed to get away from him. She ran and she didn’t stop running as Olen Bedlow chased her down the street and into the woods.

  Dani didn’t know what had happened at the bakery. She only knew that there were two terrifying, ghoulish creatures out there somewhere. She had been chased by yet another one of them. It wasn’t Olen Bedlow, but it was someone, something like him

  She suppressed another sob. As much as she wanted to break down and cry, she knew she couldn’t do that. Giving in to her fears wasn’t going to do her any good. She had to be focused if she wanted to live. There was no room for error. No room for hesitation or uncertainty. Not when the worst kind of predators were out there. Human predators. At least she thought they were human.

  So she shoved the panic deep inside. And prayed. And kept herself together. Mostly. Except for a few tears that leaked from beneath her lashes. If only Hunter- She stopped that thought just as quickly as it came. Hunter wasn’t going to rescue her. No one was going to rescue her.

  “Don’t think about him,” she whispered to herself.

  She had to make a decision. And she had to make it fast. The thought of being out here after dark terrified her. Because when it got dark, she would be as good as blind.

  Thunder, low and ominous, rumbled through the forest. She knew she needed to head south so that’s what she would do. That’s where the nearest houses would be. She also knew she had to get across Cold Creek as soon as possible, because it would stop her if it rained hard enough.

  A vivid flash of lightning startled her. It was followed by another crash of thunder. She heard the first heavy raindrops pelting the leaves around her as she began to climb again. At least she had to get out of this ravine before nightfall, rain or no rain.

  She immediately froze as a twig snapped above her. She saw a deeper shadow separate itself from the shadows under the trees. The shuffling gait of footsteps on dead leaves was loud at first. Then the sound moved off and faded into the distance. Rain started falling harder though not much of it was reaching her yet.

  Using her hands, Dani guided herself upward through the near darkness. Carefully sliding her palms over a protruding section of rock wall, she disturbed creeping things that crawled over the backs of her hands and down her arms. She had to bear it. She could not let go to brush them away.

  Something rustled the leaves above her again. She went still and held her breath, waiting for it to pass. Was it the same thing that had passed by earlier? she wondered. Was it an animal?

  She looked up when a shower of leaves started falling all around her. Another dark form suddenly burst out of the rain-slashed gloom. It was so close, and so unexpected, that she screamed. Grasping for a sapling as the shadow lurched even closer, Dani heard snarling and strange breathless gasps. Still holding onto the sapling, she spun around awkwardly, instinctively trying to escape whatever it was when a searing pain shot through her back. She
felt panting breaths close against her flesh.

  Reacting in a blind panic, she screamed again and arched her body far out from the rock wall. She was projected outward where there was no foothold, and nothing left for her to grasp. And then she began to fall.

  Like all absent fathers, Reeve Madsen blamed everyone but himself for his absence. He blamed his boss for making him stick to an impossible work schedule. But then, in his opinion, all women bosses were controlling, conniving bitches. He blamed his new girlfriend who was too jealous to share him. He even blamed his child, who he had just learned had the nerve to resent the fact that he was working so hard to make a new life for himself. Where did he think those child support checks came from? But mostly he blamed his ex-wife.

  He pressed his lips tightly together as he glared at the barren landscape that surrounded him. Not a single building in sight. Not even a barn. Being stranded in the middle of nowhere with car problems was the last thing he had expected. But here he was. Going nowhere. His whole weekend completely shot.

  While he sat there waiting for the tow truck, he muttered to himself about how he wouldn’t even be in this mess if Aili had not opened her damned mouth and called him an unfeeling bastard. Maybe she had not used those exact words, but that’s what he translated them to mean. He knew very well how she felt about him. And had she not worked so hard at turning his own son against him, which he was sure she must have been doing all along, he wouldn’t have been forced to prove that she was wrong.

  Elan feels like you never wanted him.

  “Give me a break,” Reeve muttered irritably as his hands closed so tightly around the steering wheel that his knuckles looked bloodless.

  He squinted at the darkening horizon as he went on nursing his anger. It wasn’t like Aili could lay claim to being a good mother or providing their son with a decent home life. Look at how she had dragged him clear across the state. She must be too selfishly-absorbed in her new husband. Yeah, that had to be it. Anyone could figure that one out. She was really the selfish one here.

  Well, he wasn’t going to let her get away with it. He would give her a piece of his mind when he saw her. She had some nerve criticizing him for not visiting Elan on his upcoming birthday. Those yearly birthday and Christmas gifts already proved that he was a caring parent. Hadn’t he dropped everything, changed his plans and gone out of his way to come here at the worst time possible? After a freaking three-hour drive? And did she care if it was a damned inconvenience for him? He made a scoffing snort. Hell, no. She had never cared how much she inconvenienced him.

  Well, he’d show her. He’d heap on the guilt that she deserved. And he’d damnwell prove that he was not the selfish bastard that she thought he was.

  Where the hell was that tow truck? He checked his watch again. He had called for assistance over an hour ago. Leave it to Aili to move to a God-forsaken, isolated area like this.

  As he sat there in the middle of nowhere, fully immersed in his grievances, he heard a deep rumble of thunder. Great. Just what he needed. Rain. Which was going to make this weekend even more of a disaster.

  Chapter 3

  Lightning pulsed like an erratic heartbeat as the first heavy raindrops splattered against the windshield and flattened out. The rain immediately turned into a downpour and the road, which was lit up only by his twin headlights, turned into a wavering blur. Breshan Southwell switched the wipers to high, but that still didn’t do much good. The wind and rain were suddenly so heavy that it was like being in the middle of a carwash.

  If he wasn’t so close to home, he’d have pulled over. It was that bad. But he was looking forward to a hot shower, a quick meal and a good night’s sleep. Besides that, there was nowhere safe to pull over.

  There was a lot of rain on the highway and he fishtailed in the deep water beneath an underpass. He swore under his breath at the very same moment that the tires grabbed the pavement again. But he was soon swearing again, resisting the urge to jam on the brakes when he saw red and blue police lights flashing through his rain-slashed windshield. He slowed down and pulled over.

  A police officer in rain gear appeared at his window.

  Bresh rolled the window down and asked, “What’s the problem?”

  The officer had to raise his voice to be heard over the sound of the rain. “There’s been a wreck up ahead.”

  “A bad one?”

  Both men cringed as a wicked stab of lightning crackled somewhere close by.

  “Vehicle rolled several times and landed at the bottom of the ravine,” the officer finally answered him.

  It wasn’t hard to imagine on a night like this, Bresh thought. There were several sharp curves in the road ahead. All of them could be tricky to navigate in the dark unless you knew the road well.

  “I don’t suppose you can give me any names?” Bresh asked. He knew some of the people that lived on this road.

  “Sorry. Can’t release anything yet.”

  “I live just up the road. Could be someone I know,” Bresh tried. “Can you at least tell me what kind of a vehicle it was?”

  “A red jeep,” came the answer after only a slight hesitation.

  Hell. Hance Dagroot owned a red jeep.

  “Word is they don’t know where the driver is,” the officer went on in a confidential voice as he leaned towards the car window. “There was no one in the car when they got to it. They think he must have wandered away. But from the looks of the wreck, I don’t see how that was possible. I don’t know how anyone could have walked away from that.”

  Bresh nodded as he listened to the rhythmic slap of the wipers.

  “Go on around,” he heard. “Just be careful. There’s a lot going on tonight. And not just here. You see anybody that looks hurt or disoriented, you see anything that doesn’t look right, give us a call.”

  Bresh nodded as the officer waved him on with his flashlight.

  Fifteen minutes later it was still pouring while Bresh pulled his car into his garage. Right before he turned off the engine, he heard a “ding”. He looked down and saw that the fuel light had gone on. He should have stopped for gas, but he could take care of that tomorrow. A few minutes after that he tossed his keys onto the kitchen counter.

  It had been a long week, but he was used to putting in more than his forty hours. If he got overtime, he’d be a millionaire by now. Sure, they were taking advantage of him, but that’s what you did when you wanted to get ahead. You busted your ass.

  After his shower, he went out onto the front porch. As he shoved the wet strands of dark hair away from his face, he listened to the thunder and stared at the lightning in the distance. The storm was already moving off, but every now and then, the wind blew a fine mist of moisture against him. He was bare chested. His feet were bare, too, as he stood in the darkness surrounded by the steady dripping of rain from the leaves and the eaves of the house.

  Once long ago this would have been a peaceful night at the end of a peaceful day. But a grueling day at work and another fight over the phone with Macy had disrupted any semblance of peace. He sighed as he leaned forward and wrapped his hands around the porch railing. Macy should be happy now. Contrary to her accusations, he had hoped that she would be. This was what she had said she wanted. But it sounded like she was anything but happy. Still. Why the hell else would she be calling him with her problems? She had Cort now.

  Thinking back, during the entire year of their relationship, her bitterness had seemed to grow, along with her anger, until they were fighting day and night. And the fights had become more vicious, more hurtful as time went on.

  He understood that she had lost a great deal. She had lost her father to cancer less than a year before he had met her. They had been close. Maybe she hadn’t had time to properly mourn her loss. Macy had always been ambitious. To deal with her grief, she had thrown herself into her work at the law firm. Maybe the stress was getting to her. But there was nothing he could do to change any of it or make it better for her. God knew, he had
tried. In the end, all they could do was to pick up the pieces and go on the best they could and hope that this breakup would prove to be a better choice than their failed attempt at a relationship had been.

  He had already faced the sobering realization that he could not make Macy happy. And he accepted it. Gauging by tonight’s fight, she was still as dissatisfied with him as she was with anything. Maybe moreso. Maybe he should have expected this. Thinking back, she had been angry and resentful from the first moment he had met her. Over what exactly, he never did figure out. Maybe things had moved too fast for them. But that was all in the past now. Her problems were her problems now. And Cort’s.

  He had come to realize that he had wanted out of the relationship for a long time. He had never admitted that to her, of course, but he had finally admitted it to himself. Macy had been too concerned with money, status and appearances. He didn’t want to spend the rest of his life being smothered by the weight of those things becoming a priority for him, too. The fact that he had caught her cheating on him had just made the breakup faster and easier for him. Of course, it would all have been a lot easier if Cort hadn’t been his best friend. But Macy obviously wanted Cort. And what Macy wanted, she usually got. One way or another. In the end, the breakup had been more of a relief than anything else. And the fact that he wasn’t jealous was pretty telling.

  He cracked three eggs into a bowl, added a little water the way his grandmother had taught him, and started beating the eggs with a whisk. Since his return from overseas, everything had just happened. Everything seemed like it was decided for him. His job. His relationship with Macy. Even this house. He felt like a mindless fish lost in in a powerful current that was pulling him relentlessly onward. Along with a lot of other mindless fish. Not that he hadn’t worked hard to get where he was. He’d sacrificed a lot. But lately he found himself wondering, what if. What if he didn’t have to spend his time being closed up in the same office with the same shallow, materialistic people every single day? What if he could do something that was more meaningful, more fulfilling? For him. Somehow, somewhere along the line, he felt like he’d lost a big part of himself and he didn’t know if he could get it back again.