by Kristin Cast
So I crouched there, over Chad’s neck, fangs pressing into my lower lip, and I tried to look at him, to see him like I would have six months ago, to notice the way his dark lashes curled on his cheek, the sexy hint of beard stubble, the full lips…. But all I saw was his blood, pulsing behind his skin, so close I could taste it. God, I swore I could taste it.
A movement to my left. I glanced over at Neil, lying on his side, blood from his wrists smeared on his neck. He was watching me. No expression. Just watching.
I glowered at him and hissed, “Eyes closed!”
He shut them just as one of our captors cleared the filthy window and peered through to see me crouched over Chad.
“Hey!” the bounty hunter shouted. “Ron!”
He threw open the back door and I leaped up, fangs out, snarling. The guy froze, eyes wide, gun still down, like he’d forgotten he had it. I lunged at him. He dropped the gun and fell back, hands flying up to protect his throat.
I sprang on him, pushing him backward. A shout from the driver as he ran around to help. Chad jumped from the van and knocked him down. Neil hopped out behind them.
I pinned my prey to the ground. Prey. That’s all he was at that moment. I didn’t think about what I should do next. I pinned him and I bit him.
My teeth sank in like needles through silk. Hot blood filled my mouth. And the taste. Oh God, the taste. It was unbelievable.
If he struggled, I didn’t notice it. Didn’t notice anything until that first mouthful slid down my throat, then the blood-fog cleared and I heard Chad fighting the other guy. My target was out cold. The sedative in my vampire saliva had done its job.
I lifted my head. That took effort. Serious effort, like wrenching myself out of the sun on a bitter cold day. I closed my eyes and ran my tongue over my fangs. They retracted. I didn’t straighten, though. Couldn’t. Just stared at the blood trickling down the man’s neck.
“You need to seal it,” said a soft voice beside me.
I glanced up. Neil stood over me.
“The book says you seal the wound by—,” he began.
“I know,” I said, sharper than I intended.
I shifted so he couldn’t see, bent, and ran my tongue over the puncture wounds. The holes closed. The bleeding stopped. I could still taste the blood, though, so delicious it made the back of my throat ache.
“Katiana?” That same soft voice. Careful, like he didn’t want to disturb me.
I straightened, grunting, “I’m good.”
With my back still to him, I swallowed. Ran a hand over my face. Squared my shoulders. Turned around.
Chad knelt beside the unconscious body of the other man.
“Good,” I said. “We need to—”
Neil held out the ropes that had bound us earlier.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s do that.”
Soon our captors were bound and unconscious. Now that I could get a look at them without masks, I knew I’d never seen them before. Just two guys in their twenties, both dark-haired and broad-shouldered. There was a definite resemblance between the two. Brothers or cousins, I was sure.
They were incapacitated, though, and we had their van and keys. So our next move should have been obvious. It would have been, if one of us knew how to drive stick shift. We tried, but no one had been driving more than a few months. We just didn’t have the skills to manage it.
Neither of our kidnappers had a cell phone. One had a radio, but that meant they weren’t working alone, and we sure weren’t going to let their partners know that we’d escaped.
There was only one option. Walk.
First, Neil went back and grabbed the gun. There was only the one, and when Neil brought it over, Chad put out his hand.
“Can you shoot?” Neil said.
“Better than you.”
Neil raised the gun and put a bullet in each of the van’s front tires. Chad scowled, walked away, and waved for us to follow.
The van had pulled off onto what looked like an old logging road. We’d been on a paved one before that. We found that quickly. It was ten minutes, though, before we heard a car. Even then we couldn’t see it. We were on a thickly wooded road that bounced through the hills of Vermont. Or I presumed it was still Vermont.
When we heard the car, Neil suggested we get off the road, so it didn’t barrel over the hill and send us flying like bowling pins. We stayed at the side, ready to wave it down.
As it drew closer, Chad said, “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”
I glanced at him.
“Well, those guys had a radio, right? That means they’re working with others. Maybe they were supposed to hook up. Or maybe those guys have escaped already, and called for help. Even if it is someone else, do you think they’re going to stop for us? Or will they call the cops?” When neither of us said anything, he shrugged. “Okay, I’m just putting it out there.”
“What do you suggest?” Neil said.
“My folks are back in Pennsylvania. Yours are in New Jersey. But Kat’s are close by, right?”
“My guardian is.” I’d been trying not to think about Marguerite, how worried she’d be. I knew she’d be looking for me—I only hoped she was safe.
“Then I say we get off this road and keep walking until we come to a town and can call Kat’s guardian.”
We agreed and moved into the woods before the car reached us. It was a mom with a couple of kids in car seats. Not a potential captor, but probably not someone who’d stop, either.
“So you and your guardian…,” Chad said. “You were traveling somewhere? That’s what I overheard them saying before they grabbed Neil. They sent someone up to Quebec for you, but then their contact said you’d headed this way. They found and followed you.”
Neil added, “And presumably kept following you until the van could intercept you after kidnapping me.”
“Were you taking a trip?” Chad asked, ignoring Neil.
“Meeting others in New York,” I said.
“Others?”
“Vampires,” I said after a moment. I braced for his reaction, but he seemed interested now, like he’d gotten over that initial knee-jerk response.
“And your guardian knows them from the experiment? Maybe the other subjects who escaped will be there.” He grinned. “That’d make things easy.”
I shook my head. “We didn’t even know that others had left the experiment. I was taken out when I was five.”
“But this guardian of yours, she was in on it, right?”
“No. She’s…she’s a vampire. There was this group of supernaturals who were concerned about what the Edison Group was doing. They were secretly monitoring the experiments. She was assigned to me. When she saw how I was being treated, she took me.”
“Abducted you?”
“It wasn’t like that.” My voice carried a bit of snap. Time to change the subject. I turned to Neil, who’d been walking silently beside me. “So where’d you learn to shoot?”
“A co-op placement at our local police station. They threw in sessions on the firing range as an incentive. I can point and shoot, but that’s about it.”
“More than I can do,” I said. “Very cool. So—”
“Co-op with the cops?” Chad cut in. “What were you doing there? Fixing their computers?”
“Don’t be a jerk,” I said.
“I’m not. It’s a serious question. Bet I’m right, too. You gotta admit, he’s the type.”
“And what type would that be?” Neil said. “The type who can spell computer?”
“Okay, not cool, guys,” I said, lifting my hands. “You two have fun insulting each other. I’ll be back here.”
I slowed to let them get ahead. They kept walking, shifting farther apart. Neil glanced back, like he was thinking about coming back with me, then settled for falling behind Chad and forming a single line. No one spoke for about five minutes. Then Neil cleared his throat.
“I think we should split up,” he said. “We have no
idea if the nearest town is twenty miles this way. Or five miles back the way we came. Or one mile up that road we just crossed.”
“I don’t think—” I began.
Chad cut me short. “You’ve got a point.” He stopped and looked around. “Kat can keep going this way. I’ll head back. You can take the side road.”
I shook my head. “And what do we do when one of us finds a town? We don’t have any way to keep in contact.”
A valid argument. Neither guy listened, so I had them memorize Marguerite’s cell number and walked away.
As I trudged through the forest, I cursed Chad and Neil. Was it just me or was this the stupidest idea ever?
As pissed off as I was, though, I couldn’t help wondering if this separation was my fault. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut when they were sniping at each other. Of course, that would have required industrial-strength duct tape. We’d just escaped bounty hunters. We were running—well, walking—for our lives. And they thought slinging insults was a useful way to pass the time?
No, I couldn’t have kept quiet. If that made them decide to split up, then it was a seriously lame excuse.
Maybe that’s what it had been. An excuse. Not to get away from each other, but from me. Put some distance between themselves and the bloodsucker before she gets hungry.
It didn’t matter. I’d get to a town and I’d call Marguerite, and if the guys were worried about hanging out with vampires, they could call a ride of their own. I’d never see them again. Which was fine. Not like they were my new best buddies or anything.
It had been nice, though, finding other kids from the same experiment. Other vampires. Only they weren’t vampires. Not really. But I guess, in a way, I’d liked the idea of meeting someone who kind of knew what I was going through, who—
I sensed someone close by. Really close by. I wheeled as Neil jogged through the trees. He held up his hands, the gun still tucked in his waistband.
“It’s just me,” he said.
“Did you find something?”
“No.” He waved for me to follow. “Come on. We need to get in deeper before they get here.”
“They’re coming?” I said as I followed him. “Did you tell Chad? We need to—”
“We need to stay as far away from Chad as possible, considering he’s the one who called them.”
I stopped. “What?”
He reached for my elbow and tugged me into the forest. “He’s a plant. I suspected it from the start, but I’m sure now. He’s gone to call them. That’s why he wanted to split up.”
I jerked out of his grasp. “No, you wanted to split up. It was your idea.”
“My thoughts exactly,” said a voice beside us.
Chad lunged from the bushes and charged Neil. He grabbed for the gun, but only managed to hit Neil’s arm. The gun went flying. I dove for it. We all did. I was faster, though, and snatched it up, then backed away, gun wavering between the two. They froze.
I looked down at the gun in my hands, and again, I remembered that fatal shot. But this time the memory passed with only a spark of emotion.
“Who suggested splitting up?” Chad said after a moment. “If there’s a plant here, it’s obviously him.”
“I suggested it to smoke you out,” Neil said. “Splitting up was a stupid idea. Katiana knew that. But you were all for it…because it gave you the excuse to call the bounty hunters.”
“Call with what?” Chad lifted his arms and turned. “Pat me down, Kat. I don’t have a phone.”
“Because you hid it as soon as you overheard me. Katiana, you know he’s not a vampire. Look at how he reacted to you. He showed no interest in the book. He’s shown no interest in what your life is like or what you’re going through. That’s not the reaction of someone who expects to become a vampire.”
“Maybe because I’m scared, okay?” Chad said. “Can I admit that? Or do I have to be all logical about it like you? To me that proves you aren’t one. You’re overcompensating, making sure we know you’re okay with it.”
“He’s a plant, Katiana. He was the first one picked up—”
“Which would be a dumb idea if I was in on it. The smarter move would be to grab me second, to throw off suspicion. And who says there’s a plant at all? Where did this idea come from? What possible reason would the bounty hunters have—”
“First, as a precaution against exactly this scenario—we escape. If one of them is with us, they can make sure we don’t get very far. Who’s the one who didn’t want us flagging down a passing car?”
“But I didn’t suggest splitting—”
“Second, they don’t know where the other subjects are. They assume we do. You’ve been very curious about those other subjects, Chad. We gotta find them. Gotta find them. And, by the way, do we happen to know where they are?”
“Enough,” I said. “Neil has convinced me…that there is a plant. Makes sense. The question is, who?” I stepped forward, gun pointed at Chad. “One way to find out if you’re a vampire, isn’t there?”
“Whoa!” Chad backpedaled. “Vampire or not, I wouldn’t want that. Come on. Obviously, it’s him. He’s the one who wanted to split up.”
I turned the gun on Neil. He paled. Sweat trickled down his temple.
“All right,” he said. “I’d really rather not, but if that’s what it takes, go ahead. I’d only ask that you let me turn around and aim for the base of my skull. It’s the quickest way to kill someone.”
“What the hell kind of freak knows that?” Chad said. “Sure, let him turn around…so he can run away as fast as his scrawny legs will take him.”
Neil turned. I could see the side of his neck throbbing as his heart raced. He didn’t even shake, though. Just stood there, waiting. That took guts. Incredible guts.
I swung the gun back on Chad. He dove at me. I could have shot him. But I wouldn’t, not while I had any other option. So when he came at me, I dropped the gun, grabbed him by the wrist, and threw him.
Before I could pin him, he flipped over, a hard elbow to the jaw sending me flying off my feet. It took me a second to recover. As I did, I heard a grunt and a thump behind me, and when I turned, Chad had the gun—and Neil, holding him as a shield, one arm around his neck, gun barrel pointed at the side of his skull. Neil’s glasses were gone, lost in the scuffle.
Neil said, “Considering I just agreed to be shot, this really isn’t the position of advantage.”
“Shut up, freak.”
“Keep calling me that and I might take offense.”
Neil’s voice was steady, jaunty even, but sweat still slid down his face, and I could see that pulse in his throat.
“Let him go,” I said.
“Or what? You’ll bite me? Feed on me?” Chad’s lip curled in undisguised disgust, and that answered my question better than any test I could have given him.
“You aren’t a vampire,” I said.
“No, thank God.”
“But you are part of the experiment, I’ll bet,” Neil said. “You’re the right age, and that’s the most obvious way you’d know about it. What are you?”
“Half-demon.”
“I’m sorry.”
Chad’s arm tightened around Neil’s neck. “You think I’d want to be a bloodsucker? Goddamned parasites should have been wiped out centuries ago.”
“I didn’t mean that. I was expressing my condolences on your status as an experimental failure. Your lack of powers.”
Chad’s eyes blazed. “I have powers, smart-ass. You want to see them?”
He closed his eyes, face going rigid as he concentrated. I charged. I smacked the gun from his hand and knocked Neil free. The gun sailed into the bushes. Chad and I hit the ground. He grabbed me by the shoulders. I felt his hands through my shirt, felt them heat and smelled scorched fabric. But that was it. As powers went? Kind of sad.
Chad threw me off. When he came at me, I kicked, and sent him flying, then leaped to my feet. We circled each other. He glanced over at Nei
l, who hadn’t moved.
“Letting a girl fight your battles?” Chad said with a sneer.
“She seems to have it under control.”
“Coward.”
Neil shrugged.
Chad threw a punch at me. I caught his arm and flipped him. He leaped up and charged. I kicked and knocked him into a tree. He staggered up, shaking his head like he was dazed, then rushed me. I spun out of the way, but he caught me by the arm and yanked me off my feet. Then it was my turn to meet the tree.
“Need help?” Neil called as I recovered.
“Nope,” I said.
Chad and I went a few more rounds. I had the advantage of skill—I’m a second-degree black belt in aikido and a brown belt in karate, from self-defense training that Marguerite had insisted on. He had size, plus a generous dose of real-life brawling experience, it seemed, which I definitely lacked.
The advantage swung slightly my way, but not enough to make it a quick or easy fight. We’d been going at it for about five minutes—which feels like fifty when you’re actually fighting—when Chad threw me down hard. I lay there, winded.
At a grunt behind me, I jumped up, thinking he’d gone after Neil, and found Chad face-first on the ground. Neil had one knee on Chad’s spine, Chad’s arm wrenched behind his back.
Chad tried to buck Neil off. Neil twisted his arm until Chad was the one with sweat streaming down his face. He didn’t take it as stoically as Neil had, though. He snarled and gasped as Neil kept inching Chad’s arm up. Finally Chad stopped struggling.
“I don’t suppose you’d care to tell us anything helpful,” Neil said.
Chad spit out a string of curses.
Neil glanced at me. “Does that sound like a no?”
“Sure does.”
“Do you think we’re likely to get anything from him?”
“Nothing useful,” I said. “I think we can guess the story. The guys who captured us are relatives. They kind of looked like him. Same build. Same coloring. They know about the experiments because he’s a subject. They got a lead on us, probably, like he said, from someone your parents and my guardian have stayed in touch with. Rather than turn that information over to the Edison Group, they figured they could make some money rounding us up. Only they’re missing a couple of names, so they recruited Junior here to play captive in hopes of getting those names from us.” I bent beside Chad. “Am I close?”