My destination was a steep ridge that rose like a gnarled spine from the center of the Isle. I didn’t know what about that place called to him, but I often found him there, just sitting and staring.
I skipped lunch and made my way through the most barren part of the island. The dimming was imminent, that time of the year when the sun skimmed the horizon and would not fully rise again for weeks. Soon the sky would be a relentless slate gray, neither dark nor light. It made my skin itch with longing…for darkness, for daylight…for something.
As I clambered up the last rocky bit, sure enough, there was Yasuo. It was weird, though. He was sitting in the middle of the trail, like he’d just stopped and dropped. He could’ve sat on top of one of the boulders surrounding us. A slight shift to the northeast and he would have had a lovely view of Crispin’s Cove in the distance. But no, he was just stopped in the middle of the gravel. Gray below, gray above.
It didn’t matter to me, though. I was just happy to have a chance to see him. Every once in a while, I’d catch a glimmer of the old Yas. The way he’d sometimes rake his hand through his hair. How his long legs twined like a pretzel when he sat, making him seem like a giant kid. It threw me back to a time when he was human, and we were friends. Best friends.
Him, Emma, me.
I gave a little cough, as much to clear the emotion from my throat as to warn him of my approach. “Hey, Yas,” I said, sitting down beside him.
He didn’t speak to me. That was happening more and more. Disturbingly, this time he didn’t even seem to be looking at anything. His dead eyes just aimed straight ahead.
It was awkward, sitting in the middle of the trail on a slight incline, but I angled myself even more toward him, trying to catch his eye. Awareness prickled up my spine, putting my back to the open like that, but I was desperate to connect.
“Look, Yas. I brought you something from breakfast.” I fished a slice of bread wrapped in a napkin from my coat pocket. It was a rare treat, one he’d always loved. “Bread with currants. Your favorite, right?” I held it out to him.
His gaze didn’t waver. He didn’t even budge.
Whether or not he had thoughts in that head, I’d never know. I’d stopped trying to communicate in any meaningful way with him weeks ago. I was just happy that he’d stopped trying to kill me.
I placed the bread in his lap. With a twinge, I realized that he wasn’t wearing a coat, despite the biting chill in the air. One more notch of his humanity gone.
But I’d fight it. Ronan had the misericordia, and if that blade could make vampires, maybe it could unmake Draug.
I patted his leg. “I have to assume you’re in there somewhere, Yas. I need you to be in there. There must be some cure for you, and until—”
“Hey, little girl.” A voice, faint and teasing on the wind, startled me. “Can I join your party?”
“Crap,” I whispered. I’d known it was stupid to expose my back. I looked around, extending my senses, trying to determine if this voice belonged to friend or foe.
“Language, young Acari.” The voice was closer now. It belonged to a woman. “The rocks have ears.”
Where was it coming from? I rose to my knees. My hands were poised over my stars, but I tried to keep my tone light. “How is it I always feel so alone, yet I seem to be constantly surrounded by—”
And then I saw her. Charlotte.
Not friend. Enemy.
Ronan’s sister stood high atop the ridge behind us, dark hair and dark cloak flapping in the wind. She was every inch the avenging beauty.
Last I saw her, she’d been raging at me. I’d killed Dagursson, and who’d have guessed anyone would’ve chosen to ally with such a megacreeper as that ancient Viking?
Carden’s words reverberated in my memory: There are those who’ve chosen sides, who are making their secret loyalties known.
I’d killed Dag, and Charlotte wanted me to suffer for it. The only reason I was still alive was because Ronan had been with me. He’d stopped his sister from hurting me.
But now I was alone. Correction—I spared a quick glance at Yasuo—just as good as alone. Was I strong enough to take her down?
“Do finish, Annelise. Or do I call you Drew? That’s what people close to you call you, isn’t it? And I have a feeling we’re going to get very close before this is done.” She gave me an evil little smile, fangs gleaming despite the gray half-light. “You said you’re constantly surrounded by…?”
I attempted a weak smile. “By things that want me dead.”
This was Ronan’s sister. His sister. The one he’d adored, the only link to his past.
Cold plumes of dread wended through me. If she attacked me, could I really kill her?
I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. She was quite possibly Ronan’s last surviving family member. He was too important to me to go there.
But her cold gaze told me that I wasn’t going to be winning her over with my humor any time soon.
She narrowed her eyes. “I’m a ‘thing,’ am I?” She stood on that rock, hands on hips, all towering malice. “But you were right about something: I do want you dead, little girl.”
Maybe I could disable her somehow. Or at least try to talk her out of this standoff. Charlotte was a tall sip of badass. I was often stupid—something her brother liked to remind me of daily—but not stupid enough to fight her. Any fight with her would be my last, especially now that I no longer had the misericordia.
I stood and brushed off my hands. “I’m sure if you just wait ten minutes, some other creature will show up and do the dirty work for you.”
She gave me an exaggerated pout. “But dirty work is so fun.”
I forced a relaxed laugh. Just two gals sharing a joke. I did it to buy time, because I saw the shimmer of her urumi around her waist and knew she was stronger than I was. Far stronger.
I decided to try to appeal to the Charlotte she’d been when she was younger. Deep down, Ronan loved that part of her. “Look, we both care about Ronan. Surely we can find some common ground.”
“Common ground?” She leapt from the boulder, dropping directly in front of us.
She had a violent glint in her eye, and I wriggled my wrists ever so slightly, feeling for the homemade stakes tucked there. Ironically, it’d been her brother who’d given me the idea to make them. Did I think I could manage to stake her? Ronan’s sister or not, I was beginning to think I might enjoy the effort.
She trilled a merry, chiming laugh, which hardened into a sneer as her eyes landed on my forearms. “Look at you. You think you could kill me with your crude toys? Who do you think gave Ronan the idea in the first place?”
I shrugged, letting a stake slide low enough to rest in my palm. “I like the feel of them, all the same.”
She gave me an appraising look. “I see you have a backbone. Perhaps I’ll tear it out through your mouth.”
“Now that’s just gross.”
She smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ll do it slowly so you’re aware of every second.”
It was official: she was totally insane. If I was going to face her, I needed a clear head, which meant I had to get Yasuo out of there.
I stepped in front of him and nudged him with my heel. “Get up, Yas. Time for you to go.”
“Yo, D. What you kicking me for?” It was Yasuo. The old Yasuo. He always used to call me by some nickname or other, like “Blondie” or “D,” short for “Drew,” my last name. His voice was small, but it hit me with the force of a blow.
Charlotte’s eyes lit up and shot to Yasuo behind me. “Well, well. Look who decided to join us.”
I edged away from him. I needed Charlotte’s attention on me. “Yasuo has nothing to do with this. This is between you and me.”
Her eyes flew back to meet mine. “It’s about so much more than you and me, little girl. More fool you for believing otherwise.” Slowly, she raised her arm to reach up and behind her. Was she hiding a weapon? I took a fighting stance, and she laughed outright. “At ease, A
cari. If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.”
I relaxed a little, but kept my arms slightly out, feeling a little like an Old West gunslinger. “What are you doing, then?”
“Oh, relax already. I have a little something for you.” Her tone turned snarky. “A wee gift. Since we both care for my brother, aye?”
It was time to face this head-on. Something told me I needed to show some bravado if I wanted to stay alive—to look her in the eye or puff my feathers or whatever it was creatures did in the wild to warn their enemies they were not to be underestimated.
Killing Master Dagursson had felt empowering. I’d killed a powerful member of the Vampire Directorate, and yet here I was, still standing. I wasn’t going to cower before these monsters anymore.
“Look,” I said, my eyes tracking her every movement, “I get that you’re pissed I killed Dagursson.”
Her arm froze in midair. “You killed more than just Dagursson.” She tilted her head and peered more closely at me. “At first I’d thought to kill you in return, but then I decided to have a bit of fun instead. You see, there are other ways to destroy someone like you.”
I didn’t like the sound of that.
I feigned boredom, all the while registering every flick of her gaze, every twitch of her fingers. “You’re a vampire now. What’s more fun for you than killing? We gonna have a slumber party?”
I needed to lead her away from Yasuo. His eyes had lost their focus again, leaving him completely tuned out and basically helpless. My gaze skittered around us, assessing my options. I couldn’t turn and flee—I’d topple right over the sheer drop that was several yards behind me. There was a path behind the boulders, but Charlotte had those at her back. My only other escape route was the way I came from, which was too far away for me to make in a quick dash.
I was cornered.
It’d have to be a fight then. I flexed my calf, reaching for the reassuring pressure of my throwing stars. I needed a stronger base and shifted my feet slightly.
But first, I’d wait. I’d let her make the first move. I wouldn’t go for it until she unsheathed her weapon. Her hands would be full, and I’d be able to sling my stars, one-two, right into her throat. It wouldn’t kill her, but it sure would distract her, hopefully enough for me to make a break for it.
She’d give me a good chase, but it’d put space between me and Yasuo. And not to be a narcissist, but something told me I was the one who interested her.
My fingers tapped the air with the need to act. “Look, whatever you’re up to, just get on with it. Or don’t. Because I’d like to get back for dinner.”
“Patience, brat.” She fumbled behind her back. There was the tear of Velcro, followed by a look of peace and satisfaction on her face. “Here you go.”
She raised her hand in triumph, and I startled. I’d been braced for a sword. But it wasn’t a sword. It wasn’t any sort of weapon at all.
My feet caught beneath me when it clicked.
She was holding a head.
A long tangle of hair hung from her clenched fist. The strands looked muddy in the shadowy half-light. No, not mud. Blood.
“I heard you were looking for your friend. Emma, was it?” She hoisted it higher. “Well, here she is.”
The head swung. Slowly, it spun to a stop. Facing me.
And then I saw it. Saw her. Emma. There she was, mouth agape. Sightless eyes.
Screams filled my head…my screams. The burn of bile and tears seized my throat. Convulsively, I tried to gulp it all back.
I didn’t realize I’d grabbed my throwing stars until I felt them cutting into my palms. I wanted to throw them, but didn’t trust my trembling hands. “You…you’re sick.” The vampires were monsters, but there was something about this gesture that was more savage, more gruesome than anything they’d conjure. “What have you done?”
“Tit for tat, Drew. You presented me with Dagursson’s body. And so I brought you a little something, too.” She tossed Emma’s head at me, and I jumped to miss it.
But Emma wasn’t an it.
Oh God, Em. Sorry. I’m so sorry.
Should I gather the head, pay some respect? Only I couldn’t bear to touch it, and that felt like the worst of betrayals.
Yasuo began to moan, and I spared him a quick glance. No, no he would not choose this moment to tune back into reality. “Don’t look,” I snapped.
“What? Didn’t you want to see your friend? Though, I suppose in all fairness, it is just her head.” Charlotte kicked at it, and an involuntary keening escaped my throat. “Not worth much without a body. But I can’t account for everything.” She gave a pleasant shrug. “You must agree, the urumi does a clean job on a neck. Would you like to see it in action?”
She leapt for me then. I threw two stars, and two more were in my hands in an instant. Her cloak made a whup-whup sound, and her urumi, the whiplike blade she carried, sang in the air, lashing out as she landed.
But she wasn’t in front of me. I spun to face her…and met Charlotte’s back.
With a single flick of her wrist, she’d slashed Yasuo’s throat.
My eyes bugged from the surreal shock of it—it took half a second for it even to register. But then I was shouting, running to him. “Yas! Oh my God, Yas!”
Silently, my friend teetered. He dropped onto his side. Dead.
I shrieked and heaved his body toward me, but his clothes were already soaked with an apron of blood, a sickening mix of red with the sludge-black gore of the Draug. It was proof of how far gone Yasuo had been. He’d already become something less than human, and it broke my heart twice over. “What…why…what did you do?”
“What does it look like?” She was laughing. “Would you like to see me cut the head all the way off?”
“No…Jesus…what is wrong with you?” I hated the childlike pitch of my voice and the way it made me sound as broken as I felt. “Why are you doing this?”
“You cared about him.” She was nonchalant as she whipped the urumi—once, twice—flicking Yas’s blood from the blade. “And that was enough motivation for me.”
“I’ll kill you.” I flew to my feet.
But Charlotte bristled, her weapon arm instantly poised and ready. “You move again and you die, little girl.”
She was too close. She had me. I’d never be the one to land the first blow—which meant I’d never land any blow.
I looked from Charlotte back down to Yasuo. A single swish of that weapon was all it had taken to extinguish him. There wasn’t even peace on his face. Just…blankness.
“Oh, Yas,” I whispered. My tears were sudden, hot, and very, very unwanted. I quickly scrubbed my face. “He wasn’t a threat to you.”
“Stop your simpering.” She sauntered closer and nudged Yasuo’s body with a booted toe. “These Draug are like walking sacks of rotted meat. A waste of resources, if you ask me. I did us all a favor.”
The smell of his blood wafted up to me, thick and pungent. It bore the scent of something come from the sea to rot.
I locked my knees to steady my wobbly legs and made myself stand straight to face her. “Yas was just a kid. We all are. But you’re some superpowerful vampire now. So why do you even care about us?”
Her brows shot up. “I told you. I care because you do, Drew.” Her eyes narrowed, glinting with malice. “Just as I cared about Dagursson, my one link to finding my family. But you killed him, and his knowledge died with him. All hope of finding my family is gone.”
“You have Ronan,” I said with sudden intensity.
Because, Ronan. He should’ve been more than enough. Ronan was everything. How could she not see that?
Instead, she spat. Actually spat. “Ronan. Ridiculous. How is he my family when he chose you over me?”
“But…he didn’t. He didn’t choose me.”
She peered at me. “Did he not?”
Words echoed in my memory. “You’re the girl my brother’s in love with,” Charlotte had said to me just before I’d k
illed Dag.
She sneered at my silence. “I wanted him to leave you. But when I told him you’re his weakness, do you know what the fool said? He said you’re his strength.” She shook her head in disgust. “He stubbornly insists on protecting you. Siding with you. Choosing you.”
Charlotte held up a hand to cut off my protests. “First you took my brother, and when you killed Dagursson, you took the last chance I had at finding any others.”
“So why don’t you just kill me?” I angled my wrist and felt the satisfying shift of a stake easing into my left palm. “Then you’d have Ronan all to yourself.”
“Oh, I will kill you.” She smiled brightly. “But first, I’m going to destroy everyone you love. I’ll take your people from you, one by one, as you’ve taken mine. And you’re going to watch.”
Adrenaline dumped into my veins. I did a mental scan of my few but treasured allies. Emma. Yasuo. A vice threatened to crush my chest, and I forced myself to breathe. I needed to focus. She clearly had something—and someone—in mind.
But who else would she kill for the sin of befriending me? Carden and Ronan were at the top of the list. I snarled, “Carden’s too strong for you. And you wouldn’t dare kill your only brother.”
“You think? Whoever won’t stand with me won’t be left standing at all.” She shrugged. “But Ronan will come around. Once he realizes what the stakes are, he’ll decide I’m too important to him.” She stepped closer. “But what really matters now is, who’s important to you?”
“I’ve got no friends,” I said, thinking dismally just how true that felt sometimes.
“Did I say friends? Emma, Yasss-whatever-his-name-was—they’re only the beginning.” Her eyes pierced mine. “Next stop, your mother.”
My heart kicked into a gallop.
“What?” It came out as barely a whisper.
“You took everything from me. So now it’s time for me to take from you.”
A buzzing had begun in my head that my thoughts couldn’t penetrate. “What do you know about my mother?”
Reckoning (The Watchers Book 5) Page 2