by Amy Richie
She laughed shortly and shook her head. “She babies you,” she snarled cruelly.
“She doesn’t,” I started to argue, but then shook my head. I was too tired to put up a good enough fight. I was in a dilemma though. I wanted to go sit down under the large tree I had spotted, but I didn’t want to turn my back on Liza.
“What are you afraid of, Princess?” She smiled.
“I’m not afraid of anything!” I shot back.
“Oh,” she raised one eyebrow. “Not even the big bad wolf?”
I held my breath, waiting for a howl to split the air; but all was quiet. “Nope,” I managed to say without my voice wavering.
“Liar.” But she turned away from me to join the others.
I bit the inside of my lip and instead of screaming after her, I went to see if the grass under the tree was as comfortable as it looked.
It wasn’t as nice as the bed at the hotel, but I managed to find a halfway decent piece of ground. No sharp rocks dug into my body, no sticks stabbed me, and it was dry. For a bed on the ground, it wasn’t too bad.
It was too cold to take my jacket off; I was suddenly really grateful that Melody had thought to make me wear it. I pulled it tighter around my middle and turned to lie on my back.
The stars seemed brighter after Jewell hit. Of course, I couldn’t remember before very well. I had only been ten when it hit. Everything turned to crap then. My dad used to tell me that at least the stars were the same, but I was starting to doubt even that small comfort.
An annoying sound buzzed close to my head. I couldn’t find the source, but it was hard to ignore. I turned to my side and tried to block it out. It was probably just a cricket or some other bug, but after the week I’d had, it was just enough to drive me crazy.
I could see the moon from this angle. It hung low in the night sky, a bright beacon lighting up the sleeping world. Mostly sleeping. It wasn’t full yet, but more than half of it was lit up.
I sighed deeply and turned to my other side. Now I could see the sisters. They all sat in a small circle. Even from this distance, I could tell how much they cared for each other. No matter how much they claimed to hate Damien and what he had done to them, at least he brought them together. The trio was a force to be reckoned with, but there was a softness, too.
I smiled as my eyes drifted closed.
The sound of Melody’s light laughter drifted over to me, stirring me out of what small chance there was at sleep. I wondered idly what she could be laughing about at a time like this, but not enough to get up and go look.
I sighed and turned to my other side again so I wouldn’t see the trio, but even with my less perceptive hearing, I could still hear them talking. They weren’t talking about the wolves though, which didn’t surprise me any.
They never worried about things that were important, it just wasn’t their style. Which was why Gloria worrying about me earlier should have scared me. I wasn’t that worried either, though.
“Neleh used to be here,” Liza said loudly.
“That’s just a rumor,” Gloria denied her claim. Who was Neleh?
“I heard it too,” Melody sided with Liza. Weird.
“Just because you heard it, doesn’t mean it’s true.”
“She lived here with her daughter,” Liza pressed.
“That’s even more stupid,” Gloria snorted.
“I don’t know why she would want a daughter either,” Liza replied, “but it’s still true.”
“She’s a vampire.”
“I know.”
“She can’t have a daughter.”
“I heard Kiera does, too,” Melody added, lowering her voice.
“And let me guess, she lives here, too?” I could almost hear Gloria rolling her eyes.
“I doubt if Kiera would trust Neleh to babysit.” Melody obviously still believed they had daughters.
I didn’t know who Neleh was, but I knew who Kiera was. She was a vampire, too. I would have believed Gloria over Liza anyways, but this time she was right for sure. Vampires couldn’t have children.
There was a slight rustling in the trees, nothing that caught the attention of the sisters, so it was probably nothing. I craned my neck to see through the shadows anyways. Just a faint rustle, it could have easily been just the wind. With the kind of day we were having, though, I couldn’t be sure of anything.
The shadows were thick, and I couldn’t see anything that shouldn’t have been there. Trees, and mounds of shrubbery and bramble bushes. There were a lot of old rock formations in these parts that were nearly overtaken by the greedy arms of the forest. They created long, strange shadows throughout the forest but there weren’t many where we had stopped.
I let out a breath of air and worked on relaxing again. My eyes almost refused to close, but finally I forced them to shut. I wasn’t very relaxed, I felt the tension in my shoulders even as I laid there and pretended to try and sleep.
Another noise, closer this time, made my eyes spring back open. They weren’t closed that tightly anyways. I halfway sat up and scanned the trees around me better. I still couldn’t see anything. I widened my eyes, as if that would somehow help me to see a huge wolf lurking in the darkness.
I tilted my head, every sense alert to the noises I thought I heard. It could still have been the wind or even nothing at all. Of course, I couldn’t hear anything when I was straining to hear them.
My attention was jerked abruptly from the phantom noises I may have heard when Gloria appeared close to my face. “What did you hear?” she hissed.
“Nothing.”
“I saw your face.”
“So?” My forehead wrinkled in confusion. If I had heard something, she would have heard it, too.
“Is there something out there?” Her eyes narrowed as she peered through the darkness.
“Why? Did you hear something?” I tried to jump to my feet, but she held her hand out to stop me.
“I don’t hear anything,” she mumbled. I wouldn’t have heard her at all if she wasn’t so close to my face. “I don’t see anything either.”
“Then there isn’t anything out there,” I breathed.
“You heard something.”
Her eyes bored into mine, searching for the things I wasn’t telling her. I used to balk under her intensity and spit out any truth she wanted—and then some. This time, there was nothing to tell her; I wasn’t trying to hide anything.
I swallowed thickly. “Probably just the wind.”
“Maybe.”
She scanned the trees the same way I had before her. Somehow, it seemed more menacing when she did it. I wanted her to just go back with the other two and I could sleep. Nothing needed to be out there in the night watching us.
“It was nothing,” I insisted again. I couldn’t be absolutely sure, though, and some of that uncertainty must have shown in my face. Gloria didn’t look convinced when she went back to the others.
“We should just sit it out here,” Melody insisted. “We’ve been on the run for four days.” Her voice carried to me.
“We can’t just sit here and become dog food,” Liza sneered. Her eyes grew wide with alarm.
“They might not even attack. Maybe they’re just hunting.”
“No,” Gloria said firmly, “they have been chasing us. They still are.”
All three pairs of eyes turned to look at me. This wasn’t my fault though. They’re the ones that had brought me here in the first place. I didn’t flinch back form their accusations.
I raised my chin slightly and stood up on sure legs. I barely felt the blister on my heel at all. I didn’t know if that was from the adrenalin of our night or from being off of it most of the day. Either way, I was able to take a few steps towards them without limping.
Maybe I should have tried to limp, though, I thought fleetingly. If the wolves were watching, they wouldn’t want me if I limped. My thoughts drifted momentarily to Savannah at the hotel.
There was a louder noise behind me that
had us all jumping to attention. We might not have been afraid of the wolves, but no one wanted them to join our little camping party. Even Liza had tension in her face.
“Come on,” Gloria decided abruptly that we were no longer safe here. I could have still went with the ‘wind’ theory for a while longer, but apparently they saw something that I didn’t.
Melody and Liza waited for Gloria to bend low and let me climb up on her back. Were we going to travel together this time?
I situated myself yet again on Gloria. I knew I would be able to keep this up for as long as I needed to, but I hoped we would be out of Noir Valley soon. How big could this place be?
Gloria lurched forward, molding me to her with speed, just as I heard the distinct sound of snarls getting closer. The wolves really were chasing us. I sucked in a breath of air, but Gloria didn’t say anything.
Melody smiled over at me. I only managed a half one in return in my determination to get secure. Liza was ahead of us, but I still saw her. I wanted to ask Gloria if we were staying together—and why—but I kept my curiosity to myself. I would learn the answer soon enough anyways.
We hadn’t gone far when a huge black shape jumped out in front of us. Gloria skidded to a stop and switched directions. She picked up her speed, but I heard the wolf behind us.
“Jump!” Gloria yelled.
I loosened my arms and pushed off with my legs. I didn’t get much height, but Liza was there to catch me and I was just able to secure myself before we shot forward, leaving everything behind us.
“There’s smoke up ahead,” I heard Melody call awhile later. The wolf was long gone by then, but I hadn’t seen Gloria yet.
“We’ll go there,” she called, suddenly coming up on the other side. I didn’t see any smoke yet, but I was glad we were all together again.
Chapter 8
I stayed on Liza until we were almost to the smoke, then switched back to Gloria. She peered behind us when we stopped, but seemed satisfied that whatever had been chasing us had given up. I didn’t bother looking; I wouldn’t have been able to see anyways.
“There are vampires up there,” she spoke softly to me. I nodded my understanding. “Keep quiet.”
“And do what you’re told,” Liza hissed.
“They’ll just assume you’re one of those pathetic pets,” Melody added with a small pat to my back.
Vampets.
I had only seen one vampet, but I had heard a lot of stories. They became popular after Jewell hit. Humans became scarce, so the vampires often took one with them to feed off of whenever they needed it. Like any other pet, some were pampered and well taken care of while others were just used.
The one I had seen was just quiet—adapting the motto of most pets. “Seen and not heard.” I didn’t even know the girl’s name, maybe she didn’t either. A lot were like me—taken as children when Jewell hit and were now grown up.
It wouldn’t be so far-fetched to tell them I was a pet and they would have no trouble believing them. I cringed away from the label. I wasn’t a vampet, but everyone who knew about me assumed I was. Why else would the sisters drag me along with them?
We entered the camp without much resistance. The other vampires didn’t seem too bothered by three more vampires joining their camp, but I did see they had a huge fire blazing and many bodies sat around it. Why would vampires need a fire?
“What do we have here?” I heard an unfamiliar voice.
I tried to peer around Gloria’s shoulder, but she turned to keep me hidden from view. “I’m Liza,” I heard Liza introduce herself, “and these are my sisters Gloria and Melody.”
“The sisters?” Even though I couldn’t see his face, I could hear that he was impressed.
“Like I said,” she confirmed. “Me and my sisters.”
“Why are you here?”
“Perhaps they’ve come to meet him,” I heard another voice.
“Him who?” she asked, I could almost hear her eyes narrowing with her question.
“He’s already here,” the same vampire answered lazily. “He was looking for you, too, but he’s out there now.”
I felt Gloria tense, but she continued to let Liza do the talking. “We were chased here by the wolves.” Her voice remained hard and steady.
“They want your human.” I heard her soft purr and again wanted to see how many vampires there were.
They didn’t sound threatening and it was an unspoken law among vampires not to hurt each other’s pets. I was safer here than out there with the wolves, but Gloria still seemed reluctant to let me down. I didn’t fidget, though; I would wait. They were having a silent conversation.
Just when I thought we wouldn’t stay after all, she swung me around to stand in front of her, but still slightly behind Liza. My eyes widened before I could stop myself from reacting at the sight of all of them sitting there. At least a dozen, but I didn’t turn my head to count properly.
One of the men with dirty hair grinned wide up at Gloria. “We know who you are,” he exclaimed loudly.
“Everyone knows who you are,” another man agreed.
“So you know to stay out of our way,” Liza snarled.
“Damien’s whores.” Even I heard the low mutter.
Liza bristled up, but Gloria put her hand out in front of her. “How many packs are out there?” she asked.
“Who knows,” the first guy shrugged, “I’ve never seen an infestation this bad.”
“They’ve always been in the Valley, though,” the woman answered. She wasn’t the only woman there, but she was the only one talking. Her dark hair hung loose down her back, but I saw the creases where it had been up.
“We didn’t know you kept a pet,” the man sitting next to her spoke up. His voice held no condemnation, only curiosity.
“Mmm,” Liza grunted the only response he would get.
“I’m Owen,” he didn’t smile, “and this is my sister, Addison.” His head jerked to indicate the woman who had spoken.
“Owen keeps a pet,” she explained. “We were chased here two nights ago.”
“You all have pets?” Melody concluded.
“Yes. The wolves are desperate.”
“We passed a town…”
“Not that desperate,” a hint of a smile flashed in Owen’s eyes.
“We’ll stay here tonight,” Gloria decided. No one told her we couldn’t. “She needs sleep.” She didn’t call me by name, but it was obvious who she meant.
I bristled at the insinuation. I wasn’t weak and I could go as long as I needed to. I kept my face blank.
“She can go with the other pets,” Addison offered.
I kept my eyes on the ground, careful not to let my heart go too fast. Pet. No one said anything, but we didn’t move either. Was Gloria staring them down? I couldn’t imagine that she would care where I slept, but she would mind being told what to do.
“She’ll be safer there,” another voice chimed in.
“The wolves can’t get to the pets there.”
That probably wasn’t entirely true, but I still stayed silent. “Alright,” she finally conceded. “For one night.” I nodded, but then realized she wasn’t talking to me.
“We have a nest over there,” she gestured vaguely, “made of fallen trees and bramble bushes.”
“And you think that will keep the wolves out?” Liza echoed my thoughts.
“It will slow them down and with the pets all in one place, it is easier to protect them.”
“How long have you been here?” Melody asked, her voice slightly awed.
“A few days,” Addison shrugged.
“To protect your pets?” Liza was in as much shock as I was. The vampires could easily get away from the wolves and then find new pets.
“We’re not just going to let the wolves have them,” Owen almost snarled.
So it was a matter of pride. “Would be easier,” Liza mumbled.
“You haven’t left yours behind.”
“She’s di
fferent.”
“I’m sure most of us feel the same.” It was a whole new concept for me—the vampires caring for their pets enough to fight the wolves. “She can sleep there.”
I glanced to where the woman pointed—to the nest. It only looked like a circle of dense brambles and branches lying haphazardly in all directions, but I realized there was a small opening, too.
I bit the side of my lip and turned my eyes back to Gloria. She gave me a tiny nod. Without any further direction, I started for the nest. No one followed me to make sure I did as I was told.
The opening was too small to be considered a door. I had to get down on my hands and knees just to fit through it. Inside the nest was bigger than I thought it would be, but it was crowded with the other pets. I was almost shocked to see so many in one place.
I stood up after I cleared the entrance, and took stock of my surroundings. They gathered in small clusters of two or three all around the edges, but most were sitting in the middle. Eight were there with seven more on the edges. I made 16. No wonder the wolves were stalking. Had they herded us all here? Maybe they weren’t as stupid as Liza said they were.
“Hey,” I heard from outside the entrance. I ducked back through to find the trio standing there.
“Yeah?” I stood up quickly. Maybe we weren’t staying after all.
“Ok in there?”
“Are you sure we should stay?” I asked quietly.
“Yes,” Gloria said instantly.
“There’s a group of humans,” I pointed out. “That’s for sure going to attract the wolves.” Hopefully, they would see my logic.
Melody patted my hair gently away from my face—well she probably meant for it to be gentle—and managed to pulled several strands before I pulled my head away. I rubbed my tender scalp with a scowl towards Melody, but then quickly hid my discomfort. No need to give Liza anything to say.
“Now don’t you worry,” Melody cooed.
“I’m not worried,” I mumbled, dodging out of the way of another of her pats.
Another scowl was shot in her direction. Why did she always have to act all ‘motherly?’ I caught Liza looking at us, but for once she didn’t say anything. This must be more serious than I had thought.