“I remember those cages,” she muttered.
“And we escaped them.”
Charlie’s hands froze on the sticks as she gawked at him. “You escaped?”
“Are you hard of hearing?” Jack asked and smiled when she scowled at him.
Charlie had deserved that, but she still wanted to throw a stick at him. Instead, she settled it over the hole. “How did you escape?”
“I’m not entirely sure how my friend Mike got out of his cage, but once he did, he freed me and our friend Doug. We turned some of the others loose. We left some of the more starved vamps behind, we had no choice in that, but we let out as many humans and vamps as we could before we had to run.”
“So the hunt has been botched this year,” she muttered. “I saw it coming…” Her voice trailed off as she bit her lip and tried to figure out what it all meant.
She’d seen this happening years before she ever came to the island. Of course, at the time, she had no idea what it meant as she’d never seen the place in her dream and rarely did she have visions while sleeping.
However, after they caught her and Dylan, the second she saw the men with the security patches, she recalled her dream and knew it had been a vision. She’d seen a lot of death in that vision, but she’d also seen the security vamps struggling to control something usually within their control.
She’d seen… Charlie strained to recall the details of her vision, but because it came to her in a dream, she’d lost some of the details. She couldn’t remember precisely what she saw, but she’d known something was wrong and a hunt was botched.
Maybe that meant good things for all of them, or maybe it meant the end was finally coming. Charlie shuddered at the possibility and gritted her teeth as she determined to make sure Dylan survived.
She had no idea what her vision meant, but this was the first year not everything was going according to plan for the Savages. They might be able to use that to their advantage.
“What do you mean you saw it coming?” Jack asked as Charlie’s face took on a distant look.
Charlie startled and pulled herself out of her reverie; she’d forgotten Jack was there until he spoke. She returned to covering the hole with sticks as she spoke. “Oh, ah… that it was only a matter of time before something went wrong for these assholes.”
Something about her explanation rang wrong with Jack, but he didn’t push her on it. He suspected if he tried, she would clam up, and he wouldn’t get anything else out of her about it.
“Back to this hunting thing,” he said. “How many are hunting us?”
“That changes every year, and so does the number of victims.”
Charlie wiped her dirty palms on her jeans as she tilted her head to study him. With his nose healing and the circles under his eyes fading, his looks were improving, and he was almost handsome.
You’re an idiot! The last thing she should be noticing was a handsome man right now. The hunt had begun, this was the most dangerous time of the year, and they were aboveground. Anxiety twisted in her gut over being caught out during the hunt, she hadn’t been aboveground during a hunt since hers, but there was no other choice. They had to cover the hole again.
Granted, anyone else could wander in between the trees and fall in as Jack had, but if someone glanced inside the trees, they wouldn’t see the hole and decide to go exploring. Usually, during a hunt, they had guards on all the tunnel entrances, in case someone found them, but they hadn’t expected the hunt to be thrown off this year.
Jack leaned back on his heels and rubbed his chin as he surveyed her. “They’ve been hunting you for three years?”
“Yes. Not as intensely as in the beginning, but that’s because they’re not sure if I’m alive or dead,” she said. “They may not have recovered my body, but they think some of us threw ourselves off the cliffs and drowned.” Which was entirely possible for her as she’d still been human when captured.
“They do sweeps of the island all year in search of those who have evaded them,” she continued. “They believe most, if not all of us are dead, but they do the searches to make sure.”
“How do you know this?”
“We’ve managed to catch instead of killing a couple of their lackeys and question them.”
That was the polite way of putting it, but they’d done what was necessary to get some information from the bastards. The torture had made Charlie uncomfortable, but better them than her or Dylan. Her stomach turned at the thought of Dylan back in the hands of those vampires, and she knew she would torture a hundred more vamps if it meant keeping him safe.
“I see,” Jack murmured. “And they never noticed these missing security members?”
“I’m sure they have, but we’re not exactly slaughtering them left and right. Some years none are killed, and some years there’s no choice. I don’t know how they’ve explained the disappearance of some of their followers.”
Jack rubbed his chin as he contemplated what she’d revealed. “And are all the survivors belowground?”
“They are where they should be,” she replied. She wouldn’t give away any more information until Mal met this guy.
She rose to survey the branches overhead. They were too far up now for her to break any of them off. She didn’t want to go outside the trees until they had to, but there was no other choice.
“We need more branches to cover the hole,” she said.
“I’ll get them,” Jack said.
Charlie started to protest, but he pulled the branches aside and slid through them. A few seconds later, he stuck a branch inside. She took it and placed it over the other limbs on the hole. After a few minutes, she had covered the hole, and Jack returned. Charlie knelt to put debris over the branches.
Jack found his eyes roaming over her as she worked with an intent look on her face. Despite her exasperating personality, she intrigued him. As Charlie worked, strands of her chestnut hair fell free again to straggle around her face. She absently wiped away the sweat beading her forehead with the back of her arm before returning to work.
She scattered handfuls of leaves onto the sticks, carefully arranging them to look natural as they covered the hole. Leaning back on her heels, she surveyed the hole and the area surrounding it. She couldn’t tell the difference between the ground and the pit.
“Looks good,” Jack said.
“It does,” she agreed as she stood to wipe off her hands and ass.
Unable to resist, Jack moved to stand beside her. Beneath the scent of pine and earth clinging to her, he caught a hint of lavender. When she turned, the silken strands of her hair brushed his arm and sent a strange thrill up his back. What was it about this woman…?
“We should go,” she said.
She reclaimed her rope and hook, and returned them to her shoulder bag.
“And where are we going?” Jack asked.
“Elsewhere.”
She attempted to turn away, but he grasped her arm and turned her back to him. “I’m not your enemy,” he said. “You can tell me things.”
Her eyes flashed with anger, and when she tugged on her arm, he released her.
“Maybe you’re not the enemy, but I’m not putting the lives of others on the line until I’m sure you can be trusted. You’ll learn what you need to know as you need to know it,” she said. “We’ve survived on this island for a reason.”
“Who’s we?”
She placed her finger against her lips and turned toward the trees. She thought she’d heard… And there it was again, the softest step on the forest floor.
Without thinking, Jack clasped her elbow and pulled her closer to him. Charlie shot him a look over her shoulder, but she didn’t try to pull away from him again. Neither of them dared to move as whoever was in the woods walked past them. Jack listened to the steps until they walked out of earshot and further into the woods.
“Let’s go,” Charlie whispered.
Jack pulled aside the branches of the trees and slipped outside.
He held his hand out to keep Charlie back as he scanned the woods to make sure it was safe. She pushed his hand aside before stepping from the copse of trees. The sunlight filtering over her caressed her ivory skin and made her eyes brighter.
Charlie rested her hand on his arm and tilted her head to the right. There was another tunnel entrance a few miles from here; they would have to take their time reaching it, but if they didn’t run into any problems, it wouldn’t be long.
She didn’t think it was likely they wouldn’t run into any problems. Savages were crawling all over the island, and not even daylight would keep the most dedicated hunters from pursuing their game. Then there were the security guards. They never went into hiding during the hunt.
This was the one time of the year where none of her fellow survivors risked going aboveground, yet here she was and all because Jack had fallen into the pit.
She glared at Jack, but he didn’t notice as he stared around the woods with an expression that said he’d gladly tear apart anyone who came near them. Okay, it wasn’t his fault, but she was still mad about him besting her below, and she hated losing.
The only thing she liked about her time as a ballerina was the dance competitions, and because she’d been technically flawless, she brought home many trophies and ribbons. Her mother had thrown them all out, because she refused to let Charlie become too prideful.
“This way,” Charlie murmured and nodded to the right.
Chapter Six
Jack watched as Charlie glided through the trees like a phantom through a cemetery. He’d spent a lot of time in the woods, and he was a vampire, so he was inherently graceful and silent, but she made him feel like a sasquatch. He wasn’t sure her feet touched the ground as she moved with enough speed to cover the distance quickly but not so fast she was reckless.
Jack studied the animals for any sign things weren’t as calm as they appeared. They remained active though they were more guarded than normal for forest creatures. He blamed their wariness on this place. The animals knew predators were in their habitat.
Not only did security and a bunch of rich assholes roam this land, but he and his friends also set a fair number of vamps and humans free from their cages before fleeing into the woods. There were a lot of creatures on this island looking to eat.
An island. He ran a hand through his hair as he recalled this revelation.
He had no idea where they were in the world, and apparently, neither did Charlie. He also had no idea how they were going to get off this island. Convinced they were alone, he focused his attention on trying to learn more from her.
“Where’s the mainland?” he asked.
“I don’t know; no one does. The security vamps we’ve managed to catch have no idea, but we’ve never caught anyone from the hunt. We’ve been hoping for one of them as they might have a better idea about the workings of this place, but we rarely come above during the hunt, and none of them have ever entered one of the tunnels. The few security guards we’ve caught were because we ran across them while above and took them down.”
“So you don’t know how far out to sea we are?”
“No.”
“How do the hunters get here?” he asked.
“Boats.”
“We’ll take a boat.”
Charlie slapped her forehead. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
Then she mentally kicked herself. It wasn’t like she hadn’t suggested the same thing to Mal, except he’d been a lot nicer to her with his reply. Why was she so bitchy with Jack?
It wasn’t just because she’d lost to him. She didn’t deny she could be a pretty sore loser, and often stewed about her defeat for days, but this antagonism was a new level of bad for her. When she looked at him, she wasn’t surprised to find a gleam in his eyes that suggested he was contemplating throttling her.
When she smiled at him, he turned away from her. She took the time to study his profile. The swelling was already out of his nose, but it crooked slightly to the right and had a bump in the middle.
She wasn’t the first person to break his nose, and she doubted she’d be the last, but even with those imperfections, she couldn’t deny he was good looking with his striking eyes and narrow face. The stubble lining his chin and cheeks was a shade or two darker than his short, light brown hair and brought out the intriguing contours of his bone structure. And those eyes…
Charlie tore her attention away from him as she suddenly understood why she was so bitchy. It was because she desired him. It had been years since she allowed herself to feel any attraction to a man. She’d been burned once; it would never happen again.
No, she was more than burned. She’d been doused with gasoline, tied to a stake, and set on fire. After all these years, Charlie clearly recalled the day when everything she knew burst into flames and she was left as nothing more than a pile of ash with only a small spark to cling to.
“Where are these boats?” Jack asked.
“The other side of the island, and they’re heavily guarded. You might not think they are, but there’s a fair amount of security hidden in a cave nearby that watches them. There’s usually a human stationed near them too. Sometimes they use the boats to lure in the unsuspecting prey. Kind of like a bait pile for deer.”
“And there’s no way to get around the guards?”
“Not without a fight, and they have much better weapons and more numbers than we do. Plus, they have wooden bullets. The people running this hunt don’t screw around; they want a good game with lots of blood, and they’re going to get it. Since you and your friends broke out of your cages, I bet they’re not taking any chances and have doubled the guards on those boats.”
“So this hunt has been going on since before you came here?”
“Yes.”
“How did you get here?”
“They tied me up, blindfolded me, and threw me in the trunk of a car before transferring me to a boat.”
Her mouth went dry as she recalled the mind-numbing terror of being locked in that trunk. They’d separated her and Dylan, and she’d spent the entire ride screaming against her gag while kicking and beating on the car the best she could while bound.
Never had she been more desperate for anything as she was to see her son’s face again, and when Charlie finally saw him, she sobbed with relief, but with her hands tied, she couldn’t clutch him against her as she longed to do.
Charlie didn’t tell him about Dylan; she would keep her son’s existence from him until she knew he was trustworthy.
“They tied me to a post in the boat, or I should say yacht as it was bigger than my apartment.”
But then, that wasn’t saying much as her apartment was barely big enough for her and Dylan to pass each other in the hall. They’d tied Dylan up across from her; she couldn’t reach him, but at least she could see him through that leg of their journey.
“I listened to the hum of the motor while I attempted to free myself; it was pointless,” she said.
She spoke in a monotone and kept her face schooled to reveal no emotion; she’d perfected the expression after years with her parents. She didn’t want Jack to know how much the memory of her kidnapping still rattled her.
However, she couldn’t keep the tremor from her hands when she recalled Dylan’s tear-streaked, dirty face sitting across from her on the boat. His lower lip quivered while he tried to hold back his sobs. She yearned to tell him it would be all right, but even if she weren’t gagged, she wouldn’t issue the lie.
“By the time they came back for me, I’d torn my skin away, and blood flowed down my arms,” Charlie continued. “I’ll never forget their laughter or the rough brush of one of their tongues licking away my blood.”
She’d bit back a scream when she realized they were drinking her blood and they loved it. She was sure her heart might explode, and if Dylan hadn’t been there, she would have started screaming and never stopped. However, she couldn’t suppress a whimper when one of them pressed their mouth to he
r ear and whispered, “Delicious.”
“That was when I realized I wasn’t dealing with normal humans,” she said.
The more she revealed, the more his jaw clenched until it ached. He’d like to stake every one of the assholes who harmed her. And then, her words fully sank in.
“Wait a minute; you didn’t know they were vampires when they took you?” he asked.
“No. I didn’t learn what they were until later when the other captives told me. Even if they hadn’t, some of the captive vampires were starting to have trouble controlling themselves. Their red eyes and fangs were pretty much a giveaway.”
“When did you become a vampire?”
“I was kept in a cage for about a week. It could have been longer, or maybe it was less. Time became a foreign concept after a while. And then, they turned us loose and told us to run. The humans were given a bit of a head start over the caged vampires, but not much of one.”
She’d never forget the sound of her labored, panicked breathing as she plunged through the woods with Dylan’s hand in hers. They’d run as fast as they could with branches and trees whipping and tearing at them.
“I don’t know how I got away that first day, but somehow I survived. I spent that night in a tree,” she said.
She and Dylan climbed high into a pine. Sap and pine needles covered them by the time they finished climbing, and she used her belt to tie them to the tree, but it hadn’t been necessary. No matter how exhausted Charlie was, she couldn’t sleep. She’d spent the entire night trying not to cry, sure they would never survive while Dylan slept.
The hopelessness of having no idea how they could survive damn near choked her to death.
“The next day, I climbed down and started walking. I couldn’t stay in the tree without food and water, but I needed somewhere to hide. That was when I found a small copse of trees and crawled inside. Halfway into the center, the earth gave way, and I plunged ten feet into the pit.”
“The same pit as me?” Jack asked.
“Yes.”
“Then what happened?”
Unforeseen: The Vampire Awakenings, Book 9 Page 4