Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
MAX
The woods are too big, and I’ve lost the scent of the boogeyman. My phone pings. Expecting news from Chief Martinez, I’m shocked when Tilda’s name comes up. There’s no message, just a pin dropped in these woods about ten miles northwest of my current location.
What is she doing out here? Why isn’t she safe at home?
I know she’s a good tracker, but I’d hoped she would know nothing about the events of the day and stay out of this.
A monster who steals children in order to corrupt them feels too close to what Pierre did to her.
She was already an adult when he made her a vampire, but he took all ease out of her life.
I call Sam.
“Max.” Sam’s deep voice comes through the speaker.
“I’m sending you a pin. I think Tilda found something.” I don’t like the waver in my voice.
There’s a pause while the pin goes through.
“We’re not close, but we’ll get there as soon as we can.”
“I’m heading there now. I’ll call for more backup.” Hoping Mari and Sam were closer than I am was a pipe dream, but worth a shot. Since I followed the initial trail, it’s not really surprising I’m closer. “I’ll be in touch.”
I start running and dial the station. I don’t instantly recognize the man’s voice when he picks up. “Harmony Glen Police.”
“This is Max Gant.”
“Hi. I’m John Fieldstone. I’m just helping out.”
“John, can you tell the chief that I may have a location? I’m sending a pin to the station now.”
The ping sounds through the phone. John says, “I’ve got it. I’ll let him know.”
Closing the call, I keep the phone in my hand to track toward the pin and jump over a fallen tree.
The underbrush gets denser and taller as I run.
My long legs help, but it still slows me down.
My need to reach Tilda overrides everything else.
If she’s found Lori’s daughter, then they’re both in danger, or the message would have had more than a pin drop.
For the first time in my life, I wish I could fly.
TILDA
“I’ve got you, Livi. We’re going to get out of this.” I hold her in my lap as she cries into my shirt.
It’s cold, and she shivers. “I want my mommy.”
“I know.” I rub her back, hoping it will help warm her, since my body temperature isn't high enough to offer her any comfort. Easing her onto the ground, I whisper, “I’m going to see if I can get us out of this cave.”
Her crying is muffled, but she’s holding together amazingly well.
Rising, I feel for the wall in the heavy darkness. How had the boogeyman made it so black that even I can’t see? One step in the direction where I think the mouth of the cavern was, and I can sense the monster watching. Another few steps and I’m sure I must be close.
I’m lifted from the ground and thrown. I try to claw, but there’s nothing there.
As I hit the hard ground, my body jars. Something cuts through my sweatshirt and gashes my abdomen.
My cool blood drips along my skin before my nature can heal the wound.
It should have knitted right away, but whatever cut me is slowing the process.
My throat clogs as poison slips like oil in my veins.
Livi’s little hands reach for me. “Miss Tilda?”
I sit up. “I’m alright.”
“But you’re not, vampire bird. You’ve lost what you need to be immortal. I’ve taken it, but the innocent can give it back. It wouldn’t take much. Just a little taste and you’d heal right up and save yourself.” Its grating voice sickens me almost as much as what it implies.
The fire jumps back to life in the center of the chamber.
Livi wraps her arms around my neck.
The boogeyman stands on four limbs and arches its back as evil oozes from its jaw. “It’s your nature, vampire. Drink the blood of a human, and you’ll heal. You’ll be nourished. Maybe you’ll be strong enough to escape my clutches. Take what you need.”
Eyes wide, Livi looks at me. Her voice shakes, but she still clings to my neck as if I’m the lesser of two evils. “Are you going to bite me, Miss Tilda?”
I wrap my arms around her and stand. “No. I would never harm you.” As soon as I say it, I know it’s true.
All the things that Pierre said about the nature of vampires flash through my mind.
He claimed we can’t control our need for human blood, but that wasn’t true.
He said we had to take what we needed or we’d grow more violent and destroy entire towns.
I’d do anything to keep this child safe and my town out of harm’s way.
It was all lies, and I let those lies control my life.
I’d starved because he said the blood of other animals wouldn’t fulfill me.
Yet, once Mari showed me that I could manage on hunting rabbits and deer, I saw that too was false.
Terrorizing humans was a game for Pierre, as was collecting and turning people he deemed special. He’d sired Mari because of her voice and me because of the swan. He died because he was too weak to live with what he’d done once Ion gave him a conscience.
Placing Livi on the ground behind me, I say, “Keep your eyes closed, sweetie. Promise that no matter what you hear, you won’t look.”
She squeezes her eyes so tight her face squishes. “I promise.”
I take her little hands and place them over her face, too. “Don’t break that promise.”
Shaking her head, she crouches on the ground against the cave wall.
With a turn, I let my fangs and rage descend. “Boogeyman, you have messed with the wrong vampire and the wrong town. Let me walk out of here with the girl, and there’s a chance you get away, though it’s slim. Keep us here, and I’ll tear you apart.”
Its laugh is worse than nails on a chalkboard. “You are just a little bird.” Half in shadow, it leaps at me.
I turn, and its claws bite through the skin on my upper arm. My fingers go right through its body as if it were only a hologram. Yet, it was solid when it carried Livi away and solid when it shifted to a man. Also, when it cut me both times.
My brain is hazy as the poison thickens my senses. There’s not much time. I’ll get one, maybe two chances. “I’m not going to warn you again.”
“Bold little monster. Drink the child’s blood, and then maybe you can win. Don’t, and you both die.”
What it says may be true, but I find pure happiness in the fact that the notion is abhorrent to me.
I would never harm this child or anyone.
Realizing that for the first time since I was transformed is like a light being lit inside me.
My bite is for helping and pleasure. My venom can save lives. “Never.”
It leaps at me.
I narrow my eyes and see the moment it goes solid.
Focusing on the pain that will fill this beast, I push forward and sink my teeth into its shoulder. The taste is misery.
Still, as it falls back and writhes, there’s satisfaction.
I spit out its black, infected blood, but I know it’s pure poison as my muscles start to seize.
Too slow from my wounds and its blood, I can’t get out of the way of its claws, and it gashes me from waist to thigh. My clothes in tatters, blood everywhere, the best I can hope for is that if I kill this monster, Max will find Livi and save her.
Determined, I let the beast inside me surface. Adrenaline rushes through me, fighting off the poison enough that I leap onto the boogeyman and tear at his much larger body. Black hair and blood fly in every direction as I claw and bite with every bit of energy I can muster.
It throws me across the cave, adding more bruises to my battered body, which will no longer heal. My clavicle snaps with a sickening noise, and pain lances through me. Vampire bones are too strong to break, but the poison has weakened all of me.
Pulling myself to my feet, I push the pain aside and face the nightmare. “You’ll not be rid of me, monster. I’ll keep coming until we’re both finished.”
The roar that fills the cave slides over me, filling me with relief. Max. Livi will survive.
The boogeyman looks over its shoulder as my beautiful bigfoot steps into the cavern. Wounded and in agony from my bite, it tries to become shadow and slip past Max.
I use the rest of my strength to push fear and weakness into my venom and sink my teeth once again into the beast.
Max grabs it by the throat. He looks at me, his eyes filled with rage. “Get Livi and get out of here.”
With nothing left to give, I hobble over to the little girl. Taking her hand, I say, “Come on, Livi. Keep those eyes closed.”
My blood and the boogeyman’s cover every inch of the cavern, and I don’t want her to see any of it.
Her little grip is strong as she lets me lead her down the tunnel and out of the cave. It’s full dark. The air is warm, and there’s a slight breeze.
I try to draw in the fresh air, but my lungs hurt. My legs feel as if the bones have gone to rubber. Pain slices through everything. “We’re safe now, Livi.”
At a full run, Mari and Sam reach us just as we clear the mouth. Sam picks up the child and holds her. She looks like a doll in his giant arms.
The motor sounds of four-wheelers fill the woods.
My head feels swollen, and the sounds around me grow muffled. As my legs give out, Mari’s arms come around me, keeping me from hitting the ground too hard. I say, “Go help Max. He has that thing in the cave.”
Ion’s voice replies. “I’ll go. Stay with your sister.”
Eyes filled with worry, Mari looks me up and down. “What did you do, Tilda?”
“Sometimes you have to lose to win.” My focus gets blurry. “I’m not a monster, Mari. I wouldn’t hurt anyone unless they’re evil.”
“Of course, you wouldn’t.” Mari combs my hair out of my face. “Hold on. It’s going to be okay.” Her voice is tight, and I think she’s sad.
At least someone will care that I’m gone.
The sound of Lori screaming Livi’s name.
Crying.
Someone is lifting me.
Voices, though I can’t understand them.