The Beast Within

by S. C. Stephens

  Halina frowned as she looked over at something that was unremarkable to her. “What is it?”

  I smiled up at her dirt-streaked face. “Hunter’s bag. If he didn’t take it, then he doesn’t have Gabriel’s shot with him.”

  Halina’s brow furrowed, like she hadn’t caught on to what I’d pieced together. My grin widened. “We’ll be able to feel him again soon. When the shot wears off, we’ll know exactly where he is.”

  Halina brightened, and extended her hand to me. I took it, and she helped me stand. She looked around the wreckage with worried eyes. “Your father is right. You shouldn’t be down here. Let’s get you back to the surface.”

  After a few more minutes, Halina and I carefully left the basement of the ruined cabin. There was no point in continuing our search. Hunter was long gone, that much was clear. Dad had his hand out for me when I made it back to ground level. I took his cool grasp and let him pull me the rest of the way out of the hole. I wasn’t sure what to do now, other than wait for the shot to wear off so we could feel Hunter again.

  I wiped my muddy hands on my jeans while Dad offered his palm to Halina. She looked at his hand, but hopped out of the hole on her own. Halina stepped beside Dad, and he indicated the sparse trees around us. “We scouted the area, but no one’s around.” He locked his glowing eyes on Halina’s. “There’s no trace of Hunter. He could be hundreds of miles away by now. Should we go back home?”

  Halina’s lips twisted into a scowl. I was sure she was cursing Gabriel in her head. “I’m not returning home without him, but I can’t just sit here and do nothing until Gabriel’s damn shot wears off. There has to be some trail to follow. We will find it.”

  Dad looked over at me. I instantly knew what he was going to say, and I hastily beat him to it. “I’m staying with Grandma until we find Hunter.” I raised my chin in defiance. He was going to have to drag me back home to get me to leave.

  Mom and Imogen walked around from the other side of the cabin while Dad pursed his lips at my stubbornness. Imogen shook her head at Halina. “There’s nothing here, Mother.” She glanced at the emptiness around her. “Nothing but questions.”

  Imogen couldn’t have been more correct about that. Questions were all I had. Was Hunter okay? Where did he go? He’d mentioned a tracker…was he still being tracked? Was he being hunted right now? The many questions tumbling around my brain were quickly turning the organ to mush. I needed action to silence the distress. Halina had the same look of mental anguish as she debated our next course of action.

  “We split up, search the area. If we still don’t find anything, then…we’ll wait for the shot Gabriel gave him to wear off. We’ll know exactly where to go once it does.” Sighing, her pale, glowing eyes searched the emptiness around us. “And hopefully we won’t be too late.”

  Her ominous words rang through my ears, stinging my heart. Halina and Imogen took off in opposite directions. It was strange to not know where they were once they were gone from my sight. Instinctually feeling my family was more a part of me than I’d realized, and I couldn’t wait to have that connection back. My parents stayed with me. They didn’t seem to want to separate from each other, and they definitely weren’t letting me go out on my own. Not while I was untraceable.

  Dad nodded his head east. “We’ll check out the city. See what we can find.”

  We took off, heading for some rocky hills comprised of smooth boulders. The night air was crisp, cold, but I didn’t let myself feel it. It reminded me of Hunter’s embrace. A coyote yipped in the distance, and for a split second, the animal inside me wanted to chase it. It made me wonder if Hunter was hungry, if he’d gone in search of food. Or if revenge was the only thing on his mind right now, and he was stalking his father.

  We scampered over dry, dusty hills, disturbing wildlife with our supernatural presence as we went. Owls hooted at us from their homes high in the branches, snakes slid into the safety of their dark crevices, and foxes skittered into the underbrush. Even nature knew we were at the top of the food chain.

  Eventually, the trees thickened into a dense forest, and I struggled to keep the pace my parents were setting. I wasn’t even sure where we were going, or why we were going there. My parents either. As we paused under a clump of trees so I could catch my breath, my mother asked, “Where are we going, Teren?”

  Dad shook his head, “I don’t know. I just thought if hunters were after him, he might be hiding.”

  I huffed out quick breaths as my heart sped in my chest. “This would be a safe place to rest. Humans would have a hard time following him here.”

  Dad’s concerned eyes washed over my weary body. “Mostly human vampires too. Are you okay? Want a ride?” He turned and offered his back.

  I started to tell him I was fine when I caught a very faint scent in the air. Blood. Mom and Dad smelled it, too, and shifted to face the wind. We all inhaled, cataloging the smell and registering it as not-animal, not-human. Vampire. I pushed myself away from the tree I was leaning against, no longer needing its support. “Hunter…” I took off after the scent.

  I heard my father telling me to wait, but I ignored him. He would follow me, of that I had no doubt, and I couldn’t lose this trail. As I tore through the crowded wilderness, it became clear that I couldn’t continue without the light my parents provided. I tripped and stumbled with nearly every step. Even though it pained me, I waited two seconds for my parents to catch up to me. With Dad lighting the way, and Mom following close behind, we took off toward the source of the blood. A sudden sound pricked my ears. It was a suppressed whimper, a controlled grunt of pain. Was it Hunter? Was he hurt? Or was my imagination getting the best of me.

  Around me, I began to see evidence that someone had been through this part of the woods recently. Branches were snapped off, rocks were kicked over, brush trampled. It was careless, destructive, not like Hunter at all. A lifetime of stalking vampires had made him stealthy, like a cat tracking its prey. His conversion had only enhanced his silence. If he was leaving a trail of destruction in his wake, it was because he couldn’t help himself.

  When we got to a small clearing, I spotted the blood we’d been smelling. A medium sized boulder near a tree was covered in it. It looked like a murder had happened there. Or a sacrifice. A chill went up my spine, and I started to shake as I approached the splatter that looked black in the darkness.

  While my father leaned down to smell it, I searched the trees. Nothing. No trace of Hunter, no trail of blood leading away. No clear sign of a disturbance to guide us another way. It was like he’d vanished. My dad cast me a cautious glance as he told my mother, “It’s vampire. Fresh.”

  I tried to keep the panic from swelling in my heart. I couldn’t, though, and Julian’s concern for me raised a notch. “That’s a lot of blood, Dad. Why would he be bleeding? Whatever is wrong with him, he should have healed instantly.”

  Dad shook his head as he pulled out his phone. “I don’t know, honey.” He glanced at the screen, then cursed. “We’re too far away from the tower, I don’t have a signal. I can’t let Great-Gran know we found something.” He put the phone away and looked between Mom and me. “We’ll just have to keep looking for him on our own.”

  The anxiety of the moment amplified the sense of loss in my body. Even with my family standing right beside me, I felt cut off from the world in these isolated woods where something horrible had clearly happened. My emotional bond with Julian was my only saving grace; I clung to his feelings like a lifeline.

  Mom squeezed my shoulder sympathetically. “We’ll find him.”

  We mentally flipped a coin as to whether we should head north or south. Dad figured Hunter might be heading back to the ranch if he were injured, so we headed north. Luck was on our side, and we caught another heady waft of blood on the breeze. This one was at the edge of the forest, where the trees were beginning to thin out again. The same careless destruction was around the gory mess, like Hunter had crashed through the trees in pursuit, or
in pain. Then the trail vanished. It was frustrating, to say the least.

  Since we’d successfully found the trail again, Dad kept us on a homeward bound path. It lightened the darkness in my heart a little that Hunter seemed to be heading toward the ranch. The realization that he was somehow inexplicably hurt squelched that brightness though.

  We found a few more pools of blood as the green life started giving way to barren desert. Each time there was no visible trail of Hunter. But the pools were fresh, so he couldn’t be too far ahead of us. I was sure that no human hunter could have followed the path we’d just traversed, at least, not at anywhere near our speed. Hunter had to know he was safe from pursuit, which made the fear in me grow exponentially. What was he running from?

  As the landscape gave fewer and fewer places to hide, my desperation grew. We had to find him. We’d gone several miles without even a whiff of blood, though, and it was impossible to know for sure if we were on the right path. For all we knew, he wasn’t heading home, and he’d gone east or west, or even south again. There was no way to know for sure, so we kept plugging along, hoping we’d find something to lead us to him.

  Just when I was positive we’d lost his trail forever, a trace amount of blood wafted by. We locked onto the new smell, and adjusted our path to a more northwest direction. Then, suddenly, as we scrambled up a treeless hill, a pained cry drifted through the night air. All three of us were instantly alert. When the sounds of a scuffle followed the cry—rocks sliding, the hard hit of a body falling—we took off toward the noise. Hoping beyond hope that it was Hunter, I used every ounce of strength I had left to blur past my father.

  The sight I stopped at was not what I’d expected. I was at the precipice of a deep canyon. I barely saw the drop-off in time to stop myself from rocketing over the edge. The steep walls of the cliff made seeing completely inside the hole impossible. I was sure it remained dark down there even in daylight. I thought I heard a lazy river flowing through the bottom of the canyon, but it seemed disastrously far away. The fingerlike stretches of land standing high above the canyon floor sent an instinctual warning through my brain: Danger! Do not go any farther! But the blood was leading me closer to the edge of the steep ravine, and I needed to see what was at the end of that heavenly scent.

  As I stepped toward the side and peered over the ledge, my father joined me. He pulled me back a foot, so I was farther from the edge. I felt like a woman possessed as he held me back. It was how I imagined a worried mother must feel when her missing child was almost within sight. Hunter was down there, I just knew it. “Dad, he’s here, I know he is!”

  Dad handed me off to Mom’s firm hands, then squatted to inspect the dusty ground. More blood covered the rocks, darkening the dirt. God, why was he bleeding? What was wrong with him? Kneeling, Dad peeked over the edge of the cliff. He inhaled, but I knew that wouldn’t help him here. The wind was blowing across the canyon, so if Hunter was inside it, the smell wouldn’t reach us. “Hunter?” he called, his voice echoing around the solid rock walls.

  Nothing but the faint scampering of wildlife answered him. My heart thudded in my chest as I watched Dad’s eyes scanning the darkness. His gaze returned to me. “I’m not seeing anything, Nika. I don’t think he’s down there.”

  I pulled against Mom’s hand. “We have to go look. We have to be sure.”

  Dad looked pained. A trek down the canyon walls wasn’t exactly a safe journey, especially at night, especially if we weren’t positive that Hunter wasn’t being chased. Dad stood, the wind around him buffeting his jacket. I held mine tighter around myself. “I’ll find a way down and check it out. You two stay up here, okay?”

  Even though he’d asked a question, I knew it wasn’t really a question. He wanted me to stay put. Since Dad’s senses were stronger than mine, he would have an easier time picking up Hunter’s trail, so I nodded. Mom grabbed Dad’s elbow as he twisted back to the ravine. “Be careful,” she said. Her full lip twisted into a concerned scowl. “I don’t want you falling and accidentally staking yourself.”

  Dad crooked a smile. “Your faith in my skills is inspiring.” His face settled into seriousness and he gave her a quick kiss. “I’ll be as careful as possible.”

  He jogged along the edge of canyon, looking for a trail that led down the sheer cliff. I watched him leave, then peered over the edge again. As I inhaled the blood near me, and searched the wilderness for some sign of my boyfriend, a prickling sensation tickled the back of my brain. It was the strangest feeling I’d ever had, and I scratched my head to try and make it go away. It wasn’t, though. It was only getting stronger. That was when I realized what it was. The family bond was returning. The shot was wearing off.

  The itching slowly turned to stinging, and I held my breath. I hoped the bond coming back wasn’t as painful as the bond being shut off. Mom noticed my distress. “Are you okay, Nika?”

  I nodded as I smiled. “The bond is coming back.”

  Mom’s eyes narrowed as she examined me. I knew she was trying to sense my location in her head. “I can’t feel you.”

  Looking over the cliff face, I smiled even wider. “Hunter gave us the shot a little bit after he’d taken it. If mine is starting to wear off, then his must nearly be gone. We’ll be able to feel him soon. We’re going to find him.”

  That was when I heard something far to the right of me. Like he was standing beside me, whispering in my ear, I heard Hunter’s raspy voice drifting up from the canyon’s depths. “Nika…help me.”

  Without a second thought, I streaked away from my mother and slipped over the edge of the ravine.

  I’D NEVER FELT so sick in all my life. Every step I took was painful, every movement I made, agony. I’d tried to take this damn arrow out of my chest a half dozen times, and every time I worked up the nerve to touch it, the act of moving it made me throw up. All I’d managed to do was fall against it, impaling it even deeper into my body. The entire shaft was buried now.

  After every failed attempt to remove it, I’d blurred away toward the ranch. I had to get back to the nest before the hunters stormed it. I couldn’t stomach the thought of that beautiful, diamond-shaped home being burned to the ground. I couldn’t even comprehend any of the vampires inside it being harmed. Or killed.

  That fear drove me ever onward, until the agony eventually became too much, and I crashed to the ground, writhing in torture. Through my pain-filled fog, I recalled the landscape changing from woods to barren desert to rolling hills. I trudged forward through it all, only stopping when I could no longer continue. Not being able to run as fast or for as long as my body normally could, I hadn’t made it nearly as far as I would have liked, and time was running out. My brain started prickling with a burning sensation that only added to my discomfort. How much more grief could I endure?

  Near delirious with pain, I made one last attempt to pull the arrow out. My hand burned as if I’d put it in a fire; my chest was already engulfed in those flames. I minutely tugged on the stiff end of the bolt, and my head swam. Woozy, I fell to my hands and knees, and lost my stomach. Blood gushed from my mouth, chilly and sweet. I could feel the pricks of my fangs against my tongue, but I could do nothing to retract them. I was losing myself to the pain. I had no idea where I was anymore. I was quickly losing sense about who I was. The only thing in my mind was my mission: Save the nest.

  I struggled to stand, to blur back home, but my weak hands gave out and I toppled to the side. To my surprise and terror, there was no dusty ground to catch my aching body. I felt myself falling through the oblivion of nothingness, like I’d been kneeling at the edge of the Earth and I’d just toppled over it. Then the land caught up to me.

  Rocks and branches smashed against my face, twisting and jerking my body as I plummeted down what I could only assume was the side of a mountain. Each and every impact shoved the arrow farther into my body. I briefly cried out, but then I ran out of air. I couldn’t inhale after that. I felt bones breaking as my useless limbs flaile
d about. It brought new meaning to the word agony. When I finally skidded to a stop, I just wanted it to end. Someone stake me. Please. I can’t take this anymore…

  I felt like I was still in a precarious position when I finally stopped moving. Even though every fiber of my being screamed in pain, I laid perfectly still as I waited for the various aches to heal. I knew my chest wouldn’t improve as long as the silver from the arrow was infecting me, but slowly the pain everywhere else started receding. I huffed short, fast breaths while waves and waves of agony seeped through me. This torture had to stop at some point, didn’t it?

  I wasn’t sure how long I laid there in pain, fading in and out of consciousness. I could already feel the edge of blackness seeping into my vision as complete and total darkness offered to give me reprieve, if I only let it. I fought against the bleakness, though. I had somewhere to be, family in danger I needed to warn. I couldn’t keep lying here, hoping to die. I couldn’t move either. I thought I heard my name being yelled, but maybe that was wishful thinking. I was all alone out here. I was alone, cut off, and no one was going to find me. No one was going to save me. Now, when I’d finally accepted what I was, I was going to wither away and die. Or at least, it felt that way.

  Not knowing what else to do, rusty words escaped my tight throat. “Nika…help me.” I knew it was a useless plea. Nika was nowhere near me, and had no way to find me.

  As the darkness closed in around me, strange sounds pressed in on my ears. Sharp, commanding voices. A scuffle. The sound of rocks sliding. My imagination even went so far that I thought I could feel pebbles flicking my skin, dust billowing into my face, making me blink. But that couldn’t be. I was alone out here. Completely and utterly alone. My eyes fluttered shut as I conceded to the nothingness that wanted me. I didn’t have the strength to resist anymore.