She remained wary. Exhaustion had driven three deep lines into her forehead, and the skin under her eyes was nearly black. She looked haunted.
“Promise,” Peter said, “whatever you want to do, I’ll help. I’ll do everything I can.”
Finally her eyes softened. She sighed as tears slid down her cheeks. “You’re really going to help me? You don’t think it’s a mistake?”
He squeezed her fingers. “I’ll help you. I’ll protect you. Whatever needs to be done, you and I will do it together.”
She nodded once, her eyes still cautious, then turned Ash toward Wereburg again. They had to get in and out before the others caught up. The questions of where she would stay tonight and how she would protect herself from vampires nagged the back of her mind, and she clamped down on the questions, crushing them. One thing at a time. Cure first. Then Chance. That’s as far ahead as she could think right now.
Peter rode beside her, and the cold morning was exhilarating at this pace. This was right, finally, the right thing to do. Confusion and doubts were swept from him as they rode. This is what he was meant to do, and he would not let her down this time.
They pounded up Main Street right to the front doors of the high school. Promise dismounted at the base of the wide concrete stairs and threw the reins to Peter. “Hold him. I’ll be back in two minutes.” She turned and trotted up the stairs to the door.
A handful of people lounging on the stairs watched as she ran past. “Promise!” someone called. “Where is Mr. West? Where are the Guard soldiers?”
She paused, her hand on the door. Without turning she said, “They’re right behind us.” She heard Peter snort laughter behind her, and for the first time since she’d discovered Chance’s absence this morning, she felt a small bloom of hope warm her chest. It would be good to have help. She wasn’t sure how she felt about Peter anymore, but it was good to have a companion on this trip; maybe her last, if things didn’t go well.
She trotted down the long, main hallway to the room she and Lea had shared. She went to the farthest corner of the room and felt beneath a nest of blankets. A slim vial of glass met her hand, and she grasped it, drawing it forth. One of the test tubes from the case she’d risked everything to get. She stared at it, the clear liquid inside, and doubt tried to creep in again. What if it made him worse as Dr. Edwards at the base had speculated it might do to Peter. What if she was killing him with it? She shook her head and wrapped the vial in cloth and then tucked it in her shirt, next to her heart.
This was his last chance, and she was taking it.
She made her way back to the front of the high school, trying not to look around too much. A precognitive feeling of doom made the halls seem faded, losing solidity, as though she’d already passed from this world. In a way, she felt that she had. She had come to Wereburg still innocent, but changing, becoming harder, after losing her parents. Then the loss of her beloved baby brother had further hardened her, and the year of searching–the year of being determined to kill him and release him from his misery–had worked on her mind and heart like time and pressure on coal. She had become diamond hard, sharp-edged, unfeeling. But then with Peter had come the idea of redemption and tainted blood that would run true again.
Yes, she would take the chance.
She opened the door, and bright light shone on her like a blessing. She lifted her face to the sun and briefly closed her eyes. She wished on that brightest of all the stars for strength and luck and that Chance would be hers again. Then she opened her eyes to behold Peter gazing at her with steady calm, sitting astride strong and beautiful Snow. Ash snorted, shaking his head, and his mane shone like flowing oil.
She took a deep breath. And ran down the stairs.
~ ~ ~
“We took too long getting all these people back here,” Evans said. His voice was a frustrated and angry growl as he paced at the bottom of the stairs to the high school. “We should have left them out there!”
Miller shook her head. “Keep your voice down, Evans. I know how much you like Promise, but that doesn’t mean everyone else is vampire fodder. Geez.”
Evans dropped his head, but his stubborn expression didn’t change. Miller thunked him on the shoulder with a loose fist. “Relax. We’ll look for her. West talked to the people who were outside, and we’re only twenty minutes behind them. And she does have Peter with her. That’s good.”
“I’m not so sure about that, and anyway, we’re getting further behind the longer we stand here jabbering!” Evans burst out. “We have to go now!”
Lu appeared at the door. “I’m here,” he said, huffing jerkily down the stairs, cradling a small bag to his chest. “Let’s go.”
Miller jumped in the driver’s seat as Lu threw himself in the front passenger seat. Evans clambered into the back, still yelling. “What took you so long, Lu? Christ, you’re killing me. It’s already past goddamned noon and–”
“Don’t worry about what took me so long,” Lu said mildly. He was distracted by the small bag he’d tucked behind his legs. Glass clinked, and he cursed. “Easy on the bumps, boss,” he said to Miller.
“What is that?” Miller asked.
Lu shrugged. “Just something we might need.”
She looked at his guarded profile. In his own way, he was just as stubborn as Evans, just less volatile. She shook her head. “Whatever. Let’s just get our shit pointed in the right direction, okay? Back toward Willow’s End, Ev, you’re sure?”
Evans nodded. “Yeah.”
Miller waited for him to say something more, to explain further, but he didn’t. He could have told her that the woods behind Willow’s End were the place where Promise had really grown up, where she’d learned that excitement didn’t necessarily mean good; where she’d fought demons both inside and out; where she’d come to terms with loss. He could have told Miller all that, but he didn’t, because it was Promise’s story, the things she’d confided in him. And anyway, he wouldn’t be able to express it well enough. He wasn’t that kind of guy.
He hadn’t known about Chance being captured until everyone else had found out, but for Evans, it only increased his esteem for her. He’d never met such a fighter. He never should have made her leave her brother. He, better than almost anyone, knew how much she needed him; needed to save that one tie to her past, her other life, the life before the plague. It was his fault.
He sighed angrily, blowing out an impatient breath. “Can you try giving it some gas, Miller? You won’t break the eggs.”
Miller shot him a look via the rearview mirror but didn’t say anything. She read the sad desperation and guilt behind his mask of anger.
~ ~ ~
“I feel like we should be doing something,” Lea said and twisted her hands together. Her eyes were worried blue spheres, and her cheeks were pink, almost feverish with agitation. The pink scrunchie still hung from her wrist.
“What, though?” Mark asked sitting back in the kitchen chair. The sun, which had shone brightly through the morning, had gone behind heavy clouds in the early afternoon. It was cold and gloomy in the safe house, and Mark saw that Lea was shivering. He leaned forward to light the Coleman. It didn’t give off much heat, but it gave peace of mind. “Can you think of something? I’m willing, Lea. You know me.”
She gave him a brief, grateful smile. “I know that. You’re…gosh, Mark, you’re the best person I know!” Her face crumbled into tears. “And I’m the worst…”
“Lea, what the heck?” Mark said in alarm. He stood and pulled her to him. “What are you talking about? You’re like, really awesome!”
She shook her head. “I should have just gone back with them and not made a big deal about leaving you. Deidre wouldn’t have gone to Promise’s house if she thought you or Peter might show up there. She never would have had the chance to…to…” She broke off.
“You didn’t make a big deal, Lea. What are you talking about? You didn’t even say anything about it!”
“But I l
-l-looked at you, and Promise saw me, and I was feeling l-l-like I didn’t want to l-l-leave you, and she…she…” Sobs cut off her words, and she cried in his arms. “She knew that I w-w-was s-s-sad about l-l-leaving…” her breath hitched as she tried to get the words out. “That’s wuh-why is all…my fault!”
“Lea, Lea, it’s not your fault, baby, please. Listen to me. None of it is your fault. Deidre was crazy, and she would have done something at some point. We were lucky she waited until Promise was back, if you think about it.”
“What do you mean?” Lea asked. She wiped her eyes with the corner of Mark’s flannel. “Why? Why is it l-lucky?”
“Because Promise has a chance to find him,” Mark said. “To do something about it.”
“But the woods…all those woods, and she spent all that time before looking and never found him!”
“But he’s different now. A little at least, and maybe a lot. He might come to her, don’t you think?”
Lea shrugged, but a small gleam of hope rose in her eyes.
“And do you know why he might come to her?” Mark asked her, squeezing her arms.
Lea shook her head, but the hope gleamed a bit brighter. She thought about the photos in the album, the hours of talking she’d done outside that laundry room door.
“Because of all that work you did with him. Bringing him back around. That’s why she’s going to be able to find him this time.” Mark kissed her on her forehead and then her nose. “You aren’t to blame, you’re a hero.” He kissed her lips this time, warming them. “You’re a damn hero, Lea.” Another kiss, longer. Warmer. “Don’t forget that. Ever.”
She tilted her head back to make the kiss more solid, and basked in his good image of her. It helped. It helped to build up her miserable self-esteem.
“Do you think she’ll come back here?” she asked as his lips traveled searchingly down her neck. She shivered, but not with the cold, this time.
He pulled back to look her in the eyes. “Yeah, I do. And we’ll be waiting for her when she does. She was upset this morning, but she’ll snap out of it, you know that. She’s not dumb, and she’s not reckless…well, she’s a little reckless…” he was thinking of the time she’d been chased by a vampire in those very woods. He’d been furious with her, at the time. But things had changed. He smiled at Lea and was pleased to see the answering smile on her lips.
“Besides,” he said, “I guarantee that Peter is with her.”
Lea’s smile fell away.
Chapter 8
Promise checked her watch. She couldn’t tell where the sun hung behind its shroud of heavy clouds. She shivered, and her teeth chattered together. Then she leaned over Ash’s neck, drawing on his heat.
“What time is it?” Peter asked. His hands were under Snow’s mane, and the reins trailed loosely across the pommel of the saddle. They’d slowed to a walk as they approached the wood line. The field grasses whispered against the horses’ legs, and twice, Snow had danced nervously at the tickling, kicking out behind her.
“Just two; it seems later, though, doesn’t it?” Promise said. A gust of wind blew her hair across her face, and she reached for the scrunchie on her wrist…but of course, it wasn’t there. She sighed, and Peter smiled across to her.
“After we find Chance, we’ll go back to your house and look for it, okay?” he said.
“Okay,” she said and smiled back. Then she looked quickly away. She felt slightly shy around him again, she didn’t know why.
“Which way do you want to go?” he asked. “Any idea?”
They’d halted at the very edge of the woods, and Promise chewed her lip, thinking. Her hand went absently to Ash’s mane, and she pulled and tugged at the small knots she found there. “There was a rumor for a long time, about a cabin in the woods where the vampires huddled together in the daytime. I used to tell Mr. West that I was looking for that cabin when, really, I was searching for Chance. I didn’t want anyone to know what I was doing. I felt ashamed, in a way, like I was planning a murder,” she said and grew quiet.
Another strong gust of wind blew across the field, and her hair and Ash’s mane were lifted, snapping like flags in the wind. “There was a place that Chance and I used to go before, before all this happened. There was a stream with an enormous downed tree and where the roots had pulled free, they created this kind of cave. Chance used to go in there and bring out lizards and things. I never went in. I wanted to keep an eye on him because I didn’t trust it. Didn’t trust that it wouldn’t bury him in dirt at some point.” She smiled. “It was way back in the woods, farther than we ever should have been, probably.” The smile drifted from her face, and her eyes dimmed. “That’s where I used to go. I thought he’d show up at some point, hide in the hole that tree left. And I’d find him there. But now I think there wasn’t enough of him left to find the tree. There wasn’t enough of Chance there to remember it.” Her eyes went to Peter. “But now I think…I think he might have gone there. He was so much closer to his old self when I sat with him yesterday. He knew me. He knew himself.”
Ash stomped once, as though to show that he agreed wholeheartedly with his mistress and was ready to get going. Promise laughed and patted his shoulder. Then she sobered and looked at Peter. “But it’s far. Probably at least an hour’s ride. There are no trails, and the horses will have to walk for most of it. The kudzu is thick in some parts, too, making it impassable. Even for the horses’ long legs.” She looked at Peter. “I don’t know if we can be out before dark.”
“Do you want to wait until tomorrow?” Peter asked. His voice was gentle, neutral. “We can go to the safe house tonight.”
Promise looked over the field. She could just make out the start of Willow’s End from here. It looked tiny, cold, abandoned and very, very far away. She touched the place where the vial was pressed against her heart. She shook her head. “No. I want to go now.” Once said, it seemed both wholly right and wholly wrong, and once again, she was left in a quandary over her conflicted feelings. Was this what being an adult was going to be like? Never being sure of anything?
She heard the distant growl of a Humvee engine and that decided her for good. She knew it was Evans in that Humvee coming to stop her, and she knew, too, that he had her best interests at heart, but they were what he thought of as her best interests. She would decide for herself from now on. “We better go. They’ll never get that truck in here. The trees are too close together,” she said and kneed Ash, turning him into the woods. Snow followed close behind, her nose touching Ash’s tail.
It seemed warmer in the trees, although Promise knew it was only the lack of wind. She and Chance had spent hours and hours in these woods, playing war, playing cavemen, Indians, mountain men, scientists…everything they could imagine could be dreamed alive in the woods. In heat or rain, even the snow–each season had added some element to the game, an imagined hardship that needed to be overcome, back when they’d been Destiny and Chance, and that’s all they’d been. Would it have been enough for Promise, had the plague never come? Or would she have eventually abandoned the much-loved little brother for college, marriage, a whole life separate and away from him? Even the thought of it now depressed her. Her boredom, her selfishness, had been destined to put Chance out of her reach one way or another. The plague had just brought it about a little sooner.
“Promise,” Peter said, startling her. She’d been very deep in her thoughts.
She turned to glance at him, eyebrows raised.
“Stop,” he said. “Stop beating yourself up.”
She stared at him for a moment, letting Ash carry her forward. “I just want to do things right,” she finally said. “I want to do everything right this time. But each thing I choose…” she trailed off and shook her head. “…every choice seems like a possible mistake.”
“Promise, every choice has a possibility of going wrong. That’s just…” He smiled and shook his head. “That’s just life.”
She nodded and turned forward aga
in. She could still hear the Humvee, and now it sounded almost frustrated; a big animal separated from its prey. Eventually the engine noise died away completely, but she couldn’t be sure if it was because she and Peter had rode out of range or because the Humvee had turned around. She hoped they’d turned back, maybe even gone to the safe house with Mark and Lea.
The woods felt close, almost claustrophobic. She caught glimpses of the gray-white sky whenever the trees thinned a little. Still no sun. She checked her watch again…almost two-thirty. The adrenaline that had pushed her for the last three hours began to leach from her system, and in its place came a blanketing exhaustion. At least part of that was the shot that Mr. West had given her, but another part, too, was the emotional toll of the last two days. From her elation at hearing Chance speak to the murderous rage that had taken her over when she saw what Deidre had done, she was a blown fuse, a burned out circuit, numb. She blinked slowly and then blinked again. Then she shut her eyes and let Ash’s gait rock her in the saddle. She heard Peter move up next to her, and the sounds of the horses’ hooves on the old leaves and the gentle leather creaking seemed to come from far away. She realized she was drifting toward real sleep and forced her eyes open. She shook her head, flipping her hair back over her shoulders and letting the cold air wash across her face.
She glanced across to Peter. She wanted to ask him something, anything really, that would start a conversation that would help keep her awake. If it had been Lea next to her, she would have asked how things had been while she, Promise, was away. And she would ask how things were between Lea and Mark. They looked so happy together, complete, somehow. She couldn’t help but contrast it to the confusing, unsatisfying relationship she’d developed with Peter. He confused her.
“Peter,” she said, and his gaze swept to her. She felt moved again by his troubled eyes, the history of tragedy she read in them and in the lines of his face. It made her almost angry, that he could occupy her thoughts even now. “Why are you helping me?”
Blood Run – The Complete Trilogy – First Promise, Two Riders, Last Chance Page 37
