The vampire’s eyes narrowed. “The first vampires, vicious and wild, uncontrollable, power mad, blood hungry. Now get on the other side of the doorway and Track them.”
I didn’t move, sensing something through the doorway. “There is something on the other side, we should try another door.”
His hands twitched now along with his eye. “I don’t fucking well care, Tracker.”
For all that Faris was the ultimate in asshattery, something was wrong. Like really, really wrong with him.
“If Rylee gets hurt, you will have lost your only way to find the Blood,” Doran said, breaking our standoff.
“Good thing you are here then, Shaman. You can keep her alive when the injuries happen.” Faris didn’t turn as he spoke, just stared into the night darkened vines and trees, hands trembling with what I assumed was rage.
“Alex, come with me,” I said softly, refusing to snap my fingers for him. Never again would I do that, not after Faris doing it to me.
He stepped beside me, lifting his nose to the doorway. “Uglies.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of. Come on, we’ll make it quick.”
My feet barely crossed the threshold of the doorway when the ground around us shook and a roar broke the air. Alex cried out and pressed hard against me. My first thought was we were going to face another giant, but no, there were no giants in jungle areas I was aware of. I stood weaponless, and for the first time truly, truly understood the situation Faris had me in, a position I had gone into willingly, thinking I could handle him and it.
I was completely at his mercy and completely without any way to protect myself.
Shit.
Shaking, I Tracked the Blood, or at least what I knew of it.
I didn’t pick up anything, couldn’t sense a thing out of the ordinary. I tried Tracking vampires in general and got a distant ping, way far to the south.
“Nothing, there is nothing here.”
The creature, whatever the hell it was let out another roar, far closer this time. I spun, and froze.
Faris blocked the doorway, one of my own swords pointed at me. “Be very sure, Tracker.”
“Fuck, I’m sure! Now move, that thing out there is getting closer and I’d like to be on that”—I pointed into the castle—“side of the door before the big fucker shows up!”
The crash of bush and trees behind me spun me around. Like a cross between an ogre and a giant, the creature stood easily fifteen feet tall, but it had only one eye. Correction, she had only one eye, her pendulous breasts swinging as she skidded to a stop. She blinked several times, sniffing the air, then launched toward us.
I had no choice.
I sprinted to the left, away from the door, away from Doran and Faris. If the asshole wouldn’t let us through, he’d have to find me. I wasn’t about to stand there and let the Cyclops scoop me up for dinner, thank you very much.
In the darkened jungle, I couldn’t see where the hell I was going. “Alex, lead the way.”
He brushed past me, the silver tips of his coat seeming to gather the little bit of light coming through and giving me a glowing lead. At a full tilt run, we wove through the jungle, the crash of the female Cyclops not far enough behind.
I had no way to stop her, not even a deterrent—
A tree flew through the air crashing into the ground right in front of us, dirt and bush spewing up in a wave of earth. “Over it!”
Alex leapt over the downed tree with ease and I vaulted it, felt the brush of fingertips along my shoulders. We either had to go faster, or find a way around this big bitch.
Sprinting full out in a tiny black cocktail dress in the middle of a jungle in the dead of night was, surprise surprise, not going well.
The only thing I knew about Cyclops was their hide was thicker than a giant’s and their only real weakness was their single eye. But getting to that eye would prove to be the problem. I needed a weapon, something that could be used at a distance like my crossbow.
Jungle, what the hell was there in a jungle to help?
Tribes.
“Alex, find humans.”
A tribe would have weapons. Spears, bow and arrows. Anything sharp and pointy would work at this juncture.
Alex veered to the right, his tail streaming out behind him. “Close,” he yelped as the ground dropped out below us and we skidded down an embankment. The Cyclops, unfortunately, was right behind us. I didn’t dare look back, that was the kiss of death in chase scenes and it was a rule I lived by.
Never look back.
“Faster, Alex!” I screamed as we hit the bottom, a shallow creek gurgling along softly. On the other side, the chatter of voices erupted and torches were lit.
He’d done it; he’d gotten us to a village.
Now I had to get a weapon and pray it was strong enough to do the job.
When we were midstream, the men of the village poured out of their huts, their nut brown faces lit up with horror alongside the fire. I didn’t know the word for weapons, or spears, but I didn’t need to.
The man closest to me threw me a spear. I grabbed it mid air and spun, facing the Cyclops. With weapon in hand, fear skidded away from me. This I knew, this I could deal with.
The big bitch swung a hand toward me and I caught it on the tip of the spear, driving the point deep, praying it would at least stall her.
Nope; the spear’s haft broke in the middle, blasting apart under the pressure. I caught the broken spear, knowing I had no choice but to wait for the opening I needed to take her out.
To pop that bulbous eye like a grape.
A hail of arrows arced over my head and hit the Cyclops. None of them stuck, but it got her attention. She let out a roar and I got a good look at her mouth. Blunt, flat teeth, meant for grinding bones, snapped at the tribesmen. There was no fucking way they could take her on, yet they were buying me the time I needed.
“Alex, we have to hamstring her.” He ducked a swing from her, and got around to her back side, driving for the flesh and tendons above her thick cankles.
Teeth and claw, he attacked her. Clinging to her leg as she spun to dislodge him. A single thick belt hung from her waist, bones dangling as if mementos of kills. A blocky thighbone swung by me. I grabbed it with one hand and let her momentum pull me from the ground.
Clamping the spear haft in my teeth, I clawed my way to her belt, felt her stiffen as my hands touched her bare skin. I glanced down, saw Alex had gained nothing, hadn’t even drawn blood.
“Alex, get away. Leave her!” His obedience saved his life. The Cyclops swung down hard, her fist sending up a spew of water and rock where he’d stood only a moment before. With her bent over, I scrambled up her back and straddled her shoulders in a second.
This was a death I would lay at Faris’s feet. Letting gravity take me as she stood, I let the weight of my body pull me around her neck. As I slid in front of her I clamped my thighs tight and faced a very surprised Cyclops. I dropped the spearhead from my mouth into my hands and drove it deep into the wide-open eye.
There was no sound, no final roar of pain. Her eye frosted in a matter of half a breath, from the exterior in toward the point of the spearhead, as if dipped in ice. She slumped to her knees and I jumped off as she fell face into the creek bed, the water sluicing around her, her body melting into nothing as if it had never been.
“Goodnight, big girl,” I said softly, for the first time in a long time feeling a sorrow at the death of a creature trying to kill me.
Breathing hard, my brain tried to tell me why I was feeling bad. The pieces put together slowly in my head. The large breasts, the sagging belly, driving me away from her territory …
“Ah, shit.” I hung my head, shame burning through me. A mother protecting her babies. Dying to protect her children. A big ass nasty mother, but that wasn’t the point. She never would have come after us if she hadn’t felt threatened.
A hand touched my shoulder and I spun, settling into a half crouch. The tri
besman held up his hand, palm outward.
“I speak little English. You Tracker. Yes?” His dark eyes were wide with something akin to awe. I didn’t like it.
I slowly came out of the crouch. “Yes, how did you know?”
“Magic man tells us. You kill one eye. You make us safe.” He gave me a tentative smile.
I swallowed hard. “Did she have babies?”
He bobbed his head. “Yes, yes. Babies are excellent.”
My guts lurched and I backed away, feeling as though I’d been duped. Excellent, as in … “You ate them?”
He bobbed his head again. “Yes, take strength. Be better warriors.”
Horror, absolute and pure, rippled along my spine, through my heart and soul. They’d eaten her babies, and then she’d come after us thinking we were the ones? Fuck, fuck, fuck. Tears pricked at my eyes, and I knew I had penance to pay for this one.
“Alex.” My voice was thick with tears I couldn’t seem to stem. “We’re leaving.”
I slogged through the stream, standing for a moment where the Cyclops had fallen. “I’m sorry.”
Something drew my eyes upward, to the top of the embankment. Faris stood watching me, his eyes hooded.
I could lay this at his feet, but it wasn’t all on him. I’d made the choice to run, even if he’d forced it on me. I’d chosen to fight the Cyclops instead of circling back. A part of my brain—the logical part Liam would agree with—argued with me.
You had no choice. You can be sorrowful, you can regret, but you have to live. She would have killed you, and then Alex.
My jaw clenched and unclenched. “I will make this right. I don’t know how, but I will make it right.”
I bent and scooped a rock from the stream, the edge just sharp enough. I dragged it across the palm of my hand, opening a shallow cut, my blood dripping into the stream. A blood oath, one I gave freely. At some point, I would make this right.
“Are you coming, Tracker?” In the dim light, I couldn’t see his condescension, but I damn well felt it.
“I want my weapons back. This clusterfuck wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t had to run through the damn fucking jungle, you fanged ass.” I didn’t step toward him. He needed me, and while I wouldn’t trade my friends for obedience, I also knew at some point I had to draw the line in the sand.
“Rylee, do I need to make another point?”
I kept my eyes on him, not ready to call what I hoped was a bluff. “If you aren’t going to protect me, then I need to take care of myself. I won’t kill you, Faris. Unlike you and Milly, when I make an oath, I fucking well keep it.”
Shit, except for telling Doran. Charlie told the rest of my family about Faris’s game so I didn’t break my oaths about keeping silent. About not telling anyone that Faris was blackmailing me into helping him. But since Faris knew about Doran, I wasn’t going to count that one.
The tension between us grew and shifted, pulled taut like an overheated piece of taffy. He broke first. With a snort, he threw my weapons on the ground at his feet. “Come and get them, then.”
I didn’t hurry. Fuck, that was the last thing on my mind. Alex waited for me on the far bank. I walked over to him.
“Hate that vampire,” he growled, his teeth showing in a flash of moonlight through the trees.
I ran my hand over his soft ears, taking comfort in the fact at least I wasn’t alone. “Yeah, I hate him too.”
Faris made me and Alex lead the way back to the door. On this side, it was situated in between two trees weaving themselves together with vines and flowers. The moonlight stretched down through the canopy and lit the doorway clearly showing the edges. I pushed the door open and stepped across. Doran was there, waiting. He scooped me into his arms and hugged me unnecessarily tight.
“You do realize if I had to go to Liam and tell him you were dead, I’d be joining you on the other side of the veil?” He squeezed me tightly against his body, a cheeky ass grin slipping over his lips.
“Enough,” Faris growled and I turned, Doran still holding me, and saw something I never would have expected.
Faris was jealous of Doran.
I let my body soften against the Daywalker, felt his surprise, saw Faris’s eyes darken dangerously. Yeah, poking at the vampire probably wasn’t my best idea, I just couldn’t help myself. Truly.
“Doran is my … friend, and he was worried about me. Perfectly natural.” I leaned in and kissed Doran on the cheek for good measure before letting go. Doran swatted my ass. “Play nice with the vampire, Rylee. He can kill us all, you know.”
“Yes, perhaps it’s best you remember that.” Faris glowered at me, and I felt the power between us shift. Suddenly, I’d found a weakness. While he hadn’t liked Liam in my bed, there hadn’t been this jealousy. Seemed it took another fanged boy to really set him off. Good to know.
I shrugged again, though inside I was cheering. Fuck yeah—score one for the Tracker.
Sauntering down the hallway, I aimed toward the next door. A slight adjustment on my sheath, and this time I wouldn’t be taken off guard.
Chapter 12
The next three doorways were total busts, one of them actually taking us back to the jungle. This was the problem with crossing the veil; even with actual doorways you never knew where it would take you, until you’d used the crossing, and there was no way to know them all.
“You’re running this show, Faris. Did it occur to you to look for a fucking map of the castle doorways?” I snarled at him, soaked through to the bone from the last doorway, which happened to open at the base of a waterfall. “Or better yet, why the fuck don’t you jump the veil with me to each of the continents?”
His hand snapped out, faster than I could track with my eyes, fingers around my throat, squeezing hard enough that spots danced in front of my eyes. This was another power game, and I’d be damned to hell and back if I broke. I’d let him choke me before I pulled a weapon on him. “You do not understand the rules, Tracker, to this ascension to the throne, and I do not feel like explaining them to you.”
He let go and I dropped. Doran caught me against his chest and I sagged against him, this time for real. I drew in breath and it was the sweetest air I’d tasted in a long time.
Faris strode down the hallway searching for the next door.
Doran tipped my head up. “You okay?”
I ran a hand over my throat, winced as I touched where Faris’s fingers dug in. “Yeah, he’s just pissy because I won’t back down.”
The Daywalker’s green eyes filled with something akin to worry. “Don’t push him, Rylee. He’s on edge, more than I’ve ever seen him.”
“I noticed.”
“Doorway,” Faris called from around the corner, and I jogged to catch up. Doran was right, Faris was not himself, even for the vampire of many faces that he was.
This was the fourth doorway in two hours. Each one I stepped through, Faris made me stand there for at least fifteen minutes. It took me less than thirty seconds to figure out the Blood was or in this case, wasn’t there.
Faris didn’t trust it could be that quick. He jerked the handle and the doorway swung open.
Daylight streamed through, catching Faris along his lower leg. He threw himself backward, scrambling away from the sunlight, his eyes wide with horror.
I stood and watched, but didn’t shut the door. “So eager to die, vampire? I can help you with that.”
“Shut the door, Tracker.”
With the tip of my sword I reached out and shut the door. “See how nice I can be, vampire?” If he wasn’t going to use my name, I wasn’t going to use his. “Perhaps you can tell me what the fuck is really going on.”
Faris sat on the ground, looking totally and utterly defeated. “I need to sleep; you three, keep checking doorways.”
My eyebrows shot up, and my jaw dropped open as he pushed himself to his feet and limped away.
Unable to process what just happened, I turned slowly to Doran. “Any ideas?”
>
But the Daywalker had gone pale, pasty white. “I don’t think I can do it, Rylee.”
Shit, I was pretty sure he didn’t mean continue looking into doorways.
Time to get tough on his ass. I strode to him, stuck my face right in his, like Liam had done so many times to me, only I lowered my voice to a whisper. “Yeah, you think I want to face Orion? You think I want to fulfill this particular prophecy? You think I want any of the shit that has come my way? Fuck, Doran, you of all people should know sometimes you don’t get to choose.”
He let out a slow breath. “Rylee, it is not just the daylight I will give up, but my very soul. Daywalker’s retain their souls; it is why we cannot carry the power a vampire can. Where their souls were, their strength fills.”
My throat tightened. Shit, if that was true, then he was right; I couldn’t ask that of him, not even for this. Faris would have to lead the vampires; he was the only option now. Fuck me, I hated this. “You can still help me with Berget?”
He nodded. “Yes, of course.”
I turned from him and loosened my second sword. “You open the doors, I’ll step through. We’ll move faster with Faris asleep.”
Doran opened the door that had seared Faris, and I stepped through. “Do you know why he has to sleep now? That is way too weird.”
He cleared his throat. “It is a part of the ritual. They must fast for some time before they go on their individual quests, and they may not feed until the quest is complete, or their opponent claims the throne. To do so would show weakness and the inability to conquer their own flesh. This is also to prove themselves as they pass the final tests before the ceremony.”
I did a slow circle as I Tracked, reaching out as far as I could with my senses. “That’s why he isn’t jumping the veil, isn’t it?”
“I believe so. It would take too much power, would require him to feed every day and he can’t do that.”
I stepped back through the doorway. “Nothing here.”
Alex trotted ahead of us, much perkier now that Faris was not with us. He flung open the next door with a flare I didn’t know he had, one paw flicking out, a la Vanna White. “Ta-da!”
Tracker: A Rylee Adamson Novel (Book 6) Page 11
