Madeline sat inside the lean-to sobbing while my father wrapped his arms around her shoulders, trying to console her. Her closeness to the child was understandable since she had been the one to nurture him for the past month and a half. I wondered how much of her affection was due to her role, and how much came from the child luring her with his mesmerizing eyes.
I constantly felt his alluring power, which wasn’t as strong as older vampires, but at least I was immune and able to resist his charms.
Near the fire Thomas had bound our attacker’s hands behind his back and the man sat on the edge of the road. His ankles were also tied tightly together. When Thomas noticed me standing at the edge of the forest, he met me at the road.
“Did you get his name?” I asked.
Thomas shook his head. “No. He has just awakened. You hit him pretty hard.”
I shrugged.
“I take it you lost his accomplice?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Why would they want the child?”
“That’s what I plan to find out.” I walked toward the bound man, carrying the large club I had found in the forest.
After I crossed the narrow road, the young man looked up at me with a slight sneer on his face. He looked to be in his early twenties. Shaggy black hair hung to his shoulders, and his beard was sparse. By his clothes he looked to be nothing more than an ordinary farmhand. His eyes weren’t menacing like thieves I had encountered before, but some thieves were masters at playing innocent, often weaseling their ways out of blame.
“Why did you take the child?”
He scoffed and shook his head, softly laughing.
“Where is he?”
“In a place you’ll never find him.”
I brought the branch up over my head and then swung it downward, striking his leg hard. He screamed and wailed. I’m certain if his hands weren’t tied behind his back, he’d have hugged his leg. He fought to do so in spite of his tight restraints. His sudden tears glistened in the fire’s glow. He panted with sharp sobs and looked at me with fear in his eyes.
I examined the large stick and shook my head. “I can’t be certain if that cracking sound was from this tree branch or a bone in your leg. But I’m going to ask you once more. The next time I will strike your head, not your leg. Now where’s the infant?”
The man gulped air and whimpered. His defiance had disappeared and was replaced by intense fear. His voice became high-pitched and feminine when he replied, “In the forest.”
I shook my head. “I’m aware of that. Where in the forest?”
He looked at me nervously but didn’t want to offer an answer. I brought the club up again. He closed his eyes tightly and bit his lower quivering lip.
“Don’t!” a woman said behind me. “I have the child. No need torturing my brother. It’s not worth it. Here, take the infant.”
I lowered the stick and turned to face her. The young woman stood with Varak in her arms. She must have left the forest when she realized we had retained her brother.
Her long black hair flowed down her shoulders and outlined her pale face. Under different circumstances, without my anger focused toward them for abducting Varak, I might have found her partially attractive and attempted a more cordial conversation. Deception and theft immediately alienated me from any person, making him or her an instant enemy.
She was extremely thin, even her face. She stood a few inches above five feet in height. For a couple of moments, I questioned whether she was the one I had chased into the trees. In my rush to aid Madeline, the culprit had seemed so much larger. My imagination had magnified the person.
However, unlike me, this young lady didn’t have thorns stuck in her clothes or abrasions on her face from running through the tree branches. Of course, for all I knew, she probably had planned a quick route of escape ahead of time. If nothing else, she knew the forest much better than I. Or due to my desperation to find Varak, I might have run right past her if she had crouched down, waiting for her brother to join her.
My adrenaline waned, and the cuts on my legs and hands stung. I glared at her. “Why did you take the boy?”
Seeing the child, Madeline rushed from the lean-to and reached for Varak in sheer desperation. The girl readily handed him to her. Madeline hugged the child close and hummed as she walked back to the safety of the shelter.
The young lady glanced toward her brother. “Do you mind untying him? Hasn’t Drake suffered enough? He’s in quite a bit of pain.”
“You answer my questions, and he’s free to go.”
The young man sobbed. His face creased from his agony, and he looked sick from the pain.
“We were offered a great deal of money to intercept you.” Her demeanor was calm and her smile almost boastful. “And to take the child.”
“Why? By whom?”
She shrugged.
I pointed toward the roadblock. “That was your doing?”
She shook her head. Her long black hair flowed from side to side like soft velvety ribbons. “His actually. Neither of us is strong enough to have done that. He did it for us.”
“Why?”
She half smiled, somewhat proud. “As a distraction so we had a better chance to take the child. His plan worked.”
“Don’t provoke him, Ruby,” Drake said, his face strained. He leaned back, propping himself on his restrained hands.
I said, “But there has to be a reason why he set you up to do this.”
“All we know is that he has placed a bounty upon that baby,” Ruby said. “He told us if we didn’t want to do this, he had others who would. We had aimed to collect it.”
My jaw tightened. “So you’re willing to kidnap an infant for money?”
She appeared hurt by my accusation, even though it was the truth. “Times are hard. With winter upon us, we have no food and are hungry. The bounty is more money than we’d ever earn in a year working the fields. But we’d have never hurt the little boy.”
“How do you know the man who hired you won’t?” I asked.
Her eyes shifted back and forth while she thought. “I ... we really don’t know. I’m sorry, but we never considered his purpose.”
At least she was being more honest now. Perhaps her need for money had blinded her. Hunger caused people to do hasty things, and as frail as she looked, she was probably near starvation.
“Why does he want the child?”
“He didn’t say exactly.”
I shook my head. “It makes no sense why he’d hire the two of you instead of coming after us directly.”
Her brother whined. “That’s what we had asked him, too.”
Thomas and Father came and stood beside me.
“And what was his reason?” I asked.
“That there’d be less complications if we or someone else did it instead of him.”
Father glared at her. “How’s that?”
Ruby’s nervous eyes flicked from my father back to me. “He looked a lot like you.”
I frowned. “In what way?”
“Other than him being much older and his face scarred, you’re similar from a distance. The type of clothes you wear, the hat, and he said that he was a ... Hunter. Sounded quite odd the emphasis he had placed on that word since people hunt all kinds of animals in these forests. There’s nothing unusual about that. But he insisted he didn’t wish to fight against another Hunter.”
Father gave me an uneasy glance. She was ignorant of what the man had meant, but I understood fully. I didn’t like the idea of fighting another Hunter, either. Doing so went against everything the Chosen were ordained to do. We were to be allies with one another, not enemies. But I knew why he wanted Varak, which wasn’t something he’d have told these two when he had offered the reward. He planned to kill the child. I held no doubts about that.
“Did he give you his name?” I asked.
Ruby stared at the ground, deep in thought. Her eyebrows rose, and she looked at me. “Philip.”
“If you had succeeded in taking the baby, where would you have met to exchange?”
“In town. At the tavern.”
“Which tavern?”
She smiled. “There’s only one there.”
I glanced at Father. “Can I borrow your knife?”
Father took it from its sheath and handed it to me.
I knelt beside Drake and cut through the knots of the restraints binding his hands and feet. He immediately reached for his leg, wincing.
Ruby stood beside him and offered to help pull him to his feet. At first he was hesitant, but finally he took her hand and she pulled. When he placed weight upon it, he cried out and shook his head.
“It’s broken, Ruby,” he said, lifting his foot off the ground and bracing against her for support.
“You broke his leg,” she said, glaring at me.
I frowned back with a harsher stare. “Yes, but he’s still alive. Had I been forced to hunt you down in the forest to get Varak, it might have been much worse for the both of you. You kidnapped a baby and you think you should go unscathed? In some cities a person could kill you for what you’ve done and never be charged for such an offense.”
Ruby stood in stunned silence thinking about what I had said. She offered no further argument and helped her brother hobble closer to the fire.
Thomas shook his head and walked to the coach. Since it had been a while since we had eaten, I guessed he was going to prepare something for us to eat.
Chapter Four
Father and I stood near the road. He looked at me with great concern. “Another Hunter wants Varak?”
“Seems so.”
“What will you do?”
I sighed. “Continue on to Freiburg like I promised.”
“You ... um ... don’t think he’d try to kill you, do you?”
“It’s possible,” I said, trying to hide my nervousness.
“Does he want Varak so he can kill him?” Father asked.
“That’d be my guess.”
“How would he even know about the child or where we are for that matter?”
I took Father by the elbow and walked farther away from the others so they couldn’t hear our conversation. “In my heart I know what Varak will become. You know it too. I have no doubt about where his destiny ends. All of this was discussed with Albert, but none of us would do what needed to be done.”
“You mean killing him?”
I nodded. “Even now, I cannot do something like that. I just can’t. Because I’m essentially protecting Varak by taking him to the archbishop, another Hunter has been issued to do what we have not.”
“And this Hunter will kill you if necessary so he can kill Varak?”
“I believe he will try.”
Father’s eyes hollowed. He shook his head. “Then give him the child, Forrest. Let the other Hunter perform his sworn duty.”
“As much as I’d like to be done with this entire ordeal, handing the child over to another Hunter is the same as me breaking my promise.”
He sighed. “Which is worth more? Your life or Varak’s? We know what Varak will evolve into. By keeping your promise you’ve also put a mark upon your head.”
I nodded. “Yes, I’ve thought about this a lot during the past few weeks while we’ve been traveling. I’ve struggled inside.”
“See? Then do what’s right. Your promise is a violation of your duties, isn’t it?”
“That’s what I fear. Since I’ve placed myself on the wrong side of my calling, a hefty price will be required of me. What exactly? I have no idea.”
“Forrest, you should reconsider what you’re doing. It’s not safe to betray those who have granted such blessings to you.”
The brightness of the moon shone over the ridgeline. Father’s face was grim as he stared at me. His emotions stirred, but probably less deeply than my own. He looked away and turned to face the fire, watching Madeline. The longing in his eyes for her was obvious.
Sadness shadowed his voice. “Son, I’m certain you realize how much I covet the gift you have. At times, I’ve not been able to hide my jealousy.”
“I know,” I said softly.
“Other than your mother giving birth to you, nothing else would have been as great to me as being one of the Chosen. Only the two of you I have held in higher esteem, so don’t forsake your calling.”
“So, if you had been Chosen, you’d kill this infant?”
Father remained silent. He didn’t look toward me.
“Father, you couldn’t stake Bodi because he was a small boy. I don’t fault you for that, but I’ve seen the way you and Madeline act with Varak. You nor I could harm him, in spite of the knowledge we have.”
He sighed. “You’re right, son. I couldn’t either. But, if we manage to get Varak to Freiburg, I might lose you. That’s not something I’m willing to sacrifice.”
“You’re not considering—”
“No, let me think on this for a while. There must be another solution.”
“I hope so, but believe me, I’ve tried looking at every angle while we’ve traveled.”
“We can sleep on it,” Father said, glancing toward me. “Maybe we’ll know better in the morning.”
I shook my head. “We cannot wait here until morning. Not with this other Hunter wanting Varak.”
He frowned. “What do you propose we do?”
“I’m clearing the road.”
“Now? In the dark?”
I shrugged. “We’d be a lot farther east if this roadblock had not been set. Besides, I’m not left with any other choice. The more distance we put between us and Philip, the better.”
“Why not meet with the Hunter and talk it out?”
“There’s no negotiation over this matter, Father. I assure you.”
“We need to find a way.”
“Go warm yourself, Father, and get something to eat. Make sure the girl and her brother get plenty to eat, too. I’ll move enough rocks where the wagon can pass, and we’ll move on.”
“During the night? It’d be safer for us to remain near the fire.”
I didn’t bother continuing the argument. I turned and started heaving aside the rocks. I understood Father was tired, and being scrunched on the narrow coach seat made his aching legs hurt even more. Sleeping was nearly impossible, especially for me. The coach was also cold, even if a pile of quilts was stacked upon us. The cold weather made his legs hurt worse.
After a few minutes of his silence, I paused and looked over my shoulder. He had already returned to the fireside where he held his hands close to the flames. The bright flames revealed the comfort on his face.
While I tossed more rocks, my mind delved to find understanding and reasoning for how Philip had learned about Varak so quickly. He was determined to obtain the child, and if his goal was to kill Varak, Philip had to be a seasoned Hunter. Age-wise I had recently turned nine-years-old, so I wasn’t hardened to emotions like I’d eventually become. Since my childlike mind was still more compassionate, I viewed Varak as an infant and not a detrimental threat to the world—yet.
I wanted to believe what Albert had suggested. Having this child reared by a person of high moral standing might alter his future thirst for becoming an uncontrollable heartless tyrant. If there was even the slightest hope, and I had to admit, it was very slight, Varak deserved the chance to circumvent the expected destiny that lay before him. Like Hunters feared one of our own becoming a vampire, I imagined the fear a hybrid bestowed to the vampire hierarchies if he proclaimed himself an enemy of all vampires and sought to eradicate them. He could succeed without much of a challenge because he held the upper hand.
That slightest chance of hope was what I clung to at the moment, and yet, this Hunter knew where we were. How? The most probable reason was that his Hunter instinct had prompted him to act, but the more I thought about the situation, the less likely that seemed.
After all, Albert had mentioned that it was almost impossible for a Hunter to disc
ern a hybrid, at least not until after its bloodlust had overtaken all sensibility and rationality, and he left behind a massacre for the Hunters to discover.
But Varak was a child and his powers had yet to mature, so he couldn’t attract the attention of a Hunter. Other than my father and myself, the were-rat and his boys were the only ones who even knew about Varak being a half-blood. With the superstitions most Gypsies kept, it was unlikely Esmeralda would have even told those closest to her that the child was a half-blood vampire. I was fairly certain they never knew she had been turned into a vampire, so it was doubtful any of them had sent the Hunter after Varak since he was one of their descendants. They, like her, would seek to keep him alive. So that left Albert, the were-rat.
I found it difficult to believe Albert would have betrayed us and sent this Hunter after Varak. Had he done so to test my loyalty? Surely if this other Hunter approached me, he’d challenge me for the child and harshly rebuke me for not doing what was expected of a Hunter. If I refused to surrender the boy, Philip would go to any means necessary to get Varak, even kill me.
I didn’t like the idea of fighting another Hunter, but faced with such a situation, I’d have no other option. For Varak to live, I needed to remain alive.
Then, the forewarning Albert had given dawned upon me. He had said that one day I’d be faced with the task of killing someone who wasn’t an undead or a supernatural creature. I’d be forced to kill another human and the ordeal would forever taint me inside, breaking my resolve to remain pure and making me colder. The were-rat seemed determined to set all the proper elements into place, leaving me with no other choices but to follow through.
A rise of anger pulsed through me. I began throwing the rocks aside quicker. His betrayal cut deeply. I had trusted Albert, and he had stood with us to destroy Duke Raginwulf and the Gypsy witch, but he had done so probably more for his own advantageous needs rather than for London’s or my own.
Now I wondered if Albert had been the one who had sent the vampire Trenton after me, nearly killing me, and then left the bounty money the following morning.
What was his purpose?
My mind raced.
Forrest Wollinsky: Predestined Crossroads (Forrest Wollinsky: Vampire Hunter Book 3) Page 2
