by Tara Maya, Elle Casey, J L Bryan, Anthea Sharp, Jenna Elizabeth Johnson, Alexia Purdy (epub)
"Blue."
Finn let out a low whistle. "Well, they ain't blue no more."
"Yeah, they're a kind of, I don't know ... gray? Is that gray, Jayne?" asked Tony, concern marring his features.
"That's what I'd call it," I answered. That was better than saying 'lifeless' or 'empty'. I changed the subject to something more pressing. "So, where the hell are Jared and Spike, and what the fuck was that monster doing to Chase?"
"Looked like it was eatin' him, to me," said Finn, matter-of-factly.
"I don't think it was eating me," said Chase.
The teeth marks and blood streaks on his neck said differently. "What was it doing then?" I asked. Maybe it had injected him with a poison that was making him stupid.
"It was draining my life force away, I think, not just blood. After it got the drop on me and nailed me to the ground, I tried to fight it; but almost right away, I got tired. Then stuff just stopped mattering to me and I kinda zoned out. I quit fighting on purpose."
"Stuff? What stuff stopped mattering?" asked Tony.
"Life. Living."
A life-sucking creature. Here in this forest. With us. "Sonofabitch!"
"Shhh, Jayne, not so loud," said Tony, sounding panicked.
"What?! Those assholes put us in this forest with humanoid creepers that like to suck the life outta people! You know what that means, Tony? Vampires! And not the hot, Twilight kind either. How am I supposed to remain calm about that?"
Becky spoke up. "He's right. We have to be quiet. That thing might not be the only one out here. Maybe he has ... friends."
I looked at Chase. "How do you feel now ... about life, I mean?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "Better. Tired."
"I've read a lot of vampire books, and I've never read one that said they suck the will to live out of you," said Tony, keeping his voice down.
"What's the difference? Blood ... life ... the end result is the same," I said, pissed off all over again. When I got my hands on that Dardennes guy, he was gonna be so friggin' sorry.
The thought of lighting my flare and giving up entered my mind, but the reality of knowing it would do no good quickly chased that thought right out again. The assholes who gave us the flares were the same assholes who knew that vampire was in here. The chances of them coming to rescue us, I was quickly realizing, were probably nil. Our only hope was to press on and get to the end.
"Where are Spike and Jared?" asked Tony, looking around.
"Maybe they ran off," said Finn.
"Maybe the creature got them and they're on the ground around here somewhere," said Becky, looking around fearfully, stepping over to hold onto Finn's arm.
Smart girl, going with the guy who has the poison arrows and knows how to use 'em. I took a step closer to Finn too and immediately felt emboldened. "Or maybe," I suggested, "they're hanging out with Niles having a nice little laugh at our expense."
Tony frowned at me. "Jayne, how can you say that? They wouldn't do that." He was getting mad, thinking I was joking at an inappropriate time. And to be fair, I have been known to do that before, but not this time.
"I'm not kidding, Tony. Something was going on with Jared. I saw him giving goo-goo eyes to Dardennes earlier. After I caught him, he wouldn't look at me anymore."
That made Becky cranky, if the tone of her voice was any indication. "Jayne, you're wrong. Jared's been nothing but kind and helpful to all of us. If it wasn't for him, we'd all still be out on the street, fending for ourselves."
"Yeah," I scoffed, "instead, you're here in the haunted forest, about to have the life sucked out of you by a flamingly gay vampire."
"Nah. I ain't buyin' it," said Finn. "Jared's a good guy." He was shaking his head, refusing to listen to anything negative about his absentee leader.
"I agree with Jayne," said Chase.
No one was more stunned than I was at this. "You do? Why?"
"I saw the same thing. And once that life-sucker guy appeared, Jared went AWOL. Spike stuck around for a bit, but then he left, too. At least Spike tried to help. Jared ... " His shrug said it all.
"Ha! I told you, Tony."
Tony shook his head. "I still don't believe it. Just because someone gives someone a look and runs away when a blood-sucking demon jumps out of the trees - like any smart person who wants to live would do - it doesn't make him an accomplice. I'm withholding judgment until I have more proof."
"Ugh, you sound like a lawyer, Tony." I hated lawyers. I knew they served a purpose, but my dad was one and that was all I needed to know.
He shrugged an apology at me, but I knew Tony well enough to know that when he puts his foot down, it's down. He'd have to see Jared sucking the life out of someone with his own eyes before he agreed to my theory.
"It don't matter," said Finn. "We hafta get outta here and find that first waypoint."
"Does anyone have any idea where we are?" I asked, bending down to open my bag and get my map out. My hand brushed up against the sharp stick in there at the same time we heard a crashing in the trees nearby. I grabbed it and yanked it out, ready to jab anyone who came too close.
I had pretty decent eyesight here in this forest, but when I pulled my weapon out, it looked blacker than black. It seemed to meld into the shadows, almost impossible to see. I had no time to contemplate this phenomenon, though, because someone or something was coming right for us. And fast.
Becky was pointing her flashlight in the direction of the noise, her knife held in her other hand.
The rest of us kept our weapons at the ready.
Blood pressures were rising.
Anxiety was at maximum capacity.
This thing needed to come out and give us a damn good explanation for why it was scaring the shit out of us, and quick, or it was gonna get stabbed, arrowed, sliced, axed, and shot.
The branches parted and out stepped Spike, his slingshot dangling from one fist. "Hey, guys ... whoa, easy there ... don't shoot." He held his hands up in front of him in a gesture of surrender, the rubber bands of his slingshot dangling limply. He flashed his trademark smile at us.
Instead of turning me on this time, though, it creeped me out, looking all too familiar. I could still picture the blood smeared on a very similar set of teeth not too long ago. Everyone but me lowered their weapons.
"Not so fast, there, Spike, if that's your real name ... " I stepped around Finn and Chase, advancing on him slowly. "Lift up your shirt."
"What?" Spike looked lost.
"You heard me. Lift it." I gestured with my stick, point first.
Spike looked at all our faces, one by one. "Guys? Help me out here. Why the striptease?"
"Oh Gawd, Jayne! Not again!" said a frustrated Finn. "He ain't the bad guy here!"
"You heard her," said Chase. "Lift it."
"You too?" Finn asked Chase, but Chase ignored him.
"Listen, guys, I don't know what's going on here, but I was lost for a little while and now I'm just glad I found you."
"Save it. Lift up your shirt, or taste my pointy stick, Spike." I was so sad right then, thinking I was going to have to stab the hottest guy I'd seen in a long, long time. Maybe ever. Those fucking teeth. I should have known they were too good to be true.
I heard a noise behind me. It was the sound of Finn's arrow being notched and drawn back. He sounded tired when he said, "You heard her, Spike. Show us the goods."
Spike swallowed loudly. I could see his Adams apple move up and down with the effort. He dropped his slingshot on the ground in front of him and slowly reached for the bottom of his shirt.
"Okay, guys. I don't know what the hell is going on here, but if you want to see my chest that bad, go right ahead. Get your fill, cuz this show is available for a limited time only." He slowly lifted his shirt to reveal the body beneath.
Chapter Fourteen
Spike brought his shirt up and over his head to reveal a very heavily-tattooed torso. The multi-colored tapestry ended at his wrists and neck, exactly where
his shirt would be when it was on.
We saw plenty of ink, but no injury. No scar. No marks. So unless Spike was able to spontaneously heal himself of an arrow wound to the heart in five minutes, leaving no trace and perfectly formed tattoos behind, well, he wasn't our man ... or our vampire ... or whatever that thing was.
I wagged my stick at him. "Go ahead, put it down. We've seen enough." More than enough actually. Yummers.
Spike put his shirt back on, pulling his sleeves down to cover his tattoos. "Well, that was fun. Now it's your turn, Jayne." He smiled at me, nearly downing me with his combination magic smile and now, as I'd just discovered, gorgeously tattooed self. He was like my hottest bad boy fantasy fused with the niceness of Tony.
Why, oh why, was I meeting him right before I was going to die? Where is the justice in life?
"Where's Jared?" asked Chase.
I turned, walking back to join the others, catching Becky's eye. She was fanning herself, and not because it was hot in the forest. She gave me a look and I knew exactly what she was thinking. Holy hotness. Spike was something else. He could suck on my neck any day of the week and twice on Sundays - so long as he didn't drain the life out of me, of course.
I closed my eyes for a second and gave myself a mental shake. I had to get my head back in the game. There was no use fantasizing about Spike while sitting on death's doorstep. There would hopefully be plenty of time for that later.
Spike walked over to us, answering Chase's question while tucking his slingshot into his back pocket. "I have no idea where Jared went. One minute the three of us were walking down the path, the next minute that ... thing ... was on me. I got one good punch in before he knocked me on my ass. I was about to get jumped on again when Chase shot him in the back - by the way, thanks for that, Chase - and then I got the hell outta there. I figured Chase had done the same thing. I just ran until I couldn't hear anything anymore. I waited a bit, got a little lost, and then found my way back."
"Did you see which direction Jared went?" I asked.
"Nope. I don't even remember seeing him when that guy was around."
"Uh-huh ... he wasn't even around, eh? Interesting ... ," I said knowingly, looking at Tony and then Finn. They both shook their heads at me.
Spike noticed. "What? What'd I miss?"
Finn sighed. "Jayne and Chase think Jared may be in on this thing with Dardennes and them."
Spike considered it a second. "Nah. Not Jared ... he's a good guy."
I just raised my eyebrows. I'd already said my piece on this. We'd find out soon enough which side Jared was on. He could run, but eventually, we'd catch up.
"Well, I vote we stay here and wait until morning. I can't see a damn thing out here. With my luck, we'll just get farther and farther away from the waypoint," said Becky, sinking down to sit on the forest floor.
I looked around. It didn't seem all that dark to me, but everyone else agreed with Becky. I didn't argue because I'd had enough excitement for one night and this seemed as good a place as any to spend the night - except for the fact that it was the very spot where Chase had been attacked. I decided that if he didn't have a problem with it, I shouldn't either. "You cool with this, Chase?"
He shrugged, which apparently meant he was okay with it.
We all gathered around the flattest spot we could find, and even though the night wasn't that cold, we huddled close together.
"Should we build a fire?" asked Becky.
"I dunno if we should or not," said Finn, looking to the rest of us for our votes.
I yawned. "I'm tired enough to just fall asleep right now, fire or not." I had fished out one of my meal packets and was getting ready to tear it open.
"You might wanna conserve as much of that as you can," said Finn.
I thought about it, looking over at Tony for his input.
He nodded.
I dumped out the bag's contents - something in foil, something else in foil, and something else in foil. Stupid. Who packs rations without labels on them? I opened up one of the smaller ones and some crackers fell out. I picked them up and ate them slowly, savoring the familiar taste. They reminded me of Townhouse crackers, which I usually ate with thin slices of mild cheddar cheese. I sighed, wishing I had some. I'd bet my mom had a big block of it in our fridge ... at home.
The thought of her and our house made me sad. I wondered what she was doing right now, while I was traipsing around in a nightmare forest a million miles away. Maybe worrying about me a little. But then again, maybe not. She probably wasn't as concerned about me as she should be, which was a small comfort; I wasn't not sure why. I was just glad she wasn't thinking about me being mauled by vampires and crap like that. I had never texted her to tell her I had left. I sighed. Things were definitely complicated between us right now, but I still felt bad about not telling her where I was going.
Tony nudged me with his foot. "Whatcha thinkin' about?"
"Nothin'," I said. I didn't want to talk about my problems in front of everyone.
Tony let it go. He just put his arm around my shoulders and squeezed.
I was so glad he was here with me. Then again, a part of me wished he were really, really far away - far away from this seriously next-level, screwed-up shit.
"I'll take the first watch," said Chase, sitting with his back to us, looking out into the center of the clearing.
"How're we gonna work this?" asked Finn, kneeling and sitting back on his heels, his bow leaning up against his thighs.
"I'll do two hours, then we switch; each of us does two hours 'til the sun comes up. If you hear or see anything questionable, wake everybody up."
"Anybody know what time it is?" asked Spike.
"Prob'ly about eight or nine, I'd guess," said Finn.
"Someone's gonna get lucky and miss out on guard duty," said Spike, winking at Becky and me.
"I don't expect to miss out, guys," I said.
"Me neither," said Becky.
"Don't worry, girls, you'll get your chance," assured Finn. "You can go first tomorrow night."
"Maybe we can finish the whole thing tomorrow," said Becky.
"That's not very likely," came a voice from the trees behind us - Jared's voice.
I grabbed my stick and stood up. I saw Chase reach behind his back and slowly pull his gun out of the waistband of his pants, keeping it hidden down by his side. None of the other sitting ducks did anything.
"Hey, Jared, where've you been?" asked Becky, jumping up to run and give him a hug.
He didn't stab her with his spear, so that was a good sign. He also didn't bite her neck - another point in his favor; but he'd be stupid to do that while everyone was watching, so I still wasn't convinced.
I walked over with the point of my stick facing out. "Lift up your shirt, Jared." I wanted to see if he had a little boo-boo over his heart.
He just looked at me, no expression on his face, moving to the side, as if to step around me and get closer to the group. Becky was hanging onto his arm, giving me a worried look.
"Don't go any farther, or you and me are gonna have a problem," I said, menacingly. Everything he was doing right now was only making me feel more secure in my suspicions. The time for playing nice was over.
"What?" he half-laughed. "Are you gonna stab me with your stick?" He smiled at me, as if trying to disarm me with his niceness, but I wasn't having any of it.
"Lift up the shirt, or feel the pain of my stick in your stupid guts, Jared. It's that simple."
Tony's voice came out two octaves higher than normal, "Jayne, stop! It's Jared!"
Chase showed up at my side. "Do what she says, Jared."
I glanced sideways at Chase and then looked quickly back at Jared. I was grateful for the support, but I didn't want to take my eyes off him for even a second. I saw how fast that vampire thing had moved. Actually, technically speaking, I had not seen how fast it had moved because it moved too fast to be seen.
Without lowering my weapon or dropping my watch
I said, "Thanks for speaking up, Chase. I thought I was going to have to do this on my own."
Spike strolled up and stood at my other elbow. "Well, what the hell. I had to do the striptease, Jared. It's only fair if you have to do it too." He didn't cock his slingshot, but it's not like it would have been very scary even if he had.
"Striptease? Are you guys drinking out here or something?" Jared laughed, looking from person to person while giving all of us his most charming, innocent smile.
Mr. Innocent, my ass.
Chase pulled his gun out of hiding. "Just do it, Jared, then we can move on to other things."
"Let me get this straight. You want me ... to pull up my shirt?"
I nodded silently.
Jared sighed. "Whatever ... " He let his spear drop to the ground next to him, and reached down to pick up the bottom of his shirt. "This is ridiculous, you know."
We all watched as more and more of his torso was revealed.
I don't think I've ever seen anyone that white before. He was glowing like the moonlight out here. "Holy shit, man, does anyone have any sunglasses?" I asked. I could already see that his chest was a smooth as a baby's butt - no stab wounds anywhere.
Jared's face was still under the lifted shirt. "Can I get dressed now?"
Chase put his gun back in his waistband, walking away.
"Yes, please," said Spike. "I'm getting snow blind from looking at you."
Everyone giggled. Then we were all laughing. Hard. Apparently, trying to stay quiet when you laugh, while also worrying about being killed by a vampire, is impossible. Pretty soon we were all grabbing our stomachs and moaning.
"Stop ... stop laughing ... my stomach ... ," said Becky.
Even Chase was smiling. His eyes were looking bluer too.
"Chase, your eye color is coming back," I said.
Tony squinted in the darkness, trying to see Chase's eyes.
Finn tried to do the same. "How can you see that from here?" he asked.
I shrugged. "It's as plain as day. The moon is lighting him up like a candle."
