Drifter
Page 18
Mitch gave one last effort, but it was no use.
Ronin slammed Mitch’s arm down onto the table and jumped to his feet in victory. The flames disappeared instantly, the only evidence of their existence the stench of singed clothing that hung in the air and Mitch and Ronin’s now naked bodies.
“I won! The girl is mine to do with as I please.” Ronin grinned. “Anyone want to challenge me?”
Silence.
Mitch’s heart sank. Fuck. He’d failed Kate.
Hide, Kate. Use the camouflage. Please, don’t get caught.
Ronin glanced around the room, a look of stunned disbelief crossing his face as he realized Kate was gone. “Where the fuck did she go?”
A throat cleared somewhere behind Mitch. “Uh, I saw her slip out the door a few minutes ago. I think the flames scared her away.” The man let out a nervous chuckle. “Hell, the fire scared me too. I thought you both were going to melt away.”
A few murmurs of agreement came from around the room.
“What the hell was that, Ronin?” a shaggy, bearded soldier asked. “How the fuck did neither of you get burned?”
Ronin returned his gaze to Mitch. “We’re drifters, Mitchell and I. We can’t be burned.”
More murmurs erupted from around the room.
Mitch held Ronin’s gaze. A silent challenge passed between them. Then Ronin turned away.
“Find the woman! Whoever finds her gets her first!”
Fuck. I have to stop this.
The room came alive as everyone bolted to their feet and rushed for the doorway. Not one single man remained in the room. Everyone wanted to be the one to claim Kate.
Mitch’s stomach churned. He couldn’t let them catch her.
Ronin turned back to Mitch with a smirk. “Looks like I won again, Mitchell. When are you going to learn to stop challenging me?”
Mitch bared his teeth. “When you’re dead and gone.”
Ronin’s black gaze hardened, turning into coal. Then he threw his head back and laughed.
“Very funny, Mitchell.” He shook a finger at Mitch. “But I’m going to be the one laughing when the woman is caught and you’re forced to watch my men abuse her.” He snickered. “Just like before. One of these days I’m going to break you. This is one hunt I’m thoroughly going to enjoy.” He crooked his finger. “Come along. You’ll want to be there when she’s caught. You’re not going to want to miss what happens, that I can guarantee. It will be highly entertaining for all of us.”
Mitch’s heart twisted. He wouldn’t be able to bear seeing Kate abused. It would surely kill him.
“Why don’t you just kill me now? What are you waiting for?”
Ronin chuckled. “Because it’s more fun to torture you. Don’t worry. I’ll kill you when I’m ready.”
He grabbed Mitch’s arm and shoved him toward the doorway. “Grab some clothes from the seamstress on your way out. I’ll be waiting for you out front. And don’t think you can sneak away, because I’ll catch you if you try.”
Mitch had no intention of sneaking away. He wanted to be there when they caught Kate.
Because he was the only one who might be able to save her.
* * *
Kate knew it wouldn’t be long before Ronin sent men after her. So she ran as fast as she could toward the dinosaur dig. If she could get below and hide down in the drifters’ lair, she might be safe. It was the only place she might be safe from Ronin.
There was a strong possibility she might run into the drifters, or Ethan, down there. But she was more afraid of Ronin than she was of them. Mitch had said Ethan had run away rather than hurt him, so she had to believe Ethan wouldn’t kill her if she came upon him in the drifters’ lair. Ethan was Mitch’s friend. He’d helped her escape from the crater before and he’d saved her after she’d fallen into the crater. He had goodness in him. She knew he did.
Kate alternated between running and fast walking back to the dinosaur dig, catching her breath whenever she walked, then bursting into a run again once she felt able to move on. It took her about thirty minutes before the dinosaur dig appeared ahead of her. She had almost reached it when she heard shouts behind her. She glanced back, her heart pounding in terror. The soldiers were chasing after her, too many to count in one glance. They were closing in fast.
Turning back around, Kate raced the final feet to the dig and ran down into the crater. Snagging a lantern off the wall, she anxiously lit it. Her bow and the quiver of arrows still leaned against the table where she’d left them earlier. She grabbed them up and took a deep breath for courage. Holding the lantern in front of her to light the way, she entered the tunnel that led into the drifters’ lair.
Voices came from behind her, along with numerous sets of footsteps. The soldiers had followed her into the drifters’ lair. Kate paused a moment to get her bearings. Counting her footsteps as she went, she headed into the second tunnel on her left. If she remembered correctly, if she stayed to the left, the tunnel opened into two more tunnels, and then into the nursery she and Mitch had come upon where Ethan had been. Kate had just reached the end of the first tunnel when a low growl reached her ears.
The hair sprang up on her arms. Cautiously she turned, holding the lantern up high. A drifter trailed behind her, its eyes glowing eerily in the semi-darkness. Kate set the lantern at her feet and removed an arrow from the quiver.
“Back off,” she warned softly. “Or I’ll shoot you.” She positioned the arrow in the bow and raised it toward the drifter.
The beast flipped up the frill on its neck and let out an angry hiss.
More drifters appeared in the tunnel, sniffing at her and raising their frills.
Crap. She was outnumbered.
Kate glanced at the empty tunnel in front of her. Then she shot the arrow blindly at the pack of drifters. Snatching up the lantern, she ran.
The drifters gave chase, snarling and growling as they galloped after her.
Kate rounded a corner and slammed into something big and hard and very alive. The lantern flew from her hand, crashing onto the ground and shattering. Darkness consumed her. Kate stumbled backward, reaching blinding for the wall behind her.
“I told you not to come back here,” a male voice chided from the darkness just before a pair of glowing green-blue eyes found hers. “I said I would kill you if you did.”
Ethan.
Kate recognized his eyes. His voice. She stood her ground. “The soldiers are after me. This is the only place I could think of to hide. And Mitch is in danger. Ronin captured him. You’re supposed to be Mitch’s friend. Friends don’t kill friends. They help them.”
Shouts came from the tunnel behind Kate. Then thundering footsteps. The drifters turned away from Kate and headed to intercept the intruders.
“They’re coming.” Kate held Ethan’s gaze. “They will rape me if they catch me. And God knows what else. Ronin arm-wrestled Mitch for the right to claim me. Obviously Ronin won.”
Something flared in Ethan’s eyes, something that looked like pity. He made a sound in his throat and turned away from her. “I can’t get involved in this kind of stuff. I have more important matters to deal with.”
Kate reached for him, touching his arm. “More important than your friend? Please, Ethan. Don’t abandon Mitch. He needs you. And right now, I need you. You might be the only one who can protect us from Ronin.”
Ethan jerked out of her grip. He let out a soft hiss. “If Ronin discovers what’s down here, we’re all doomed. I may have kept some things from Mitch, but Ronin is still more powerful than I am. I can’t protect you from him.” He sighed loudly. “But I can hide you. Come on.” He grabbed her arm and dragged her along behind him, moving through the tunnels as if it was broad daylight and he could see every turn. Kate imagined he probably could with his night vision. She stumbled after him, trying to keep up, trying not to trip and fall in the dark, the mud sucking at her shoes.
At last they reached the narrow tunnel that went up out
of the crater, the one the drifters used to access their lair. The one Ethan had sent her up the last time. Ethan urged her up into the tunnel, then followed.
“Make a quick right,” he said from behind her. “There’s a small room back that way.”
Kate did and crawled into a small cave-like room about eight feet across and half as wide. She stood and moved to the far wall to make room for Ethan behind her.
Ethan paused and glanced back down the tunnel. “They won’t find us up here.”
He lit a lantern and turned back to her. He didn’t look as frightening in the light as he had moments ago in the dark. His eyes were guarded, much like Mitch’s, and full of secrets. Kate was curious about him and his research.
An awkward silence stretched between them.
“I read your notes on the drifters,” Kate began. “When were you first bitten?”
Ethan didn’t meet her gaze. Instead, he stared at a fossil embedded in the wall. She sensed he was uncomfortable with her near nakedness and she didn’t blame him. “Not long after the asteroid shower. I was down here in the crater, checking out the new fossils that had been unearthed by the asteroid. I came upon a small pack of drifters that were burrowing their way through the earth. All these tunnels that you see now were created by the drifters. They attacked me but I managed to escape. I hid out for several days until the wounds healed. Claire and Gabe didn’t even know about it, since I spent most of my time down here anyway.”
He paused, his gaze moving to hers. “I don’t know what Mitch has told you about me, but I’m not a good person. I’ve kept secrets from him. Sometimes…” He hesitated, jerking his gaze away. “…Sometimes the drifter in me takes control, messes with my mind. Makes me do things I shouldn’t. Like back in the tunnel earlier, when I threatened to kill you and Mitch. That wasn’t me. That was the drifter talking. I’ve never killed anyone before. Sometimes the drifter is too strong and I can’t control it. Especially near the nesting area. That place is powerful. When I’m in there, the mountain controls me.”
His face reddened. He pulled his gaze back to hers. “Every time I try to leave the crater, the mountain pulls me back. I can’t explain it. I’m actually surprised I’m so lucid right now. You must have some kind of calming effect or something, because I’m usually not myself this deep into the crater.”
Kate considered that for a moment. “Mitch said I give off a positive energy. Could you be feeling that?”
Ethan shrugged. “Mitch is an empath. I’m not. He can feel things a lot more profoundly than anyone else can.”
Kate nodded. “I know.” She hesitated, then admitted, “We bonded. Now I share one of his gifts and I think he shares mine, though he hasn’t confirmed it yet.”
Ethan’s eyes filled with interest. “What’s your gift?”
“I can block my emotions.”
“Really? And you shared that with Mitch?”
“I think so, yes, but it has the opposite effect for him. Instead of blocking his own emotions, he can block the emotions of others.”
Ethan chuckled. It transformed his stern face, making him appear less serious. Even handsome.
“That’s brilliant. It will help him cope with his empathy.” He paused. Cleared his throat. “I know it’s a little late for this, but you should be careful about falling for a drifter man. We’re only part human. Unpredictable. One day he may turn on you. One day he may merge into a complete drifter with no human traits. Men like me and Mitch, we really shouldn’t fall in love. It’s too dangerous. Getting close to others can be deadly. Because in the end, we might kill those we love most.”
There was pain in his eyes as he held her gaze. Was he talking about his daughter? Was he afraid he might hurt her? Was that why he lived down here in the dark with the drifters?
“I’m not afraid of Mitch,” she whispered. “And yes, I’ve fallen for him. I know he would never hurt me. I trust him. And despite your attempts to act otherwise, I don’t think you would ever hurt another person, either.”
Something flashed in his eyes—guilt?—before he turned away. “Not true. I already have hurt others. Far more than I can ever be forgiven for.”
Kate recalled the conversation Ethan and Mitch had had about Ethan’s brother, Gabe. Was that what he was referring to? What had happened between them? What had Ethan done?
“So if you can’t leave this place, what do you do down here all the time?”
“Tend to the young. New hatchlings emerge each day and follow the adults above ground to go hunting. The last of them hatched yesterday. I helped herd them to the surface.”
“The drifters allow you to tend to their young?”
He nodded. “I’m one of them. In fact, I’m more powerful than they are, so they generally follow my lead, do what I tell them to.”
Mitch had said something similar, that he was one of them, too. “Are you more powerful than Mitch?”
Ethan held her gaze. “I don’t know. Possibly. I can sense the drifter in people, and it’s more powerful in him than it is in you. He may be more powerful than I am, or I may be more powerful than he is. But that doesn’t really matter unless we have a major disagreement that turns into a physical fight. In that case, the stronger one will win.”
Kate thought about Ronin. “How powerful is Ronin?”
Ethan scowled. “Ronin is the most powerful of all the drifter men. He is virtually unstoppable.”
“Alone, maybe,” Kate murmured. “But I read your notes. You said that the three cones can come together to control the mountain. That means the three cones can beat Ronin.”
Ethan shrugged. “That’s just what I interpreted from what the mountain told me in my dreams. I may have interpreted it wrong. But every time I try to leave the crater, the mountain jerks me back. I’m not sure I’d be much help in controlling the mountain if I can’t leave this place.”
“What if your family needed you, would you leave this place to help them? What if you’re the missing cone needed to help save the world? Would you leave then?”
He kept his gaze averted. “I don’t know if I could. The mountain might not let me.”
Voices suddenly came from the tunnel below. Ethan doused the lantern’s flame, shrouding the room in darkness.
“Stay here. I’ve got to do something. If you come out of this room, you’ll probably die.”
Movement came from where Ethan had been sitting. Though Kate couldn’t see him in the dark, she sensed him rising, growing, changing, shifting…
The hair jumped to attention on her arms. Oh my God. Was he shifting into a drifter? Her heart pounded. Her breath grew shallow. Would Ethan kill her now? Would the drifter take control?
Cool air brushed her cheek.
She stared as Ethan’s glowing green-blue eyes stared back at her. He hissed.
The air stirred again, then she felt him moving away. A faint shuffling sound indicated he had dropped down into the tunnel.
Then Kate was left with nothing but silence and the dark.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Ronin settled behind the large, fossil-filled table in Ethan’s dinosaur dig while the soldiers scrambled about, searching the tunnels for Kate. He motioned to a chair opposite him, indicating Mitch should sit.
Mitch hesitated, his gaze zeroing in on the tunnel that led into the drifters’ lair. Kate was in there somewhere. He knew she was. Was she safe? Had Ethan helped her?
After his last encounter with Ethan in there, Mitch wasn’t sure if he trusted his friend anymore. True, he hadn’t hurt Mitch earlier, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t harm Kate. The mountain was controlling Ethan now, ruling his mind, making him do things he wouldn’t normally do. Mitch figured there was probably only one way to get Ethan out of the drifters’ lair: knock him out and physically remove him. It wouldn’t be easy. But if Mitch was able to get Ethan out of here, the mountain’s hold over him might weaken enough for Mitch to talk some sense into Ethan. And convince him to go to the mountain where Gabe w
aited.
If Ronin found the drifters’ nursery in here, it would be next to impossible to get him to leave the crater, for he would realize what secrets it held. Even though the eggs had all hatched, Ronin was smart. He would know exactly what it was.
Keeping Ronin here in this portion of the crater was essential to Mitch, Kate, and Ethan’s survival. The drifters would likely kill at least a few of the soldiers who’d ventured into their lair. Mitch would do his best to keep Ronin distracted, to keep him here, and to keep him from entering the drifters’ lair. At least until he knew Kate was safe.
Mitch slid into the chair opposite Ronin. How long would it be before Ronin decided to kill him? Mitch sensed Ronin wasn’t quite done with him yet, so he still had some time.
“That guy you were talking about earlier,” Ronin said, holding Mitch’s gaze, “the one who did all that research on the drifters…is he here?”
Mitch hesitated. “Possibly.”
Ronin narrowed his eyes. “Is he more powerful than me?”
Mitch shrugged. “Possibly.”
Ronin’s gaze hardened, turning black as coal. “Will you give me a fucking straight answer? Is he or is he not more powerful than me?”
“I don’t know.”
Ronin sighed. “Fine. We’ve already determined that you’re not stronger than me, so you’re not a threat at the moment. I need to eliminate the rest of the competition. That includes this man and Honest Gabe. If you help me find and catch this man, I might let you live awhile longer.”
Mitch snorted. “I don’t care about me. I care about Kate. I’ll help you if you let Kate go.”
Ronin chuckled. “We haven’t even caught her yet. Don’t you want to wait and see what my plans are for her first?”
“No.” Mitch’s stomach churned. He already knew Ronin’s plans weren’t good. He might have to make a deal with Ronin that puts Ethan and Gabe in danger, but Kate’s safety was more important right now. He might have to betray his friends in order to make sure Ronin’s men left her alone.
“I know where Honest Gabe is. And I know where the other man might be hiding out. I’ll tell you if you let Kate go.”