The Chosen Ones

by Lori Brighton

Chapter 6

  I stumbled back a step, as if distance would make things clearer. “The books? My books.”

  He didn’t respond, merely watched me closely as if to see my reaction. In that moment I realized he was utterly serious. I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling vulnerable, confused, and completely unsettled. I’d thought those books had appeared by something wonderful, something magical. And now that had been torn from my grip, crushed beneath Thanatos’ tarnished black boots.

  Stupid, stupid me. I should have known better, for there was no magic in this harsh reality.

  “The books I found…you had placed them there?” I asked, still confused, and needing the clarity only he could offer. “All this time, you knew who I was?”

  “Yes.” He moved toward the creek, knelt along the water’s edge and cupped his hands to drink. He was dismissing me, as if I needed no further explanation.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I leave the books behind as bait. I’ve done it at every compound. When someone picks them up, studies them, it says they might want more.” He stood and faced me. “You read them. All of them. Word for word. No one has ever done that before.”

  If he knew I’d read them, that meant he must have been studying me. My little nest where I thought I’d had a bit of privacy had been a ruse. “You were you watching me?”

  He shrugged as if it was of no consequence. “I had to. It’s the only way, the best way, to know who will be willing to fight.”

  For months this man had watched my every move. Had watched me and Tom. Had he seen us that last day together? Had he seen Tom give me that necklace? Watched us embrace? Embarrassment fought with anger. “Fight for what? What, exactly, do you want from all of this?”

  “The same thing you want. Freedom.” He started toward me, and I had to resist the urge to flinch, forcing myself to stand my ground. “A chance to live my life the way I want to, no judgment, no repercussions.”

  I released a wry laugh. “You think we can all live together in peace?”

  When he didn’t respond I realized he was utterly serious. Thane honestly believed we could work together. But staring into his hard, uncompromising gaze only sent me back in time to that moment in the compound when he’d picked me. It had always seemed like a faraway dream. But now it was vivid…clear.

  The many guards with scars across their perfect faces. I knew now that those guards were dhampir. But the only thing I could picture were their angry snarls…the way they had pushed us around, almost as if they blamed us for their predicament. We might have had a common enemy, but it was obvious that even the dhampir didn’t want to live in peace with us. How could we possibly work together? And when it came down to it, would Thane choose to side with the dhampir or with us?

  “But at the compound you didn’t want them to pick me.” I remembered quite clearly the way he’d refused to choose me, but had been forced to take me along. “You tried to talk Bacchus out of it.”

  “No.” He glanced toward the dark woods, as if weighing his next words. It was obvious in that moment that he wasn’t telling me all. Not that I was surprised; I wasn’t exactly admitting my deepest, darkest secrets either. “My plan was to help you escape the compound. It’s a bit more complicated at the castle.”

  Complicated? This entire world was complicated. “You’ve chosen others like me?”

  Those eyes glowed eerily in the dim light. “Yes. Jimmy, Kelly, Tony, and many, many others.”

  That explained why they were so loyal to him, and why they thought I should be loyal as well. But it still didn’t explain how I could possibly forget the fact that, every day, he stayed at that castle while people suffered, and died.

  He stepped closer and I had to resist the urge to step back. In the fading dusk, with that ugly scowl and that scar across his face, he was intimidating, to say the least. “I understand you think you’re being loyal to your friends back at the compound by leaving. You’ve decided to be a martyr and to walk into battle alone. But truth of the matter is if you stay out here, you’ll be dead by tonight, tomorrow the latest. You need Will, and you need to keep training. Even animals stay in packs for safety.”

  His words and attitude annoyed me. I’d never met anyone so arrogant. Whether he’d admit it or not, he didn’t know me. He might have observed me like some scientist with a specimen, but he didn’t know my thoughts, my feelings, my hopes. “And that’s what we are to you people, isn’t it? Mere animals?”

  He didn’t respond. He didn’t need to. I knew the truth.

  But he was right about one thing. I wouldn’t last on my own. Yes, he had saved me two weeks ago, and so I’d give him the respect he deserved, at least when we were face to face. But I wouldn’t trust him. Not ever. And the moment I was ready, I was headed out on my own. I only hoped that I would be ready soon. “Fine.” I started to reach for my bag. “I’ll return. I’ll—”

  “Shhh,” he interrupted.

  Startled, I drew back. He was like a predator, his gaze flickering from shadow to shadow, searching for a prey I couldn’t see or hear. I knew that look well; I remembered seeing it back at the castle. We were in danger. The urge to panic overwhelmed me.

  “Someone’s coming,” he whispered.

  My heart slammed wildly against my chest, blood roaring in denial. “Will?”

  He shook his head, stepping in front of me as if to protect. The realization was like a cold slap to my face, and just what I needed. I didn’t want him to protect me. I didn’t want anything from him. I rested my trembling hand against my thigh, taking comfort, however small, in the feel of the dagger strapped there. I would protect myself, or die trying.

  “Beautiful ones,” he murmured.

  I hated myself for the shiver of pure fear that raised the fine hairs on the back of my neck. Had Thanatos brought them here on purpose? Had he led them to me? Had he betrayed us all?

  “Stay behind me,” he said softly.

  He didn’t look afraid, only determined, which made me only more suspicious. Slowly, I reached for the dagger at my thigh. Just as slowly I pulled the weapon from its sheath, wishing I’d brought my sword. I hadn’t made a sound, but Thanatos glanced back, as if he heard the noise. But when he noticed the dagger clutched in my hands, he merely turned back around, as if it didn’t concern him in the least. I could easily stab him in the back, but he either trusted me or thought I was too weak to worry about.

  “Do you know how many?” I whispered.

  The rushing sound of water blocked any noise. I could hear no footsteps, no conversation. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he lied merely to scare me back into Will’s camp.

  “Four,” he said, starting up the gentle slope of the bank. He moved like a predator too, silent and low to the ground. I was less elegant as I scrambled after him. “No, five.”

  How could he possibly know how many there were unless he had brought them? My wariness was brushed aside when I heard the low laughter of the beautiful ones. Fear tasted bitter on my tongue, but underneath my nervousness was anger, a burning rage that made me want to burst forward and attack, kill as many as I could before they crushed me. I hated them with a passion that I had never felt before.

  Thane crouched low behind the tree. I forced myself to follow his lead, determined to be rational, instead of reacting under the heavy weight of my emotions like I wanted.

  “Hunting party,” he whispered. “You stay here.”

  Hunting? It took me a moment to remember that they weren’t hunting deer or rabbit…but humans. They were here to feed on escaped chosen ones. Sweat broke out across my forehead, and my hands trembled so badly I feared I might drop my dagger. Unless Thane helped me, I knew without a doubt I would die.

  They broke through the trees, a merry party of beautiful ones that even still momentarily stunned me with their elegance. Thane had been wrong. There was only one man and two women in brilliant clothing that shimmered under the low light of the waxing m
oon, like some dream. Their laughter, the bright flash of their perfect smiles was like a painting from long ago brought to life.

  Slowly, Thane stood. “Stay here.”

  He moved onto a deer path and out into an open patch before I could latch onto him and draw him back. Idiot was going to get himself killed, and me in the process. He made no pretense of sneaking up on the beautiful ones, but moved through the underbrush without care. Obviously he wasn’t planning a surprise attack. But then what was he planning?

  “What are you doing here?” Thane demanded as if he was actually in charge. I knew he wasn’t, but I also wasn’t surprised when they actually stopped, obeying his command. Not one blood drinker seemed shocked to see him. Had they sensed him coming? Maybe heard him? Or was something nefarious afoot…was this a set up?

  “Excuse me?” The only man in the hunting party started toward Thane. He looked annoyed. More than annoyed. “You don’t tell us what we can and can’t do.”

  The two women behind him snickered, but Thane didn’t seem to notice or care. “There are rules,” Thane snapped back. “Rules that must be obeyed. And you know that the console doesn’t approve of hunting parties.”

  The man’s lips lifted into a sneer. “Go back to your work, dhampir, and leave us alone.”

  How could anyone so beautiful look so ugly? It was the lack of warmth to their features, I realized. It was something I’d noticed back at the castle. There was no conscience, no empathy, and it showed.

  “And if I turn you in?” Thane asked.

  The man’s smirk fell. Hands fisted, it wasn’t hard to see he was boiling over with anger. “You bastard.”

  The entire world went still. I didn’t breathe, didn’t dare reach to my ankle and scratch where a mosquito bit into the skin, taunting me. Thane didn’t back down, and they stood there face to face, two animals about to attack. Three against one, the odds weren’t great in Thane’s favor.

  The women grinned, glancing slyly at each other as if they were enjoying every moment. Their shimmering hair of pale gold was coiled about their heads, intertwined with strands of pearls that proclaimed their wealth. They looked identical in their features and their perfection. Not even a speck of dirt marked the smooth satiny dresses they wore, as if dust would not dare touch something so stunning.

  “Oh Thanatos.” One woman separated herself from her sister, and started toward him. “We were merely having fun. The banquets are wonderful and all, but rather boring when the food is merely laid out. Where’s the sport in that?”

  “And what sport is there in hunting pathetic, weak humans?”

  I tried not to take his words to heart, but it was hard not to cringe over the truth. Compared to them we were weak, pathetic.

  The woman laughed. “Touché.” She pushed her male friend aside and rested her hand on Thane’s chest, a familiar touch. In her eyes I saw her hunger, not for food, but for him. I wondered briefly if he had the same look in his eyes when he gazed at her. She was beautiful, to be sure, but her beauty only hid a monster. Did Thane see below her fine features?

  I couldn’t see his face from where I hid, and I desperately wanted to know what he was thinking. The male blood drinker looked annoyed, the other girl merely amused.

  “Athena, let’s go,” the man finally demanded. “He’s right. This is boring.”

  “Wait a minute.” A slow, wicked smile spread across her lips. “There’s another reason you want us gone, isn’t there?” Athena turned, her gaze scanning the trees. “What is that delicious scent, Thanatos?”

  My heart slammed wildly against my chest. They knew. They knew I was here. The urge to bolt overwhelmed me. My fingers curled into my thighs, the nails biting against my palms as I resisted the urge to run.

  “Perhaps you’ve already started the hunt? If so, what say you we hunt together?” Athena drew her hand up his chest over his shoulders, while her sister stood to the side giggling. “We won’t tell if you won’t.”

  I waited, breath held for his response. He’d left my friends and my family to die for the supposed greater good. Would he let them kill me for the same reason now? Why put himself in danger of being caught? Why chance that they would escape and tell the other beautiful ones that he was a traitor when he could merely kill me and go on as he had before?

  Thane shifted, slowly turning to face me. I knew in that moment what he had chosen. He was going to give me up to save himself. He didn’t need to point me out. Athena followed his gaze to the shrubbery where I hid. And although she couldn’t possibly see me through the branches and new leaves, her gaze remained firmly pinned to my spot.

  I didn’t wait to see what they would plan next, but spun around and bolted down the hill, the sound of breaking branches so loud that I knew they heard. The trill of laughter raced after me, like a terrible nightmare come to life. They were thrilled with the hunt. They wanted to play a game, and I was giving them exactly what they desired.

  Downwind, I needed to head downwind. But where was downwind? I didn’t have time to stop and figure it out. Suddenly Athena appeared in front of me. I skidded to a halt, my breath coming out in rapid, panicked pants. She was fast, so fast that I hadn’t seen her move.

  A slow, wicked smile lifted her lips. “Darling, where are you going?”

  I spun around, but before I could take a step, firm fingers grabbed the back of my shirt and I went flying through the air. I hit the ground with a thud that punched the air from my lungs. Gasping, I could merely lay there as the forest blurred above me, my mind and body trying to reconnect.

  Athena stepped closer, hovering over me. “Silly, silly little human.”

  I reached for the dagger at my thigh.

  “Looking for this?” Athena’s sister moved into my line of vision, holding my dagger high. “You really think this will do you any good?” She tossed the weapon over her shoulder and laughed. “Ridiculous.”

  “Must we always play with them?” The male blood drinker hovered near the edge of the clearing, standing next to Thane. “It gets rather tiring.”

  Thane with his hard, cold eyes. Thane, who would throw whoever it took to the wolves, as long as he remained safe. I hated that I was going to die in front of him. I didn’t want him to see me helpless, suffering.

  “What’s the fun in just killing it?” Athena pouted, placing her hands on her hips. “Besides, it tastes better when you prolong. Builds up the appetite and all.”

  The male crossed his arms over his chest, looking rather bored. “Unless there are any others around here, she will be a mere snack. Hardly a waste of our time.”

  She shrugged. “Hors d’oeuvre.”

  He sighed and glanced at Thane. “Have you located any camps? Are there more nearby?”

  “Maybe,” Thane replied, stepping from the dark shadows and into the moonlight. I searched his face and stance, trying to find something, anything… a softening, a sign of a human emotion, a way to let me know he was merely playing along. I saw nothing but coldness.

  He was going to betray them. Will, Kelly, Jimmy…all would be dead, along with me.

  “Maybe?” Athena arched a brow and glanced at him.

  He glanced back at her, his lips quirking. My stomach churned. He was flirting, I realized with disgust and shock. “I might be able to show you for the right price.”

  He was selling us out. I opened my mouth and screamed. “Will, run!”

  I didn’t know if he would hear, if he was even in the area, but I had to do something. The two women flicked annoyed glances my way. Thane didn’t even bother to look at me. I was nothing to him, and he was the demon I had expected.

  But I wouldn’t die easily. I grabbed a rock and jumped to my feet, throwing it at Athena. She pulled back just in time, the stone whizzing by her pretty head. Those perfect lips lifted and long, pointed teeth glimmered in the moonlight. The anger in her gaze sent me stumbling back into an oak tree.

  “Does she really think to fight ba
ck? How amusing!” her sister said.

  “It’s much easier,” Athena hissed. “If you just accept your fate, and don’t fight it.”

  “Much easier for us,” the male vampire replied drolly.

  “You’re really going to let them kill us?” I screamed at Thane in all my fury, whatever good it would do. “They trusted you!”

  “What’s she talking about?” the male asked, frowning. All this time he’d merely looked bored, but now he drew up straight, coming to attention.

  Thane sighed. “Well done, Jane. You just blew my cover.”

  He was gone, a blur of movement I could barely see, let alone understand. Just as suddenly as he had moved, he paused in front of the male blood drinker. Before I could even draw breath the man’s head was torn from his body. I couldn’t help myself and screamed as I surged to my feet.

  But Thane wasn’t done. He turned to face the two women as their friend lay in a bloody mess that used to be a man. “Who is next?”

  His cold, dismissive tone made me nervous.

  “Thane?” Athena said, her voice oddly calm. She looked beautiful as she stood there in her red silk gown. She knew the power she held over men, and it was obvious she was going to use those feminine wiles to help her now. I was still trying to understand if Thane was an enemy or friend. “You know I’ve always cared about you.”

  “Yes, but unfortunately I care little for you.”

  He was on her before I had time to blink. There was only a moment, a second, when everything slowed and I caught sight of her perfect, yet horrified face. They hit, falling to the ground. Blondie was stronger than I’d expected, and somehow managed to flip Thane to his back. It was a horrifying, yet somehow graceful dance.

  “I gave you a chance,” she hissed. “Now you’ll die.”

  “Not today, my dear.” He kicked her in the stomach, sending her tumbling, twisting over him and landing on her back with a thud that shook the ground and billowed her skirts around her.

  I surged toward them, intending to help Thane when a firm grip drew me to a stop. “Not so fast,” a woman hissed into my ear. Athena’s sister. Her steel arm wrapped around my waist and jerked me back into her lush body.

  Thane was on Athena, his hands at her neck.

  “Touch my sister and this girl dies!” the woman behind me cried out. “I swear.”

  Thane paused, glancing up at us. I could practically feel him weigh his options: kill Athena or save my life. He turned back around, dismissing us, gripped her hair tightly, and ripped Athena’s head from her body. Blood splattered across his trousers and shirt.

  “Bastard,” the other girl hissed, her arm trembling around me tightening. “You just gave your little sweetheart a death sentence.”

  “Do you really think I care?” He stood and swiped his hands across his trousers, leaving more blood on the material. “You kill her, I have what…a few moments before her blood goes bad? I can still kill you and feed.”

  “Oh, I do think you care.” She grinned. “You forget we can sense these things. You might have been able to hide your feelings from the others, but not from me.”

  Startled, I forgot for a moment my fear. No, surely Thane didn’t care in the least whether I lived or died. “You’re mistaken.”

  “Shut up, Jane,” Thane shot back.

  I glared at him, my face flushed with annoyance and humiliation. How I hated him.

  The woman tightened her grip around my waist, painfully bending my ribs. I grimaced, my breath catching, as I waited for the bones to break. She could kill me so easily, so quickly, so painfully. And she was wrong, because Thane truly looked as if he didn’t care in the least. I knew the man, the monster, I knew what he was capable of. The bodies littering the ground were indication enough.

  She stepped back, dragging me with her until the heels of my boots dug into the damp earth. “One move and I kill her.”

  Thane pulled the dagger from the sheath on his thigh, and tilted his head to the side, as if trying to decide if he should have chicken or fish for dinner. “Dare I?” Slowly he turned the dagger over and over in his hand, while watching us. He looked utterly bored.

  “I mean it, Thane,” she whispered, but I heard the nervousness in her voice. So, the beautiful ones had emotions after all. I would’ve mocked her fear if I wasn’t terrified for my life.

  He lifted his arm, pointing the dagger at us and closing one eye. “If I throw it just right…”

  The blade hit her in the right eye before I had time to realize he had thrown it. She screamed, releasing her hold and stumbling back, the blade quivering in her socket. She started to reach for the weapon, but Thane was on her before she had a chance to free herself. Cringing, I looked away right as he reached for her neck. A brief second later I heard the distinct pop of bone breaking, the shriek of skin ripping. Then silence.

  Thane was barely out of breath as he strolled by me, no emotion on his face. A cold, heartless monster. “We should leave.”

  “What the hell is going on?” I demanded, trembling. “Who are you?”

  He paused for a moment, his body and mind attuned to the world around us. How I wished I could sense what he could.

  “Damn, too late.” He leaned down and scooped up my dagger from the weeds, handing it to me. “Quiet, the other two are coming.”

  “Other two?” I stiffened. He’d been right all along, there were five. I searched the woods, but could see nor hear anyone. “Where? How far away?”

  “Step into the clearing,” he demanded, not bothering to answer my question. “We’ll use you as bait.”

  I stared at him wide-eyed. Surely I’d misheard him. “Bait?”

  “Go!”

  I shoved my dagger into the sheath at my thigh and then stumbled from the shrubbery. In the small clearing moonlight filtered through the trees, hitting me fully, almost blindingly. Nothing. I heard nothing. No movement from the shadows, no sound of conversation. I started to turn toward Thane to question his instincts when I heard the unmistakable murmur of voices.

  “Now run,” Thane whispered.

  He didn’t need to tell me twice. I turned and bolted. I’d just made it to a deer path when a muscled body tackled me to the ground. I hit the forest floor hard, my forehead hitting a root. The pain was instantaneous and I had to bite my lower lip to keep from crying out. Having tackled me, the blood sucker jumped to his feet, laughing.

  “Caught one!”

  I flipped around, laying on my back. Two tall, imposing figures stood above me. I knew I couldn’t fight them, and to make matters worse, I had the terrible feeling I was going to lose consciousness.

  “Think there are more? I hate sharing. Where do you think the others went?”

  Frantically I searched the dark woods, trying to find Thane. Where had he gone? Had he merely used me as bait so he could get away?

  “Who the hell knows, or cares. I say we take her for our…”

  His voice broke off as a figure raced through the woods and hit both men full force. All three of them tumbled to the ground, slamming against the earth so hard that the branches above rattled. Thane. The thud of fists hitting flesh interrupted the quiet evening. A glob of dark forms that twisted and turned merging in and out of shadows. I grabbed the dagger from the sheath at my thigh and swung my arm wide, catching the blood drinker closest to me across the back of his neck.

  It didn’t kill him, but it was enough to anger the monster. He spun around, leaving his friend to deal with Thane. I shoved my dagger forward as he leapt toward me. His fingers caught my wrist, his grip so tight that the dagger flew through the air. His body hit mine and we fell to the ground. My head throbbed, the world around me spinning. He straddled me, his face only a foot or so from mine. When he grinned, those long, pointed fangs, gleamed. “How cute, it wants to fight.”

  That night Sally died came thundering back to mind, her face…the blood sucker’s face…back and forth so I wasn’t sure which reality I res
ided in. His grip grew tighter and he pulled me upward against his chest, his arms wrapping around almost as if he comforted me.

  “Poor, poor girl.” He bent my arm back painfully. Whimpering, I fell into him, trying to lessen the ache. “What will you do now, weak one?”

  Thane loomed suddenly behind the vampire. Before the blood drinker sensed him, Thane wrapped his arm around the man’s neck, jerking him back. The blood drinker’s glowing eyes went wide and at the same time he released his hold, letting me fall to the ground.

  The blood drinker desperately clawed at Thane’s arm. “Say goodbye to Jane.”

  With a quick twist, the man’s head was torn from his body. I cried out, raising my arms to cover my face just as the blood splattered through the air. Everything went silent. No more screams, no stomp of feet, no diabolical laughter.

  Firm fingers gripped my arm and jerked me to my feet. “Let’s go before more arrive.”

  Thane didn’t wait for me but spun around and started toward the deer path. It was over. I’d survived again, and yet I’d needed help again.

  “Thane,” I called out, my voice trembling. He paused, his back to me. I hesitated, not fully sure what I wanted to say to him, but settled on, “Thank you.”

  For one long moment he didn’t speak, and I couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking. “That’s twice I’ve saved your life.” Slowly he turned to face me. I could read nothing in his glowing eyes, the darkness hid his emotions. “You owe me, Jane, and I always collect my debts.”

  His words startled, then angered me. I scooped up my dagger from the ground and shoved it into the sheath at my thigh. Really, the man was much too arrogant. “What do you want?”

  He shrugged. “You can pay off your first debt by returning to the camp and Will.”

  Easy enough, but I wasn’t buying it. Nothing was that simple, and certainly not where Thane was concerned. I crossed my arms over my chest and waited. “And the second debt?”

  “I’ll save that one for later.”

  With that, he turned and started down the trail.

  I forced my shoulders to relax on a sigh. Wonderful. I wouldn’t know where or when, but I knew for sure he would collect on his debt, most likely to his great advantage and my utter humiliation. Gritting my teeth and biting back a curse, I forced myself to follow him.

  Chapter 7