Blood Fever: The watchers (22 page)

Amanda’s death had made it clear that we girls were allowed to fraternize with only one set of guys, and they were of the undead
variety. That meant no Tracer boyfriends and probably no Trainees, either.

I refused to contemplate my own singular relationship obsession, and if that made me a hypocrite, so be it.

“Can we save you a seat?” Emma asked.

“I don’t know if I’ll make it back.” I’d have to last without this evening’s shooter of blood. But since kissing Carden, I felt like I could go for days without the refrigerated stuff. “Grab me a couple dinner rolls, though, would you?”

The sun made its final dip behind the rocky horizon, casting us in cool gray twilight. Emma peered at me through the dusk. “You sure you’re okay?”

How long had I zoned out, thinking of Carden?

“I’m fine,” I replied, seeing how Emma didn’t totally believe me.

But Yasuo believed what he wanted to believe. “Then we’re outta here,” he said. “Let’s go, prairie girl. Gotta grab the good stuff before it’s all gone.”

Guilt gnawed at me as I watched them walk down the path, away from me. They were my friends, but my bond with Carden set me apart from them whether I liked it or not.

It’d set me apart from everyone. There was no one I could tell about it all. And I probably shouldn’t tell anyone I was investigating on his behalf, either. Not even Ronan. If I told
him
, I knew I’d see only condemnation in his eyes, and I wouldn’t be able to stand that.

I turned my back and pretended to return to the beach. When it was safe, with a quick glance all around, I jogged off, headed south. In search of the keeper of the Draug.

I smelled it before I saw it. It was something I’d smelled once before—the
stench of sickness and rot. The scent of Draug. And by the distant echoing snarls, there were several of them.

I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. Could they be tamed? Why were they kept? Was this what prevented them from roaming free, decimating the human population or coming to get young, tender girl flesh in the night? I shuddered, my skin crawling with revulsion.

I knew a spurt of fear, too. It was impossible not to be afraid—anyone who’d ever spied a Draug would be. They were neither vampire nor human, creatures for whom something had gone very, very wrong in their transformation. Which meant some of them had been Trainees. Maybe all of them were—I didn’t know. I’d encountered only two in my life. One whose flesh was so decayed, all I’d been able to discern were rotted black strips of skin, a couple of shining fangs, and the creature’s complete and all-consuming urge to eat me.

By the time I’d encountered the second Draug, I’d known what it was I faced and so had been able to keep my senses about me. Which only meant I was very aware of my tearing flesh, cracking bones, and imminent death. I’d thought I was dead meat until Ronan showed up to stake it. Where blood had once flowed, black tar oozed, seeping from its wound, bringing with it this stench I smelled now. It was the stench of evil.

Josh had said
keeper
of the Draug. Which meant they were
kept
. Which meant I was okay. Somewhat. Maybe. Because obviously they escaped sometimes.

Curiosity, reason, and need overcame raw fear. Carden would be staked if I didn’t act.

My eyes swept the foreign landscape. I’d never been to this
part of the island before. It was craggier, hillier, with thin paths winding between towering rock formations.

But Carden had taught me about hills and climbing. Had he somehow intuited that I would need those very skills?

Sending up a silent thank-you to my vampire, I chose one of the higher rock faces that also seemed to have a manageable enough incline that I wouldn’t need to do more than scramble up on my hands and knees. It would get me high enough to have a vantage over more land, but it wasn’t so steep that I’d have to actually rock climb up the thing.

Night was coming fast now, and I needed to hurry. What I was doing was dangerous, and it’d become exponentially more so once it was curfew time.

With the darkness came cold. The moon was full and bright, though, and I felt its oddly charged light on my skin. I was still in my gym uniform, and I had that weird feeling of being cold and sweaty at the same time. It was just as well—I’d probably have torn up the knees of my leggings anyway.

A half hour in, and my knees were scraped and my nails blackened from the grit that jammed beneath them as I inched my way up. I was certain that technically the rock formation would’ve only been classified as a hill, but the thing sure felt like a mountain to me.

Finally I reached the top and eased onto the plateau on my belly. I felt a tug at my hips and adjusted my clothing. I’d tied a thin strip of fabric into a makeshift holster for my throwing stars and kept it hidden under my shorts. It was thin enough and tied tightly enough that nobody could see. Clinging as it did to the side of my hip bones, the shuriken didn’t hurt me when I took a
hit to my abdomen, and only cut a little when I fell on my side. Unfortunately, both were common occurrences.

It was a small price to pay. These days, it just felt stupid to go out unarmed. I thought of the homemade stakes Ronan kept hidden in his sleeves. I was sure I wasn’t the only Acari who kept hidden weaponry.

Scooting along on my stomach, I inched out as far as I dared to the opposite edge, scanning below for the keeper’s cottage. I opened my senses all around me. I’d been surprised from behind by a Draug before. It wouldn’t happen again.

“Come on.” I spoke under my breath, and it came out as smoke, disappearing at once into the blackness. “Where are you?”

The moon was bright way up here, but this rock that gave me such a great vantage point also managed to cast the valley in shadow. I blinked hard, peering into the darkness.

Nothing. I opened my ears to the distant snarls and groans. Caught their scent on the wind. I spun slowly on my belly to look down from the far ledge. And there I spotted him.

A figure in the darkness, moving amidst large structures. Were they cages? I squinted hard. The wind gusted, sending goose bumps shivering up my legs and arms, but it blew the clouds overhead, sending a finger of moonlight down, illuminating hands, reaching from between bars.

Draug hands, clawing in the darkness, moaning, pleading. They wanted blood.

I saw the figure more clearly now, too. It was a man, and something in his gait told me it was an older man. He had something long and thin in one hand—a stick maybe?—and a walking staff in the other. It was long and curved at the top, like a reaping hook. It gave me the creeps.

A hand swiped at him, and I heard his curse from my perch, an unintelligible, thickly accented bark. He swung that stick at the cage and there was an electrical
zzzt
sound, followed by an explosion of shrieks and snarls. Not a stick, then—he held a cattle prod.

It chilled me. But then I realized I was chilled because it was freezing. It was full dark, and now that I wasn’t moving, the air was bitter cold.

I needed to get the hell out of there. I could get away with skipping dinner, but I couldn’t get away with missing curfew. As it was, I’d have a real job explaining myself if I ran into any vampires on the way home.

I’d come back, though.

I didn’t think the Draug would be capable of the murders. They were like zombies down there, mindless undead stumbling around like pure id—thirsting for blood and herded like cattle.

But the old man was a different story. I had questions, and he looked like someone who knew answers.

I scrambled back down the other side as quickly as I could, scree and small rocks scraping me as I half galloped, half skidded, slid, and crab-walked my way down. Panic was trying to set in, like a demon scratching at the back door of my brain. I’d taken too long. It was full dark now.

“What are you doing?” The voice came out of the shadows, as bitter cold as the night air.

Caught.

A
hand came at me from behind, snatching me. Fingers dug into my elbow, immobilizing my arm. But I swung into action with the other, struggling with the waistband of my shorts.

“Shit, shit, shit,” I cursed, clawing for the stars at my hip. I hadn’t thought this out well enough, not nearly at all, this stupid, stupid homemade shuriken belt that I’d thought had been so clever, and now I’d die because of it.

“Settle down,” the voice snarled.

Instinct clicked in, assessing the situation, scanning my training for options. Close proximity, restrained, no weapons—no choice but to head butt. I wrenched my body to face my attacker.

“Ronan,” I shrieked as recognition clicked. My heart had exploded, hammering in my chest, and I fought for breath. “God…God…God
damn
.” I yanked my arm free. “What the hell? What the…what the hell?” I repeated, getting my nerves back to normal. “You scared the crap out of me.”

“I scared you?
I
scared
you
?” He grabbed the arm back and pulled me into a jog. “We have to get out of here.”

“You’re hurting me,” I said, even though he wasn’t really. I yanked my arm back, but still did a quick shuffle to catch the rhythm of his pace. “What are you doing here?”

“I was looking for
you
. I don’t know why, though. You seem determined to get yourself killed.”

“You were looking for me?” We were jogging at a steady pace now, and I wished I could’ve seen his expression.

“When you didn’t show up for dinner, I became concerned.” He stopped, getting his bearings in the dark.

I pointed. “Campus is that way.”

“As I am well aware,” he said flatly. “But we can’t go that way. Too risky. We need to head to the water. That way I can make up an excuse if we get caught.”

He slowed to a walk, and I followed him, barely making out the winding path in the moonlight. His shoulders, his arms, every part of him seemed strung tight.

For a while, all I heard was the chuff of his breath and the scuffing of our footsteps along the gravel. When Ronan finally broke the silence, he sounded no less angry. “You haven’t answered me.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, knowing full well what he’d meant.

“Does this have to do with the vampire McCloud?”

“No,” I replied quickly. Too quickly.

He stopped short and spun to look at me. I almost ran into his chest, and I took a step back. His eyes were focused hard on me, and even in the darkness I could see his anger shimmering there. “Don’t trust anyone. Least of all a vampire.”

“Does that mean I shouldn’t trust you?”

“Annelise.” His tone had flipped from angry to tired, and the sound of it made something inside me feel very, very sad. “Sometimes you can be so foolish.” I opened my mouth to speak, but he put up a hand, stopping me. “I know you do these things because you are loyal. Your heart is true, and I admire it. But please. Don’t let it get you killed.”

I was truehearted? Suddenly my throat ached with emotion. I wanted to assure him that I wouldn’t get myself killed, but I couldn’t bear the lie. Instead, I told him, “You could help me, you know.”

I sensed his hesitation as he began to walk again. “What are you up to?”

I answered his question with a question. “Why would the vampires want to kill one of their own?”

“Don’t see my honesty as an opportunity to take advantage.”

“I’m not taking advantage—everyone knows Carden is going to get staked.”

“Carden?”

I panicked at my slip and quickly asked, “When will it happen? Tonight?”

He shot me an annoyed look. “No. They’re planning a public trial.”

I tried to keep my sigh of relief quiet from Ronan. “Any excuse for a little pomp and circumstance.”

He gave me a lingering, sidelong look. “I caution you.”

Had he heard my relief? Was that what he cautioned me against, or was it just my snarky comment that’d bugged him?

“And there’ll be a public execution, I assume?”

“One would assume.” Sensing my question before I had a
chance to voice it, he added, “Don’t ask me why, Annelise. The Directorate has motivations that are beyond my understanding.”

“The Directorate,” I repeated. Only recently had I heard the term. It made me think of some sort of star chamber and a bunch of cloaked vampires sitting at a round table, passing judgment. Not unlike what I’d seen on the other island, actually.

Ronan probably heard my question forming, because he upped his pace as the backside of the Acari dorm came into view.

I didn’t have much time left, so I spoke quickly to get out one or two of the million questions that were pinging around my brain. “Does that mean not every vampire is in the Directorate? Are they the ones in charge of the island? What are they up to?” By the time he edged around the side of the building, I was jogging to keep up.

We arrived at the front stairs, and Ronan turned, his expression unreadable. He didn’t answer me, though. He only told me in a tired voice, “Go to sleep, Ann.”

I’d been going on guts and stupidity, and as the heavy dorm door shut behind me, the reality of what I’d done and how I was back safely hit me. As the adrenaline left my body, a weird jiggly feeling creeped up my legs, weakening them beneath me. I held on to the banister as though I were scaling Everest instead of the stairway back to my dorm.