The Chosen Ones (10 page)

“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
back? 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.