The five of us followed the dog for about a mile into nothingness. The moon was full which helped a little, but I could barely see and kept tripping. After my last stumble I asked, “Why didn’t we bring flashlights?”
Vance whispered, “Because we don’t know who’s out here, Karli. We don’t need to draw any unnecessary attention to ourselves.”
Wolves howled in the not too far off distance. “Oh great, she sent us here to become dog food,” I whined.
Kane growled. Guess he didn’t like my dog comment. Leo froze, forcing me to bump into him.
“What is it?” Vance whispered.
“Over here. I smell something,” Leo said. He grabbed my hand and slowly walked about five feet away. Kane was already there…it looked like he was standing over someone, but I couldn’t make out who or what it was.
“Leo, can you tell what it is?” I asked.
He bent over and examined the figure. “Yes,” he replied. “It’s a man.” I heard some ruffling as Leo stood. He handed what appeared to be a piece of paper to Vance.
“Leo, do you know who it is?” Erica pressed.
He stepped towards her and grabbed her hand. I think. “My dear Erica. He’s dead. He’s been drained to death.”
“Who’s dead?” she asked. Oh no, Leo, do not say who I think you’re going to say.
“I’m sorry, but it’s your husband.” Fuck.
*****
“What?” she shouted. “No, you’re wrong!”
Vance muttered something in Latin and all of a sudden I was shielding my eyes from a blinding light. We were surrounded by a bright yellow glow and could see everything within a ten foot range or so. We all looked down at the same time. Yep, it was definitely Jake. And he was definitely dead. Two perfect bite marks on his neck with blood crusted down the side of his tawny skin. His head was hanging limp, like maybe his neck was broken.
Erica dropped to her knees. “Oh God!” she cried.
Vance shoved the pape
r in his jeans pocket, fell to his knees beside her, and pulled her into him, trying to turn her head away from the gore. She kept fighting him and wouldn’t stop looking at Jake’s body. She crawled over to him and took his face in her hands.
“No, baby, no,” she cried. “You can’t be gone. We were going to work this out. You were going to tell me that Maria was threatening you to do something against your will! No-no-no-no-no!” she screamed.
I don’t think any of us knew what to do. We just stood there watching her grieve. My heart was breaking all over again for her. Leo stepped behind me and put his hands on my shoulders. Vance finally managed to pull her away and picked her up in his arms.
He looked at Leo and said, “Leo, I don’t think she’s in any shape to walk back to the car. Will you ...you know, do your vampire thing to get her back there faster?”
“Of course,” he said as he scooped her into his arms. “You three will be safe walking back. I don’t sense anyone else around.” In the next instant, they were gone leaving a gust of wind behind them.
“It’s so weird when he does the super speed thing,” I remarked.
Tara called the dog to her side. “We’re going to head back to the truck to call in a squad.”
Vance nodded. “Thanks.”
I looked back at Jake’s body and grimaced. “Oh, poor Erica.”
Vance said something which reduced the light to a radius that only surrounded the two of us. He pulled a paper out of his pocket and started smoothing it out. He took a moment to read it, and then scrubbed his hands over his face. “Fuck.”
“What? Give it to me.” He started to protest but I managed to grab it before he could stop me.
“Karli, no,” he said. “You don’t need to read that.”
“Vance,” I warned. I looked down and saw the same beautiful script on this note as the one that had been left in my apartment. It read,