Wow, didn’t I sound all smart and calm? Beneath my plastered smile, I was chomping the hell out of my tongue.
He stared at the limp bodies around him, deep grooves rutting across his bald head.
Roark shifted beside me. “We need to move them to a safe environment. If more aphids come…” His accent faded in his bid to make Link understand. “The aphids won’t bite a nymph, but they are no longer nymphs. They den’ look human, but the aphids will scent their human blood.”
“How did you do it?” Link whispered.
I looked around the field, standing in the spotlight of the moon and surrounded by shadows. “We need to move.”
Link nodded at the field of dead bugs. “How did you do that? They don’t just lay down and wait to be killed.”
We had a long night of talking ahead of us. Could we trust them enough to bring them to the house? To have a sit-down with bottled lake-water and cans of beans?
I took in the hungry faces of the men who corralled us, counting each one in turn.
Twenty-one.
Twenty-one strong, fierce men. They didn’t look starved for food. Ages ranging from early twenties to late forties, their physiques rippled with muscle and health, their hair clean and combed. They looked as though they didn’t miss a meal, or a shower, or a work-out. But they did look hungry.
A hunger of another flavor.
They hadn’t seen a woman in over two years, and I felt their starvation in the way their eyes scoured my body, lingering on my most private places. Jesse and Roark pressed closer at my sides, trying to squeeze me backward. I crossed my arms over my chest and held my ground, painfully aware that my shirt gaped open at my back.
No, they couldn’t be trusted.
But when I scanned the cadaverous, helpless bodies at my feet, I knew we didn’t have a choice. What was I going to do? Fight them, kill them, and walk back to the house with ten nymphs on our backs? Right.
The other option was to run. Away from the scary men. Away from the women.
I couldn’t leave them. “We’re squatting in a house a few minutes away. We should talk there.”
Jesse still hadn’t lowered his bow, his expression harsh in the moonlight. “Evie is ours. Do I need to explain what that means?”
Roark leaned forward. “If one of ye touches her without her permission, I’ll kick in your stinkers bridge until ye can’t tell your cunt from your arsehole.” He held out his hand. “Hi. I’m Father Molony.”
Nice one, Roark. Nothing said priest like kicking in a man’s taint.
Link reached up and shook Roark’s hand, his teeth biting down on his lip.
Then he stood with the nymph he called Liliana cradled in his arms. “You understand this is the first time I’ve touched this woman—or any woman—in two years? My men are looking at your girl because they’re, well, men.”
Roark made a noise in his throat. “That’s wha’ we’re afraid of, lad.”
“They’re good men, and these nymphs were our women long before the plague.” Link shifted his weight, his jaw flexing. “We already lost two of them while chasing their crazy asses across five states.”
My breath caught. “Did you say five states?”
How had they kept so many nymphs from changing? Man, I hoped they weren’t part of some fucked-up cult that kept nymphs tied up for sexual rituals.
Link looked around. “We’re in West Virginia, right? We were on the Mississippi Queen in Baton Rouge when the plague hit. Been there ever since.” He read the question on my face. “The nymphs never tried to leave the steamboat. We kept them confined to the upper deck. Fed them. Took care of them.” He sighed. “We didn’t know they could swim.”
My jaw dropped. “Water doesn’t hurt them?”
He glanced at the nymph in his arms, shaking his head. “Nine weeks ago…I don’t know, something prompted them to jump overboard. All twelve of them, all at once. They ran east. Never stopping. Never sleeping. Always running east.”
Nine weeks. I’d been traveling so long, I’d run out of grains of rice. How long ago did we leave Elaine in the mountains? How long had it been since I’d seen Michio? Smelled his breath on my face? Kissed his lips?
“Nine weeks,” Jesse mumbled. “We arrived at the animal safari about that time.”
My chest clenched painfully. I hadn’t seen Michio in two months. Not that he had anything to do with the Mississippi Queen. The nymphs must’ve sensed me when I reached Georgia and come running.
Roark tied my shirt together at my back. Then, after some awkward shuffling, the strangers carried the nymphs back to the house. Jesse and Link bandied glares, each trying to outpace the other for the lead, as the rest of us fell in line behind them.
Ten nymphs and twenty-one men. Boy, did we have a surprise for Shea.