tupid 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.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
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…Goddamn. ” 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. ”