The Chosen Ones Read online

Chapter 10

  We walked for days in search of the mythical Raven, who supposedly knew more about vampires and the rise and fall of our world than anyone. A mythical man who gave orders that everyone followed. For those two days I welcomed the movement. Walking made it easier to deal with the graves we had left behind. Made it easier to forget that Jimmy wasn’t with us. Easier to realize it was only Kelly, Tony, Will, Thane, and me left. We stopped only to sleep, taking turns to keep watch. But we didn’t stop for long. None of us wanted to spend too much time at rest. When we paused, the memories came flooding back.

  “Today is Sunday,” Kelly whispered next to me as we trudged up yet another forested hill.

  She didn’t need to say more. I understood which Sunday she meant. The first Sunday of the month. The day when everything would change for those unlucky few who were chosen. Sunday, a month ago, I’d been picked.

  Sunday.

  Perhaps Tom would be chosen. Maybe my sister. Dead by tomorrow. I shoved the thought aside, closing that door tightly. I couldn’t think about what would happen. I was already close to tumbling back into that dark pit, constantly on the precipice of madness. It would drive me over the edge.

  “We don’t ever say a word,” she continued, plucking a needle from a fir tree as we followed a deer trail. “But we know. We always know.”

  And I had a feeling I would know for the rest of my life. A life that would be a constant struggle. This war against the beautiful ones wasn’t so we could have a better life, it was a battle for life. A fight to survive. Pure and simple. Kill or be eaten.

  The ground sloped gently uphill and we followed the path, weaving our way around bushes with biting thorns, barely noticing when they pierced our jacket sleeves and scratched our arms. A cool breeze raced through the trees, rattling the branches above as the sky in the distance threatened storms.

  The ground had been slick with pine needles, but my footsteps were sure. Funny how my body was getting stronger, yet it seemed as if my mind had only grown weaker since Jim’s death. I wasn’t even sure if I was still human any longer. I certainly didn’t have the emotions I’d had back at the compound. It was like I floated through life, not really feeling anything.

  “How long have you been out here?” I asked Kelly, as I swiped away a cobweb that clung to my face. “On the run?”

  She shifted her bag from her back to her shoulder and ducked under a low-hanging branch. “Don’t know. I suppose about three years now.”

  I followed her, ducking low. She hadn’t seemed much older than me, but now I wondered about her age. For three years she’d been out here. How many had she seen murdered? Had she ever once thought about helping her family and friends back at her compound, or did she assume they were dead?

  “And Thane?” I glanced at the man who walked ahead with Will and Tony. They only spoke to make plans, walking most of the time in watchful silence. “He saved you?”

  She nodded. “Yep. Same as everyone else. I took the bait, I read the books.”

  “What about Tony?” The guy had been glaring daggers at me ever since the attack at the camp. “No offense, but I can’t imagine him reading much.”

  We started up yet another hill. The air had changed somehow as we’d been walking. I’d noticed it this morning, although hadn’t been able to put my finger on what exactly it was that had changed. It was cleaner, yet more humid, with a scent that I couldn’t identify. Rain, perhaps? I glanced warily at the dark clouds on the horizon.

  “No, Tony doesn’t like to read,” Kelly said with a quick smile. “But he’s curious, and he would take the books and flip through them. And that’s really what it’s about…who wants to know more? Who isn’t content being told what to do, living in their fenced-in world?”

  Who would take the bait? Although the four of us—Will, Tony, Kelly and Me—were rather different, we all had curiosity in common.

  “Curiosity killed the cat,” Sally used to say.

  How ironic.

  “We’ll stop here,” Will called out.

  The guys had paused in a clearing where the trees gave way to clear space along the edge of what looked to be a cliff. But it wasn’t completely empty. Some sort of building, half decayed, lay in rubbled ruins.

  “What is that?” I asked, taking in the jagged edges where the brick had broken away, gaping spaces that could only be windows, a large rectangular open door… “Looks like a home.”

  “It was.” Kelly and I quickened our steps, eager to rest, if even for an hour or two. Blisters stung the heels of my feet and my calves were cramping from exertion. How I looked forward to the day when I was as fit as the rest, and wouldn’t hold them back. They could have covered twice as much if it weren’t for me, or so Tony had muttered in passing yesterday.

  “The blood drinkers burnt down most of the houses left behind by our kind,” she explained, dropping her pack. “But there are a few remains…like this one, which were made of brick and didn’t burn.”

  Kelly moved into the home and began unloading her bedroll, but I was too interested in the unfamiliar scenery around me. I started through the doorway. Weeds grew in abundance and the roof was no longer above. Because of the height it looked as if it might have been two stories.

  “It won’t protect us much, but at least it’s something,” Will said as he set his own bag down and began to unpack.

  I moved through the house and out the back door. Surprised, I suddenly found myself on the edge of the cliff. The closer I got the more the world seemed to tilt off balance; the sheer drop made me dizzy. I jerked my gaze from the swirling grayness below and focused on the horizon. I could barely tell where the blue sky ended and land began. Except…there was no land. I dropped my gaze again, prepared this time for the dizziness. What was that below, shimmering, sparkling under the setting sun?

  “You okay?” Will asked.

  “What is that?” I whispered, pointing to the swirling mist.

  He smiled for the first time since Jimmy had died. “The ocean.”

  Stunned, I refocused on the sparkling water, so blue that I couldn’t tell the difference between land and air. It was so much more than I could have imagined. I stepped closer and looked below, way, way below. The waves crashed against the side of the rock and splashed back, water droplets exploding in the air. The world around me spun. A piece of rock broke, tumbling down…down. My balance suddenly off, I wavered.

  Will gripped my upper arms and pulled me back. “Careful.”

  For a brief moment I rested against his solid form, taking comfort in his presence. For just a short moment I reveled in his strength, the feel of another human pressed to me. And for that brief moment I felt again: felt human, felt alive, felt whole.

  But I didn’t want to feel. I shrugged off his hold, letting the numbness fall around me, taking me under, much like the waves crashing below. I couldn’t feel again, couldn’t let the emotions take over, or I knew without a doubt they would destroy me.

  To cover up my unease, I nodded toward the water. “He’s out there, Raven?”

  “See the island?”

  I followed where he pointed. Just through the haze I could make out a cropping of trees on a mound of land. “Yeah.”

  “That’s where he supposedly lives.”

  “And how are we getting there?” Dubious, I turned to face him, not realizing how close he stood. We were mere inches away and his warm breath brushing across my lips made me wonder about that kiss. Did he ever think about what had happened? Did he regret it? Maybe it was some newbie initiation. I brushed aside the ridiculous thought. We had more important things to worry about, and my first kiss was no longer meaningful.

  “We’ll figure it out tomorrow.” He turned toward the rest of the group, dismissing me. “Camp?”

  He always asked, although no one ever disagreed with him. I suppose it made it seem more like a democracy if he asked for our opinion. Truth was Will had been born into this reality, he kne
w more than any of us. And we all trusted him with our lives.

  Thane, on the other hand…

  I glanced at the man who met Will in the doorway of the house, always quiet, always letting Will take the lead. His hood was up, his face hidden as he talked with Will. Was he ashamed of his scar? I couldn’t imagine him caring what anyone thought about his features. Still, wondering about Thane was preferable to wondering who would die next.

  Tony and Kelly had dropped their packs to the ground in the middle of the decaying building, and were going about making shelters.

  “We’ll stay for a couple days,” Will said. “Rest.”

  “What about the beautiful ones?” I asked, heading toward the abandoned home. “Shouldn’t we be worried about an attack?”

  Kelly shook her head as she unfolded her bedroll. “After a feed they don’t normally go hunting for at least a week.”

  Tony wrapped his arm around Kelly’s waist and drew her close. “They’ll be busy feeding today and then sleeping it off for the next couple days.”

  I should have been relieved, instead I could only think of those who would die soon. I glanced at the sun, low in the sky. How many hours did they have left?

  Will pulled his bedroll from his pack. “They’re required to attend the Sunday gathering.”

  I moved into the ruins a bit more hesitantly. For some reason I felt like we were invading someone’s privacy. It was hard to believe people had lived here at one time. Had they had children? A mother and father who had actually married and stayed together as a family, like I’d read about in my books? Had they, too, been killed by the beautiful ones?

  I glanced around the large, open room. We could relax, or so Will and Kelly claimed. So why couldn’t I? The others settled down on their beds, but I still stood there in indecision. Perhaps I was uneasy because I’d seen the hatred in Bacchus’ eyes. And because I’d heard what he had said…they were going after us. Not to hunt, but to kill like we were rodents after the grain.

  “You okay?” Kelly asked.

  I nodded, giving her a tight smile. Appeased, they continued to unpack—all but Thane. He merely stood to the side, his pack still on his shoulders, his gaze scanning the trees behind the clearing as if he didn’t trust the situation.

  Will, Kelly, and Tony thought the blood suckers were animals. But I knew better. Animals acted on habit, they fed out of need. Beautiful ones planned and hunted for the thrill. They were smart, too smart and their senses were better than any animal I’d read about.

  “I’ll do a perimeter check,” Thane said, even though no one had asked him to, nor seemed to expect him to be on guard.

  Apparently I wasn’t the only one who was leery of another attack. I watched him go until he merged into shadows, blending into the forest. The others had started making camp, but I couldn’t settle down. Something didn’t feel right.

  “I have to go,” I muttered to Kelly.

  “Sure,” she said, barely paying attention. She probably assumed I needed to relieve myself. In reality, I wanted to talk to Thane. I needed to know if he suspected something, or if I was merely being paranoid, my crazed mind playing tricks on me.

  “Stay close, okay?” Kelly added.

  I nodded as I moved into the woods, following Thane’s path. But he was gone, and when I stopped and listened, I heard no footsteps. If he didn’t want to be seen, he wouldn’t be. But maybe, just maybe, he wanted to be found. I’d read about the sea in my books. But I’d never understood the beauty and power that surrounded the water. I paused near the edge. What would it be like to swim within those waves? Even from this high up, I could see them crash below, so violent, yet stunning. In a weird way they reminded me of the beautiful ones.

  “Careful.”

  I stiffened, startled. This time it wasn’t Will, but Thane who stood behind me. Slowly, I turned. I had wanted to find him, ask him questions, but now that I was alone with Thane I felt only uneasy. “Do you blame me?” I blurted out. “For Jimmy’s death?”

  I hadn’t meant to ask him, but now that I had, there was no regret. He lowered his hood, showing his scar. I didn’t dare take it as a compliment, thinking he felt easy around me. It was more likely that he didn’t give two licks about my opinion of his looks.

  “Why would I?”

  I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling like an idiot for bringing it up. “Tony thinks Will went to the compound because of me.”

  He was quiet for a moment, watching me through those unreadable eyes. He’d left his pack somewhere, his shoulders free of the weight. Finally, he shifted his gaze, focusing on the horizon. “I don’t know about Will, but I had planned to leave anyway, and try to help them escape. Then the letter came.”

  “The fake letter?”

  He glanced briefly at me, but not long enough for me to read anything. “Even if Will hadn’t obeyed the letter, I would’ve left. If I would have left and you all would have stayed, you would have been killed.”

  “You don’t know that. We were attacked in that skyscraper and—”

  “By a couple of vampires out for fun. Not by Bacchus. He wasn’t there to quell your little rebellions. He was there to prove a point to me. Don’t ever, ever underestimate the power and cunning of the blood drinker.”

  I nodded, feeling even more uneasy than before. The day Thane had inadvertently picked me at the compound I’d noticed tension between the two. Now I wondered if it was merely male bravado or if their anger was something more…something to do with Thane’s love. I shifted my gaze from Thane to look out at the trees. Dark, shadowed forest that could hide anyone, anything. Who knew what was out there?

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  I shrugged, surprised that he would care enough. “It doesn’t feel right.”

  He tilted his head slightly, as if trying to understand my meaning, or understand me. It was something I reluctantly liked about Thane…that he didn’t jump to give his opinion, instead he merely listened. “What?”

  “I’m worried about another attack. Something doesn’t feel right today.” I flushed, knowing I sounded crazy. “Silly, I know.”

  “No, don’t be sorry.” He started along the edge of the cliff, back toward camp. “You should never trust them. Just when you think you’ve got them figured out, they’ll surprise you. But you humans…” He paused, allowing me to catch up. “You humans like to place things in order. You think you can identify beings and objects by assuming they follow a routine.”

  “Don’t we?”

  He smiled, a brief flash of a grin that completely took me by surprise—I’d so rarely seen him smile. “Yes, in general humans do. But blood drinkers are not humans.”

  I frowned. They weren’t human, they weren’t animal…what were they? “Okay, so we can’t trust them, and they might hunt on Sunday. Have you told the others this?”

  “Will knows. I’ve mentioned more than once that he does a disservice to assume the blood drinkers will or won’t do something based on the past. But I don’t question how he runs his little group.”

  So it was true then. Thane was an outsider, just like me. I studied the man who stood there looking out into the trees as if he sensed something too. Studied the way his ice-blue eyes missed nothing, the way that overly long hair was tousled by the breeze, a lock landing against his scar. What was he thinking?

  Was it stupid to trust him? “Can we make it to the island?”

  He didn’t even glance at me. “I can.”

  I can? What did that mean? Was he planning on leaving us behind? “How?”

  He shrugged. “Any way I want.”

  I released a wry laugh. “Can you fly?”

  “No.” He slid me a glance through his dark lashes. “But I can swim.”

  I looked at the island, then back at Thane in disbelief. The mound of earth that interrupted the sea was a mere hazy pinpoint on the horizon. “You can swim to that?”

  “Sure.”

  “Of co
urse.” I shook my head, slightly disgusted with his abilities. That was Thane, reminding me in a not-too-subtle way that he was so very different from me. “Super human.”

  “That’s me,” he said softly, gazing out onto the water. “So super, I’ve saved hundreds, yet can’t save a small boy.”

  I realized with a start that I wasn’t the only one who felt guilty about Jim’s death. If Kelly was right Thane had been unable to save his true love, and he had been unable to save Jimmy. Did he actually have a heart? The empathy I felt was so swift and surprising, that I actually started to reach for his hand. Fortunately I came to my senses and pulled back just in time.

  “It’s not your fault, you can’t protect everyone.”

  He gave me a half smile. “That’s not what you really think though, do you?”

  I flushed, dropping eye contact. I’d blamed him plenty of times for what he’d done, and I’d made it clear I didn’t trust him because of his beautiful blood. Still, I couldn’t help but admit that things had changed between us. Somehow, in some way, we’d bonded. I still didn’t trust him, and I wasn’t even sure I liked him, but we had more in common than I wanted to admit. “I didn’t know you before. I was just…”

  A high-pitched howl pierced the air. I’d heard that wolf’s call before, almost a month ago when Will and I had been training. I shivered, crossing my arms over my chest and gazing out into the woods. “The wolves sound close.”

  “No. Not wolves”

  Startled, I glanced at him. “Then what?”

  “Shhh.” He held up his hand, abruptly cutting me off.

  For a second I thought he’d reverted back to his rude dismissive self, until I noticed his gaze focused on the trees. My skin prickled. I knew that look in his eyes well. His human side had retreated, and in his gaze was the look of a predator.

  My heart leapt into my throat as I frantically studied the forest. I’d known all along, hadn’t I? We had been stalked, followed. “Animal?” I asked, a part of me still hopeful.

  He started toward the trees. “Head back. Tell Will we’ve been found.”

  I knew I didn’t have time to ask more questions and took off, racing along the cliff edge. Although my calves cramped painfully as I started uphill, I didn’t dare slow. There was a time to be quiet, but this was not it. The moment I spotted the crumbling home I cried out. “Will!”

  He bolted from the brick remains, meeting me in the clearing. “What is it?”

  “Thane,” I said breathlessly, coming to a skidding halt. “We’ve been followed.”

  Kelly and Tony bolted to their feet, their daggers out. Always prepared, I realized in that moment I would never again be able to relax. I’d always be anxious, waiting for the next attack.

  “How many?” Tony asked.

  “No idea.”

  “Very helpful,” he muttered with a glare.

  “Go to hell,” I snapped back, my anger surging to the forefront. I was tired of his hatred and blame, tired of the accusatory glares he kept sending my way. I’d had enough. Apparently he had too.

  He surged toward me. “We wouldn’t be in this mess if it wasn’t for you!”

  “Enough!” Will growled, stepping between us and shoving his palm against Tony’s chest. “You know I got the letter. I would have gone with or without her.”

  “Right,” Tony mocked. “Because we always follow orders, never think for ourselves.”

  Heated anger surged over my fear. I wasn’t sure why Tony was upset, but it was obvious it wasn’t just because of me. No, his irritation ran deeper. Lucky me, I was merely the outlet for his ire.

  “Tony, come on,” Kelly said, trying to soothe the situation.

  “We have more important things to worry about right now,” I said, annoyed with Tony, but even more annoyed with the way Kelly was trying to placate him. “Like living. Unless any of you can fly, or feel like jumping off the cliff, we’re trapped here.”

  Thane suddenly appeared without making a sound, as if he’d always been there. I could read nothing on his face…no worry, no fear, not even anger, but then he never wore his emotions. “Five.”

  “Shit,” Tony snapped, scanning the woods. “Five?”

  “What are they doing here?” Kelly asked.

  “Apparently they’re sending out scout groups on Sunday now,” Thane said dryly.

  Why hadn’t Will taken Thane’s warning to heed?

  “Tony, left. Kelly, right.” He turned toward Thane. “Protect Jane!” Before I could protest, Will shoved me toward Thane. “Get her out of here!”

  Wait, what?

  Confused, I glanced around the group for answers, but Tony and Kelly were already heading to their positions and Thane was of no help. “Let’s go.”

  “Go where?” I turned toward Will. “You can’t be serious, I’m not leaving you.”

  “Take her,” Will said, not meeting my gaze, but heading toward his pack and gathering what little, pathetic weapons we carried. He couldn’t seriously mean for Thane to take me away. Thane was the only one standing between the group and certain death.

  “Come on.” Thane took me by the hand, his fingers firm and strong.

  “No!” I screamed, trying to break away from his hold. I wasn’t going to run away like a coward. “I’m not going!”

  “You have to,” Will said, his face full of anguish. An emotion that startled and confused me. He acted as if we’d never see each other again. “You don’t understand, you have to live.”

  I broke from Thane’s hold and bolted toward Will. He caught me tight in his grasp. When I pulled back, I found his lips on mine. A quick, hard kiss. Stunned, I was barely aware when he pulled away.

  “Take her,” Will said.

  “We’ll have to jump.”

  Will nodded.

  Thane grabbed my arm again.

  “No!” I cried out, terrified by the idea. I didn’t understand what was happening, why they were acting so strangely. Thane ignored me and wrapped a steel arm around my waist. Calmly, as if it was any other day, he pulled me back…back toward the cliff.

  “Will!” I cried out, but he had already disappeared into the trees.

  Suddenly, we wavered on the edge of the cliff. The air tore at my hair, whipping it across my skin. And as I stared at that churning water below, everything came flashing back. The castle, Sally’s death, the first time Thane and I had jumped.

  Just like that first time, he held onto me. And just like that first time he leapt forward, taking me with him. And just like that first time, I knew my life was going to change drastically the moment I hit that water…if I survived.

  Chapter 11