The Chosen Ones (15 page)

Even though I didn’t want to give
up on Tom, I knew I had to go. Slowly, I stood, forcing my trembling, weak legs
to hold me. The beautiful ones would find out soon enough what we had tried.
And although we had failed, they would take it as a sign that we were growing
too bold, and no doubt they’d retaliate. I glanced back, but couldn’t see the
compound through the trees.

“It’s fear,” Thane commented, as
if sensing my unspoken question. “Most people are content to stay where they
are, questioning nothing. It’s easy.”

As much as I hated to admit it,
he was right.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. Even
though I wanted to look anywhere but at him, I forced myself to meet his gaze.
 

Thane shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.
We would have eventually gone to the compound, and to be honest, most of them
probably would have reacted the same way.”

Just as Will had said. In his
weird, cold way, I realized Thane was trying to make me feel better. Or maybe
he was merely being honest.

He didn’t wait for me, but started
after the others. He could have traveled so much faster than I, but he stayed
only a few steps ahead. He’d saved my life upon numerous occasions, but for the
first time since meeting him, I could honestly say that I felt actual gratitude
toward the blood drinker.

Of course, knowing Thane, that
gratitude wouldn’t remain long. But for now, for the hour or two it would last
before he said something to anger me, I’d take comfort in the fact that at least
one person was on my side. How very odd that it was a blood drinker.

Chapter
9

We didn’t speak as we hiked all day.

Even when we stopped for a
midday meal, not one person said a word. We merely settled upon the forest
floor and ate our mixture of nuts and fruits in silence, food Will and his band
had stolen from wagons headed toward the compounds. Like squirrels, they had caches
stashed along trails and throughout the woods. Everything I learned about
survival I filed away, much like they stored their food, for the day when I
would leave. And I would leave. Tom might not have wanted to go with us, but I
wouldn’t give up on my brothers and sisters. I would help them escape, even if
I had to force them.

Although I appreciated the food,
I grew wary of the meal. I craved breads, pies, meats. I’d lost at least five
pounds of fat since coming here, if not more. But I’d certainly gained muscle. I’d
changed so much, I was surprised Tom had even recognized me. Except for my
hair. Kelly had offered to cut it short, like hers, but I couldn’t, although
most days it was braided down my back and out of the way. All the women had
long hair at the compounds. It was my last link to home.

We’d finished eating, and by
some unspoken command had started forward once more. The further away I got
from the compound, the more the entire situation seemed unreal, as if it had
never happened. A nightmare. I certainly didn’t belong there any longer. In
fact, it was pretty clear I never had. But I didn’t exactly feel as if I
belonged here with these people either.

Thane brushed by me toward the
rest of the group ahead. He’d been surveying the area as he did every so often
to make sure vampires weren’t following. Oddly enough, as I watched him move so
confidently toward Will, I realized with some unease that if anything, I had
more in common with Thane than anyone else. Neither of us truly belonged. The
realization was disconcerting, to say the least.

“Kelly,” I whispered, moving
closer to her. She’d been trailing behind and I knew it was so I wouldn’t be left
alone. As much as I appreciated her concern, my obvious exhaustion was a
constant reminder that I couldn’t fend for myself. “Can we talk?”

The men had no such worries
about me falling behind and were further ahead, eager to get back to the group
we’d left behind. I could only hope that Thane was far enough away to not hear.
 

She glanced at me curiously.
“Yeah?”

“Thane’s love… if they killed
her, how could he possibly keep working for them?”

I supposed there was a part of
me that didn’t believe the romantic tale in the least. Thane was pining over
some long lost love, like one of the stories I’d read? Was he really capable of
such emotion? Doubtful. I didn’t even know if I was capable of loving anyone
anymore.

She paused. “Don’t you get it?”

The others were ahead, moving up
a hill. We were almost to camp, and who knew when I’d get her alone for answers
again. “He has the most difficult job of any of us. He has to pretend to be
working for the very people he hates more than anyone else.”

I found Thane’s broad shoulders
as he started up the hill. The sun shone upon him, highlighting his body in an
ethereal glow, making his dark hair shimmer. I’d always thought him so
unreadable. But maybe he wasn’t. Maybe, just maybe, that coldness wasn’t
indifference, but anger, pain, heartbreak, just like any normal human would
feel.

“He’s doing all of this for
her?”

“Yeah.” She looked as if she
expected nothing less. “Of course. Why else?”

How did I tell her that he
didn’t exactly seem capable of love? “He cared for her that much?”

She shrugged. “He is capable of
affection, you know.”

Perhaps, like always, I was
being overly cautious. They did know him better than I did. “Forgive me.” I
gave her a half-smile, the most I could manage. “But it’s hard to picture the
man who rips heads from bodies without a second’s pause as loving and
affectionate.”

She laughed, sliding her arm
around my shoulders. “I understand, but trust me, he’s one of us.”

Trust. I’d never been good at
trusting, and after all that had happened I was even worse now. But what did I
know about love? Maybe Thane’s romance wasn’t so unbelievable because he was
lacking, but because I was.

“Come on. I’m tired.” She led me
toward the hilltop. “I say we head to the creek and swim before supper.”

“I can’t swim.”

She stumbled, so shocked. “What?”

“We only had a small, shallow
pond and it was for the cows.” I wrinkled my nose, remembering the foul
smelling water. “Not something to bathe in.”

She shook her head in dismay.
“Sweetie, that is definitely a weakness that can get you killed. Don’t worry,
I’ll teach you.”

After that jump with Thane from
the castle and into the moat where I’d practically drowned, the idea of
swimming wasn’t all that appealing. “Great,” I muttered. “Can’t wait.”

Kelly laughed and said
something, but I wasn’t listening. A tingle of awareness pricked my skin.
Something I’d felt before. A warning. I pulled away, frowning, my gaze pinned
to the top of the hill. “Will told them no fires, but I swear I smell smoke.”

She grinned. “I’m betting I know
who talked them into it.”

But I didn’t return her smile. Instead,
I started racing up the hill. Something was wrong. I surged upward, ignoring
the burn of my exhausted muscles. My heart slammed wildly in my chest,
screaming at me to hurry. Jimmy and the others had been left behind. Nothing
had happened. Surely nothing had happened. They were well and I was
overreacting.

“Will!” I cried out, reaching
them. “The smell.”

“Fires?” Will looked at Thane. I
didn’t miss the worry in his gaze. “Cooking?”

You could see the smoke swirling
up in wisps through the trees on the next hill, the wicked dance of red flames
through the trees.

“No, not cooking,” Thane
replied. “Blood. I smell blood.”

He didn’t explain more, but
bolted forward so fast he was a mere blur. Will took off, followed by Kelly and
Tony. I, of course, was the slow person behind them. As I huffed my way up the next
hill, I knew something terrible had happened. The fear that pressed down on my
chest like a lead weight had me stumbling.

I heard Kelly’s scream first. A
terror-filled cry full of pain and despair. I stumbled, falling to my knees.
Must help.
I dug my fingers into the
dirt and shoved myself up to the top of the hill and toward the camp. The
scenery before me had me freezing in horror. They stood there in a half circle,
three beautiful ones, Bacchus at the head, amusement in his green eyes. Terror
gripped me in its icy claws.

“Hello, Thanatos.” Bacchus
smiled, his hands folded demurely in front of his brilliant blue cloak. “I’d
like to say that I’m surprised to see you here amongst this pond scum, but
frankly I’m not.”

Bacchus, the very vampire who
had chosen me at my compound, the blood drinker who wanted me dead. For a
brief, heart-pounding moment, I thought he had come for me. But no…he didn’t
even glance my way. Not a speck of blood marred his clothing, but I couldn’t
say the same for the other two. They were covered in red, made all the more
noticeable against their white shirts. How had they found us?

Desperate, I tore my gaze from
them and scanned the carnage.
 
Shredded bodies
were strewn about the camp, Sam…Carla, others I didn’t recognize. Limbs tossed
to the side like bloody tree branches, so much wreckage that I couldn’t
identify the forms. The world around me wavered. I was going to be ill.

“Your little letter,” Bacchus
said, turning his gaze to Will. “That was actually from our camp.”

Will’s face flushed, his hands
fisted at his sides, and I could tell he was doing everything possible to keep
from surging forward. But I wasn’t concerned about Will. No, it was the bodies
that terrified me. They had to still be alive. Surely someone still lived. I
saw Carla lying face down, dead, blood splattered across her back, matting her
light brown hair. Her arm was torn from her body and lay ten feet from her. Sam’s
legs gone, his body still, his eyes open and staring unblinkingly up at the
sky. Bile burned a path up my throat.
 

“Oh God, Oh God!” Kelly cried
out as she clung to Tony, who stood there staring blankly at the ruins, as if
he just didn’t understand the scene before him.

“Letter?” Thane said, his voice
calm, neutral. Death and blood were nothing to him.

“From Raven,” Will whispered.

“Yes.” Bacchus shrugged, his
long dark hair billowing on the breeze. “The so-called Raven. We grow weary of
your groups. You’ve become a nuisance, and we’ve decided it’s time to crush
your little rebellions and be done with you once and for all.”

“You can try,” Will seethed.
“But there are way more of us than there are of you.”

“Much like insects, but insects
can be crushed by the hundreds.” Bacchus laughed. “Tell him, Thanatos. Tell him
that in the end the more evolved will win. We always do. You see, you might
have the numbers, but you don’t have the strength or the brains to overcome
us.”

“Perhaps,” Thanatos said,
stepping closer, the red glow from the fire burning brightly in his eyes. “But
you’ve forgotten, Bacchus, they have me on their side.”

Thane moved so quickly I didn’t see
it coming. He hit Bacchus with a thud that sounded much like tree branches
cracking. They spun around, teetering toward us. I shoved Kelly out of harm’s
way. Tony and Will surged forward, taking on the two guards. But I didn’t care
about their stupid battle.

Jimmy. Where was Jimmy? I
ignored the sound of fists hitting flesh, ignored my own piercing fear, and
searched for the boy. But the bodies scattered around the campfire were too big
to be him.

“Jimmy?” I leapt over a torso, the
face too bloodied to identify. “Jim?”

My foot hit a patch of
blood-soaked leaves and I slid. I reached out, latching onto a branch and
regaining my balance. I stood there in the middle of the chaos, while people fought
around me. I stood there while people lay dead, not knowing what to do, how to
help.

Where was the boy? Frantic, I
searched for Thane. He and Will stood in the middle of the clearing. One of Bacchus’
guards lay on the ground dead. Bacchus and the other guard were gone.

“Will,” I cried out. “Jimmy!”

Will shoved away from Thane and
raced toward me. “Where?”

“I don’t know! I can’t find
him!”

“Split up,” Will said, his
breathing harsh in the quiet evening. “See if there are any survivors.”

I spun around, searching through
the trees, looking over the bodies, the blood. Jimmy. Where the hell was he? There,
behind a fallen log peeked a small foot. With a cry, I raced forward. I didn’t
pause as I leapt over the log and fell to the ground, right were Jimmy lay. His
right leg was bent at an odd angle, but it was the blood soaking his shirt that
had me choking on my tears.
 

“Jimmy?” My voice cracked. I
grasped his hand, his fingers slick and sticky with blood. His face was pale,
so very pale. Afraid I’d hurt him further, I didn’t dare search for the injury.
“Where, Jim? Where’s the worst of it?”

“Jim?” Suddenly Will was there,
falling to his knees beside me.

Thank God, they would know what
to do. I jumped to my feet, stumbling back, out of the way. “I can’t find the
injury!”

Thane knelt, his pupils flared,
those eyes so odd they were almost frightening. “His chest.” Slowly his gaze
traveled down the boy’s body, and I realized he could somehow smell or sense
the wound when we couldn’t. “Back of his head.”

“Thane?” Will whispered.

I heard the unspoken question in
Will’s comment. I didn’t know what he asked, but the entire world seemed to
stand still as we all waited for his response. Thane lifted his gaze and I saw
the look in his eyes…I saw the answer to Will’s question. Jim was dying. Kelly
cried out, pressing her face to Tony’s shoulder.

“No,” I whispered, shaking my
head. It couldn’t be…it didn’t make sense. Jimmy was too young, they didn’t even
like the blood of the little ones. He wasn’t ripe.