The Chosen Ones (8 page)

A twig snapped, a shadowed
reflection wavered against the water, next to the reflection of the moonlight.
Too blurry to make out the details. How I wanted to be brave, but I couldn’t
stop my heart from jumping into my throat. Not a deer, unfortunately. A man.
Fear tasted bitter against my tongue. Not Will; he would have called out instead
of sneaking up on me. I knew. I knew even before the soft scent whispered to me
on the breeze. The scent of spring. A scent I knew too well. The scent of a
beautiful one.

An odd calm washed over me. This
was the moment I’d been waiting for, the moment when I would either win or
lose. Kill or be killed. I had only a second to react. All in one motion, I
snatched the dagger from its sheath on my thigh and spun around, shoving my arm
forward.

The intruder hit my wrist. Pain
radiated down to my hand. My fingers opened automatically and the dagger fell
to the ground, lost in the brush and darkness. Desperate, I lifted my knee to
the spot that was vulnerable on every man, whether human or a beautiful one.
But before I got near, he grabbed my arm and flipped me.

For a brief moment I spun,
staring up at the dark, skeletal branches above before landing with a thud to
the ground. The wind knocked from my lungs, leaving me gasping for air. I
didn’t have time to recuperate as suddenly he loomed over me.

As I lay there begging for breath,
he knelt beside me. Moonlight hit his face, pure as the art work I’d seen in
books. Beautiful. Stunning…if not for the scar.

“Thanatos,” I whispered, unsure
if I should be relieved or terrified.

“Please, Thane.” He smiled
mockingly. “It’s what my friends call me.”

My hands curled into the damp
earth as I resisted the urge to swing at him. It would do no good. I was no
match for him physically.

His gaze shifted from my face to
my fingers and his smile fell. “You’re bleeding.”

“What?” Momentarily distracted,
I didn’t understand until I felt the dampness on my hand. The wound I’d gotten
in the corridors three days ago had broken open. I pressed my palm to my
trousers, frowning. “How’d you know?”

He stepped back, putting distance
between us. “I can smell it.”

My nerves flared, although I
tried not to show it. He had tracked me like I was an animal. “Why are you
here? Did you not want any witnesses when you murdered me, so Will would go on
believing you’re human?”

He laughed as if it was the most
ridiculous thing I’d said. “If I’d wanted to kill you, you wouldn’t have heard
me coming.”

Shoving my hands into the dirt,
I managed to sit up. The world around me spun. Gritting my teeth, I refused to allow
the dizziness to overwhelm me. Damn my weak body. “So you’re saying you were
loud on purpose?”

“Of course. I did the same only
half an hour ago when I saw you in the forest. I didn’t want to frighten you.”

More mockery. I was sure of it.
He didn’t care in the least if I was afraid. I glared up at him. He held out
his hand. I ignored his offer and stood on my own even though I wasn’t quite
sure if my legs would hold me. “I will fight back.”

His lips twitched. “And if I
wanted you dead, you would be already.”

I shivered despite myself. If he
didn’t want to murder me, then why was he here? “What do you want?”

Not that I expected the truth
from his beautiful mouth. He looked so much like a blood drinker that I felt
sick at the sight of him. Exactly like them but for the scar. It was all that
separated him from the others, but it wasn’t enough to convince me.

“I want you to return to Will’s
camp.”

And here I thought nothing could
surprise me anymore. What was in it for him? I had no doubt he was getting
something from this. Bemused, I moved to the fallen log where my bag and jacket
rested. I didn’t trust Thanatos in the least. “Why do you care?”

“Because I saved your life and I
don’t want all that work to have been for nothing.”

Honest, I’d give him that. But I
wasn’t buying his reasoning. There was more. I’d bet my life on it. I slid my
arms into my jacket, using the excuse to look away. So, he had carried me from
that castle, I hadn’t imagined that. Kelly had been right when she’d said he’d
saved me. It didn’t change my feelings—at least that’s what I told myself.

I stared at the dark waters,
watching the way the river caught the moonlight, trying to understand this man.
In about a week and a half they’d be feeding again. Would Thanatos save someone
else? When I was sure I was going to die, he had risked his own life to help.
It should have made me feel better, it didn’t. I slid him a glance from the
corner of my eye. The blood drinker before me wouldn’t do something so
self-sacrificing for nothing. I didn’t understand why he had risked his life
for mine, but I knew there was something in it for him.

“Saved me?” I released a harsh
laugh. “You left me in a field, in the elements, to freeze to death.”

He propped his shoulder against
an oak which was leaning precariously over the creek. “Don’t be so dramatic. I
knew they’d find you. They were out doing patrol as they do every hour at every
camp.”

An hour? I was only out there
for an hour? Where had I been the rest of the night and why couldn’t I
remember?

“I left you there because I had
to return as soon as possible.” He walked so very quietly, like the cats back
at the compound when they stalked prey. It only reminded me of how powerful he
was. Truth was he was right…if he wanted me dead, I would be. “I had to return
to the castle before they realized I was missing.”

He settled on the fallen log
where my bag rested only a few feet from me. I had the unsettling feeling he
was trying to make me feel at ease by sitting there so relaxed, instead of
looming. In fact, I had a feeling every single thing he did was on purpose. What
he didn’t realize was I would never let my guard down again, and especially not
near him. “So, you’re completely accepted by us? They welcome you with open
arms and all that?”

“I actually have little contact
with your group, other than with Will.”

It was dark, too dark to read
his face. I wished I knew who this man was, what his true intentions might be.
One thing was certain, I didn’t trust him and never would. “Why not?”

“I rarely go into the safe
houses.” He smiled briefly, a flash of white teeth. I searched for those
pointed canines I’d seen on the other beautiful ones the moment before they’d
torn out Sally’s throat, but noticed nothing out of the ordinary. “It makes
them nervous if I enter. Whenever I rescue someone, I leave the person outside
where I know they’ll find him or her.”

I brushed the dirt and dead
leaves from my trousers. So, I wasn’t the only one leery around him. It made me
feel slightly better. “You’ve done this before?” I crossed my arms over my
chest. Now that the sun had gone down, the air held a chill. Or maybe it was fear
making me cold. “Rescued people?”
 

He looked directly at me. “Many
times.”

I had to believe him, for why
would he lie? Besides, Will had implied as much. But why would he risk his life
for us? It was hard to know what he was thinking and what his intentions were;
he guarded his emotions so closely. Whereas Will’s feelings shone in his eyes, with
Thanatos I couldn’t see or sense anything. And that scared me more than I wanted
to admit.

He claimed to be on our side, he
had saved me, but he was a beautiful one and had let Sally die. How could I
trust him? I looked toward the creek, watching the water churn and race down
the hill, eating away at the rocky bank. My mind spun like the river, my
thoughts as dark as the water.

“They want you in the group.” He
rested his elbows on his knees. Although most of our clothing was worn and even
torn, his was clean, not a patch. “You have potential. Your instincts are
amazing. You’re smart, too smart. If you kept training, you would be a real
asset.”

An asset? I didn’t want to be an
asset. I’d been an asset at the compound too, watching the children while working
together for the greater good. I just wanted…to be me for once. I picked up a stick,
digging into the soft dirt. All I wanted to do was rescue my friends and family
and get as far away from the beautiful ones as possible. But maybe I couldn’t.
Maybe the beautiful ones were everywhere, and I’d never have the life I dreamt
about back at the compound.
 

I realized that Thanatos was
patiently awaiting my response and glanced up at him. “Am I supposed to be
honored you think so highly of me?”

He shrugged, a movement that
momentarily tightened his dark shirt across his broad shoulders. The material
moved with him, stretching to his lean form. Not a bit of fat on his body. “Why
would you? You don’t know me, and I don’t know you. I’d think my opinion would
matter very little. But it’s obvious you trust Will, you respect him.”

I tossed the stick into the
river, and watched it float away, wondering where it would end up. If only I
had a boat like the one’s I’d read about in my books, perhaps I could float
away from all of this. “Maybe I don’t want to train to fight them. Maybe I just
want to get as far away from your people as I can.”

“You think we have one base?” he
said, almost as if he felt sorry for me. “Jane, that was only one city of many.
All around this country, in fact, this world, there are cities full of
beautiful ones. They took over long ago.”

Startled, I glanced at him. He
was serious. I focused on my bag, weighing my options. So there were more; many
of them if Thanatos’ implication was true. I could grab my bag and run. Or…

Slowly, I reached for my bag,
drawing it closer. My plan wouldn’t be something as simple as breaking into the
compounds and releasing my friends and family. No matter where we went, we
would be tracked, hunted, killed.

We were silent for a long
minute. If it wasn’t for the breeze rustling his overly long hair, I would have
thought him a statue. A beautiful, if slightly flawed statue. What was he
thinking? Did he enjoy the fact that he had the upper hand? Did he enjoy my
fear as the other beautiful ones seemed to? I looked away, studying the dark
shadows in the woods. Were there more out there even now, watching, waiting?
 

“And humans?” I asked. “How many
are there?”

“Many more than beautiful ones.”
He leaned down and reached into the brush, picking up my dagger when I’d
thought it had been lost for good. “You might outnumber them, but your people
are kept in compounds; they don’t know how to fight.”

Annoyed, I snatched the dagger
from his hand. “I learned.”
 

“Learned what?” He laughed. “Do
you think you could truly fight a beautiful one and come out the winner?”

“I killed one,” I hissed,
sliding the dagger into the sheath at my thigh.

“Did you? Or was it mere luck?”

I clenched my teeth, refusing to
reply. No doubt Will had told him the truth about how I had killed the
beautiful one. An embarrassed flush burned my cheeks. I felt betrayed in some
way, although I wasn’t sure why. Had they laughed at me, mocked me? The silly
girl who actually thought she could survive on her own. Will’s men had made it
no secret that they thought I was worthless. And a few of the women at camp had
been sending me glares, making me wonder if they were jealous of the time Will
spent with me. Or maybe they thought I was holding them back as well. Just
yesterday a brown-haired mouse of a woman had accused me of taking too much
food when I’d barely eaten my share.

“Why did you pick me?” I
whispered so low a normal human wouldn’t have heard. But he wasn’t human.

“I didn’t pick you.”

I parted my lips to argue, but when
I thought back to that day I realized he had actually tried to avoid me. Bacchus
had insisted I go to the castle. By not picking me, had Thanatos actually been
trying to save me? I flushed, feeling slightly uncomfortable with the idea. He
owed me nothing; we didn’t know each other, weren’t related, yet he’d saved me,
and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know why.

“Bacchus…”

“I tried to keep him away from
you, but your scent was too strong.”

I slid him a glance under my
lashes. “And my blood smells ready to you?”

He smiled again, knowing I was
embarrassed by the question. “You have a complex scent. You and your siblings.
It’s hard to tell if you’re ready or not.” He shrugged. “It’s been known to
happen with a few.”

I frowned, uneasy. “You know I
have siblings?”

“Yes, we can smell the
similarities in the blood.”

Great. If he knew, he could use
that against me. I pushed aside my fear, not daring to go down that dark road when
I had so much to accomplish. I needed to learn as much as possible, and truth
was Thanatos seemed to be willing to divulge when others hadn’t. “And you said
we are complex?”

“Your scent is almost…hidden.”
He paused, staring up at the dark sky as if trying to remember, or understand. “But
for some reason it was stronger that day.”

I frowned, wondering why, and
then it hit me. He could smell wounds, and blood. “I cut myself on a thorn. It
was bleeding but I’d covered it with my sleeve.”

He nodded. “Most likely the
reason.”

One tiny scratch and he’d been
able to smell the blood. The realization was disconcerting to say the least. I
glanced toward the trees. If there were beautiful ones in those woods, would
they be able to smell the blood on my hand even now? Thane certainly had.

“Why did you leave the group?”
he asked.
 

I snapped my gaze back toward
him. “Why do you have the scar?” I hadn’t meant to ask, but with him staring at
me it was the first thing that came to mind. Besides, I’d rather not answer his
question. I wasn’t about to admit my plan to help the others escape.