I chime in. “If Farkas had just given up the baby like the alpha said, he could have led the mother off. Such a waste.” I mostly remember how arrogant he’d been after he’d gotten away with it. “Farkas made the other boys call him Bear Killer after that.”
Bowie leans back in his chair and crosses his arms. “Disgusting,” he huffs.
Ava picks up the story. “Well, Andras refused. Said he couldn’t understand why Farkas would be so proud of killing a baby. He came home with a bloody lip and two black eyes, but my boy has something you can actually be proud of.” She sets her mug on the table with a thunk to emphasize her point. “A conscience.”
“Indeed.” Bowie lifts the mug from which he’s clearly not been drinking to affirm Ava’s words.
Heat creeps into my cheeks. That story has always made me uncomfortable. Ava doesn’t realize it, and I’ve never told her because I like the sound of pride in her voice too much. But I remember the mother’s wail.
Bowie studies me, his features fond, though he doesn’t actually know me. I wonder what else Ava has told him.
“I’m ready,” I say.
“Must you leave so soon?” asks Ava.
She loves visitors, and we get so few. I hate to drag Bowie away from her, but the matter of the missing girls is quite serious. Looking at her face, so marked now with age but still cheerful as always, I know I can’t say goodbye, not forever at least. As much as I’d like to build a life away from this hateful pack, Ava still needs me. The others will take care of her, of course, but not like I do. I must return, if only to convince her to leave with me next time.
I lean down to embrace her. “The villagers could use my help. I don’t know how long it will take, but I’ll come back straight after.”
Her arms come around my waist. “Don’t hurry on my account. Have some fun while you’re away, and bring me back some of those mint candies from town.”
I chuckle. Ava and her sweet tooth. “Of course.” I kiss her cheek, then pull away. “Don’t let the chickens in the house while I’m gone. I built them a good coop, and they can stay in it.”
Ava grants me the courtesy of looking sheepish. She’s far too softhearted when it comes to her hens.
And to me.
Bowie rises gracefully and bows to Ava. “Thank you for the delightful conversation and the loan of your dear Andras. I promise to return him to you no worse for wear.”
“See that you do. Now get on.” She shoos us away with the flick of her thin wrist. “It’s past my bedtime.”
I lead Bowie from the cottage and close the door behind us. It’s perhaps a two-hour walk to the village, shorter if he can run as fast as me, but I don’t know anything about vampires. I suppose I’m about to find out. “Shall we?”
His smirk spreads wide. “Come along, dearAndras.” He overenunciates my name like it’s a prize he’s stolen from the rightful winner. Then his face turns serious as he reconsiders. “May I call you Andras? It’s a lovely name and suits you better than…”
“Mongrel?” I finish for him, shrugging. “I’m used to it, but you can call me Andras now that we’re leaving.”
The grin returns. It lights his face like the full moon’s reflection in a tranquil pond. “All right, Andras, I will.”
Together, we leave my home behind and head downhill toward the valley. I don’t look back.
Chapter 3
My stomach rumbles before we’ve gone far, loud enough that Bowie doesn’t ignore it.
“I’ve kept you from the hunt, haven’t I?” he asks with an amount of sincerity I don’t often hear from others. “You’re hungry. Should I wait while you…I don’t know…stalk and kill something?”
The distaste in his tone at those last words, along with the vague waving motion of his hand toward the trees, makes me laugh. “Don’t you also kill things?”
His eyes widen with shock, then narrow. “Not if I can help it.”
I stare at his face. He’s so expressive, nose scrunching and lips pursing.
“Sorry, but you’re a vampire. I just figured.”
“I can feed without killing,” he says in that precise way of his.
Well, that’s interesting and not what I imagined. Still, it doesn’t change the fact thatIneed to kill something. “I’ll need to hunt.”
