‘Run, run, run.’
The words floated out of the branches, sung like a taunting, demonic lullaby. I went stone cold. The snap of a branch came from behind. Another crunch of leaves from the same place.
Footsteps.
Too noisy to be a vampire. Nervously, I swung back. Could be an animal. It was too loud to be a squirrel, but it had to be an animal of some sort, didn’t it?
Eyes as large as saucers, blood rushing through my scalp, I stared into the space. I can’t have heard singing, it was stupid. There’s no one there I told myself.
My throat dried and my palms felt damp. I clenched them into fists and now,oh fuck!
I could hear footsteps, coming my way.
Panic roared through my veins, and I turned to run. My foot slipped on the notes in my sock, I stumbled sideways, and hands shoved my back from behind.
I hurtled toward the ground, reaching forward to break my fall, but my head came down on a sideways angle and slammed against the earth so hard my teeth clanked together. Pain shot through the edge of my tongue, blood leaked into my mouth. My vision watered. I rolled back, gasping and whining.
A face loomed above me.
I cried out.
Chapter 41
Hunted
“Amelia,” Karson said, “are you alright?”
I swallowed down the blood in my mouth and nodded numbly, embarrassed and bewildered. My fingers trembled as I felt the lump on my head. Wincing, I took his hand and he pulled me to my feet.
“I must have tripped,” I stammered. I ran my hands through my hair, collecting twigs in my fingers.
“I see that. Are you hurt? Let me check your head.”
I shook my head and stepped back, swallowing again. “It’s not cut. I’m fine.”
“Why were you running?”
I could hardly tell him thought I heard the wind tell me to run and I felt like I was being stalked. I shook my head and dropped my gaze.
“Monique will not hurt you.”
I inhaled a rasping breath, pulling myself together, and looked up, keeping my face as blank as I could. “I’m not worried about Monique.”
His voice hardened. “The vampires will not hurt you, either. You have my word.”
His word, it was laughable really, did he really expect me to believe him?
He did save your life.Twice.
I rubbed my forehead. “Why are you protecting me—why not just kill me and be done with it?”
He stilled. He barely seemed to breathe. There was a long pause, Karson swallowed. “Is it so hard to believe I would not see harm come to you?”
My heart whirled with something that felt like emotion. “You killed your own kind to save me and now you’re going to head out and . . .” I didn’t finish. I couldn’t. How many people had he killed? The missing hikers—did he kill all of them? I stared at the ground and tucked my hands under my arms to stop them from shaking.
When I glanced back up, he was staring off into the distance. His jaw tight. He drew a chest-filling breath and looked back. “I protect you because you are someone worth protecting.”
I felt a faint sense of relief and oddly, flattery. I waited for him to expand on his comment, clamored to hear more, but it wasn’t forthcoming.
