Rolling her eyes like it’s such a joke that things are so crazy, Aila walks backwards as she explains.“I am really sorry for jerking you around like this, but Minnesota might just be the safest place in the world for me right now.Thank you for making my stay here so wonderful.I promise to come visit when I can.I’ll mail my contact information once I know where I’m going to stay.”
She waves, hanging her head to hide the triumph she’s feeling right now.Aila thinks she just beat someone at their own game, and I would love to know who that is—because it sure as hell ain’t me.
Reaching for her case at the back of Ben’s truck, Aila hoists it down and starts moving along the curve in the road, back towards the ferry.With the tractor harvest lights gone, the jetty and ferry have been plunged into darkness.But I can see she has no fear walking in the dark.
I hear Ben’s voice say, “Let me switch on the truck headlights, Monty.Allow you boys to see what you’re doing there.We should really get one of those solar powered arc lights installed here.Am I right?”
Ben sees Aila.“Let me take that suitcase for you, Aila.And then you can get right back into the truck.I thought we agreed that the best place for you right now was with your mom.”
Aila’s jaunty steps falter and stop.She freezes when she sees Monty standing on the ferry deck.He’s holding the vehicle handles as a man crouches down behind the ATV.
The last of the evening light fades, and everything goes from gray tones to black and white.Piercing the dark, my vampire eyes focus on every individual object in view.
Each blade of grass, every leaf and grain of sand, they are clearly etched in my vision.It’s too cloudy for the moon and stars to shine, but if they were, it would look like daylight to me.
I see the man is freeing the wheels from the rack that stops the vehicles from rolling around the deck when the ferry is in motion.
The man stands up when he hears Ben offer to take Aila’s case.
The scene imprints itself into my mind as time slows down.
Ben reaching for Aila’s suitcase.Her limp hand dropping the case with no resistance.And the excruciating uncertainty in her body language.
I have seen such movements before.Thousands of years ago, when I was still a human hunter, I would stalk the forests with my spear in hand as I preyed on the grazing reindeer.
One small twig snap, and the reindeer would act exactly like Aila is now.
Head up.Eyes round and wide.Still as a statue.Body poised for flight.
All the pieces start falling together as the man behind the ATV lifts his hand and makes a mocking salute.
“Hey, Aila.”
That’s all he says.No “how you doing?”and no “well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise!”None of that polite human bullshit.I guess that’s all he has to say under the circumstances.
I don’t believe in coincidences.I am too good a hunter to think that out of all the random people who applied to come and spend a holiday on Landslide, two guests would happen to be acquaintances.
It’s enough to make me leap into action.
Maybe I’m going a bit too fast; I’m trying not to overthink this.The way I’m moving might look spontaneous, but everything I do has been carefully thought out a split second before.There is no way I can protect Aila from the consequences of what she did before we met, but I sure as hell can help her now.
“I’ll take Aila back home, Ben.Can you bring her case?”
“Whoa!”Ben nearly falls over backwards.“Shee-it, Hunter.I didn’t see you coming in this darkness.Give a fella a heads-up next time, why don’t you?Nearly had me dead of a heart attack before my wedding night.”
Ignoring Ben, I tug at Aila’s arm.“Come.”
The girl’s almost sleepwalking, that’s how deep in shock she is.Time for me to take control of the situation.As I propel Aila away from the ferry, the man’s voice follows us.
“Aren’t you going to say hi, Aila?That’s not very friendly, is it?”
Monty sounds confused.“You two know each other?I thought you were with Miss Kelly and her two kids?”
I’m lifting Aila back onto the bike when Ben’s voice cuts through the night.
“Let me guess.You’re Piers Jordan, aren’t you?”
Aila starts to shake.Delayed shock, but it also reminds me of a deer’s dying throes after the spear has pierced its heart.
