“What would the victor win?”
He seemed to think, tapping his lips. “Whatever the other wishes?”
“I’d be careful striking that bargain,” Zachariah snorted. “And anyway, the hunt will divide us early. I doubt you could confirm who makes the first kill.”
“Then the most kills,” Melbourne insisted. “Come. What do you say?”
I pretended to think. “Well … not on your life. You strike me as a cheater.”
“Probably has several dead ones stashed away somewhere,” Zachariah agreed, grinning. “Paid off the gamekeeper most likely, to ensure the win.”
Melbourne rolled his eyes. “Bah, you two are no fun anyway.”
I leaned over my horse. “Yet you’re so desperate to find out for yourself.”
Melbourne pursed his lips, but didn’t contradict me.
A shot rang out, and suddenly the hounds were released at the edge of the woods. The riders in front charged after them, Ambrose in the lead, grinning ghoulishly. He really enjoyed this sport.
“Good luck,” Zachariah said, tipping his hat before trailing after the others, Melbourne trotting after him.
“Okay, girl,” I muttered under my breath, patting Bella’s flank, “Make me look good, yeah?”
Thankfully, she was all too happy to follow the other horses into the woods. Once I was out of sight of the lawn, I breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn’t been bucked or fallen off with witnesses to my embarrassment. As Bella gained speed, I grew accustomed to her movements and found that I was a natural rider. I joined the others as they overtook a graveyard, dogs louder than ever, and splitting the group up as shadows began to bleed from the crypts and surrounding vegetation. The graveyard was silent and in disrepair, several gravestones reduced to rubble, while weeds choked the landscape beside crumbled walls of mausoleums.
I spotted a ghoul dash out from the safety of a nearby tree, a naked green-skinned creature the size of a badger, with long, limber legs, its spine visible through a thin membrane of flesh. Its smooth humanoid head was perfectly round, with deep indentations of a nose flaring over sneering lips that covered sharp yellow teeth beyond. Its large bulbous eyes regarded me momentarily as it darted away on all fours, something like a goose butt rising into the air indignantly in its haste.
I’d used guns before, but wasn’t particularly good with them. I preferred to use my own teeth and nails to rip apart my prey. Yet, I wielded it, albeit awkwardly, as I rode down the creature ahead of me, taking aim and firing the first bullet of the party.
I was sure I would miss, but the ghoul zagged into the path of my bullet at the last second. Half of the ghoul’s head exploded as its body jerked aside from the blow, oozing black blood into the dry grass of a headstone.
“First kill goes to Lucian!” Zachariah cried out, whooping nearby, the only witness to my triumph.
“You should have taken that bet!” I heard Melbourne shout from somewhere ahead of me.
I felt a sense of pride as I dismounted to retrieve the ghoul’s body, adding it to a sack. It smelled foul, like rotting flesh, certainly not fit for eating, but we would burn their bodies in a fire, as was tradition, rather than let their own cannibalize its remains.
As I settled back onto Bella’s back, I heard various gunshots ring out, sending birds into flight. The shadows grew cooler and longer as we traipsed deeper into the forest, following the distant sounds of the dogs and muffled shouts. Since I wasn’t to go back empty-handed, I felt myself relax, enjoying the camaraderie of the hunt. I didn’t forget my mission, however, and set about trying to locate Cecelia. Hopefully Isabel would be doing the same. The last I’d seen of Cecelia, she’d been in the lead with Ambrose.
I came across Violetta bagging a ghoul, the entire area pockmarked with her attempts to take it down before she’d been successful, before heading down an obscure path. Maxwell had stopped to speak with the gamemaster, who had whistled for the dogs. Darkness was eating away at the remaining daylight so that all was shadow now, the sky violet in its last throes.
I was almost resigned to return in defeat, when I heard the crunch of a horse’s hooves in the distance. Deciding on one last attempt to locate my prey, I ventured toward the sound.
Lanterns were beginning to glow in the distance as riders returned to Foxglove Abbey, but despite the shadows that were making the trails more treacherous, I refused to join them.
A horse huffed, drawing my eye across a wide ditch, to a dark figure. I could make out the outline of a woman on horseback, but no details. Patiently, I watched as the figure struck a match and lit the lantern on her saddle. The glow immediately chased the shadows from the woman’s face as she drew back and waved the match to extinguish the flame, earning a thin coil of smoke for her effort.
It was Cecelia.
The horse shifted beneath her as Cecelia got her bearings and stowed her bow.
Silently, I lifted my gun. If I managed to spook her horse and she had to return by foot, that wouldn’t be a good look for her.
I hesitated. Cecelia was my friend. She’d saved my skin in the previous competition. This felt like an utter betrayal. And hadn’t I just felt the sting of betrayal at Helena’s hands recently? Was I any better if I did this?
I shook my head. As a vampire, I’d eliminated obstacles. I’d killed without mercy. I would have aimed for the center of her chest and been done with her. What I was doing was nothing near as bad as that. I needed to win this bloody game, and I couldn’t do that if I allowed Cecelia’s record to continue unblemished. She stood between me and immortality, and I simply couldn’t abide that. She was Ambrose’s choice for marriage, thefamily’schoice. The only way to ensure she didn’t interfere with my plans was if she was no longer the favorite.
Of course, if it weren’t for my meddling, she would have been Ambrose’s happiness. Yet here I was, an imposter, ready to rob that chance of happiness from him. At the end of this competition, I would leave Ambrose behind, with no one to fill the void. But that couldn’t be helped.
