With a sigh, Charlie squeezed Jack’s hand one more time before releasing it and rising. She gestured for them to follow her and started through the forest again. Fifteen minutes later, they were kneeling in the woods a few hundred feet away from the mansion. They crept closer until the hair on Charlie’s nape rose, and she held up her hand to stop the others.
She searched the trees and discovered six cameras a hundred feet ahead of them. Half of the six were pointing at the mansion while the other half were aimed at the woods. If they’d gone two feet to the right, they would have been within the camera’s line of sight. The cameras didn’t point at them, but every muscle in her body tensed to flee. She would bet cameras encircled the mansion.
“Have there always been cameras here?” Kirha asked.
“I don’t know,” Charlie said. “This is the closest I’ve ever been to the mansion. I want to say no, given the new additions near the stairs to the boat, but they may have always been more protective of where they sleep.”
“Judging by the freshness of the marks on the trees, I’m guessing these cameras are new additions too,” Clifford said.
“I wonder if Mike and Doug came here too and that’s why they’ve added them,” Jack said. “Or if they’re just extra cautious now. Let’s circle around and see if there’s somewhere we can slip through the cameras to get closer. Keep an eye out for more cameras.”
He led the way as they walked around the mansion, careful to stay out of range of the cameras. The unnatural hush of the forest unnerved him. The dust motes dancing in the sun were the only other things moving in the woods.
He imagined the animals probably fled this area a while ago if there was a high concentration of vampires in it. However, he didn’t see any vampires either. Wherewerethey all?
They’d made it almost all the way around the mansion when he stopped beside a large maple away from the cameras.
“We’re not going to find a break in the cameras,” he said and pointed at the tree. “I’m going to see if I can get a look at the mansion from up there.”
Charlie’s instincts weren’t screaming at her to get out of here but being this close to the mansion was making her edgy. “Maybe we should go,” she whispered.
Jack drew her into his arms and hugged her against him. Rubbing her back, he sought to soothe her as he kissed her forehead. “We’ll go.”
“We have to know where they all are,” Clifford said.
Charlie knew he was right, and she didn’t feel anything off right now; she just hated being here. Straightening her shoulders, she stepped out of Jack’s arms. “No, he’s right. Let’s get this over with. Be careful,” she whispered.
Clasping her cheeks in his hand, he bent and kissed her forehead. “I always am, and I’ll be right back.”
Charlie stepped away when he released her, and her heart lodged in her throat when he grasped a lower limb to swing himself into the tree. She tried not to chew on her nails as she watched him move through the trees with rapid speed before glancing around the woods. What if someone came now? He was vulnerable in the tree.
Her hand fell to one of her knives as she glared at the forest. If anyone came now, she’d have them bleeding out in less than a second.
Jack was almost to the top of the tree when a break in the leaves caused the mansion to come into better view. He found himself staring at the back side of the building as security members worked to replace a glass pane in a broken window.
Mike and Doug did come here, he realized with a grim smile. He did not doubt it as the Savages continuously glanced nervously around while they worked. His friends had caused some problems for the bastards on this island, and Jack planned to create a lot more. Hewouldmake them all pay for Doug.
A couple of dozen security members patrolled the mansion and, as he watched, more rotated into view from the front of the building. He suspected this amount of security around here was something new, like the cameras.
Did any of the hunters flee the island after the escape or are they all still here?Judging by the security, he suspected they were all still here. They probably paid a fortune for this, and they would get their money’s worth. Some of the sick fucks probably found the game more interesting because of all the problems.
Charlie looked up at Jack as an icy chill slid up her nape. Her hand clenched around the handle of her knife, and she slid it free of its holster. Kirha gave her a questioning look; Charlie ignored it as she searched the woods. She didn’t get the sense that someone was out there but more that somethingwas going to happen.
But what?
Her visions didn’t reveal things about herself, but this wasn’t a vision, and this could be something about one of the others. It could be about Jack who was in atree! She glanced up at him again and opened her mouth to give him a warning, but she didn’t dare in case she alerted someone to their presence.
She studied the forest as she prepared to tear apart anyone who came near them. Jack had said mated vampires could communicate telepathically, but she wasn’t sure how to do that. He had to get out of the treenow.
Something was coming. She could feel it barreling toward them through the trees, closing in on them like a wolf on a deer, and it was as unstoppable as the tide. Charlie strained to breathe as she tried to figure out how to communicate with Jack. And then he shifted above her. Charlie willed him to move faster as he descended with ease.
Jack’s feet had barely touched the ground when Charlie grasped his arm. She’d paled visibly, and her eyes were wild as they darted over the trees.
“We have to go,” she whispered as she returned her knife to its holster; she didn’t want to run with it in her hand. “We can’t be here anymore.”
“What’s wrong?” he inquired.
“I don’t know. I didn’t feel this way a few minutes ago, but something’s going to happen, and we have to go.Now.”
