Daniel

Daniel kept his gaze focused on the woods. Beside him, Max swung his bow in an angle, searching for any more movement. Timber lifted his staff and smacked the head of it against his palm in a skull-bashing gesture.

“Vampires?” Max inquired.

“Don’t know,” Daniel said. “But we can’t go on until we do know.” He felt exposed, but there would be no retreat from here until they’d flushed out whatever was stalking them. “Stay here and watch my back.”

He crept forward, keeping his bow and arrow raised as he went. With the clouds in the sky obscuring any light, he moved mostly on instinct as he slid around the trunk of a maple tree before resting against an oak. If vampires were here, it meant they wouldn’t be able to go for Jack right now.

The only problem was they had nowhere to fall back to. The caves in this area all led to the same thing, Jack and Braith. He blew out a breath as rain poured over his forehead and into his eyes. He didn’t dare wipe the water away now. A second of distraction could spell his death.

Turning, he surveyed the woods behind him. Nothing stirred there, but he felt someone watching him, felt eyes boring into the back of his head. He kept his gaze focused away from where his instincts were telling him the threat lay. If whoever was watching him believed he didn’t suspect where they were, they could grow careless and possibly reveal themselves.

Leaning around the tree, he caught Max’s gaze. He gave a subtle quirk of his left eyebrow. Max stood for a minute before speaking with Timber and slipping to the side. Daniel kept his gaze focused ahead, straining to hear anything over the pelting rain and the wind howling through the mountains and battering the trees.

A small squeak had him jerking around, his fingers prepared to release his arrow. Nothing stirred behind him, and then, through the rain, he saw Max stalking forward with a squirming bundle locked against his side. Daniel lowered his bow when he recognized the girl trapped against Max’s side.

Max set the girl on her feet before him. Her chin tilted up as she gazed defiantly between the two of them. The rain had soaked her hair to her face and her clothes to her body. He was astonished to find Max’s eyes running over her appreciatively. Anger didn’t shimmer in Max’s eyes; instead, he looked almost… relieved?

That made no sense. Why would Max be relieved? She’d put them all at risk by following them here. Timber gave the girl a scathing look when he walked over to join them. Max had told them her name, but Daniel couldn’t recall it right now. He was too pissed off, an emotion he was nowhere near as familiar with as Max, yet Max was starting to look… amused?

He contemplated smacking both of them with Timber’s staff.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Daniel demanded.

The girl didn’t look the least bit intimidated by the fact she was surrounded by three men all easily twice her size. Instead, her chin tilted higher up.

She and Aria would get along wonderfully, Daniel thought bitterly.

“It’s a free forest,” the girl replied, and Daniel resisted the impulse to shake her.

“Not for you, not anymore,” Daniel replied. “Max told you not to follow us, told you if you came with us you wouldn’t be able to leave. I don’t know what made you think this was acceptable, but you’ll be staying with us.”

“What are you going to do, imprison me?” she retorted.

“Yes. Timber, carry her.”

Max moved between her and Timber. “I’ll do it,” he said.

Timber stared at him for a minute before bowing his head and stepping back.

“Wait!” the girl—Maeve, Daniel finally recalled—sputtered. “You can’t do this.”

“I’m sorry, but we must,” Max said, and he actually sounded regretful.

Despite wanting to hit them both, Daniel found himself intrigued by Max’s reaction to the girl. Max hadn’t been remorseful or sympathetic to anyone outside of their close circle since he’d been freed from captivity. Bending down, Max wrapped his arms around her waist as she spun to flee. With one swift motion, he tossed her over his shoulder.

“You can’t do this!” she cried and beat at his back.

“Be quiet before you get us all killed,” Timber grated at her and smacked his staff against his palm.

Maeve settled down, but Daniel believed it was due more to Timber’s words than his implied threat. “Are you alone?” Daniel demanded of her.

Her mouth clamped shut, her lips becoming a thin line. It was obvious she had no intention of answering him.

“Stay here,” he said to the others before walking away to search the woods.

Daniel worked through the area, making sure no one else hid nearby. The storm had covered Maeve following them; it could easily have covered someone else within the woods. He searched carefully, but detected no sign of anyone else as he made his way back to the others.

“She’s alone,” he said to them. “We have to go.”

She scowled at Daniel over Max’s shoulder as they closed the distance to the entrance of the cave. Daniel stepped into the shadows of the cave and hurried forward until he could find a torch and matches.

He lit the torch before turning back to Max. “We should probably tie her up.”

Max paled as Maeve cried, “No!” The fear in her voice was the first she’d shown of the emotion.

“Not unless it becomes necessary,” Max replied. “And then I’ll do it.”

Daniel heaved a sigh before walking around to look at Maeve lying against Max’s back. She lifted her head to gaze at him. “You have no idea what you’ve stepped into, but I assure you, if you say one word about this to anyone, I won’t be the only one looking to kill you,” Daniel said to her.

Her eyes narrowed minutely, but she wisely chose not to speak as Daniel walked away from her. “Let’s go,” he said and led the way into the caves, praying with every step he took that they weren’t already too late.

***

Jack

Jack’s fingers tore at the hand squeezing into his neck. His feet kicked against the wall and the imposing figure before him as he sought to dislodge the grip tearing into his skin any way he could. The hand only squeezed to the point where blood trickled from his wounds and he was certain his windpipe was about to be crushed. Red eyes blazed at him, but those impossibly glowing ruby eyes were all he could make out of his enemy.

Hannah!

Fresh strength surged through him; he smashed his fist down on the arm before him, earning him a low growl of warning, but no other reaction to the blow. He’d hit the vampire hard enough that he should have fractured a bone, but the hold on him didn’t ease.

Son of a bitch!

Something clattered. Was it another vampire creeping up on him, coming for him? Were some of Sabine’s guards nearly as old as she was? It was the only explanation for the strength of the vampire holding him and the power making his skin feel as if electricity danced over it. The sharp scent of ozone filled the air as the power amped up another level. If it weren’t for the bristly hairs on the arm holding him, he would believe it was Sabine holding him, but maybe it was her follower, Goran.

A second of satisfaction filled him when his foot connected with a shin. His legs flopped in the air as he was dragged away from the wall before being bashed back into it. More blood spilled from the shredded skin of his throat. Another low growl sounded before he was thrust into the wall once more. His skull cracked off stone and pain burst through his head. Pulled away from the wall again, those reddened eyes filled his blurry vision as his nose nearly touched against the nose of the vamp holding him.

“Where. Is. She?” the words were bit out at him in a raspy voice.

Jack froze, his hands clamped around the one clutching his throat. Confusion swam through his rattled brain as he tried to understand the question and place the voice. The sound of stone clattering against stone pierced the darkness.

Was that a footstep? A creak followed. The faintest hint of light pierced the tunnel leading in. The tunnel Jack had been using the most.

Before he could process what was going on, he was jerked away from the wall and spun around. His feet dangled over the ground as he was carried relentlessly toward the tunnel. The faintest beat of hearts thudded in his ears as whoever had entered the cave steadily approached. It had to be friends, most likely Daniel returning to report what was going on. Jack opened his mouth to call out a warning, but he couldn’t get any sound out through his constricted throat.