Between the Marshal & the Vampire(10)

Clay must have lost his hat somewhere during the earlier fight, and it struck her how vulnerable he looked without it. She looked about anxiously for a stick or something to use as a weapon but they were surrounded by tumbleweed. She found a pair of rocks and gripped them in both hands. She'd do what she could to help Clay.

The oncoming horses slowed. There were three of them. Two were rider-less. Vellum rode the first, his black duster billowing dramatically around his hips. Hitched behind his horse was the wooden, tar-lined crate that Mariel had discovered him in.

"That wasn't very kind of you, Marshal," Vellum said conversationally as he pulled up his horse. "We had a deal."

"You're a nightwalker. I know better than to trust you."

Vellum's smile came and went. He settled his hands atop the pommel of the stolen saddle. "I'm a vampire. I held up my end of the deal. That means I'm trustworthy and that you owe me. And now you've also irritated me, so this won't go as easily as I'd intended it to."

Clay cocked his gun and whispered from the side of his mouth, "As soon as I shoot, you run."

"Don't waste your energy, Mariel." Vellum shrugged. "I have exceptional hearing. If you know so much about me, Marshal, you should know that."

"You're not laying a hand on her, nightwalker."

"They'd be your last words if you could help it, wouldn't they, Marshal? Even a despicable vampire has to admire a gallant, courageous man." His dark eyes glittered. "Perhaps this will go differently."

His words sounded ominous, but Mariel wasn’t afraid for herself, only for Clay. Vellum would see Clay as the greater threat, as well he should.

"Let him go and I'll go with you peacefully," she told Vellum quickly. "Feed from me all you need."

Clay glanced askance at her in shock. "Mariel!"

It was all the distraction Vellum needed. In one blink he was seated atop his stolen horse. In the next, he stood before Clay. The Marshal took a surprised step backwards but he was no match for the vampire's speed. The two males struggled. Clay's gun fired twice. However within seconds Clay lay slumped against Vellum's chest, the vampire's arm holding the other man up as though he were a sleepy child.

"He's alive," Vellum told Mariel, reading her fear. "I need him so, just as I need you. I meant what I said when I made that deal. I won't hurt you."

Mariel's hands trembled. "You won't hurt him either? He's a good man. He only wants to protect me."

"You both will live to reach Everton Fort."

Could she trust a vampire? Did she have a choice? Vellum could truss them both and take them along with him like sacks of flour, feeding from them at his leisure. At least this way she and Clay would have some measure of free will.

She dropped the rocks she'd been holding in her damp hands. "Then we'll go. Willingly."

Vellum nodded. He didn't smile, but she could see the satisfaction on his handsome face. "An excellent choice, Mariel. I promise you: you won't regret it."





3


Whatever Vellum had done to Clay to stop him from fighting didn't affect him for long. Mariel mounted the horse Vellum had provided for her and from her perch watched as the vampire guided a disoriented Clay to the other horse.

"Your foot in the stirrup, please," Vellum said with surprising patience. He helped Clay groggily obey and then gave the Marshal a helpful push on the buttocks to boost him into the saddle.

Settling into the familiar grip of a saddle appeared to sharpen Clay's awareness, for he sat straighter and gripped the reins suddenly before twisting around in his saddle. He relaxed when he saw Mariel waiting beside him on her horse.

"I'm sorry," he murmured. He passed a hand briefly over his face as if fighting off exhaustion but then straightened again, resolve burning in his whiskey-colored eyes. "I'll get us out of this, Mariel."

"It's alright," she told him, watching from the corner of her eye as Vellum smoothly mounted his own horse. The vampire moved like liquid but she hadn't forgotten his incredible speed. He could move faster than a striking rattler. "I told him we'd go with him. He promised to let us go at Everton Fort."

Clay clenched his jaw at that, but nodded stiffly. "We'll see."

"We're not going to make another escape attempt," she whispered to him, though Vellum had already proved he could hear them no matter how quiet they thought they were being. "I can't risk losing you. Please…we're safer now that Vellum eliminated Beaufort's gang. Even you have to admit that."

Clay didn't look to be in a mind to say anything positive about their current situation. He faced forward, his shoulders stiff, back ramrod straight. He looked ready launch himself from his saddle directly at Vellum.

"Let's move along," Vellum said from ahead of them. "We'll travel until dawn and then make camp."

"Where's my gun?" Clay demanded as he and Mariel's horses fell into step bracketing the crate hitched to the back of the vampire's horse.

"In my safekeeping, Marshal. I'll return it to you upon reaching the fort."

"If I can't kill you with it why not give it to me now?"

"You can't kill me with it, that's true. However you could inconvenience me with it, and that I won't allow. You'll have your gun back in due time."