Snared (Elemental Assassin #16)(73)

He never had a chance.

“What— Ahh!”

The giant ran right off the edge of the canyon, almost like a cartoon character would, and he screamed all the way down. A few seconds later, another sickening crack sounded, louder than all the ones before. I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself, waiting, but the giant didn’t make another sound, not so much as a whimper, and I knew that he was dead, his bones broken by the fall and the rocks below.

But there were still other people in the woods.

Before I could even think about moving, more shouts rang out, and people crashed through the underbrush, heading in this direction. I hunkered down even lower, scooping leaves and dirt up over my nightgown to hide its pale color and making myself as small and invisible as possible.

Less than a minute later, another flashlight appeared, bobbing up and down through the trees, and a man stepped out of the shadows—Hugh, the vampire.

Unlike the giant, he was careful as he moved forward, slowly sweeping his flashlight back and forth across the ground. He too noticed the fabric strip hooked to the bush, but he realized that there was a steep drop beyond it, and he walked right up to the edge and stopped, shining his light down into the canyon below. After several seconds, Hugh crouched down and plucked the fabric off the bush, examining it with his light. His mouth puckered in thought, but he didn’t move or mutter anything to himself.

He wasn’t alone.

More faint crack-cracks rang out, and another person moved through the woods in this direction—the Fire elemental. Through the trees, I could see the orange-red glow of her magic flickering all around her hand, since she was using her power as her own personal flashlight.

“Hugh?” she called out, heading this way. “What’s going on?”

The vampire got to his feet, tucked the fabric strip into his pocket, and stepped away from the canyon. He moved forward, meeting the Fire elemental halfway, about thirty feet from where I was still hiding. I squinted, but I couldn’t make out her features, just the burning glow still flickering on her hand.

“What happened?” she demanded.

“What do you think happened?” Hugh snapped. “Your idiot bodyguard stepped right off the side of a cliff. He’s lying at the bottom, squashed like a bug.”

“Are you sure he’s dead?” She started to walk past him.

Hugh stepped to the side, blocking her. “I’m sure. You’ve already lost one man out here. Call the others back, and let’s leave. I’m tired of tromping through the woods in the middle of the night. Trust me. There’s no one out here but us. I would have seen them.”

The Fire elemental huffed, not liking to be told what to do, but she set off in the opposite direction, heading back toward the mansion. I thought that the vampire would follow her, but instead he turned around, scanning the woods, his eyes narrowing to slits and his nose twitching, almost as if he were sniffing the air like a dog. I remembered what my mom had told me about vampires, about how the blood they drank gave them enhanced senses. He might be able to see me after all, maybe even smell me too, even here in the deep, dark woods. I held my breath, not daring to move a single muscle . . .

And that’s when I felt the spider crawl onto my hand.

Startled, I looked down. I didn’t know what kind of spider it was, but it was a big, black blob on my hand, moving slowly, feeling along my skin with its hairy, prickly legs, carefully exploring this strange new territory. It must have been building a web or maybe even had a nest in the leaves that I’d disturbed.

As much as I wanted to scream and fling it away, I ground my teeth again and let it crawl around, hoping that it wasn’t poisonous and that it wouldn’t bite me. After what seemed like forever, the spider walked down my hand, crawled out to the tip of my index finger, and slid back down onto the leaves. I snatched my hand off the ground and cradled it against my chest. I looked up, wondering if I was alone yet—

The vampire was staring straight at me.

I froze again, my heart hammering up into my throat. Our eyes locked across the distance. No doubt about it. He’d seen me. Any second now, he would shout that he’d found me, and I’d have to run away again, run, run, run for my life—

“Hugh!” the Fire elemental snapped, her silky voice echoing through the trees. “It was your idea to leave, so let’s go already!”

Instead of moving, he kept staring at me. I looked back at him, the two of us locked in a silent staring contest.

“Hugh!” she snapped again.

He looked at me a moment longer, then did the strangest thing. He pulled something out of his pants pocket and dropped it onto the ground. A second later, he turned and walked off into the woods.

I stayed frozen in place, still holding my breath, not daring to move a single muscle, thinking that it was some kind of trick. It had to be a trick, right? He wasn’t just going to leave and pretend he hadn’t seen me . . . was he? Why would he do that? Especially when the Fire elemental wanted to kill me just like she had the rest of my family?

But the seconds ticked by, and no one jumped out of the shadows at me. Not the vampire, not the Fire elemental, no one. But I still thought that it was a trick, so I started counting off the seconds in my head, waiting them out.

Five minutes passed. At least, that’s how long I thought it was, although I had no real way of knowing. Still, no one approached me, and the woods remained utterly, eerily quiet. So I finally felt safe enough to leave my hiding spot, creep forward, and see what the vampire had dropped.