Unbound (The Captive #7)(73)

“We have to get close enough to the house,” William said.

Aria lifted her head to look at him. “I’ll get so close I could knock on her back door.”

Around her, the people nervously shuffled their feet, but grins spread across their faces as they nodded enthusiastically. A man entered into the room from the hallway leading out to the barn. “We have a problem,” he said.

Aria turned toward him, her nostrils flaring at the potent aroma of fear wafting from him. “What is it?” she inquired.

“Vampires. They’re in the barn, and judging by the brown cloaks on them, they’re not our allies.”

Aria stepped away from the table and followed him down the hall to one of the peepholes near the exit. She pressed her eye to the hole, and her hands balled at her sides when she spotted the ten vampires mulling around inside the barn.

They were probably only trying to get out of the storm, but more than a few of them were examining every inch of the building. As she watched, one knelt by the doorway in the floor.





CHAPTER 28


Daniel

Daniel’s feet slipped in the wet leaves and pine needles beneath him. The rain came down so hard it didn’t sink into the ground, but slid over it in torrents that poured down the embankment they were trying to scale. For every two steps forward, he took one step back. Water sluiced over his hair, pouring down his face and into his eyes. He wiped it away, but it did little good as more ran over his eyes and his hair was plastered to his skin.

They were only a mile away from the caves where they’d left Jack, yet with the way they were going, it may take them hours to get there. His soaked clothes pulled heavily on his body, weighing him down. He wouldn’t be surprised if an icicle formed on his skin. No matter how badly his legs ached and shook from exertion, he continued stalwartly onward.

They didn’t try to be as quiet as they normally would have been as the storm covered any noises they made and masked their smell, but it would also do the same for anyone pursuing them. However, he didn’t think their enemies would be crazy enough to be out in this; no one with any sense would, unless they had to be.

Max grunted beside him as he lost his footing and fell onto the side of the embankment. He lay for a minute, panting on the ground with mud splattering his face. Daniel held out his hand to him. After a minute, Max took hold of it and climbed back to his feet.

Timber made it to the top of the embankment first, his eyes scanning the forest before he turned back to wave them onward. Daniel gritted his teeth and leapt toward the top. Timber took hold of his arm and helped to haul him the rest of the way over.

Daniel bent over, resting his hands on his knees as he inhaled gulping breaths of air and searched the forest. Water slid off his lips and into his mouth. He greedily drank it down as he tried to ease the burning in his lungs.

They desperately needed a break, but couldn’t stand here; they’d freeze in the icy rain if they did. Rising, he broke into a brisk jog as he led the way through the woods. Despite the fact the rain and wind made it difficult for him to see more than ten feet ahead of him, he didn’t ease his pace. They were already behind; they had to make it there tonight and get Jack back tomorrow, assuming they would still find Jack still alive and in the same cave where they’d left him.

The rain may have driven Sabine’s vamps to seek shelter tonight, but there had been a fair amount of them moving around the caves they’d left behind. Had Jack and Hannah been found?

They had to have answers tonight.

With every step he took, his heart pounded more and more with excitement and dread. Nearly there. Nearly there.

They were almost a hundred feet from the cave when a flash of movement on his right caught his attention. Daniel spun, swinging his bow off his back and nocking an arrow against it in one swift movement. His fingers were numb, but he’d still hit his target.

He went completely still as he controlled his frantic urge to gasp for breath. The hair on his nape rose as he felt eyes on him. Someone was out there watching them, stalking them.

***

Aria

Aria stood at the bottom of the stairs, staring at the doorway above her head. William and Tempest remained unmoving beside her. Xavier stood resolutely on her other side. The vampires were still up there; she could hear them moving about the barn, their feet stomping over its surface. The lingering scent of animals in the barn and the thick wood would cover their scent, but they couldn’t allow them to remain above.

She didn’t think the vampires would find the door, but if they did…

She’d put an arrow straight through the heart of the first one who entered. “We’ll go out the back way and circle around to the front of the barn,” she said.

“Or we could wait for them to pass on,” William said. “Which they’ll probably do when the storm breaks.”

“And if they don’t? We’re close enough to the palace that they could be considering using the barn as part of their base. With the storm, we can sneak up on them a lot easier. The rain and wind will mask any scent or noise we may make,” Aria said. “We’ll also be taking out some of Sabine’s numbers.”

“And if she notices them missing?” William asked.

“Do you really think she will?”

“I don’t know,” he reluctantly admitted.

“She knows we’re still out here, she has to expect that we’ll still be looking to fight her. She might even think they fled,” Tempest said.