Vengeance (The Captive #6)(36)
He stood for a minute, watching it in its death throes before bending down and yanking the arrow free of its chest. The vibrant red of the blood seeping from the fatal wound didn’t prick his appetite; instead, it brought back memories of screams and terror, of the scent of death in battle. Shaking his head, he cleared it of the images as he wiped the arrow in the snow and slid it back into his quiver.
“What is that?” Tempest inquired as she stared down at the bald, barely clad body lying on the ground. Its skin was almost as white as the snow surrounding it.
“A vampire.”
Her eyes flew up to his. He stared at her for a minute before focusing on the swirling white world around them. His gaze darted around in search of the others that were most likely out there, on the loose and starving.
“What happened to it?” she inquired.
“Starvation. This is what the ones in Chester looked like.” Her head snapped back and forth between him and the dead vampire. He wrapped his hand around her elbow, tugging her away from the body. “Come on, we have to get out of here.”
He led her the rest of the way down the hill and across the open plains again. He struggled to see through the swirling snow and to sense anything of menace hiding in the storm. Her name made perfect sense if this was what the weather had been like the night she’d been left on the doorstep.
He couldn’t imagine anyone abandoning her in such a way and during such a vulnerable time in her life. The orphanage may not have been the best place to grow up, but she would have died without it. He shuddered at the image of what a starving newborn or child would look like, or having to kill one. It was bad enough killing the adults.
The memory of Chester and the vampires he’d slaughtered there made his stomach twist. He’d lost track of time since he’d left the town and been caught up in the storm. He may only have another week to get word back to Aria before she came after him, something he couldn’t allow to happen, not after what Tempest had revealed. If Aria was killed or captured again because of him, he’d never forgive himself.
They had to get to that town and see what was going on; he had to have some information for his family, before they moved forward. He didn’t doubt what Tempest had told him; she’d have had no way to know he was out here or his relation to the queen before meeting him.
If someone had somehow known he’d taken this journey on his own, and been hoping to use him as leverage over his sister, they certainly would have sent more than one slender wisp of a woman to claim him. She’d been determined to get help for her town, still was, and there was no way she could have faked the utter devastation he’d seen on her face when she’d realized the extent of the danger the children in her town faced.
No, he believed everything she’d told him. Now he just had to get them out of here alive. He threw back his hood, no longer caring about the snow covering his head and sliding wetly down the back of his cloak to stick against his exposed neck. From the corner of his eye, he saw something moving amongst the blowing snow.
He pulled Tempest closer against his side and pulled another arrow free of his quiver. In this weather, the arrows would do him little good at far range, but he’d be able to slow those things down before they were on top of them. “Keep a watch behind us,” he told Tempest.
The wind tugged at her hood when she turned away from him, whipping it away from her face. This time, he knew they were being hunted when a brief cease of the wind allowed the snow to spiral about them in lazy flakes. He spotted three of the things on their right, following them through the snow. A gasp escaped Tempest; her hand clutched his arm.
“William,” she whispered.
“I see them. Stay by my side.” The warmth of her body pressed against his, a small tremor ran through her as he waited for them to creep closer. “You have to let go of my arm.”
“Oh.”
It had been necessary for him to have his arm free to shoot, but he immediately missed the contact with her when she let him go. If he could, he would pick her up and carry her from here as fast as he could run through the snow, but he knew any movement would only drive those things into a frenzied hunting mode.
His gaze constantly slid through the snow as he searched for a place to lead those things away from the cave. He planned to put them out of their misery as soon as they made a move, but if he killed them near the cave, the scent of their blood would attract more if they were in the area.
The wind picked up again, blowing the snow forcefully around them once more. The icy flakes stung his face and stuck to his lashes but he didn’t attempt to pull his hood up again. He had to have a broader range of vision so he could see the creatures hunting them. Motion to the right drew his attention. He pushed Tempest behind him with a subtle shift of his shoulder and took aim at the deformed vampire leaping at them from the storm.
The arrow flew through the air and embedded itself in the creature’s shoulder. William swiftly pulled another arrow free, notched it and let it fly. He’d broken many arrows and bows while trying to learn how to shoot again after his transformation, but he could release them much faster now than he’d ever been able to before. He just had to make sure he kept enough control so that he didn’t break his bow in half again.
The second arrow embedded in the vampire’s heart. He didn’t waste time watching the thing’s death throes, but spun around to face the creature he could sense coming at them from behind. Tempest ducked out of the way, as he released three arrows rapidly in a row, all of them embedding themselves in the vampire. The first two missed its heart by inches but the third struck home.