age of twenty, thirty at the outside, before a vampire somewhere came across them. The Darkblood Alliance made buckets of money selling vials of Sweet on the vampire black market. With just one taste, even those who had never killed a human before were likely to get carried away. A fact she knew firsthand but wished she didn’t.
“They tried…to kill me,” he choked, leaning heavily on her arm.
She didn’t need to ask who—she had a pretty damn good idea who’d do something like this. “Where were you being held? How far away?”
“I don’t know. It feels like… I’ve been…running forever.” He put his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. “A few kilometers on the other…side of the creek…just past those trees.” Without looking, he stabbed a thumb over his shoulder.
Thick, old-growth forest pressed in on them from both sides of the highway. Unaccustomed to trees this tall and roads this twisty, she felt claustrophobic not being able to see long distances around her.
“I’m so dizzy…they took a lot…of blood.” He pressed a fist to his forehead and his body swayed slightly. She held his arm tighter to steady him. “I know this is going to sound crazy but they…they were vampires.” His gaze darted around wildly as if he expected them to pop out from the woods or drop from the trees.
That didn’t surprise her in the slightest. She was half-tempted to track his captors herself, but that would mean the young man would have to stay here by himself. After what he’d just been through, she couldn’t in good conscience do that to him, even if his memory would get wiped later.
“Okay, in the car. Let’s get you out of here.”
Other than the residual smell on the man’s clothes, she didn’t detect any active Darkblood odor in the immediate vicinity, but that could change in the blink of an eye. Maybe they hadn’t discovered their prisoner was gone yet. If they had, they’d have quickly shadow-moved in the darkness, easily following the sweetblood scent, and retrieved him. Best to get out of here now.
“I’m serious,” he said forcefully, as if she didn’t believe him. His teeth chattered and his hands shook. “They kidnapped m-m-me in Vancouver…and brought me up here. They had fangs…black eyes…even their whites were black.”
Darkbloods for sure, then, and not some random rogue who got carried away when he ran into a sweetblood. A vampire’s eyes would turn black over time when they only consumed blood. She put her arm around him, trying to comfort him as she steered him to the car. He was going into shock and he needed medical attention. If only there was a blanket in the car to keep him warm, but all she had were a few light jackets in her suitcase. She took off her hoodie and wrapped it around his shoulders, trying not to think about how insanely cold she was. “What’s your name?”
“M-Mason.”
“Well, Mason, I believe you.”
His eyes widened. “You…you do? You’re not just saying that?”
“Nope.” And then, because she didn’t want to sound patronizing, she added, “I know it’s a fact because I’ve seen this before.” She wasn’t about to tell him she was a vampire and that she’d rescued lots of sweetbloods, including one an old lover had almost killed. The truth was necessary only up to a point. “Now come on.”
Unarmed and most likely outnumbered because Darkbloods worked in pairs, she wasn’t eager to confront the enemy if they stepped out of the darkness right now.
She helped Mason into the passenger seat, careful not to touch or focus on the bruises and scratches that ran up and down his arms. It was best to avoid contact with any of his blood, whether she trusted herself or not. “You’re going to be just fine. I promise.”
The medical staff at region headquarters would see that he was healthy before returning him to his normal life, the memory of his ordeal wiped from his head, and their agents could deal with the Darkblood situation themselves.
A pair of headlights pierced the darkness. Just her luck. They had company. Positioning herself between the young man and the roadway, she tried to block him from view. The last thing she needed was more human witnesses.
A red pickup slowed down and a man with a ball cap stared out at her. When she noticed the circular insignia on the side, her breath caught in her throat.
Cascade Search and Rescue.
Great. What were the chances that they’d simply drive past if they thought someone needed help? And what if they were actually out looking for this guy?
On the drive up here, she vaguely remembered hearing a radio bulletin about two hikers who’d failed to report back to their Whistler hotel, prompting authorities to organize a search. Maybe these guys were headed up there.
She smiled and gave a cheery wave to signify everything was okay. Manipulating the memory of one human who’d had an encounter with vampires was one thing, but multiple humans? Not only was she not skilled enough to perform a group mind wipe, but given that she hadn’t taken any blood in days, most likely she didn’t have the energy needed to perform one.
“Thank God, the authorities,” Mason said. “Someone needs to…go after those monsters…who tried to…kill me before they do this…to someone else.”
“I agree.” The authorities, yes, but not the human variety.
Darkbloods often brought human prey back to their dens, where they drained their blood and disposed of the bodies. Given the IV line, that clearly was what they’d been doing to Mason. He was lucky to have gotten out of there, especially considering he was a sweetblood. But it was odd they’d locate their den in this remote area and in the same vicinity as the region office. This wasn’t exactly a good place for an illegal blood siphoning operation and it was far from their clientele, who tended to stick close to larger cities where there were more humans to feed from.
Also, Darkbloods in northern areas weren’t normally as brash or bold as they were down South. Because ultraviolet light in the Pacific Northwest was low for most of the year, the energy in the human blood supply wasn’t as volatile. This in turn led to a less aggressive nature in the small vampire population who fed from them, including Darkbloods.
At least, that’s how it worked in theory. She’d never been far north enough to experience it for herself.
Mason’s hands couldn’t fasten the seat belt, so she snapped it for him. But before she could jog around to the driver’s side, she noticed that the red truck had eased off the road in front of them and turned around.
Damn. Her stomach sank like a pair of concrete shoes. They were coming to help.
Whatever happened to humans who didn’t want to get involved? The kind of people who could watch a mugging from a balcony and not call the police. The kind who would hide behind a Dumpster, either too scared or too indifferent to come to the aid of a dying man who had helped them. It was just her luck that the truck was not being driven by that kind of person. An image of a similar situation many years ago stirred in her mind, but that one didn’t involve humans. Cowardliness and apathy were common traits in both races.
But then she considered the flip side. The problem with being too concerned was that you could get sucked into doing something you hadn’t planned, which, ironically, was what had brought her here in the first place.
Her
