something. Shay blinked back tears as Cody knelt and slipped shoes onto her feet. He stood, hand clasping the shirt smeared with her blood, his eyes searching her face.
He squeezed her arm, but quickly let go. “Go on, before she comes looking for you. Wait.” He brushed a tear from her cheek. His hand lingered for a second and then dropped away. “I’ll come by later tonight, then we can talk.”
Shay moved to the ladder, her body numb. When she reached the bottom, she glanced up and saw him standing motionless, his jeans still unzipped, the blood-stained shirt in his hands, bewilderment and passion on his face.
The sound of a door closing pulled her from the dream. Shay opened her eyes, but her head throbbed. She started to touch it, but couldn’t move. Her hands were tied to the headboard, and she was naked. What had he done while she was unconscious?
She tugged at the ropes, panic starting to build. They were too tight. Her chest hurt, her arm was on fire, and the gag was choking her. She tried to slow her breathing. She looked around the room. Where was she? A cabin. Not the one where she and Cody had stayed. Cody. Vampires. Had more come? Was he alive?
She heard a plank squeak and lightly closed her eyes, pretending she was asleep. Through the seam of her lashes, she saw Mr. Ellis enter the tiny bedroom wearing the neatly pressed dark slacks he usually wore. He was smiling at her, his face polite, cordial. He held a red rose in one hand, a scalpel in the other.
***
An owl’s hoot woke Cody. He sat up, head spinning, covered in dust. He was in the woods, a stick buried in the earth beside him. The vampires! Shay. He jumped up, searching the trees. What the hell had she done? He’d never seen anything move so fast. Except vampires. Were there more? A sweet scent lingered in his nose, different from the vampire scent. He checked his watch. One a.m. He’d been out for an hour. Where was she? His talisman was warm against his chest. His battle marks tingled. She was in danger. He knew it in his heart. He had to find her.
Tracks covered the ground where he’d fought the vampires. Shay’s footprints were there too, and another set, off to the side. Larger, a boot, square-toed, probably size eleven. Someone had followed her. She said the intruder in Scotland wore square-toed boots. Cody found his gun lying on the ground where Shay had dropped it before running after the vampire. He followed the sweet scent and saw the square-toed footprints leading away from the fight. The impression was deeper there. The man who followed Shay had gained more than a hundred pounds, or he was carrying something. Behind the tree where Cody had fallen, he found a white handkerchief. He picked it up and sniffed. Chloroform.
***
It took all Shay’s willpower not to move or cry out. She let her eyes shut. She heard him move closer, heard something drop onto the table near her head. His hand brushed over her breast, and panic bubbled inside her. Keep your head. Panic will get you killed. Calm. Calm. Maybe he would think she was unconscious. An unconscious victim wouldn’t be as much fun. She blanked her mind, focusing only on her heartbeat, hard and fast, like a drum. When it slowed, she let her mind go, let the smells of the cabin and Mr. Ellis’s breath fade, released the brush of his hand on her body and the memory of the shiny scalpel in his hand. The lake shimmered before her. It was smooth. Tranquil. No wind today. She dug deeper into her mind. A boy and a girl stood on the shore, looking out across the water. They were skipping stones.
“Mine went farther than yours,” Shay said, planting her hands on her hips.
“Did not.” Cody grinned at her, tossing a flat, smooth rock into the air and catching it with the other hand.
“Did too.” Shay chose another one and flicked her wrist, skipping it across the lake, sending out a wave with each plink. “There. Six skips. Top that.”
He grinned again and tossed his rock. It made eight skips before the water swallowed it. He laughed and stuck out his tongue. Because he’d already turned thirteen, he thought he was better at everything.
“I quit.” Shay flung the rest of her rocks at him, harder than she meant. She had been emotional lately. Nina said it had to do with becoming a woman. Puberty, she said. Shay didn’t want anything to do with puberty. She didn’t want to bleed and grow boobs. She wanted to ride her bike and play in the woods with Cody.
He covered his mouth, and when he removed his hand, blood trickled down his lips.
“I’m sorry, Cody. I didn’t mean to hit you.”
He wiped the blood on his shirt—his mom would clobber him for that—and the anger left his eyes. He brushed a tear from her cheek and gave her a bloody smile, revealing a chipped bottom tooth and split lip. “Aye. I know you didn’t, pip- squeak.” He dumped the rest of the rocks from his pocket and ran his knuckles over her head. “Come on, let’s get home and clean it up before Mom and Nina get back. Maybe they won’t notice it.”
