He gave me a pitying look. "That"s the other part of the Van Helsing thing."
"What?"
"We"re attracted to them, too. I didn"t want to disobey Trick and go to that cavern in California." His voice dropped to a whisper. "I had to go."
We spent the next three hours following the twists and turns of Stanas"s maze, but we never found a hatch or an outbuilding or anything that might provide access to an underground tunnel the way the hatches in the shops in town did for the Ravens" tunnels. After hitting several dead ends and having to backtrack, it seemed pretty hopeless.
We did find a small, pretty lake, and stopped there to water and rest the horses. I didn"t feel like talking, and Gray seemed fine with that.
I took a granola bar and a bottle of water out of the saddlebag and went to sit under an oak tree. Although the day hadn"t warmed up, the sun was bright, and I"d forgotten to put on some sunscreen before I"d left the house. I"d have to borrow Gray"s ball cap or I"d be slathering on the sunburn ointment tonight.
The granola bar tasted like ground-up cardboard, but I kept chewing and washed it down with the water. Jesse had told me that no one had ever solved the maze; my vision had been too vague to provide any clues. Gray couldn"t pick up any scent trail. We weren"t going to find anyone or anything out here. I had to start thinking about Plan B.
I knew my brothers were probably thinking about staging some kind of ambush in the park, or having me summon my cats to jump the vampire there. He wouldn"t be stupid enough to bring his hostages with him, of course. If we did that I"d be safe, but we"d never find the missing girls.
Jesse and I could do it.
If I let the vampire take me, I could use my bond with Jesse to lead him to the underground vault. He could rescue the girls while my cats and I held off the vampire. When they were safely out of there, then I could order my cats to finish it.
Stop dressing it up with pretty words, my sullen conscience said. You"re going to have to kill him. Just like you killed the others. It"s the only way to stop him and you know it.
A wide shadow fell across me, and I looked up at Gray.
"I checked in with the sheriff," he said, hooking the handheld back onto his belt. "You ready?"
I am never going to be ready for this, I thought, but I nodded and got up.
Flash didn"t want to stop grazing, so I rode Sali around the lake while we waited for Gray to get him situated. That was when I saw a flash of something moving fast through the trees about a quarter mile away-too big to be a person-and heard the faint, rushing sound of leaves thrashing and branches snapping.
"Grayson." When he looked at me, I pointed in the direction of the movement. "There"s something over there."
He peered. "Deer."
"It"s too big." Too fast to be a bear, too, I thought, and then I caught a flash of gleaming red. "It can"t be."
Sali shuffled under me as her head turned to watch the blurry movement.
"Gray," I yelled. "It"s Rika."
"Hang on," he called back.
"No time." I took off after her, jumping the walkway and crossing the clearing between the lake and the tree line. I got within sight of the Arabian"s churning flanks and peered at the swell of her belly. From the bulge in her side she hadn"t foaled yet, but she was close.
Sali suddenly veered away from a big tangle of dead brush into the trees and skidded to avoid slamming both of us into the blackened trunk of a fallen pine that blocked our path. For a split second I was smothered in wilted, spade-shaped leaves and then something yanked me out of the saddle and threw me to the ground.
I landed on my side, hard, and felt the air whoosh out of my nose and mouth as the impact knocked it out of my lungs. Somehow I remembered to tuck and roll to avoid Sali"s hooves as she fought to free herself from the tangle of dead vines that had unseated me. Dirt pelted my face and I turned my face away to protect my eyes.
Sali tore free and skittered away from me, pounding the ground as she headed back to the clearing. I lifted my head to see her running in a wide circle, whinnying so frantically it sounded as if she were screaming.
"Catlyn."
I wanted to yell for my brother, but my lungs weren"t cooperating. My head spun as I tried to push myself up and quickly discovered why that wasn"t going to work. When I"d rolled the vines we"d ridden into had wrapped around me, and now coc.o.o.ned my arms and legs.
I"d definitely need Gray"s help, so I focused on what I could do, which was catch my breath. When I got enough air in me, I called out, "I"m over here."
A grunting, snuffling sound answered me.
I looked over at the brush Sali had swerved around, and saw a big dark shadow moving in the center of it. Something was in there, something that had spooked her, and now it was coming toward me.
I struggled against the vines, freeing one of my hands and pulling at the tangle around my legs. The brush shivered and then shook as something squat and dark and ugly emerged.
It had small, beady eyes, and huge, pointed tusks. It also didn"t like seeing me laying there trussed up like a Christmas turkey.
I stopped moving. "Hey," I said softly. "Are you the one who went to market, or the one who stayed home?"
The wild boar pawed the ground, and the brush behind it rustled as two smaller versions looked out at me before retreating.
"What cute babies." I hadn"t just riled a boar in the wild, I"d riled one who was a mother with young to protect. "I know you"re probably not going to buy this, but I would never hurt them."
The boar lowered her head to gouge the ground with her tusks, and then uttered a furious squeal as she charged me.
"Hey." Gray rode between me and the mother boar and threw his water bottle, nailing her on the head. That, and Flash rearing up over her, convinced the boar to turn tail and run the other way.
"Stay down," my brother said before he and Flash chased the boar and her piglets across the clearing and into the trees.
Sali came back to stand guard over me until Gray returned, but by then I knew I hadn"t broken anything.
"What"s the damage?" he asked as he helped me to my feet.
"My hip"s bruised, but it"s not bad." I gazed over to the last spot I"d seen Rika, but there was no sign of her now. "What is that blockheaded mare doing all the way out here?"
"I don"t know, and I don"t care." He helped me mount Sali. "We"re heading back."
"I"m okay."
"I"m not. You were ten feet away from being gored." He pulled a piece of vine from my jacket. "And this could have snapped your neck." He threw it down and scanned the clearing. "We"re not going to find them out here, not like this. Not before sunset."
My hip throbbed in agreement with him. "All right, we"ll head back. At least we found Rika." I looked out at the trees. "Sort of."
Twenty.
As soon as Trick saw me riding up to the entrance to the maze he frowned, and of course Gray had to immediately tell him about my fall and the boar.
"I knew this was a bad idea." Trick made me dismount, and began to check my eyes and ears. When I protested, he said, "Hold still. You could have a concussion."
"I didn"t hit my head, and it was bad luck," I a.s.sured him. "Sali scented the boar in time to avoid running over her and the babies. It could have been a lot worse."
I still had to demonstrate that all my limbs were working before he quit doctoring me, and even then he wasn"t happy.
"You"re limping," he said. "We should get that hip x-rayed."
I patted it, hiding a wince. "It"s sore, not broken."
"You don"t have nine lives, Catlyn," he grated. "You only get one."
"Don"t yell at me, because I do have some good news." I told him about spotting Rika out in the maze. "From what I saw she hasn"t foaled yet, but her side is swollen. She"s got to be close." I glanced back at the maze.
"Don"t even think about it," Trick said. "Horses have been foaling in the wild for thousands of years. She can handle it."
"It"s not that." I wished I had time to go after Rika, but sunset was only a few hours away. "I need to go home and get cleaned up." I took a deep breath before I added, "Then I have to call Raven Island, and talk to Jesse."
"No." My brother took my arm and marched me over to Gray"s truck. He put me in the pa.s.senger side of the cab, and as soon as the horses were loaded he climbed in behind the wheel and drove us home.
"So what"s Plan B?" I asked as we left town and headed for the farm. "Are we going to ambush him in the park when he comes for me? We won"t find the girls that way, you know."
"This is over now." Trick didn"t look at me. "You"re staying home. The sheriff and the Ravens will deal with the vampire."
So we were back to complete and utter denial of the situation. "I"m the one he wants. He"s not going to show unless I"m there."
"You"re not going anywhere near that town tonight," he told me. "End of discussion."
Once we arrived home Trick told me that he and Gray would handle the horses, and sent me into the house. I went straight for the aspirin and a hot shower, which helped ease some of my soreness, if not my mind.
I heard my brothers come in, and Trick began rattling pots and pans in the kitchen. Of course, he was going to heat up the Christmas dinner Gray had brought home from the market. We were going back into happy family mode. And if I went downstairs, and pretended to do the same, he"d find an opportunity to give me a hug, or take my hand in his, and then nothing would be wrong because I wouldn"t remember any of this.
I couldn"t let him do that to me. Not now, and not ever again.
I opened the window to my bedroom, and looked down at the ground. Because of my hip I"d have to climb the pine tree halfway instead of jumping as I normally would, but I could get out of the house. But Trick had the keys to Gray"s truck, and tired as Sali was, I couldn"t ride her all the way back into town.
Sali isn"t my only ride anymore.
I looked out at the little red convertible Gray had parked out by the barn earlier that morning. I closed my eyes and willed myself to remember what I"d seen when he"d done that. He"d gotten in, started the engine, drove it across the lawn, and then had parked it. He hadn"t locked the doors ... and he hadn"t been holding the keys when he"d climbed out.
I came over and sat down on my bed. If I did this, it would probably destroy my family for good. If I didn"t, three girls were going to die.
A knock sounded on my door before it opened and Trick looked in on me. "Are you feeling better?"
Why lie? "Not especially."
He came in and closed the door behind him. "I"m sorry I snapped at you earlier. I"ve made a real mess of things, and I shouldn"t have taken out my anger on you."
"I"ll survive." A tiny spark of hope glimmered in my heart. "I talked to Gray while we were out riding the maze. He told me about what happened in California, and some other stuff. I think I understand things a little better now."
"I"m glad." He sat down next to me. "I know you"re blaming yourself for what"s happened, but Cat, none of this is your fault. I realized tonight how selfish I"ve been, and how much grief I"ve caused you and Gray because of it. This is one hundred percent on me."
I looked down at my hands. "You were just doing what you thought was right."
"I used to dream about this place." His expression softened. "I wanted it to be perfect for us. So I waited and saved until I was sure we"d be safe here and I could make a go of it. This was supposed to be our reward for all the years of running." He gave me a sideways glance. "But it was always about what I wanted, not what was right for you. I know that now."
This confession was starting to worry me. "Patrick, what are you trying to say?"
"Until now, I"ve been making all the decisions for this family." He stood up. "I think it"s time I learned how to compromise, and let you and your brother have some say in what happens."
My spark of hope flared back up. "Does this start now?"
"It can," he agreed, "as long as you"re willing to tell me what you want, and work out a compromise with me."
"I don"t want you to make me forget anything, ever again, for the rest of my life," I told him. "That"s number one on my wish list."
"Very well. I promise that I won"t tamper with your memories anymore." When I grinned, he lifted his hand. "As long as you agree to stop seeing the Raven boy."
His name is Jesse. "That"s not fair."
"In my eyes, it"s an even exchange," he said. "To get what we want, we both have to give up something that is very important to us."
My heart wanted to flat-out refuse; my common sense told me to lie and agree. Neither would give me what I really needed, so instead I went with my instincts. "Do you need an answer now, or can I have some time to think about it?"
That wasn"t what he was expecting me to say, but he hid his surprise quickly. "It can wait until tomorrow morning."
"Thanks." I smiled. "I"ll be down in a minute."
I got to the kitchen just as Gray was taking the pre-cooked turkey out of the microwave and Trick was setting the table. The market had provided all the traditional side dishes, from jellied cranberries to green bean ca.s.serole, and there was even a little fruitcake decorated with flowers made of candied cherries and slivers of apricot.
"That looks amazing," I told Gray as I got out a big platter for the turkey. "When did you enter the contest for this, Trick?"
"I didn"t." He eyed Gray. "I thought you did."
"Wasn"t me."
"Well, I didn"t enter the contest." I felt uneasy now. "Maybe they mixed up the phone numbers."
"I saw the entry form in the box." Gray went over to where he had left it by the trash and reached inside for the slip of paper. "This is our address and phone number. It says "The Youngblood Family."" He handed the slip to me.
"Someone must have entered it for us." I studied the handwriting, which to my relief wasn"t Jesse"s, but still looked familiar. I glanced at the corkboard by the wall phone, and saw the note about Rika"s feed ratio. The handwriting was identical. "I know. It was Mena Marks."
Gray scowled. "Why would she do that?"
"She has this gigantic crush on Trick," I said, shaking my head sadly. "I don"t think she realizes he"s old enough to be her father."
"Dr. Marks has at least ten years on me," Trick put in. "But I can wait until she"s eighteen."