After Hours (VAMPIRES PART 1)

Chapter 31

ROSEANNE

I sit Lisa in front of me and hold both reins in one hand so I can grip her around the waist with my other. This way, I can see over her head. Plus, I want her in front of me and not behind unprotected.

Not when this is the second attack we've faced.

The forest here is thick enough it could be jungle.

We find a half broken shack that's just about sturdy enough that it will provide shade for the worst of the day.

We tie the horse up, giving it enough rein slack that it can move around and forage.

"I'll take the first shift," Lisa says.

"Like hell, you actually need the sleep, sit down and rest. I'll keep an eye out."

Lisa folds her arms and glares at me. "Gods, you're so stubborn."

I slide down the shack wall, and she nestles next to me, leaning her head against my shoulder. She's asleep before I can even ask if she wants a jumper rolled under her head.

And so that's where I sit for hours, waiting for the sun to set, nothing but the melody of her breathing and the song of the forest birds to keep me company. It's the most peaceful I've been in decades.

By the time the sun is low enough in the sky and the tree canopies provide sufficient shade, I am itching to move.

We bring the horse with us, though this deep in the forest, we're forced to walk it rather than ride it. We leave the shack a little too early though, and the odd dying sunbeam catches me. Thankfully, it's not enough to do any severe damage. I only get one blister on my hand before the sun drops low enough to not be a problem. As the oldest vampire in the competition, I want to take advantage of the extra few minutes we'll have.

"This forest gives me the creeps," I say.

"Don't the humans think you're the monster they should be afraid of?"

"There's always someone worse."

The deeper we go, the more the forest becomes a dead zone. There's no ambient noise at all now, almost like a we're in a vacuum. The only sounds are the cracking of twigs beneath our feet and the horse's hooves, the rustling of our clothes and the horse's nervous breathing.

I grab Lisa's hand.

"You afraid?" she whispers.

"No. But I don't want anything to happen to you."

Moments later, we step into a giant clearing in front of a building. It's made of huge boulder-like standing stones, the light grey stark against the dark tree roots that weave between them and the green moss and foliage that adorns their edges and the ground.

The building towers up into the trees behind it.

"What was this place?" Lisa whispers.

"Looks like a temple or some sort of religious building."

"Not recent though. Not the Mother of Blood," she says under her breath.

I shake my head. "No, this is much, much older. It has to be for the witch-gods, the dhampirs." I check the map again and locate the structure's entrance to try to orient the page to the building in front of us. But it's so derelict it takes me a second to figure out the right angle.

"There," Lisa says, pointing at a half collapsed opening about twenty feet away.

We rush across the clearing. She attempts to go first, but I pull her behind me. "No. I can't die. I go first."