When the Banshee Whispers

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

A mile down the road Etara shouted and stopped the wagon. I turned around just in time to see Drenden jumping out of the back of the wagon. The sun was barely starting to fall behind the horizon and he had his collar turned up and his wide brimmed hat on to block its dying rays.

"Boss," he shouted as he rounded the wagon. His pale skin already started to redden before I started to make my way to him and he dropped into the shade.

"What's going on?" I asked. The others were slowly moving around us.

"Vampire," Drenden said harshly. "I've been smelling it for the last mile. It's getting closer, tailing us."

"Feral?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I don't think so. But he's got blood on him."

I nodded and pulled my long sword from Whiplash's saddle.

"What's going on?" Finn asked.

"Maybe nothing."

"Moving ahead of us," Drenden updated.

"What's the plan?" Norton said laying his hand on his hilt.

"Sit tight," I said moving off the trail.

I looked calmly to the west. The sun touched the horrizon and the sky became streaked with deep reds, and purples. Something beautiful.

I ducked behind a rock and started to move along the road in the cover of the stones. My hand tightened on the grip of my long sword. I hate this part.

***

Finn sat on a rough boulder on the side of the road. It had been nearly an hour since the Ghostmaker disappeared. Night had set in full and the group had grown quiet. Their camp was lit only by a number of low burning torches. Norton and Lammar quietly played cards under one. Messenger and Kyte both leaned on wagon wheels with their eyes closed. Amelina stared into the horizon with that distant look she so often had. Gunthar held a torch and stood next to Drenden. Standing in silent vigil as they watched the road.

Finn's eyes then fell on the girl. As always Etara stood two steps back and one step to the right of Drenden. The small girl turned around and glared at Finn when she noticed him watching her. He couldn't figure out the relationship between the two of them, and as of yet hadn't asked. The light hearted vampire treated the girl like a slave. It was such a contrast to the way he joked and laughed with the rest of the group.

Finn looked to the spot where the Ghostmaker had disappeared into the boulders. The desgrased prince was a constant surprise to Finn. He wasn't the cold hearted killer he'd spent his life picturing him as.

He couldn't stop thinking about that first night. Hearing the man he had recently watched kill two talons screaming in his sleep. Nearly every night he could hear his uncle tossing and turning. It was so different from what he'd thought. This man had killed kings, and yet he seemed terrified of closing his eyes.

Maybe Finn was wrong about him.

"Look alive," Drenden shouted out.

Norton let out a laugh. "Vampire says 'look alive'," he chuckled again. 

Finn moved up with the rest of the group to stand behind Gunthar and Drenden.

"Nobody does anything unless I say," Drenden commanded.

The other fighters nodded.

Besides Drenden Finn had only ever met one vampire in his life. The old man who took care of the library in Jourhold had hardly seemed threatening. Drenden was much closer to the well groomed suducers from the stories, but even he seemed relitively harmless. Finn knew the hunters tales of the feral vampires that were little more than animals. But his mind still went back to the stories he heard as a child and pictured a handsome gentleman coming down the road. He'd smooth talk his way into the camp and run away with the women.