and charged into the river, gasping as the cold water soaked first her socks, then her dress from bottom up. She kept going until the river floor gradually dropped out from under her, and she began to tread water.
Garin stumbled out of the tree line and froze at edge of the bank. His jaw fell open. “Are you mad? What are you doing?”
“Saving myself,” she yelled back, keeping her voice even with effort. The water swirling around her was frigid.
The vampire began pacing along the bank like a ravenous animal. “By drowning yourself?” He grunted, frustration mottling his collected calm. “Don’t be ridiculous. Come back here this instant.”
“N-no.” She could’ve been imagining it, but the water beneath her legs grew colder still. If the surface water was cold, the undercurrents were downright freezing. “You—you can’t cross r-running water. I’m safer in here.”
But, based on Garin’s sudden burst of barely contained laughter, Lilac wasn’t so sure.
“Is that what you mortals are telling each other these days?” He threw his head back, howling madly as Lilac watched in horror. After catching his breath, he was serious again. “You do need to come back. The water isn’t safe.”
“I will when you promise to leave me alone,” she stammered, barely managing the words.
“I’m being serious. This—it’s dangerous. Swim back to the bank and we’ll talk.”
We’ll talk. Likely. Lilac stared at the opposite bank just a short swim in front of her. It was growing colder by the second, and a ached pulsing through her muscles indicated that her calves would soon begin to stiffen. While Garin had ridiculed her response, he also hadn’t jumped in to pursue her. It was impossible to tread water forever, and she could always swim back and grab her bag when he left, and if not, leaving her belongings behind would be worth getting rid of the persistent creature. In the accounts she’d read on vampires, that seemed to be one of the most difficult things about them; they were creatures of immense patience when they had to be.
She decided and paddled further toward the outer bank, but Garin’s raised voice followed her. “Lilac, I’m not kidding this time. This is dangerous, come back!”
“What could possibly be more dangerous than you? Swimming back is the exact opposite of what m-my instincts are telling me to do.”
“I beg of you—”
“I’ll take my chances.”
Just past the midpoint, the moon’s reflection on the water ahead of her moved. At least, she thought it did. Ripples surrounded her—a school of minnow, she thought as they circled her slowly. But the ripples only intensified.
Something was wrong. Something was here. She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand in spite of the moisture. Off to her right, a faint blue-white glow shone under the water. It wasn’t the reflection of the moon at all.
Garin roared something unintelligible after her. His voice was enough to shake her bones even from the shore. It was the first time she heard genuine fear in his voice, and she didn’t like it at all. “Don’t move!”
“Garin?!” The frantic shrill of her own voice was just as unrecognizable.
“Stay there! I’m coming in.”
She sucked a sharp breath in as another flash of cold shot through the water under her, this time numbing her toes. There was no mistaking it this time—something lurked in the depths of the Argent, and it was moving right beneath her. The light beneath the surface had taken the shape of an orb, and now there were two more encircling her, shimmering as they danced closer to the surface. Lilac paddled frantically, spinning in place to keep them all in sight. Something slimy brushed up against her bare leg under her dress, and she heard her own scream pierce the night. A cold hand grasped her shin and yanked down with tremendous force.
The last thing she saw before she was sucked under was Garin, bounding frantically toward her through the shallow end of the river.
She was enveloped in darkness. She clawed her way up, to what she thought was up, struggling beneath the icy plane. Fighting for her breath, she kicked and scratched until the bony hand on her ankle finally slipped off. It didn’t take long for her to lose track of the moonlight in the murky water; Lilac gave one last, hard kick. Panicked bubbles erupted from her nostrils, and she followed them up with the last of her breath.
As she broke the surface, she gasped and didn’t even have time to