man-creature could even feel fear. Still, neither of those were her biggest concern. "What about the Indian woman?"
"She ain't a worry," Cora said.
"Are you sure?" Victoria asked. "She seemed to have a power over the other man."
Cora shook her head. "Ain't likely. You probably just didn't know what was going on. This Fodor Glava feller is one of them king vampires George knows about. Nossy-something. Anyhow, they got control over the other kind of vampires, so I'll warrant he's master of that squaw you saw, too."
The old hunter's reasoning didn't sit well with Victoria. She knew what she had seen: the man had submitted to the woman's will, and more than once. Still, Cora knew more about these matters than she did, so maybe there was something else at work. Victoria tried to set aside her misgivings.
"I'll charge in first, and you follow," Cora was saying. "Keep an eye on our rear in case the bastard has an ace in his palm."
Victoria nodded. Cora offered her a lopsided grin as she rose to her feet. The hunter's brown eyes scanned the yard once more before she turned toward the barn door.
A yell burst forth from Cora's lungs. She ran into the barn's interior and halted a few steps inside, rifle raised. The rosary hung from her left wrist, whipping back and forth as she swept the Winchester's barrel over the grey shadows. Nothing jumped out at her.
Victoria stood, her blisters throbbing in protest. The yard remained empty. Wind kicked through the tall grass growing along the fence. Crucifix and gun pointed outward, she slowly backed through the open doorway. The daylight became a blue square surrounded by darkness. Fear began working crawling up her sides, making its way toward her throat. The terror and confusion of that night still lingered in the barn. Phantom eyes of red and blue drifted through her peripheral vision only to vanish when she turned her head. In her mounting panic, she nearly pulled the trigger half a dozen times.
She shook her head. No, she was stronger than this. If the woman at her back, rustic and uneducated, could barge into a nest of monsters without hesitation, so could she. After all, she was her father's daughter and descended from Navy sailors. Her grandfather had faced down pirate ships; she could handle one old barn.
Behind her, she heard Cora's steadily advancing footsteps. Victoria clung to that sound, a spire of rock in the rising ocean of her fears. With every step, every tinkling of the old hunter's spurs, Victoria's panic subsided.
"Hey!" Cora's shout shattered Victoria's nerves. "You in here, you bastard?"
"By God," Victoria said, "you scared the life out of me."
The hunter lowered her rifle. "You're the only one, I reckon. Ain't nothing here."
"Are you sure?"
"Sure as I can be," Cora replied. "If that feller is here, he's keen on keeping to himself." She looked above them. "Could be he's up there somewhere sleeping."
"Sleeping?" Victoria asked. "Who could sleep through a shout like that?"
"A sucker," Cora said. "They like to sleep during the day. Why don't you shimmy on up that ladder over there and have a look?"
Victoria's eyes went wide. "What?"
"You heard me. I'll keep an eye out down here."
"And what should I do if I find something?"
Cora shrugged. "I say shoot it. If you come up with something better, go with that."
"You can't be serious," Victoria said. "You could very well be sending me to my death."
"Not much chance of that," Cora said. "I don't reckon much of anything is up there except hay, and these old bones ain't up to climbing a ladder unless they got a damn good reason. If you do happen across a sleeping monster, I reckon even you couldn't miss. Now go on and get yourself up there."
The hunter turned toward the door, rifle at the ready. Victoria almost tapped her on the shoulder to refuse, then thought better of it. Cora obviously didn't think there was any danger, or she would have gone up herself. Victoria wasn't foolish enough to believe that it would have been because of any motherly protectiveness. The old hunter held Victoria and her abilities in contempt, so in her mind, sending her to investigate a real threat would have been useless.
Time to prove her wrong, then. Victoria strode toward the ladder Cora had pointed out. Holding the crucifix lightly between her teeth, she gripped a rung with her free hand and began climbing.