High Noon - Casey Bond Page 0,12

them, while other files were locked, encrypted to only be opened by Kael himself. I would look at those first.

“Enoch, before I get started on her files, I need to get some rest. We were somewhat busy last night.”

Enoch grunted. “So it seems.”

He waved a hand for me to step through the door that led downstairs. I gave him a slight smile and eased around him. At the top of the steps, I felt better having talked to him for some reason. I turned to thank him for not being harsh, considering Maru hadn’t been exactly forthcoming with Enoch about what he’d planned, but before I could speak, I saw a sharp coldness descend in his eyes.

The blow came out of nowhere. I was airborne one moment and then landed hard, tumbling the rest of the way down the stairs. Warm blood trickled from my nose, pooling beneath my face. My head was plastered against the cool, concrete landing. A whimper fell from my mouth.

Why did he hurt me?

I can’t feel my legs.

I can’t move my arms.

His footsteps trailed languidly down the steps, getting closer and closer. He paused in front of me and crouched down.

“I need you, Yarrow. I need you loyal to me. Not to Maru, not to Eve, and certainly not to Victor Dantone or Kael Frost. I will heal you so that you’ll know to whom you belong. Do you understand?”

A tear fell from the corner of my eye and trickled over the bridge of my nose.

He carefully gathered me up like one might an infant and then bit into my jugular. At first, nothing but pain registered, but then it faded, replaced by a feeling I could only describe as euphoric. The power in him flowed into me and the transition to vampire, which was believed to take days, began immediately.

He carried me down the remaining flights of stairs to a darkened room, placing me on a sofa and drawing a soft blanket over me. “When you wake, Yarrow, you will gather all of the things you brought into the Haven and find me.”

“I will find you,” I promised. His hypnotic words were the only thing I could focus on. I need to sleep, gather my things, and find Enoch. As soon as I wake. I’ll gather my things and find him. My eyelids fluttered closed.

Eve

Maru, Enoch, and I followed Hotah and Kohana back to their camp, which was nestled in a small clearing where a stream trickled over the land. There were pines on either side of the stream, and while the trees were thin, the animal trails between them were not. I spotted six before I stopped looking for them. Whatever made the trails must have been large game. Hopefully not something that might eat us, like mountain lions or bears.

Kohana ordered Hotah to build a fire in each of the twin tipis. As the eldest, he seemed to have dominion over his younger sibling and didn’t let him forget it. If I hadn’t gone to the spring voluntarily, I think he would have tried to drag me there. He wanted me in that water, and apparently Kohana wasn’t used to hearing the word no.

Enoch volunteered to gather dead wood from an outcropping of pines beyond camp. He kissed me quickly before rushing off. “I’ll hurry.”

My face heated as Maru’s brows raised, but I nodded at Enoch and watched Hotah follow him into the darkness. Kohana turned to me with a sour expression on his face.

“I know you had a vision,” he said in almost perfect English, approaching me. “It was about Kangi, wasn’t it?”

I nodded.

“Not just the birds,” he stepped close and whispered in my ear.

I pressed my eyes closed and inhaled deeply. I wish he would let it go! With Enoch’s heightened hearing, he’d probably heard Kohana’s little comment.

Maru, still thrumming with energy, put his hand on Kohana’s chest and gently eased him backward and away from me. “Give her space,” he warned. Then he turned to me, because Maru certainly wouldn’t give me any space himself. “What’s he talking about?”

“There was a hot spring back there that’s supposed to evoke visions.”

“Did you get in?” he asked.

I nodded. Kohana watched the two of us intently.

“What did you see?”

This wasn’t a topic I wanted to delve into in front of someone we didn’t know we could trust. I hoped Maru saw that in my eyes. We’d communicated silently for years. “Crows,” I answered vaguely. And a hell of a lot more, something