Susan Krinard - Night Quest

“South,” he said. “I’ve traveled a long way.”

“Looks like it,” one of the younger men said. His eyes were small and cruel. “If bloodsuckers took your kid, he’s probably dead.”

“Shut up, Dean,” the grizzled man said. “How’d it happen?”

“We were out hunting,” Garret said, staying as vague as possible. “Maybe this female knows something. Will you let me question her before you kill her?”

There were murmurs of protest, but the leader silenced them with a wave of his hand.

“Get her out of the sun,” he ordered his men. He met Garret’s eyes. “You got five minutes. Here.” He tossed a shock stick to Garret, who snatched it out of the air. “Use this if she don’t cooperate.”

Garret edged closer to the leader as the other men dragged the net into the scant shade of a nearly leafless bush. “She probably won’t respond to more pain,” he said. “Let me tell her that you’ll give her a quick death if she cooperates.”

“Why should she believe you?”

“I was the interrogator in my compound,” Garret said. “Even with them, persuasion can be effective.”

“Why should I give her a quick death?”

“I didn’t say you had to keep my promise.”

The grizzled man bared his teeth in a grin. “Five minutes, like I said.”

“Thanks.” Garret turned toward the net, but the leader grabbed his arm with a callous hand.

“You got guts to travel out here by yourself,” he said, “and you look like a good fighter. You married?”

The grief was almost as fresh now as it had been four years ago. “No,” he said.

“Then you might be welcome to join us if you decide not to go back south again.”

“After I find my son, I may take you up on your offer.”

“My name’s Claude Delacroix. Find the old town of Melford and wait by the bridge over the creek. Someone’ll find you and bring you to the compound.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Garret pulled free, firmly but politely. “If you can keep your men away, I’d appreciate it.”

“Will do.” Delacroix gestured to his crew, cast Garret another assessing look and followed them.

Well aware that the militiamen were watching every move he made, Garret crouched by the net. The Opir woman’s pale skin was striped everywhere with narrow lacerations, her jacket and pants were little more than scraps of fabric held together by a few threads, and the hand tucked half under her chest was blistered and red. Her hair, a rich shade of ivory, was just long enough to cover her face.

No matter what she was or what she might have done, Garret thought, she didn’t deserve this.

“Listen to me,” he said, leaning as close to the net as he dared. “I can help you get out of here, but you’ll have to do exactly as I say.”

Slowly she lifted her head. Her eyes were dark amethyst, unexpectedly and extraordinarily beautiful. Her body was slender, her face delicate and fine-boned, but there was nothing weak in either. The defiance in her eyes told him that anyone who made the mistake of thinking her fragile would quickly regret their assumption.

“I heard what was said,” she said. “You are lying.”

The misery in her voice cut straight through Garret like the razor wires that cut her body. “Where I come from,” he said, “we don’t leave people to be tortured to death.”

“People?” she said with a brief, hoarse laugh. “Is that what you think I am, human? A person?”

“They obviously don’t think so,” he said, tilting his head toward the militiamen.

“You wish to interrogate me, but I have nothing to tell you.”

“Do you live in this area?”

Her full lips remained stubbornly closed.

“You don’t know anything about a pack of rogues with a human child?” Garret asked.

“No.”

“I know his kidnappers came this way, but I lost their trail. You must have sensed them.”

“I did not.”

“Where is the rest of your pack?”

“I have no pack.” She coughed, turning her face away. “If you have any of your supposed human mercy in you, let me have the quick death the other humans will never give me.”

“Is that what you want?” he asked. “To die?”

“I cannot help you. Why would you offer me any other alternative?”

He glanced over the top of the net. The militiamen were muttering among themselves. Garret’s five minutes were almost up.

“You have two choices,” he said. “Trust me, or force me to hand you over to them. And I don’t want your death on my conscience.”

She tried to brush her hair out of her face, but the movement cracked the burned skin of her hand, and her expressive eyes blurred with pain. “What do you want me to do?”

“What’s your name?”

“If it matters... Artemis.”

He showed her the shock stick. “Artemis, you’ll have to pretend I’m using this on you. Be convincing. I’ll flip the net back. You come out, grab me and drag me into the woods.”

“You believe I will not kill you?” she asked with obvious astonishment.

“Will you?”

“They will shoot both of us.”

“It’s possible. But I think I’ve persuaded them to believe that I’m one of them.”

“Yes. You are human.”

Garret held her gaze. “I hope you’ll choose to live.”

With another quick glance at the militiamen, Garret raised his voice in a harsh question and pretended to jab the stick into the net. The Opir woman began to convulse very convincingly, and as she did Garret grabbed two of the weights with his gloved hands and flung the net back over itself, leaving a narrow gap at the bottom.

Artemis was injured and in great discomfort, but she moved very fast, scrambling out from under the net, grabbing him by the shoulders and half dragging him toward the woods. He dropped the shock stick. Sunlight struck her, and she swallowed a cry. The weakness of her grip told Garret that she wouldn’t be able to keep up the pretense for long, so he made a show of helplessness, struggling as if she had complete control of him.

A bullet whizzed past his ear when they were still a few yards from the woods’ edge. Garret shouted and raised one hand in a plea as the woman continued to tug at him, her fingers beginning to slip from his coat.

“A little farther,” Garret said. “Once we’re inside the woods, run.”

Artemis stumbled, and Garret twisted to push her toward the trees. The militiamen were jogging after them now, deadly silent and ready to shoot. Garret and the Freeblood reached the shade, and she staggered, her breath sawing in her throat.

“Go!” Garret said.

“They’ll kill you,” she said hoarsely, refusing to move.

“For being an idiot and allowing you to escape? I don’t think so.”

She didn’t have time to answer, because the men were almost on top of them. Artemis grabbed him around the neck and dragged him deeper into the shadows. He could have escaped easily, but he played along, gasping for air and digging his heels into the dirt.

“Come no closer!” she shouted. “I will kill him!”

Chapter 2

The militiamen slowed to a walk. Delacroix signaled a halt. He met Garret’s gaze.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “but I can’t let her escape.” He lifted his rifle and aimed at the center of the woman’s forehead.

“She knows where my son is!” Garret rasped. “Let her go, please!”

Delacroix hesitated. “Your son is no more important than the people this bloodsucker will kill.”

“I will release him if you give me five more minutes before you follow me,” Artemis said.

Bending his head toward the man next to him, Delacroix spoke in a low voice, listened to his comrades and nodded.

“Five minutes,” he said, checking his watch.