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His eyebrows rose just slightly. “You’re sure?”
I tightened my arms around myself. “Yeah. There’s something not quite right.”
“Women’s intuition?”
I couldn’t manage a smile for his gentle teasing. “This. . .it feels like something’s wrong.Reallywrong.”
Ben’s teasing vanished and was replaced with a grim expression. He set a hand over mine and met my eyes with his glowing ones. “I won’t be long.”
He slipped away and became his alter ego as he slunk toward the shack low to the ground and without a sound. I huddled beneath a large branch of a nearby tree and watched him with dread. My fright only increased when he opened the door and slipped into the black interior. I leaned to one side to catch sight of him, but there was nothing but darkness.
That’s when a pale arm wrapped around my waist and a cold hand covered my mouth.
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
My scream was stifledby the bone-chilling fingers that pressed against my mouth. I thrashed in the cold grip as I was being dragged backward. My feet bounced over the uneven, stick-covered ground and I had an idea. I waited for a particularly thin, long one and slammed both feet against it.
The resounding crack rang across the clearing.
My captor released me just as Ben shot out of the shack. His eyes were ablaze with fury and fear, especially when they noticed me stumble toward him from further down the path. He was at me in an instant and caught me in his gentle arms.
“What happened?” he asked me.
I brushed my trembling fingers over my mouth and shook my head. “Somebody grabbed me from behind and tried to drag me into the woods.”
Ben scanned the area behind me and pursed his lips. “Then they’ve escaped. I can’t even smell them due to the heavy dew in the air.” He returned his attention to me and looked me over. “Are you alright?”
I smiled up at him. “Yeah, but remind me never to listen to my woman’s intuition again. She was a little off with the location.”
“But perhaps not the source,” Ben mused as he half-turned to the shack. “Werd isn’t home.”
A little color drained from my face but I tried to tamp down my rising fear. “Maybe he went for a walk?”
“In this rain?” Ben reminded me as he tilted his head back to watch the raindrops come down.
“Maybe he’s a masochist?”
“Pardon?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. It was lost in translation. Maybe he went to the house and we missed him.”
Ben nodded at the path behind me. “That’s the only way to the house.”
I growled and I waved a hand at the trees. “Well then, maybe he’s lurking in the woods waiting for unsuspecting and stupid people to let themselves be left alone so he can grab them and drag them into the brush for a little snack.”
“The thought did cross my mind,” he mused as he studied the area around us. “But any further speculation would be better thought in the safety of the house.”
I straightened and frowned. “Why? You can handle a vampire, can’t you?”
Ben looped an arm around mine and tugged me down the path away from the hut. “I’ve never had the displeasure and I’d rather not test my strength against one when he has the light advantage.”
I matched his hurried stride and together we soon emerged from the trees. The courtyard of Rookwood Manor was less inviting than I remembered because of the fog. The white mist had floated closer to the house and was now only a few feet away from the walls. Not a thing could be seen beyond its wall-like body, essentially blotting out all the world around us.
Ben and I were forced to scurry along single file close against the siding. Even then, the fog brushed against my arm. The bone-chilling sensation I had felt in Werd’s hut crept into my limb and I nearly threw myself against the wall of the house.
We reached the front corner of the manor and found the mist gliding perilously close to the front door. Some of the dangerous air even brushed against the entrance before retreating just slightly.
I looked behind us at the wall for an open window and my heart nearly stilled. “Ben!”
