“Well, look who we have here. Mommy’s little girl.” He was drunk, slurring his words.
I took a step back. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m looking for your mama.” He rose. Once again, I was struck by how badly he smelled and how much bigger than me he was. Fear moved through me, and he’d barely even said anything yet. “She owes me a lot of money. Where is that bitch mother of yours?”
I wasn’t an idiot. It might have taken me a second too long, but I turned and ran out of the trailer. My heart raced in my ears. I had to get out of there. No one was coming to rescue me this time.
No one would call me athletic, but I wasn’t horribly slow, either. I almost made it to the car before he caught me. Sheer size let him cover longer distances than me. Holding my arm in a vise grip, he glared at me. “I asked you a question, bitch.”
“I don’t know where she is. Once again, she’s skipped town.”Why the fuck did I come here? I didn’t need my stuff this badly. I could have just done without.
He stared at Ace’s car. “That’s a fancy ride. Looks like you’ve traded up. One of your rich boy toys give you that car?”
“I borrowed it. It’s not mine.” He pushed me back against it, his unclean body pinning me to the door. With weight alone, he kept me pinned.
“Ah, but they’ll have ten grand. I bet they have it in their pockets. How much would they give me for you? If I sent them, say, your pinkie, would they send me ten grand for it?”
This wasn’t going to end well. All my life, I’d been terrified of becoming a statistic, ending up like my mother. Dead because of this douchebag never hit my list of possible endings.I’d almost rather be taken out by the vampires. Almost. Maybe not.
As fast as I could, I raised my knee and jammed him in the balls. He made a sound like he wanted to vomit and gasped at the same time. I shoved at him, and he fell back two steps—enough that I could get past him. I ran for the woods. I was never supposed to go there.Mom’s fucking rules.Who cared now?I had to get there as fast as I could
I wasn’t so lucky. Even in his stumbling, he grabbed onto my leg. I fell forward, my head hitting the ground as I failed to catch myself. Right onto a rock, my forehead cracking like a dish breaking on the ground. Stars passed behind my eyes. I didn’t know what happened. I couldn’t see anything, but somehow, despite the world spinning, the man gripping my leg, and at the overall sense that I’d just been destroyed, I kicked backward, hitting him in the face.
Vision returned but only barely. Blood rushed into my eyes, coating my face like ice cream melting down a cone. I pulled away, and after crawling for a second, stumbled to my feet. Somehow, not at all sure how I could function or even think, I ran to the woods.
“You bitch!” he called after me.
The asshole was not going to let this go. I wasn’t okay. Nausea rushed through me, but I knew—somehow, even though I couldn’t think—I knew I couldn’t puke. He’d catch me if I did.
I ran forward, hoping the trees would hide me. Really, I had no idea where I was going. None whatsoever.
“I will bury your body so deep, no one will ever find you.”
He was too close. I tripped.A ledge.
Falling.
* * *
“Open your eyes, Maci.”
A voice called to me. Deep, unsettling. I’d heard it before, but I could never seem to place it anytime I heard it. I wrenched open my eyes. My head pounded. I was on the ground, leaning against a tree, with no idea where I was. My face was sticky. Hot. My stomach turned.
What is happening? Where am I?
A man stood over me. He was tall, dark-haired, his eyes cold in the moonlight illuminating him. Was the moon full tonight? It was so bright. Everything hurt.
“Who?” I found my voice. “Who are you?”
He knelt beside me. “You never know. It’s better that way. We don’t have time for the long explanation, and you won’t remember it anyway. But those you are with, those who stopped you from arriving last night at your designated time, would call me the Betrayer.” While his voice held emotion, his eyes didn’t. They were cold. Or maybe it was just me. I was so, so cold. A violent shiver racked my body.
The Betrayer.I’d heard that name.Once. What was it?I couldn’t remember.
“You will feel better soon, and if I’m not mistaken—and I never am—they will find you shortly. Things couldn’t be going more according to plan. Finally. So many years under their nose, and no one speaks to you.” He smirked. “You need your precautionary dose. I can’t have anything happening to you without it. For a few years more. Then all will be clear. Besides, this will help you now. Which you clearly need.” He scowled. “That man has been dealt with.”
I didn’t understand. “What?”
He extended his hand where he held a cup.Where had that come from?Everything was so confusing, and my body hurt so much. Tears leaked from my eyes.