Chapter 1

Summer Mackenzie watched the waves slowly recede from the ash-grey pebbles tucked against the sweep of the foggy California coast. She turned to her right, keeping an eye on the trail where her boyfriend Dani had detoured to look for a campsite.

Low tide wouldn't be for another six hours, which meant the current leg of their route was impassible until early morning. It would require at least five hours to finish the stretch of trail that took them closest along the beach, and they needed daylight. Summer had learned long ago that you didn't go into the forest at night.

She'd grown up in Appalachia, and even though she'd been away from those ancient rolling hills of North Carolina for three years, she knew better than to disrespect the woods.

Summer heard Dani before she saw him. Her boyfriend of a year might have been an incredible athlete—with the soccer scholarship to prove it—but he wasn't a woodsman.

Dani smiled widely when he saw her, and it still left her a little breathless. "I found the perfect spot. Come, you should see this."

He wasn't as tall as some of the guys she'd dated, but his shoulders were broad, his hair fell to his shoulders in thick black waves, and his smile could light up the world. He was so handsome sometimes she still did a double take.

Summer was short and, when she was little, often mistaken for a boy with her grubby knees and dirty face. Luckily, her boobs had eventually gotten a little bigger and she wore her red curls long, so the days of someone taking her for a boy were long gone. Even though she still had grubby knees more often than not.

Summer smiled at Dani's enthusiasm. "The perfect spot, huh?"

"Definitely." He held out his hand. "You are going to love this one."

Summer was tempted to leave her pack near the beach, but if Dani had really found a prime camping spot, she didn't want to backtrack, and there was no way they were staying that close to the water; the waves along California's Lost Coast had a mind of their own.

Summer hoisted her bag over her shoulder and followed Dani between two pines. "So what's so special about this spot? There's a clear camping area up on that last bluff that was all leveled off."

He turned, his smile still vibrant. "Trust me. I know you think I don't know anything about camping, but—"

"I have never said that," Summer protested. "I just know you didn't grow up in the woods like me. Your knowledge of soccer—"

"Football."

"Football." She rolled her eyes. "Your football trivia is expert level. I'm just saying that when it comes to what bugs you can eat in a survival situation, I have skills."

Dani grabbed her hand. "Summer, please stay with me so you will never eat bugs again."

She couldn't hide her smile. "So romantic."

"Just follow me, mi sol, and you will see."

When Daniel Uriarte first moved from his high-rise in Mexico City to the rainy streets of Seattle, his idea of an outdoor adventure had been relaxing at a beach resort while a waiter brought him a cold beer. Little by little, Summer had worn him down.

She followed Dani as he led her along a slightly worn path leading into the trees, his broad shoulders carrying a bright orange pack as if it weighed nothing.

Since they'd met, Summer had turned Dani from a total city boy into an outdoor enthusiast. They fished, they hiked, and they'd even backpacked a little. He loved boats, and his family had more than one.

Or maybe they were more like yachts?

Ugh. Rich-people vocabulary was confusing.

"How far back is this site?" She looked at the brush that was giving way to denser forest.

"Not too far."

Summer couldn't even imagine the level of wealth that Dani's family enjoyed. In truth, it was starting to become a Thing They Didn't Talk About. They had been dating a year, but she hadn't met Dani's parents, and he hadn't met hers. When any of their mutual friends happened to bring up family stuff, they both changed the subject.

Summer had been raised by a high school math teacher and a musician in rural North Carolina. Her father had taught her how to hunt and fish—along with her times tables—and her mother had taught her the guitar and how to cook anything out of everything. They were a traditional clan who took pride in hard work, loyalty, and self-sufficiency.

She had no idea how they'd react to their daughter dating the heir of one of the largest tile empires in Mexico. Half the time, she didn't know how to react herself.

Dani walked between another set of trees, stopped, and spread out his arms. "Voilà!" He glanced at Summer, whose mouth was agape. "You see, I knew you would love this."

Love… wasn't the right word. Summer turned in a circle, her eyes scanning the obviously manmade clearing in the middle of the woods.

A nearly perfect circle of tall pines soared into the sky, their tops obscured by a layer of marine fog. As she stood in the center, she looked up and saw the sun disappear behind a cloud.

Dani was crouched in the center of the clearing, kneeling beside the old stone fireplace in the middle. "It's perfect, yes? Some local family must camp here."

No, this was not a family campground.

The dense forest suddenly felt claustrophobic, and Summer felt eyes peering at her through the trees. There was something out there. Something was watching them.

Don't stare into the trees unless they know your face. Her grandmother's whisper tugged at her ear, warning her to leave the clearing.

Summer walked over, grabbed Dani's shoulder, and tugged. "Come on. Let's go back to the trail."

Dani stood and frowned. "What are you talking about? This is the perfect spot! The area around the campfire is so clear and level. I checked for poison oak." He pointed at the fireplace. "See? There is even some wood left over from the last people who stayed here."

It wasn't even a firepit; it was a full-out dressed-stone stove with grates in the bottom for wood and braces on either side to hang pots over the flames. This wasn't natural—it wasn't even foraged.

This was a lure.

"Dani, just trust me, we shouldn't stay here." Instinct told her that they were being watched. "I think we should head back to the trail, okay?"

Dani looked toward the ocean. "We're not far from it. You can see the ocean from here." He turned toward the coast. "I bet you could even see a fire from the marked trail. And people come back here." He pointed to the trail that had led them into the circle of trees. "See?"

She couldn't explain it, and she loved that he'd found what to any sensible eye seemed like a great spot. "It just… it feels very visible. Everyone can see us."

Dani set his pack down and sat on a piece of log that circled the fireplace. "Summer, everyone we've met on the trail has been so cool. We have to camp until the morning, right? We might as well put our tent in a clear spot with a firepit that someone has already prepared."

Was she just being stubborn? Paranoid? Granted, her family made it hard to discount the mythological, but she was probably overreacting.

Dani stood and held out his arms. "Listen, even if you are right and people can see us, so what? They can see us just as easily from the bluff on that last hill. We're the only human beings out here, we have our bear repellent, and I am tired." His arms dropped. "Please. Can this one thing be easy?"

She looked over her shoulder at the marked trail, then over at the well-worn path through the brush, the forest, and into the clearing. This was obviously a well-used spot on the trail, and the rangers did request that they keep to used camping spots instead of creating their own.

"Okay." She kept her voice small. "But we're pitching our tent right by the fire. I don't want to be near the edge. If something gets into this clearing, I want some advance notice."

They'd stopped far sooner than they usually did, so they had plenty of time to cook a full meal with the supplies they'd brought along plus some sea lettuce and large limpets Summer foraged on the nearest beach.

After they'd eaten, Dani pulled out a bottle of whiskey and poured a little into both their camping cups. "We're going to sleep well tonight."

"We are." With the tents set up and the coals glowing, Summer was starting to feel as if she'd been paranoid earlier. Sure, they hadn't seen anyone else on the trail since the day before, but it was September and tourist traffic was pretty low.

She leaned back against Dani's chest as he propped himself against a fallen log and stared into the fire. "Did you pack up all the food?"

"Yes." He patted his pack, which held the bear canister they were required to bring. "I'll hang it from one of the trees before we go to bed."

Summer was full from a hot dinner and the whiskey that warmed her throat. She felt herself drifting, and the sounds of the forest at night settled around them. Crickets hummed, and a few night birds started calling. She heard an owl hoot in the distance, and the faint sounds of the sea crashing on the rocks below them lulled her into sleep.

She woke when Dani moved.

"Come on," he said. "Tent time."

She groaned but forced herself up to sitting and rubbed her eyes. She reached for the portable motion sensor that her father had bought for her and set it within range of their tent door; then she went inside to find the small remote and set it.

"Your burglar alarm." Dani smiled as he entered the tent. "Do you think the bears will be scared away?"

"I just like knowing if I need to wake up." She smiled and tucked the remote into a mesh pocket in the tent. If anything tripped it, the remote would beep. Not loud enough to wake Dani, but Summer had always slept light.

"You're worse than Ignacio." Dani stripped off his flannel shirt and shuffled into his sleeping bag, wearing only his pants and a thermal shirt. "There is less wind here than by the beach."

"I know. It might be warmer." Nevertheless, Summer kept her pants and socks on. If a bear—or anything else—attacked the tent, she wanted her shoes on in seconds, not minutes.

Dani rolled toward Summer, put his arm around her waist, and tugged her sleeping bag toward his until she could feel his warm breath near her neck. "Sleep well, Sunshine."

Summer smiled at his affectionate nickname and closed her eyes.

In minutes, she was asleep.

The beeping was insistent. Her eyes flew open and her heart was already racing.

"What is that?" Low voices outside the tent.

She sat up, put a hand over Dani's mouth, and nudged his shoulder until his eyes flew open. He frowned and moved to pull her hand away, but the voices spoke again.

"A phone maybe?"

"There's nothing out here that can get a signal." The voices were matter-of-fact. Bored, even.

Summer shook her head and put a finger over her lips as she removed her hand from Dani's mouth. He nodded, understanding the need for silence.

Their tent was a typical backpacking tent, small and compact. Easy to pack and set up, but there was no room to move around without being heard.

Something shook the top of their tent, and Dani sat up.

"Wakey-wakey," the voice said, amusement coloring the words. "Come on out, neighbors."

Summer knew these were no friendly woodsmen. Dani took the canister of bear spray from his pack as Summer removed her hunting knife from its sheath. They slipped out of their sleeping bags. Summer shoved her feet in her hiking boots, and Dani did the same. She eyed her jacket in the corner and took the calculated risk of setting her knife down for a second to put it on. Dani put his on as well.

Don't move. Make them come to you. Waste their energy, not yours. Her father's voice was the one whispering to her now. Her father, who'd been raised by monsters, knew what he was talking about.

A flashlight beam moved around the tent, and Summer concluded that there were two men stalking them. Well… two somethings. Humans were the most obvious, but not the only choice.

Dani whispered, "Summer—"

"Shhhh."

"Oho." A man outside chuckled. "I think the city birds are awake."

"Come on out, little birds." The flashlight moved to the tent opening and didn't move. "Don't make us come in there to get you. That'll just irritate me."

Where were the voices from? Summer tried to decipher an accent, but she couldn't. It was flat—California speech with just a hint of surfer.

Dani's hand gripped Summer's, and he kept the bear spray aimed at the exit of the tent. If he let it off in an enclosed area, they'd be weeping and sick, but hopefully whomever Dani hit with the spray would get the nastier end.

The zipper on the tent started to move. "Come on out now."

Fingers were visible at the entrance now, fat callused fingers with curly black hair on the knuckles.

Dani looked at her with panicked eyes. Summer took a deep breath and tried to breathe through the rush of adrenaline that was starting to course. She held up a hand for him.

Wait.

She motioned to the bear spray and then the tent flap.

Spray them when it opens.

Dani nodded.

Summer pointed her knife at the back of the tent and made a slashing motion. If Dani sprayed the person trying to come into the tent, she'd rip open the back and they could escape away from the sprayed men.

Dani nodded again and took another deep breath.

"You going to be stubborn, are you?" The owner of the voice was losing patience. "Fine, I'm coming in. No funny business; I don't want to hurt you."

Bullshit.

The tent zipper was ripped open, and a bright light glared in their eyes.

"Now!" Summer shouted before she took a deep breath.

Dani leaned forward and let the bear spray stream into the intruder as Summer slashed through the back of the tent, ripping down and away twice to open a flap large enough to let them both out. She scrambled out of the reeking canvas, her eyes already flooded with tears.

Dani had thrown the bear spray canister at the men coming into the tent when they started screaming, and he scrambled out after her.

She clutched her jacket around her and tried to make her steps wide enough that she wouldn't trip over her untied boots.

"Back to the trail." She was coughing and sneezing at once, her body desperate to rid itself of the toxic fumes they'd used to escape. She heard Dani running behind her, wheezing from the bear spray.

Summer used her adrenaline to jump over logs and rocks, heading toward the ocean and the open expanse of coastal bluffs. She could see a light in the camping area on the last bluff they'd passed. If they could just make it there—

"Summer!"

She turned and saw Dani on the ground a few yards behind her. She ran back to help him up and saw a black-handled knife sticking out of his shoulder.

"Shit!"

"Go." His voice was a painful rasp. "Run!"

She looked up and realized it was too late. Three men were running after them, and none of them were laughing anymore. Summer rose and held her hunting knife in front of her.

The largest one leaned down and grabbed Dani by the leg, pulling him toward them as if he weighed nothing. They were great, hulking shadows in the darkness, three men with broad shoulders and square heads.

Another one of the men yanked the knife out of Dani's shoulder, and he groaned in pain. Summer's knife rose, but she didn't move. The men had Dani; she couldn't leave him.

"Drop the knife please." The largest shadow spoke calmly. He was not crying like the other men, nor did he move the same way. Something about him was… different.

As soon as she felt the ground beneath her move ever so slightly, she knew exactly why this one was different. "I know what you are." She lowered the knife.

Know when to run and when to wait.

She'd never outrun him, never overpower him. Any human attack was a waste of her energy and would only endanger her more. "We're the wrong prey for you."

"Oh?" A slight hint of amusement.

"They'll look for me if I disappear."

The vampire stepped out of the shadows and into the light of the full moon. His fangs gleamed in the darkness as he smiled.

"They all say that."