Chapter 6

The dewy, predawn hours in Shelter Cove revealed a small town that appeared plucked from a New England landscape. Rocky shores jutted into the ocean, and a bright white lighthouse sat prominently on the point. Little streets dead-ended into picnic meadows overlooking the Pacific while mountain homes poked their roofs through the forest facing the sea.

It was a town where everything faced the water, including the cypress and conifers that crawled almost down to the gravelly beaches. To the north was the King Range and to the south the Sinkyone Wilderness, more densely wooded than the Lost Coast Trail and even less accessible.

Carwyn parked in the empty lot near the lighthouse while Brigid went to poke around the beach and Natalie spread a large map on a picnic table.

"I hiked this trail when I was in college," Natalie said, looking at the map. "It's not that hard in most places, and it's pretty even. The beaches and rocks are what's more challenging. You have to understand the tides too." She looked up. "How many days did they say they were taking to do it?"

Carwyn stood over her, looking at the map over her shoulder. "They'd planned for six days."

Natalie shook her head. "Experienced backpackers like them? It wouldn't take them more than four. They must have planned some side hikes." She pointed at several points on the trail. "There are some areas around here that have trails that go farther up into the mountains. We'll have to stay aware because they could have easily taken one of those."

"And if they were taken back in the hills?"

Natalie took a deep breath. "I mean…" She spread her hand over the light green stretch of land on the map. "This is all forest. Forests and creeks and little valleys. Very few roads. Very few people. There's a reason that people hide here. Without a vampire sense of smell, we'd get lost very quickly."

Brigid walked back up the staircase that led down to the water and squinted at the quickly lightening sky. "We need to go. I can feel the sun coming."

They drove away from the coastal overlook and parked in the hills behind a house that Baojia had already confirmed would be empty. While Brigid and Natalie secured the van for day rest, Carwyn poked around the property.

There was a greenhouse between the house and the forest, but when he popped it open, he realized the flourishing marijuana plants were simply a cover for what looked to be an underground complex. An electronic lock was set into the floor and covered with a crate. The entrance to the underground bunker was hidden under an outdoor rug.

Either a doomsday prepper lived here, or a vampire. Carwyn figured there was a fifty/fifty chance of either.

Taking advantage of a hint of signal, he used his voice command software to call Baojia.

"We're here," Carwyn said before Baojia could speak. "Very limited signal. This house, vampire or militiaman?"

Baojia laughed. "Vampire, but he's traveling right now. He's one of Katya's security staff—he works for me. The house gets rented out when he's traveling, so a strange van won't raise any red flags with the neighbors. A human neighbor comes by to take care of the garden, so you don't have to do anything to it."

"The garden?" Carwyn stared at the dozens of marijuana plants. "Yes, I found that already. Very… aromatic."

"Everyone has to have a hobby, Carwyn."

"You speak the truth." He kicked over the rug with his toe and backed out of the greenhouse. Baojia's voice crackled on the other end of the call.

"—called. Headed your— Wanted to check and make sure they—" His voice broke again. "—direction as you."

"You broke up," Carwyn said. "Does Summer's family have this address?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Will they be here before sunset tonight?"

"Also yes."

"Then we'll figure it out from there." He could feel the sun rising. "Okay, sleep well. Brigid and I will take care of Natalie. Don't worry."

"She has no sense of self-preservation. You remember that, right?"

"I do." Thank the Lord the woman had become a vampire. Carwyn didn't know how Baojia had lived with a wife who darted into life-threatening situations, pissed-off drug cartels, and all the rest as a human. Brigid, at least, had always been lethal.

He hung up the phone and walked back to the van. Brigid was watching as Natalie knelt on the ground with her hands to the earth and began to hollow out a resting place at the edge of the clearing.

"So if you just shape it like this…" The ground flexed and broke under her hands. "See, it goes pretty fast." In minutes, the earth had produced a tidy little cave hidden by the trees.

Brigid was still making her "are you kidding me?" face. "Do you want some blankets or pillows or… anything?"

"Oh no, I'm completely comfortable like this." She nodded and then sort of rolled into the cave. "I will be wanting a shower when I wake up though."

"Understood."

Natalie waved at him before she pulled the ground over herself like a blanket. In less than a minute, the earth barely looked as if it had been disturbed.

Brigid looked up at him. "You'd do that every night if I was agreeable, wouldn't you?"

"What? No…" It did look cozy though. "Maybe… I mean, I do enjoy a soft mattress, but there is something about a nice, secure…"

"Dirt nap?" Brigid asked.

"That makes it sound frighteningly permanent." He hooked his arm around Brigid's neck and dragged her close. "Come now, Miss Brigid. Let's get you into bed before I have to carry you."

"As long as I don't have to carry you, I think we'll survive."

"Now you're just trying to be hurtful."

Summer sat on a fallen log outside the broken-down cabin where she and Dani had been sleeping since they arrived at the farm. She stared up at the stars, but she was too tired to read anything other than what she'd discerned when they first arrived. They weren't all that far from where they were taken, though the drier air told her they were inland from the coast.

She casually scratched her armpit, then wiped the sweat and dead skin under her nails onto the stones that marked the bark path through the farm. She scratched her scalp and did the same thing on the back of the log before she leaned to the left and spit over her shoulder.

"Marking territory?"

Fuck.

Summer made a show of scratching her leg as she stared up at the vampire who ran the show. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just worried about poison oak."

"We spray for that on the farm." He stood casually, hands in pockets, looking at her with lazy interest. "Otherwise it takes over. But you noticed that already."

She only gave him a casual shrug. "I just saw it in the guidebooks, you know?"

"You're not the average human, Summer. Stop pretending."

"I'm working twice as hard as everyone here so Dani can get better, okay? What else do you want?"

They'd allowed her that at least. Dani had been grateful to be put on lighter kitchen duty, but Summer was suspicious they would find some way to hurt him more. It seemed too reasonable for them to allow him to heal in relative peace.

In the end, she could see what their captors were aiming for. Dani—a strong, physically challenging male—was docile and under their immediate scrutiny while he was healing from an infection in his shoulder. And Summer was too busy taking care of him and doing Dani's share of the farmwork to plot anything that might lead to escape.

"What do I want from you?" The vampire smiled. "That is a question, isn't it? Once, I might have been more obvious, but I don't think you're that type of girl."

Summer sneered to hide the fear. "If you wanted to rape me, you or your minions would have done it already. We all see the guns."

And they had lots of them. Summer had only seen one vampire though, the man who seemed to enjoy tormenting her with conversation. She didn't know his name and she couldn't place his accent.

"Sexual violence has never appealed to me." He leaned against one of the towering redwoods that marked the edge of the compound and looked up into the trees. "Sex isn't that interesting to begin with, and it's positively dull when I can't make my lover enjoy it."

Summer blinked and forced her face to remain blank. "Sorry, do you want some kind of award for not raping women?"

He laughed. "You do amuse me. You have tremendous self-control for a human, and your brain…" His smile grew. "I can just see the wheels turning."

"Not me. I'm too tired to think."

His accent wasn't native to the United States; it almost sounded Mexican, but that seemed unlikely when the man's clothing and mannerisms seemed far more European.

Mexico is very diverse.

Dani had told her that many times, so maybe Mexico was the key. Maybe this man had nothing to do with her or her family. Maybe this was all about Dani. That would definitely explain them cutting him slack.

"Has anyone ever told you that you'd make an excellent vampire?" the man asked.

She looked over her shoulder at the cabin, hoping Dani hadn't heard that. "No. Then again, I've never expressed an interest in it because I like sunlight and salad too much."

Fuck him. Fuck all of them, but especially him. Dani needed to get better so they could plot their escape. Her family had probably already sent out the dogs.

And by dogs, she meant her daddy and Uncle Ross.

Her daddy could have a hair trigger, but Uncle Ross was a whole other thing. If Uncle Ross showed up at this place, a lot of people were going to end up headless.

"You know, you guys have to be making money hand over fist with all this weed." She looked over the fields planted between waving groves of pine trees and covered by camouflage cloth. "This is clearly a well-established operation. Why not just hire people to work here instead of kidnapping hikers? It seems like it would be a better business plan."

"That's a good point." The vampire pointed at her. "I should make you a manager."

"Fuck off." She stared over the fields. "They're already looking for me."

"Do you think so?"

"You're fooling yourself if you think they won't be able to find this place. Even if you kill me, they'll be able to find my body." She looked up. "And then everything you've built here will be destroyed." Summer stood. "I don't like seeing people die. Let me and Dani go; let us go and we'll forget this place exists."

"Oh?" He cocked his head. "You won't try to come back and free all the other workers here?"

Of course I fucking will. "Do I look altruistic, mister? I just want to go home with my boyfriend and pretend this was a dream." And kill you. I definitely want you dead.

He was suddenly inches from her face. "I don't believe you." He ran a single finger along her jawline, and she recoiled from his touch. "You remind me of someone I once knew."

"Oh?"

"She's dead."

"Pity." You sick fuck. "I'm guessing she never taught you about personal space." Summer shoved him away and walked toward the door of her cabin.

"Summer?"

She stopped at the door, but she didn't turn around. "What?"

"How did you know that herb would help heal your boyfriend?"

She'd been lucky enough to find a stand of wild yarrow growing on the edge of the clearing near the cabin. She'd used some of the flowers to make a tea to break Dani's fever and then made a poultice from the leaves. Within days, the festering wound had started to heal and his shoulder was less painful.

"My mom's, like, a hippie, okay? I just know stuff about gardening." She didn't wait for any more conversation. She went inside and shut the door behind her, twisting the nail she'd pulled from another part of the cabin to secure it.

It wasn't the most secure lock for the door, but it was subtle and she could pretend like it wasn't there if anyone entered to search the place, which happened every few days.

She sat on the thin pallet where she slept and put her head in her hands.

Daddy. Uncle Ross. Where are you?

She wasn't depressed, but she was worried about Dani, and she was terrified that she'd made the mistake of intriguing a vampire. She knew that the minute that man put a finger on her skin, he could use his amnis to manipulate her mind. He could make her do anything, say anything, think anything. Even imagining it made her sick.

"Summer?" Dani's voice wasn't as strong as it usually was, but it was getting better. "He was talking to you again."

She cleared her throat and wiped the threat of tears from her eyes. "I'm okay. How are you feeling?"

"I'm better." He managed to sit up. "The herb tea you made is helping a lot. I'm worried about you."

"I'm fine, handsome." She crawled over and scooted next to him even though half her body was on the bare floor. "I'm strong. I can handle it."

"It's not just the farmwork," he said. "I've been counting people ever since we got here."

She turned to him and put a finger over his lips. "What do you mean?" Her voice was less than a whisper.

Dani matched her volume. "I mean since they brought us, how many other groups have they brought?"

Summer frowned. "Just the brothers." A week after they'd been taken, two brothers in their late teens showed up. Neither of them spoke English and were relieved when Dani and Summer could speak to them in Spanish.

"Yes. Counting them, there should have been fifteen workers in the cabins."

"Okay, and?"

"But I count the bags we make for lunch. We've only been making twelve."

Summer froze. "Twelve?"

"Twelve. And no other food goes out to the cabins. I'm there all day."

The people who had taken them were smart and suspicious. The kidnapped workers were spread out in the fields and rarely spoke to each other unless they were assigned to the drying room or the kitchen, where they trimmed the buds. That was why food was delivered to their cabins. The bosses didn't even want them speaking to each other when they ate.

Their capture had meant thirteen people were working on the farm.

Then the brothers were taken.

Fifteen. There should have been fifteen.

"Only twelve?" Her breath left her. "That means—"

"That means since we've been here, three people have disappeared."