Chapter 7

Carwyn woke a few minutes before sunset and heard a human busying himself outside. The educated guess was the human was Summer's father, Jamie Mackenzie. Nevertheless, Carwyn kept his alert level high.

He felt Brigid stirring beside him and put his finger over his lips, signaling silence as he listened. Brigid nodded and wordlessly moved to sitting. Her head turned to track the human moving outside.

His blood smelled decadent, iron rich and old, a surprisingly unusual scent in the United States these days. Carwyn guessed it was the signal of a human who ate a very traditional diet. If he had to guess, he'd say that the man moving outside their van consumed a lot of wild game.

Moments later, he felt a whisper of amnis as a vampire joined the human.

"Evenin', Ross."

"Evenin', Jamie. Any sign of our friends?"

"Oh, I hear 'em awake, but they're bein' cautious."

"Can't blame 'em for that."

"Nope."

Carwyn raised his eyebrows, and Brigid nodded. She whipped her shirt off and put on a clean tank top before Carwyn could even cop a feel.

His hand was mid boob squeeze when she rolled her eyes. "Cén aois tú?" she whispered in Irish.

Yes, he knew he sometimes acted like a fifteen-year-old boy.

"I'm one thousand eighty-seven-years old," he whispered back. "But for over a thousand of those, I wasn't actually allowed to touch breasts, so I don't think those should count."

She couldn't stop the corners of her mouth from turning up. "Yer a menace."

"I know." He leaned down. "Please tell me we can sneak away sometime soon. The bed in this van is not conducive to—"

"Yes." She was flustered. "Fine. Of course. Can we go meet the other half of our search party now please?"

He smiled and pressed his mouth to hers in a quick, firm kiss. "The light of my eternity, Brigid Margaret Constance Connor."

She closed her eyes and sighed. "I will never forgive my aunt for telling you all my names."

He threw open the door to the van. "My only regret is that I didn't ask sooner."

Near the foot of the steps leading up to the wooden porch, two men were sitting, one human and one vampire. A fire burned in a rock pit near their feet.

"Gentlemen." Carwyn nodded. "I'm Carwyn ap Bryn." Brigid came to stand beside him. "And this is Brigid Connor, my mate, life partner, and handler."

The human looked to be in his late forties. He raised an eyebrow, and the firm set of his mouth behind a grey-flecked beard didn't waver. "Handler?"

"He's a gobshite; ignore him." Brigid stepped forward and offered her hand. "Mr. Mackenzie," she said to Jamie Mackenzie. "Sorry to meet you under these circumstances, but I assure you, Carwyn is an expert tracker, and we have clothing from Summer's and Daniel's homes, so we'll be able to start right away."

"A'ight." The human lifted his chin and glanced at Carwyn before he turned his attention back to Brigid. "You know me, and this is Ross Mackenzie. He's… kind of my brother."

Ross leaned forward and stuck his hand toward Brigid. "Jamie's father is my sire. Nice t' meet you, Miz Connor. Your reputation is top-notch. Logan's been talking to Cathy back in Edinburgh, and she speaks highly of the both of you."

They might have different complexions and slightly different hair colors, but other than that, the two men could easily pass for brothers. They both wore the same serious expression, the same heavy facial hair, and the same plaid flannel shirts.

"Natalie is likely still sleeping," Brigid said. "She's the youngest one of us, but she grew up in Northern California and has hiked this trail before. She's the most familiar with the area."

Jamie looked at Ross. "Didn't get a chance to tell you yet, but I ran into that boy's security guard at the little market in town today."

"How'd that go?" Ross asked.

Jamie shrugged. "About as well as I expected. Bastard accused my girl of being involved in drugs and putting their precious kid in danger. I told him where he could stick his theory and told them to stay out of our way. Told the guy I hoped that his idiot client didn't get my daughter hurt." Jamie looked at Brigid. "That was my first thought, Miz Connor."

"Brigid, please." She pulled over a chair that Carwyn had taken from the back of the van. "What was your first thought?"

"Inexperienced hiker with my daughter." Jamie's voice was a low, quiet rumble in the twilight as he stared at the fire. "Summer has had real survival training. Not the shit you see on TV but the real kind. She can take care of herself."

Ross continued. "I can confirm that because I helped teach her." He looked around. "Especially in a place like this, my niece wouldn't have trouble surviving. The weather isn't extreme and there are plenty of resources, plenty of water."

Jamie said, "Our fear is that this boy she's been dating did something stupid and she had to go rescue him." He took a long breath. "But… the longer they're missing, the more I think there's something else going on." He shook his head. "Summer'd have found her way to help by now, with or without Daniel Uriarte, if she'd been able."

Carwyn sat beside Brigid, his arms crossed over his chest. "Ross, have you spoken to Logan about threats against the family? Anything we need to know from rivals? Any in our world you've crossed? They may have seen Summer as a soft target."

Jamie cleared his throat. "This is why I taught her knife fighting so young, Ross. I'm telling you—"

"If it's vampires" —Ross shot his brother a pointed look— "it's no one from our circle of friends or enemies. As soon as Summer didn't call her mother on the day she was supposed to, we started asking around. Logan has enemies, but none that have connections here on the West Coast."

"That you know of," Brigid said.

Ross nodded. "Point taken. That we know of. Still, it would be real out of character for Logan's rivals to go after a kid. Human parts of the clan are usually pretty off-limits in our neck of the woods."

Brigid leaned forward. "This is off topic, but your accent is deadly and I love it."

Ross frowned. "Thanks, I guess."

"My wife would love yours." Jamie smiled a little. "She's a musician. Plays the harp and lots of Irish-music stuff."

"Hopefully when Summer is home, I'll be able to meet her. She can play the harp for me at the party."

Ross caught his eye, and Carwyn read the Mackenzie loud and clear: there better be a fucking party at the end of this.

A few yards away, Carwyn felt the earth start to open up as Natalie woke.

"She'll be ready after a shower," Brigid said. "So why don't we plan how we're going to attack this?" She took a map from her backpack and opened it. "The reason I asked you two to meet us here is that according to witnesses, Summer and Daniel had already traversed about two-thirds of the trail the last time they were spotted."

Jamie nodded. "We guessed that was why. I agree. We need speed more than anything right now." He looked at Carwyn. "Brigid said you have some clothes of Summer's to use for tracking?"

"Katya immediately sent someone to Summer's and Daniel's places to get us samples," he said. "We have fresh body odor."

"Good," Ross said. "Summer hasn't been home in months, and she never brought this boy. God knows you're not going to find his family cooperating. They think we're a bunch of backwoods yahoos." Ross reached down and picked up a piece of wood, breaking off a sliver with his thumb to create a toothpick he stuck in the corner of his mouth. "Ignorant pricks."

"I see." He exchanged a look with Brigid. "Well, for now we'd rather keep Daniel's family out of it anyway. As far as we know, they have nothing to do with our world, and we'd prefer to keep it that way."

Natalie walked up to the firepit, covered head to toe in dirt and pine needles, carrying a backpack. "Gentlemen, I'm Natalie." She looked at Brigid. "All I need is a shower and I'll be ready to go."

They left the van parked at the house and hiked to the trailhead at Black Sand Beach, heading north under a waxing moon. Brigid had been worried about Jamie Mackenzie keeping up with the vampires, but she shouldn't have been. The man moved over the landscape like a wildcat, keeping up with Natalie and often setting the pace for the rest of them.

Natalie paused at the end of the beach. "We're heading into some areas here where the high tide could be an issue. If Baojia was with us, he'd be able to keep the tide off the path, but we might have to go off trail to avoid the ocean in places."

Brigid spotted a problem immediately. "So the ocean covers the trail at high tide?"

"In places, yes."

She exchanged a look with Carwyn, who must have been thinking the same thing.

"We could lose their scent," he said. "If they left the path in an area that gets covered by the water, we might lose them."

Jamie said, "Just another reason to cut inland when things get too close, right? If they had to cross any of those areas at high tide, they'd have gone away from the ocean."

If they could have. Brigid didn't say anything else. Smooth grey pebbles gave way to grit and dirt under her hiking boots as the path along the coast began to climb toward the bluffs ahead.

The Lost Coast of California was a wild place where forests ran right down to the sea, frigid water churned over craggy outcroppings, and the surf slapped pebbled beaches that rolled and roared with the movement. Fog blanketed the forest, drifting high and swallowing the tops of cypress, oak, and pine.

In the distance, she scented bear and deer along with the myriad small creatures that made the scrubland that hugged the coast their home. In the darkness, Brigid followed Jamie, who walked ahead of her, and Natalie, whose pale skin glowed in the darkness as she led them along the narrow trail.

Natalie's movements were sure and her pace never lagged. They walked in single file at a rapid pace for humans but a deliberate pace for vampires. Natalie led, followed by Jamie Mackenzie, then Brigid, Ross, and Carwyn guarding the rear.

"Nothing of their scents yet." Carwyn had taken two shirts from separate bags at the beginning of the trail, and he kept them at the top of his pack. Brigid knew he'd refresh his senses when they got closer to Summer and Daniel's last known location.

Two hours up the trail, they passed their first camp, but there was no one still awake. Two tents were pitched in a clearing just off the path, and Brigid could hear the peaceful, unhurried breath of humans deep in sleep. There was a remnant of a cooking fire, food stores hung in a bag between two cypress trees, and various clothes were strewn over bushes, probably left out to dry.

Did any of it raise Brigid's suspicions? No. But better safe than sorry.

Brigid put her hand up and went to investigate the camp with Carwyn. Though he looked like a lumbering giant, her mate could use his amnis to dampen any sounds he made crossing the ground. He was silent as a mountain lion when he circled the human tents, venturing into the trees to look for any trace of Summer and Daniel.

Brigid walked back to the trail, shook her head, then turned to wait for Carwyn.

Who came bounding out of the woods with far less stealth, waving at them to run.

Not waiting for clarification, Brigid hissed, "Run!"

Natalie, Jamie, Brigid, and Ross booked it, running up the trail as fast as they could without tripping. She glanced over her shoulder once to see Carwyn leading a bear away from the human tents and back into the forest.

Oh, for fuck's sake. Brigid rolled her eyes. "Again?"

Jamie was watching with wide eyes. "Does he need help?"

"Please," Brigid said. "Look at the chancer. He's having a grand time. He'll lead that girl away from the tents and back into the forest." She started walking. "Let's crack on. He'll catch up when she's gone."

"How do you know it's a girl?" Jamie asked.

Ross muttered, "Looked like a damn big girl to me."

"I don't know. I'm guessing it's a girl because Carwyn inevitably angers mother bears by trying to coax bear cubs out of trees."

Natalie opened her mouth, then closed it. "Um…," she finally managed. "Why? He does know they're not stuffed animals, doesn't he?"

A hooting laugh rose from the trees along with a string of Welsh curses.

Brigid winced. "I do think he knows that. I'm just not quite sure it's sunk in, you know? They are very cute animals."

Ross nodded. "He's not wrong. Nothin' that aggressive should be that cute. It's Mother Nature trying to fuck with you. Like hippos."

All four of them nodded.

"Good point," Natalie said. "They're the most deadly land animal, but they look like an oversize balloon sculpture."

Jamie muttered, "Ain't that the truth?"

A crashing noise from the darkness of the forest and another string of angry curses, this time in Irish.

"She's really giving him a piece of her mind," Natalie said. "Are you sure he doesn't need—?"

"He's fine." He was never going to learn not to pester bears if Brigid kept firing warning shots to scare them off. "Natalie, how much longer to Shipman Creek?"

"We just passed the Gitchell Creek campground, so we're about halfway there," she said. "But the trail gets a bit twistier up ahead, so maybe another two to three hours."

Carwyn finally reappeared on the trail, sticks caught in his hair and a massive grin on his face. "A proper cuddle with a cub this time, Brigid."

"Yer gonna lose a hand one day and you'll have earned it. They are not toys, Carwyn."

He cocked his head. "But this one came right up to me. It practically climbed my leg, darling girl. What was I supposed to do? Ignore it?"

"Yes." She slapped his shoulder. "Next time ignore it. That cuddle cost us nearly fifteen minutes of you flailing about."

He looked a little chastised, but only a little. "I can say no trace of either Summer or Daniel in that campground, so we're narrowing it down."

Jamie nodded. "Good. Next up, Buck Creek."