Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

I looked up into Ben's curious face and saw that his eyes now glowed red. "What do you think it is?"

He shook his head. "I can't tell from this distance, even with my night eyes." A crooked and very mischievous smile curled onto his lips as he dropped his gaze to me. "What do you say to a little investigation?"

I tightened my arms around my chest. "I say I'd like to know why your aunt warned us not to go out at night."

Ben leaned his palm against the other side of the frame and studied the shifting shadow. The thing, whatever it was, meandered down the stone path toward the woods. "She merely wishes to save us from any unpleasant experiences in the dark."

I snorted. "You mean like some unspeakable horror that will haunt our every waking moment for the rest of our lives?"

"Something like that."

My face drooped and I narrowed my eyes at him. "Ben?"

He continued his perusal of the gardens. "Mhm?"

"I think I'd rather stay inside."

"Yeah." His voice was wispy and I still hadn't received eye contact.

"There's a spider on your shoulder."

"Yeah."

"Want to have sex?"

Ben's head shot around so fast I thought it was going to fly off. His red eyes showed far more eagerness than even I expected. "Really?"

I rolled my eyes and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Let's go. We both know you wouldn't enjoy it nearly as much knowing there was something out there to explore."

"I could try," he insisted as I led him over to the door.

I opened the entrance and peeked out. All was quiet and calm save for the ticking of a half dozen ancient clocks from various rooms. Ben peeked out above my head and inspected the area, as well.

"Aunt Dreda often reads in her study until well past midnight," he informed me as he stepped out. "We need to be as quiet as possible-" He took another step and his foot pressed against a creaky board. The noise was amplified by the silence and made him wince.

I covered my mouth to stifle my laugh before I cleared my throat. "You were saying?"

I pointed at his traitorous foot. "I was saying ‘don't step there.'"

I smiled and shook my head as I followed him down the hall. My amusement turned to dread when we arrived at the treacherous stairs. What few candles that had been lit on our arrival were now extinguished and the steps were now a lump of shadows that blended together in a promise of painful falls and broken necks.

Ben grabbed the banister and swung one leg over so he straddled it backward. His red eyes glowed softly in the dim light. "Watch me," he whispered.

He pushed himself backward and flew down the banister. In a few moments, he reached the bottom and landed with a graceful stop on the hall floor. He beckoned to me.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and grasped the banister in both hands. My shorter legs meant I couldn't as easily swing one of them over the side, but I eventually managed the feat. It also meant my legs didn't reach the floor and I couldn't keep myself still. I gasped as I slid backward down the straight wooden rod to a certain doom.

My salvation from a hard stop was Ben's hands. He caught me and drew my back against his chest. I tilted my head back and found his eyes twinkling in the darkness.

"You're enjoying this too much," I whispered to him.

"Am I?" he mused as he reluctantly released me.

Together we tiptoed across the hall and out into the chilly night air. A heavy fog lingered at the edges of the property and completely hid anything beyond the gates from view. An oppressive silence hung in the air that made me wrap my arms around myself.

"Could somebody turn off the fog machine. . ." I murmured.

"There's fog in the Werewald almost every night," Ben warned me as he nodded at a path of stones that led around the right-hand wing of the manor. "We should be able to get to the rear through there."

"Let me guess, it's from some ancient curse cast by a wicked sorcerer," I mused as Ben led us down the path.

Ben turned his head and smiled at me. "There are a lot of bogs in the area and the fluctuation in temperatures causes the water to lift from the waters and linger about the area."

"What spooky thing doesn't these woods have?" I darkly muttered as I cast a wary glance at the thick mess of trees to our right.

"Vampires."

My face drooped. "Please don't tell me they exist in this world."

He stopped and half-turned to me. "Do you know of them?"

I shrugged. "That depends. Are they pasty-looking people with extra sharp teeth and an unhealthy fixation on peoples' necks?"

"Essentially, yes."

"Then I know them, and you still haven't answered my question about them existing."

"They do exist," Ben confirmed as he continued our creeping along the short length of the house.

A little bit of color drained out of my face, but fortunately not out of my neck. "So they're not in these woods, right? That's what you said?"

"As far as I'm aware."

His evasive answer did nothing to stifle my wild imagination. Vines tickled the left side of my face while I had to duck down to dodge the low branches of the trees on my right. Weeds choked the gaps between the stones and I nearly tripped at each step. Every shadow now looked like someone in a black cape lurking in the darkness for just the right moment to strike.

I edged closer to Ben and grasped the back of his sleeve. "You don't happen to have a channel orb on you, do you?"

He pressed his finger to his lips and shook his head. I glared at his illuminated eyes but he gave me some comfort when he wrapped a hand around mine. We crept through the thick fog to the rear of the house where the path opened to the wilderness of overgrown grass and the remains of flower beds. The stone path wound its way around the corner and toward a pair of large wooden doors in the back of the house, then turned and made its way into the jungle of the rear garden.

My eyes flitted over the foggy surroundings as Ben guided me down the neglected path. I didn't even realize we had been walking on a stone porch until we were forced to step two feet down onto the lawn. My foot was one step behind my realization and I missed the drop.

An unbidden yelp escaped me and I tumbled forward into Ben's back. One of his legs shot out to stabilize both of us and his foot cracked loudly against a dead branch. The sound cut through the deathly silence.

That is, until another noise followed it. The new sound was someone running through the brush away from us.

"Damn it. . ." I heard Ben mutter.

"Go on without me," I assured him as I wrenched my hand out of his. "I'll only slow you down or kill us both."

Doubt lingered in his blood-red eyes. My eyebrows crashed down and I gave his back a push with both hands. "Go on! I'll be here when you get back!"

He nodded and took off after the intruder. In a moment the night and fog had swallowed him, leaving silence in their wake. I wrapped my arms around myself and my eyes darted to and fro. All was quiet and calm.

Too calm.

A hand clapped on my shoulder. I screamed and spun around as the hand released me. That meant my balance was flung in all directions, as was I. I stumbled backward over the stick Ben had broken, but a hand shot out and grabbed my wrist. A gasp escaped me at the terrible cold in those fingertips.

A man of about fifty stood before me. He had a short beard and mustache, both speckled with gray hairs, and wore a worn brown suit with a dark shirt underneath. His feet were covered in heavy brown boots and twigs stuck in his hair and on the ragged edges of his cuffs.

He was also ghastly pale. Unnaturally so. And his fangs stuck out of his upper lip.

I screamed again.