Chapter 44

Thomas was looking at the ground. ‘What did you find?’ I asked breathlessly.

He pointed. ‘Small feet that could be our girl’s followed by at least three men. They went off into the trees there.’ He nodded to the right.

I took a deep breath. She was on land and that meant we could find her. Please let her be okay, I prayed to any god who might be listening.

We followed Thomas into the trees. Sidnee was no more a woods’ girl than I was, and even I could see her barefoot tracks. One man was barefoot – my money was on Chris – and the other two were wearing boots. Their tracks were easy to follow because they didn’t know they had any reason to hide them.

Thomas stopped and we jerked to a halt behind him. He held up a hand and cupped his other hand around his ear. We listened. Thomas was human, dammit; why was he so much better at this?

I closed my eyes, concentrated and faintly heard what sounded like a woman crying in the far distance. A chill ran down my spine: Sidnee. It had to be. I took two steps towards the sound but Thomas grabbed my arm, shook his head and whispered something under his breath. Even with my vampire hearing, I didn’t catch what he said.

He continued following the tracks even though the wailing was coming from the opposite direction. I vibrated with the need to follow the sound but Connor grabbed my hand. He trusted Thomas, and I needed to trust him as well. With gritted teeth, I followed the tracker.

We continued for ten more minutes before Thomas stopped, looked back at us and grimaced. Blood, flesh and torn clothing were strewn on the ground and even in the trees; what looked like a crushed head was jammed about twelve feet up a tree.

‘Oh my God! Sidnee,’ I whispered, but Thomas shook his head and held a finger to his lips. I might not be the only supernat around here who had good hearing.

Thomas pointed to the clothing scraps and then I understood: Sidnee had come to the island here in mer form with no clothes. The head had close-cropped blond hair: it wasn’t Chris’s. I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disappointed. Something had torn a grown man into tiny bits.

Our master tracker was looking behind us, his expression grim. ‘What?’ I whispered. Thomas mouthed an answer but I still didn’t understand what he was trying to say.

Connor’s grip on my hand tightened: he understood. I straightened my spine, took a deep breath and squeezed his fingers. We skirted around the mangled remains and Thomas picked up the trail again. It felt like we had only walked ten steps when we heard the eerie woman sobbing again. The noise chilled me to the bone. That definitely wasn’t Sidnee.

Connor interpreted Thomas’s strange word. ‘Kushtaka,’ he whispered softly. That meant nothing to me, but I pictured the nantinaq and the beast beyond the barrier. Whatever it was, everyone here was scared of it.

The other man who had been stalking Sidnee had met a similar fate and we found part of him thirty feet away. There were no signs of the rest of him, nor of Chris and Sidnee. We didn’t have time to look further because a massive thing with brown fur launched itself at us with a screech.

We scattered. Thomas’s big handgun barked out five quick shots and we all hit the ground. There was another shriek and the thing crashed away from us, shoving through the trees and brush. ‘What the fuck was that?’ I asked, a shade hysterically.

‘Kushtaka,’ Connor repeated. ‘An otter-man. They’re violent, territorial and incredibly hard to kill.’ The trio of unwanted attributes. Fabulous.

‘I winged it,’ Thomas said with satisfaction. ‘But it’ll be back. We need to leave.’

I wanted to go, too, but I wasn’t leaving without my bestie. I spotted a barefoot track and pointed. ‘Look, she’s heading that way.’

Thomas nodded. ‘Let’s go.’ He set off at a bruising pace and we scurried after him, further to the right than we’d been before. If the kushtaka hadn’t jumped out at us there was a good chance we’d have missed Sidnee’s footprint. It was being helpful. Good otter-man monster.

Thomas ran full pelt and we matched him, the crying screams dogging our every step. The kushtaka had recovered from being winged and had seized its courage again. It rushed us once more and this time both Gunnar and Thomas struck it with bullets. The minor wounds seemed to anger and confuse the beast, and it started throwing large rocks and branches at us but this time from a distance. It was cautious now it had been wounded twice – but for how long?

We burst out of the trees. There was nothing around us but boulders and cliffs; we’d have to split up to search because we’d lost the soft ground and the footprints. Without a word we spread out and started laboriously moving through the jumble of rocks. I started searching, squeezing between rocks and checking under everything, looking for caves or somewhere a slight girl would fit.

The kushtaka hung back, sending an occasional rock our way, but its crying wail was like fingernails on a chalkboard and that kept me moving quickly. I stumbled around until I came to a cliff. Looking over the edge, my heart leapt into my throat; it was maybe thirty feet to the water below. I backed away slowly and climbed back to start another route.

A shout rang out. Once I was high enough to look over the rocks, I saw Gunnar waving to get our attention. Connor and I reached the edge of the trees at the same time and rushed over. Thomas was struggling out of the rocks carrying a small, limp body: Sidnee.

A cry ripped from my throat as I ran over to him. She had to be alive! Her long hair was sweeping the ground and her dark skin was smeared with blood and dirt, but her hand twitched and her belly was rising and falling with her breath.

Thomas laid her gently on the ground and checked her for signs of injury. ‘She has a broken arm,’ he declared. ‘The rest of the injuries are cuts and bruises, but she needs to get warm and get to the hospital.’

Sidnee stirred and opened her eyes. ‘Bunny? I knew you’d come.’ She smiled at me and then passed out again.

I let out a breath; it felt like I’d been holding it since I knew she’d gone after Chris. It rushed out from my toes and left me limp. As long as we managed to get out of here alive, Sidnee would be fine. Piece of cake.

Connor searched for a path back to the beach on which we wouldn’t fall and break our necks, and that would keep us away from the kushtaka. ‘There’s only one way and it”s tight. We can skirt the trees there.’ He pointed. ‘But it looks like an animal trail of some kind – maybe deer – and it’s very narrow.’ Thomas nodded and scooped up Sidnee.

We’d have to go past the trees from which the kushtaka could reach us easily but still evade our guns. Our handguns only had a maximum range of two hundred metres, so the otter-man would have the advantage. If it was as intelligent as it had proved to be so far, there was a good chance we’d end up in the water or on the rocks after a thirty-foot fall. Still, the trail would be quicker than retracing our steps, and we needed to get back to Stan.

I wondered if a fireball would harm the kushtaka. I’d only been about three metres away from my target when I’d used one before, and I didn’t want to get that close to the monster. We had no choice: we had to take the trail.

Thomas took the lead, Sidnee draped across his arms. I wondered if one of us with supernatural strength should take her but he didn’t seem to want to let her go. Oh well; he knew his limits. Gunnar brought up the rear.

It was strangely silent. The kushtaka had stopped its screeching and wailing and I hoped that meant it had keeled over and died from the gunshots, but the creepy feeling of being watched was making my shoulder blades itch. I was certain it was simply biding its time. I sped up until my feet were almost on Thomas’s heels. Connor’s breath brushed my neck; he was also feeling the weight of eyes watching us.

‘Bunny,’ Gunnar said, ‘you’ll have to use your fire. Guns aren’t scaring it off but most wild creatures are scared of fire.’

Connor looked at me quizzically. ‘Your fire?’ he asked quietly.

‘There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you,’ I admitted. ‘You know how I have a heartbeat?’

‘What?’ Gunnar interjected. ‘You have a heartbeat? But you’re a vampire!’

‘Can we shut the fuck up and focus here?’ Thomas bit out. ‘Gunnar, Bunny’s fire is close-range. It won’t help us here.’

Connor’s jaw was working. ‘Even Patkotak knows about your fire?’

‘Just Patkotak,’ I reassured him. ‘And Gunnar,’ I added.

‘She used it to save us from the beast beyond the barrier,’ Gunnar said. ‘And it’s why her house burned down. She set Virginia and Jim on fire.’

‘Thank you, Gunnar,’ I said drily. ‘Could you let me tell my boyfriend that I’m a pyromaniac murderess in my own words?’

‘Boyfriend?’ Connor gave a pleased grin.

‘That’s what you’re taking from this?’ I asked, exasperated.

‘Can you stop your chatter?’ Thomas barked. ‘I’m trying to list— Gunnar! Behind you!’

Gunnar whirled around and I turned to look, too, but all I caught was a snarling brown blur of fur and teeth. The otter-man picked up Gunnar like he was a feather and hurled him over the cliff like a stone.

I screamed, Thomas broke into a run and Connor grabbed my hand and dragged me along. ‘Gunnar!’ I screamed, but nothing answered me other than the timeless thrum of the surf below. If we hadn’t been talking, maybe Gunnar would have heard the monster approach.

The kushtaka wasn’t done because the rest of us were still on its territory. It ran down the path straight at us, pounding the ground on all four legs. ‘It’s coming!’ I yelled. Gunnar had been right: it was time for some flames.

Fear was swamping me so it took little effort for the fire in my stomach to build into a raging inferno and I screamed as it shot out of me. The kushtaka ducked away from the flames but the trees were not so mobile: they went up like so much dry kindling. Great – now I’d set a whole forest on fire too. I added that to my growing list of sins.

The flames spread and the kushtaka backed away for a moment. We had to press our advantage, no matter how brief. ‘Move!’ I yelled.

Thomas kicked it up another gear and we almost flew down the trail. Ahead of us the path disappeared and the edge of the cliff appeared. Fuck.

‘Jump!’ Connor screamed at Thomas.

Thomas gave a backward glance at the relentless kushtaka, took a running leap and disappeared over the cliff edge.