"Because he put you under his thrall," Clay told her as he helped her over a large crack in the ground. "He steals your will and makes it his own. It's how they lure people to them so they can suck them dry."
She touched her neck with her free hand. Thankfully she felt nothing marring her skin. . Maybe she could keep what had happened between her and Vellum a secret from Clay. She felt suddenly ashamed of what she had allowed…and how much she had enjoyed it.
They ran for what felt like an hour, the torch long since discarded. With the darkness shielding their escape, Mariel began to relax, convinced they were beyond the reach of the vampire. That was until she heard the sound of horses. Clay tugged her along faster, but when she tripped, he stopped them and spun, his gun raised as he faced whoever approached them.
Clay must have lost his hat somewhere during the earlier fight, and it struck her how vulnerable he looked without it. She looked about anxiously for a stick or something to use as a weapon but they were surrounded by tumbleweed. She found a pair of rocks and gripped them in both hands. She'd do what she could to help Clay.
The oncoming horses slowed. There were three of them. Two were rider-less. Vellum rode the first, his black duster billowing dramatically around his hips. Hitched behind his horse was the wooden, tar-lined crate that Mariel had discovered him in.
"That wasn't very kind of you, Marshal," Vellum said conversationally as he pulled up his horse. "We had a deal."
"You're a nightwalker. I know better than to trust you."
Vellum's smile came and went. He settled his hands atop the pommel of the stolen saddle. "I'm a vampire. I held up my end of the deal. That means I'm trustworthy and that you owe me. And now you've also irritated me, so this won't go as easily as I'd intended it to."
Clay cocked his gun and whispered from the side of his mouth, "As soon as I shoot, you run."
"Don't waste your energy, Mariel." Vellum shrugged. "I have exceptional hearing. If you know so much about me, Marshal, you should know that."
"You're not laying a hand on her, nightwalker."
"They'd be your last words if you could help it, wouldn't they, Marshal? Even a despicable vampire has to admire a gallant, courageous man." His dark eyes glittered. "Perhaps this will go differently."
His words sounded ominous, but Mariel wasn’t afraid for herself, only for Clay. Vellum would see Clay as the greater threat, as well he should.
"Let him go and I'll go with you peacefully," she told Vellum quickly. "Feed from me all you need."
Clay glanced askance at her in shock. "Mariel!"
It was all the distraction Vellum needed. In one blink he was seated atop his stolen horse. In the next, he stood before Clay. The Marshal took a surprised step backwards but he was no match for the vampire's speed. The two males struggled. Clay's gun fired twice. However within seconds Clay lay slumped against Vellum's chest, the vampire's arm holding the other man up as though he were a sleepy child.
"He's alive," Vellum told Mariel, reading her fear. "I need him so, just as I need you. I meant what I said when I made that deal. I won't hurt you."
Mariel's hands trembled. "You won't hurt him either? He's a good man. He only wants to protect me."
"You both will live to reach Everton Fort."
Could she trust a vampire? Did she have a choice? Vellum could truss them both and take them along with him like sacks of flour, feeding from them at his leisure. At least this way she and Clay would have some measure of free will.
She dropped the rocks she'd been holding in her damp hands. "Then we'll go. Willingly."
Vellum nodded. He didn't smile, but she could see the satisfaction on his handsome face. "An excellent choice, Mariel. I promise you: you won't regret it."
3
Whatever Vellum had done to Clay to stop him from fighting didn't affect him for long. Mariel mounted the horse Vellum had provided for her and from her perch watched as the vampire guided a disoriented Clay to the other horse.
"Your foot in the stirrup, please," Vellum said with surprising patience. He helped Clay groggily obey and then gave the Marshal a helpful push on the buttocks to boost him into the saddle.
Settling into the familiar grip of a saddle appeared to sharpen Clay's awareness, for he sat straighter and gripped the reins suddenly before twisting around in his saddle. He relaxed when he saw Mariel waiting beside him on her horse.
"I'm sorry," he murmured. He passed a hand briefly over his face as if fighting off exhaustion but then straightened again, resolve burning in his whiskey-colored eyes. "I'll get us out of this, Mariel."
"It's alright," she told him, watching from the corner of her eye as Vellum smoothly mounted his own horse. The vampire moved like liquid but she hadn't forgotten his incredible speed. He could move faster than a striking rattler. "I told him we'd go with him. He promised to let us go at Everton Fort."