Clay clenched his jaw at that, but nodded stiffly. "We'll see."
"We're not going to make another escape attempt," she whispered to him, though Vellum had already proved he could hear them no matter how quiet they thought they were being. "I can't risk losing you. Please…we're safer now that Vellum eliminated Beaufort's gang. Even you have to admit that."
Clay didn't look to be in a mind to say anything positive about their current situation. He faced forward, his shoulders stiff, back ramrod straight. He looked ready launch himself from his saddle directly at Vellum.
"Let's move along," Vellum said from ahead of them. "We'll travel until dawn and then make camp."
"Where's my gun?" Clay demanded as he and Mariel's horses fell into step bracketing the crate hitched to the back of the vampire's horse.
"In my safekeeping, Marshal. I'll return it to you upon reaching the fort."
"If I can't kill you with it why not give it to me now?"
"You can't kill me with it, that's true. However you could inconvenience me with it, and that I won't allow. You'll have your gun back in due time."
In the distance, Mariel could just make out their disabled train, glowing like a line of hanging lanterns in the dark. She wondered what the other passengers would do and how long help would take to reach them.
"Why are you going to Scar Tooth Mountain?" she asked Vellum as they crossed the moonlit desert.
"I have business there."
She frowned at the unhelpful answer. "What business could you have in uninhabited mountains?"
"Who says they're uninhabited?"
She wished she knew more geography. Her sheltered life in Willowtown was more than an embarrassment; it was a hindrance.
"Why are you dragging this box with us?"
"Haven't you figured it out yet, Mariel?" Vellum glanced over his shoulder at her. The moonlight highlighted the aristocratic smoothness of his face. "It's where I sleep when the sun is out."
She couldn't help glancing at Clay, who'd tensed, causing his horse to shake its head.
"You won't be able to kill me while I'm in there," Vellum continued, almost pleasantly, "so I suggest not wasting energy trying to come up with a scenario in which you'd succeed."
"Scar Tooth is over a month's travel. How do you expect to keep us alive if you're going to be bleeding us?" Clay demanded. He rubbed his free hand fretfully over the empty gun holster lying along his hip.
"I'm very experienced at feeding from men. And women, too, of course. Don't concern yourself, Marshal. I won't drain you dry. I have a vested interest in your continued good health."
"That makes me feel so much better," Clay said dryly.
"I'm pleased to hear that. I want you in a good mood, Marshal. If we're pleasant to each other, this journey will go that much faster."
Clay subsided into grumbling, but Mariel was fascinated by their captor-host. Who would have thought a terrifying monster who subsisted on the blood of men and women could be so polite and intelligent? It made no sense to her. She dared to air a theory that had begun to form in her head.
"Were you once an ordinary man?" she asked him.
Vellum didn't turn around, but she heard his quiet laughter. "Yes, Mariel. I was once ordinary. A long time ago. Now, as you see, I'm extraordinary."
"By choice?" she asked, watching him closely.
"What is choice but the illusion that life has fallen into place to allow us options? Nothing of this life is a choice. We're all fated to walk the paths we walk. Even you and the Marshal were always destined to ride with me. Resisting will do you no good."
"So you remember what it feels like to be human," Mariel pressed.
Vellum turned, putting his face in profile to her. "I remember nothing of that time."
~~~~~
They rode for hours, until the adrenaline from the attack and their failed escape drained completely from Mariel's veins, leaving her exhausted and swaying in her saddle.
"We need a break," she heard Clay say. "She's about to fall from her horse."
Mariel straightened up. "No, I'm fine."
"She can ride with you, Marshal," Vellum said. "No breaks until sunrise. If we're all on the same sleep cycle we'll all enjoy each other's company that much more."
"You don't need her," Clay insisted. He held something in his hand that flickered brightly in the moonlight. A knife? A small pistol?
"I need you both, for reasons both practical and not," Vellum said.
"What does that mean?" Clay's horse danced sideways beneath his agitation.
"You'll find out soon enough, Marshal."
"The Empire will come after you for this. You realize that, don't you?"
"Do you really want your colleagues to pursue me, knowing what you do of my abilities?"
She watched Clay stare down at whatever it was he held in his hand. He shook his head. "No, I guess not."
"I knew you were a smart man when I first laid eyes on you, Marshal."