When Max and Timber finished eating and rose to their feet, Daniel kicked the fire out before leading the way back through the dark tunnels to the night that had descended while they’d been eating.
Stepping out of the cave, he tilted his head to the sky as the first star blinked to life. The smallest crinkle of a leaf whipped his head around as a young woman darted around a tree and raced toward them with the ease of someone who knew these woods well. Her eyes widened when she spotted them and ran over the weapons they carried, marking them as most likely human instead of vampire. She didn’t slow her frantic rush toward them.
She all but barreled into Max, knocking him back a step as she lowered her shoulder and sprinted into the cave. “They’re coming!” she panted over her shoulder at them.
“Who?” Max demanded as she fled down the tunnel.
“Vampires.”
Daniel barely heard the word before the woman vanished into the cave. He tore his attention away from her to search the woods, but he didn’t see or hear anything unusual out there. Then, the scent of pine reached him and a stick cracked loudly. She was right, something was coming, and judging by the scent and sound, there were more than a few somethings. They couldn’t risk making a stand against numbers that could more than double their own.
Daniel didn’t wait to see what would emerge from the forest. He turned and fled into the cave behind the woman. From up ahead, he heard her curse and the clattering of sticks as she ran into the remains of their fire.
CHAPTER 24
Max
From behind them, the skittering of rocks across rocks resonated through the cave. Max kept his breathing and steps as quiet as possible while they felt their way steadily on through the darkness blanketing them. They’d caught up with the girl. The only reason he knew that was because he’d felt the brush of her breasts against his arm when she’d stepped into him a few hundred feet back.
No light pierced this deep into the caves, and to start a torch may be guaranteed death, but to continue blindly feeling their way along could also get them killed or, at the very least, lost. His heart pounded in his chest as he tried not to think about the possibility there might be a sudden drop off somewhere ahead. The cool rocks were rough beneath his fingers as he felt along their surface. He edged his foot cautiously forward as he felt ahead of him in the hopes he would feel a drop off before plummeting to his death.
Sweat beaded his brow, but he kept himself outwardly as composed as possible. Years of training had taught him that remaining calm was the only way to survive, while inwardly he fought the instinct to run. Death lay in running blindly ahead.
The girl’s small hand touched his forearm when she leaned into him. The warmth of her breath tickled his ear and neck when she spoke, “This way.”
She gave a subtle tug on his hand. He grasped hold of Daniel on his right before seizing Timber before him. It was only their shallow breaths and their body heat that let him know where they were.
They followed his movement down a side tunnel. After a hundred feet, Max couldn’t walk straight anymore and had to turn sideways in order to continue. Never one for claustrophobia, he couldn’t help but feel a little squished as the jagged rocks scraped against his chest and back. He had no idea how Timber was making it through this crevice without becoming wedged between the walls, but the heat of his friend’s arm remained against his side. Daniel brought up the rear of the pack.
Not being able to see the rock brushing against his nose only made him want to run more. The blood rushed through his ears as he strained to hear anything of their hunters over his heartbeat, but the cave they’d left behind remained undisturbed.
Then, the walls gave way and a rush of cool, fresh air wafted around him. Max inhaled a gulping breath when he was able to walk straight again. Specks of light filtered through here and there, illuminating the walls around him and the woman before him.
Tipping his head back, he realized they had left the caves behind and were now in a hollow beneath the earth. Massive tree roots intertwined through the ground above them, holding the trees up despite the lack of dirt beneath them, but it was only a matter of time before nature took over and the trees lost their battle for life.
Glancing behind him, he strained to hear any sign of pursuit, but slipping into that narrow passageway seemed to have thrown the vamps off their trail. The girl continued onward, leading them further beneath more tree roots until they arrived at a rounded hollow created by water that had worn away the dirt over the years. It only went three feet beneath the earth before dead-ending.
She crept to the end and turned to settle in the shadows. Max frowned as he searched their surroundings. He ran his hands over the cool dirt, inhaling its rich scent as he sought some other way out, but he found nothing within the roots and earth surrounding him.