Was he the fucker I bumped into earlier, the one who made my hand feel like it had been shoved into a bucket of ice water?
The walking corpse’s death-white hand reaches for my throat. I scream and race back the other way, toward the football field.
God help me, I should have listened to those shrinks when they implied I was crazy. I have to be, because this isn’t happening. It can’t be.
Headed for the edge of the forest, I can hear the creature leaping through the canopy above me. I run faster, pumping my legs as fast as they’ll go until my lungs burn.
Down the path ahead, a dark shadow makes a beeline into the forest, headed for me. As it races closer, I swear I must be imagining things, because it’s a giant bear, and it’s headed right at me.
It’s the mascot, I realize, but what the fuck is he doing out here? And how the hell is he running so fast? I’ve seen those things up close; the costumes are heavy, and too bulky for anyone in them to sprint like that.
“Get out of here!” I shout. “Get out, there’s a—”
I cut off, staring, once more frozen to the spot as I literally watch his costume change right before my eyes. The next moment, in a flash of white light, the mascot costume is gone, but it doesn’t so much vanish as it does ripple, gradually morphing into clothes that are as bizarre as anything I’ve seen tonight.
One moment, he was dressed from head to toe in brown fur, and the next, robes of night-black and royal purple drape from his shoulders, flying out behind him like a cape as he bolts for me.
The man in the cloak slams into me, throwing us both sideways to the ground. He must double as a linebacker, because I’m pretty sure I’ve flown two feet through the air before hitting the ground like a stone. I grunt as his weight crushes me into the ground for an instant before he rolls off me and spins around to the dead man now stalking toward us.
The bloodsucking fiend hisses and snarls at him. My savior flings out his hand, shouting something in a strange language. A ball of light flies out of his hand like blue white fire and slams into the dead man, sending him backward.
The creature retreats, and the cloaked stranger advances on him.
A sword—a fucking sword that’s more than half my height in length—flashes in his hand, drawn from somewhere in his cloak. The weapon whirls in his grip, and then slices through the air.
There’s a gurgling sound and the dead man drops…well…dead. His head rolls almost to my rescuer’s feet. I jerk my head away with a groan, my stomach roiling.
A hand seizes my shoulder.
I jump, staring at the cloaked swordsman who’s crouched in front of me. I gape. Platinum blond hair spills over his shoulder from his ponytail, exactly like it had at the library.
“You…” I say stupidly.
He looks me over, checking for injuries, I guess. His face is still beautiful, but it’s also cold and hard, devoid of concern, however his looking me over might indicate otherwise.
“We meet again, Blue.” His voice is the same sexy, deep drawl as earlier, but now it sounds bored and drips with annoyance.
God, not him again. I can’t handle this now. My best friend is dead, ripped apart by whatever that was. The thing is, I’ve always been good at compartmentalizing. I’ve had to be. I can’t think about Carley now. This man is dangerous, and I need to focus on dealing with him.
He wipes his blade on the grass, then stands up and sheathes the weapon in some kind of holder strapped to his hip. He grabs my hand and jerks me to my feet with astounding ease. That same heated bolt of electricity races up my arm at his touch, and awareness of his attractiveness heats my cheeks.
A million questions tumble over themselves in my head, about him, about what he did to that dead guy who’s now headless and lying on the ground behind him.
He’d treated me like a whore and branded me a thief, and now he just saved my life. He just killed a walking corpse, and yet he’s behaving as if it’s a normal part of his daily life. What the fuck is going on here?
The question begs to be asked, but I can’t think straight enough to voice it. Because on top of everything else, my friend is dead, and the thing that killed her mistook her for me.
“Let go of me,” I order, yanking on his grip.
He withdraws his hand, but with a patronizing flair. I don’t miss the delight that flashes in his eyes, visible in the moonlight.
“And I’m fine, by the way,” I add.
“Yes, you are, thanks to me.” He shakes his head in what seems like disgust. “How is it I always get stuck babysitting incompetents? Come with me. We have to get out of here.”
“Um, not going to happen.” For one thing, I just saw light come from nothing out of his hand—light that looks a lot like the same glow that came from that gate my mother disappeared into thirteen years ago. Which could mean he’s connected to whoever took her. And two, I make a habit of not traipsing off through a darkened wood alone with assholes. “I’m not going anywhere with you until you tell me what the hell is going on here and who the hell you are.”
He puts his head back. “You’re going to be a pain in the ass, aren’t you, Blue?” He seizes my hand and starts pulling me toward the path I’d come down.
Except instead of heading toward the field, he’s going in the opposite direction, deeper into the forest.
“If you keep behaving like a total asswipe, yes. Where the hell are you taking me? And stop grabbing at me like a caveman.”
“Since you lack the intelligence to walk out of danger with me on your own, I will drag you.”
“Wait a minute,” I retort, having to rush to keep up since I can’t get my wrist out of his grasp. “First of all, before you start insulting my intelligence, who, and what are you?”
He ignores me until we reach a small clearing, at which point he turns to me. “What’s your name?” he demands, still gripping my wrist.
“Stop manhandling me.”
I swear I hear rustling behind him, across the clearing. He glances back, but if he sees anyone, he gives no sign of it.
He releases me again, but stalks toward me. His movements are predatory and dangerous, rife with threatening promise that makes my heart slam against my chest. I retreat, but I only manage to make it a step back.
His hand flings out, and glowing blue light flies out of his palm. It looks like nothing more than light, but it hits me right in the chest, flinging me backward with the same force as if he’s shoved me with his hands.
My back collides with a tree behind me and I grunt. I try to run, but I can’t move a muscle. It’s as if there’s a wall of steel holding me in place.
“What the fuck?” My voice comes out high and cracked with fear. Real terror rips through me. “Let me go!”
Shaking his head, the blond god in robes slowly closes in. His smile is pure, beautiful wickedness. With light still electrifying his palm, he stalks forward until he’s almost pressed against me and I can feel the heat of him pounding through my every pore.
He leans in closer, and that’s when I smell it. Not the cologne he wore earlier, but a scent like rain after a storm, the smell of something huge and powerful and capable of burning me to ash at will. It makes my head swim with delight. I could get high on that smell.
I thrash in the invisible grip of whatever power he’s using to hold me. There’s no hope of escape, so I choose another tactic.