Page 1 of Stalk the Dark
Chapter 1
My first time in a horse-drawn carriage and the damn thing breaks down. My two traveling companions, Mary and Jeremy, huddled at the side of the dirt road.
Mary shivered, holding her skirts high to avoid muddy stains, while her husband Jeremy acted as sentry, top hat tucked under one arm. They looked overdressed and uncomfortable in the old-fashioned garb compulsory to Dracul territory.
Thank god I had an exemption on dress code because looking at them in their ancient era attire made my skin itch. I needed my clothes to breathe and be flexible. None of this corset and petticoat bullshit.
The driver fiddled with the dodgy wheel, muttering curses under his breath. A waste if you ask me. What good was a good swear word if not said out loud with vehemence?
“The sun will have set soon,” Mary said, a tremor in her voice.
“It’s all right, luv. Rising isn’t till tomorrow,” Jeremy said. “And I doubt there are any scavengers this far outside of town. We’re safe.” He hugged her to his side.
They seemed like a sweet couple. A little frosty since I told them I worked for the Order, which was strange considering we were the very organization that kept humans safe. Speaking of…I scanned the road, deserted and gloomy, then the tree line to our left and the fields to our right. All clear so far. We had time.
“Town’s only ten more miles,” Mary said. “We’ll make it before the moon’s up.”
Her husband made a non-committal sound, his eyes on the land around us.
Was he thinking what I was? That we had about thirty minutes before the sun set completely, and it would take at least twice that to get to town, and even if the rising was tomorrow, being out in the open in Dracul territory after dark was a huge red flag.
Yep, the downturn of his mouth said he was thinkingexactlythat.
My hand went to the dagger at my hip, fingers caressing the silver hilt. The rest of my stuff, including my blessed sword, had been sent ahead to the local Order chapter house on a separate carriage.
I should have kept it on me.
Hindsight was a bitch. “How much longer?” Icrossed to the carriage. “We don’t want to be out after dark.”
The driver tutted, the sound sharp and angry. “Ya think I don’t know that? Bloody newcomer tellin’ me how it is. You and yer Order.Pah.”
I bit back on a surge of annoyance. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means if yer Order did their job, we wouldn’t have to hide in our homes after dark or risk getting our asses eaten by scavengers.”
Yeah, that was something I’d need to investigate when we got to the chapter house. The brief I’d been given hadn’t mentioned a curfew, scavengers, or the fact that humans here seemed to dislike Order operatives. I tugged my mobile phone from my pocket and checked the reception bar…again. But nothing had changed, still no reception. This part of Dracul territory was off the grid, which meant I couldn’t call the chapter house for backup or contact the Singer brothers—the two hunters assigned by the Order to work with me this year.
“There won’t be any scavengers out here, though,” Mary said, her sweet, heart-shaped face all hopeful. “Jeremy said so.” She looked up at her husband expectantly.
He hugged her again. “How much longer, Joe?”
“Almost done,” the driver replied.
Shadows lengthened, and despite my best intentions, moths fluttered in my belly.
“Is it true?” Mary whispered. “What they say about him?”
I didn’t have to ask her whichhimshe was referring to. The same question had been on my mind more than once since I’d been handed this assignment. “I don’t know. But the Order believes it.”
“Most people who can attest tohisdisposition are dead,” Jeremy said.
I shrugged. “Or undead.”
Mary let out a nervous giggle. “True.”
A shadow crept across the road as the sun slinked into slumber, the orange hue dying, leaving the world gray and dull. My scalp tightened in warning. Yep, we needed to be going. Now.
“Joe?” Jeremy herded Mary closer to the carriage and to me.
