Page 25 of Savage Stalkers
I watch as she bends down and opens it, then pulls out the contents and the note. It gives her instructions, a GPS tracker to put on her leg because we can’t risk her getting lost out here—the last thing we want is for her to go missing and die—and a headlamp. Sure, it’s not that sexy, but there are no lights beyond this area, and it’s pitch black out there.
She straps the tracker to her ankle and puts the light on. That is Silas’s cue.
“Fifteen minutes late, little obsession. Time to run.”
She takes off, and the first leg is quite easy, but where we plan to herd her, it will get harder to navigate.
I stalk the edge of her path while Silas trails behind. Skye glances over her shoulder but keeps running. She can hear us following her but can’t see us—not yet.
Zay drops from a tree in front of her, and her scream pierces the air.
She cuts right just like we planned, veering off the track and ducking beneath the tree branches as she tries to slip off again.
Silas’s mask flicks on briefly, and she races back onto the track.
The old cemetery comes into view, and as she reaches the clearing, she stops and spins around. Genuine fear laces her features, and I smile behind my mask. It’s one thing to want the chase when the fear isn’t real, but cemeteries freak the fuck out of people. Most people are scared of death, and anything to do with it, or the thought that there is some ghost about to pop out of nowhere.
“Don’t stop now. Unless you want to be fucked beside an old grave,”I taunt, and her eyes widen, then she takes off running again.
Silas moves behind her but keeps his distance.
She glances over her shoulder, her pace faltering for just a moment before she pushes harder.
“That’s it,”I mutter under my breath.“Keep running.”
I shadow her along the main path, though she can’t pinpoint where we are with our masks turned off and our dark clothing.
Her pace slows as she approaches the fork in the path that leads to the older section. Zay jumps out, startling her, and Skye’s scream pierces the air.
She cuts hard to the right, exactly where we want her to go.
“Good girl,”I say.
At my words, she tries to cut back left, probably hoping to circle back to the main path, but Silas’s purple glow mask flickers to life and she jerks back on course.
The ground is a mess of roots, holes, and rocks. She stumbles, then catches herself and keeps going.
I admire her determination as I pick up my pace and close the distance. She’s heading for the old chapel ruins, and once she’s in there, she’ll be trapped. The broken stone walls come into view, and I smile behind my mask. There’s only one way in and out.
Skye reaches the ruins and spins around, looking for another escape.
We step out from behind the trees, our masks now illuminating the darkness, and she backs up against a stone wall.
“Run all you want. I’ll always find you,”Silas says. She doesn’t know how much he means it; this isn’t a game for him.
Skye’s breaths are rapid, but I can see the look in her eyes. It’s the same one from the alley, when I tested whether this was what she really wanted. She’s scared, but she wants this.
I step closer until she is looking up at me, tears lacing her eyelashes.“You’re even more perfect when you’re scared. Maybe we should kidnap you and keep you for ourselves.”
“Yes, please. Then I wouldn’t have to go to that stupid gala and meet my future husband.”
Silas steps forward and pushes me aside. He grabs her chin and forces her head to him.“No one is touching what’s mine.”
She smiles weakly. “Unfortunately, unless I come up with a better suitor, I have no choice.”
Silas doesn’t say anything, but I know what he is thinking—he is going to that gala, one way or another.
I have an idea, one that could backfire in our faces. Either way, she will have a choice: she’s in or out.
