Dark Craving: A Watchers Novella (14 page)

“I stole it,” she says finally, adding in a rush, “when I broke into the keep.”

“You took it from the keep?” I ask sharply.

She doesn’t pause, just rattles on, “That woman vampire I told you about, Sonja, she used it. It’s a ceremonial thing. Nobody saw me. Nobody knows I have it. Are you angry with me? Don’t be angry.”

I shake my head. “No, you mad, wild girl. I’m just happy you found your way back out again.” I hold out my hand for it. “May I?” I take it from her carefully, tilting it to catch the light of the moon. It’s a beautiful object—slim, elegant, and very, very old. “They’d kill you if they found this in your possession.”

“I’ve kind of figured that out.” She looks nervous—it’s a sight I don’t often see. “Did you see what it did to Dagursson? Will they be able to sense that I have it?” Her hands are raised, as if she’s handed off the hot potato and now doesn’t want it back. “I don’t know if I should hide it or what to do with it. I’m seriously tempted just to throw the thing in the ocean.”

“What you do is let me keep it.” I don’t need to think about it; I simply roll up my sleeve and slide it into one of the leather straps I use to conceal my stakes.

“What are you doing?” She grabs me. “That’ll get
you
killed.”

My arm automatically flexes at her touch. “Not if nobody finds it.”

“But by now they know someone broke in. They know someone took it. What if they find it on you—they’ll think it was you.”

“And I’ll let them.” I look hard into her eyes. When she begins to protest, I cut her off, insisting, “They can’t know it was you. They’ll kill you for it. Quickly and without warning.”

She’s silent. The moment hangs. I’m the first to pull away, adjusting my sweater back into place. I wait a moment then sweep the back of my finger down her cheek. “Ann? Are we agreed?”

She’s unable to look away from the spot on my sleeve where the dagger is hiding. “It scares me. That thing has power. Sonja—the vampire—she uses it to cut the girls. Then they…the boys…” She falters.

“Don’t,” I say, stopping her, pulling her close. I have some idea what happens in the vampires’ castle—I don’t need to hear it. “I can just imagine what it is those wee bastards do.”

I pull away, realizing what I need to say. “You can’t mention this to Carden,” I tell her, praying it’s not the thing that makes me lose her.

Her eyes sharpen. “What? Why?”

“Because he’s a vampire,” I explain, “and this thing”—I make a fist, feeling the dagger cut into my forearm—“this is the thing that can make or kill them.”

“But he’s on our side.”

“Even so.” I can’t explain why, but until I know Carden’s true motivations, I don’t trust him. “Just don’t. Just for now. Please?”

“I don’t like having secrets,” she says.

“Aye, and it’s what I love about you.” The words are out of my mouth before I have a chance to check them. I stiffen, hold, and like that, my decision is made. This is the moment I’d normally pull away. This time, I don’t. I’ve said the words, and now I let down my walls and allow myself to feel them.

I pull her close, tucking her under my arm. Warmth fills me. Slowly, it begins to vibrate between us. Heat builds until she gives a small shiver in my arms.

She peers up at me. “Are you using your special voodoo touch? Like, ‘Wonder Twin powers activate?’”

“Wonder whats?”

“Never mind. It’s a cartoon thing. You know, American television?” Nervously, she waves it away. “Not your thing.”

I wish it were. I wish lazy mornings, Sunday crosswords, and inane television shows were my thing.

“No,” I say quietly, “no powers. Just me. Just my hands. Nothing more.”

That silences her. She feels it, too, this connection.

“I’m scared, Ronan. I can’t be with you. But…”

“But I can’t be without you either,” I finish, speaking for both of us.

“But Carden,” she says.

“I know.” It’s dangerous, this thing between us. Carden’s a laid-back fellow, but if he knew the depths of my feelings, he’d kill me. I need him to part from Annelise, and he must believe he’s come to the conclusion on his own. For now, he thinks I’m weak, and for now I’ll let him.

“He said he found my mother,” she says.

“Your mother?” I realize I’m gaping. I’d seen the photo of her mother—I’d stolen it back for her. When Annelise had told me she was dead, I’d believed her.

“She’s been alive all this time.” She shrugs, taking a moment to tamp down the emotion I hear rising in her throat. “All this time, she let me live with…with that man. He said he was my dad, but who knows? I mean, somebody must know. Somehow Carden found her.”

So that was where Carden had been. For much of the semester, he was simply gone. I just assumed he was on a mission for Freya, though at the time, I’d thought he was being selfish, leaving Annelise to suffer without feeding from him. I’d watched as she weakened, did what I could to help her. And now, to find out he’d been doing something—something selfless—with thoughts only for her… It disturbed me in ways I didn’t want to think about. “That was kind of him,” I say tightly.

She remains nestled against my chest, and after a moment, I feel her give a small nod. “I don’t know what to think anymore. Did Carden know all along that she was alive? What else does he know that he’s not telling me?”

“Don’t blame him,” I say, even though I can’t believe I’m about to defend him. “I think on this island we don’t always understand the meaning of what it is we do know.”

“What are we going to do?”

I take a deep breath. She’s not going to like what I have to say. “You’ll do nothing. You’ll stay here, and you’ll keep your head down and go to your classes. Without me here you’ll have a chance to see what it is you truly feel for McCloud.”

She pulls away. “Wait, what? Where will you be?” Are those tears in her eyes, or is it just the moonlight?

I squeeze her closer. “I have to leave,” I tell her. “I won’t be far.”

“No.” She gives my chest a shove while still holding tight. “I hate that you guys keep leaving me.”

“I’ll never leave you. Not for good.”

“What if I need you?”

“You’d best need me.” I stroke her hair, tilting her head and coaxing her eyes to mine. “We’re not done, Annelise Drew. I will come back for you. But this is the only way. They know someone stole the dagger. If I leave, it’ll take all eyes off you. You won’t have to look over your shoulder. They’ll link my absence, and the death of Dagursson, with the stolen dagger. They’ll assume I stole it and fled. It’ll create chaos. Give you your opportunity.”

“My opportunity to what?”

“To save Emma.”

She peers at me like she’s only now seeing me. For the first time ever, she’s speechless.

I smile, despite myself. “I know you well, Annelise Drew.”

Light dances in her eyes. Perhaps she’s longed to be seen as much as I have. “It’s what you love about me?” she asks playfully.

“Tease.” I cup her cheek. I want to kiss her, and she looks like she’ll let me, but I need to make sure of one more thing. I comb my fingers back and through her hair, cradling her head, keeping her eyes locked on mine. “But listen to me,” I say, growing serious. “In this, you must trust Carden. He might be my rival, but he does care for you—more deeply than I’d like to admit. Trust him to help you. Keep what you know about the dagger to yourself, but you must seek his help if you’re going to get out of there alive. Whatever you do, don’t go back into that castle alone.”

She reaches for my hand, twining her fingers with mine. “I wish you didn’t have to go.”

“Believe me, if there were any other way, I wouldn’t leave you.”

And this time, I do let myself kiss her. And she allows it. In this, as in all things, she meets me halfway.

As we part, I make a silent vow. I’ll come back more powerful than ever. I got Annelise into this, and I’ll get her out again.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“
Tracer,” a sharp voice calls, stopping me on my way back to my room.

I’m not in the mood for this. For Carden. I stop, turning as he approaches. I don’t wait till he’s reached me before I say, “Tell your mistress it’s done. They’ll find Dagursson dead, if they haven’t already.”

He reaches me, brow cocked in that way of his. “
My
mistress? She’s your mistress, too, last I checked. And you can tell her yourself when you return to
Eilean Ban-Laoch
.”

“I’m not going back.”

“What nonsense is this now?”

“I won’t go back.”

“No, lad, she said you could pay your wee visit to the Isle of Night so long as you promised to kill Alrik. You killed him—and a fine job at that, by the way. I confess, I didn’t know you had it in you. But now the job’s done, and so is the visit. You have no choice but to obey.”

“I’m her soldier, not her slave. I’ll leave the Isle, but there’s something else I need to attend to.”

His eyes harden. “You’ll
attend
to Freya, and tonight.”

“I see you’ve really cozied up to her. I mean, minding her chosen ones, delivering her messages… What else do you do for her?”

He stares me down for a prolonged moment, then simply shrugs a shoulder. “Here’s a bit of advice, lad. When you find yourself in hell, you’d best hug the devil.”

“And what if I’m not one for hugging? What then?”

Something clicks in his expression. “You returned for the girl, and now you do something else for her, too.”

I play dumb. “The girl?” I want to hear it—I want to make him say her name.

“We share a bond, Drew and I, and I’m not letting her go. If you want her, you’ll have to take her from me.” He scans me up and down. “I don’t know that you have it in you. Now be a good boy and return to
Eilean Ban-Laoch.
”

I don’t budge. “I don’t take orders from you.”

“If you disobey, you’ve gone rogue.”

“And you’re going to stop me?”

“You know I could,” he says with a dangerous smile.

“A threat, is it? What would Annelise think if you were to kill me? I don’t imagine it’d go over too well,” I say, watching as the truth of it registers. “Checkmate, McCloud. You can’t convince me, and you can’t kill me, either.”

I slip away before he decides he doesn’t care what Annelise thinks.

But I’ll be back.

FOLLOW

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Did you enjoy
Dark Craving
? Explore the first four novels in the Watchers series:

Isle of Night

Vampire’s Kiss

Blood Fever

The Keep

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Like her heroine, Veronica Wolff braved an all-girls school, traveled to far away places, and studied lots of languages. She was, however, never trained as an assassin (or so she claims). In real life, she’s most often found on a beach or in the mountains in Northern California, but you can always find her online at veronicawolff.com.