“Do you think she’s still alive?” he asked Mike.
Mollie bristled as she glowered at the two of them. “It doesn’t matter whathethinks.”
Doug held his hands up in a pacifying gesture. “Believe me, I’ve been saying the same thing foryears, but a few dozen Savages are crawling over the mansion and barn. Not to mention the Savages lurking in the woods, which I estimate to be eight judging by the ones I’ve seen. You killed two of them,” he said to Mike. “By the way, thanks for saving me the effort that would have taken.”
“You were stalking them?” Mike asked.
“Yeah. I wanted the crossbow. There’s a grouping of boulders about a hundred feet beyond where you jumped them. I was waiting for them to get there so I could corner them and they wouldn’t be able to run from me.”
Mike loaded the crossbow and held it out to Doug who waved it away. “You killed them, it’s yours fair and square,” Doug said.
“You’re better with it. Besides”—he hefted the quiver of bolts—“they make good stakes.”
“You’re right; I am better with it.” Doug took the crossbow and settled it in his lap.
“The other problem we have is that some of the vamps we let out are hungry,” Mike said before telling Doug about the vampires who attacked Mollie in the cave. “They’re dead now.”
“I had no doubt,” Doug murmured, and his gaze flicked to Mollie. “If the escaped vamps are starting to turn Savage too, we have abigproblem.”
“We do,” Mike agreed. “And I bet if there are boats, which I’m assuming there are given we’re on an island, I’m betting they’re also heavily guarded by security and will be difficult to reach.”
“Bastards,” Doug muttered.
“Judging by the screams every night, I think a fair amount of the escapees might be dead,” Mollie said.
“True,” Doug agreed. “And a good amount have been recaptured. It’s possible other vamps may have taken out some of the six remaining Savages patrolling the woods during the day too.”
“One can hope,” Mollie said, and Doug smiled.
“One can also hope that some of the Savages hanging out around the barn and mansion have also been killed. They all hunt at night,” Doug said. “I haven’t been close to the barn or the mansion since day two, so I don’t know if their numbers have dwindled, but I imagine a few of them have been taken out by some escapees.”
“Most likely,” Mike murmured.
Mollie glanced at her watch; it was after one o’clock. “We still have time before the sun sets. I’d like to see this mansion.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Mollie studiedMike as they traveled through the woods. Ever since they’d left the shelter of the spruces, he’d grown angrier and increasingly distant. His steps became more measured, his shoulders tenser, and she was sure she heard his teeth grinding together. The outline of his fangs against his upper lip was visible.
Doug shot him wary glances, and the further they went the more convinced she became the two of them were keeping something from her. The knowledge irritated her, but she wasn’t going to confront them about it, not out here, and not when they were heading to where Aida might be located.
They could keep their secrets as long as they didn’t interfere with trying to save Aida.
Doug held his hand up to halt them.“It’s only about half a mile that way,”he mouthed and pointed ahead.
They fell into a single line with Doug in front and her in the middle as they continued through the trees until they arrived at the edge of the woods. Mollie crouched behind a small tree to study the building across from them. About fifty feet of green grass separated them from a massive, gray stone structure. Mollie gawked at the mansion, and her head tipped back as she tried to take it all in, but that was impossible.
The primary structure was three stories tall, with at least a dozen dormer windows. The length of it was easily the size of two football fields as two-story wings spread out from each side. The mansion looked like something out of a romance movie. It was too beautiful for the evil it housed behind the arched, covered windows and intricately carved wood front door.
For the first time, Mollie considered the possibility they might never locate her sister. How would they ever get in there? And if they did get inside, how would they find Aida? And if they did discover her, how would they get her out again and then off this island?
When her head started spinning, she lowered it into her hands and rubbed her temples. No, shewouldfind Aida, she had to. She didn’t know if she could take another loss in her life.
But even as she thought it, doubts swirled in her head.Whatif Aida is already dead and I’m risking my life and theirs for nothing? But what if she’s still alive and I leave her here to die a miserable death?
Tears clogged her throat, but she refused to shed them. If it were just her, she wouldn’t hesitate to go inside; she could never live with the not knowing if she didn’t at least try to find Aida. But Mike would go with her, and from what she’d seen of their friendship, she believed Doug would too. Could she risk their lives if her sister was dead?
If something happened to Doug or Mike while they were helping her, she would never forgive herself, but she’d hate herself until the day she died if she abandoned Aida. She was damned no matter what she did, but she couldn’t leave here without trying for Aida.
