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Panting, I sprawled on the ledge and looked around, trying to figure out where we were. A good ten feet wide, the lip of the outcropping extended only a few inches from the embankment. Standing below, it would be almost impossible to see that there was a ledge up here, even during the day. The stone shelf continued back a few feet to the side of the mountain, which was covered with vines and brambles. I peered closer. There, beneath the snow-covered foliage, gaped the mouth of a cavern.
"A cave?" I asked.
"By the look of things, the opening's been covered for years by vegetation," Menolly said. "But see, here the brambles have been moved. And there," she added, pointing to a small opening. "Something's definitely tampered with it. We should take a look inside."
She brushed the snow away from the leaves, and we slowly pulled aside the branches blocking the way. A few came willingly, and I could see that she was right. Their stems had already been bent and broken.
I peered inside. "I wish we had a light. I can see to some degree, and so can you, but it would be nice to know if we're missing anything."
"Stay here and don't go in without me," she said and lightly stepped over the edge. Like a kite caught in the wind, she was buoyed up by a gust and then began to fall like a feather in the breeze. Menolly couldn't really fly, not unless she was trying to turn into a bat, but she hadn't mastered that part of vampirism to any great use, yet. However, she could float and hover.
Unless she was startled, she would drift slowly to the ground. There were limitations to the ability, and she was still learning how to use it, but it came in handy. Like when she anchored the Yule tree to the ceiling, or when I climbed the curtains and she had to haul me down by the scruff of my neck, no less.
A few moments later, she reappeared with Camille holding on for dear life, her arms wrapped tightly around Menolly's waist. They landed with a soft thud in the accumulating snow.
Camille turned on her flashlight and pointed it toward the cave. "What have we got?"
"I'm not sure," I said. "Let's see what we find."
And with that, I ripped back the branches and stepped into the cave.
Something sticky landed against my face, and I jumped, startling Camille, who was right behind me.
"What happened? Are you okay?" she asked.
I brushed my hand over my face. It was covered with silken strands. Shit.
"Yeah, but I don't like this," I said, stepping fully into the room.
Camille followed, her light flickering around the room, and Menolly brought up the rear. The cavern glistened in the beam from the flashlight, shimmering under the weight of a thousand spiderwebs. Pristine, crystalline in color, they'd been woven into a frenzy of patterns, a chaotic vision in silk. There was no symmetry here, only a kaleidoscope of beauty gone mad.
"Spiders," Camille whispered. "Are these…"
Menolly slid through the webs, brushing them off like she might brush away a gnat. In the center of the cave, she leaned down to look at something, then motioned for us to join her. I found a stick to bring down the webs as Camille and I made our way over to Menolly's side. She was kneeling beside what looked like a dried husk, only it was far too big for corn or any other vegetable.
"You'd better ask Zachary if they've had any other members of the pride go missing lately, ones who haven't been accounted for," she said.
"Uh," I didn't want to ask but I had to. "Is it—"
"Yes, it's another body, like the others. I think we can safely say that we're looking for the Hunters Moon Clan, and that they're turning the Puma Pride enclave into their private feeding grounds."
* * *
CHAPTER 8
I stared at Menolly, trying to comprehend what she was saying. And then it all flashed together. The Hunters Moon Clan members were feeding on Zachary's people. What better way to conquer your rivals?
"Oh Great Mother, that's demented." I shuddered, quickly looking around the cave. But we were alone, at least as far as I could see.
"A good way to take care of your enemies—very old-world tribal. Not exactly cannibalistic, but damned close," Camille said. "The question is, what set them off? And why now?">The gleaming eyes of a hundred woodland creatures gazed at us from behind the dark bushes and deadfalls, and I could hear the faint cadence of a beating drum as we passed through the thicket. Up ahead, a babbling stream cut through the silence.
The faint outline of the arrastra sat in the middle of the stream. Stone mills driven by burro power, arrastras had been used to grind the ore in order to release the precious gold that fueled the hopes and dreams of the miners. Not that they would have found much in this area, I thought, but from what I understood, the hills had been rife with prospectors a hundred years back. Though the Fae valued silver more than gold, we understood the allure of precious metals.
Camille and Venus fell silent. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up; we must be approaching the scene of Shawn's murder.
Zachary nodded toward an opening in the forest. "We follow the stream into that glade ahead. That's where we found all of the bodies. We've laid traps, we've set up guards to watch. In fact, Shawn was on guard duty, and something surprised him."
"I thought Delilah said you were going to limit your guards to the front of the compound," Menolly said from behind us.
