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I padded through the shadows, keeping close enough to follow his non-scent, to hear the soft crunch of leaves under his shoes. I was naked, my steps lighter, so hopefully I wasn't making enough noise for him to hear me. But given his senses were supposedly heightened, I had to be extra careful.
Especially since the forest itself was quiet. There were no bird calls, no fluttering of wings, not even the irritating songs of insects. I hadn't noticed it before, but then, I'd been wholly occupied with the prospect of satisfaction. Now, though, it struck me as odd. Eerily so.
We walked for a good ten minutes through the strange hush before I noticed the steps ahead had stopped. My heart just about leapt into my throat. God, had he heard me?
I paused in the shadow of a pine and listened intently. The only thing to be heard was the galloping of my heart. I took a deep breath, trying to cairn my nerves, then slowly padded forward. The pines and gum trees seemed to close in, and the shadows thickened. Even the air seemed cooler, less welcoming.
His weird non-scent no longer rode the air, but the traces of Moss's passing - the faint disturbance of leaves and twigs - provided a tangible trail. At least it did until it disappeared.
I stopped and looked around. No smell, no trail, nowhere he could have gone.
The damn man had just vanished into thin air. ze. What the hell was Gautier doing here? How had he gotten here? He might be a vampire by design rather than choice, but he was still restricted by the same rules all vampires faced. He wasn't old enough to be walking around in late afternoon daylight - and though he could certainly move around in a blacked-out van like Jack did, there was no way on earth he could have gotten into one without being seen or tracked by those watching him.
And Jack would have warned me. He might have faith in Liander's skills, but he still would have told me Gautier was on the loose in the estate, simply because he knew Gautier was the one person who could blow the whole mission wide open.
My gaze rose to that of my nemesis, but those muddy brown depths held none of the hatred, none of the sick evil that was usually so evident in Gautier's gaze. This wasn't him, but yet another clone, one who shared his image and his smell. Relief swept through my system, leaving me momentarily shaking. Some guardian I was.
Not that I was one. Not a kill-on-order one, not yet.
"That almost has to be a record for going through the course," he said. "How did you sense the vampire?"
I sniffed, feigning a confidence I didn't feel. "His scent gave his position away."
"And the spirit lizard?"
"What the hell is a spirit lizard?" I knew, but Poppy wouldn't have, so the question had to be asked.
"The black creature who first attacked you. How'd you sense him?"
"The hiss of air as he whirled the nunchakus." I studied him for a moment. "You the guide to the next stage?"
His smile had a decidedly nasty edge. "And the bearer of the final set of rules."
"More rules? Haven't we enough already?"
"Babe, the boss is paying you extremely well for your services, so you'd better get used to doing what he wants."
I guess he had a point. I shrugged.
"You have two choices of clothing during your time here. The overalls that you will find in your wardrobe, or your skin."
I raised my eyebrows, though I was neither surprised nor particularly worried. "You mean run around naked?"
His glaze slid down my body, then came back up to rest on my tits. He grinned. "And those would look pretty damn special without the hindrance of a bra."
Yeah, and he wasn't getting his mitts anywhere near my D-cups. I might be a wolf, but I did have some taste - and vamps who smelled worse than offal were definitely off my "to-do" list.
But I kept my mouth shut on that particular topic. Until I had more of a feel for who was who, it was better not to comment on anything, whether or not Poppy was a renowned mouth. He motioned me to follow him as he turned and headed for the door.
"Why the choice? Seeing we're getting paid big money to fight and have sex with your boss's lieutenants, I would have thought nakedness would have been a prerequisite. You know, a bit of viewing pleasure for those who can't touch."
He opened the door and ushered me into a long white hall. A polite stinker - not what I expected to find here. "Those who parade around in their skin are given the choice of saying no. Those who wear overalls aren't."
"That's not what military man said in the bus." Nor was it what Dia had suggested. But then, maybe she didn't socialize with the fighters, and therefore didn't know the entire truth. Which might also mean she didn't know the entire truth in other areas.
And wasn't that a fantastic thought?
He flashed me another nasty grin. "Didn't want you all leaving now, did we?"
