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“You... cleaned up.” She scanned the field behind us, wrinkling her nose in the cutest way when she saw the pile of bodies.
“We wanted to do something to help to say thank you,” I said, smiling at her. She blushed prettily, and I wondered what those pink cheeks would feel like if I ran my fingers across them.
“After all, we made some of the mess,” Eleth added, and her smile widened.
“Well, when you put it that way,” she replied, a teasing tone in her voice. It was the first time she’d felt even slightly relaxed around us. She glanced over at the rather large pile we created. “What should we do about those? I was thinking I could take the pigs up to the butcher—”
“No,” Eleth interrupted quickly. “The flesh has been tainted by hellions, so you really don’t want to be eating the animals or have them anywhere near a food supply for humans or other creatures. Hellion blood is poisonous if ingested. If you can find us some accelerant and something to create fire, we should burn them as soon as possible.”
Dylan nodded, chewing on her lip. “Okay, I can go and get...” She trailed off, and her face paled. “Oh my goodness, Jess!”
She turned around and began to run back up the hill. Despite my weariness, I went after her. Catching up to her in the main courtyard, I caught hold of her elbow. “Dylan? What’s wrong?”
She glanced around wildly. “My dog, Jess. I haven’t seen her since last night. What if the hellions got her? Or what if she found the pigs and...” Tears filled her eyes, and without hesitation, I reached out and pulled her into my arms. She stiffened at first, then seemed to melt against my chest. I stroked her hair and pressed my lips to the top of her head.
“We’ll find her, Dylan. She couldn’t have gone far. She might just have fallen asleep in the sun somewhere.”
She pulled back and nodded, blinking away her tears.“You’re right, Ade. I’m being a silly, stupid girl. She’ll be around here somewhere.”
I frowned at the casual insult to herself and opened my mouth again.
“Dylan.” The barked word from the direction of the house had Dylan jumping away from me as though I was on fire, and guilt crossed her face. She looked up at the house as her father leaned on the railings. “How’s the cleanup going?”
“Oh, um... Yes, it’s nearly done, it’s just...”
“It’s all done,” I interjected. “We just need to burn the bodies.”
Dylan’s father swung his gaze to me, fixing me with cold blue eyes for a moment or two.
I immediately knew there was something off about this guy.
“We’ll just feed them to the pigs.” He shrugged. “Pigs eat everything. There won’t be a trace left in a few days.” A shadow seemed to pass across his face, like a distorted image on a screen, flickering between how he looked now and another time, a time when he reached up and wiped a smear of blood from his face. A familiar, nasty taste spread inside my mouth, the same one I got every time I got a glimpse of another time. Past or future, I had no idea. I just knew I didn’t like this guy.
I smiled coldly at him. “I wish we could, sir, but I’m afraid the hellions took out all of your pigs, and even if they hadn’t, hellion blood will poison any living thing. I would fence off that particular field and not let any of your cattle graze there either. I’d be surprised if much will grow there for a while.”
His gaze darkened, and I saw him grip the railing, his knuckles whitening. “This little skirmish of yours on my property will cost me quite a bit then. I lost my pig herd and can’t even graze my cattle on a prime bit of land. I don’t suppose your kind offers compensation either.”
I heard Dylan suck in a breath at her father’s words, and I gritted my teeth, holding my temper in check. I wanted to remind him that had we not indulged in our “little skirmish,” he and his beautiful daughter likely would have been ripped apart instead of the pigs, but I could already see there was no reasoning with him.
“I’m afraid not, sir. But if you’ll allow us to stay until my friend is healed, then there are three of us who can give your farmhands some help with anything that might need to be done on the farm?”
He nodded sharply. “Speak to Dylan. She keeps track of everything around here. It’s all she’s good for, really. Any chance of lunch, or are you going to stand around and talk all day?” he asked Dylan, switching his gaze to hers.
She visibly jumped as his eyes settled on her face. “No, I mean, yes, of course. I’ll come and do that now.”
He didn’t reply, just turned around and went back into the house.
She glanced around one more time, then sighed and headed for the steps. I caught hold of her hand.
“Dylan?”
She turned back to me, her fingers curling around mine, small and delicate.
“We’ll find Jess.”
She swallowed and nodded. “She’s a black and white collie, well, mainly. She’s going a bit gray now. There are fuel cans in the shed over there and matches in the lean-to at the end of the house. I won’t be long, and I’ll go check on your friend too. He’ll need his bandages changed.”
“Take your time,” I told her, squeezing her fingers in reassurance. “I don’t want to get you into trouble.”
