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"What is that?" Carlos asked.
She gave him a worried look. "It's the Chinese equivalent of a vampire."
He sat back. "Are you serious?"
"The tribes haven't reported it because they don't think any authorities would believe them. And they probably wouldn't. No one thinks vampires are real."
Carlos nodded. "But we know better. We should check it out."
She winced. "I was afraid you'd say that. This means a trek through the jungle, doesn't it?"
"You don't have to go. You can stay here while I go with Tanit."
She grimaced. "I don't trust him. I'm coming with you."
Carlos stood and offered a hand to help her up. "You're the bravest woman I've ever known."
She snorted. "Or the most foolish." She took a deep breath. "I'll just think of it as an adventure. I love adventure. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it."
Ajay stood and spoke again. He raised his hands in the air, then rested a hand on each of their shoulders.
"He's praying for God to protect us," she whispered.
Carlos nodded. "We're going to need it."
Chapter Twenty-one
Carlos glanced up at the sun. If the rumor was true and a vampire lurked about these hills, he needed to find it before sundown. He looked at his watch. Almost three in the afternoon. They'd been hiking along this path, headed north, for four hours. He'd kept the pace slow for Caitlyn's sake, but she looked exhausted.
That was actually an improvement. She'd spent the first two hours looking terrified. The first time he stopped to let a cobra slither across the path, she cowered behind him with her hands clenched in his T-shirt.
They'd left the village about eleven in the morning, getting a late start after Tanit abruptly announced he was going with them. He had no backpack or gear, so it took some time for the villagers to prepare one for him. Ajay provided them with food and rolled bamboo mats to sleep on.
Arnush had pulled Carlos aside to warn him that their guide had changed his mind about going with them after making a cell phone call. But it was clear that Tanit didn't want to be with them. Every time they saw a snake or scorpion, he begged them to return to the village.
Carlos wondered if Pat had ordered Tanit to go with them. Caitlyn had been right to suspect them both.
A snap of a twig in the distance pricked Carlos's extra sensitive hearing. Sounds in the jungle were common, what with all the animals that lived there, but these sounds kept recurring. For the past thirty minutes something had been following them. In the last ten minutes he'd heard the sound more often. Whatever was following them had grown in number. He inhaled deeply to try to catch their scent, but they were staying downwind.
The path took them downhill, and he quickened their pace. Down in the valley, they discovered a creek dissecting a green pasture. Carlos leaned over to cup some water and splash it on his face. He straightened and looked around. Long grass was dotted with clumps of green ferns. On the other side of the valley the trail cut a jagged path straight uphill.
"Oh God." Caitlyn grimaced. "I need a break before we do that." She dropped her backpack on the ground and pulled a water bottle from an outside pocket.
Carlos swiveled, scanning the tree line.
Tanit dumped his backpack on the ground. "We'd better head back to the village, or we'll be stuck out here for the night."
Caitlyn sighed. "I don't think there are any cats in the area. They would have come to me by now."
"I believe they have." Carlos pointed to the tree line, where two tigers emerged. "We have company."
"Man-eaters!" Tanit squealed, and pulled the knife from his belt.
Carlos moved in front of Caitlyn and drew his pistol.
"No!" She stepped away. "Don't shoot."
Carlos lowered his weapon. "If one of them charges, I'm shooting."
"Don't hurt them." She faced the tigers, frowning with concentration.
Carlos had never seen such huge tigers. They seemed content to keep a distance, sitting on their haunches and studying them with golden eyes. They were still downwind, so he couldn't get a good sniff.
"They're warning us of danger," Caitlyn whispered.
"Of course we're in danger," Tanit snapped. "They're going to eat us!"
"You can communicate with them?" Carlos asked her.
"Sorta." She remained focused on them. "It's hard to explain. I don't get actual words, but the ideas form in my head. They clearly believe we're in danger. And they want us to know that they're not man-eaters."
Tanit snorted. "You're crazy. You can't talk to a tiger."
"Can you ask them if they know about any panthers in the area?" Carlos asked.
Caitlyn was silent a moment, then answered. "They say this is their territory. The panthers are south of the Akha village."
Carlos felt a surge of hope. He could be close to finding more of his kind. If he could discover that his species wasn't endangered after all, he might be able to stay with Caitlyn. They could have a normal mortal marriage with mortal children. She'd be safe as long as he didn't bite her while in panther form.
But before he went hunting for were-panthers, he needed to make sure the hill tribes were free from the curse of a local vampire. "Do the tigers know anything about a vampire?"
Tanit flinched, then swatted at a mosquito to try to cover up his reaction.
Caitlyn was quiet once more as she communicated with the giant cats.
Tanit shifted nervously from one foot to another. "We need to go back. We shouldn't be out here at night."
Carlos turned to him. "What do you know that you're not telling us?"
"Nothing." He shook his head nervously. "Anyone could tell you that you don't spend the night in the jungle."
"The tigers say there is an evil cave to the north, but we should stay away from it." Caitlyn shuddered. "Humans go in, but they never come out."
"We can't do it," Tanit hissed. "We can't go!"
Carlos glanced at the sun. "We'll be fine as long as we get there before sundown."
"I refuse to go!" Tanit yelled.
Carlos scowled at him. "Then go back to the village. I'm sure the tigers would love to escort you."
Tanit turned pale.
"If there's been a vampire in these hills for forty years, terrorizing the people and killing them, then I'm getting rid of him," Carlos announced. "It'll be easy enough to do if we find him before sundown."
"If," Caitlyn whispered. She took a deep breath, then shouldered her backpack. "We'd better get going, then."
Carlos's heart expanded in his chest. She was the bravest woman he'd ever met. She cowered in fear every time they saw a snake but still pressed forward.
She raised a hand in farewell to the tigers. "They say this is as far as they will go. We'll know we're coming close to the cave when we see the prayers."
"Prayers?" Carlos asked as the two tigers slipped back into the jungle.
She shrugged. "I'm not sure what they meant."
Carlos jumped over the narrow creek, then helped Caitlyn over. "You lead the way," he told Tanit. He wasn't turning his back on their guide.
With a scowl, Tanit put on his backpack and trudged up the mountain path.
Caitlyn groaned as they headed uphill once again. Almost two hours had passed since she'd communicated with the tigers. She'd sensed a true concern and friendliness from the giant cats that didn't seem to jibe with their supposed wildness. She wished she could discuss it with Carlos, but didn't feel comfortable talking about cat shifters in front of Tanit.
They'd figured out what the tigers meant about prayers. At the top of the mountain, they'd spotted a big boulder with a symbol painted on it. With a shudder, Tanit had explained it was a prayer for protection.
As they wound downhill, they noticed several other boulders with the same symbol. Now, as they trudged uphill again, Caitlyn winced with each step. Her legs felt like wet noodles, but with pain.
Finally, they neared the summit and ran into a vertical slab of rock fifteen feet high. The path fell off into a ravine to the left. To the right, the rock wall stretched as far as she could see.
"Looks like a dead end," she muttered.
"It is." Tanit pointed to the symbol painted on the rock. "It means death."
"It might refer to the vampire since he's dead during the day," Carlos said impatiently. "The cave should be close by. Let's hurry before the sun goes down."
