Now I understood. “If he’s by himself, he may have turned the girls into vampires, too.”
“It is their way.” He made a turn down an old road that led past some cottages and mobile homes before it wound around a large apartment building.
I saw Connor waiting on his dirt bike at the entrance to the lot, and returned his wave. “There’s my ride home.”
Jesse put the car in park before he turned to me. “I will do some hunting and see what I can discover. Can you meet me at Kari’s taco party on Christmas Eve?”
“I’ll try.” Suddenly we were too far apart, and I flung myself at him. “I don’t care about vampire blood or reanimation. You’re not dead. You’re alive.”
He folded his arms around me, and rested his cheek against the top of my head. “You make me feel as if I am.”
“We’ll find a cure for this, and when we do, you’re going to be human again,” I promised him. “We’ll finish growing up together. You have no idea how much fun it’s going to be while we get crow’s feet and gray hair, and kids start calling us ‘sir’ and ‘ma’am.’ We’re going to have kids, and grandkids, and spend the last years of our lives in rocking chairs on a front porch. I’ll have too many cats, and you’ll complain about taxes, and … ” my throat hurt too much for me to finish.
“We will be together. Always.” Jesse lifted my chin, and kissed away a tear from my cheek. “I love you, Catlyn.”
I pulled away and got out of the car before I sobbed all over him, and made myself walk over to Connor. “Thanks for waiting.” I used my sleeve to mop up my tears, and felt a wrenching sensation as I heard Jesse drive away. “I was having a girl moment.”
“You’re allowed.” He handed me a spare helmet. “Everything okay?”
“Ask me that in another life.” I put on the helmet, clipped the chin strap together, and then climbed onto the back of his bike.
I’d ridden on the back of Trick’s Harley more times than I could count, so I wasn’t worried about riding with Connor. His bike, while smaller, seemed a lot faster and much more maneuverable, and probably was a blast through these hills.
Instead of using the road that passed the farm, Connor drove into the woods in front of Kari’s apartment building.
“It’s almost midnight,” he called back to me over his shoulder. “This is faster.”
I gave him a thumbs-up, and then looked ahead at the old trail he was taking. Jesse and I had never ridden out this far, but I knew it crossed his property. Connor would be able to drop me off practically at my front door.
Something big and fast-moving darted in front of the bike, making Connor swerve to avoid it, and I grabbed his waist as we wobbled and almost toppled over. He righted the bike just at the last minute and stopped an inch away from the massive trunk of an old oak, and flipped up his visor.
“Did you see that?” he asked me.
Before I could answer a horse came barreling out of the brush, its eyes wild and its legs churning as it reared. I realized it was Rika the minute I saw her swollen belly, and jumped off the bike, tearing off the helmet as I got between her and Connor.
“Turn the bike off,” I told him as I held out my hands. “Rika, it’s me. It’s okay.”
The Arabian dropped down, her ears pricking at the sound of my voice, and then she glared at Connor.
I approached her slowly, still talking to her in a soothing voice. “You’re okay now, it’s all right. This is my friend, Connor. He’s not going to hurt you.”
Once I got hold of her halter, I stroked her neck and rubbed her shoulder, bringing her head down to mine. “Connor, I’m going to have to walk her back to the farm. Wait for a few minutes before you start up the bike; the sound probably spooked her.”
He dropped the kickstand and took off his helmet. “I’ll walk with you.” As I started to tell him no, he said, “I promised Kari I’d make sure you got home okay. I am not going back there and telling her I left you alone in the woods with a runaway horse. I value my life too much.”
“Okay, but stay where she can see you,” I warned him.
Together with Connor I led Rika across Jesse’s property, stopping at the old Ravenov manor house to let her rest and have a little water. While she drank, I checked her over, but found no injuries to indicate she’d broken out of her stall.
“I don’t understand how she got loose,” I said to Connor as I retrieved a lead rope from one of the posts and tied it to her halter. “She’s kept in the barn all night. They must have forgotten to bring her in.” As soon as I got home I was going to give both my brothers a piece of my mind.
“There have been a lot of strange things happening with horses around here,” Connor told me. “You’ve heard about the ones that were killed, right?”
I nodded. “Our vet told us about Mr. Palmer’s stallions. He was the guy who sold Rika to us before he left town.”
“It’s not just Palmer’s horses,” Connor said. “I’ve been getting all kind of weird reports for the Ledger. From what I’ve pieced together, these two guys have been going around the farms, sneaking into barns. Sometimes they attack the horses with knives. Other times they turn them loose and run them off. No one knows why.”
I thought of the descriptions Sheriff Yamah had gotten of the man who had abducted Becca Hamilton. “Is one young, and the other one old?”
He looked astonished. “Yeah, how did you know?”
“Whoever has been hurting the horses may be the same guys who are taking these girls.” I told him about the call the sheriff had gotten earlier, and the descriptions of the two men. “Has anyone recognized the guys hurting the horses? I mean, are they local, or maybe a couple of pickers?”
“No, but there is one thing. Mr. Palmer went to Ringers’ Tavern the night before he left town,” Connor said. “He was pretty upset, and started knocking back shots like they were going to be outlawed tomorrow. He told some guys there that he saw who attacked his horses. He said it was a ghost.”
“There’s no such thing as ghosts,” I assured him.
“Well, if there is,” he said, “Palmer said this one looked just like Old Man Hargraves.”
Fifteen
Connor stayed with me as I put Rika back into the barn, which was where Gray found us as he rode in on Flash.
“You found her.” He dismounted and led the grumpy palomino back to his stall before he joined us. “She all right?”
“She was,” I said as the Arabian began pawing the ground. “Keep your distance.” I led her into her stall, taking off her halter before I came back out and latched the door. “What did you do? Leave her outside all night?”
“Trick put them away after dark,” he told me. “He must have forgotten to throw the latch.”
“Was the barn door open when you came out here and found her gone?” As Gray nodded, I asked, “Do you think he left that open, too?”
Gray started to say something, and then looked at Connor. “What’s he doing here?”
“He gave me a ride home.” I introduced them, although it was hard to keep the irony out of my voice. Gray knew exactly who Connor was, and Connor hadn’t been forced to forget my brother.
“Nice to meet you,” Connor said before he turned to me. “I’ve got to get back before my girlfriend calls in the Marines. Talk to you later.”
Gray waited until Connor left before he started on me. “How do you know him, and why is he bringing you home?”
“You caught me. I’m having a wild affair with Connor Devlin and his girlfriend.” I uttered a blissful sigh. “Do you think Trick will mind me being part of a threesome?”
My brother scowled. “You’re not doing that.”
“You know, you’re right. I’m not. Connor is a nice boy who just gave me a ride home. Deal with it.” I walked out of the barn.
At the house I expected to see Trick waiting for me, but as Gray came in he told me he’d gone to bed.
“Lucky for you,” he added. “If he’d seen you with that boy, he’d have gone ballistic.”
“I’m sorry,” I said in my best insincere tone. “Am I not allowed to have friends?”
“That guy is not your friend,” my brother said. “And you didn’t go shopping tonight.”
“No, I didn’t,” I confessed. “I actually broke into an empty house to search it for hidden documents. When the sheriff caught me, I almost killed him.” I batted my eyelashes at him. “But I was able to blackmail him into keeping his mouth shut, so no real harm done.”
Gray looked uncertain. “You’re not funny.”
“I’m not joking.” I went upstairs.
As tired as I felt, I had trouble falling asleep, and when I finally drifted off I dreamed of horses being chased through the woods by a maniac who kept changing back and forth from an old man to Jesse. As he attacked me, Rika suddenly appeared and began trampling him, but he wouldn’t die. It seemed so real that when he turned and came at me with the knife I woke up and almost screamed.
My clock radio said it was only five a.m., but no way was I going back to sleep. Instead I took a long, hot shower, and once I’d dressed I went downstairs to start breakfast.
My pancakes weren’t going to win any prizes, but it felt good to cook and work off the anxiety left over by the nightmare. When my brothers got up an hour later I had the table set and breakfast ready.
“Morning,” Trick said as he made a beeline for the coffee maker. He eyed the full pot I’d made for him. “My birthday is in July.”
“I couldn’t sleep.” I took out some orange juice and filled the glasses I’d set out on the table. “Rika got loose last night.”
“What?”