Hunter Of The Dead (10 page)

Chapter Fifteen

“We don’t have time to stop.” Even as the words left her mouth, Eden slowed, turning to find both Kaede and Alejandro had stopped moving. “I’m serious. What if the psycho decides to kill them tonight?”

“He won’t.”

“You can’t know that.” Stress and worry tightened the muscles in Eden’s shoulders and she wanted to punch the other woman.

From the look in Kaede’s eyes, she knew exactly what Eden was thinking. “He is waiting for the full moon.” She shrugged out of her pack. “I have no idea what the full moon has to do with Christianity, but no one’s questioned him.”

“Because they wish to keep their heads.” Alejandro eyed the tree branches above them, ignoring the look Kaede and Eden shared. How the hell would he know that? It could have been conjecture, but something about the assured way he spoke sent an uneasy twinge through Eden. It made her consider something she should have a long time ago—what was Alejandro doing in the valley in the first place?

Before she could give her question voice, Alejandro said, “It would be best if we did not sleep on the ground.”

Kaede followed his gaze. “Smartest thing you’ve said all day.”

Eden’s questions were swept away in a tide of frustration. She wanted to scream because they were ignoring her. But freaking out wouldn’t make them take her seriously. She made an effort to keep her voice low and controlled. “We need to keep moving.”

“The full moon isn’t for two more days.” Kaede followed Alejandro’s gaze. “And, yes, sleeping in the trees is a lot better than waking up to a dead guy ripping out my throat.”

Eden noticed the Japanese woman was swaying on her feet. They were exhausted, even the indestructible Kaede. But she couldn’t sit back and relax while her sister was in danger. “What if the priest decides to do it earlier?”

Kaede climbed up the trunk of a large tree, as agile as a monkey. “He won’t.”

“You can’t know that.” Eden resisted the urge to stomp her foot. Barely.

“You didn’t see this guy. He’s all about the ritual. He told them he’d do it on the night of the full moon and that’s what he’ll do. Anything else would make him look weak because he rushed. Trust me, princess, he’ll wait.”

“How the hell do you know what he will or won’t do? You were knocked out and left behind while they rushed into danger.” It was a low blow and she knew it.

Kaede—Ice Queen, psychopath Kaede—freaking flinched. “I found a way up the cliffs to a ledge overlooking the camp. Once I knew there was a way in, I came looking for you.”

“Why?” She shook off Alejandro’s hand on her arm. “Why did you run when you could have helped them?”

“Because I’m not fucking perfect!” Kaede’s mouth snapped shut with an audible click. She closed her eyes for a long moment and then opened them to glare down at Eden. “I’m not perfect and, contrary to what you think, I can’t take on a camp full of pissed off people, not in the middle of the day, not by myself.”

“
Querida
.” Alejandro spun her around, breaking her staring contest with Kaede. Eden tried to shake him off but it was impossible; he was too strong. He shook her once, hard. “We need to get into the trees now,
mi amor
. Your problem with her can wait until this is over.”

He was right. Eden bit her lip to hold back yet another apology to Kaede. “We need to keep going.”

“We cannot go running through the jungle at night. There are many infected and they will have the advantage once darkness falls.”

She knew that. But her emotions were so tangled up she was having trouble thinking straight. And the little voice in the back of her mind telling her to hurry, to find and save Jordan, really didn’t help.

Alejandro must have seen the stubborn expression on her face. “Would it help your sister if you were bitten or killed?”

There was no way around the question. “No,” she said grudgingly.

Alejandro shot a glance to where Kaede was still glowering at them before he moved closer and lowered his voice. “You are still weak from losing so much blood.” He didn’t give her a chance to argue before he said, “Get yourself into a tree,
querida
, or I will bind you until morning.”

From the look in his eyes, he would do it too. Damn it. Eden nodded jerkily. She
was
exhausted, nearly weaving on her feet. The weakness made her angry, but it wasn’t his—or Kaede’s—fault she wasn’t at her best.

“Here.”

Eden looked up in time to be hit with a bundle of clothes. She pulled them off her face; they turned out to be a pair of Kaede’s pants and a tank top.

“Wear these and let your armor dry out overnight.”

“Thanks.” It was as much of an apology as she was willing to give. Eden walked away from Alejandro and around a tree. It wasn’t the best cover, but it was better than stripping down right in front of him. She didn’t realize how much the wet armor bugged her until she was free of it. After a second’s consideration, she stripped out of her underwear as well and pulled on the dry clothes. The shirt was too tight across her chest, but the pants fit.

By the time she came back, carrying her discarded armor, boots, and underwear, Alejandro and his pack were in a tree.

“Come,
querida
. This place is large enough for both of us.”

She almost told him where to stick it, but a night wedged uncomfortably in a tree wasn’t her idea of a good time. Sometimes sacrifices had to be made. It was just her luck this particular sacrifice demanded she spend the night wrapped up in Alejandro.

Very pointedly not looking at Kaede, she climbed up the tree and moved around to where he was. True to his word, the fork he sat in was large enough for both of them to fit easily. She took his offered hand and let him help her sit between his legs, her back to him. He handed her a piece of fruit and a protein bar. Eden ate it in record time, her eyes already drooping by the time she finished.

But she wasn’t quite ready to sleep. Instead, her mind went back to the bizarre way Alejandro and Kaede acted around each other. Before she could think better of it, Eden asked, “What’s the deal with you and Kaede?”

“If you answer that, you idiot Columbian, I will come over there and castrate you.” Kaede’s fierce whisper made Eden stiffen. Damn it, she completely forgot the other woman was so close. “Mind you own business, princess.”

Eden settled back against Alejandro, feeling like an asshole for the thousandth time that day. Oh wait, she
was
an asshole. She should have just asked Kaede instead of going to Alejandro. Or at least waited until Kaede wasn’t within freaking hearing range. Shoving down her pride, Eden muttered, “I’m sorry.”

A sigh sifted through the darkness between them. “Go to sleep, princess.”

Eden thumped her head back into Alejandro’s chest, furious at herself. She was an idiot.

He shifted, pulling his hips away from her back. When Eden looked over her shoulder at him, he grinned a little sheepishly. “I am only human,
querida
.”

Oh
. She turned around hastily, staring into space. Heat that had nothing to do with the outside temperature spread through her body. This was the last thing she needed right now. Eden closed her eyes, but it only made it worse because she became painfully aware of every spot they touched.

Moans cut through the growing twilight, and Eden nearly bolted upright—would have if Alejandro hadn’t pulled her back with an arm across her chest. Gone was any thought of sex as she listened to the infected crash through the jungle around them.

“Do not move or make a sound,” Alejandro breathed in her ear. “They will not know we are here.”

Eden wasn’t so sure. She’d always thought the infected came with a built-in sensor for life in the immediate area. Not that she ever had a chance to test her theory before, but it looked like she would now. Hysteria bubbled up, choosing to take the form of laughter. She bit back the sound, but it wouldn’t be denied.

The moans grew closer and there were more infected than before.

Oh God, she was going to laugh and give them away. Eden clamped her hands over her mouth, but the movement only made her want to laugh harder.

Alejandro’s hands tensed. He scooped her up and turned her around until she was sitting in his lap, facing him. For a long moment, Eden stared at him, shocked. But then the laughter bubbled up again. There was no holding it back this time.

Then Alejandro kissed her and the need to laugh disappeared. Hell, the world disappeared. Even the moans of the infected didn’t register as she slipped her arms around his neck. His tongue delved into her mouth, tentatively tasting. That small movement sent fireworks off throughout her body. She tilted her head, seeking to allow him deeper access, but he kept the kiss light, driving her mad with wanting. Eden ran her hands down his chest, but he grabbed them and brought them back to his neck. The movement left her unbalanced and Eden fell against his chest. His hands on her back steadied her and then she forgot everything but the feeling of him touching her.

A minute, an eternity, later, he pulled back, changing their kiss to the softest brushing of lips before ending it altogether. It was only then Eden remembered.

She opened her mouth to say...something, but he stopped her with his finger on her lips. Alejandro shook his head and she glanced down. Several infected moved under their trees. Eden watched in morbid fascination as they lurched about without running into anything. She didn’t know why it surprised her—most of them could see, after all—but it did.

Eden narrowed her eyes. Alejandro hadn’t been swept away like she had; he had kept his wits about him the entire time, had known he was distracting her from giving them away.

She didn’t know if she should be delighted at his quick thinking or disgusted with him for using her attraction against her. She still hadn’t decided when she drifted off, her head pillowed against his chest. Her dreams were populated by the few people she cared about, bitten and dying. They screamed for help, asking why she wasn’t there when they needed her. Eden had no answer for them and they faded away to the sound of her desperate pleading for forgiveness.

****

Getting to Jordan was going to be a problem. Eden crouched in a tree—she was feeling more monkey than human these days—and surveyed the scene. The survivors had made camp in a thin, long section of the valley that branched into the cliffs like a reverse peninsula. The only way to get to them was to pass the thin entrance between the towering cliffs. It looked about fifteen feet across—and it was blocked by a fence. Eden squinted. It wasn’t a crappy fence, either. It looked military-grade, a guess reinforced by the way the masses of infected beat ineffectually against it.

The fence led her to the biggest problem. It would seem every infected in the valley stood between Eden and her sister. There was no way she could make it through that crowd. Even if she did, there were still the armed guards to deal with. And they didn’t look too forgiving.

“How did Taro get taken, anyways?” Eden couldn’t imagine a scenario where infected were able to overpower him, let alone mere humans.

“They had tranquilizers,” Kaede said flatly.

Eden frowned. That couldn’t be right. Why would anyone in the village have tranquilizers? The answer was that they wouldn’t. The implication of that particular weapon wasn’t one she liked, but Eden let it go. What was important was finding a way to get closer. Even if they stuck to the trees, they could only cover half the distance to the fence.

“So what’s the plan?” Eden asked.

“Our best bet is the cliffs,” Kaede said from her position in the next tree over. Eden wasn’t sure how she did it, but the other woman managed to lounge even though she was twenty feet off the ground on a branch swaying precariously in the breeze.

Eden cast a dubious glance at the cliffs. “Are you sure?” It might have been an easy climb for Kaede, but she had doubts
she
could make it up so easily.

“If we climb, we can make our way into the survivors’ camp.” she motioned and Eden followed the line of her arm. Sure enough, there was a ledge about halfway up the cliff on the left side of the fence.

“We’d have to wait for dark.” But it was the best option they had. Eden scrubbed her face, trying to think. Even if they got in, there was no guarantee they could get back out again. The survivors really screwed up there, leaving themselves no escape route. Or maybe not since they weren’t intending to get out alive. Idiots. But Eden didn’t have time to worry about an exit strategy now. The clock in her head was winding down rapidly, counting the seconds until that freak killed the only family she had left. “What about the priest?”

Kaede shrugged. “Kill him.”

“Kill him?” As appealing as the idea of killing someone who wanted to murder her sister, it was still a big step. Eden had never killed a human, not even a bitten one. She wasn’t sure she could do it. Maybe they could neutralize him in another way.

“Let us focus on getting into the camp first.” Of course Alejandro was the voice of reason. He was always the voice of reason. Which drove Eden nuts.

Apparently Kaede was of the same mind. She shot him a disgusted look. “If you’re not willing to bloody your precious hands, I’ll do it.”

Since she’d murdered most her family to save her twin, Eden had no problem picturing Kaede killing a stranger. The woman was ice cold. It was part of what made her such a good hunter, but it still scared the crap out of Eden sometimes. She cleared her throat. “We can talk about it after we get a look at the camp.”

“Fine.”

The trek to their current position had taken several long hours, mostly because they were forced to stop every time they heard the infected. Some they killed, but more often than not the groups were too large and they feared the sound of fighting would bring others. It violated every instinct Eden had to let them wander off with their heads attached, but she had to keep her priorities straight. And priority number one was saving Jordan. It had to be. If she got distracted and her sister died because of it...there were no words to describe Eden’s level of grief and guilt at the thought.