Bone Dust & Beginnings (Alexa's Travels Book 1) (19 page)

The clearing was covered with large rocks and boulders, and the blonde got them set with short words. Something didn’t feel right about this and it was more than the child. "Ten minutes, full guard."

The others showed the rookies where to be, and Alexa gently took the child from her back and laid him against a natural rise in one of the moss-covered boulders.

As she did this, a new sound rose through the blackness behind them - a shriek of unbearable loss. Incredibly loud, it was earsplitting despite the distance, and her men fell into a tighter circle around her and the baby.

"Momma."

A first thought was to mistake the word for the confusion of a lonely, abandoned toddler, but this was no ordinary baby, and Alexa understood instantly.
"
Your
momma.
Wonderful."

She evaluated for a split second and then spun a finger. "Fall in line, my pets, and cover those throats. His guardians are coming."

Alexa drew with her left hand, barrel pointed down, and her men did the same, following her one, hard rule -
do what I do.

The jungle around them was silent.

Alexa looked away from the child for only a split second, but it was enough. Hungry, starving for fresh blood, the infant lunged for her arm.

His fangs sank deep into her wrist, but to the shock of her men, Alexa only held the baby closer. An instant later, the forest parted.

There were three of them. Ivory skin covered with ragged black cloaks, their beautiful, furious faces were made ugly by glowing red eyes that promised no mercy. A man in front, flanked by two snarling females, Alexa's army waited for it to begin.

Alexa, however, noticed the concern in those evil eyes. These were not killers, only survivors. Not that those long fingers wouldn’t rip out the throats of her men in defense. Still, it was better than an enemy who had no weakness.

It was a long moment as the trio took in her neatly lined-up males and then lingered on the feeding child.

Without wincing, she shifted the baby more firmly into the crook of her arm. "Your family has come, little one."

At her words, the baby's head spun, fangs ripping from her flesh. Alexa used her sleeve to gently wipe her blood from the corner of its perfect mouth.

"Momma!"

The baby strained for the female with the stunningly round face, like a china doll.

Alexa moved forward, "Of course."

She switched him to her other hand as she moved, and it was Edward who thought to come forward with a bandage to cover the wound. He did it while they walked and the horseman stayed on her right as she stepped confidently to the surprised vampires.

The trio of blood-takers flinched backward only half a step at her movement, merciless eyes narrowing in warning. She watched their fangs extend and voiced her thought.

"He's a very interesting baby. Will he stay this way or grow?"

Alexa's question threw them off, breaking the tension a bit, and the doll-faced woman looked to the male.

He didn't respond, and the female's eyes lost some of their fervor as Alexa gently put the struggling infant into her cold arms.

The six fighters watched her linger -
so close to death! -
to
run a steady finger over one rosy cheek.

"We sought only to save him, nothing more."

The mother, her baby back in her arms, nodded slowly, and the man lost some of his menace as well. Maybe this could end peacefully.

The other female however, had been carefully inching closer to the undefended men, the very
human
men.

Alexa's voice cracked out like a whip. "I'm still close enough to take his life for any of theirs!"

The sneaking female froze, and the male gestured angrily, snarling something none but the vampires understood.

The second woman fell back quickly, and Alexa slowly did the same.

"I could have killed him as soon as I realized what he was. Anyone else would have." She took another step back. "I could have left him to the birds. It wasn't my fight."

That comment drew an agonized cry of denial from the mother. The man put a restraining white hand on her shoulder that she shrugged off.

It was a shock to see such emotions from the Undead, and Alexa’s men tried not to let it sway them against that sense of danger. The Vampyres clearly only wanted the baby right now. What might happen later?

In the mother's pale grip was now a pouch, her movements so fast, even Alexa hadn't seen it.

"Take."

The blonde did with no sign that it bothered her to touch the cold female, and then the trio of horrors was moving into the forest, leaving a soft giggling echo.

Alexa opened the pouch wide to let her men see. Inside was a small, intricately carved horn with long green tassels. On the side, was a crudely, yet beautifully drawn image of a wolf fighting a woman with long blonde braids. To the sides of these, were six small stick figures, each holding what could have been a gun.

"A Caller," Alexa murmured in appreciation as she stowed the gift. She caught Jacob's confused expression. "Yes?"

He shrugged. "Just don't understand why his mother put him in the well at all. They could have handled those birds as easily as we did."

Alexa grunted.
"The father."

The preacher's brow drew together in confusion, and Edward explained.
"Half human.
His father likely hid him there and hoped she'd find him before the birds broke through the stone."

"Why wouldn't the Ferryman let them cross?"

"And what were those two lights we saw before he came?"

The rookies were banding together to ask their questions, David now willing to split her anger if there was any to be had, and she turned away without responding, knowing the others would answer those questions and more when they finally made camp for a sleep shift. Her moment with the Card Player would be among them.

There was little to say after that, the clicks and clacks of the bridge near enough now to let them see a faint glowing outline. They were almost out of this odd place, and each of them was eager for it.

4

Very near where they were to meet the Ferryman, Alexa tensed, stopping, and her men searched the darkness warily for the danger. Around them, the night stilled into complete silence.

"Up!"

Alexa's order was followed by seven leaps into the nearest trees.
"Still!"

They were a small group of motionless shadows, perched firmly in decaying, brittle branches an instant later, and for a long moment, there was nothing.

Not even the sound of wind rustling came, and her men knew to be ready. In the darkness, everything held its breath, including the night, as something moved toward them.

There were no footsteps, no shouted orders or torch lights in the distance, but the feeling of being tracked was unmistakable. Something was in the jungle, looking for them. Did it know where they were? The thought was common property, and each of them drew their weapon.

None of the men were sure what to expect as the dark, damp bushes parted, and it was no relief to see faces they recognized.

The three Vampyres, one with a napping child on her back, were arguing softly. Their words were so low, they were barely audible, and the language was foreign to tense ears.

The trio stopped under the trees the fighters were trying to blend into, and all seven of them saw the baby stir. Its eyes opened, now blood red like its parent’s, and the three walking dead glanced up in unison. "We have come for you."

Alexa answered immediately. "But to what end, Blood-takers?"

Although their red eyes were impossible to read, she knew. "There's a bounty you've been sent to collect."

The vampire mother's voice was chillingly alien as she forced English through cold lips. "I will not."

At that, Alexa dropped from the tree and her men landed around her.

"Then why are you here?" Edward demanded.

The male bared his fangs in disapproval.

"He's not sure," Alexa pointed out to the mother, ignoring Edward's question.

The female acknowledged her companions were not in agreement with her choice to spare them. "You have men. Those, they will not let pass."

Alexa's eyes narrowed into those dangerous chips. "They are mine. If not for their help, your infant would not be here."

The other female hissed angrily, and the mother translated. "You don't really need them."

"I do." Alexa took a step back, hands ready, "I'll die for them with your debt unpaid!"

The mother turned to her companions, and Alexa backed up further. Everything about her said get ready to fight, and her men took notice.

The trio began arguing, all ignoring the baby who was watching alertly from his seat. When the conversation settled down, the female turned back.

"If we let you go, we cannot stay here, but we cannot flee either."

"Because he is not immortal yet.
He can be hurt, drowned."

The mother's eyes softened only the tiniest bit at Alexa's correct guess. "Until he's older, no such water crossing can be made."

"If not for us, he'd never see that day come."

"To let you live, we must die or flee!"

Alexa waved a hand toward the sky, where the golden stairs were nearly complete.
"A way out."

"One we cannot pay for! The Ferryman never lets us cross."

Alexa's voice was soothing. "Tonight, he will."

There was another short talk between the trio and then the words only Alexa had expected.

"They
will not survive the coming war with nature. Not even by
your
side."

Alexa's answer was far from emotionless. "Perhaps that is not what they were meant to do."

The blonde's words grew more forceful. "Perhaps they will be witnesses when I stop our enemy. To die in such a way would be an honor for my army."

Alexa turned toward the glowing stairs. "The invitation stands, but the child will be the first to die if you cross me." She spun a finger.
"Rotating watch.
Let's go."

5

The Ferryman didn't react when Alexa and her men moved into view, but he scowled fiercely at the pale trio behind them. Before he could protest, Alexa gestured with her injured wrist.

"Vampyre venom for passage."
She extended her bleeding arm. "Imagine the price for each drop."

The creatures behind her hissed in anger, but the Ferryman nodded curtly, moving toward her with hungry lips.
"Done."

Their second trip over the bridge was without excitement and full of unreadable sweeps of the three, red-eyed vampires following effortlessly behind them.

As they reached the ground, Alexa pointed to a nearby stack of bags. "Get our things. I'd travel until near light."

Each man was looking forward to the sleep shift that would come with the sun.

The male of their newest guests spoke. "We must hunt… for him."

"Will you stay here or search for your own kind?"

"You know of others."

"Yes. Don't you?"

'We've been in Laramie since man's war. There are no more like us here."

Alexa studied him for a long moment. "You owe a debt now. Would you triple it, killer?"

The pale man's red eyes flashed.
"Agreed.
And if you lie, we owe nothing!"

"Done."

Alexa closed her eyes, and the jungle around them went still once more. The air thickened, became sharper somehow, and a ghostly green light glimmered at them from the darkness. It slowly took the shape of a rope and the end coiled snugly around Alexa's fist.

"Jendon, I call you!" She jerked the wispy rope violently and an answering cry rang out.

"I come!"

Alexa gathered her cloak as Edward stood guard, and they all heard the slow-clip of a shod horse through the nearby trees.

The Troll's reaction upon seeing their guests was one of shock, but it was the vampires who surprised the six men the most. Their tones became friendly, their stiff posture relaxing…

When Jendon began to talk to them in their own language, the fighters realized there would only be the seven of them again
come
daylight and were relieved. It was a revolting thought that they might have had to protect the walking dead while they too slept, and the males were glad she wasn't asking it of them.

"My words are proven and so is your debt to me." Alexa drew the pale horrors back, her blue eyes without mercy. "In payment, none of you, the child included, will
ever
take another human life that has not been proven evil. I command it!"

All three of the night walkers flinched back.

Jendon's tone was full of bitter understanding. "Come, Masters. Let me take you home."