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I look around at the mess. Seeing the blood splatter wouldn’t have tipped me off they didn’t eat. I just assumed they were messy, but she’s right. I don’t think they drank a drop of blood.

“Who is sending the message and who is supposed to receive it?” Alarick asks.

“That is what we need to answer,” Chayton states.

“Is there any way we can reach out to the vampire council? Maybe they would know something about this.”

“No,” the vamp says quickly. “I mean, they wouldn’t know anything about human-turned vampires.”

Her initial reaction sparks my interest. She seemed highly against us reaching out to her council. I’m once again reminded that I don’t trust her.

“I can’t contact the vampire council directly without going through our council. And in case you’ve forgotten, we are harboring a fugitive,” Chayton says pointing to Alarick.

“You’re right,” Zyion shrugs.

“Do you think you can find out anything else from this crime scene?” Chayton asks the vamp.

“Yeah, let’s look at the rest of the house.” She moves into the kitchen. Chayton and Alarick follow her.

Before Zyion could walk off, I grab his arm. Tossing my head in the opposite direction as the others, I lead him out the front door. Stopping on the porch, I turn to him.

“Did something seem odd to you just then?”

He shrugs.

“She didn’t want us to reach out to her council. What does her council have to do with her sister running away from a forced marriage.”

“You’re right. That does seem odd.”

“She’s lying. She’s not running from a marriage. I think she’s running from her council.”

He scratches his chin. “You think it’s something like Alarick?”

“No. I’d go out on a limb to say whatever she did, might be bad. I think she’s a fugitive.”

“Should we report her?”

“We can’t. Not without alerting our council. And that’s too risky with Alarick here.”

“Well, what do we do?”

“We wait and we watch. Her story is starting to crumble. Soon it will fall apart.”

Now the argument with the sister makes sense. The youngest had said the oldest had caused a problem. What did she do that would have her hiding out with us?

“Are you going to tell Chayton?”

I shake my head. “Not yet. I want more proof.”

Zyion nods his head in agreement.

We make our way back inside the home. I pretend nothing is amiss, but I watch the vampire more closely. I was determined to discover her secret.

It was after midnight when we got back to Dark Woods. We all went in opposite directions. I walked toward town. I’d made plans with Nadia early, so I was heading to meet her.

Someone coming from the trees caught my attention. They hadn’t noticed me, too busy checking over their shoulders. Silently, I approach the tall figure.

“Gotcha,” I say, startling Torak.