Page 47 of After Darkness Falls

One thousand pounds. One thousand pounds. One thousand…damn right she was a cheetah today.

Chloe leaped into action the moment Jack said, "Go," pushing herself harder than before. Now that she had proper gear that was easy to run in and shoes that weren't pinching her toes, her body wasn't protesting against the effort. The previous week, she'd purposely stayed behind those in the lead since she didn’t know the way. "The summit" wasn't a hard direction. She could see it overhead, and although the hill was thick with trees and treacherous paths, the various paths leading up were clear enough.

Hearing a gunshot behind her, Chloe leaped to her right, then ducked and rolled on the cold, slightly damp, mossy ground. She shot blindly in the direction of the sound before resuming her run. The interruption had changed her course, but another path on the right led upward. She took it.

Running faster and faster, Chloe was almost halfway up the hill when she realized that most of the sounds seemed pretty far away. She took the time to look behind her. No one. They seemed to have all taken the left path, which either meant they were sheep or her way didn't lead to the summit. Hopefully the former.

Looking up, she saw the path continue. She was a mile or so down from an intersection, but she could clearly see the left pathway leading to the top. She could carry on and then turn left.

The path got steeper and steeper; no doubt that was why the others had avoided it. But Chloe kept going. Steeper meant that she'd arrive faster as long as she didn't slow down.

She reached the intersection where she should have turned left. One look down the mountain showed that she had at least five minutes on the next closest runner.

Instead of taking the left road, she found herself looking right.

Black tape barred the path, and beyond the tape was only sinuous trees, and then, darkness.

Chloe felt herself edging toward the tape. Where did this path lead? She wished she could tell.

Biting her lip, she took another step…

"Don't."

Chloe turned. A stranger stood in front of her.He was dark-haired and bronze-skinned, with crow-black eyes and a threatening edge. She'd never seen him in her life; he wasn't the sort of man someone could forget. And yet, he didn't feel like a stranger at all. She knew his presence.

"So you're my stalker."

She was strangely calm about it. Why was she calm? Probably because she had felt him follow her from the first day, and he hadn't harmed her yet. Besides, if he did want to harm her, she couldn’t do much about it. He was a vampire, that much was crystal clear.

He grinned. "I prefer babysitter."

"You've been sent to protect me?"

Chloe frowned. Wasn't she here, in this territory, because she didn't need a bodyguard twenty-four seven?

The vampire snorted. "More or less. I have…specific orders. I can't let you get drowned, decapitated, or burned to death. If you go down that path, I can't follow you and do my job. And you'll never come back."

Ominous.

"Drowned, beheaded, or burned," she repeated. "What if someone strangles me, then?"

The vampire shrugged. "Not my problem."

Chloe's jaw fell open. What the hell?

"Seriously?"

"Oh, yeah."

She shook her head in disbelief. "Well, it's a good thing no one here seems to be trying to murder me…"

"If you go down this way, someone will," the vampire said, tilting his chin toward the path she was still eyeing.

Chloe sighed. She felt…drawn to it. Drawn to that dark place he seemed so afraid of.

“What’s down there?”

“Nothing you should concern yourself with. And, by the way, you've lost the lead. Better get going if you want to win, fledgling."

---