Carpathian 15 - Dark Secret

sure, but we'll find her over that way. He erased her tracks and did a darned good job of it too."
    "How?" Paul asked.
    Colby shrugged. "All he had to do was wait for her to start for the spring and somehow get her to switch directions. Once she was out of sight, he got rid of her tracks on that side and any evidence that she'd passed that way. He left her tracks leading in this direction, covered them with his own, and smashed bushes to make it look like she struggled."
    And he used the sack of oats to make his prints deeper in the dirt so we'd think he was carrying Ginny,"

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    Paul said.
    She nodded. "I should have figured it out right then. It would have saved us a lot of grief."
    "Why, Colby?" Paul asked plaintively. "Why is the vampire doing this to us? Where did he come from and what does he want?"
    Colby looked up at Rafael. "That's a good question, Paul, and I don't have the answer. It makes no sense."
    Rafael sighed. "The vampire has effectively destroyed the man's brain. He's rotting from the inside out.
    To him, what he is doing may make perfect sense, although to us it is elaborate and vile. He cannot think clearly anymore. He tries to obey his master's bidding. More than likely his master did not say to kill the child so he is concentrating on drawing out his target."
    As much as she wanted Rafael there, he was swaying with weariness and she could see blisters rising on his skin. She touched his mind, as soft and delicate a probe as she could make it. Instantly she was driven to her knees, the pain so excruciating her heart stuttered.
    Rafael's hands were gentle as he lifted her to him, but his eyes were stern. "Do not do that again."
    She blinked back tears. Tears wouldn't find Ginny and they wouldn't stop the pain for Rafael. "Paul, I need my rifle. Take the mare and go back to the house and bring me my gun and extra ammo and a canteen."
    "You'll find Ginny?"
    "Absolutely. I'll find Ginny"
    Paul hesitated. "But what are you going to do with the rifle?"
    "I don't know yet," Colby replied honestly, "but this is going to stop. Now go."
    He turned away, took two steps, and turned back. "What if you're both wrong, Colby? What if he has her?"
    "I'm not wrong, Paulo," she told him. Colby had been reading tracks most of her life; she was certain she could find her sister.
    "You know what we are through your link to Nicolas," Rafael pointed out. "I am telling you, Ginny is not with the vampire's servant and for that we can all be grateful. I sense his presence in one direction and hers in another. Colby hopes to send me away because I am not at full strength, but I won't leave her until everyone is safe. You have my word of honor."
    Paul hugged Colby, needing to, needing her strength, deriving comfort and reassurance from her the way he'd done most of his life.
    Colby watched Paul scramble out of the canyon and begin to make his way back toward the ranch house before she turned back to Rafael. "You look like you're going to fall over. I'm a good shot, Rafael.
    If it isn't the vampire, I can take care of it."

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    "They eat human flesh, Colby," he said, gesturing toward the direction they thought Ginny had taken.
    "You find your sister and I will destroy the vampire's evil creation."
    "What are you going to do?"
    "Let him think you are alone. He will come after you. I do not like using you as bait, but it is the only way when I am so weak, meu amor."
    "I don't mind being bait to get Ginny back. Are you certain Ginny's alive?"
    He took a deep breath, scenting the air. "She's alive." Rafael's large frame shimmered. "It will be easier for me to endure the light in the form of mist. I will be close, Colby."
    She knew he would be. Rafael was in excruciating pain, yet he had still come to her when she needed him.
    He is taking a terrible risk. Nicolas's voice was harsh in her mind. Soon the lethargy will overtake him and he will be unable to move, and without cover, he will die.
    I won't let him. She couldn't change Rafael's mind once it was made up. She could only try to locate Ginny quickly and get them all out of the climbing sun.
    Colby began a slow, methodical search of the ground. She kept her eyes glued to the dirt, moving in an ever-widening circle. In a shallow depression behind the boulders she discovered a partial print, the worn left heel, an old rusty