THE FOREST OUTSIDE THE STATION ARGENT WAS QUIET—TOO QUIET. And too much silence was suspicious. Jacob carefully walked across the ground with his boots, making a sound when he stepped on the ground.
He was holding a rifle. And he planned to hunt for dinner. He was following tracks, not human ones, but hoofprints. Deep and fresh. Though he was a doctor, he was also a hunter. He was trained to hunt, especially vampires.
Jacob heard it.
A sharp snap. A thud. And then silence.
He crouched low, peering past a thicket of pine, aiming his rifle in no direction.
That’s when he saw her.
Danica.
Danica was kneeling beside the still-warm body of a white-furred deer, her back turned, her shoulders heaving with quiet, controlled breaths.
Jacob thought at first that Danica was checking th
