I managed to lift my chin as I asked, “And you are?”
His leather jacket creaked as he leaned forward slightly, his nostrils flaring delicately as he sniffed the air. Okay, that wasn’t weird at all. Definitely not serial killerish. My mind ran through the contents of my backpack again. Unless I wanted to squirt suncream in his eyes, I had nothing that could be used as a weapon. If only I hadn’t dropped my torch. It wasn’t much, but clubbing him over the head with it would have improved my situation slightly.
My injured fingers throbbed, and I realised I gripped the branch as though my life depended on it.
“Never mind me, who are you, and how did you get here?” His intense gaze skewered me to the trunk. I pressed myself back, the contents of my bag digging into my spine.
The further back I leaned, the closer he seemed to get. Without seeing him move, he was suddenly further along the branch, closer to me. The tree limb didn’t so much as sag under his weight. A tumble of dark, shoulder length waves fell over one eye, and he swept them back with a careless toss of his head. The fine chains around his neck whispered at the movement. There was absolutely no way I was giving him my name, never mind admitting to being lost.
“Nice boots,” I said instead, my voice surprisingly steady.
He grinned, not taking his eyes off me to glance at the army boots he wore, laces hung loose at his ankles. “Merci. Tell me your name.”
“I asked first.”
He sighed, a sad sound, no hint of frustration. “My name is of no consequence. Yours, however…” His too pale tongue darted over his full mouth, snagging on a lip ring. “I have a feeling we shall all know your name soon enough. Won’t you give me the honour of hearing it first?”
Fucking weirdo. “No.”
“Jacques.”
I blinked. “What?”
“My name. Jacques.”
“Oh. And what do you want, Jacques?”
He grinned, hissing out the word, “Nothing.” God, he had too many teeth. Like a shark. Goosebumps coated my arms again. “Only to help you.”
Yeah, right.
He moved, slowly and with all the grace of a panther, taking a careful step along the branch, which, once again, didn’t so much as shiver. “Are you lost, belle fille?”
Obviously.
I longed to scour the woodland for any hint of a late-night rescue party, come to save me before I ended up chopped into pieces and scattered all over the forest, but I couldn’t look away from his eyes. They glittered like stars. So pretty, but terrifying. I gulped, and he stilled, dipping into a crouch, his claw-like hands dangling over his knees.
“I smell your fear, but I mean you no harm.”
Whatever. Out of all the things I’d experienced so far, that statement was the most difficult to believe.
“You’re wise to be wary,” he went on in that low, amused voice. “I will give you some friendly advice. Stay in the tree until sunup. That thing we just saw is the least of your concerns.”
Yep. I’d gathered as much.
“What was it?” A shiver of doubt slipped into my voice. It was a hallucination, wasn’t it? It had to be.
“An agent of Maelgwyn. They are called shades. It will be gone come sunrise.”
Right, of course. How silly of me. I didn’t know or care what a Maelgwyn was, but this bright-eyed stranger thought I should stay in the tree, and I couldn’t find a compelling counter argument, not after what I’d witnessed so far.
“What howled?” I asked, unsure his next answer would offer the slightest insight.
He shrugged, bored. “It has no name in your world, but the ground is unsafe by night. When the sun rises, climb down, and head south.”
Was that where he kept his freezer full of body parts? “What’s south?”
He waved an airy hand, encompassing the entire mess that was me. “Assistance.”
I squared my shoulders as best I could, all things considered. “I don’t need help.”
A lie. A pathetic, transparent lie.
Jacques smiled, raising an eyebrow, and I was seized by the overwhelming urge to plant my heel squarely in his pretty little runway-chic face. His grin widened as though he’d read my thoughts. Creep.
His expression turned solemn as he studied me. Something flickered in his magnificent eyes. Longing? Hunger? Pity?
He shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it at me. I caught it on reflex, my mouth falling open in surprise.
“We have waited a long time for you, ma belle,” he whisper-hissed. “Be careful.”
I took a breath to respond, but with a shiver of movement, the branch was empty. A delicate thud sounded on the ground below, and I looked down in time to catch Jacques’ eye as he straightened. Sliding his hand into the pockets of his pants, he nodded, and strolled away through the trees.
I stared at the darkness he’d melted into, reeling. Had that even happened, or was it another consequence of the blow to my head? The last thing I needed when I was finally rescued was a padded cell. Or maybe that was exactly what I did need, if recent events were anything to go by. Was the jacket I clutched to my chest even real? Gingerly, conscious of the drop, I bent my throbbing knees to my chest and wrapped the jacket around myself, wincing as my ruined nails snagged. Tears sprang to my eyes.
I wanted to go home.
It was a while before I noticed that Jacques’ leather jacket, fresh from his body, was as cold as the grave.
