Free Dragon Down by Casey Knight

oak stake from his pocket, and slammed it home, right through the vampire’s heart. A second later there was nothing but ash left of the vampire. Note to self, don’t make this guy angry. He was coldly efficient. Together we headed for the cave’s opening. We arrived right before our replacements and took our seats. Zane sat down and picked up the cards on the table. I took the chair opposite him and kept my head down. We waited until both men were in the cave before we attacked them. Zane was nearer the cave’s entrance. He tripped the first man who went sprawling in my direction. I hit him before he could regain his footing and he stayed down.
    When I looked up again Zane and the second man were slugging it out on the ground. I couldn’t use my bracelet for fear of hitting Zane by mistake. My help wasn’t needed, as Zane subdued the man and pulled him toward the back of the cave. We left the cave and moved back up the hill in the same direction as we’d come. Once we were out of the view of the camp, we picked up our pace. Running wasn’t an option, it was dark and the brush was too thick. I tried to retrace the way I’d come, but the going was still hard. Zane moved ahead of me and to my right. Tokem zipped back and forth between us until we crested the hill. Temporarily reunited, we stopped long enough to drink some water and catch our breath.
    “Why did you kill the vampire? I wasn ’t through talking to him.”
    Zane shrugged and I sprang up from my seat and got right up in his face.
    “What is that supposed to mean? I hadn’t asked him if he knew anything about Traygen.”
    “He wasn ’t going to tell you anything. He was done talking and we were out of time. I killed him, so he wouldn’t kill one of us or alert the guards. Now if you’re ready, we need to keep moving. It won’t be long before those guards are found.”
    I stepped away from him and my head spun around on my neck. The Exorcist didn ’t have anything on me. I was furious with Zane and if I was being honest with our lack of progress. He was right and I childishly stomped after him without further comment. Before, I could get myself in any further trouble. Yells from below us broke the silence of the night. They’d found their guards. We picked up our pace and continued back toward the boat. It would be too risky to sail out tonight but, we would need to be ready at first light. It seemed unlikely they would chase us in the dark, if at all. They hadn’t seen us and the fact we’d killed their vampire would certainly give them reason to pause.
    It couldn ’t have been more than a few hours until daybreak, when we finally got back to where we’d hidden the dingy. The boat wasn’t visible but, I could hear the clanking of the rigging. Thank you God. All we needed was the boat to have run aground. Zane took the first watch and I curled up inside the dingy. I tried to sleep and it seemed like I had just closed my eyes when Zane shook me. We traded places and I kept an eye on things until the sun started to streak the sky.
    I woke Zane and we launched the dinghy. He was rowing hard, struggling to get out beyond the surf. The tide was coming in and white caps covered the waves. Finally, we reached the boat. Zane pulled the dingy up and lashed it down. I sent Tokem to check on the men to make sure we weren’t being pursued. Zane barked orders and I did my best to comply. Landlubber that I am, I doubted I was an asset. We got the anchors stowed and the sail hauled up the mast. The wind was in our sails so we got away from the island without incident. Tokem returned as some point during our departure. Obviously, we were not being pursued. I am sure once they figured out nothing was missing and the only one killed was the vampire, they were only too happy to let us escape.

Chapter Five
     
    We spent the remainder of the day sailing further out to sea. The only creatures we saw were swimming in the ocean. A giant sea turtle lumbered alongside