He backed up until his legs hit the edge of the boulder. His back pressed against the cold surface. He slowly opened his eyes. Mantel took another step. The red glow had faded. A look of intrigue covered his face.

Ren’s hands scurried over the rough surface of the rock, clutching onto anything he could.

A deep frown cut through Mantel’s handsome face. He looked confused. Ren was too.

“You’re kidding, right?”

That kind of language didn’t sound right coming out his mouth. Mantel looked like he’d stepped out of a prep school pamphlet.

Ren pointed at Mantel’s face.

“Your eyes…”

“I’m a vampire, obviously.” Mantel rolled his eyes. “Magic, remember?”

Ren stumbled for words. “Halfy, remember.”

He thought he saw a smile pull at Mantel’s lips. “I guess we both have things to learn.”

He stepped back. “Get out of here.”

He was back to his hard self. A stone-cold unreadable beauty.

Ren stood his ground. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Mantel let out a growl. “You can’t be here! We made a deal.”

Mantel went to grab Ren’s arm, his eyes glowing red once more. Ren held up his hand, jerking it out of Mantel’s reach.

“Turn your eyes off!” They died out and Mantel let out another sound. He was very expressive when he wanted to be.

Once Ren was sure he wasn’t going to be influenced by whatever tricks Mantel was playing, he walked around the boulder. He made sure Mantel was in his line of sight the entire way around. Mantel glowered at him, arms crossed over his chest, and his foot tapping. If he was a ticking bomb, he would have went off already.

When Ren was on the other side of the boulder, he spoke up.

“I’m not leaving until I find the ring. Now, go off or something.”

Ren couldn’t actually believe he was talking to Mantel this way. Somewhere between seeing the confusion on Mantel’s face and being entranced by his eyes, Ren had lost his fear. He thought he might be going mad.

“Alright, come on,” Mantel said while waving Ren to come back around to him. “Away from the body.”

Ren kept stepping toward the mound in the dirt. His pulse spiked when he imagined her face once more.

Mantel was growing more upset. His face was turning bright red. Ren thought he might have pissed him off.

Ren didn’t care. He was still riding on a triumphant high.

He’d been cut off from vampires his entire life. He was still getting used to being so close to one. 

Mantel was annoying and a little self-centered. He was nothing like the vampires Ren had heard or read about. He knew most of it was fiction to scare humans. The vampires in Sangui always seemed like royalty from hundreds of years ago. 

He thought it was kinda funny that out of all the people he could get stuck with after finding a body, it was a vampire with an attitude.

The moonlight fell over Mantel’s features like a silky hand reaching out toward an angel. Ren envied Mantel’s posh clothes. He was practically dripping in money. For god’s sake, he was walking round in shoes that had to cost more than Ren’s house. In a fucking forest.

Ren was surprised when he felt not fear but anger. He hated Mantel. And it was more than his irritating personality that ground Ren’s gears.

Mantel thought he was better than Ren. It was written all over his face.

Ren rolled his eyes and began to dig at the upturned soil. He hadn’t thought it through when he’d come here. Getting his hands dirty hadn’t been his plan, but he wasn’t going to leave without the ring. The rest of his life depended on it. What worth was he if he couldn’t even take care of a ring?

“Are you completely out of your mind?!” Mantel hauled Ren up by the back of his shirt. He almost strangled him as Ren tried to get away. Mantel tossed him on the other side of the boulder, almost ramming Ren’s head into the side of it.

Ren glared up at him, chest heaving as he tried to find the strength to yell a curse at him. But he was cut off by voices that weren’t theirs.

Ren and Mantel locked eyes.

Before Ren could react, Mantel dived toward the boulder beside him.

They both pressed back against it. Ren drew his legs up to his chest while Mantel peeked over the boulder. Ren swatted him and motioned for Mantel to get down. Mantel hissed at him, but when the voices got closer, they huddled together.

This was not how he thought the night would go. With Mantel against the length of his body, it was really hard to ignore how warm Mantel was. And how fit he was under all those clothes. Jealousy coursed through him, but it was soon forgotten as he tired to focus on what the newcomers were saying.

 They were older. Their voices were gruff. Men that were either in their late thirties or were heading toward early forties. Ren wanted to peak over the boulder like Mantel had. The curious part of him was itching to get a look though he knew it was a dumb idea. 

They must have been in the clearing now. The boulder wasn’t even fifteen feet away from them.

He was scared now. It was the strongest it had ever been with a firm grip on his heart and every inch of his body.

He heard footsteps, the cracking of twigs underweight. His heart lodged in his throat. His head swam as he tried to steady his breathing. Whoever they were, they couldn’t know what had happened. No one but him and Mantel knew what had gone down last night.

Except the murderer.

He closed his eyes, chastising himself for bringing that up. It only made his stomach upset. 

The killer could be one of them. His eyes flew open.

Mantel threw a hand over Ren’s mouth, smothering the gasp he would have let out otherwise. Ren looked up at Mantel, shaking his head to get his hand off. Mantel stared back at him with a look that made Ren more terrified. Did he know what Ren was thinking? Did he think this could be the killer too?

“This is the spot.” Ren could hear them. The first one had a gruff voice. He sounded like a smoker.

“She should have called,” the other said. It was a higher pitch. “She shouldn’t have come alone.”

Not the killers then. Or maybe one of them was.

They stopped. Ren itched to know where they were and to run the hell out of there.

Mantel pressed his fingers harder into Ren’s cheek. They were still looking at each other. Ren held Mantel’s gaze, afraid that if he looked away, he might let out a scream. His hands came up to Mantel’s and gripped hard onto his wrist. He wasn’t trying to move his hand. The pressure was soothing in a way, calming, and he wanted to keep it there. It was a whole lot better than shivering against the rock alone.

If Mantel hadn’t shown up, they might have seen Ren. And he didn’t know what these guys were up to.

Mantel clenched his jaw. He was crouched beside Ren. Ren looked down at Mantel’s feet. He was in an awkward position with one leg down on the ground and the other balancing him on one foot. Ren put an arm out around his back. The tension lessened on his face.

When he looked back at Ren again, Ren felt a jolt in his chest.

“What’s the scanner say?”

“It’s the spot, Malcolm. If she isn’t here, she isn’t here.”

“She wouldn’t have gone off on her own. She’s too smart for that.”

“Maybe she’s hanging with Phil. You know how kids these days are. They’re not always thinking about the Society.”

“She was. Now help me search the area.”

They kicked a few bunches of dirt and grass. They were shuffling around, getting closer to Ren and Mantel. Ren shivered as a breeze went by them. Mantel pressed harder against him. His warmth flooded Ren’s body and his thoughts. His head was getting woozy and he didn’t think it was the fear’s fault.

A cell rung. The feet stopped just beside the boulder. If Mantel wasn’t covering Ren’s mouth, he would have let out a sigh.

“Hello?” They were walking back toward the other side of the clearing.

“Sounds like your problem,” the man said. The one with the gruff voice. “We’re here.”

There was a second of silence.

“Malcolm, hand me the scanner.” There was the rustling of clothing. Another second. Ren couldn’t hear anything except for Mantel’s hushed breaths. Ren’s own heaving chest was lost to the pounding in his ears. A headache was forming at his temples.

“It’s open. What do you want me to tell Cipher?” The man hummed. “Is Carla there by chance?”

He sighed. “She isn’t.”

They might have been talking about the girl. Ren’s eyes flickered to where she was buried. Her name was Carla.

“We’re heading back now. We’ll meet you at the gate.”

Their heavy footfalls almost seemed to shake the entire forest floor. Ren’s hand pressed down onto a twig. He wanted to scream in pain, shake the thing out of his skin, but Mantel kept him down. It wasn’t until a few minutes had passed after the last of their footsteps disappeared that Mantel removed his hand.

Ren gasped and clutched at his chest. It was a soft gasp that could barely be heard over him falling onto the ground.

“They were looking for her,” he said.

Mantel’s face was grim. “They’re with the Hunter Society.”

Ren didn’t know what to say. He fell into silence. They both did. Mantel’s eyes were on him, but also in a faraway place. He was thinking as Ren did. The Hunter Society. Ren should have known when they mentioned Society. But it was hard to believe the HS was still active.

“I thought they disbanded.”

Mantel gave him a look. “Is that the official statement or just what you believe?”

Ren was floored. “Both?”

Mantel got up, dusting the dirt from his expensive white shirt and slacks. Ren bit back a retort about how it was Mantel’s fault for dressing like that out in a forest. Where did he think he was going when he set out tonight?

Ren furrowed his brows. “How did you even know I was going to be here?”

Mantel turned away. “I didn’t. I was making sure nothing had dug the body up.”

Her body, Ren wanted to say. He pressed his lips together.

He stood up as well, his feet feeling more like jelly. The HS and the girl were connected. That made it more obvious that he had to get his ring. If her body was ever found, the HS would be all over it.

He swallowed. “What if they come back?”

Mantel waltzed over to where her body lay. He walked around it, scanning the area, and then nodded to himself.

“I’ve got a plan.”

Ren raised a brow. “A plan?”

He sounded too pleased with himself while covered in dirt and leaves. One was currently sticking to the back of his shoulder. Ren wasn’t going to tell him any time soon. 

“If you want your ring back, you’ll help me.”

Ren blinked. “You’re going to force me into this again?”

Mantel plucked a stick from his sleeve. “Then you shouldn’t have come out here. Anyway, you helped bury her. You’ll help get rid of her.”

He had a point. Not about Ren coming back here tonight, but the whole burying her thing. Though, he forced Ren to do that too.

He sagged against the boulder. “What’s your plan then?”

Mantel said his next words like it was obvious.

“We’re going to burn her.”