She landed nimbly next to one and examined the body. Throat torn out. Blood coated the front of the body. Their skin glowed in the light of the moon, devoid of all color.
Someone must have placed them here. They couldn’t have been thrown from the other side. No one guarded the gate but her. Not to mention the blood on the ground around the bodies.
And she couldn’t imagine anyone would kill them so close to the doorway. A family of trolls lived in the area, but if they had hunted these men, they’d have taken the bodies back with them.
She took a deep breath, using all her senses to help determine what had happened. Shock struck her as the scent filled her lungs, forcing her back a step. It couldn’t be. But her nose didn’t lie.
Human bodies.
But how? Not possible. It simply was not possible. Unless these human had been in Outremer before she took control of the gate. Some creatures and objects had the ability to prolong life. Maybe these humans had been living here all that time. She stared at the bodies, looking for more clues to help her solve this puzzle.
Their clothes were modern to the earthen world. Which meant these were no slaves brought over in the early days before gatekeepers existed, and kept alive by magic. The scent of Inverness infused every part of them.
But how had they crossed over without her knowing? Why had she not been summoned?
She looked around expecting…well…something to help her understand. Her fellow gatekeepers maybe, playing a joke on her, or… gods, she didn’t even know. But something to explain how these humans came to be here. A sign that would make some sense of the situation.
A rock clattered far to the left. Roughly a mile, if she had to guess. Her ear twitched, detecting the sound. Normally, she’d ignore it. Even now, she doubted the sound came from anything more than the m’ra rats that inhabited this area of Outremer. But duty demanded she at least check it out. Maybe, just maybe, something would shed some light on this strangeness.
With a sharp screech, Kalindra soared into the air and took off in the direction where the noise had originated. Scanning the ground as she went, she searched for any sign of life or movement below. Plants swayed in the breeze, catching her focus. Here and there an animal skittered away from her gaze. Nothing big enough to cause the noise she’d heard.
“Pick up the pace, we don’t have all day.” A man’s whispered voice stopped her in midflight. She strained, needing more to detect the direction.
“You heard her screech. She might be headed this way.” A woman this time. “She’ll kill you, too. Don’t think she won’t. We have to move.”
Shadows moved against the horizon, a hundred or so meters ahead of her. Kalindra moved toward the sound, careful to keep out of view, her wings quiet as possible.
Until she determined exactly what she was dealing with, she’d hang back. These people could be nothing more than travelers. Or they could be behind the slaughter on her doorstep.
A scuffle sounded up ahead, followed by muffled voices. Curiosity got the better of her and she swung closer so she could see what was going on.
Three beings traveled up ahead. Two males and a female. At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Until one of the males tripped and fell to his knees, his hands still clutched in front of him. Something silver glinted in the moonlight. Handcuffs?
The other male dragged the fallen one to his feet. The obviously harsh manner made her wince. Wherever they were heading, that one clearly didn’t want to go. It didn’t look like he had a choice in the matter, either.
She debated turning around. This wasn’t her fight. Anything that took her away from her true duty should be avoided.
Still, Kalindra didn’t believe in coincidences. Their appearance so close to the slaughter, a prisoner in tow, required investigation. She couldn’t risk letting them go until she was sure they weren’t involved in whatever had happened at her gate. If she did ignore them, and they were responsible, her reputation would never be the same.
Pulling her wings closer to her body, Kalindra dove down, landing in front of the startled trio.
“Well, well, well, what have we here?” she asked.
Was taking immense pleasure in the horrified shock on their faces really all that wrong? Really? Being frightening made her task as gatekeeper easier. So no, she didn’t think so. A healthy dose of terror was good. And in her line of work, there was no such thing as too much fear.
Kali examined the group. The un-cuffed male and female were clearly vampires. The white skin and fangs were pretty clear indicators. But the prisoner wasn’t pale enough to be a vampire. Definitely some kind of humanoid. Maybe a werewolf or demon in his un-shifted form? Something about this whole situation reeked. And it wasn’t just the vampires.
After a moment of shock, the vampire male pushed the two others behind him. Brave. Foolish, but brave. His eyes swept over her from head to talon, and recognition lit his eyes.
Now things would get boring. First, there’d be begging. Then maybe a pathetic attempt at fighting. And finally, once he realized defeat was inevitable, which always came faster than Kalindra would like, there would be tears and prayers, followed by more begging. Always the same. Always more pathetic than the last time.
Kalindra examined her claws. A deceptive trick. Her focus never really strayed from the figures in front of her. Not because she thought they were a threat. They weren’t. But that didn’t mean she should loosen her guard. Getting sloppy would get her killed.
“This doesn’t concern you, gatekeeper. We mean you no harm.” The words were right, but the tone dripped with condescension and smugness. Interesting. Not at all what she’d expected. Almost as if he thought he had one over on her. Now her interest was piqued.
“Is that so?” she asked.
The woman nodded enthusiastically behind the man’s back. But the prisoner captured her attention. Bruises marred his face and a trail of blood dripped from his hairline to the rag stuffed into his mouth. She met his eyes, and something in them refused to let her look away. He looked desperate and terrified. But not of her. He gazed at her as if there was something important he wanted to tell her.
And then she smelled it. Smelled him. The unmistakable scent of human. The man was from Earth.
Didn’t concern her, huh? Bullshit.
“You know, I don’t like killing people, despite my reputation. Believe it or not.” She paused for effect. “But I’ve got a pile of bodies outside my gate. Human bodies. Ones that clearly came from Earth, on the Outremer side of my gate. Which is impossible, since I would have been teleported to the gate the second they crossed worlds. But I wasn’t teleported. Which tells me something strange is happening. Something I need to get to the bottom of.” She met the man’s eyes. “You two wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
The woman frantically shook her head. Not exactly the cool, emotionless vampires one read about in the human stories. Amazing how many things human mythology got wrong.
The man continued to try and stare her down. As if he thought he could frighten her. The idea made her smile, which seemed to make him nervous. Nothing like a smiling predator to unhinge one’s confidence. Finally, he shook his head.
“So why are you here? A bit far from home, no?” There hadn’t been vampires in this area of Outremer for some time.
“We came after him. He’s nothing to you,” the woman declared, a quiver in her voice.
The man glared behind him until the woman’s gaze dropped to the ground. Interesting. If she had to guess, the woman seemed guilty. But the man seemed reluctant. Secretive. And if there was one thing harpies loved, it was secrets. Especially ferretting them out.
“Who