Read Hollowed for Free Online Page B

hard can it be?
    Ass-kicking vampire or not, the second I ' m alone I regret leaving Oliver ' s side. It ' s cold, smells like rain, and every rustle of a bush or whisper of a tree heaves my heart into my throat. I can't sense Oliver. Maybe he knows how to hide his presence . Cole said it was possible.
    Silently I slip through trees and skirt around bushes that tug and snag at my sweater and scrape noisily on my jeans. Graceful huntress, I am not. When I near the pathways again, I can feel it— the distinct tickling sensation that someone is near. Footsteps. Two sets of them, I think. The steady click-click of heels on the pavement. I hold my breath, wait for the sound to near, and step out just as whoever-it-is walks by.
    And I'm...alone?
    That doesn ' t make sense. I know I wasn ' t hearing things; the sounds were so vivid, so distinct. But there ' s no sign of anyone and the footsteps have vanished. Total silence.
    Until a deep, thrumming voice whispers in my ear, "Briar Rabbit should've stayed with her friend."
    It comes out of nowhere, the warm breath ghosting my skin . I stumble forward and twist around.
    A guy and a girl stand not half a foot behind where I was. The blonde girl ' s heels were the ones I must have heard. The guy has a shiny, playful grin a mile wide. Hers is thinner, lacking any humor or warmth. Their presences are the ones I was tracking, but now I can feel something more. A warning bell in the back of my brain.
    Vampires. Vampires who know my name.
    I don't let the cold fear constricting my insides show. Instead I force a smile, ready to bolt if I have to. " It's Br'er Rabbit."
    Guy ' s smile flickers, fades, trades itself out by a frown. "What?"
    "It's Br'er Rabbit, not Briar. I think people get it confused because Br'er Rabbit lived in a briar patch. No one pays attention to classic literature anymore. " Shrug. " How do you know my name?"
    He actually seems to be mulling over what I've said . What a genius . Blondie rolls her eyes . "We've been watching you." She steps closer. It takes all I have not to back away. "I just have one itty-bitty question, and we can be on our way." Her blood-red lipstick makes her lips glisten when she smiles, and those heavily lined eyes see right through me. She knows I'm scared. She's reveling in it.
    I swallow hard. "What do you want?"
    Closer still, until she ' s right in front of me. Her heels give her a few inches height, which makes it easy for her to loom. What's worse, the guy has vanished, and I now feel him behind me, practically breathing down the back of my neck. Trapped between them. There's no plausible way to run without being grabbed.
    She leans in, surveying my face. Like it's something familiar to her.
    "Tell us where to find your sister."
     
     

 
10 . Tuesday – 8:09pm
     
     
    Ruby was beautiful. Long blonde hair, big green eyes. She was smart, artistic, athletic. She was the nice girl in school with good grades, a part of, it seemed, every extracurricular activity imaginable. Drama, art, choir, even auto and woodworking.
    In short, she was everything I wanted to be.
    And I loved her. Aside from the typical sister-sister bitching we did at each other over sharing a bathroom, doing chores and whose turn it was to walk the dogs, Ruby and I were close. When she went somewhere, she took me along. There wasn't a Disney movie we hadn't seen together from the time I was four years old.
    Until I turned fourteen, and Ruby disappeared.
    She left behind no letter, no signs of running away. None of her things were missing. Nobody remembered her saying or doing anything out of the ordinary. Kidnapped, my parents and the police said. But after finding her blood in an abandoned bakery downtown , any hope that Ruby was somewhere alive and waiting to be rescued began to dwindle. She was gone. And we would never know why.
    So the words coming out of Blondie's mouth leave me numb and cold. She snaps her fingers in front of my face.
    "Are you stupid? Do I need