The Keep: The Watchers by Verónica Wolff Read Free Book Online

just as terrified of Draug—I knew girls who’d lost their lives to them in hideous and gruesome ways—but now I knew better. Now I knew Draug weren’t the demon hell spawn they appeared; they were just kids, Trainees who hadn’t survivedtheir transition to Vampire. They were senseless, like rabid animals without reason or thought, questing for a meal. They thrived on blood, but their true craving was for the taste of others’ fear.
    Which meant Regina’s panic was about to get her killed.
    “Regina.” I shouted at her while keeping an elbow over my mouth—anything to blunt the festering stench that stung my nose and pricked tears in my eyes. “Look at me.”
    What I should’ve done was back away slowly. But seriously, when did I ever do what I should?
    I sized up the situation. One of the Draug was newly made, with bloated flesh so pale it looked lavender. The other two were older, in late stages of decay, their skin blackened and grizzled like jerky. No matter their age or condition, each had a pair of shining fangs, as lethal now as they’d ever been.
    “Hey, you, Curly,” I shouted mercilessly, but she just stood there frozen, making that keening, whimpery sound in the back of her throat. It was really beginning to grate. “You have
got
to calm down.” I approached carefully. “Calm. The hell. Down.”
    The girl was obviously a trouble magnet, and with all that whining, she’d make herself a Draug magnet, too. The creatures might’ve fed on blood, but they were sustained by fear, and at the moment, Regina was radiating enough terror to power an entire continent of them.
    “Hey, guys, over here.” My shouts drew their attention. “Yeah, that’s right.” I waved my hands. “Look at me instead.”
    They tilted their heads. I didn’t have the stink of fear, and it confused them. But the moment they’d glanced my way, stupid Regina snapped to life, spinning and running. A jolt moved through the beasts, and they snapped to life, too, their attentionshooting back to her as though they were a trio of wild dogs and she were a rabbit bounding from long hiding.
    “Wait!” I shrieked. Tom the Draug keeper had once told me to treat the monsters like dumb livestock, that terror was the thing that sparked their bloodlust. So I raced toward them, swatting and shoving at their backs, screaming at Curly to
calm the hell down
, all the while hoping Tom was right because otherwise I was tempting a world of hurt. Though, truly, fear wasn’t my problem—
revulsion
was. I commanded the Draug over and over to stop, all the while trying to ignore the repellent feel of their rotted flesh squishing under my hands. “Regina,
stop
moving.”
    She did, finally. Panting hard, she stopped, frozen in terror, looking over her shoulder at me and the Draug who’d paused mere inches from her back. “Please,” she whispered, pleading. “Run. We have to run.”
    The beasts’ gazes shifted between the two of us, gaping and confused, like a macabre Three Stooges. Regina was bleeding profusely now, and they wanted that blood. The only thing holding them back was their dim fascination with me. Draug kept some vague set of memories in their addled brains, and I must’ve been a total anomaly in their little world.
    “No,” I said loud and clear. “
Don’t
run.” I stepped closer, putting my hands up, trying to look calming, to her, to them…to any other monsters who might be looking for a girl to snack on. “They’re like wolves. If you run, instinct kicks in and they’ll automatically follow.”
    She stared, her eyes wide as dinner plates, too terrified to speak. Her foot edged forward in the gravel. She was losing her nerve.
    “Did you hear me?” I snapped. “You run, they chase. Get it?”
    She gave a slow nod and that foot stilled. “Okay. Got it.”
    I approached slowly. “You’ve got to relax. They’re thirsty, but mostly they get off on your fear.”
    I pushed my way through to stand by her, protecting