Supra never emerged despite the paranoid sensation of being watched. The dirty white van waited just beyond the stone path, still promoting free candy in fading paint. My fingers slid into the driver’s door handle. A groaning screech of metal pierced the night air as the door opened. I ground my teeth and stared at the cabin. My heart pounded in my chest, and I considered running, but when a second went by with no one bursting from the house, I waited. Another few seconds went by. I strained my ears and stood on the balls of my feet, ready to burst into open forest and fall off a cliff.
No one had come out of the house. However, I had a feeling my time was running very short now.
I threw myself into the van and pulled my mask off, unable to see through the eye holes to effectively look in the darkness.Keys, keys, keys.Every second felt important now. Did I hear something? I wasn’t sure. They might be up in the house right this minute, slowly coming to the realization I wasn’t inside.Shit.
Not in the cup holders, not on the dash. God, what if I couldn’t find it? I looked at the watch. Four hours. But what did that matter when I needed to leave this very minute? Any second, they were going to come racing out of the house, and they wouldn’t let me get away. They’d make me kill them because they couldn’t let me go. If that didn’t show how much they wanted me with them, I didn’t know what did. But Ineededthem to give up on me, and I needed the fucking keys.
I flipped down the visor, and the keys fell into my lap. I picked them up and just stared. It hit me hard as I looked at the dangling metal. I was never going to see them again. When they’d all been asleep in the bed together, I hadn’t thought about it being the last view I’d ever get. They had been a vicious, slumbering puppy pile of over-sexed villains.
With a swallow, I slid the keys into the ignition and then took another moment to sit there, not turning it on. Should I go back in and look at them one last time? I knew I shouldn’t. Time was up, and it was now or never. And as much as I didn’t wantnow, I couldn’t live with the repercussions of never.
I patted my pocket and then pulled out the two syringes and my mask. The little notes were still on the vials. I put the syringes away again, pulled on my mask, and shut the door. When I twisted the key, the engine roared to life, silencing the forest. I couldn’t hesitate a moment longer. It was time to leave forever. Hopefully, they’d forget me in time.
“I am not crying; the mask is irritating my eyes,” I growled at no one, slamming my foot on the gas. The engine roared and … I went nowhere.
“Well, fuck, that wasn’t right.” When making chaotic plans, sometimes you forget to thoroughly consider the next step while stressing over the current one. Yes, I’ve got them all to pass out. Yes, I finally found the keys. No, I did not understand drivingperfectly. But I’d watched Orson and seen it in movies. I grabbed the lever and slammed my foot down again. The engine roared, and the lever wouldn’t move.Shit. Shit. Shit.
When all the doors opened around me, I screamed. It was embarrassing. Suddenly, Orson was shoving me out of the driver’s seat, Bree was climbing into the passenger seat, and Nemo was crawling in the back and slamming the sliding door closed with a thud. Orson deposited me directly into the wolfman’s angry arms.
“What the fuck,” I spat, scrambling out of his hold and further into the back like a cornered animal.
“Look everyone, Baz got the van warm for us.” Orson winked at me in the rearview.
“But … I was …”
“Trying to leave?” Nemo asked. He looked at me like I was pathetic. “That was obvious.”
“Weren’t you all dead asleep?” I asked. Orson started to drive down the old forest road, heading back towards civilization.
“Bree drank while we were out getting food, booking plane tickets, and grabbing fake passports. She didn’t need those blood bags you drained.”
“The blood bags that … that I what?” I asked nervously, chuckling a little.
“Right,” Orson deadpanned. “Bree didn’t drink much from us. A little taste.”
“What was your plan exactly?” Nemo asked. I looked around at the others, and they waited in annoyance for my answer. They didn’t know about the notes from Supra then. I checked my watch.
“Doesn’t matter. Did you say plane tickets?” I asked. My eyes slid to the backdoors of the van.
“We’re leaving the country,” Bree said. She was refusing to look at me, clearly hurt that I’d tried to bolt. I swallowed thickly.
“How long does that take?” I asked.
“About two hours to the airport, if there’s no traffic,” Orson supplied. Nemo’s gaze followed me as I shifted around the van. He was crouched down and was ready to pounce at a moment’s notice. The look shining in his dark eyes was focused. Nemo wasn’t particularly fast, but he was big, and we were close. It was going to be hard getting away. Impossible, maybe. But I had to try. I wasn’t going to be willingly kidnapped by my lovers.
I launched at the back of the van, and Nemo tackled me to the ground. My hands pressed against him, and I started to push my venom, then ripped my hands away in a panic. Cold dread spread across me. What if I could kill him already? I twisted away from him, desperately reaching to put distance between us.
“Let me go!” I yelled, but Nemo held down my shoulders, pinning me against the metal floor.
“You’re scared—” Nemo started.
“Of course, I’m fucking scared!” I yelled. The van went deathly silent, shocked by my honesty. “You’re forcing me to kill you all. How do you think that makes me feel?” I then gave off a long string of expletives, perhaps some name-calling, and occasionally a few low blows. Despite my cruel words, panicked curses, and bursting anger, they said nothing. Nemo crawled off me at some point because it really didn’t matter; the point was clear, I wasn’t getting away while in this van.
I ripped off my mask, panting and still spitting mad.
“Ssseriously—” I cut myself off with wide eyes. I reached up and touched my tongue, feeling the deepened fork. I snapped my mouth shut and dropped my head in my hands with a groan.
“Imagine how nice it would have been if our lassst time together was fucking. Instead, we have fighting,” I said.
