In any case, a few among his underlings would learn soon enough the folly of oathbreaking.
It had been some while since he used his speed in this fashion, gliding along terrain features as only a sanguinant could, avoiding mortal notice where possible. A flash in the night, a cold breath upon the nape—in earlier days, the folk would know something was abroad in the night. If any were so unfortunate as to be away from shelter, they might well spit a bean into the darkness, mutter a prayer to a favored god, or clutch at an amulet. Nowadays, they simply hurried about their business, doing their best to forget the hint of something ancient and inimical crossing their path.
Northward the call led him, and he could even use the shining metal conveyances of this time, so long as they were proceeding in the correct direction and large enough to crouch upon. To do so conserved some of his strength, though he could—and would—not stop until his prey was run to ground.
Yet it was fortunate she had chosen to flee thus. He had an inkling of where his wayward prize would be wending, since certain matters weighed so heavily upon her mind. Lukas leaned into the howling wind of transit, snow and icy rain ignored as they soaked tattered clothing, velocity combing his hair. The intimation became certainty as the night grew old, and though the thrall mounted deep in his bones and the fact of her absence turned from shock to rising torment, he still had occasion to be grateful.
Dawn found him parallel to the freeway, since little traffic was moving in the direction he wished and the terrain had begun to look familiar indeed. Old hills which had once been mountains glowered; the call shifted slightly before fading all at once as the sun’s fiery rim lifted over the horizon, underlighting a heavy eastern pall of storm moving in.
She was asleep for the day, hopefully tucked into some safety—it was unlikely her true teeth had erupted, though the protection of mortality against sun-damage would be swiftly fading. Cloud cover would also help shield her.
The tide had turned, All Hallows was over.
Lukas had another means of finding her, and it lay in the bowels of a nearby peak clothed with bright patches of maple and birch still clinging to a few painted leaves, crowded by hemlock and spruce ready to withstand whatever blast would issue from the northeast.
His paced slowed, though not much. Yes, the terrain was familiar indeed.
He was thirty miles or so, as the crow flies, from the foothills of Noll Mountain.
CHAPTER 27
Winter dawns were late, but she’d spent too much of the night on buses or subways, not to mention impersonating a hurricane in Don’s living quarters above the warehouse. His bosses might not even realize the blue Charger was missing, since she’d also done her best to light the place on fire before heading out.
If Donny got cold feet and came back…but that wasn’t Bea’s problem at the moment. She’d done all she could for him, including committing arson for the very first time, and now she had to save herself.
Of course heading south or west might have been a better idea—a lot more country to lose herself in, if she could hope to do so. The feeling of being watched by invisible eyes waxed and waned, and honestly at this point it was almost an old friend.
Not really.
At least the high drilling whine of the little green men didn’t appear. By the time she left the turnpike, filling up at an Irving station thankfully still crouched at the end of a long exit as it had been four years ago, it was well past 5am and a hideous, unwelcome numbness was creeping up her fingers and toes.
It had taken her three tries to find a place open for cash instead of deserted filling stations which assumed anyone passing by would have a credit card. The yawning clerk gave her a cursory glance before taking payment, and she bought a cheap sunshield as well. She was still damp despite the Charger’s heater going full-bore and the luxury of heated seats, but working the night shift in a boondocks stop-and-rob probably accustomed the clerks to a whole lot of strangeness, purely human…or otherwise.
Dawn found her close to the ultimate goal, rattling over the washboard ruts of an abandoned logging road she’d once hiked under muttering protest. A few miles up the side of a frowning hill the gravel track widened before petering out, and she pulled the Charger into heavy shade at the end.
It’ll have to do. She just hoped nobody would get curious, but people in this part of the world often knew how to mind their own damn business. Now Bea wondered how much of that was closemouthed rural tradition, and how much was these mountains being older than God and crammed with weird shit.
She barely got the sunshield up before passing out—though the hanging boughs of a regrown spruce draped over windshield and roof—at the exact moment the sun crested the horizon.
No dreams, no hallucinations. Even the foggy sense of time passing in the blackness of sleep was muted.
Consciousness burst into full flower, and Bea found herself slumped sideways over the center arm-rest and console, the cupholder digging into her ribs and her cheek pressed against the passenger seat’s upholstery. A faint breath of new-car smell—whoever this beast had been stolen from was probably having a bad week, if they weren’t rich enough to afford the inconvenience.
Hope they’ve got insurance. Her mouth was full of a strange almost-spicy taste instead of morning breath, and she ran her tongue over her teeth while pushing herself upright. All in all, for spending the day keeled over in the driver’s seat, she didn’t feel bad. No stiffness, just the urge to stretch every limb nice and hard.
It was disorienting to both crash and wake up in darkness, though, like pulling long night shifts at the packing plant. Even more odd was the hazy sense of physical well-being, though her throat was awful scratchy.
And though she knew it was night-time, her eyes were working better than ever.
Take it while you can, Bebe. Her brother’s voice sounded cheerful. You’re still a couple to the good.
“Yeah,” she muttered, trying not to think about what might happen if Lukas caught her. Her breath halted for a moment; the resultant shiver wasn’t entirely unpleasant.
Don’t dwell on it. Maybe he only got you the first time because his people were already watching. That would mean he was aware of Don—but hopefully she’d given her brother’s best friend enough time to get good and lost. At least she could hope, and the fact that she’d spent an entire day sleeping unmolested in a stolen car was a good sign, right?
The blue Charger roused obediently when she twisted the key. Not having to pee in the woods was a goddamn luxury, really. If the bloodsucker-making process was reversed somehow, she’d have to go back to scanning for bathrooms at every opportunity.
Her vision was now so good she nearly forgot to flick the headlights on. Even the foglights were unutterably bright; getting back down the logging road was a matter of taking it slow, letting the shocks do what they were designed for, and wincing at particularly bad jolts.
