“Well, he’s certainly specialized in kicking down doors,” Trent said, still staring out of the window. “And what the hell does thisBloodhoundthing mean?”
“It means he can track any shifter, anywhere,” Zina muttered, as she jabbed the first syringe down into the foil seal of one of the bottles before pulling the plunger up, drawing the serum inside. “Once he gets a bead on you, it’s like a homing device – nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. He’ll find you.”
“Oh, shit,” Trent said, glancing at her. Zina could see the clear question in his eyes, but she didn’t have time to answer him now. “Is that –”
“I’ll answer everything later, Iswearit,” Zina said, standing. From outside, she could hear outraged shouting, followed by anotherbang!as the Bloodhound kicked in another door. “But right now, I just have to ask you – do you trust me?”
Trent blinked at her. “Do I –? Zina, you know I do.”
“But I meanreally,” Zina persisted. “I meanreallytrust me?”
“Of course I do,” Trent said, his gaze steady as he looked into her eyes. “Do you think I would have done all of this if I didn’t?”
“Okay, good,” Zina said, trying to push down her misgivings. She had to hope Trent would understand once she had time to explain. “Because this is probably not going to be something you’ll like.”
“Zina, what the hell are you –” Trent started to ask, as Zina grabbed his arm, pulled up his shirtsleeve, and then jabbed the syringe with its load of serum straight into his shoulder.
“Zina, whatisthat –”
Zina bit her lip as Trent stared at his arm, then shook his head.
“Wait – Zina – what did you – what –how –”
Zina grabbed his arm again, pulling him across the room. “IpromiseI’ll explain later – right now, this is the only way.” She grabbed her bag. “Believe me – it’s the only way to stop the Bloodhound from tracking us. It’s the only reason I ever got more than two steps in any direction.”
“My kangaroo –” Trent said, staggering as she pulled him across the room. “Zina, youhaveto tell me –”
“It’s just temporary!” Zina said desperately, as she opened the back window of the room. She could hear people in the room next door burst into screaming and yelling as the Bloodhound kicked open their door. “I promise it’ll wear off!” Lifting her leg, she kicked out the flyscreen. “For now, please justcome on!”
Maybe it was the desperation in her voice, or maybe it was the sound of the Bloodhound’s foot against the door of their room – maybe his kicking foot was getting tired, because it didn’t immediately fly off its hinges. But whatever it was, it seemed to jerk Trent out of his horrified daze, and, grabbing the cooler with their food and one of their bags of clothes on his way, he followed her as she scrambled out of the window. Together, they dropped onto the concrete of the motel parking lot. Quickly, Zina reached inside and drew the curtains over the open window with its missing flyscreen, concealing their exit – it wouldn’t buy them more than a second or two, but that could make all the difference.
“Go!” Zina hissed at Trent. The door wasn’t going to hold out forever.
They sprinted across the parking lot to where their rusted hulk of a car sat.
Let’s hope it starts,Zina thought, as she yanked open the door. At least they’d discovered early that the locks didn’t work, but they’d figured it wouldn’t be a problem – as if anyone would stealthiscar.
“Oh, fuck,” Trent swore as he sat down in the driver’s side. “The keys.”
“Shit!” Zina glanced over at the window, but she could see people moving around in their room, silhouetted against the thin curtains. There was no way they could go back and grab them now.
“No worries – I can hotwire it.” Trent leaned down under the dashboard. He was so tall, however, that his knees had to practically come up to his ears before he could crouch low enough.
“Well, you better make it snappy,” Zina murmured, her eyes still trained on the window. She clutched her bag, with the eggs inside it, against her chest.
Beside her, she heard Trent swear as he clunked around inside the car’s innards, finding the wires he needed.
Shit. Maybe I was too hasty.
Zina clenched her fists. By injecting Trent with the serum, she’d cut him off from being able to shift – if she hadn’t done that, maybe she could have sent him off with the eggs in his shifter form. She could have stayed here as a decoy, while he got them to safety.
But even as she thought it, she knew it wouldn’t have worked. The Bloodhound clearly had the scent of Trent’s shifter animal. It wasn’t her he was tracking, since her antelope still hadn’t quite come back. It could only have been Trent.
“Yes! Fuck! Finally!”
From beneath the dashboard she heard a slight electricalbzzt!sound, and then the car’s engine roared to life – and not a moment too soon. Just as Trent popped his head back up and put his hands on the wheel, Zina saw a pair of enormous hands rip aside the curtain – and then found herself staring directly into the eyes of the Bloodhound himself.
Zina’s mouth went dry.
