“She’s going to be okay,” Killean assured her.
Simone pursed her mouth as she stared at him. His lips were redder from the blood, vitality emanated from his pores, he was more in control, and the woman would be fine, but she was still angry at him. However, her anger could wait until they were away from this place.
“We have to go,” he said.
“Yes,” she murmured.
Killean released her hand and walked around the room in search of the car keys. He found the woman’s purse in the bottom of the nightstand, pulled it out, and dumped the contents on the bed. He shifted through the tampons, wallet, a bag of white powder that looked like cocaine, and another bag of mushrooms, before finding the car keys and a phone.
“You’re going to have to drive until the sun sets,” he said to Simone as he held the keys out to her.
“I don’t know how to drive. The hunters didn’t believe it was necessary for the women to learn.”
“They didn’t believe it was necessary?” he asked in disbelief.
“Until Kadence, women never left the stronghold. And Kadence only knew how to drive because Nathan couldn’t say no to his sister, so he taught her. One day, I’d like to learn how to do it.”
Killean lowered the keys. “I’ll teach you when this is over.”
Simone gave him a half-hearted smile. She admired his optimism, but they had no idea what they faced outside this room.
“I’ll be right back,” Killean said.
He walked into their room before returning with only a single bag of what remained of their clothes. Digging into the bag, he removed a black, long-sleeved shirt and pulled it on before donning his socks and sneakers. Killean handed her the bag before rolling the woman over and stripping the comforter from the bed.
When he finished, he went into the bathroom and emerged with white towels he wrapped around his hands until only his fingers were exposed. He then draped a towel over his head before sliding the comforter around his shoulders. By the time he was done, he looked more like a mummy than a man and would draw attention, but not as much as the smoking man running across the parking lot would.
“Let’s hope they’re parked close,” Killean said.
Simone’s heart ached as she watched him. At one time, he’d walked as freely in the sun as she did, and now all she saw of his skin was his face and fingers. It still wouldn’t be enough to keep him protected.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Smoke waftedfrom Killean’s fingers as he merged the car onto the highway. When they’d had the truck, he avoided the main roads, but now he saw them as his savior. Joseph may be able to monitor them on the highways better than the back roads, but he wouldn’t come after them if there were too many witnesses. He would wait until Killean was somewhere remote, so he had to avoid those places if he could.
Killean removed his smoking hand from the wheel and replaced it with his other one. Blisters immediately broke out on his flesh. After only a few minutes on the road, he’d discarded the towels when they nearly caught fire, and now his hands were fully exposed to the UV light.
Some of the other drivers gave him strange looks when they passed, but he ignored them. He may look odd in his shroud, but he would look odder with flames shooting out of his head.
Simone gazed worriedly at Killean as the flesh on his fingers peeled back to reveal his sinew and then the tips of his bones. The set of his jaw and a muscle twitching in the corner of his right eye were the only indications he gave of pain.
“Maybe I can try driving,” she offered as he switched hands again.
“Not on the highway,” he murmured. “Not for your first time.”
Thankfully, he’d discovered sunglasses in the car, but his eyes still stung behind the dark lenses, and he kept blinking against the light. It was a good thing he’d fed on the woman as he weakened every time his body healed the burns it sustained. After a while, his healing ability couldn’t keep up with the burns, and his skin stopped completely repairing itself before he had to switch hands again.
He glanced at the GPS in the center of the dash. He’d programmed it to avoid tollbooths; he may be able to change the memories of the collector, but he couldn’t alter what was on the cameras monitoring those tolls.
In the rearview mirror, he searched for someone following them, but he hadn’t seen any of the same cars since leaving the motel. But whoever had been at the motel wouldn’t have to follow them; they could monitor the car’s GPS from afar. They needed a new ride, but he couldn’t get out of this one until nightfall; he hoped the constant healing wouldn’t have him too exhausted to do what was necessary when that time came.
He also hoped the couple they’d left behind would remain undiscovered and tied up until they acquired a new car. They couldn’t risk being stopped by the police while driving a stolen car. Unable to change the woman’s memories, he’d made a slit in her neck to hide his bite and left it to their booted stalker to do what was necessary to cover their tracks. And if their stalker decided not to do it, the drugs Killean left in plain view would explain whatever tales the couple spun to whoever found them.
Killean switched hands again. “Can you get the phone?”
Simone opened the glove box to pull out the woman’s phone. “There are a dozen missed calls,” she murmured as she gazed at it. She wasn’t familiar with the things, but that’s what the words on the screen said.
“I didn’t hear it ring. Is it on silent?”
