Cold Blooded

No, take Danny, and don’t argue with me on this. There’s a town nearby. It makes the most sense to have full backup.

Fine. Pull over up ahead. I see a bunch of trees after that road sign.

“Rourke, pull over right there.” I pointed to the break in the trees. As we cruised up to it, I could see it was an old logging road. “Follow it in. Tyler and Danny are going to shift. Tyler’s going to try and connect with our father one more time before we reach New Orleans.”

Rourke turned down the road, the Suburban right behind us. He drove fifty yards along the bumpy dirt road and parked. Tyler and Danny jumped out of their vehicle immediately.

Before they could get to my car, Naomi and Ray landed in front of us.

“Tyler and Danny are shifting,” I told the vamps through the window. “They’re going to try and communicate with my dad. Any more issues from the sky?”

Since Ray had arrived back, he’d been civil and fairly cooperative. Our connection felt stronger each time we interacted. I knew he felt it, too, but he wasn’t acknowledging it, in true Ray fashion. I wasn’t going to push because I had no idea if having us tied together was a good thing yet or not. “There was one a few minutes ago about fifty miles from here,” Ray answered. “We shouldn’t hang around any longer than necessary. Every time one flares close by, I feel like gagging.” Ray carried himself like a police officer even as a vampire. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad combination. I doubted Ray would ever stop being a cop, so maybe that would make him an extra diligent vampire.

Naomi nodded. “Yes. The magic tastes very bitter. We must not linger.”

“How can they possibly keep coming so often?” I said. “They haven’t let up all night, and I’m guessing they’re doing this all around the country trying to find me.”

“I do not understand it myself,” Naomi confessed. “I had not thought it possible for them to come so often. There must be an army of demons, each paired with a sorcerer or witch of some kind. A spell caster must be present to do the summoning, which is why they cannot pop up in the middle of the forest, because no one lives here.”

“Jess,” Tyler called over his shoulder as he and Danny headed into the trees. “You should take off. No sense lingering. We’ll follow you on foot. I’ll let you know when you need to stop and pick us up.” Nick followed them in, likely to pick up their clothes.

Before I could answer, a rumble came from inside the Porsche.

“Something’s vibrating,” Ray said from his position against the car. “Do you feel that?” He placed an open palm on the hood of the car.

“It has to be the spell,” Rourke said. “This is not good.”

Inside, the car began to buzz and shake. It was like old-time TV interference, and we just happened to be inside the TV.

“Damn,” I said as a quiver of energy blinked through me. “Didn’t Angie tell us the smaller the vehicle, the more it held the spell? The bigger the vehicle the quicker it dissipated?”

“This car wasn’t meant to hold a spell for very long,” Rourke finished.

“Tally never thought we’d take it to New Orleans.” Damn, damn, damn. “How long has it been since we left the Coven?”

“It’s coming up on the third day.”

Naomi stepped back from the car. “Go now, while you can. Get to the city. You can find cover there,” she urged. “We will follow you closely. If there’s trouble—”

A loud popping noise rent the air, like a giant piece of bubble wrap, and the car shuddered for the last time.

Then everything stilled.

I yanked open the glove box.

It was empty. No money, no passports. The spell was gone.

Ray turned in a slow circle outside, his eyes flashing sliver. His concern and anger zinged through our blood connection, much stronger this time. Seconds later, a pulse of energy shot through the entire area, ending with an eardrum-sucking pop.

Either the sorcerers were incredibly lucky, or they had the best tracking system in the world. They’d managed to find me. And it had taken only seven seconds.

Rourke jammed the car in reverse. “Hold on!”

“Go to the Vampire Queen’s immediately!” I shouted to Naomi and Ray as we peeled out. “It’s the only place I can think of with enough protection. Naomi, act like you just arrived back from our journey, but don’t tell her anything else. I will find you.”

Eudoxia may be only one of a handful of supes who might be strong enough to ward off an attack from the Underworld. It didn’t matter in the end, because I didn’t know any other supes in New Orleans anyway.

We had only one choice.

Naomi appeared horrified. “She will know our bond is broken. I will be punished!”

I grabbed on to Rourke’s arm to stop him as he wrenched the car around. I rolled down the window and craned my neck out. “No, she wants me too badly to risk harming you. Naomi, you have to go. I promise, we will be right behind you. It’s the only safe place that can shelter all of us. Ray will be the perfect distraction. Introduce him as your—”

A huge burst of energy broke through the twilight, roaring through the predawn like a fog of malice-laced power.

“Time’s up!” Rourke shouted.

As the car sped off, I spotted Tyler and Danny running alongside us in their true forms.

Naomi and Ray took to the sky. Nick was behind us in the SUV, but as I watched in the rearview mirror, he spun the Suburban 180 degrees in the opposite direction once we hit the pavement. “What’s he doing?” I yelled, turning my head around to look out the small back window.

Rourke glanced behind us. “He’s buying us time.”

“He can’t take on a demon alone!”

“He won’t. Once they figure out he’s not who they want, they’ll move on.”

“What if they kill him first because they can? We have to go back.”

“Jessica, we are not going back. Nick is an adult supernatural who makes his own decisions. He is giving us a chance and we’re taking it. He knows the risks.”

Go back and help Nick, I yelled at Tyler. He’s trying to block whatever is coming. If you stand together, you have a better chance. Naomi and Ray have already taken off.

Got it, Tyler said. But get the hell out of here as fast as you can. Once we get to New Orleans, we’ll track you. We won’t be too far behind.

Another shock of power rocked the car.

The force of energy brought all four wheels off the road. On the way down, the car bounced, bucking us in our seats. Rourke yelled, “Put your head down!” right as all the windows in the car exploded simultaneously.

I ducked fast, covering my head with my arms as tempered glass rained down all around us. Adrenaline shot through my system and my muscles coalesced in an instant. Once the barrage was over, I unlaced my arms and tilted my head up. Rourke had the Porsche at 150. The wind was incredible. “Can you outrun power like this?” I shouted as we flew down a back road.

“We just broke through the end of that demon circle. That was the power burst.” He wrenched his head to look behind us, not slowing the car. “There are two things working in our favor right now. Demons have to stay within the circle they were summoned in. And daylight is breaking. It’s my understanding demons hate sunlight. If we stay rural and change our direction every fifteen minutes, we have a shot. The spell on the car is gone, but we still have GPS. It’ll have to do. We’ll use it to stay on the back roads until sunrise.”

I punched on the GPS and reached out to my brother.

What’s going on? I asked. Tyler, talk to me!

As soon as you made it through the circle, they left. Nick is on the road already. We aren’t far behind him.

Any luck with Dad?

Not yet.

Okay, keep trying. Rourke thinks we can make it to New Orleans if we stick to the back roads. Once the sun crests, we are hoping they back off.

Don’t worry about us. We’ll find you.

I sat back in my seat and reached up to secure my hair, which was flying around like a cyclone in the wind. I bound it with a twist tie I’d found in the ashtray. No windows at this speed was going to make it an interesting ride.

I leaned over and opened the glove box, moving the car insurance papers around, searching for anything that might help us. I half hoped I’d find a big red witchy help button to push for backup.

No such luck.

I closed my eyes and tilted my head back, mouthing a few simple phrases.

“What are you doing?” Rourke asked, his voice loud to compensate for the wind.

“Hoping that if I focus hard enough, a bag of beef jerky will appear in the glove box.”

12

“Dammit,” I muttered. “I never should have told them to come here before we had a concrete plan in place.” We were parked outside of what Rourke had just informed me was the Vampire Coterie, which literally meant “clique” in French. It so figured the vamps would be cliquey. I was second-guessing my decision to order Naomi and Ray here ahead of us. “I just wanted them to be safe, but it’s not going to come without some serious consequences.”

“There was no way we could’ve known,” Rourke assured me. “You did what you thought was best in the moment, and I agreed with you. Demons aren’t something anyone takes lightly. They are feared for a reason. We were lucky to escape the circle before it had a chance to stop us. Naomi and Ray would’ve tried to protect you at all costs. It was much better they had gone.”

It was seven in the morning. The disturbances had stopped at daybreak, but that hadn’t meant we were clear of danger.

The sorcerers wouldn’t stop hunting us during the day.

Now that we were in the city, it was only a matter of time until they found us. We were waiting for Tyler, Danny, and Nick before we made our next move. “I don’t think we’ll be able to knock on the door until dark,” I said, nodding toward the imposing mansion with its turrets and high walls. “I’m assuming the Queen has to be awake in order to have a conversation, and we don’t know if she receives guests during the day. She is going to be less than thrilled to see us, to say the very least.”