Blood Twist (The Erris Coven Series) (7 page)

Braden scanned the area around him. He knew the others couldn’t be out in the daylight, but with Liz by his s
ide, he wa
s
extra cautious
.

The brunette
walked
beside him with such confidence.
He wasn’t sure where it came from – the ability to fit in with her new surroun
dings so naturally. Although Liz
had insisted the night before that she had traveled all over the world to see her fathe
r, when her passport was collected
, he noticed it hadn’t been stamped
.

H
ow often
does
she
really
see her dad?

They crossed the street to the covered walkway where the Canada Line Station
had a small
grouping
of anxious passengers waiting for the next train to pull in.

Rubbing
his palms over his chest,
the man nodded
to the ticket machine
on the back wall
. “What you say we make a little deal?” His forehead beaded with sweat as he continued staring at Liz.

Braden’s eyes n
arrowed.
“What deal?”

Pulling out his wallet, he
mumbled,
“How about I pay for the tickets if you and your
friend here
come back to my room when
we
get to the Fairmont?”

“And?” Liz
questioned, her expression tightening.

The salami guy
licked his lips again,
un
aware of the disgust
fueling beneath
Braden’s skin.
Glancing around to make
sure no one was listening,
he stammered,
“And let me watch the
two of you together.
”

Liz looked like she had swallowed some
thing sharp as she replied,
“You even look at me one more time and I will sneak into your room and castrate you
tonight.”

E
xcited by her threat
, the man smirked and
g
rabbed
her wrist
.
“You can’t do anything.”

Braden couldn’t hold back his teeth from extending through his gums and the icy feeling of his eyes shifting to their pure white. He wanted to tear open the slob’s throat and let him bleed out on the asphalt.

About to step forward,
Liz
blocked his way. Her
small
foot shot out and kicked the guy in the knee
. Yanking her wrist away, she sent
her elbow in
to his gut.

“Back off
creeper
,
or next time I will hurt you,
” she hissed
.

Rubbing his side, t
he beady eyed
man
glared at her
. He was about t
o say something else when he
directed his
heedful
stare
t
o
Braden.
W
hen their eyes made contact
, his expression blanched
. With a quick intake of breath, knowledg
e spilled across his blotchy
face
. Fearing
he was about to be torn in half
, his bladder let
go
, staining the front of
his
track suit. An airy squeak passed his lips
before
turning
to
fl
e
e
.

“Okay,” said Liz unhappily, her complexion flushed.
“T
hat’s enough of that jerk
.”  Looking up at Braden, her forehead crinkled
. “Wipe th
at look off your face
.
”

Braden
began to half-pull
, half-pu
sh her
to the edge of
the platform.
“We need to go before he comes back.”

“
Wait
,”
she said. Liz glanced
at the faceless people huddled
in small groups
talking amongst themselves or on phones
as they waited for the train. “No one even saw
and we have to get our tickets.”

Braden’s agitation was still
droning
through him.
His
blood pounded in his ears and
his skin felt taut against his tightening muscles.
Knowing
t
he
creep
put his disgusting paws on her made him livid.

“I need to get away from him or I’ll kill him.”
He hated
admit
ting
it, especial
ly to himself, but h
e had come to
o
far to lose his humanity now.

Liz placed
her hand on Braden’s
shoulder.
Her hazel eyes met his, holding him
in
place.
“
It’s okay.
I held my ground
.”

Braden swallowed
back his anger, forcing
his
fangs to recede
.
“I don’t want you to get hurt,” he said honestly.

“I’m tougher than I look
.
He isn’t the first one to pull a stunt like that and I know how to hit back.”
Her
beautiful smile was confident
, but
her adrenaline left
a
sligh
t tremble she was trying to mask
.

He could see she was a fighter
,
but still worried.
“There are real monsters in this world. You won’t always get away that easily.”

Glancing
down at her
,
he
w
ished she understood
how fragile she was.
If he had any sense, he would bring her back to the terminal and stay at her side until she was safely aboard the next flight.
But as she glanced around like nothing even happened,
he
couldn’t help but do as she asked. He
want
ed a chance to make her time spent with him worth something. Hopefully, b
efore the clock struck his last hour.

Turning
to the ticketing machine,
he
slid his credit card in, and purchase
d two passes
for the train. As the machine clicked and purred, he hoped he wasn’t being a complete idiot.

Passing on a stay at the Fairmont, Braden spotted a small motel with a
flashing
neon
vacancy sign
only fifteen minutes from the airport. Although th
e Thunderbird Motel
looked older than the earth
with its thread bare carpets and avocado green furnishings
, it was clean and the attendant at the front desk didn’t ask questions
when
Braden
checked in
with cash
.
With his backpack over his shoulder and Liz’s suitcase in the other hand,
he led her through the courtyard
, past the kidney shaped pool, and
to their room at
the end of the long building.

Braden ran th
e key card across the motel
door
and stepped into the
air-conditioned
room. He didn’t mind the cool air, but
hoped
Liz would be comfortable. She
shuffled
in
behind him
, her eyes wide with surprise when she spotted
the sole king siz
ed bed
. He could alm
o
st read her mind as she bit
on her lower lip
, h
er
tired
face showing
a hint
of
alarm
.

“I don’t sleep,” he explained. “
Y
ou can have
th
e bed, while I rest by the window
.
”
Pointing to the small table and chair, at least he could guard her from the door while she slept.

As she
glanced warily around the
shared space
,
h
e knew Liz
would
have
preferred a private
room for the evening
,
but
he
just couldn’t bring himself to sit alone for the next eighteen hours
.
Not
when
he could
take comfort from
her
presence
.

Besides,
s
he
might take off before I send her back to Maine.

“Well, this is a first.”
Liz dropped her bag on the bed and sat down. “As long as you never tell anyone we shared a motel room
for the
night,”
she
kidded
.
A
slight flu
sh
stained
her cheeks.
Breaking eye contact, s
he
glanced down
at
her nails. The polished
tips were painted black like her hair
.

“Are you hungry?”
He watched her carefully, afraid she
might
change her mind and leave.

“I could eat,” she smiled. “Do you want to order in while I take a shower? I just want to get out of these clothes.”
She tugged on her black cargo pants that were adorned with strange zippers and buckles.

Braden resisted the urge to smirk
.
“Sure.”

If Teagan was here, this
conversation
would be taken differently.

After ordering a Pizza, Braden forced himself to sit instead of pacing mindlessly around the ro
om.
He tapped his fingers on the arm rest, trying to release some of his pent up anxiety.

It was still surreal that he made the call and was told to go to Vancouver. He had imagined facing his death in the old country or down south whe
re nests were rumored to exist, not
in
British Columbia, the land of winter recreation and the former Olympics
.

Braden
didn’t want to come here;
there was still
so much left
unfinished
.
Even after making the call and coming to terms with what needed to be done, h
e wasn’t sure how his li
fe made a difference in the
worl
d
. Now that his last moments were winding
down, he
hoped that once he was gone,
his family
could move on
.

Braden
listened to
Liz move around the bathroom. Even with the
rhythmic hum of the
shower spray, he could hear her soft voice rise and fall lightly as she sang.
Although her
iPod
held songs that belonged to bands who
se fan base belonged in mosh pits
, he was pretty sure she was singing something by
Katy Perry.
Despite the growing disquiet in the pit of his stomach
, the odd girl
made
him smile.

It was ironic that he found someone he
could
fall for
now that
his life had boiled down to
mere minutes
.
From across the lawn
yesterday
, h
e
hear
d
Liz
insist to
Lexie
that he wasn’t her type. At first he
felt the same
way
, but
after spending time alone with her, more than just her sm
ell and touch appealed to him.

Liz’s
quirk
y humor
and the softness behind her
independence lured him in
.
Life fascinated her, and she was fearless about facing it. Strong, inquisitive, and passionate
about topics that interested her
– she
was as mysterious as she was straightforward
.