Sarah McCarty (6 page)
He hit the gas. The powerful engine roared to life, accelerating with the bit of his energy he poured into the engine, giving it that extra boost just as a Sanctuary vampire appeared in the rearview.
This time there was nothing fake about her gasp. “What was that?”
“Just one of those trumped-up goons you think I conjured.”
“Seriously, what was
that
?”
that
?”
He couldn’t blame her for the shock. Sanctuary didn’t improve in looks when they were up close and personal. “I already told you—Sanctuary.”
“And what the hell is Sanctuary?”
“An arrogant bunch of vampires ...” He took the next corner too fast, levitating the car as it tilted up on two wheels, holding it on the road until gravity took over again. The wheels hit the road with a thump. “Who seem to think your research on how genes and amino acids interplay in nutrition is damn interesting.”
Jane’s grip on the handle above the door was white-knuckled, but her voice didn’t lose a bit of its arrogance as she retorted, “Of course it’s interesting. I wouldn’t be studying it otherwise.”
“It’s not your study they’re interested in. It’s what you discovered that’s captured their attention.”
“I haven’t discovered anything.”
It would be nice if they all could believe that. “You haven’t announced anything, but you’ve discovered something.”
She narrowed her eyes again, this time at him. “And that’s why you’re here.”
No sense in prevaricating. “Yes.”
Her start reverberated through the seat, going from her to him, connecting them as the pulse of her fear shot through the crystal clarity of their connection, souring the purity. Reaching back along the same path, he sent a wave of calm. He didn’t want her to be afraid of him.
“Would it be easier for you to believe if I told you I was part of a supersecret government organization hired to protect you from Sanctuary spies?”
“No.”
Well that was short and to the point. “Then, yeah, I’m interested in the same thing they are for totally different reasons.”
“What are their reasons?”
“World dominion.”
She didn’t look shocked, which confirmed his suspicion that she already knew that her discovery could be used as a weapon.
Her brows rose. “And your reason?”
“Personal.”
“How personal?”
“Very personal.”
“You know that’s not good enough.”
There was that flicker of energy to his left.
Shit
.
Shit
.
Slade yanked the wheel to the right, cutting across a lawn to the alley between two small strip malls.
There was barely room for the car. Jane screamed. Her fear poured over him in waves, calling to him. She needed him. Slade slammed the connection closed, the distraction too much. Instantly, everything inside him howled in outrage at leaving her alone with her fear, repeating the only truth his vampire cared about—she needed him.
Images raced by. A trash can crumpled under the wheels. The lid flew over the hood. Throwing her hands over her face, Jane screamed again as the plastic hit the windshield before tumbling over the roof. Gritting his teeth, Slade swore as the urge to take her in his arms threatened to override the need to escape.
“Get control of yourself.”
The order came out more growl than words.
“Me?” she squeaked, clearly outraged. “I’m not the one driving like a maniac on steroids.”
Shit
. How could she crack jokes, as terrified as she was?
. How could she crack jokes, as terrified as she was?
“Just do it.”
Beyond the alley was a ditch. The physical toll on his energy was huge as he levitated the SUV over it. It slammed down on the other side, grass and dirt spraying as the wheels found purchase.
Jane gasped but didn’t scream. Instead, she clutched that laptop as if it were a lifeline while he accelerated to a hundred and thirty miles per hour.
In a perfectly reasonable tone, Jane pointed out, “There is no fuel that will take an internal combustion engine to that speed, that fast.”
“Nope, you’re right about that.”
Her frustration reached out and snapped at the edges of his nerve endings.
“Are you just physically incapable of delivering a straight answer?”
“My brothers seem to think so.”
“You have brothers?”
“You sound surprised.”
“I am. I thought supersecret special-agent types were loners.”
“You watch too much TV”
“My friends say ‘not enough.’”
The car hit a bump, bounced high. There was no stopping the flip, so he rotated into it, levitating the SUV to keep it off the ground, the strain on his energy telling in the shaking of his hands as the car righted. Too many more moves like that and they’d be helpless as newborn babes against Sanctuary.
Jane didn’t say a word through the maneuver, but her scream echoed in his head. Though he couldn’t afford to spare the energy, Slade smoothed calm over her fear.
I’ve got you. You’re safe.
The shocks groaned as the wheels dug into the ground. The car shot forward, toward the cornfield ahead and to the right.
As if nothing amazing had just happened, Jane said, “That’s simply not possible.”
“Not for humans.”
Her calm broke on a sharp, “Stop harping on the fact you’re not human.”
Sanctuary was nipping at their heels, his energy was running out, and dawn was coming. He didn’t have time for her games of self-denial. “Stop harping on the fact that I am not, and get with the program.”
The car plunged blindly into the tall corn, the stalks snapping under the wheels and whipping at the sides.
“Oh my God.” This time she grabbed his thigh. Her first voluntary touch, and he couldn’t appreciate it.
Shit
.
Shit
.
“I won’t let anything happen to you, Jane.”
The noise of the stalks beating against the vehicle almost drowned out her voice. “Just shut up and concentrate on not crashing.”
“I’m multitasking.”
Her grip tightened. “I’m not impressed.”
The hell she wasn’t. “Really? I thought that last maneuver was pretty slick.”
“You would.”
“Hey, it kept us from being caught.”
“Who can catch this? We’re doing one hundred thirty miles per hour across a cornfield!”
Her words came out choppy, her voice distorted by the car’s bumpy course through the rutted rows. Slade couldn’t afford to smooth the ride. Levitating the car, scanning and cloaking, was draining his energy fast. If he could keep them running until dawn they’d be okay. The tinted windows of the SUV would offer him some protection from the sun that their pursuers wouldn’t have. “Sanctuary.”
“Sanctuary. Again with Sanctuary. There’s nobody out here but us.”
She wanted so much to believe that she was trying to convince herself of it. Maybe a bit of fear wasn’t a bad thing. Slade fed a little of his awareness into Jane’s senses. “Can’t you feel them? Even if you can’t see them, your instincts have got to be telling you that ‘something this way cometh.’”
She licked her lips. “Of course I have a sense of danger. We’re driving at an alarming speed!”
“They are moving just as fast.”
She glared at him. “It doesn’t make sense that anything can keep up with us.”
“You haven’t met anyone from Sanctuary.”
She cut him another glare, one that said she clearly didn’t appreciate his response. One that sneaked past his guard and caught the edge of sexual tension, bringing it into play.
“Are they stronger than you?”
“No, but they outnumber me, and you are a definite weak point.”
She frowned, tapped her finger on the armrest, and glanced into the side mirror.
“Yeah, but an enhanced machine should outlast Sanctuary.”
“I notice you don’t say ‘outrun.’”
There was a loud thump on the top of the car. A sizzle snapped across the roof, followed immediately by an unearthly scream as a man tumbled to the ground behind the vehicle.
Jane gasped. “Sanctuary?”
“Yeah. For the short term, it might help you to think of them as jaguars and us as impalas, outmaneuvering the attack.”
Jane let go of his thigh. “We’re the bottom of the food chain?”
He glanced over. “At the moment.”
There was another thump. Another scream as the defenses he’d put in the vehicle and enforced with his own energy shattered the nervous systems of the Sanctuary vampires who were attacking.
The draw on his strength was incredible—more than he’d anticipated. He’d have to revisit his calculations.
“For heaven’s sake then, keep your eyes on the road and drive faster!”
Slade didn’t have the heart to tell Jane they’d maxed out on fast. And time. Between the edge of the cornfield and the road there was a three-foot ditch. At full strength he could levitate the SUV over the ditch, but now he didn’t know if he had the reserves to get the car safely to the other side. He glanced up at the lightening sky. Jane’s gaze followed his.
“If they’re vampires, isn’t sunlight deadly to them?”
“Yeah.”
“So we just have to stay ahead another few minutes.”
“Yeah.” If they were especially lucky. If Sanctuary hadn’t developed shields. If, if, if.
Jane dug her nails into the seat. His thigh muscles flexed with envy.
Shit
. How could he miss her touch now?
Shit
. How could he miss her touch now?
“What aren’t you telling me?”
The tinted windows would give him some protection, but not enough. And they wouldn’t do anything to protect them against the werewolf allies of Sanctuary. Without a doubt, the vampires would mentally telegraph to the weres their last sighting, and those weres would, with that tenacity they were known for, hunt their prey.
“I’m vampire, too.”
“Are you telling me that in a few minutes, while we’re driving one hundred thirty miles per hour down this field, you’re going to go out in a puff of smoke?”
“Your concern is touching.” He angled the SUV so it ran parallel to the ditch.
Ignoring his sarcasm, she demanded, “Is that what you’re telling me?”
“Nothing so dramatic. The windshield will protect us somewhat.”
“Us? I don’t have any problem with the sun. Since you do, it’s the fact that you’re still driving this car that has me concerned.”
“I won’t crash the car.”
“Like hell.” She looked behind them. “Are they still following us?”
He shook his head. “The vampires have dropped back.”
“So why are you saying that like Sanctuary is now the least of our problems?”
“There are werewolves, too, in league with Sanctuary.”
“Of course there are. What’s a good horror flick without a werewolf or two?” She paused, took a breath, and then said in a perfectly level voice, “I assume it’s only a few and you’re not talking thousands?”
“We don’t know.”
“Oh for heaven’s sake!” She threw up her left hand, the other staying firmly clenched around the laptop. “How can you possibly have enemies and not know who and how many they are?”
“We’re working on it.”
The first rays of the sun peeked over the horizon. Even the dense shading on the window couldn’t prevent the blinding burn. Slade blinked and sucked in a breath.
Son of a bitch
. Jane fumbled in her backpack. Leaning over, she pushed something on his face.
Son of a bitch
. Jane fumbled in her backpack. Leaning over, she pushed something on his face.
The relief was immediate.
“Sunglasses,” she explained.
There was more rustling as he blinked the tears out of his eyes.
In a voice as cool as a cucumber, she informed him, “There’s a tree in front of us at two o’clock.”
He adjusted the wheel to the left, blinking rapidly as his vision cleared. The glasses were dark, the rays of the sun still weak. As a temporary fix, it worked. He could see.
“Thank you.”
The backpack rustled as Jane rummaged through it again. There was the sound of plastic being rotated on plastic, then the squish of something being squeezed out of a tube. It was all very clear to his acute vampire senses. The scent of coconut filled the car. The distinct sound of a seat belt being unbuckled snapped into the silence.
His “Put that back on” collided with the belt buckle hitting the side of the door.
“In a minute.”
The end of the field was coming up. Another ditch. Reaching over, Slade tried to push her back. Tucking herself beneath his arm, Jane avoided his attempt and slathered something cold and slimy on his face.
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