Dalton, Tymber - Brimstone Blues [Brimstone Vampires 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (13 page)

His intense blue eyes smoldered at her. “Are you ready for me?”

“Please!” she gasped.

He thrust his cock home. Once fully buried inside her, he took long, sensuous strokes, his gaze boring into hers.

“I love you, Taz baby. I wish I could give you more.”

“You’re giving me plenty, Rafe,” she whispered before she kissed him.

* * * *

Matthias paced, so surly and short tempered that Albert and Tim considered darting him with the tranquilizer pistol.

“Matthias,” Tim said, “all we can do is wait for her to let us know where she is.”

“What if it’s too late when she does?”

“I have the jet on standby. When we find out where she is, we can be in the air in thirty minutes. We know she can’t drive to Hawaii, so wherever she is, she’s not more than a five-hour flight away at this point,” Albert said.

“Why won’t she call? What if something’s happened to her?”

“She’s a grown woman,” Tim sternly cautioned. “This was bound to happen sooner or later as stressed as she’s been. She is a creature of habit, and her world completely upended. She needs time to decompress. She’s had a horrible series of shocks and needs time to make sense of it all. She will come back to us.”

“Aren’t you worried about her?”

“Of course I am! Had you kept a better eye on her, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now, would we?”

“What happened to it not being my fault?”

Tim shook his head, rubbing his eyes. “I’m sorry, Matthias. I know it’s not your fault. I’m as concerned as you are, but I have confidence in her. Now that she is aware of her powers, she can keep herself safe.”

“How can you be sure?”

“I can’t. But even if she was with us, it wouldn’t be possible to protect her every single second.”

Matthias sat. “I wish she’d let us know where she is.”

* * * *

Taz checked out of the hotel at dawn after a night of incredible dreams, grabbed a quick breakfast in the hotel lobby from their continental spread, then fueled up. She checked a map she found in the glove box and picked a route that wound through Western Kentucky and touched the southern tip of Illinois, taking her through St. Louis.

Taz started the car, let it idle, and looked at the MP3 player. A sleepwalking episode, that’s all. Strange voice, now this—definitely stress. Overwhelmed by stress.

And grief.

Let’s not forget Taz’s Big Honkin’ List O’ Guilt, either.

Thumbing through the playlists, she selected
Driving Music
and tapped
play
. It was spooky how similar their tastes were in music. She liked a wide variety of artists and genres, but when driving, she preferred something with a heavy, toe-tapping bass beat. Rock and roll. Apparently, so did Rafe. In fact, most of the songs in this playlist were on her own MP3 player.

Slipping Rafe’s sunglasses on, she pulled out of the gas station and pointed the pony toward the interstate.

It was easy to let her mind drift while driving. Rafe had—of course—an excellent sound system that did the music justice, including a small subwoofer providing just the right amount of thump to accompany the bass line. With the landscape peeling away on both sides, she focused on the asphalt ahead of her, trying not to let her mind drift to what happened at Yellowstone.

There would be plenty of time to deal with that soon enough.

Rafe, I’m so sorry. I wish I could talk to you and tell you how I feel, let you know how sorry I am this all happened.

The voice didn’t respond.

An Illinois state trooper tagged her doing ninety in a sixty-five zone just north of Paducah, a few miles inside the state line. She didn’t feel bad about smiling as he walked up and she chatted with him. She wished him a nice day as he returned to his patrol car, letting her go without even asking to see license and registration.

Now that Taz knew how her vampire mojo worked, she used it to her advantage. She didn’t hurt him, he just forgot to ticket her after pulling her over. She never got speeding tickets before she knew about her powers. Why should she start getting them now?

She left the St. Louis Arch in her rearview mirror after stopping for an early lunch, and just after dark she ate dinner north of Kansas City. She considered pulling over for the night, but with all the coffee and nervous energy she knew it was a waste of time.

Pushing on, she stopped for gas and coffee in Council Bluffs after midnight. Low on cash, she broke down and paid with a credit card, knowing Matthias could track the purchase but hoping she was still far enough from her destination he wouldn’t figure it out yet. Around two a.m., she pulled into a rest stop north of Sioux City and parked under a security light next to an RV with Virginia plates. She laid the seat back with Rafe’s pillow tucked under her head and tried to nap, eventually drifting into a fitful but dreamless sleep.

Two hours later, she was on the road again before dawn. She ate breakfast in Sioux Falls, and the hot summer sun chased her across the rolling South Dakota landscape. She hadn’t turned on her phone since Tennessee and wondered if she should check her messages. Nearly out of money, she pulled into Mitchell for gas and an ATM withdrawal. Fueled, fed, and flush with cash, she returned to I-90 and headed west.

* * * *

Albert tapped Matthias on the shoulder. “I know where she is.”

He sat up, immediately wide awake. “Where?”

“I should say, where she was early this morning.”

Matthias jumped out of bed and grabbed him. “Where?”

“Council Bluffs, Iowa.”

Matthias let go. “What? That’s not possible. That’s—” He considered the distance. “That’s not possible.”

“Look for yourself.”

Matthias pounded down the stairs to the office, looked at the computer, then pulled up a map. “She had to be driving without stops to make it that far.”

Tim walked in with a cup of coffee and handed it to Matthias. “She has a very strong stamina. And she’s running.”

“Why would she run from me? What did I do?”

“Not running from, Matthias. Running to.”

“All right then, running
to
where
?”

Tim had logged into her bank account earlier that morning but didn’t tell Matthias. He didn’t want Matthias swooping in and scaring her. “I have an idea.”

* * * *

It was late afternoon when Taz passed Wall and rolled into Rapid City. As tired as she was, it was tempting to stop, but she felt the pull, so close she didn’t want to lose daylight travel time. She grabbed a light dinner and coffee and returned to the highway before dark. After consulting the map she jumped off I-90 near Ranchester, Wyoming, and pulled into a motel for the night.

At dawn she was on the road again, winding her way through the Bighorn mountains. She ate lunch in Greybull, then finally turned on her BlackBerry where four voice mails waited for her. She ignored them and used the browser to find the number she needed and made a reservation with one of her personal cards, hoping Robertson wouldn’t think about checking that account.

She wasn’t counting on it. Robertson knew her too well. If nothing else, maybe he would keep Matthias off her for a few days.

Then she turned the phone off.

She had an early dinner in Cody and gassed up, paying cash. They might think she went the other way, through Gardiner, and she didn’t want them figuring it out too soon. The ranger at the Yellowstone East Entrance smiled and took her money, handing her a park map, brochure, and newsletter.

“Have you ever been here before?” he asked. Was he looking her over carefully, or was it just her exhaustion?

She wistfully smiled. “Yes, I have.” Today was two weeks since Rafe died. It felt like yesterday that she’d kissed him, and yet a lifetime since.

“Be careful near Fishing Bridge. We’ve had bison getting into the road there a lot. You might not see them in time in the dark.”

“I will.”

“Do you have a reservation?”

“Old Faithful Lodge cabins.”

“I love it over there. Beautiful.”

She nodded in agreement. “Yes, it is.”

* * * *

The ranger watched the Mustang’s taillights disappear into the thickening gloom and pulled out his BlackBerry. He sent a text message.

* * * *

Matthias looked haggard, drawn, and wouldn’t eat.

“You must eat something,” Tim scolded.

“I’m too worried.” He sat at the kitchen table, and Tim put a bowl of soup in front of him.

“Eat. Now.”

Matthias finally spooned some into his mouth.

Albert walked in. Matthias missed their shared glance.

Tim patted Matthias on the shoulder. “Finish that. I’ll be right back.”

They walked to the office, and Albert pointed at the screen. “You were right.”

“I didn’t want to say anything to Matthias because I don’t want him going after her. That would only make matters worse.”

“When do we tell him?”

Tim shook his head. “We don’t. Not yet. Let her have a day, she’s safe there. I’ve already made a few calls. She’ll have several people watching her once she checks in.”

“She had to really be moving to make it out there that soon.”

“She’s very determined. I’ll leave tonight, after Matthias is asleep. I’m sure she was smart enough not to take the north entrance. Probably cut through Cody, knowing her. I’ll fly into Livingston and send the jet back, arrange a plane to Gardiner and have a car waiting. Don’t tell him until I say so.”

“He’s going to be extremely upset, you know. At both of us.”

“I’m more concerned about her than I am him. She needs a chance to work through this in her way. Matthias must learn to give her space.”

Tim’s BlackBerry vibrated. He looked at it, then nodded.

“What?” Albert asked.

He held it up so Albert could read the text message. “Told you so.”

“Do you ever tire of being right?”

“She’s
my
baby, Albert, lest you forget.”
Well, at least the child of my heart…in this life.

* * * *

Taz drove, slowing once full dark settled. It was eerie watching the land disappear with only the asphalt in her headlights and occasional steam drifting across the road in front of her. Albert had told her Yellowstone was a safe haven for “their kind” because something about the sulfuric “brimstone” output from the thermal features kept the Others away.

Except the Others had apparently tag-teamed with a traitorous vampire and some
daemon pulverem
to infiltrate what was normally a refuge. With Caroline in custody, Taz wasn’t worried even though she knew it was foolish to be here alone. She’d be more careful.

She swallowed hard as she made the turn south at Fishing Bridge, toward West Thumb. Tightly gripping the steering wheel, she tried to ignore her racing heart and bad memories as she passed West Thumb and made her way west to the Old Faithful valley.