Vengeance of the Demons (5 page)

She pulled the car into the ditch on the side of the road in an effort to disguise it as one of the millions of other abandoned vehicles. The big cities had more of them than the open road, but even out here, it hadn’t been uncommon to see an abandoned car every few miles.

She rummaged around in the backseat and pushed all the food to the floor.

Her last stop had been a treasure trove. A gas station with an attached sporting goods store. She’d grabbed two sleeping bags, food, water, medical supplies, fishing gear, two tents, anything she could get her hands on that could be useful to her enclave.

Her heart squeezed for the first time thinking about her enclave. It had been almost three years since she’d been there. They’d only just begun to automate their new home when she’d gone out with a raiding group and had been captured. She sent up a silent prayer that they were still there. Especially her uncle and cousins.

Her throat swelled closed thinking about her time in the slave market. The degradation, the terror, the bidders, and finally a tall, handsome, dark-haired Vampire. His smile kind, his eyes the perfect shade of blue.

She crawled into the backseat, pulled out one of the sleeping bags, and laid it over the floor covering the food. Then she pulled out the second one and slid into it up to the top of her head. She pulled it shut and closed her eyes. Her heart pounded as memories and nightmares assaulted her. She swallowed hard against the boulder blocking her throat and once more saw a perfect little pink hand. Fingers curled around her own in a tight grip.

That had been the night that she’d stopped sleeping. That terrible night a year and a half ago. She took a deep breath, relaxing her muscles and clearing her thoughts. Just a couple hours sleep. She’d get a couple hours and then she’d start out again. She peeked out of her sleeping bag and looked around. If anyone came upon the car, they’d think it was abandoned like all the others. At least, she hoped so.

* * * *

It had been almost six hours when William looked over at the dormant GPS signal. He was only four hours from where Evan’s signal still sat and he feared she’d ditched the car for a different one. Abandoned vehicles lay everywhere like grave markers. If she’d ditched the car, he was screwed. He had no choice but to keep going.

Something flashed in his rearview mirror. He hit the brakes in the middle of the highway and turned around in his seat. He stared as hard and far as his expert sight would let him, scanning the area for danger. Nothing moved on the barren road. A good ten minutes passed before he faced forward again. He cracked his neck and blew out a heavy breath trying to release the paranoia that had hitchhiked along for a ride. He hit the gas and continued.

He hadn’t experienced anything like that since the outbreak wars had started. One moment he’d been asleep in his bed, the next he’d been awakened by a scream. There’d been a tremendous blast, and then his mom had run into his room and snatched him out of bed. She wore her pink flannel nightgown dotted with red specks and a large bag over her shoulder.

Without a word, she’d grabbed his emergency bag packed with several pairs of underwear and changes of clothes, a few toys and books. They’d raced out the rickety fire escape of their apartment building. Her tears had flowed over his still half-asleep face until she’d hit the street. Barefoot and with the wind whipping through her burgundy hair, she’d run down the road and never looked back.

He remembered the smell of blood and gunpowder. The feel of strong hands pulling him from his mom’s arms and into a large white van. Then crouching in the corner of the van with her and a dozen other people. That had been his last night sleeping in an actual house until going to live with Danika.

He remembered his small room in the apartment with his parents. The faded blue walls covered in robot posters. His five Matchbox cars lined up on his dresser. The black, outer-space blanket with the multicolored planets on it. His tiny bookshelf full of easy-reader books and the rocket-ship mobile hanging in his window. Small things, child things. And his mother and father.

His gut clenched. Good people. Working people who did everything they could to keep him fed, warm, and safe. All the way to the end.

William had found out later that his father had sacrificed himself against a vampyr to save them. After three years in the enclave, his mother had succumbed to septicemia after a run-in with a rusty nail. From then on, William had been alone.

And to this day, he still was. He had Danika and Mason and all the other coven members, but for all of their love and support, he was alone.

He blew out a harsh breath and laughed. He’d been given so much and still he wanted more.

“Selfish, William Scott,” he could hear his mother say. “Selfishness is an ugly trait.”

He still missed her.

* * * *

An hour later the GPS signal moved and he blew out a breath of relief. It was almost two AM, and he still had a good three hours before he caught up to her. She had the advantage with not having to stop for the day like he did. So far in the last thirty-six hours, she’d only had six hours of sleep that he could count. How did she do it?

It was the one flaw of being a vampyr that bothered him. Lack of sleep was something that could get you killed as easily as not feeding. Even going a day or two without sleeping could have major effects on the body. As if being up at the same time as the sun were somehow poisonous.

He pulled a bottle of Savor from his cooler and popped the top. The synthetic blood was something he’d become more accustomed to than actual blood. Human blood tasted great and did amazing things for his body, but he still had a hard time getting over the fact that he’d once been one of them.

William never really thought of himself as not being one of them as much as he felt he was now evolved somehow. Apparently, humans didn’t see it that way.

He gulped down the Savor, put the top back on, and threw the empty bottle on the floor. It bothered him do it, cleanliness was another thing he’d learned from being a vampyr, but he liked the thought of throwing it out the window even less.

* * * *

The hours rolled on as did the miles that stretched before him. The pitch black night gave way to the birth of dawn and he checked his map for somewhere to stop.

The quiet wasn’t something he was used to. First his enclave and then the coven house, even the raiding party vans he used to go out on were rarely silent.

He remembered the small shacks and field of tents that held every human he knew. The enclave had been little better than existing day to day, but it had been his home for almost a decade. He wondered if it was still there or if someone else from the group that had been taken to the slave market had given up the location. It wouldn’t matter if they did. With more than one raiding van going missing, the enclave was sure to have packed up and moved on. They’d leave clues for the raiding parties as to which way they’d headed, but nothing that the slavers could decipher.

He looked at the GPS. He’d made good time but he had to pull off the road. Unable to bring himself to go into a motel again, he found a stretch of road where half a dozen cars had been pushed to the side, and he rode down into the ditch to where they clustered together.

He drove his SUV in between two of them and killed the engine. Glancing in the backseat, he groaned. This day’s sleep might actually have been worse than the previous.

He climbed back, retrieved his solar reflective blanket, locked the car, and pulled the blanket around himself. It was small, but not as uncomfortable as he’d imagined. He reached into the back pocket of the passenger seat and pulled out a gun, cradled it to his chest, and closed his eyes. He wasn’t taking any chances this time.

* * * *

The gas light came on and Evan swore loudly. She hadn’t seen a deserted gas station for over fifty miles. She should’ve stopped earlier. Now she was smack dab in the middle of Albuquerque, with no options but to gas up in a populated area.

She wasn’t an idiot. Going into a city, even the outskirts of a city, was a bad idea. And stealing gas was even worse. Which meant she’d have to go inside and give them cash.

A sign popped up on the road. No more gas for one hundred miles. She slammed her hand on the steering wheel. She wouldn’t make it that far. Blowing out a harsh breath, she turned the wheel to the right and headed for the off ramp.

A large red and yellow gas station sign gleamed like a lighthouse in the burgeoning dawn. She pulled into the station, not another car in sight. She parked at the pump. Digging in a bag, she found the forty bucks she’d snatched from a cash register the day before and shoved it in her pocket. She grabbed a coat and put it on, zipping it up and pulling up the puffy hood.

She crossed to the front of the convenience store and kept her eyes on her shoes as she opened the door. She glanced toward the vamp cashier who sat with his feet up on the counter, reading a smut magazine. She marched over quickly, slapped down the forty bucks, and turned to go.

Her heart pounded as she headed back for the door. “Forty on pump two.”

“Sure,” the vamp replied. The stool creaked and his boots hit the floor.

She hurried out to her car and tried to calm her shaking body. She went to the pump and shoved the nozzle into the gas tank. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw lights flash as a vehicle rolled into the station. A large black van pulled to the pump beside hers and stopped.

She glanced over her shoulder at the horizon. The sky was getting lighter by the minute. Dawn would be upon them quickly, and she needed to be well on her way by then.

The van opened up and voices and laughter trailed out of it. She resisted the urge to turn and willed the gas to pump faster.

Behind her, several bodies passed her car and headed into the convenience store. The thundering in her chest grew louder.

“Come on, dammit!” she said through clenched teeth.

“I’m sorry, did you say something?” asked a male behind her.

Evan froze. “Uh…nope.”

He chuckled. “Those things never do seem to go fast enough, do they?”

She swallowed the bile that scorched a trail up her throat. “Nope, they don’t.” She glanced at the pump. Two dollars to go.

“You from around here?”

Screw it. She pulled the nozzle from the car, setting it back in the cradle. Calm. She needed to stay calm.

The man stood at the hood of her car. She kept her head down and walked to the driver’s side.

She gave a small wave, being sure to keep her eyes on her feet. “Have a good day.”

“Yeah, you too,” he said slowly. He took a step closer and she reached for the handle.

Quick as a flash he was at her side. Her head snapped up and her hood fell back. A cruel smile rolled across his handsome face revealing his shorter vampyr fangs.

“Well, well, well, what have we here?”

She reached for the door, but he slammed his hand on it, holding it closed.

“I’m getting my master’s car fueled for him for tonight,” she said. “Please move.”

He glanced inside the car and chuckled. “I think not. Now if you want a real master, I’m happy to help you out with that.”

Anger and fear mixed in an explosive cocktail inside her. “Remove your hand.”

He thought for a second. “No.”

She glanced at the convenience store. His buddies were messing with the cashier inside, but they wouldn’t be gone forever.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“Oh precious, a beautiful human like you should be able to figure that out easily.” He leapt at her and Evan backed away. He laughed and chased her around the car. They circled twice before she ended up on the wrong side. “You know I can keep this up all day, right?” he taunted.

“I doubt that. In less than five minutes the sun’ll be up.” She circled the car once more and pulled the driver’s side door open. She dove inside and he seized her legs. She reached out, trying to grab onto something. Anything.

“Come on, baby, don’t be that way. Let’s have some fun.”

Evan kicked her attacker in the chest. He flew backward into the pump and growled. She scrambled farther into the car and felt around on the floor for a weapon.

The vampyr was back on her. He climbed in the driver’s side and gripped her by the hair, dragging her out. Everything she’d been taught by her uncle and cousins flooded back to her. She twisted in his grip and punched him in the groin. He doubled over and she head-butted him in the nose. He cried out and let go of her.

“You bitch!” The vampyr reached behind him.

She dove back in the car and reached under the passenger seat. Her fingers closed around a warm piece of metal, and she raised her hand and pointed. The sound of the gun firing resounded in the car, making her head buzz.

The vampyr lunged at Evan and planted a long hunting knife into her thigh. She cried out and kicked at him with her right leg before firing the rest of the rounds. The vampyr dropped to the ground in a heap, and she hauled herself back into the car. Tears streamed from her eyes as she ripped the knife from her leg and threw it into the seat next to her.

His buddies tore out of the store, and she put the car into drive. Her stomach roiled as she peeled out of the gas station, and she had to force herself to keep from throwing up. She took off down the road, back to the highway and headed down the on-ramp, heart pounding.

Pain shot up her leg but she paid it no mind. Her only thought was on getting as far away as possible. She took a dozen deep breaths, topping one hundred in the car and trying to keep herself from shattering into a million pieces. Blood seeped through her pants and pooled in the seat by her rear. She pressed her left hand into the wound, trying to staunch the flow of blood.

Ten minutes later the adrenaline shakes tapered off and the throbbing in her leg grew increasingly more painful. She pulled to the shoulder, ripped off the overly warm coat, and looked down. A wide, three-inch gash split her black pants as well as her skin. Blood poured from the wound. It was deep enough that she didn’t have the stomach to inspect it. She pressed her palm into it and looked around in the back for something to tie it off with. There wasn’t anything. She grabbed her white, button-up blouse and tore it down the back. Then she made several strips and wrapped the fabric around her thigh. She wrapped the second half around her leg tighter than the first but blood drenched the fabric. She needed medical attention and soon. She opened the glovebox and pulled out the bottle of pain pills. Popping two in her mouth, she took a deep breath and then swallowed them dry.