Chapter 25
Twenty-Five
Blake
Marlon and I lay on the bed as the sun rose, and I hoped the cheap curtains were enough to protect us.
I’d taped them closed as much as I could, but I wasn’t sure it would be enough.
He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close while he slept, and for a moment I stopped worrying.
Maybe that was his superpower—putting my mind at ease.
After a while, I finally fell asleep, as much as a vampire could.
My mind was always working and always alert, no matter when it was or how many hours I’d gone without sleep.
“Try to relax, love. We’re safe,” Marlon murmured into the hair at the back of my neck.
I gripped his hand tightly and finally managed to drift off, but my mind still went over every detail of what had happened earlier.
Elias had assured us he wouldn’t hurt either of us, and technically he hadn’t, but he had led us to an area where it would have been easy for us to be taken.
I had strange dreams the rest of the day as I worried about Marlon getting his head torn off while I watched.
The prospect of spending eternity without him was more than I wanted to imagine.
We slept, or we acted like we did, until I could feel the pull of the night and I knew the sun would be setting soon. “We need to feed tonight,” Marlon said.
“I know. I can feel the need,” I admitted.
“Never go too long without feeding. As soon as you feel the pull, you need to tell me. I’m sorry, love. I forgot how often a newborn needs to feed.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m still learning, and there’s so much I feel and don’t understand, but I can’t tell what’s important and what I should ignore.” A storm was brewing in me, and it wouldn’t take much for me to drain anything warm-blooded that walked through the door.
“In a few minutes it’ll be safe for us to leave,” Marlon said.
“I’m okay,” I said, as much to reassure myself as Marlon.
“First, we feed, then we find out who and what attacked us last night,” Marlon said and started gathering our things.
“What do you think they were?”
“The one that attacked us was human, but he was stronger. Enhanced, unlike any human I’ve come across before, and he burned up in the sun.”
“Why would Elias be with them? He told us he preferred to be alone and away from humans. Do you think he lied about everything?”
“Possibly. Our kind is not known for being truthful. We don’t know any of these creatures, it’s best not to trust them. We’re going to find Josiah and destroy him, then we’ll decide where we go from there.”
“I don’t understand how anyone could move like that and still be human,” I said as we walked out of the room and over to the truck. After putting the backpack inside the cab, I used a discarded box and more of the tape to fix the back window.
“There is a lot going on I don’t understand,” Marlon said as he watched me use the last strip of tape.
“Is there anyone who can help us?” I asked because I knew Marlon was worried, but he would never admit it.
“No, there is no one,” he said and stood a moment with his hand on the door handle while scanning the parking lot and nearby area. “They are close, and Josiah is still moving north, but not as fast as he was. We need to go.”
We both got in the truck, and I started it and drove away from the hotel. “Where are we going?”
“Food first,” Marlon said. I drove in the direction we’d come yesterday but took an exit in the opposite way I hoped led to a remote area where the forest would provide us with something to feed on.
“There.” He pointed at a narrow road just off the road we’d just turned onto.
We followed it as it led deeper into the woods and farther away from the highway.
We rounded a curve, and I was hit with a sense so strong I had to grip the steering wheel to force myself to focus on driving and not leaping out of the vehicle.
“Pull over here,” Marlon said.
I cranked the wheel to the right sliding to a stop and was out of the truck and running before I had time to even think about it. A large animal broke through the brush ahead of me, and before it had time to know I was a threat, I’d snapped the bear’s neck and was drinking its warm blood.
“You are amazing,” Marlon said, and I pushed down the part of me that wanted to challenge him for my food.
He was my mate that I loved, and I wanted to help feed the two of us.
His fingers brushed my cheek before he sank his fangs into the bear, and for a while the two of us were silent as we drank our fill.
“You’re drinking more now,” I said, and wiped a drop of blood from Marlon’s lips.
“My thoughts have cleared more with every feeding. The silver must finally be leaving me,” he said.
Completely full, I sat back on my heels and wiped blood from my face. “You’re stronger now, and I’m happy what he did to you doesn’t seem to be permanent. Is there a way we can we get past them?” I asked.
“We will. The border is long, and that’s not the only place to cross.
We’ll leave the truck in a parking lot where no one will bother it and go on foot.
It’ll be less conspicuous that way. We’re not going to give them any clues as to where we are.
I’d rather avoid them completely if we can,” Marlon said.
“What do you think they are?” I asked again.
“I’m not sure, but they’re strong and fast, so we’ll try to get by them and be on our way.”
“I thought you didn’t need to eat as often?” I asked because he’d told me from the start he didn’t need much, but so far, he’d shown me his thirst was as strong as my own.
“I want to be as strong as I can be if we go up against them again. I have a bad feeling about this whole situation,” he said and stood from the bear. “Let’s take care of this and find a place to leave your truck.”
After disposing of the bear, we both used a nearby stream to clean up any blood that would be obvious.
There was a chance someone could see us, and I didn’t want to draw attention by being covered in blood.
We hurried back to the truck, and I drove toward the town we’d been in earlier, but instead of turning off the highway I kept going and turned toward another smaller town.
“This should be good. It’s small, so hopefully no one cares about the truck being there, and we can slip across the border. ”
I drove around town for a few minutes before finding a place to park next to a business that already had a few cars parked at it. Marlon grabbed the backpack and slipped it on. “Let’s go, we have plenty of time left to cross the border and get to safety,” he said.
We took off running and headed to where the forest met the road.
I had no clue where we were or where we’d end up, but I trusted Marlon.
Running was so easy as a vampire, and the fact we never got tired was amazing, and something I didn’t understand.
It went against everything I’d known my whole life, but now my life wasn’t the same.
Marlon threw his arm out and stopped me as he came to a stop.
I was about to ask why when he pressed a single finger to his lips, telling me to be quiet.
“You should not have let the vampires go. We could have used their blood,” a female voice said through the silence of the forest.
“We’ll find more,” a male said.
“You do realize their kind is rare?” the female said.
“We have the small one,” he said.
“He’ll need to feed before we take more blood from him or he may not survive,” she said.
“One less bloodsucker wouldn’t be a bad thing,” the male said.
“Do you not understand the power we get from their blood? Without them, I would cease to exist,” she said.
Marlon’s eyes met mine, but neither of us moved. A groan to the left of us got our attention. There was Elias, bound to a tree with rope and chains. His head hung forward as though he were unconscious, but something was wrong.
“Bring the small one. I will drink from him before I cast the next spell,” the female said.
“He doesn’t look like he’ll survive another bleeding,” the male whispered as he held Elias up by his hair.
“Then we will find a human for him to feed on,” she said.
Marlon met my eyes before he mouthed the word, witches. My eyes widened as I tried to understand how once more, he’d blown everything I thought I knew out of the water. Vampires weren’t the only creatures that were real.