Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Abi
The vertigo sensation had cleared and my ears stopped ringing, so I was probably capable of moving. However, I didn’t want to let Josephine know that, so I sat lax in my seat and groaned occasionally.
I likely had a concussion thanks to my head’s sudden meeting with the dashboard, but a trip to the hospital and I’d be fine. I had a hunch, though, that if I stayed with Josephine that wasn’t going to be the case. So my primary focus would be escaping.
Unfortunately, Josephine was definitely going over thirty-five miles per hour, which was about the top speed I was willing to fling my body out of a moving car. Fortunately, I still had my wallet, which meant—hopefully—Beckett would be able to track my movements.
I cracked my right eye open. (With my head slumped against the side of the car Josephine wouldn’t see it.) I couldn’t see much, as the sun had completely set and there were just a few brushstrokes of crimson twilight left in the sky.
Besides the hum of the car engine, I heard a faint clicking—Josephine was probably driving one handed and playing with the beads of her necklace with her other hand.
Fabulous.
Not only was I captured by a vampire, she eschewed driving laws.
My head positioned as it was, I could only see a thin sliver of the roadside illuminated by the car’s headlights. My Algoma guidebook jabbed me in the ribs, but that was the sole weapon I had on my person.
Josephine uttered something in French and slammed on the brakes.
I popped my eyes open to see a mother deer with two tiny fawns—adorable with their spotted coats—standing in the middle of the road.
Josephine—still swearing in French—swerved to avoid them. Tires screeched, but we were going much slower now. (I thought. It was dark enough that it was hard to gauge.)
Now! This is the safest opportunity!
I unlocked the door and flung it open.
Josephine reached for me, but I yanked my battered Algoma guidebook from my jacket pocket and flung it at her face.
She made a confused noise while I—since I was unbuckled—jumped from the car.
As I am not a particularly athletic person, the leap and subsequent landing was more of a cross between a swan dive and a bug spattering on a windshield. I landed hard and skid about two feet across the hot blacktop. My side burned like it was on fire and my teeth rattled in my head.
Josephine’s swearing turned into shrieking, but despite the pain pulsing through my body, I scraped myself off the road.
Nothing felt broken, and—just as importantly—while I’d have a nasty bruise tomorrow and already had a massive streak of road rash on my thigh, there were no cuts or open wounds that would leave blood drops for Josephine to track me by.
I started limping towards the weed infested right side of the road, until I heard the cry of a seagull and briefly looked up.
Soaring overhead was one of the magical seagull-possum griffins.
The griffin… Beckett said they only hang out near his beachfront in this area. That must mean we’re near his lake house. Would his house be my best bet for safety? Or do I try to run for it?
The miniature griffin banked, circling overhead before it nimbly flew into the woods on the opposite side of the road.
Josephine threw the car in reverse and started to back up. Clearly, she meant to hit me.
I bit my lip.
My previous impulsive decision was what had gotten me into this situation. But that was a gamble to save Lina. This was a Hail Mary attempt because I believed in Beckett. And in the local supernaturals’ absolute trust in him.
The car roared toward me as I jogged/limped my way across to the opposite side of the road.
Joesphine narrowly missed clipping me, but I made it. I plunged into the woods, following the seagull-possum griffin.
I could hear the crash of waves, so we were right along the lakeshore—something I’d need to keep in mind. Occasionally, the shore was more of a cliff, and with my poor night vision I could accidentally run straight over the side.
It was so dark I almost missed the seagull-possum griffin as I blindly stumbled through the woods.
Thankfully it uttered a seagull’s high pitched “kee-yah!” so I caught sight of it roosting in a tree before it flew off, threading through trees—easier to follow with its white seagull feathers and gray-white possum coat.
I was so focused on following it that besides my panting as I fought to breathe while running, I didn’t notice any other background noises.
“There’s no use running, human.” Josephine’s warning sounded so close I had to slap my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming in terror.
My heart hammered so loud I could hear it in my ears—which was very, very bad. Beckett said vampire hearing wasn’t as keen as a werewolf’s, but with their affinity for blood and superior night vision, a vampire like Josephine would be able to pick me out of the woods without much trouble.
“I could follow you all night. The delicious sound of your blood pumping through that weak little heart of yours is a siren song to my ears.” Josephine made an appreciative sound, but more alarming was that this time her voice was off to my right.
Is she closing in on me?
I glanced up at the seagull-possum griffin, which flew a bit farther ahead before landing in a tree, still leading me down the coast.
Slowly lowering my hand, I tried to quietly make my way through the woods.
Thankfully we’d had a good rain recently, so the well-watered grass and shrub branches didn’t make much noise when I brushed them.
“Once I drag you back to the car, I’m going to use you as a living blood pack,” Josephine said, her voice once again behind me, but a little distant.
Hopefully that meant she didn’t really know where I was?
I paused underneath the griffin’s tree, pressing my back into the rough bark. I waited for the little creature to take flight and lead me away, but it was busy preening its feathers.
Angry—not really, but my fear made me angry—I was tempted to shake the tree, until Josephine’s voice was so close she sounded like she was right behind me.
“Having you on hand to drink off, I won’t have to waste my precious time or effort to stop and hunt during my travels. Hunting is such a degrading activity.”
The closeness of her voice and her words turned my blood into ice in my veins. Despite my light jacket, goosebumps broke out on my arms and the hair on the back of my neck stood up with fear.
I held my breath, afraid to breathe.
“It will free me up, so I can take my time selecting my new hunting grounds—far away from the Midwest,” Josephine continued. This time her voice was off to the left, farther away from me.
I couldn’t get my shoulders to come down from where I’d instinctively hunched them up to my neck.
I slipped my hands into my pockets in an attempt to push them down, blinking when I touched my granola bar.
It was paper thin and thoroughly smashed to crumbles, I must have landed on it when I jumped out of the car.
“Maybe I’ll go to the New England region. There are plenty of mountains and trails to leave your body on once you’ve outlived your usefulness,” Josephine said.
The seagull griffin finally left the tree, flying off.
I hustled after it, biting my tongue to hold in a hiss when a branch of underbrush scraped my road rash side.
Please, please don’t have cut the skin.
“Blood!” Josephine shouted in rapturous joy.
Not bothering to be quiet anymore, I sprinted, almost passing the little griffin in my blind rush.
I popped out of the woods and onto a manicured lawn so unexpectedly I tripped and fell, scaring a flock of seagull-possum griffins that were scavenging on the lawn.
One or two of the birds screamed, but the majority of them “died”. They fell onto their sides, and a few of them even rolled onto their backs, their feet poking up into the air.
Their presence meant I’d made it. This was the lawn of Beckett’s lake house—even if I could barely see the house’s silhouette against the dark sky.
I scraped myself off the grass and made a run for the house, but was yanked backwards by the hood of my jacket.
“Caught you!” Josephine triumphantly declared as she reeled me in like a fish.
She set her hands on my shoulders with an iron-like grip and twirled me around. (Thanks to her vampire strength, she had no trouble manhandling me even though I was taller than her.)
No, no, no! I can’t give up!
I twisted, searching for inspiration, then caught sight of the flock of “dead” griffins still croaked on the lawn just behind us.
Josephine eyed my leg—she was probably looking at the cut—and licked her lips. “I have half a mind to finish you off here, but I won’t waste all this effort for nothing.”
I shoved my hands into the pockets of my jacket and grabbed the flattened granola bar.
Josephine was starting to use her pheromones, or at least I assume she was, because I was starting to feel lightheaded and dazed. “Look into my eyes, human,” she ordered.
Using the last few scraps of will I could muster, I yanked the granola bar out of my pocket and ripped it open.
Three of the seagull-possum griffins hoisted their heads off the ground to watch me with greedy eyes.
“If you are hoping to tempt me with human food, you needn’t bother,” Josephine said. “I find it disgusting.”
I dumped the granola bar on Josephine, dusting her shoulders and chest with crumbs.
“W-what?” Josephine sputtered.
The flock of seagull-possum griffins screamed to life, their seagull instincts overtaking their possum skill of playing dead.
They descended on Josephine in a whirlwind of feathers and tufts of fur, snatching at the crumbs and ripping at her clothes, pinching her in the process.
Josephine released an ear piercing shriek and released me to bat at the griffins. “Get off me you little beasts!”
I sprinted for the house. I didn’t dare look back, but I could hear the sound of wings, the little griffins’ cries of delight at the unexpected granola snack, and Josephine’s angry yells as I fled.
Beckett’s lake house was equipped with motion-sensor lights that flicked on as I approached, blinding me with the sudden illumination.
If I can make it to the front door, it has a number keypad lock that Beckett told me the combo for. I just have to get inside!
Wheezing, I sprinted around the perimeter of the house. My lungs burned and the ache in my side bloomed into a knifing sensation by the time I made it to the house’s cobblestone front sidewalk.
Almost there!
I was halfway up the sidewalk when something snarled behind me.
Josephine grabbed me by the arm and tossed me to the ground. I bounced painfully on the stone and mashed my eyes shut as I groaned.
“Forget it. I’m ending you here. Traveling with you would be a misery!” Josephine spat.
I cracked my eyes open.
The vampire stood over me, seething. Her ugly infection-pink eyes looked extra disgusting in her fury. Her floppy hat was gone, her clothes were ripped and askew—it looked like one of the griffins had even defecated on her left shoulder.
If I survive this, I’m going to feed those little guys for a year.
“At least I can find satisfaction in your fear.” Josephine’s laugh was unhinged and made my heart rate pick up.
I managed to raise a leg and tried to kick her knee, but she dodged.
“I hope this is a terrifying way for you to pass along,” Josephine said. “Alone and scared.”
For one cold moment, I thought she was right.
I’d made the move here because I was alone and knew I was driving myself to an early death with my work.
Instead I’d come up here just to throw myself to an early death with my impulsive decision to experience life and be locally involved.
I was still alone, and such a failure.
“You are—” Josephine cut off, her face transforming into a look of confusion followed by shock. She gurgled as she tilted and fell over, an arrow—or was it a crossbow bolt?—sticking out of her back.
I gaped at her, my eyes bugging, when I caught movement in the darkness beyond the ring of light shed by the porchlight.