Anything else.
He reached out and placed his hand over hers and Julia let him. She'd learned early on that her resistance brought a barrage of questions and concern. It was better to pretend.
It'd make escape easier.
Turning her hand over, he rubbed a thumb over the pulse in her wrist, beating frantically like a trapped bird. His pupils dilated and he licked his bottom lip as her breath came shorter, his eyes darkening, the gray beginning to disappear like imagined smoke.
“William,” Pierce said in a low voice. William looked across the aisle at him, his brow furrowed. Pierce looked pointedly at the contact between them and William removed his hand from hers, the lack of his touch leaving her disturbingly empty. What was wrong with her? It must be because of her nervousness with the execution of the plan. She had a stabbing pain for Jason in that moment. He'd have known what to do. But no more. Now it was up to her.
Julia had to be her own savior.
William waited until he seemed to get control of himself then said, “You will see. My home coven will be a place of respite.”
Fat chance, Julia thought.
Before she'd been too weak to think of escaping. Now, all that time that she had been bereft over the loss of Jason and the others, was now at the forefront of her mind. Pressing her forward. Into the unknown.
She was in charge of her own destiny. Not the vampires. Not the werewolves.
She. Julia.
Only her.
*
escape
They exited before the other passengers, only first class for vamps, she thought sourly. Julia had never flown first class. Actually, she'd only been on a plane for a single trip. To fly from her home state, where her parents had been executed on the highway. She gulped at the memory. She gave herself a mental push forward as the chaos of the airport swirled around them, the vampires tracking the people around them.
The cattle.
She turned to William, willing her pulse to slow. “I need to change and use the restroom,” she lied smoothly, her pulse sluggish. Why it was cooperating now, when in the plane it had been fluttering uncontrollably while he'd been touching her? Julia didn't know, didn't care. She was that close to freedom. She wasn't blowing it for anything.
Pierce waited and William ran his hand through his inky hair, making it spike. Turning that smoldering intensity to Julia he said, “Alright, but Pierce will need to stand guard outside of the bathroom until I can get our comrades here to escort you to the car.”
Comrades. Translation: vampires.
Julia lifted an eyebrow. Smart of him. He was going to leave her with good old Pierce while he got a few more of the vampire crew up here so the precious Blood Singer couldn't get away.
Real circumspect guys. They thought they were so smart. Well, the element of surprise was the only thing she had and she was using it.
“Where am I gonna go?” Julia pointed out.
His eyes narrowed on her and Julia held her breath. He seemed to really deliberate until Pierce broke the swollen moment. “Just go. I will stand guard and you will return with the additional runners.” He rolled his broad shoulders into a dismissive shrug.
William palmed his chin. “Fine.” He turned to Pierce. “Be sharp, be vigilant, even now they may be about.”
Julia looked around, expecting gnomes, trolls or both to pop up around her.
“The werewolves,” Pierce clarified in a low voice.
True, there was them.
Pierce took her elbow and she walked to the restroom with him. When she glanced over her shoulder, William's form was a speck down the choked corridor.
*
Julia threw the bag on the bathroom floor stall, kicked off her flip flops, and dragged out the skirt, boots and shirt she'd cropped the night before. It would bare some skin but she'd take the jacket she had in her arm. She grabbed the box of black hair dye she'd taken from underneath the sink vanity. She rushed to the sink and began to chop off her long, ginger-colored hair to her shoulders.
Another girl beside her leaned back and said, “Ah, what are you doing?” she asked, snapping gum, watching as the hair piled at Julia's feet in a heap of spun honey.
Julia met her eyes in the reflection of the mirror. She asked, “What does it look like?”
The girl's eyes narrowed. “Butchering your hair like a dumbass,” she said logically.
Julia smiled, she couldn't help it. Yeah she was. But it was necessary.
The girl took a hard look at Julia, then, shaking her head, she walked away. Giving her a last look that clearly said, crazy bitch.
Yeah, that was her alright. She guessed the plastic scissors didn't help with that. Can't get the real ones on the plane. She stopped up the sink and mixed the black dye. Lathering it in her hair she watched as her almost blond hair with a hint of red became a mass of black. It utterly changed how she looked.
The boots made her five-seven instead of five-four. She was taller, wearing different clothes and had black hair that was eighteen inches shorter than when she entered the bathroom.
She had the money she'd had on her the day that she was taken. Julia opened her palm and looked at the lonely thirty dollars and five dimes.
And one penny.
She made a fist with her hand and stuffed the change back in the pocket of her skirt. She grabbed her toiletry bag like a purse and made her departure when there was a pair of women exiting the bathroom.
Julia dipped her head and walked out, the hair still wet underneath, clinging to the nape of her neck like cold fingers.
*
Julia kept her head down and her legs moving, her heart racing far beyond the effort she was expending. She had her toiletry bag clenched under her arm and kept moving.
She was exiting security just as William and the runners were passing through. Julia could hear his voice and she didn't turn. But she swore she felt a hesitation in his speech, a scorching gaze that she did not see but felt pass over her.
And then she was outside in the drizzle, the clouds making shapes across a full moon, twenty cabs in sight.
Julia hailed the first one. Closing the door behind her she said, “Get me to the closest bus depot.”
The cabby turned around to look at her. “To where?” he asked, his voice accented, a turban on his head. Julia tried not to stare.
“Away,” she said cryptically.
“Humph!” he huffed, slamming the flag that started the meter at two bucks.
They pulled away from the curb and Julia hazarded a look behind her.
Her mind recoiled in terror as she saw William and Pierce. And beside them, two runners.
Vampires.
Their noses were in the air. Scenting it.
Scenting for her.
CHAPTER 9
Vegas
Julia and Jason were kinda arguing. He thought Elvis was classic and she thought he was... well, kinda creepy.
“Listen Jules, everyone who comes to Vegas has to get married in front of Elvis, I'm just sayin'.” He spread his hands out at his side like, you see my logic.
Actually, she didn't. She looked up at the oversized pudgy Elvis rendering. His clown red mouth, his tassels and studs on a grotesquely distended belly in an unflattering white was not something she wanted in attendance. Even if they were in cheesy Vegas. Even if they had stolen away to get married.
Jason huffed, planting his hands on his hips. “Okay, I see you don't see that as a sign: Elvis is the Symbol of Vegas.” His eyebrows raised and Cyn giggled.
“I think he looks pretty gay, Jason,” Kevin agreed, smoothly siding with Julia.
“Thanks for the love, ya ass,” Jason said.
Kev barked out a laugh. “Anytime, pal.”
Beaten, Jason looked over the small pamphlet of chapels, finding a few more on the list. His eyes shifted to Julia's, hazel with flecks of green in the brown. “The only thing you don't want is him?” he jerked his thumb toward Icky Elvis.
Cynthia rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, Jason. No chunky monkey in white polyester. It's a no-go.”
He glared at her and Julia said, “Yeah, that.”
Jason sighed. He and Kevin put their heads together as Cyn came over to Julia, giving her a look from head to toe. “Glad I could get you out of those fugly boots, Jules.”
Julia smiled, Cyn had outdone herself. Julia didn't look great in white but as Cyn had explained it, “you've earned white, virgin princess, but let's work with the weirdness that is your complexion.” Julia had rolled her eyes, letting Cyn transform her.
Julia caught sight of herself in what could only be described as a fun house mirror, her long dress, grazing the floor, spiky ivory heels peeked out from underneath the hem, a platform gracing the bottom. Cyn had pinned her hair in an elegant up 'do, leaving a few wisps hanging down.
A row of creamy pearls with a champagne-colored wash encircled the base of her throat. Her mother's.
A lump gathered in her throat and she looked away from the reflection of her sweetheart neckline, satin and lace colliding in a fine webbing that cradled her breasts.
The absence of her parents on this important occasion was best left to future reflection.
Like never.
Jason had dressed in a deep navy suit, his tie a subtle crimson. A slash of color against the whiteness of the shirt.
Julia thought it looked a little like blood against the backdrop of white and shivered as a subtle feeling of foreboding stole over her. It was shattered when Jason flashed his smile, stabbing the pamphlet with his finger. “Found it, babe!”
Julia leaned forward and he drew her in next to his body, looking at where he pointed.
“Gnome Chapel.”
She cocked her brows. “Really, Jason?” He smiled nodding.
“That's just switching out one creepy audience member for another,” Cynthia said with revulsion.
“Nah, baby,” Kevin said, pulling her tight against him and pressing a kiss to her temple, almost crushing the bouquet of lavender flowers she held.
“Hey! Watch the flowers, graceless.” She giggled.
Kevin grabbed the bouquet, jerking it up over his head, slamming his lips against hers, his free arm coming around her back and pressing her harder against him.
Julia agreed, gnomes were creepy too. She looked up at the bigger than life-sized Elvis statue and sighed. Choices, choices.
Anything was better than Elvis.
****
now
Julia leaned her head back against the scummy seat of the cab, fingering the fine chain at her neck, the sterling sliding with her restless stroking, the ring at the end.
Tears threatened as Julia thought of the symbol of eternal love. Jason had insisted on buying the bands. He had purchased indestructible tungsten bands. A metal made of carbide, gun metal gray, polished to a mirror-like shine. He had said it couldn't be scratched, dented or bent.
Like their love.
Perfect, he'd said, squeezing her as he had slipped it on her finger, their clergy in the Chapel of the Gnomes had been smiling at them, his mouth full of missing teeth.
Vegas, a class act.
She didn't want a big diamond. She just wanted him. He'd said that later, after they got settled, he'd get her something to go with the plainness of the band.
He would never have the opportunity.
The cabbie stopped a scant five minutes after they'd left the terminal.
“I let you off here. Eight dollars,” he said without verbs.
Julia frowned. Don't speak English, fine by her, but be civil. She handed him a twenty and he gave her the change.
She slid out of the taxi and found herself on a cement sidewalk surrounded by a wall of people. She didn't make eye contact with anyone but went to the first bus she saw and showed the driver her five bucks, six dimes and one penny.
“How far?” she asked.
He searched her face. “How far do ya need to go?” he asked, a kindness in his eyes.
She paused, aware of a line forming behind her. “As far as this will get me,” Julia said, leaving it in his hands.
He nodded. “Let's play it by ear, okay miss?”
She nodded, so grateful for the unexpected kindness she felt her eyes glisten again. She had turned into an absolute crybaby. All it took was him saying that one phrase Aunt Lily had used, Julia's home that was so far away came to the forefront of her consciousness without mercy. She swiped at the wetness on her cheeks and gave him a watery smile as she moved to the back of the bus.
She sunk down in the seat, putting her knees up on the seat in front of her and looked out the window. As she gazed through the filthy glass the bus pulled away in a plume of noxious exhaust, leaving the depot for parts unknown.
Julia shut her eyes, remembering.
*
Jason kicked open the door and it slammed against the wall. Julia shrieked laughter as he crossed the threshold, her dress swirling around their bodies. He slapped it closed behind them and dumped her on the bed.
She almost bit her tongue she was laughing so hard, but managed not to by a slim margin.
They'd had fake ID's and had quite a bit to drink and Jason was stubbornly hanging onto the notion that they could wait one more night until they were in their new apartment in Anchorage.
“I don't want our first time to be in a seedy motel in Vegas, Jules,” he'd said, dragging his lips down her neck in a path to her collarbone, then pressing them against her mouth again. The pearls getting in the way of his mouth, he moved them aside with a finger and lavished her with his attention.
Julia didn't care that it was seedy. She pulled him down into the cradle of her body.
Her husband.
It had a surreal quality, she tried to grab onto the newness of it but it slid through the fingers of her mind like smoke.
He smiled down at her, his tie askew, his muscular arms pressing her to him.
He nuzzled her neck, “No,” he whispered. “We wait until we are in our home.” Jason wanted everything to be perfect for her, she was worth it. No booze to interrupt the clarity, their own digs. Yeah.
Julia sighed with frustration. “I had awesome lingerie!”
He raised an eyebrow. “Cyn?”
Julia caved. “Yeah, it was her idea.” She smiled sheepishly.
“But you still bought it?”
She nodded, blushing. Just thinking about the skank-ensemble Cyn had given the nod to made her flushed with embarrassment.
“Wow, it must be hot, judging by that look,” he searched her face, running a tender finger over her cheekbone, on fire with her thoughts.
“We have the rest of our lives. Let me hold you next to me all night. That'll be a first, along with a ton of other stuff.”
They grinned at each other.
Julia thought she could live with that one thing. Patience, she thought.
But they didn't have the rest of their lives.
It was her biggest regret. She'd never been with Jason.
Even once.
*
Julia woke with a start, darkness all around her. She was completely disoriented and swallowed the scream that rose in her throat as someone leaned over her, gently shaking her shoulder.
It was just the bus driver. Her memories came flooding back.
Escape.
No money.
Going nowhere.
“We're here,” he said softly.
Julia rubbed her eyes. “What time is it?” she croaked out, her voice rusty after sleeping so hard.
He looked at the humungous watch on his wrist and said, “Straight up five o'clock.” He looked at her, straightening. “My shift's done and we've traveled my whole route. Twice. This is the end of the road.”
Julia looked up at the sign that read, Valley Bus Transport. Welcome to Kent.
“Where is this?”
He looked around. “It's Kent,” he pointed to the sign. “Outside Seattle.”
Julia had familiarized herself w
ith the Seattle region and understood immediately the driver had just kept her safe and warm in the bus while she slept part of the night away, driving in a big circle.
She stood, looking at him. “Thank you.”
He nodded. “You got a place to go?”
She shook her head.
“I can give you a ride to a woman's shelter.”
Woman's shelter? Is that what he thought she needed? He watched her expressions wash over her face and slowly nodded. “Yeah, I think you're running. I think you're running from a man.”
No, not a man, she thought. But it was close enough.
He didn't want to know what she was running from.
“It's a deal,” she said, deciding to take her chances with the human.
It was better than the alternative.
She walked out of the bus with him.
Still running.
CHAPTER 10
William
William took in the filth of the air, his acute senses filtering the smells that did not concern him.
There were many, but amongst those, there was a faint taste on the air.
Julia's.
He swiveled his head in Pierce's direction, his nostrils flaring as they transitioned between scenting to anger. Pierce had been a dolt, letting her slip by. His anger rode him hard, his body tenser, more than was even typical for him.
Every moment she was alone left her vulnerable to attack. Judging by the pungency of her aroma, his blood still in her to the vaguest degree, he judged she was within a fifty mile radius east of their current position.
He opened the door to the SUV, leaving the bus depot behind them without a backward glance.
“East,” William commanded to the runner who had met them. His eyes meeting Pierce's in the rear view mirror, settling against the passenger seat.
They sped off, the blackness of the SUV melting into the night.
*
Julia
Julia wasn't the hugging kind of girl but she gave a big one to the man who had let her sleep for hours on his bus.
Alfred.
He gave her an awkward pat on her head and told her to take care of herself.
She turned as she heard the engine roar in his pickup truck and then dim as he pulled away. Julia looked at where she stood. The moon was full, the brightness cast making Julia feel strangely vulnerable under the yellowish glow of the streetlight, on display. She clutched her toiletry bag tighter, moving forward toward the door.
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