by Candy Crum
“Ah!” they both screamed as he rear-ended them again.
Kailah looked around and saw that the back road they were on was straight and flat up ahead. There were empty fields on both sides of the road, and Kailah knew things weren’t going to go well.
“I feel it, Rach. This next one’s it. Tighten your seatbelt and keep your body as loose as possible, because we’re going to flip.”
“Why can’t we just stop and fight him? We’re going to die either way. I’d rather not die in a fiery crash,” Rachel said.
Kailah didn’t exactly want to either, but it was the right thing to do in their situation. “When he flips us, he’s going to wreck, too. Don’t ask how I know—I just do. If we stop, he’s going to be at full strength, and we’ll go down fast. If we both wreck, he might be disoriented long enough for me to pop some kind of power. I don’t know what, but something.”
“You’ll be just as weak—or weaker.” She pointed to Kailah’s stomach. “Shit. Here he comes.”
The only thing Kailah had to guide her were her instincts, and those told her to be strong. They told her to be fearless. It seemed stupid to her, but she hoped it wouldn’t be a mistake.
Kailah reached over and grabbed Rachel’s hand only a second before the Vampire rammed them again. He hit them far harder than before, and the low nose of the Lamborghini wedged under their rear end of the Cruze, lifting it off the ground. They began to lose control, and Kailah quickly grabbed the shifter and shoved it into neutral.
The car spun a half turn before the tires hit rough terrain on the edge of the road and flipped it. The world around them turned into hell as they hit the ground over and over again. The car rolled several times before coming to rest on all four wheels in the freshly planted cornfield.
Kailah groaned and then screamed as she felt a bone in her face pop. She slowly turned her head and saw that her window was webbed with a large blood smear. Reaching up, she felt a tender spot and knew her head had broken the window. As dizzy as she was before, it was even worse right then.
She looked over to Rachel, who was breathing, but not moving much. “How’re ya feeling?”
Rachel groaned. “I think I might go for a jog. Maybe build a lean-to against my busted ass car.” She hissed in pain as she tried to adjust, but the steering column had pinned her legs. “Maybe just some handstands then.”
Kailah laughed and unclicked both their seatbelts. She leaned forward and saw that her plan had worked, at least in part. The beautiful super car was lying upside down more than a hundred feet away. It was completely destroyed, and she found herself hoping it would catch on fire.
“I should probably go check on that,” Kailah said.
“Be careful, okay?” Rachel groaned out.
“Stay here. Don’t run away now.”
Rachel snorted. “What is the matter with you?”
Kailah tried to open her door, but it had been the first side to impact the ground and had taken the most damage. It wasn’t budging.
“I don’t—have—a clue,” she grunted as she climbed through the window.
She landed on her hands and fell ungracefully onto her back before rolling to her side as she groaned. I’m gonna kill him for this, she thought.
While climbing to her feet, she fell into the car, which only pissed her off more. If I can want to kill Aeric for picking on me, this should be a piece of fucking cake.
She righted herself and took a deep breath as she focused on the steady ground, warm sun, and almost non-existent breeze. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to center her. Had there been any water, she would have done even better.
With every step she took, she became more stable. Soon, she had a good pace, although it still hurt like hell. All she could do was hope her opponent was in just as much pain.
As she hit the halfway mark, she saw a broken arm fall out of the driver’s side window of the Lamborghini. It was bent at a disgusting angle, but with a quick jerk, it righted itself. Well, that’s promising.
She picked up her pace, but it still wasn’t fast enough. The Vampire pulled himself out of the car and stood. She could hear several of his bones crunching as they realigned.
“You’re a lot stronger than you look. You know, I was supposed to keep you alive, but that blood of yours smells great, and I’ve never felt anything like it. I got a little feel of it when the ice passed through you and into me,” he said with a large grin.
“How wonderful for you,” Kailah said flatly.
He could talk all he wanted, she liked that. The more he talked, the more time she had to focus. It was obvious he was going to heal faster than she was, so she’d need to focus and use whatever powers she could call on against him.
“Who sent you after me?” Kailah asked.
“Oh, now, I’m not supposed to say.”
“Well, you’re going to kill me anyway, so you may as well tell me.” While she hoped that wasn’t true, she didn’t plan to let him know she faintly believed she stood a snowball’s chance in hell at beating him.
“I guess… Since you put it that way—Khia.”
As soon as he said her name, Kailah’s blood boiled. “Khia?”
“Yeah. I’m not exactly a good person. There was no way you wouldn’t have sensed me as soon as you walked through the door, so she figured a way around that and cloaked me.”
“How did you both know I would be there?” she asked. “We had plans to go to Clarksville.”
“Just because Khia can’t find your exact location because of all the barriers in place doesn’t mean she doesn’t know your mind. That little mental barrier your relative put up may keep Khia from seeing what you see, but it doesn’t keep her from planting things. It was Khia who planted that dream. She may not be able to see locations, but she can see other things.
“The problem is that you’re too strong for that barrier to work properly, so Khia was able to break through. She chased you this way, knowing you would be paranoid for your friend’s safety and pick a more familiar location. Then she sent me to pick you up.”
Kailah’s mind was on overdrive. Khia was able to break through? Death somehow broke through, too. Sayen must have underestimated him. Khia couldn’t possibly know about him yet, or she would have been prepared.
“So, where were we? Ah yes, I was about to drain you dry,” he said with a large smile.
He made no attempt to hide what he was, and she couldn’t find it in her emotional reserve to care. The only thing she cared about was how to save Rachel. Movement in her peripheral caught her attention as she saw him come from her left side.
Instinct took over, and she called energy forward in the blink of an eye. She let a barrier explode out of her, and the Vampire slammed into it with a pain-filled growl. The barrier disintegrated after one hit. They were strong enough to ward off initial attacks but couldn’t handle more than one strong blow.
He came after her again and swung at her head. She quickly realized he wasn’t using his increased speed, but she knew his unnatural strength would still hurt like hell.
She ducked out of instinct and slammed her hands into his chest. It wasn’t much, but she nearly laughed when she watched his shirt go up in flames. As she stood again, she began to feel dizzy. Her head was spinning, and she felt exhausted. Blood loss was not treating her well. In all the excitement, her wound had reopened, and she could feel the blood soaking into her once-favorite pajama pants.
What a day to wear this ridiculous outfit. I’m going to die in this, and someone’s going to take pictures of my dead body with these clothes.
“Nice job.” The Vampire seemed almost excited by the competition.
“Thanks,” Kailah replied flatly.
She began to breathe harder as the fatigue set in from overuse of power and blood loss.
“That wasn’t a compliment, though. Your current situation only makes it easier for me. You’ve used all the power you can. You’re still too weak to engage in a real fight. Hell, yo
u weren’t even strong enough to kill me. Barriers are beginner level, and you couldn’t even make one stay up. Desperation always tastes sweet.” He smiled again, and it made her sick.
“Hey, it might have been small, but I still got it up.” She laughed at herself, feeling slightly delirious.
The Vampire shook his head, clearly not sure about her. Luckily for her, she was too far gone to feel much fear, even though she could hardly stand. If she could channel her power into her hands, she could purify him. It was the only thing she knew she could do in a pinch, but he was right. She had no energy left and wasn’t sure she could conjure enough to end him.
If I die—so does Rachel.
He disappeared again, and she saw something out of her right peripheral. She turned in time for him to grab her by the throat and throw her ten feet away. She hit the ground hard and nearly had the wind knocked out of her.
In the blink of an eye, he was on top of her. He sank his teeth into her throat, and she screamed. She’d always wondered if Vampire bites actually hurt like hell or if it depended on their intent. He was clearly violent, so it felt like her head might come off as he tore into her even more.
She began hitting and kicking him as hard as she could, but nothing helped. She decided to take a chance and reared her leg back for a good old-fashioned knee to the groin. Once upon a time, she’d done the same to Aeric, but he’d barely registered it. This time, she got lucky.
The Vampire cried out and let her go, falling onto his back and whining like a little boy. Aeric made it sound like a Vampire thing to be unfazed, but she realized then that Aeric was just built extra tough.
Kailah took off running to the car, and before she made it halfway, she felt a shift in the earth below and the air above her. Even though she couldn’t use her spiritual energy, the elements were still able to warn her.
She quickly turned and threw her hands out by instinct. The instant her arms fully extended, the Vampire froze in front of her. His mouth was wide open and only a few inches from her face, but he was completely frozen in place.
How… That’s just like…
She quickly realized what Death had done to her. When he’d reached inside her chest and around her heart, he’d somehow given her the power to stop time. Though she had a growing number of questions, she didn’t dwell on it. She needed to kill that guy fast, and if she couldn’t do it with spiritual power, then she needed to do it with human means. It was becoming clearer all the time that she really sucked at all this, and that needed to change.
Kailah limped the rest of the way to the car and saw that Rachel was still alive, but very passed out. Her rage growing, she pulled the keys out of the ignition and made her way to the trunk, pleading with the gods that it wasn’t too mangled to open.
It took a few painful elbows and punches, but she finally got it to unlatch. She quickly grabbed the gas can she’d told Rachel a thousand times to get out of her trunk. She silently thanked anyone listening that her friend hadn’t done it.
The container had been thrown all over the trunk, but there was still enough in there to do what she needed to. She threw the contents on the Vampire that had nearly killed them and sat the can near his feet.
“Fire spirits, if you can hear me… I need you.”
She felt warmth creeping up her arms as they let themselves be known. There wasn’t enough strength left for her to see them, but she could feel their approach. She hoped whatever power they lent her would be enough for her to do something she’d never done before.
A car engine came into hearing distance, and adrenaline raced through her again. She needed to kill him before innocent bystanders saw anything.
Power raced through her, and she could feel the heat building in her hands. She thrust her hands out, and nothing happened. Damn it! She pushed the energy forward, but it refused to build enough. It was like a smoking campfire that just wouldn’t take off. If she had just a little more strength, she knew she could do it.
The car speeding down the road came to a screeching stop, and fear filled Kailah only a moment before she nearly jumped for joy when Wendy Cain walked around the front and into the field.
“Wendy! What are you doing here?”
“Me? Oh, nothing. Just passing through.”
Kailah looked at her incredulously. “Cute. Really cute.”
The older Immortal winked. “Thought I’d stop and see if you needed a little assistance, but it looks like you’ve done a pretty good job all on your own. You mind telling me how you did this? Quite the unusual gift for an Immortal. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it used.”
“Long story,” Kailah replied. “I don’t know how long this will last, so we need to hurry. I felt the heat, but I just couldn’t conjure fire. That is something we can do, right?”
Wendy smiled and nodded. “Allow me.”
Kailah watched in amazement as Wendy twisted her hand, a fireball igniting in her palm. Without hesitating, she threw it at the Vampire. It only took seconds for him to dissolve into nothing more than ash.
“So, does Sayen know about this?” Kailah asked.
Wendy shook her head. “As far as I know, no. The only reason I did was because I was heading to Louisville. Talk about being lucky, though I have a feeling you’d have figured this one out.”
“Good. I’m glad she doesn’t know. I would love it if we could keep it that way.”
She looked at her with curiosity. “That’s fine for now, I suppose. Mind if I ask why?”
Kailah took a deep breath and sighed. “I have a date with Sam tonight.”
“You have to be kidding me. I don’t know what happened here, but if Sayen didn’t know about it, it’s a pretty safe bet Aeric might be right. Your date could be rigged for all we know. I’m not taking any more chances.”
Kailah shook her head. “No. It’s not like that. I have to go because of Khia. I’m worried he’s going to be waiting there, and Khia will take him to lure me out. I need to warn him. I need to get him out of there.”
A few seconds passed as Wendy stared at Kailah, debating on what to do. “Damn it. You’re probably right. I’m going with you, though. Got it?”
Kailah nodded. “Yes. We need to heal Rachel and then get to my house. Rachel can’t look half-dead for her date. I don’t want Brett to know, either. If Aeric finds out about this… Oh, hell. I don’t even want that to happen.”
Wendy nodded. “As you wish. We just need to be very careful. And hey, did you ever get your car from the store?”
Kailah shook her head. “One problem at a time. It’s probably been towed by now—I haven’t even checked. I have an old Mustang I built with my dad in the garage at home. I can drive that.”
“Okay then. Let’s get Rachel out of the car. She’s passed out, but she’s definitely in some pain.”
They made their way to the car and dragged Rachel out before Wendy healed her. It gave Kailah time to think as they worked quietly together. She decided it was time for a chat with everyone as soon as she got home that night. She needed more lessons, and she didn’t care who with. But right then, she needed to save Sam.
Epilogue
By the time they arrived at Kailah’s house, her stomach had almost completely healed. The same couldn’t be said for Rachel, though. Wendy went to work on her and finished up what she’d briefly started at the scene of the wreck.
While she worked on Rachel, Kailah desperately tried to get in contact with Sam. If she didn’t have to go, she didn’t want to. It was dangerous, and she knew it would end up going badly, but she couldn’t let anything happen to him.
Deep down, she knew if she went back to La Casa Dei Vampiri, the others would be angry about what happened and officially put her on lockdown. They wouldn’t let her go to Sam, and he would wind up getting mixed up in everything. It wasn’t fair to him, and she refused to risk it.
Wendy had called someone to quickly and discreetly tow the vehicles out of the field, which would keep the police from g
etting involved. She also had also sent someone to the nail salon to clean that mess up, though Kailah regretted that one. It would wind up as a missing persons report, and nothing would ever be found.
Once Rachel was healed, Kailah felt the fatigue take her over completely, and she passed out on the floor next to where Rachel was lying on the couch. It was only a short nap, but it was much needed, and she felt much better.
When Rachel got up to go shower and change, Kailah sat with Wendy, and she looked ahead once more to find anything bad that may go wrong. She couldn’t see anything, but they both knew that didn’t mean anything.
“I still can’t see anything, but we both know it’s going to go badly.”
Kailah nodded. “I know. What is going on? Has this ever happened before?”
“No. I can’t ever think of a time anything like this has ever happened, but then again, we’ve never ever had Reapers involved. This takes things to a whole new level and makes things more complicated.”
“Not to mention dangerous,” Kailah added. “If no one can see around the Reapers, bad things will continue to happen unexpectedly.”
“This must be what it’s like to live like a human,” Wendy said. “Never knowing when something bad is going to happen and never being able to predict anything.”
Kailah laughed. “Actually, yes, it really is. And it sucks.”
“All we can do is proceed with caution. I’m going with you, so that’s good. I have a bad feeling, but I don’t know what to prepare for.”
“I think when we get there, you should walk around. Reach out as far as you can with your senses and try to detect anything out of the ordinary,” Kailah said.
“That’s not a bad plan. Well, I guess any plan revolving us going on a rogue rescue mission is a bad plan. But as far as bad plans go, it’s not the worst.”
Kailah sighed. “I know. I had a vision of me in the future. Future me told me I was about to make a lot of bad mistakes, but they landed me exactly where I needed to be. I don’t know what that means, but I have a feeling this is one of those bad decisions.”