Slade

by Sarah McCarty

  He cut her a glance that could have meant anything. “No problem.”

  The car rumbled out of the garage and into the night. No moon broke the blackness around them. Just empty spaces in which any number of things could hide. Leaning over, she glanced in the rearview mirror again.

  “Can’t they hear the engine?”

  Slade shook his head. “I’ve got a shield on the energy and an illusion over the car.”

  “An illusion?” The only thing standing between them and those monsters was an illusion? “Our safety net is an illusion?”

  His smile was a quirk of the corner of his mouth that made her wonder how it would feel to touch her tongue to the slight dimple. Dear God, was she losing her mind?

  “Sometimes an illusion beats the heck out of reality.”

  “Like when?”

  He cut her a glance. “Like when you thought I was human.”

  He had her there. Unzipping the pack, she ran her fingers over her laptop. There were no dents in it, no broken edges on the first two corners, but the third hadn’t fared so well. “Damn.”

  “What?”

  “I think those bastards killed my laptop.”

  “Their boss won’t be too happy to hear that.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They want you, and they want the information, sweetness. Can’t interpret one without the other.”

  “Well, they can’t have either.”

  “On that we agree.”

  He was a very strange man. “What are you going to do about it?”

  Reaching forward, he turned on the radio. “Kidnap you myself.” The sound of soft blues music filled the car. Her heart skipped a beat.

  “Kidnap?” This was a kidnap?

  “Best way I know to keep you safe.”

  As if she should believe the man with those fangs and that still slightly morphed face. She put her laptop back in the case and zipped it. “What makes you so qualified for the job?”

  He smiled, the man superseding the monster in the blink of an eye. With a jerk of his chin, he indicated the lab rapidly being left behind. “Because I’m the badass vampire who can kick Sanctuary’s butt.”

  3

  “ARE we going anywhere specific, or are we just going to prowl the night in this gas hog?”

  Slade glanced over at Jane. She satin the passenger seat, clutching that laptop like a security blanket, staring out the window as if the scenery beyond was particularly enthralling rather than just deserted streets with a touch of winter lingering upon them. The edge to her question was echoed in the set of her mouth. She had a pretty mouth. Wide, neither thin nor full, but made for smiling. Right now it was set in a straight line.

  He wished he had an answer for her. Something concrete. Something to soothe her nerves, but in reality, it wasn’t up to him where they went.

  “I guess that depends on you.”

  She didn’t look at him. Somewhere between the concussion and now, she’d developed an attitude. “You mean I have a say in all this?”

  He swerved to avoid a pothole and bit back a smile. “Since you are the only one who knows where you’ve hidden your research, I’d say that makes you queen of the day.”

  He had to give her credit. Not by a twitch did she betray surprise at the statement.

  “What research?”

  He glanced in the rearview mirror. He couldn’t see Sanctuary following, but the hairs on the back of his neck were tickling. They were out there.

  “The research those goons back there were looking for.”

  “You mean those goons you hired to make you look good, and to foster a false sense of security in me?” she asked.

  He was right, her mind didn’t stop, it just went off on some weird tangents. “Damn, I wish I’d thought of that a couple months ago. It would have made things so much simpler.”

  Now she did glance at him. The black and white of his night vision caressed the planes of her profile. She wasn’t a beautiful woman, but she was sexy, with an earthy, girl-next-door kind of cute tossed on top. With a snort that did nothing to diminish her appeal, she muttered, “And I’m supposed to believe you’re some sort of genius.”

  Despite the danger, he couldn’t help being amused. “I never said I was some sort of genius. You’re the one who gave me that appellation.”

  “I think I was overly impressed with your ability to crack my security code.”

  He cocked an eyebrow at her. “I think the proper statement would be that you were thrilled that I cracked your security code.”

  Another glance, this one as autocratic as any queen had ever tossed. “That doesn’t even make sense.”

  “It does if you were bored and looking for a little mental challenge.”

  “I’m a top research scientist in a lab that will give me whatever I want. How on Earth would I be bored?”

  A shadow in the side-view mirror caught his eye. The faintest flicker of light. Not a solid image, but something more dangerous. Sanctuary. Rubber squealed against pavement as he made a sudden left turn. “You lack social challenge.”

  Grabbing the armrest, she asked, “Are you saying I’m awkward?”

  He checked the rearview again. “No. I’m just saying it’s been awhile since you had someone to match wits with.”

  Her eyes narrowed and she glanced at the passenger-side mirror. There was no way she could see Sanctuary. Though she had to be terrified, she didn’t betray an ounce of fear. His admiration for her, which had been building over the past few months, increased that much more. “And you appointed yourself my court jester?”

  The arrogance of the tone made him smile. “I may have been toying with taking on the role.”

  That might just have been a huff that preceded her mandate. “Well, if I’m going to have an opening for a court jester, then I’m not taking the first applicant that comes along. There will be an application process. I assure you, my prime requirement will not be a determination to win the position by subterfuge.”

  Shit. They were coming up fast on the crossroads at the edge of town. East circled back. West headed into the country. He headed west. The rows of houses got farther in between. The yards larger. “I haven’t tricked you.”

  She looked behind again. “So you say.”

  “Yes, I do.” He couldn’t see the flicker in the mirror anymore, but the hairs on the back of his neck were practically dancing. “Hold on.”

  He hit the gas. The powerful engine roared to life, accelerating with the bit of his energy he poured into the engine, giving it that extra boost just as a Sanctuary vampire appeared in the rearview.

  This time there was nothing fake about her gasp. “What was that?”

  “Just one of those trumped-up goons you think I conjured.”

  “Seriously, what was that?”

  He couldn’t blame her for the shock. Sanctuary didn’t improve in looks when they were up close and personal. “I already told you—Sanctuary.”

  “And what the hell is Sanctuary?”

  “An arrogant bunch of vampires ...” He took the next corner too fast, levitating the car as it tilted up on two wheels, holding it on the road until gravity took over again. The wheels hit the road with a thump. “Who seem to think your research on how genes and amino acids interplay in nutrition is damn interesting.”

  Jane’s grip on the handle above the door was white-knuckled, but her voice didn’t lose a bit of its arrogance as she retorted, “Of course it’s interesting. I wouldn’t be studying it otherwise.”

  “It’s not your study they’re interested in. It’s what you discovered that’s captured their attention.”

  “I haven’t discovered anything.”

  It would be nice if they all could believe that. “You haven’t announced anything, but you’ve discovered something.”

  She narrowed her eyes again, this time at him. “And that’s why you’re here.”

  No sense in prevaricating. “Yes.”

  Her start re
verberated through the seat, going from her to him, connecting them as the pulse of her fear shot through the crystal clarity of their connection, souring the purity. Reaching back along the same path, he sent a wave of calm. He didn’t want her to be afraid of him.

  “Would it be easier for you to believe if I told you I was part of a supersecret government organization hired to protect you from Sanctuary spies?”

  “No.”

  Well that was short and to the point. “Then, yeah, I’m interested in the same thing they are for totally different reasons.”

  “What are their reasons?”

  “World dominion.”

  She didn’t look shocked, which confirmed his suspicion that she already knew that her discovery could be used as a weapon.

  Her brows rose. “And your reason?”

  “Personal.”

  “How personal?”

  “Very personal.”

  “You know that’s not good enough.”

  There was that flicker of energy to his left. Shit.

  Slade yanked the wheel to the right, cutting across a lawn to the alley between two small strip malls.

  There was barely room for the car. Jane screamed. Her fear poured over him in waves, calling to him. She needed him. Slade slammed the connection closed, the distraction too much. Instantly, everything inside him howled in outrage at leaving her alone with her fear, repeating the only truth his vampire cared about—she needed him.

  Images raced by. A trash can crumpled under the wheels. The lid flew over the hood. Throwing her hands over her face, Jane screamed again as the plastic hit the windshield before tumbling over the roof. Gritting his teeth, Slade swore as the urge to take her in his arms threatened to override the need to escape.

  “Get control of yourself.”

  The order came out more growl than words.

  “Me?” she squeaked, clearly outraged. “I’m not the one driving like a maniac on steroids.”

  Shit. How could she crack jokes, as terrified as she was?

  “Just do it.”

  Beyond the alley was a ditch. The physical toll on his energy was huge as he levitated the SUV over it. It slammed down on the other side, grass and dirt spraying as the wheels found purchase.

  Jane gasped but didn’t scream. Instead, she clutched that laptop as if it were a lifeline while he accelerated to a hundred and thirty miles per hour.

  In a perfectly reasonable tone, Jane pointed out, “There is no fuel that will take an internal combustion engine to that speed, that fast.”

  “Nope, you’re right about that.”

  Her frustration reached out and snapped at the edges of his nerve endings.

  “Are you just physically incapable of delivering a straight answer?”

  “My brothers seem to think so.”

  “You have brothers?”

  “You sound surprised.”

  “I am. I thought supersecret special-agent types were loners.”

  “You watch too much TV”

  “My friends say ‘not enough.’”

  The car hit a bump, bounced high. There was no stopping the flip, so he rotated into it, levitating the SUV to keep it off the ground, the strain on his energy telling in the shaking of his hands as the car righted. Too many more moves like that and they’d be helpless as newborn babes against Sanctuary.

  Jane didn’t say a word through the maneuver, but her scream echoed in his head. Though he couldn’t afford to spare the energy, Slade smoothed calm over her fear.

  I’ve got you. You’re safe.

  The shocks groaned as the wheels dug into the ground. The car shot forward, toward the cornfield ahead and to the right.

  As if nothing amazing had just happened, Jane said, “That’s simply not possible.”

  “Not for humans.”

  Her calm broke on a sharp, “Stop harping on the fact you’re not human.”

  Sanctuary was nipping at their heels, his energy was running out, and dawn was coming. He didn’t have time for her games of self-denial. “Stop harping on the fact that I am not, and get with the program.”

  The car plunged blindly into the tall corn, the stalks snapping under the wheels and whipping at the sides.

  “Oh my God.” This time she grabbed his thigh. Her first voluntary touch, and he couldn’t appreciate it. Shit.

  “I won’t let anything happen to you, Jane.”

  The noise of the stalks beating against the vehicle almost drowned out her voice. “Just shut up and concentrate on not crashing.”

  “I’m multitasking.”

  Her grip tightened. “I’m not impressed.”

  The hell she wasn’t. “Really? I thought that last maneuver was pretty slick.”

  “You would.”

  “Hey, it kept us from being caught.”

  “Who can catch this? We’re doing one hundred thirty miles per hour across a cornfield!”

  Her words came out choppy, her voice distorted by the car’s bumpy course through the rutted rows. Slade couldn’t afford to smooth the ride. Levitating the car, scanning and cloaking, was draining his energy fast. If he could keep them running until dawn they’d be okay. The tinted windows of the SUV would offer him some protection from the sun that their pursuers wouldn’t have. “Sanctuary.”

  “Sanctuary. Again with Sanctuary. There’s nobody out here but us.”

  She wanted so much to believe that she was trying to convince herself of it. Maybe a bit of fear wasn’t a bad thing. Slade fed a little of his awareness into Jane’s senses. “Can’t you feel them? Even if you can’t see them, your instincts have got to be telling you that ‘something this way cometh.’”

  She licked her lips. “Of course I have a sense of danger. We’re driving at an alarming speed!”

  “They are moving just as fast.”

  She glared at him. “It doesn’t make sense that anything can keep up with us.”

  “You haven’t met anyone from Sanctuary.”

  She cut him another glare, one that said she clearly didn’t appreciate his response. One that sneaked past his guard and caught the edge of sexual tension, bringing it into play.

  “Are they stronger than you?”

  “No, but they outnumber me, and you are a definite weak point.”

  She frowned, tapped her finger on the armrest, and glanced into the side mirror.

  “Yeah, but an enhanced machine should outlast Sanctuary.”

  “I notice you don’t say ‘outrun.’”

  There was a loud thump on the top of the car. A sizzle snapped across the roof, followed immediately by an unearthly scream as a man tumbled to the ground behind the vehicle.

  Jane gasped. “Sanctuary?”

  “Yeah. For the short term, it might help you to think of them as jaguars and us as impalas, outmaneuvering the attack.”

  Jane let go of his thigh. “We’re the bottom of the food chain?”

  He glanced over. “At the moment.”

  There was another thump. Another scream as the defenses he’d put in the vehicle and enforced with his own energy shattered the nervous systems of the Sanctuary vampires who were attacking.

  The draw on his strength was incredible—more than he’d anticipated. He’d have to revisit his calculations.

  “For heaven’s sake then, keep your eyes on the road and drive faster!”

  Slade didn’t have the heart to tell Jane they’d maxed out on fast. And time. Between the edge of the cornfield and the road there was a three-foot ditch. At full strength he could levitate the SUV over the ditch, but now he didn’t know if he had the reserves to get the car safely to the other side. He glanced up at the lightening sky. Jane’s gaze followed his.

  “If they’re vampires, isn’t sunlight deadly to them?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So we just have to stay ahead another few minutes.”

  “Yeah.” If they were especially lucky. If Sanctuary hadn’t developed shields. If, if, if.

  Jane dug her nails
into the seat. His thigh muscles flexed with envy. Shit. How could he miss her touch now?

  “What aren’t you telling me?”

  The tinted windows would give him some protection, but not enough. And they wouldn’t do anything to protect them against the werewolf allies of Sanctuary. Without a doubt, the vampires would mentally telegraph to the weres their last sighting, and those weres would, with that tenacity they were known for, hunt their prey.

  “I’m vampire, too.”

  “Are you telling me that in a few minutes, while we’re driving one hundred thirty miles per hour down this field, you’re going to go out in a puff of smoke?”

  “Your concern is touching.” He angled the SUV so it ran parallel to the ditch.

  Ignoring his sarcasm, she demanded, “Is that what you’re telling me?”

  “Nothing so dramatic. The windshield will protect us somewhat.”

  “Us? I don’t have any problem with the sun. Since you do, it’s the fact that you’re still driving this car that has me concerned.”

  “I won’t crash the car.”

  “Like hell.” She looked behind them. “Are they still following us?”

  He shook his head. “The vampires have dropped back.”

  “So why are you saying that like Sanctuary is now the least of our problems?”

  “There are werewolves, too, in league with Sanctuary.”

  “Of course there are. What’s a good horror flick without a werewolf or two?” She paused, took a breath, and then said in a perfectly level voice, “I assume it’s only a few and you’re not talking thousands?”

  “We don’t know.”

  “Oh for heaven’s sake!” She threw up her left hand, the other staying firmly clenched around the laptop. “How can you possibly have enemies and not know who and how many they are?”

  “We’re working on it.”

  The first rays of the sun peeked over the horizon. Even the dense shading on the window couldn’t prevent the blinding burn. Slade blinked and sucked in a breath. Son of a bitch. Jane fumbled in her backpack. Leaning over, she pushed something on his face.

  The relief was immediate.

  “Sunglasses,” she explained.

  There was more rustling as he blinked the tears out of his eyes.

  In a voice as cool as a cucumber, she informed him, “There’s a tree in front of us at two o’clock.”