It turned out even the vampire situation wasn’t as clear-cut as it seemed, and none of us trusted Kevin or Dave or anyone else working for the government to see that.
Finally the Homeland Security guys left and we were all able to relax. Ivory was running one hand repeatedly through his hair. I let out a long breath and Les gave my knee a little shake. Oh my god, I thought. I just lied to the government.
“That wasn’t so bad,” Criseyde said. “I thought they were going to try to arrest us.”
“They’re not arresting people,” Ivory said. “They’re just trying to tie up all the loose ends where vampires are concerned.”
“But they might have arrested us if they knew about—” She broke off abruptly, her eyes flicking to Rhys and Ethan. “Er, if we knew anything about vampires and didn’t tell them. Like where one is hiding, for instance.”
“They would have,” Ivory said. “Except we don’t know where any vampires are hiding.” He stood up and stretched. “I’m hungry. Who wants hot dogs?”
“I want mine charred,” I told him. “Black and crispy.”
“You mean burnt?”
“Shut up.”
The guys went out back to stand around the grill. Cris twisted her hair up into a ponytail and looked at me excitedly.
“We can go? Now that they’ve interviewed us?”
“That’s what Ivory said.”
“I can’t wait!” she cried.
I couldn’t suppress a grin. “Neither can I.”
~
That night Les and I lay facing each other, our legs wrapped together. He had one arm across my waist, his fingers trailing lazily up and down my spine.
“What do you want?” I whispered. “Tell me and we’ll make it happen.”
“I want . . . to figure out what I’m good at. Something besides fighting.” He laughed a little, slightly embarrassed.
“That’s what we’ll do then. After we get Aleskie somewhere safe.”
“That’s a promise?” he teased.
“Yeah. We won’t rest until you’ve reached your moment of self-actualization.”
“That could take a while.”
“Whatever. I don’t care. As long as we’re together.”
And then the few inches between us disappeared and we were lost in each other’s warm lips. For several long moments I was absorbed in the sensations of hands raking through hair, bodies straining toward each other, whispered words, promises, and desires. I was never giving up on this. I was never letting go.
A loud knock interrupted us and we stirred reluctantly away from each other, grumbling with displeasure. “Hey, lovebirds,” Ivory called through the door, oblivious or just not caring. “It’s time to go.”
“Five more minutes,” I said to Les.
“Better make it ten.”
We were leaving at night because of Aleskie. It was our self-appointed mission to get her out of Las Secas without anyone knowing we were trying to smuggle a vampire beyond the city limits. They were killing vampires here, but not anywhere else in the country. She’d be safer somewhere else, somewhere the vampires were smart enough to hide themselves and not gather a cult following, and we could finally see some of the country.
After Ethan and Rhys had left that afternoon, we’d loaded up the car. Ivory had called utility companies to arrange cancellations. Les had thrown covers over his Shadow and the El Camino. Criseyde and I had organized musical selections for the road. Then we’d dispersed throughout the house to kill the hours until dark.
And now it was time.
As we headed out of the city, Aleskie lay down behind the back seat, camouflaged with our assortment of blankets, pillows, and duffel bags. It almost seemed silly concealing her like that, but we couldn’t risk that she’d be seen. Otherwise none of us was going anywhere.
But we made it through the station without any trouble at all and suddenly Las Secas was behind us, getting further each second. Aleskie popped out of her hiding place and crawled past Les and me to sit up front with Ivory. Criseyde, in the middle, started cheering our freedom and the rest of us joined her.
After a while we found ourselves tiring, lulled by the particular, isolated, dreamy feeling of taking a long drive at night. The gentle rocking of the car and consistent vibration of the tires on pavement created a soothing atmosphere. I stared out the window at a view that was mostly just the unbroken blackness of the desert at night, though occasionally we passed lit billboards or the oasis glow of a gas station at an otherwise dark exit. If I leaned far enough over I could see the stars, the winking billions of them.
Soon I would fall asleep and I would wake up before sunrise when Ivory pulled into the parking lot of a motel in some small town off the freeway. He would get us two rooms, one for the girls and one for the guys. Aleskie would go inside before the sun could catch her and the rest of us would seek out breakfast. And then we would do whatever we wanted, because we had escaped the black hole that Las Secas had been for the past year.
For now I thought of the empty house we’d left behind in our battered but healing town and dozed with my head on Les’s lap, dreaming of possibilities as infinite as the stars.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Heather lives in Las Vegas, NV with her family. She is the author of the young adult novel Unchanged.
A Dark-Adapted Eye Page 24