by Lori Drake
Blinking, Sam definitely noticed the piece of paper in his mouth right away. He spat it out, unfolded it, and studied what was written there with a furrowed brow. A paranoid glance around him followed, but he got the message. Chris moved out of the truck before Sam drove away, lingering to watch him go.
Chris hoped his ploy had worked. He had a nagging suspicion that Joey’s life depended on it.
Joey grabbed a couple of umbrellas on the way out the door. It was barely sprinkling, but she didn’t want to risk getting caught in another downpour. She’d been rained on enough for one day.
“I don’t see Sam’s truck,” she said, scanning the parking lot on the way downstairs. “Hopefully that means he buggered off.”
Beside her, Dean nodded. “Chris wants you to know he really thinks you should bring Sam into the loop.”
“Chris can get buggered too,” Joey mumbled, then sighed. “I don’t know what the right thing to do is, honestly, but my instinct is to protect my family. I think we can handle this. If not, well, at least I won’t lose another brother over it.”
“He says lone wolves always get in over their heads.”
It was an innocuous comment, but it made Joey wonder, again, if Dean knew about her family secret. She cast a sideways glance in his direction, but she couldn’t read anything from his expression and she wasn’t about to ask.
“Objection overruled,” she said, pressing the unlock button on the key fob as they approached the car.
After tossing the umbrellas into the back seat, Joey climbed into the driver’s seat and slid the key in the ignition, then realized Dean was still standing outside the car with the door open.
“Everything okay?” she asked, watching him as he joined her. His expression was uncharacteristically grim as he closed the door and fastened his seat belt with deliberate care.
“The last time I was in a car… I died,” Dean remarked, eyes forward.
“Oh. Shit. Are you gonna be okay?” She reached across the console instinctively, resting her hand on his leg.
He looked down at her hand, then over at her and managed a wan smile. “I promise to stick my head out the window if I yak.”
Joey grinned despite herself, giving his leg a pat before putting both hands on the wheel. “I’m not really fond of cars either,” she admitted, backing the car up with a little extra care. “Can I tell you a secret?”
“Sure.”
“I’m claustrophobic. Not like, peeing with the bathroom door open claustrophobic but enclosed spaces get to me. If I have to ride in a car, I prefer the front seat, where I can look out the window and don’t feel quite as crowded.” It wasn’t a huge secret, really. She just wanted to distract him from his discomfort.
It seemed to work. He chuckled quietly. “The fearless Joey Grant, laid low by a simple automobile.”
“No one’s entirely fearless. Except maybe my mother.” Joey looked both ways before carefully pulling out into traffic.
“Chris says your mom’s not fearless either.”
“I think he’s giving her too much credit. I’m pretty sure emotions in general are a foreign concept to her. Her spectrum is limited to calm, annoyed, and angry.”
Dean didn’t answer right away, but after a pause he said, “I’m not telling her that while she’s driving.”
Joey laughed, but kept her eyes on the road. “It’s probably nothing he hasn’t said to me before. Mom and I don’t get along very well. We’re too much alike.” She hated admitting it, but it was true.
“You don’t seem like a three-setting robot to me. Four, at least. Maybe five.”
“Thanks,” Joey said, laughing again.
It wasn’t a long drive to Santiago’s from the apartment, but traffic was heavy on account of the weather. Joey drove conservatively for the sake of her anxious passenger. They pulled up in front of the building five minutes late, but lucked out and found a parking spot across the street. Joey grabbed the umbrellas and passed one to Dean before climbing out of the car. The rain had picked up again on the way over, so she was grateful for the shelter of the umbrella as she sprinted across the street.
Emma and Cheryl waited under the awning outside the club. Emma wore a scarf over her head and dark sunglasses despite the gray sky.
“Thank god you’re here,” Cheryl said, and drew Joey into a tight hug. “I was starting to worry something had happened to you.”
“Sorry, I would have texted but I was driving,” Joey said, returning the hug awkwardly with one arm, still holding onto the dripping umbrella with the other. Once Cheryl released her, she stepped back and motioned to Dean. “You remember Dean?”
Both women nodded, though Emma’s brow furrowed. “Why’s he here?”
“Because he volunteered,” Joey said.
“You may need to communicate with Chris,” Dean added. “And, if it comes to it, once the spell is broken I can verify that he’s gone.”
Joey looked to Emma. “You’ve got everything you need?”
“Yeah,” Emma said. “What’s the plan when we find her?”
“The first step is finding where she is,” Joey explained. “Once we get there, we’ll have a better idea of what we’re looking at. It may be that all we do today is scope the place out. But if things go sideways, you and Chris distract her while Dean and I take her down.”
Emma chewed on her lower lip. “She’s stronger than before, and if she has others with her…”
“Chris says that he hasn’t interacted with anyone but Tasha,” Dean offered, helpfully. “He’s never seen anyone else with her.”
Joey smiled. “Good thing we have him along, eh?”
“Yeah,” Emma said, but she still eyed Dean dubiously. “I’m still not sure I like those odds.”
“It’ll be fine,” Cheryl said, opening her purse and giving Joey a glimpse inside, where a small revolver was nestled amongst her wallet, keys, and phone.
“Holy shit, Cheryl,” Joey exclaimed, blinking.
Cheryl smirked and shouldered her bag. “I doubt she’s going to be slinging many spells with a few rounds in her. No one messes with my girl.” She was fierce, protective, in a way Joey’d never seen her before.
She would’ve made a good wolf.
“Okay,” Emma said. “Let’s do this. Lead the way.”
Nodding, Joey opened her umbrella again and stepped out into the gently falling rain. Thunder rumbled in the distance as she led them down the street to the alley where Chris had died. The alley was no longer roped off and was reassuringly mundane. No chalk outlines, no lingering bloodstains. It was just an alley. Still, she couldn’t shake a cloying sense of unease as she turned down it. Her eyes skimmed the ground, the walls of the buildings on either side, the dumpsters full of disgustingly fragrant refuse. The rain helped to dampen the smells, a bonus for someone with a hypersensitive nose.
“Here,” Dean said, halting them about twenty feet down the alley. “He says it happened here.”
A shiver ran down Joey’s spine as she halted, though she knew the spot from her visit to the alley with Sam. She turned toward Emma and Cheryl. Dean moved a pace aside, leaving the four of them in a rough triangle with Emma and Cheryl sharing one point.
“Emma,” Dean said. “Chris wants to say thank you. He says that he knows what doing this means for you.”
Emma nodded, casting a glance around the alley. Joey was familiar with that feeling, of wanting to talk to Chris but not knowing where he was.
“You’re welcome, Chris,” Emma said. “I’m so sorry for what happened to you. I never should’ve gotten you involved, and I’ll regret that until the day I die.” Cheryl put an arm around Emma, who sniffled and leaned into her wife’s embrace.
Joey kept her silence. As far as she was concerned, Emma should regret it. She wasn’t quite ready to forgive her friend yet, no matter what Chris wanted.
“He says he doesn’t regret it,” Dean said. “And you shouldn’t either. He has a lot of regrets, but helping you isn
’t one of them. He wants to thank you for your friendship.”
“How does this tracking thing work?” Joey asked, interrupting the moment.
Emma handed the umbrella to Cheryl with a resigned sigh. “I’ll take off the amulet and perform the seeking spell. Then we follow the trail.” She had the look of a reluctant soldier marching off to war: Determined, but nauseous. “Did you bring it?”
Joey retrieved the item in the plastic baggie from her jacket pocket and handed it over. It was fortunate that Sam hadn’t taken custody of it once they’d bagged it. Whether he’d forgotten about it or let her keep it on purpose, she was grateful he had.
“It’s going to be okay,” Cheryl said to Emma as she stood there holding the umbrella sheltering them both. “We’ve got your back, baby.”
Emma smiled at her wife. It was a weak but brave smile, and in that moment Joey felt a small twinge of guilt for trying to rush things along. The two exchanged a brief kiss, and then Emma unhooked the clasp of the silvery chain around her neck. Joey expected something to happen when the cloaking spell fell away but, if it did, it was invisible to the naked eye.
With trembling hands, Emma tucked the amulet away in the pocket of her jacket and took a deep breath. Then she opened the plastic bag and shook the small, circular object into her bare hand. She turned it over in her fingers, studying it for a moment before she began to chant in a language Joey didn’t understand. It sounded Latin-y.
Emma held her hand out in front of her as she chanted, palm up with the focus object resting atop it. After a few moments, a golden spark appeared in the air above Emma’s hand. It hovered there, pulsing and glowing as the words continued to flow from Emma’s lips. One spark became two, the pair circling one another. Two became three, with the new orbiting the old. More and more sparks joined the rest, glowing as they hovered and circled, whirled and spun, until they were no more than a writhing mass of glowing energy hovering over Emma’s hand.
Emma’s voice raised in volume and she lifted her hand. The ball of light rose too, higher and higher, until it was a good ten feet off the ground.
“Alara illumine mahirata!” Emma called, and Joey’s keen ears picked up a distinct vibration from the pulsing, glowing ball before it zipped off down the alley and disappeared from sight.
Joey followed it with her eyes until it disappeared, at which point she looked over at Emma again. “I hope we weren’t supposed to follow it.”
Emma blinked. “You saw that?”
“Um, yeah. Didn’t you?” Joey glanced between the others, but both Dean and Cheryl shook their heads.
Emma’s eyes settled on Joey again, growing curiously unfocused.
“Chris says he saw it,” Dean said.
Joey shifted her feet, uncomfortable under Emma’s scrutiny. “Um, shouldn’t we be going after that thing?” she prompted, eager to deflect the attention.
Refocusing, Emma smiled knowingly at Joey. It was the sort of smile that set Joey’s teeth on edge, that “I’ve got a secret” sort of smile.
“I can track it, don’t worry,” Emma said. “One car would be easier, I think.”
As they withdrew from the alley, Dean leaned over and asked quietly, “What was that about?”
“No idea,” Joey said, but it wasn’t entirely true. She had an idea, that it had something to do with her wolf nature, but she couldn’t share that thought with him.
Joey tossed Emma the keys as they approached the car. She’d parked closest, so her car was the most expedient. “Drive carefully, eh? Roads are slick, and you know how Chris is about his ride.”
Emma nodded, unlocked the doors and slipped behind the wheel. Joey followed Cheryl to the other side of the car and intercepted her before she could slide into the back seat.
“Sit up front with Emma,” Joey said, then slipped past her astonished friend and climbed into the back seat before she lost her nerve. Joining her from the other side, Dean shot her a curious glance. She elbowed him lightly.
“If I can do it, you can do it,” she told him, quietly. He snorted softly and buckled in without a word.
Other than the light patter of rain on the roof and the occasional swipe of the windshield wipers, silence reigned as they pulled away from the curb. The air in the car was tense. Joey kept her eyes out the window and focused on taking slow, measured breaths. Still, anxiety drove her to drum her fingers against her leg. A warm hand stilled them. She opened her eyes to look over at Dean. He met her gaze and nodded to her in solidarity before turning his head to look out the window. She turned her hand over beneath his and held onto it gently. Gratefully.
Emma drove in a westerly direction through town. Joey didn’t have to see the big sign for Sea World to know they were heading for Mission Bay. This was her town; she knew every inch of it.
“Is something wrong?” Cheryl asked quietly, from the front seat.
“I’m not sure,” Emma said.
Frowning, Joey shifted her focus forward, leaning over so she could look out between the two front seats.
They had just driven onto the Mission Bay Drive bridge, heading northbound, when Joey saw it: a light in the distance. At first, she thought it was a trick of the eyes. The more she squinted and peered, the more she changed her mind. It was a glowing ball of magic, similar to the one Emma had sent after Tasha. As she watched, it grew larger. No. Closer.
“Em, do you see that?” Joey said.
“Shit!” Emma yanked the wheel to the left. Dean’s fingers clamped down on Joey’s as the car hydroplaned on the slick asphalt and the car half turned and half slid across into the southbound lane. Horns blared and other motorists swerved to avoid colliding with them as they rather abruptly reversed course.
“What the fuck?” Cheryl exclaimed.
Joey was too busy twisting to look behind them to answer. The seat belt cut into her neck and abdomen. Removing it didn’t seem like a good idea, the way things were going. Emma punched the gas. The car lurched forward, engine roaring as Emma weaved in and out of traffic like a crazy person. Dean’s fingers tightened even more. Joey winced in sympathy and pain.
“Deep breaths…” she advised, absently, as she peered out the back window. Adrenaline muted her own budding anxiety attack. The ball of energy was gaining on them. As it grew closer, black lines running through the golden glow of mystical energy became visible. Joey didn’t know anything about magic, but it didn’t look friendly.
“It’s catching up…” Joey warned.
Emma’s eyes must have lingered in the rear view mirror a second too long, because a moment later Cheryl exclaimed, “Look out!”
Slamming on the brakes, Emma swerved onto the shoulder to avoid whatever it was Cheryl had seen. Joey had no idea, because she was staring at the looming ball of tainted magic as it finally caught up to them.
The world tilted, and everything went black.
23
Chris had a lot of experience looking the other way when it came to Joey’s social life, but her holding another man’s hand mere inches from his crotch was new. Sitting in the back seat between them, he did his best to remain in the car while it moved. It was easier accomplished when he closed his eyes or limited his focus to the inside of the car. It was when he looked out a window that he started to slip.
As such, the situation in the back seat was even harder to ignore. He was considering the possibility of sitting on the hood when Joey called out to Emma. His eyes lifted, but not in time to see anything before Emma jerked the wheel.
The sharp U-turn caught him by surprise. The car slid right out from under him as it abruptly changed course, leaving him hovering in the middle of the road.
“Hey! Wait for me!”
He took off after them, zipping through the air to the cacophony of honking horns. Joey’s face peered out the back window as the car weaved back and forth between lanes, anxiety clear on her features. Confused, he glanced behind him and blinked at the ball of tarnished golden energy as it surged toward him. It was
moving fast. He didn’t know what would happen if it hit him, and he didn’t want to find out. He dove aside and it whooshed past barely a second later. The air around it crackled with energy and his skin tingled, as if the fine hairs on his arms stood up.
As he picked himself up off the asphalt, a familiar green pickup raced past. Weaving through traffic in the BMW’s wake, it flashed its high beams in the rain.
“Good job, old man,” Chris said to himself, taking off after the car again.
The mystical battering ram got there first. It slammed into the rear bumper with enough force to lift the back end off the wet asphalt, and at just the right angle to flip it. The car rolled horizontally and crashed down, hood first. It barely missed the car in the lane beside it. Glass shattered and flew in all directions. Tires squealed and brake lights flashed.
“Joey!” he exclaimed, rushing for the car as it slid noisily across the pavement. Sparks flew. The car struck the bridge’s concrete safety barrier and buckled it, but thankfully it held. It was a long drop to the cold water below.
All around, cars screeched to a halt. Chris got to the wreck before anyone could even think to get out of their cars. The wheels were still spinning, though the engine had failed right about the time it became one with the asphalt.
“Joey!” he called again, panicked as he went straight for the back window. Or, rather, where the back window had been. Safety glass littered the street from the point of impact to the car’s final resting place. Sticking his head through the windowless hole, Chris breathed a sigh of relief as he found her, unconscious but breathing as she hung limply from her seat belt. He couldn’t see much else from the awkward angle, but the fact that she was breathing and her head was still attached was a good sign. She’d be fine. The humans in the car were another matter entirely.
His focus shifted to the man in the back seat, likewise hanging upside down.
“Dean! Are you okay?”
Dean coughed and groaned. “Yeah,” he replied, short on breath but conscious. He had a nasty gash over one eye. Blood streamed down his forehead into his hair. “Get me the fuck out of here.”