by Jude Marquez
I explained all this while I opened another drawer where Azolata kept duffle bags. I pulled them out.
Marcus looked like he would ask something, but stopped himself. He looked down at the bag in his hand and clenched it. “Right. Let’s get to work,” he muttered.
We took turns taking the bags downstairs and to the Humvee. We ran out of bags before we ran out of weapons. Azolata had an array of cell phones in another drawer and although there was no service available, I took one anyway. It could be useful later, I said to myself and took the charger with it. We loaded up our pockets with ammo before we left the apartment and I locked everything up once again.
I may have been furious with Azolata but I didn’t want any of those assholes getting their hands on his stuff.
I left the ring there. Billie was gone, and it was Azolata’s gift to give.
Marcus drove and Dante got shoved down in the back seat. We hid him underneath the bags of weapons and ammo. It seemed only reasonable that they would know who he was, and we didn’t want to take a chance on him being seen.
It was a good thing, too. As we were pulling away from the curb, another identical Humvee pulled up next to us and rolled down its window.
A woman with biceps that I couldn’t help but be impressed by looked over at us. “Hey, have you guys seen Williams and his dip shit crew of morons?”
“Williams and... Fuck, what is his name?” Marcus said and snapped his fingers. He looked at the woman. “Red hair? Whiny little shit?”
He was the one that lied about where Azolata was being held. Before-
Well, before.
She rolled her eyes. “Fuck him. Fucking Conner. Useless shit. Maybe the animals will come back and I can shove him at the big one.”
Marcus laughed and pinched my arm. I laughed too.
“Right. Yeah, let’s plan on that. Nah, I haven’t seen them. Why? Did we get lucky? Did they get eaten or something?” Marcus asked.
He was completely at ease. One hand on the steering wheel and he was leaning out the window. There was a slight smile on his face and he kept his eyes on the woman. She was just as comfortable with him.
“They aren’t answering their radios. There was some kind of paperwork mix up. They should have been back by now. They were supposed to be here, checking out the donut shop. Seemed easy enough for those idiots but nope,” she said and let the p pop in her mouth.
“Fucking amateurs,” I muttered.
The woman nodded and then tapped her door. “Keep an eye for them. If they got distracted or if you find their bodies, radio it in.”
“Yep,” Marcus agreed.
The woman drove off.
I let out a breath.
“Let’s go,” I huffed.
Marcus drove.
But as soon as we got closer to town, we got caught in traffic. One long row of Humvees, all pulling off to the side of the road.
“What do I do?” Marcus asked, his teeth clenched.
“Pull over. Don’t draw attention,” I said.
Dante groaned. I could only imagine how uncomfortable he was.
I saw that there were people on the other side of the road waiting with their phones out and ready. I remembered the phone I had taken from the apartment and pulled it out too.
We didn’t have to wait long.
A town car drove through the middle of the street.
In the backseat, I saw Savannah’s sister, Bianca. She didn’t look happy. With her were two older people. The woman had her steel gray hair perfectly pinned back and a beige sweater over her shoulders. She sat next to a man that was wearing a white button-up shirt and red tie. There was a strange pin over his heart and he kept his eyes straight ahead.
I took a bunch of pictures as they drove by, just like everyone else.
Then we waited silently to get back on the road.
It was nerve-racking. I thought we would never get clear to get to the high school. The ten-minute walk through the woods nearly took half an hour through town.
Finally, Marcus could swing around the back and I jumped out to open the bay doors. He drove in and I pulled the doors closed.
“Who was that?” Marcus asked once we were inside.
“No clue. Let’s get these inside and we can try Celia and the others,” I said.
I had never been so thankful for Dante’s strength and stamina. The guy just kept going, when I felt like my arms and legs would fall off.
Finally, when we were in the safety of the teacher’s lounge, I picked up the phone to call Celia.
“Hi, Stephen,” a shy voice said from the other line.
“Gerri?” I said.
“Yes.”
“Is Celia there?”
“Yes, you’re on speaker. It isn’t safe to drive and operate a phone at the same time. All the billboards say so,” she informed me politely.
“...right. Savannah? You there?”
“I’m here,” she said.
I quickly explained the situation and who we saw driving through town.
There was a brief silence and then she muttered something I couldn’t quite make out.
“What?” I said.
“You should leave,” she said miserably.
“No. We can’t. I can’t. I won’t. Why? Why would I leave now?” I asked, my words tripping over one another.
“The man, did he have a pin on his left-hand side? Kind of a weird, squiggly thing?” She asked instead of answering my question.
“Yeah,” I said.
“That was my grandparents. They don’t- they don’t leave their compound often. I can’t remember a time since they’ve raised me they have left the compound. Whatever is going on is a huge deal, something so big that it takes their physical presence being there, Stephen, and that’s the worst outcome of them all,” she said.
“Why?”
“They will destroy it. The lock, the spring, the magic, all of it. They will raze the ground. You need to leave, now.”
Chapter 7
“Are we cursed?” Savannah asked and pushed her hair out of her face. It was raining, and we were crouched by the SUV, changing a flat tire.
I jerked at the lug nuts and growled. “I’m thinking so.”
As soon as we had left the side of the road after Savannah brought the gas back to us, it started to rain. That was two hours ago and we were making horrible time.
“Would you be able to tell if we were?” Savannah asked.
I looked up at her, confused.
“They told me that werewolves can sniff that sort of thing out,” she explained.
I gave the last lug nut one last push and the lug wrench snapped in my hand. I sighed and dropped my head. The rain was cascading down both of us and my head was heavy with the weight of my wet hair.
We both stood up, and I pulled my foot free from the mud that we were crouched in. Savannah lost her boot in the same sticky mud puddle and hopped around on one foot until she could get her boot free. As she pulled it on, she made a face. I knew that there was probably rain inside her boot now, too.
“No, I can’t sniff out if we are cursed. I don’t know where the Ascendancy got that idea from but it’s not true. If Artie or Lou were here...” I said and my voice trailed off.
“Yeah,” Savannah said and nodded.
“Right,” I agreed.
We both stared at the flat tire and I sighed. “I’ll just have to use my hands. Get the spare from the back.”
As I was finally getting the spare on, Savannah put her hand on my shoulder.
“What?” I said and tried to look up at her. I just got rain in my eyes.
Then I saw what she was looking at. A police car was pulling up behind us.
It didn’t matter if a witch had cursed us or not. Someone had, and this was only the worst thing that had happened so far.
“Fuck,” I whispered.
She squeezed my shoulder, and I stood up straight.
A young guy got out and I inwardly winced at
his age. He seemed like a child to me. He opened an umbrella and raised his hand at us.
“Hey there!” He called.
“Hi!” I called back cheerfully.
“Oh god, what do we do?” Savannah whispered out of the side of her mouth.
“Stay calm,” I whispered back.
Her heartbeat went up a notch. I glanced over at her, exasperated. She shrugged helplessly at me.
“Terrible weather to break down in. You ladies doing okay? Can I help?” He asked. He was eager, still thought he could save the world.
“I think we are okay, Officer...?” I said.
“Nichols. Officer Nichols. What are you ladies doing out this way?” He asked, still friendly and open. It would have worked with most people, I’m sure. I bet he even used it to his advantage; a young, cute officer politely inquiring about us. He looked like he could have been plucked off a farm in Kansas; stocky build, ruddy cheeks, friendly brown eyes and a smile filled with white, even teeth. He was as stereotypical American as apple pie.
“We were on our way to our grandmother’s house. She isn’t doing well,” Savannah said.
“Oh, you two are related?” Officer Nichols asked and gestured between us with his hand.
“Sisters,” Savannah said and nodded.
I wanted to hit her.
For one, we looked nothing alike. I was darker, taller, with green eyes while Savannah was more petite in build with light brown hair and honey brown eyes.
“Just you two? Traveling alone?” Nichols asked and I could smell the suspicion wafting off of him.
“No, our other sister is in the truck,” Savannah said.
She was intent on digging our grave, it seemed. If we looked nothing alike, Gerri would have to have been adopted from a different family altogether.
I couldn’t understand what had aroused his suspicion though. Other than looking like two drowned rats trying to change a tire-
Then I saw the broken lug wrench tossed aside in pieces between the three of us.
I guess I was the one who screwed us from the beginning.
“We got a report about forty-five miles back that a young woman fitting your description assaulted four men that were attempting to help her with vehicle troubles. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” Nichols asked.
Savannah looked at me and I looked confused. “No, sir. This is the first car trouble we have had. Which happens here, in the rain, of all places.”
Nichols studied Savannah closer, and I knew it was useless. We would have to stop him from taking her in, somehow.
But he was innocent, and I knew that one day, he would be superb at his job. The world needed good police officers in the worst way.
“I’m not saying that if you happened upon these guys that whatever you might or might not have done was unwarranted. What I am saying is that I just need to take you back and hear your side of the story,” Nichols said. He had to raise his voice. The rain was coming down harder.
“I didn’t assault anyone, let alone four men,” Savannah insisted and looked at me. The first point in her favor; using her slight stature and deference to me.
“We haven’t stopped in the last couple of hours. I don’t know why you think it’s her,” I said.
“Then why don’t you come back with me and we can sort this out?” Nichols pressed.
“Because we told you. Our grandmother-” Savannah started.
“That’s a lie and all three of us know it. You two aren’t related either. Cut the crap and tell me what happened to those guys. One of them had to go to the hospital because of a skull fracture after you rammed his head into the steel bumper of his truck,” Nichols shouted above the rain. I admired his patience with us.
I turned to Savannah when I heard about the skull fracture. She looked sheepish.
“Now you don’t look like the type that just assaults people but they do look the type-”
“Then why don’t you go talk to them? Arrest them?” I snapped.
“Because the four of them are saying the same thing. That you came on to them and when they rejected you, you became violent,” Nichols said and nodded at Savannah.
Savannah and I laughed at the same time.
Nichols was looking irritated now. “Fine. Let’s do this the hard way then. License and registration. IDs, all of you.”
I glared at him but stalked over to the SUV and jerked open the door. In the console, I pulled out a driver’s license and quickly looked over the information. When I joined the others, I handed it over to him.
“And neither one of your sisters has IDs?” Nichols asked, his voice heavy with sarcasm. That made me warm up to him. He reminded me of Lou.
“Sorry. We left in a rush. Grandma and all,” I replied.
He rolled his eyes. “Inez Hawkins of San Diego. Kind of a long way to drive for grandma.”
“She’s sick,” Savannah insisted.
I wanted to tell her to give it up.
“So what’s your name?” Nichols asked Savannah.
“Isabella Hawkins,” she said.
“And your sister?”
“Iris Hawkins,” I said.
Nichols glared at us and I glared back and Savannah looked hopeless. Nichols turned to the SUV and tapped on the glass.
Gerri opened the door.
Nichols looked at her and blinked stupidly for a moment while Gerri stared back at him. He took a few steps back and gestured at the ground. “Miss, could you step out of the vehicle, please?”
Gerri looked to me and I nodded. She hopped out, and I realized she still didn’t have shoes on.
The rain plastered her white blonde hair to her head in an instant and she stared up at the officer. “Yes?”
Again, Nichols grew flustered but finally he gestured to his car. “The three of you. Sit on the bumper of my cruiser. I’m going to search your vehicle.”
Savannah shot a look in my direction, but I was already calculating how I could take him down without harming him. Also, without him shooting me.
We sat on the bumper.
“This will not go in our favor, will it?” Gerri asked.
“No,” I whispered.
“The things in the back, they aren’t what you would say legal?” Gerri said.
“Not even a little,” Savannah whispered.
“Will we kill him?” Gerri asked, and she looked troubled. I wasn’t the only one that saw he was a good man.
“No, but we have to stop him,” I said.
She relaxed.
I came up with a plan and it made me despair. It was a terrible plan. I could see Eli in my mind glaring at me, telling me how stupid it was.
“Savannah, I will need you to drive his car off the road. Far off the road. Where it can’t be seen right away,” I said.
She nodded.
“Gerri, get everything we have left here and then get the duct tape out of the back.”
Gerri nodded.
I waited until he was opening the back of the SUV to move. I didn’t hide my abilities. I went full speed at him and slammed him into the bumper and bent him over so that the top half of him was pressed face first into the duffle bags in the trunk.
Savannah was already sliding into the driver’s seat of the officer’s car, and Gerri was cleaning up.
Officer Nichols was strong, though. He was young and maybe he already suspected something about us. He was able to get his hand on his taser and I felt it when he pressed it to my thigh.
Felt it, like a lioness would feel a bird brush by her flank.
I turned his face to the side and saw the surprise in his eyes and smelled the fear on him.
“I won’t hurt you, but I won’t let you stop me either,” I told him as he struggled in vain beneath me.
Nichols gritted his teeth as I snaked an arm beneath his face and pressed my palm to his forehead, used the only magic an alpha had.
To put their prey to sleep.
I wasn’t fast enough.
He already had his gun out and pressed against my other thigh. He pulled the trigger once, and I felt the bullet enter my thigh. I grunted and I saw the victory in his eyes. Then there was nothing but horror when he realized that he was losing consciousness. He struggled against it but it was already a lost cause; his eyes were drifting shut.
“Here,” Gerri said and handed me the duct tape.
I wrapped Nichols’s arms and legs up and then threw him into the trunk. I shut the door.
“Drive,” I told Savannah, and she frowned when she saw that I was bleeding.
“Regular bullets, though, right?” She said.
“Still hurts,” I grunted.
As soon as we were on the road, I tore open my jeans and dug the bullet out. I hissed and let it drop on the floor.
“We need a new vehicle. More clothes,” I said.
“And food,” Gerri added.
“We should probably get rid of the cop we just kidnapped too,” Savannah added, her voice rising with each word.
“We will, as soon as we are far enough away. He saw us, our vehicle. I couldn’t just let him go. They would have been after us immediately. And that’s the last thing we need; the Ascendancy and the police after us,” I said.
We crossed over into Idaho.
“Well, I’m sure it’s a federal matter too, when they figure out we’ve taken him across state lines,” Savannah said.
I closed my eyes. “Clothes, food, tires. I’ll figure the rest out.”
Savannah looked over at me and her face was tight with worry. “If you say so.”
WE HAD TWO BACKPACKS and a duffle bag. We were supposed to go shopping for clothes. Right before we hit the road.
But there was no time for that now.
“Where are they?” I asked.
“Either end of the hall, making their way in,” Eli said. He was pulling a backpack on his shoulders. Two of the backpacks had money and the duffle bag had guns. I wasn’t sure why, Eli didn’t know how to use them.
If Savannah or Marcus or Stephen were with us, that would be a different story.
“What do we do?” I asked. I shouldered a backpack.
Eli went to the window, but I wanted to tell him it was a lost cause. We were fifteen stories up and there were no balconies out there.