It took everything Jess had in her not to scream out from the throbbing pain in her hand and arm, although she still had enough sense to know Jake was full of it. “As if,” she added weakly, “you’re just going to let me walk out that door after I tell you where this rock is hidden.”
Jess used the word rock intentionally, to see if Jake even knew what he was looking for or why.
“Scout’s honor,” Jake said, saluting Jess. “You tell me where the rock is, and we’re done here.”
Jess’s bait had worked; he didn’t know he’s looking for a fallen angel.
“Were you smart enough to grab my laptop bag?” she asked.
“You’re awfully mouthy,” Jake remarked, growing more irritated. “You’re lucky to be breathing, and yet you sit here making jokes.”
Jess took in a breath. “I’m just saying,” she continued, “if you want your stupid rock, then you better have grabbed my bag.”
“Well, don’t go anywhere,” Jake said, laughing. “I’ll be right back.”
Jake slammed the door behind him as he left the room.
TWENTY-NINE
From outside the house, after having heard Jess screaming in pain, Evan was about to dial 911. His heart thumped rapidly as he shifted his hiding position behind a large oak tree at the edge of the overgrown lawn. “I should have never followed this damn idiot,” Evan whispered to himself. “This is the worst idea ever!”
The night before, after Evan got off the phone with Jake, his conscience kept telling him what Jake might do to Jessica. He felt horrible for giving away the name and address, which turned out was only a 45-minute drive from his own apartment in Chicago. Evan finally decided that maybe he could warn her or something. He couldn’t just sit there and do nothing, knowing Jake was about to do something dreadful.
It was late afternoon by the time Evan turned up on Jessica’s street. He decided to merely watch her house first, to see if she was home. He parked down the street and waited for at least two hours. Nothing happened. He couldn’t wait forever, so he decided to call Jessica and warn her that she may be in danger. Just as Evan picked up his phone to dial her number, a Speed Demon cable repair van pulled into Jessica’s driveway. A uniformed man hopped out of the van and checked his clipboard before walking up to the front door.
It took several minutes of the cable guy knocking and ringing the bell for someone to open the front door. Evan couldn’t see who answered, but it meant someone was home. He looked as his watch and thought seven o’clock was an odd time for a cable repair man to be making a house call.
Less than five minutes after the cable guy entered the house, a red-haired girl sprinted out from the back of the house. It looked like she left in a hurry, and she wasn’t looking back. She tossed a backpack into a small copper SUV and practically threw herself into the driver’s side. She didn’t waste time trying to maneuver around the cable van blocking her driveway; instead, she took the SUV on the path less traveled, cutting a trail right through her front lawn.
What happened next was a scene straight off the big screen. A moment before the vehicle turned the corner of the house, a man shot around from the side yard like a bullet. He was moving so fast, his movement was only a blur until he ran straight into the hood of the fleeing SUV. The man’s head bounced off the windshield, sending his body into a slow motion somersault over the roof. Unlike cats, people don’t always land on their feet. This guy actually used his face to cushion the landing. Evan cringed and looked away.
The sound of tires screeching on pavement made Evan look up. The man was on his feet and limping back to the van. If this was Jake, then he was some kind of supervillain. His wounds healed right before Evan’s eyes.
The van backed out of the driveway at full speed, crashing into the parked car across the street. Evan didn’t exactly know what made him start his own car, but he was now in pursuit of the van, racing after the SUV.
Evan lost sight of the van around the second corner. He had to swerve into oncoming traffic and speed through a red light to catch back up. He was only three cars behind the van as it rushed up the on-ramp to the highway, running a soccer mom’s minivan over the shoulder. Sparks flew from the side of the minivan as it scrapped along the guard rail.
They continued down the highway for several miles before Evan caught sight of the copper SUV in front of the cable van. The sound of police sirens made Evan check the rearview and notice the red and blue flashing lights of a police cruiser. Police presence was Evan’s cue to back off. Yes, he felt horrible for not calling the girl five minutes earlier, although he had no intentions of being caught up in a police investigation of any kind. He took his foot off the accelerator and let the cruiser pass by.
Unable to turn around, Evan had no choice but to continue down the highway in search of the next exit. A few miles and two curves later, Evan slowed to a stop at the crest of a large hill. Smoke spiraled into the air from an accident halfway into the grassy median at the bottom. The copper SUV was overturned and the van only a few yards away. Smoke spiraled up from the crumpled hood of the van. With its lights still flashing and the driver’s side door open, the police cruiser was parked just off the road on the gravel shoulder.
Evan heard the unmistakable sound of gunshots echoing through the air. His eyes focused on two men near the front of the overturned SUV. The girl was nowhere to be seen. A tiny flash of light sparked in front of who Evan thought was the police officer. A moment later, Evan heard another echo of gunfire. The officer was definitely shooting. Evan couldn’t believe his eyes when Jake jumped through the air like a wild animal, landing behind the policeman. Evan squinted make his vision clearer, but it looked like Jake was biting the officer’s neck.
What the hell just happened? Evan thought to himself. He was in shock. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t think. He could just watch the horrific scene playing out. The officer fell to the ground motionless. Jake ripped the overturned SUV’s crumpled door right off its hinges, then reached inside and pulled Jessica’s unconscious body from the wreckage, tossing her to the ground. Jake took several steps away from the SUV, slamming his fists into the side door. He knelt by the officer’s body and bit him again.
Evan hoped Jessica wasn’t dead, but it didn’t look good. This is my fault, Evan thought to himself. I killed her. She’s dead and it’s my fault.
Jake carried Jessica up the hill, then tossed her in the back seat of the police cruiser. He climbed into the driver’s seat and slammed the door shut. The rear wheels of the cruiser created an enormous cloud of dust and gravel as it sped back onto the highway and out of sight.
Evan’s conscience kicked him again, forcing him to inch his car toward the accident scene. Several other motorists had also stopped. One woman came running up the grassy hill. “He’s dead!” she yelled. “The cop’s dead! Call 911!”
The scene had become cluttered with onlookers, and Evan could hear more sirens in the distance. He needed to get the hell out of there, fast. He ran down the hill to the overturned SUV, faltering more than once, sliding most of the way down the hill. He forced his eyes away from the dead cop’s body and observed the SUV. He didn’t know what he was looking for, but his gut told him to keep searching.
On his second time around the SUV, a piece of pink plastic caught Evan’s eye. He reached through the broken window and came out with a pink cell phone. The screen lit up. It was still working. Evan was in too much of a hurry to properly search the vehicle and didn’t waste any more time. He shoved the pink cell phone in his jacket pocket and climbed back up the grassy hillside to his car.
Evan checked his rearview mirror as he pulled away from the accident site. Several police cruisers crested the same hill Evan had been watching from only a few minutes prior. He pushed the accelerator down hard as he sped away. Once he was off the highway, he hacked into the state police’s main server and tracked the stolen cruiser’s GPS locator. The signal went dead ten minutes later, but Evan had enough information to catc
h up to them on an interstate heading south of the accident. He then followed the police cruiser for a little over an hour to an abandoned farmhouse far outside the city.
Evan’s mind returned to Jessica screaming from inside the abandoned farmhouse. The front door flew open with a bang, and Evan froze in place, holding his breath. He had been watching the farmhouse for almost three hours. The sun had long since set, and the forest around him was eerie quiet. He watched as Jake raced from the porch to the police cruiser. His speed was amazing. Jake opened the door and pulled out a backpack. Evan assumed it was Jessica’s, possibly her laptop bag.
Jake slammed the cruiser door shut and headed back to the house, stopping abruptly to stare directly at Evan’s hiding spot. Evan didn’t move a muscle; he didn’t even breathe. After a few seconds, his eyes started to burn. He needed to blink, and when he finally did, Jake was gone.
THIRTY
“In two hundred feet, turn left,” the GPS announced, in its typical, over-demanding tone.
Rain tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “Once we find Jade’s place, can we toss that GPS out the window?” he asked.
“We may need it to find our way back,” I replied, “but I’d rather be lost out here all night than take anymore lip from this thing. Jade’s apartment should be just around the next corner.”
“Continue three hundred feet to your destination on the left,” the GPS commanded.
The storm had begun to let up, and the rain slowed to a drizzle. The outlines of mountaintop silhouettes could be seen in the distance over small businesses, most of which were closed for the night. The lights of a few bars and dance clubs were scattered here and there. The streets were mostly empty, with the exception of a stumbling college kid or two on their way home from or to the next club.
Rain kept a steady pace as our GPS tour guide led the way.
“Arriving at destination on the left.”
The lower level of the large white building to our left looked like some sort of a storefront closed for the night. Several of the lights on the second floor were dimly lit, probably apartments. Rain drove past the building.
“Recalculating!” the GPS announced, sounding as agitated as a computer could get.
I turned the GPS off before it turned on the killing machine in Rain.
We parked in a small, empty bank parking lot a block beyond Jade’s building. A crisp, cool breeze greeted us as we exited the SUV. The street lights shimmered off the wet pavement.
Rain joined me on my side of the SUV. “I noticed a few doors next to the business entrances,” I said. “They probably lead to the upstairs apartments. Hopefully, there will be names on the mailboxes we can use to ID Jade.”
We started up the sidewalk towards Jade’s building. A black pickup truck crept past us, almost idling by. The dark tinted windows hid the driver well; they looked almost as if they were painted black.
“An F150 Raptor,” Rain said, admiring the truck. “Those are mean looking trucks. That deep black paint is wicked.”
The truck revved its engine and picked up speed down the street.
“I’ve read about those trucks,” I said. “They basically designed a factory-made off-road monster with the beauty and grace of a sports car.”
“A monster,” Rain repeated, walking backwards down the sidewalk, continuing to admire the truck as it disappeared around the corner, “with a heart pumping enough horsepower to make most modern-day sports cars cry. Add that muscle to a 4-wheel drive and suspension system specially designed to tackle any terrain, and you have the vehicle you want to see in your driveway when zombies take over this world.”
“Zombies?” I questioned comically. “You know those don’t exist, right?”
Rain turned around and fell in step beside me. “Technically speaking,” he added, “I don’t exist, and just a few days ago, I had never heard of fallen angels, stones, or warlocks. So, better safe than sorry.”
“Very true,” I nodded, agreeing with Rain’s logic. “You should add that to the next letter you send to the North Pole.”
“Santa Claus?” Rain asked. “You know he doesn’t exist, right?”
I couldn’t tell if he was mocking me or not.
We stopped at a metal door built between two shops, but the door didn’t appear to lead to either one. A small overhead light illuminated an intercom panel with four little red buttons. The nametag next to the third button down the list was “J. Dunham.”
“That’s our girl,” Rain remarked.
The metal door was locked with a numeric keypad.
I bent down for a closer look. “I don’t suppose you know the code?”
Rain walked over and punched in a few numbers. A loud beep sounded twice. The door didn’t open.
“Apparently not,” he muttered, stepping back.
I motioned for him to follow me up the sidewalk. “Let’s keep moving. We don’t want to have to answer why we’re here if anyone stops.”
“ECHO 911,” I said, turning on my ear piece to transmit to the rest of the team. “This is Aeron and Rain. We’ve located Jade’s residence.”
Kasiah was the first to respond—her accent was unmistakable. The ECHO device functioned well. It sounded as though Kasiah was standing right next to me.
“Good job,” Kasiah responded. “Are there any signs of Jade?”
I heard loud club music in the background as Kasiah spoke, so of course I did the cliché—yell into the phone as I answered her. “Negative!” I said loudly. “There’s a door to an upstairs apartment with J. Dunham on the intercom. Rain and I are walking the perimeter now.”
Rain smacked my arm and put his finger to his lips.
“Sorry,” I said, lowering my voice and looking around to make sure no one else was within earshot.
Morgan’s voice echoed in my ear. “No need to yell, Aeron,” he said. “Keep us informed. Whisper and I are driving the perimeter of the city. No signs of any surveillance so far.”
“Actually,” Whisper said, “there are no signs of anyone. It’s a little weird.”
“That’s because everyone is downtown,” Aerona joined in. “It’s a madhouse down here at Club Raven.”
Ember picked up where Aerona left off. “Jade could be standing ten feet away from us, and we’d never know. It’s a typical night out in a college town.”
“I’m so relocating to Missoula,” Aerona added excitedly.
“I’ll help you pack,” I joked.
Rain and I reached the end of the block and followed the sidewalk around the corner.
Morgan’s voice cracked through the ECHO. “Whisper and I are out. Keep us posted.”
“We’re out too,” said Kasiah. “Everyone be safe.”
I heard everyone say “ECHO off.”
“Well,” Rain said, kicking an empty soda can down the sidewalk, “sounds like we got the raw end of the deal.”
“No kidding,” I agreed. “We’re stuck walking in circles out here, while the girls are partying like rock stars.” I took Rain’s joking as a good opportunity to ask a question and figure out what two immortals might exchange as gifts. “So, Rain, what was in the small box Whisper gave you earlier?”
Rain contemplated for a minute before answering, probably wondering if it was any of my business or not.
“It’s an 1857 U.S. one-cent piece,” he said. “It rounds out one of my many coin collections. 1857 was the last year the penny was produced entirely made of copper.”
Even though I found it odd that a vampire had a rare coin collection hobby, I was careful not to make light of it. “You have one of every U.S. pennies ever minted?”
“I do now,” Rain replied. “Well, except 1793. That’s the first year pennies were minted in the U.S. There are only four known to exist, all stored in museums.”
Something metallic reflected the streetlight back into our eyes.
“Did you see that?” I asked Rain.
“Sure did,” he whispered, not making it obvious.<
br />
I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but Rain noticed it too. Just as we turned the next corner, the black Raptor was passing through the far intersection.
“Looks like we might have an admirer,” Rain remarked. “Give him one more time, and we’ll get an up close and personal look at that monster machine.”
The Raptor distracted both of us, and when our eyes found their way back to the sidewalk, we noticed the outline of two men walking our way. It was too late to take a different path without being suspicious.
“Keep moving,” Rain whispered.
We saw the two men clearly as they walked under a street light maybe twenty feet away. They were both dark skinned and built like football players. They made it a point to intentionally stop just beyond the reach of the street light. One of them yelled to us as they approached.
“Hey man, you got a light?” the taller of the two asked, punching his buddy in the arm. “Dickhead lost his lighter back at the bar.”
We stopped a few steps from the two guys. “Sorry, man,” I said, “we don’t smoke.”
Dickhead, the guy who lost his lighter, looked nervously around as the taller one did the talking. “I didn’t ask if you smoke,” he said rudely. “I asked you if you had a light.”
Rain and I glanced at each other and sighed, knowing what was about to happen next.
“Trust me guys,” I said in a poor attempt to save their lives, “you don’t want to do this.”
The tall guy’s tone turned from humorous to aggressive. “Well, I don’t think you’re in a position to tell us what to do,” he said, looking around before flashing a large knife from under his jacket. The blade reflected the street light from behind them.
The Blood of a Stone Page 21
