The Reluctant Vampire

by Lynsay Sands

Chapter Fifteen

 

  "There you two are. We were about to send out a search party. "

  Drina paused in the front entry of Teddy's house and turned to glance into the dining room. Her eyes slid over the three people seated at the table but widened as she found the speaker.

  "Tiny," she said on a grin. "You're awake. "

  "Yeah. " He smiled and stood to move out of sight toward the kitchen, but his voice was loud as he asked,

  "Coffee?"

  "Yes please," Drina said, her gaze sliding back to Teddy and Mirabeau at the table as Harper said he'd take one too.

  "He woke up shortly after you guys left," Mirabeau said, positively beaming with relief and happiness. Drina smiled at the woman, and then turned to remove her coat and boots and stow them away even as Harper did.

  "Teddy took Alessandro and Edward and the girls home shortly a er Tiny woke up," Mirabeau announced, as Drina set the bag from the corner store on the table and se led in a seat. "So it's down to the six of us. "

  "Speaking of the six of us, where is Stephanie?" Harper asked. "We bought the stuff she wanted. "

  Drina grimaced. They'd spent longer at the house than intended. It was a er midnight. The girl had probably gone to bed. Although if so, it was somewhat surprising that Mirabeau was here at the table. The thought made her frown as she asked, "Did she go to bed?"

  "No. Anders took her out for a burger," Mirabeau answered.

  "What?" Drina asked blankly.

  Mirabeau nodded. "We were playing cards, then Anders got a call and le the room to take it. When he came back in, Stephanie was complaining about how long you guys were taking and said she wished she could call you and maybe have you pick her up a burger on the way back. He offered to take her out to get one. "

  Tiny smiled faintly, and added, "The kid couldn't get out of here fast enough. "

  Drina frowned. She wasn't surprised Stephanie would jump at the chance to get out of the house. She'd been stuck in here for twenty-four hours and had been stuck inside Casey Co age before that. She was probably going a bit s r-crazy. S ll, Drina couldn't help thinking it was a bad idea to take the girl anywhere considering the attacks on her.

  "It'll be fine," Mirabeau said soothingly. "Anders isn't stupid. He'll take her straight there and back. Besides, we're out in the middle of nowhere here, and I checked the road as they were ge ng in the truck. There was no one watching. "

  Drina relaxed and nodded. Teddy's house was out of town, a strip of land between two large fields. There was nowhere to hide out here to watch the house unobserved. Wondering how long she had before bed, she asked, "So how long ago did they leave?"

  "An hour ago," Teddy said, when Mirabeau paused uncertainly.

  "It can't have been that long," Mirabeau protested with a frown.

  "I checked my watch when they left," Teddy said quietly.

  "They should be back by now," Harper pointed out with concern.

  Drina reached automa cally for her back pocket and her phone, but paused as she recalled she was wearing joggers. Her phone should be - She cursed as she realized it would have been in the back pocket of the jeans she'd been wearing when she was sprayed. Only she'd emp ed her pockets before handing over her jeans to be bagged and tossed, and there had been no phone there. It must have fallen out when she was rolling around on the front yard of Casey Cottage, she thought.

  "I'll call Anders," Mirabeau announced, retrieving a phone from her own pocket. She'd just started to punch in numbers when they heard a vehicle pulling into the driveway. Mirabeau stood and walked to the window, relaxing as she peered out. "It's the SUV. "

  Everyone at the table seemed to relax at the news.

  Mirabeau had just sat back in her seat when Anders burst into the house and appeared at the dining room door. "Is she here?"

  Drina raised her eyebrows. "Who?"

  "Stephanie. "

  Drina stilled at that hissed name, foreboding slipping through her.

  "She was with you," Mirabeau said, as if he might have forgotten it.

  Anders cursed and turned back to the entry.

  Realizing he was about to leave again without explaining himself, Drina stood and rushed around the table to stop him. "Just a minute. What's going on? Where is she?"

  Anders paused, but then sighed and turned back, running one hand through his hair with frustra on. "I don't know. I stopped for gas, filled up, went in to pay, and when I came out, she was gone. "

  "She probably just went to use the bathroom or something," Teddy said soothingly as the tension in the room ratcheted upward. Standing, he moved to the desk and pulled out a phone book. "Which gas sta on was it? Esso or the Pioneer by Wal-Mart?"

  "Neither," Anders answered. "The other one. I don't remember the name. "

  Teddy turned to peer at him blankly. "What other one? We don't have another one. "

  "The one up by the highway," Anders said. "It doesn't matter anyway, I did check the bathroom. Teddy let the phone book lower to the desk. "Why the hell would you go all the way out there? The other two are half the distance. "

  Anders mu ered something Russian under his breath and turned away again. "I'm going back out to look for her. "

  "The hell you are. " Drina caught his arm and pulled him back around. "What's going on, Anders? Where were you taking her?"

  "I can't tell you," he said grimly.

  "Why not?" Mirabeau demanded, joining them.

  "Because Lucian said not to. "

  Drina blinked in surprise at those words, then narrowed her eyes. "You were taking her to Toronto. "

  He didn't confirm that, but he didn't deny it either, and she knew she was right.

  "Why didn't Lucian want Drina to know that?" Harper asked, crossing to join them as well with Tiny on his heels.

  "Because she would have felt she had to come too, and he wants her to stay here with you," Anders said dryly.

  Drina felt Harper peering at her but was too busy worrying over what Anders had said and what it would mean for Stephanie. Being in Toronto, closer to Lucian, and without anyone who cared about her. Drina knew Stephanie's sister, Dani, was somewhere down in the States right now, playing bait, and Mirabeau and herself were here in Port Henry. The kid would have been on her own.

  "Well, she couldn't have gone far without a coat. She was probably in the bathroom while you were in the store and in the store while you checked the bathroom. It's not like she'd walk back, Anders," Teddy said, picking up the phone. "It's too damned far and cold for that. She's probably standing around in the gas station waiting for you to come back. "

  "No, she ran away," Drina murmured, and Mirabeau nodded solemnly.

  "What?" Anders frowned. "Why the hell would she run away?"

  "Because she likes it here, and you were taking her back to Toronto, where she was miserable," she said dryly.

  "She didn't know that. I hadn't told her yet. I was going to after I got on the highway. "

  "You didn't have to tell her," Mirabeau assured him. "She would have read it from your mind. "

  Anders didn't laugh at the sugges on. His mouth ghtened, and he said, "I made sure I didn't even think about it. There was nothing to read. "

  His words told Drina that he knew about Stephanie's special abili es, or at least knew part of it. He knew she could read his thoughts even though he was old and not a new life mate, but didn't know it wasn't restricted to surface memories. Which meant Lucian knew. She saw Anders's eyes narrow on her and sighed as she realized how he'd known. He was reading her thoughts even now and had probably read them before, both from her and Mirabeau.

  "It doesn't ma er," Drina said wearily, moving past him to get to the closet and retrieve the bomber jacket.

  Anders turned toward the door again. "I'll go back out and look for her again. "

  "Wait for us," Mirabeau said, reaching past Drina to grab her own coat and Tiny's. "You can drop
Tiny and me at Casey Cottage. Our SUV is still there. We can help search too. "

  Drina had started to shrug into Stephanie's bomber, but paused and glanced to Harper uncertainly when she realized she'd just assumed he'd be willing to search for the girl and hadn't asked. "I'm sorry. Would you mind if we - ?"

  "No, of course not," he said solemnly. "Hand me my coat. "

  Sighing with relief, she passed his coat over, then grabbed her boots and moved back into the dining room to don them. Teddy was hanging up the phone as she entered. When she glanced his way in question, he shook his head, and then sat down at the desk and opened the phone book again.

  "I'm going to make a few calls," he announced. "Get the clerks at Tim Hortons and the corner store and anywhere else s ll open to keep an eye out for her, and then coordinate a search party. Report in here if you see or hear anything. "

  Drina nodded and sat down to quickly don her boots. By the me she finished, Mirabeau, Tiny, and Anders had left, and Harper was straightening from donning his own boots in the entry.

  "Ready?" he asked.

  Nodding, Drina led the way outside and to Victor's borrowed car.

  "Where do we start?" Harper asked as he started the car. "The gas station by the highway?"

  Drina frowned and considered briefly, but shook her head. "Anders is probably heading back to the gas station, so there's no use trying there. "

  "I don't know," Harper said as he backed out of the driveway. "Stephanie might hide from Anders because he was going to take her to Toronto, but I don't think she'd hide from you. She might come out if she saw us driving around. "

  "Do you think so?" Drina asked, hoping it was true.

  "Definitely," he said solemnly.

  Teddy hadn't been kidding; the gas sta on was a hell of a distance out of town. It seemed to take forever to get there, but Drina spent the whole journey scanning the streets and anybody they passed, growing increasingly desperate to find Stephanie as she considered what could happen to her on her own. Drina wasn't worried about perverts or mortal sickos a acking the girl. With her increased strength and speed, Stephanie was pre y much mortal proof. Actually, any mortal foolish enough to look at the pe te blonde and see her as a vic m, would find they were very much mistaken. But someone had been attacking them, and if it was Leonius . . .

  The thought of what might happen to the girl if he got his hands on her was worrying Drina sick. They saw Anders at the gas sta on, but no Stephanie, so set out to drive around the surrounding area, scanning fields and businesses, and then houses and yards as they got closer to town and a more urban area.

  "Is there anywhere she would go? Somewhere she liked or . . . just anywhere you think she might go?"

  Harper asked some two hours later. They were driving in circles now, recovering old ground and seeing nothing but the others out searching for Stephanie.

  Drina started to shake her head, but paused, and murmured, "Beth. "

  "Beth?" Harper glanced to her with a frown. "Beth of the madam days Beth?"

  Drina nodded. "I was just thinking that when Beth ran from Jimmy, she went straight back to the empty brothel. The last place she'd been safe and called home. "

  "Casey Co age," Harper said, ge ng it at once. He turned at the first corner, and Drina closed her eyes and sent up a silent prayer that they'd find her there, safe and sound and well. However, it appeared no one was listening to prayers that day because a thorough search of Casey Cottage turned up nothing.

  "I guess it's back to driving around. "

  Harper frowned at the weariness in Drina's voice as he ushered her out of the house and across the deck. She sounded exhausted, and he wouldn't be surprised if she was. Surely she hadn't slept much on that stool of hers the night before while wai ng for the drugstore to open. But he suspected most of the exhaustion was caused from worry. She was beginning to lose hope.

  "I need more gas, and the one by the highway is the only one open at this hour," he said, as they walked along the side of the garage to the driveway. "We'll head back there and start another circuit. "

  Drina nodded, not looking terribly encouraged.

  Harper opened the car door for her, but when she went to get in, he caught her arm. "We'll find her, Drina. We won't stop looking until we do. "

  Drina let her breath out on a sigh, then leaned forward and kissed his cheek, whispering, "Thank you. "

  She looked just as calm and strong as she had all night, but there was something in her voice that told him while she appreciated his effort to encourage her, it hadn't really worked. Harper watched her slide into the car and wished he could do something to make her feel be er. But the only thing likely to do that was finding Stephanie.

  Where the hell was the girl? he asked himself as he closed the door and walked around to get in the driver's side. Unfortunately, he didn't have a clue.

  They were quiet on the drive back to the gas sta on, both of them scanning the passing scenery for Stephanie. They were nearly to the sta on when Harper said, "Maybe we should call the house and make sure no one's found her. "

  Drina glanced at him with surprise. "I'm sure they would have called if they had. "

  "Oh right," Harper mu ered, and then suggested, "S ll, if she's causing a fuss about leaving, they might be a little distracted and forget to call. "

  "That's possible," Drina said slowly, and then straightened a little, and asked, "Can I use your phone?"

  He pulled his gaze from the road to glance at her with surprise. "Where's yours?"

  "I lost it the night of the fire," she admitted.

  Harper grimaced and turned his gaze back to the road before admi ng, "So did I. It was in my back pocket. " It was probably a melted mess by the end, he supposed.

  "Neither of us has a phone?" Drina asked with amazement, and then smiled slightly, and said, "Then they couldn't call us. She could have been at Teddy's for hours. "

  Harper glanced at her, worried about her ge ng her hopes up only to have them dashed, but said quietly,

  "We can call from the gas station. I know Teddy's house number. "

  Drina hung up with a li le sigh, and stood for a minute, wai ng for her disappointment to ease. Harper had given her Teddy's number and suggested she call while he pumped gas. But Stephanie wasn't back at the house, and no one had even reported a sigh ng of her, "Not the gals at Timmy H's, or Val at the twenty-four-hour Quicky mart, nobody. " Teddy had sounded as frustrated as Drina felt.

  "No joy, huh?"

  Drina glanced to the skinny, sandy-haired gas-sta on a endant behind the counter. His nametag read Jason. "No joy?"

  "No luck," Jason explained, his Adam's apple bobbing with the words. "No one's seen her?"

  "Oh, no," she said on a sigh, pushing the phone back toward him. "Thank you for le ng me use the phone. "

  "No problem," he said easily, turning away to set it back where it belonged on the counter behind the ll he manned. "Least I could do since we didn't have a pay phone. It's hard to find those anymore. They become more scarce as cells get popular. "

  "Yes," Drina murmured, her gaze dropping to the chocolate bars lining the front of the counter. As upset as she was, her body was getting hungry. Harper must be too.

  "It's hard to figure why no one's seen her though. A new car seems to pull in here every ten minutes with people out scou ng for her. Teddy must have half the town searching," Jason said, turning back. "If she's on foot, someone should have seen her by now. Maybe she thumbed it. "

  "Thumbed?" Drina asked blankly.

  "You know. " He held out his hand, fingers curled into a fist and thumb up. When she s ll looked blank, he added, "Hitchhiking. She must have hitched a ride or something. " Jason smiled faintly when her expression cleared. "Your accent . . . you're not from around here, huh?"

  Drina shook her head, and murmured, "Spain. "

  "Cool. " He nodded. "Always wanted to go. Someday I will. "

 
"Were there any other cars here when Anders was getting gas?" she asked suddenly.

  "Anders," Jason said blankly, and then his expression cleared, and he said, "Oh, you mean the cool black dude who lost the girl?"

  Drina nodded.

  "Well, yeah, some old dude was in here paying for his gas and ge ng junk food. A real asswipe," he added with a sneer. "He saw your Anders guy get out and start pumping, and says to me, "You be er lock up the ll and door, boy. That nigger's probably here to rob you. " Jason snorted. "Racist old prick. I checked the security tape a er he'd le and, sure enough, he was the thief. Pocketed at least three chocolate bars when I turned my back to get the lottery tickets he wanted. "

  Drina stilled. "Security tape?"

  "Yeah. " He waved toward a corner of the store. "My boss put them in last year. Said it would keep the insurance down. "

  Drina peered at what looked like a rounded mirror in the corner and considered the direc on it was pointing.

  "That Anders guy asked about them too, but there aren't any outside, and it doesn't show the pumps. There's only the one inside, so he didn't bother with it. But you can check out the security tape if you want. "

  Drina hesitated, but then decided she might as well. They hadn't been able to find Stephanie by driving around. Perhaps there was something on the tape that might be useful. "Yes. Please. "

  "Come around," he invited, waving toward the end of the counter.

  Drina walked around the long counter and came up behind it as Jason knelt to start typing on a keyboard under the counter next to where he stood. There was a very small computer screen next to it.

  "What are you doing?" she asked, as he typed, tapped at a mouse, and typed again.

  "I'm pulling up the program and punching in the me I want so it will start replay there," he explained, and mu ered, "A late-night Two and a Half Men rerun was on so it was between eleven and eleven thirty. "

  "A late-night Two and a Half Men rerun?" she echoed with confusion.

  "A comedy show on television. I watch it instead of the news," he explained, gesturing to a small television on his other side. "It passes time while I'm sitting here twiddling my thumbs. "

  "Oh. " She nodded, and then glanced to the door as Harper entered.

  Apparently, he was done pumping gas.

  "What's going on?" he asked, as the door closed behind him.

  "Security video," she answered, and he came around the counter to join them.

  "There," Jason said with satisfaction, and an image popped up on the computer screen of the store. Drina noted the miniature Jason slumped in the corner watching his li le television. Her gaze started to shi to the background, but Jason fiddled with the mouse a bit, and the image sped up. When a beerbellied older man entered the store on the screen, he hit a bu on, and the image played at normal me again.

  "That's the asswipe," Jason announced.

  "Asswipe?" Harper echoed with amusement.

  "Racist shopli er," Drina explained, but her a en on had shi ed to the background. It was true you couldn't see the pumps, but she could see the parking lot in front of them and the exit sign.

  "See, I told you he lifted three bars. "

  Drina glanced to the man shoving something in his pocket while Jason worked at the lo ery machine, but then her a en on shi ed back to the background as the nose of a vehicle appeared halfway up the le edge of the screen. The SUV, she was sure, and was proven right when Jason said, "That's the Anders guy's truck, and now the asswipe's making his crack about locking up the till and store. "

  Drina nodded but continued to watch without comment.

  "Then he just stood there in the store for a bit like he was afraid to go out, like your Anders guy would rob him or something," Jason commented with disgust. "There, Anders must be heading in to pay 'cause that's when the guy scooted out. "

  They watched the old man leave the store. Three seconds later, Anders entered and waited as Jason punched buttons and jiggled things on the cash register.

  "I had trouble ringing him up. This is a new system, and it's kind of glitchy," Jason mu ered, sounding both annoyed and embarrassed.

  "Stop!" Drina barked suddenly, and Jason started, and then scrambled to grab the mouse and pause the image for her.

  "What?" he asked, glancing at the screen uncertainly. "He's just signing the slip. "

  "Back it up, but just a li le," Drina said. He hit his mouse, it started to rewind, and Drina said, "Stop,"

  again.

  Jason's hand was on the mouse, and he paused it at once, but frowned. "I don't see anything. "

  Harper had apparently seen what she had. He leaned past Drina and pointed to the car on the street. It had just pulled out of the gas-station exit. "She's in the backseat. "

  Jason leaned closer and squinted. "I see a smudge that could be a head, but - "

  "It's her," Drina assured him. She'd been watching the car when it had driven into view, headed for the exit. The backseat had been empty as it cruised to a stop at the street. Then it had turned onto the road, and a head had popped into view. It had to be Stephanie. "She hitched a ride. "

  "That explains why we haven't been able to find her walking the streets," Harper mu ered. "We should call Teddy and give him a descrip on of the car and the license-plate number. He can pass it to everyone. "

  "Good thinking," Jason said, grabbing his mouse again. "I'll make the image bigger and see if we can read it. "

  "No need, I've got it," Drina assured him. "Can I use the phone again?"

  "Well, yeah, sure, but - " He fell silent as she turned sideways to pick up the phone on the counter behind them. Then he bent to squint at the screen again. Shaking his head, he glanced to Harper, and said, "There's no way she can see the license plate, let alone read it. "

  "She has very good eyes," Harper said solemnly, as Drina punched in Teddy's number.

  "Man, that's not good eyes, that's whacked, superscary sci-fi eyes," Jason assured him, and then frowned, and said, "You look familiar. Are you - " He stopped suddenly and slapped himself in the forehead. "You're that vamp guy who rents a room next door to my buddy Owen's place. "

  Drina saw Harper wince and bit back a smile, but then Jason turned to her, his eyes widening farther.

  "Oh, whoa, that means you're probably one of the vamp chicks staying there. Aren't you?"

  "Owen is the son of Elvi's neighbor," Harper explained to her, then in answer to the question said, "Yes. "

  "Damn," Jason mu ered, not even sparing Harper a glance. He then added mournfully, "I shoulda known. You're too hot to be human. "

  Drina just shook her head and turned her back to him. She was human, and she definitely was not too hot to be anything. In fact, she didn't consider herself hot at all. She was really rather average. But she was immortal, and for some reason mortals tended to find them a rac ve. Beth had a theory about it. Since she drew a lot more a en on from mortal men now that she was immortal, Beth suspected it was another li le trick of the nanos, making their bodies create and release extrastrong pheromones to attract prey.

  Drina had no idea if it was true or not and didn't much care.

  Teddy's voice sounded in her ear, and Drina forced her mind to the task at hand. She quickly relayed what they'd found, giving him a description of the car and the license-plate number. He made her repeat all the informa on, promised to pass it on to the others, and then quickly ended the call. She suspected he was eager to get moving on it. This was the first lead they'd had a er hours of frustra ng, resultless searching.

  "Thank you, Jason," Drina said sincerely as she turned back from the phone. "We appreciate your help. "

  "No problem," he said, but she couldn't help no cing that he was looking at her differently. Earlier, he'd been friendly and open. She'd been able to tell that he was a racted to her, but he'd been more natural. Now, however, he was looking at her like she was some exo c creature who had unexpe
ctedly flown into his workplace . . . a sexually a rac ve exo c creature. Drina added the last thought as she noted the way his eyes had dilated and kept dropping downward over her body.

  "Right," Harper said dryly, taking Drina's arm and urging her back around the counter. "We'd best go help look for the car. "

  There were two islands with two pumps each, and Harper had parked on the outside of the second island, farthest from the store itself. They had just passed the first island and were approaching the second when Jason suddenly yelled at them from the store door, "Hey, you forgot to pay!"

  They both stopped at once, and Drina was chuckling at Harper's irritated mu er as they turned back, when Jason yelled, "Look out!"

  Drina ins nc vely started to glance around, but Harper was already pushing her to the side. Staggering, she grabbed at the gas pump to keep her feet and glanced back to see Harper throwing himself forward and to the ground, his hand outstretched as if he were a baseball player trying to catch a ground ball. The only thing missing was the baseball glove . . . and the ball, she thought as she saw the flaming bo le land in his open palm.

  Harper immediately closed his eyes and briefly lowered his forehead to the cold pavement as if in thanks, then li ed his head and pulled the burning bit of cloth out of the top. He crushed it between his palm and the ground to put it out, then started to rise, holding the bottle like it was a venomous snake.

  "Are you all right?" Drina asked, hurrying to his side, her eyes scanning the direc on the bo le had come from. There was nothing to see, however. Whoever had thrown it was gone.

  Harper nodded as he straightened beside her. "Sorry I pushed you. "

  "Don't apologize," she said at once. "I didn't even see it. "

  "I spotted it as soon as Jason yelled. It was like a recurring nightmare," he said dryly. Drina squeezed his arm sympathetically, and then glanced around as Jason rushed to them.

  "Man oh man, that was - Man!" he yelled, reaching them, his eyes round holes of shock and awe as he eyed Harper. "Man, you - That was - It was like, woooooo. " He flew his hand threw the air in an arc as if emula ng the bo le's trajectory. "And you were like waaaaah. " Mouth open, he mimicked Harper ping for the bottle, and then shook his head, and said, "Man, you kick ass. That was freaking amazing!"

  Drina bit her lip and glanced from the young mortal to Harper to see him looking slightly embarrassed by the kid's adoration. Clearing her throat to get Jason's attention, she asked, "Did you see who threw it?"

  Jason shook his head, "No, sorry, no. I just saw this firebird flying at the two of you and shouted and - "

  His gaze shifted back to Harper. "Wow, man. You could play for the Jays. We'd kick ass every game. "

  "Yes, well, here, maybe you could dispose of this. " Harper handed him the bo le of fluid, and when Jason nodded and took it, he reached for his wallet and pulled out three twen es. As he handed them over, he said, "Sorry about forgetting to pay. "

  "Oh, no problem," Jason said at once. "I knew it wasn't on purpose. We just got distracted with the security video. But, hey, this is too much," he added, keeping two of the bills and offering the other back.

  "You only got forty bucks worth. "

  "Keep it," Harper said, urging Drina toward the car. "And thank you again. "

  "Yeah, thanks! Hey, you two have a good night. And stay safe, huh?" Jason called as he turned back toward the store, and then Drina heard him mutter, "Man, that was something else. Wow. "

  "You have a fan," she said, as they got in the car.

  Harper grimaced as he started the engine, but said, "He's a good kid. A total geek, but he has the good sense to recognize a goddess when he sees her. "

  "A goddess?" Drina asked on a laugh.

  Harper nodded and shi ed into drive to head out of the gas sta on. "He was sure your name must be Aphrodite or Venus. "

  "Right," she snorted.

  "But he kept your clothes on in his head," Harper announced, and added wryly, "Which raised him in my estimation. Like I said, a good kid. "

  "And he saved us from a great deal of pain," Drina added, her voice becoming more subdued.

  "Pain?" he asked dryly. "Try saved our lives and his own too. If that bo le had landed, the whole damned place probably would have exploded. Those were gas pumps. "

  Drina nodded and reached over to squeeze his legs. "He helped, but you did the saving. Nice catch," she added quietly.

  "That was despera on," Harper said on a sigh as he pulled out onto the road. "I didn't really no ce the bo le, but I saw the flaming, flu ering cloth coming at us like a bird on fire and . . . " He shook his head.

  "It was the last thing I saw in the porch before it became an inferno. That me I didn't know what it was and wasn't quick enough to stop it. This time I was. "

  Like a recurring nightmare, she recalled his words and squeezed his leg again. But then frowned and glanced out the window, before announcing, "We have a problem. Two, actually. "

  "Only two?" Harper asked dryly.

  Drina smiled faintly, but said, "Stephanie wasn't there. The attack was on us. It may not be Leonius. "

  "Except that you're about Stephanie's height, wearing her coat, and your hair is tucked under a hat so you could easily have been mistaken for her," he pointed out.

  Drina glanced down at the bomber she wore and frowned as she realized he was right. That made her mouth tighten, and she said, "Which means we have a different set of problems. "

  "That he doesn't seem to be that concerned about keeping her alive for breeding since the explosion could have killed her," Harper guessed.

  Drina nodded.

  "What's the other?" he asked.

  "Stephanie must have controlled the driver of the car. "

  Harper took his foot off the gas, allowing the car to slow as he sought out her eyes. "You think so?"

  "What would you do if someone suddenly popped up in the backseat of the car?" she asked quietly. Harper's head went back a bit as realiza on struck him. "The car didn't slow, stop, or jerk to the side. It just continued smoothly up the road. " He frowned. "I didn't know she could control mortals already. "

  "Neither did I," Drina said on a sigh. "And she shouldn't be able to. "

  "No," he agreed, taking one hand from the steering wheel to cover hers on his leg. He was silent, considering this, and then said, "She could make him take her wherever she wanted. "

  "Yes," Drina agreed.

  He thought for a minute, and then asked, "Where does her family live?"

  "Windsor. " Marguerite had told her a bit about Stephanie in New York - what she'd been through, where her family was from, etc. Marguerite seemed to feel bad for Stephanie, but then so did Drina. Harper nodded and pulled a U-turn on the empty road, heading back the way they'd come. The highway entrance was just beyond the gas station.

  "Do you want to call Teddy before we leave the area?" he asked, as they approached the gas station. Drina shook her head. "We'll call from Windsor if we find her there. "

  "It's more than two hours away," he warned.

  Drina bit her lip but shook her head. "Anders will call Lucian, and he'll have someone in the area head right over. I'd rather Stephanie wasn't faced with strangers to deal with this. "

  Harper nodded and squeezed her hand with understanding. They drove past the gas sta on and took the on-ramp to the highway.